Ruisha Yang
The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
“I refused to cook. When I had to wash dishes, I would crack one or two. ‘Bad girl,’ my mother yelled, and sometimes that made me gloat rather than cry. Isn’t a bad girl almost a boy?”(Kingston 47). By simply isolating the quote from the content, it seems to be describing a lazy teenage girl who’s in denial of doing chores and feeling proud of doing so. However, reading the quote in relation to the novel allows me to discover a different meaning behind the bear text to better understand the story.
Following the “No Name Woman,” Kingston continues her search for her voice and her Chinese-American identity. She reveals the protagonist’s childhood fantasy of living the life of Fa Mu Lan, the woman warrior—one of many talk-stories Kingston heard while growing up. I’ve read various versions of Fa Mu Lan, but the one described in the story has a distinctive plot. Instead of a delighted ending where she had a family, others ended dreadfully that she committed suicides. The story of Fa Mu Lan provided an alternative sense to the Chinese traditional beliefs and the low, degrading status for women in society. The protagonist is trying to find answers from listening to the heroic struggles of Fa Mu Lan to improve upon her current Chinese- American life. According to the quote, she is unwilling to do chores and breaking dishes purposefully while washing them.
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In the beginning, I mentioned my interpretation of the quote given in the real world and accordingly I made assumptions that it was referring to a lazy teenage girl. On the other hand, in the story it’s more complex as it alludes to the protagonist and her actions, reflections upon the life of Fa Mu Lan. I was giving it a certain kind of attention by engaging my mind in the story. I was able to understand the context of the quote with a matter of
Courage is well processed throughout the novel “The Princess Bride”. “I love you”. Buttercup had fallen in love with the castle’s farm boy, Westley. When she confronted Westley about her love for him, he slammed the door right in her face. Heartbroken, she sprinted to her room and sobbed till every tear she had was no more.
The book goes into detail on how the Hmong felt like fishes out of water. An example of this is when Fadiman describes the idea of role lost. In Laos the role system used to go Grandfather is the most important and is obeyed by father, who is obeyed by his wife, who is obeyed by her children, and younger children obey their older siblings. But Fadiman described what happens to a lot of Hmong families when they come to America, “Grandfather has no job.
“ Do you have those papers done that you were suppose to work on for our project”? I asked Gina, She looked at me and said “ no I had to go shopping, get my hair done, and I did not feel good”. I was talking to her and all she wanted to do was talk about herself. By ignoring me and only talking about herself Gina and not caring about anything but herself Gina was being self centered.
This story that Suyuan Woo tells her daughter shows how deeply the Japanese invasion of China affected the identity of many Chinese people. They were forced to flee their homes and their lives with only a few of their valuables, but eventually they had to give up those up too. Those few items were all that they had left to define themselves and remind them who they were so when they lost them they lost a significant part of who they were. Suyuan Woo lost more than just her past identity, she actually had to leave her twin babies on the side of the road in the hopes that someone could save them. This shaped her identity because throughout the remainder of her life she had to wonder if leaving them behind was the right choice and if they were
The great Richard Bach once said “Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness. Listen to it carefully.” Often people overlook the fact that their conscience is telling them that they are selfish, but it is up to them to fix it. In his novel, The Wednesday wars, Gary Schmidt highlights the dangers of being selfish and self-centered through the changes of Holling Hoodhood.
Not much is known about the author or year of compilation of The Tales of the Heike, a medieval Japanese epic, but it can be agreed upon that it was compiled prior to 1330. The Tales of the Heike discusses the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the Genpei War. Throughout the text, there are various instances and examples of honor within the samurai society. It was important for samurai to not only show honor on the battlefield to gain prestige and monetary rewards, but also to protect said honor against attacks. These shows of honor allowed samurai to gain social prominence in their regions and with their lords, which was another reason why it was important for samurai to not show cowardice.
Maxine Hong Kingston's use of talk stories in The Woman Warrior emphasizes that individuals will find a more fulfilling life if they defy the traditional gender norms place on them by society. While contemplating beauty standards in Chinese society in “No Name Woman” Maxine Kingston thinks, “Sister used to sit on their beds and cry together… as their mothers or their slaves removed the bandages for a few minutes each night and let the blood gush back into their veins” (9). From a young age girls are expected to be binding their feet and are told that it is to look beautiful, but in reality that is not why. When a womans feet are bound they are restrained and silenced. These girls could be free and happy but they are restrained by men through this binding.
Did you know it took 70 years for women to get woman’s right? Women's rights is a big deal now. In the book “Anthem” by Ayn Rand she is very degrading to women. Rand is making women’s rights almost nothing in this book.
To be true to herself she feels that she must represent both women and not drift to either side. In lines 53 and 54 Song says, “You find you need China: your one fragile identification.” That explains how delicate of a situation it is not to leave her culture behind. Though emotional freedom brings strength, cultural heritage is a source of freedom, because acceptance of culture is a release and freedom is
Throughout the story, Jem (taken from the word gem meaning a cherished and prized person) is used by Harper Lee as a representation of courage. In the beginning, Jem’s first act of courage occurs when Jem accepts Dill’s provocation to go and touch the Radley house. In the story, Scout says, “In all his life, Jem has never declined a dare” (Lee 16). This quote shows how Jem would never demur any sort of challenge, even if it involved stupid or childish acts like going to a forbidden place. Scout also shows how Jem even accepted a dare from her to jump off the roof of the house as a kid.
It came to dominate my understanding of the discussion on the social and historical scene and to restrict my ability to participate in that discussion.(444) If we go back and use the reference again of the electronic tool we can see the struggle of being at home and communicating with her family and having an influence of capitalistic viewpoints and living the life of a capitalist, then immediately having to communicate in a different language at school and being surrounded by socialistic views and living the life of a socialist. Her thoughts were constantly flip-flopping and this became very frustrating for her. If we bring all these struggles into one main purpose, Min-Zhan Lu’s mother falls into silence two months before her death and Min-Zhan Lu attempts to “fill up that silence with words that I have since come to by reflecting on my earlier experience as a student in China.(437) The struggles that she faced growing up in China as a student and her past experiences have really helped her overcome life obstacles and develop her as a better reader and writer.
Shannon Ross K. Miller ENG4UI - P4 20 January, 2023 Selecting The Villain: A Patriarchal Bias "You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur. " - Margaret Atwood. This quote addresses the unconscious response of women to conform to the male gaze without their knowledge or consent. As a result, women monitor themselves constantly and treat others based on a patriarchal view they are often unaware they employ.
Choosing between what is moral and choosing what is right for the nation can be two quite different decisions. In the graphic novels, Boxer and Saints, Gene Luen Yang writes and illustrates the experiences that two different Chinese people have during the Boxer’s rebellion. In the Boxer’s novel, Bao is a leader of the Big Sword Society that will lead them to rebel against the foreigners who he believes is making China evil. Through the perspective of Bao, Gene Luen Yang questions should one be willing to put aside personal autonomy to defend their national identity.
In the words of Jing-Mei in the last line of the story, “Together we look like our mother. Her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish” (Tan 159). Throughout her life, Suyuan, their mother, held onto the hope that she would see her daughters again. In this hope, she named Jing-Mei in connection to her sisters, keeping the “long-cherished wish” that someday her daughters would reconcile and complete their family circle. The occasion that
The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston addresses prevalent topics faced in America today. How should women act? Should women be treated differently from men? In her memoir, Kingston faces many obstacles with her Chinese-American identity such as finding her voice as a young woman. In “White Tigers,” Kingston tells her own version of a popular Chinese ballad, “Fa Mu Lan,” while incorporating her own reality back into the section.