Maxine Hong Kingstons No Name Woman Essay examples

Maxine Hong Kingstons No Name Woman A highly fictive text [whose non-fiction label gives] the appearance of being an actual representation of Asian American experience in the broader public sphere. (Gloria Chun, The High Note) Such a disparaging remark about the misleading nature of Maxine Hong Kingstons The Woman Warrior has been readily refuted, notably by Leilani Nishime, who proposes in her essay Engendering Genre... that it is a text that transcends genre confines; it challenges traditional definitions of genre and demands redefinitions. Whatever the case, No Name Woman (NNW) is remarkable in the way the reader is given a candid social commentary in the guise of an intriguing tale of scandal and oppression. In a†¦show more content†¦As mentioned earlier, the mothers version is tinged with conservative disapproval, possibly a result of her direct involvement with the events and their unpleasant consequences. Despite her traditional viewpoint (which might be seen as narrow and bigoted in a modern context), her version is interestingly the most objective one of the three: her own opinions only make themselves felt at the end of her otherwise purely narrative tale. In the next change of filter, t he narrator then puts forth her own speculative version of events, portraying her aunt as the proverbial victim of circumstances. Adopting this filter of the passive aunt gives us an insightful look into her surroundings, proposing a degree of identification with her, and inducing a temporary familiarity with the periods oppressive attitudes for modern readers. In effect, this passage makes accessible two potentially alienating elements: the social and temporal context of the setting, as well as the psyche of the character in question. This level of personal identification is taken a step further when, later in the story, the narrator indulges in wild speculation of her aunt playing a potentially active role in the events. The conveying of a modern mindset upon her aunt may seem jarring in the contextShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Maxine Hong Kingstons No Name Woman943 Words   |  4 PagesMaxine Hong Kingston is telling a tragedy caused by gender discrimination in her essay â€Å"No Name Woman.† She is a first generation Chinese American. Her mother consistently tells her about the Kingston family back in the Old Chinese village to remind her of her Chinese root. Kingston’s mother tells her that she has an aunt in China with a forbidden existence; they say that her father â€Å"has all brothers because it is as if she [the aunt] had never been born† (Kingston 135). In 1924, most men in thisRead More Maxine Hong Kingstons Woman Warrior - No Name Woman Essay739 Words   |  3 PagesMaxine Hong Kingstons Woman Warrior - No Name Woman The excerpt, No Name Woman, from Maxine Hong Kingstons book, Woman Warrior, gives insight into her life as a Chinese girl raised in America through a tragic story of her aunts life, a young woman raised in a village in China in the early 1900s. The story shows the consequences beliefs, taught by parents, have on a childs life. Kingston attempts to figure out what role the teachings of her parents should have on her life, a similar attemptRead MoreThe Role Of Women In Maxine Hong Kingstons No Name Woman?1099 Words   |  5 Pagescome, women have been treated unequally, and have had high societal standards and equally high beauty standards set for them. Throughout history women have been neglected and have had unfair beauty standards, specifically in China. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s â€Å"No Name Woman,† traditional womens roles and expectations are harmful both mentally and physically.o Footbinding and eyebrow threading, the narrator’s aunt’s suicide, and the aunt’s family refusing to talk about her provide evidence of this.* Read More Maxine Hong Kingstons No Name Woman Essay examples1400 Words   |  6 PagesMaxine Hong Kingstons No Name Woman A persons identity cannot be given to her, instead a person must achieve a sense of her character through personal experience and self-reflection. In No Name Woman, Maxine Hong Kingston recalls the events of her aunts life in the vague world of her Chinese roots. The story of her aunt is told by her mother and Kingston recreates the events into an exploratory story to help herself figure out what part of her identity is Chinese and help her better understandRead More As an American Chinese Maxine Hong Kingston tries to find out what1596 Words   |  7 PagesAs an American Chinese Maxine Hong Kingston tries to find out what defines her The Search for Human Identity All humans encounter the search for personal identity at some point in life. As an American Chinese Maxine Hong Kingston tries to find out what defines her. Let them be her mother’s traditional world, her new American home, or herself as an individual. Undoubtedly, Maxine is strongly interested in the margins between certainty and falsehood, remembrance and tradition, honestyRead MoreGender Roles in Sandra Cisneros and Maxine Hong Kingstons Books697 Words   |  3 PagesSandra Cisneros and Maxine Hong Kingston: Gender roles Feminism is often spoken of in generic terms, but the novels of the Hispanic-American author Sandra Cisneros and the Chinese-American Maxine Hong Kingston highlight how, even though the oppression of women may be a nearly universal construct, this oppression inevitably takes on very particular forms, depending upon the social, national, and political context of the authors. The authors collective works highlight the struggle of women from historically-discriminatedRead MoreAnalysis Of Maxine Hong Kingston s The Woman Warrior 1547 Words   |  7 PagesKejsi Drenova Paper 2 In The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston makes her narration compelling and relatable to the audience through her unique style of storytelling. The ever-present changes in perspective lead one to see how each event eventually affects Kingston. Her comparison of her life to that of Fa Mu Lan brings out the difficulties in her living in America while her mother had grown up in China. This hero myth allows her to connect to those values that Brave Orchid holds which make herRead More Comparing the Role of the Ghost in Morrisons Beloved and Kingstons No Name Woman972 Words   |  4 PagesThe Symbolic Role of the Ghost in Morrisons Beloved and Kingstons No Name Woman The eponymous ghosts which haunt Toni Morrisons Beloved and Maxine Hong Kingstons No Name Woman (excerpted from The Woman Warrior) embody the consequence of transgressing societal boundaries through adultery and murder. While the wider thematic concerns of both books differ, however both authors use the ghost figure to represent a repressed historical past that is awakened in their narrative retelling of theRead MoreMaxine Hong Kingston s `` No Name Woman ``2210 Words   |  9 PagesBeing an author of several praised works, Maxine Hong Kingston has been deemed a noteworthy American writer since her first book debuted. Her unique style and interesting blend of myth and truth in memoir form garnered her international attention and won her several awards. Kingston’s works have put heavy emphasis on her family history and her experiences as a Chinese-American, so it is no surprise that she has been received well by many and misunderstood by others at the same time. A discussionRe ad MoreEssay on The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston1033 Words   |  5 PagesThe theme of â€Å"voiceless woman† throughout the book â€Å"the woman warrior† is of great importance. Maxine Kingston narrates several stories in which gives clear examples on how woman in her family are diminished and silenced by Chinese culture. The author not only provides a voice for herself but also for other women in her family and in her community that did not had the opportunity to speak out and tell their stories. The author starts the book with the story of her aunt. This story was a well-kept