In the novel The Woman Warrior written by Maxine Hong Kingston, we are being told about the stories of five women and their lives. Throughout the novel there is a story told for each of these women. Kingston writes throughout the novel almost exclusively of her own family. Her main focus is on her own mother, Brave Orchid. Kingston originally learnt the tradition of talk story from her mother and she spends most of her time judging the dynamics of each female role in her family. Each story and thoughts that are told are being passed from one generation down to another throughout their family. Kingston learns throughout the novel how to come to terms with each of these stories and she creates memoirs in order to make herself feel better about …show more content…
Fa Mu Lan trains to become a warrior from the age of seven years old. She continues to lead an army of men into battle, pretending to be a man herself. Once the battle is over she returns home to become a wife and a mother. Kingston begins to think about the mythical warrior’s life and how it contrasts with her own. Kingston can’t stand up to her own bosses in America due to their racist beliefs. This is hugely related to the theme of self as listening to this story is helping Kingston grow as a person. She believes if the mythical warrior can pretend to be a man, as women were not allowed to fight, in order to fulfil her hopes and duties then Kingston believes that it may be possible for her to stand her ground too. She soon realises that instead of being at battle with weapons, her weapons soon become her words and this is how she will fight for herself. “The swordswoman and I are not so dissimilar. May my people understand the resemblance soon so that I can return to them. What we have in common are the words at our backs. The idioms for revenge are "report a crime" and "report to five families." The reporting is the vengeance—not the beheading, not the gutting, but the words. And I have so many words—"chink" words and "gook" words too—that they do not fit on my skin.” This also relates to the theme of society as Fa Mu Lan has to pretend to be a man in order to lead them into battle. She had to go to extreme lengths and continue to change her whole identity in order to fight for her country. This shows that the society had very strict rules on gender roles that weren’t to be crossed. Heather Lindskold, owner of ‘between the covers blog’, stated that “When Kingston tells us the story of the legendary woman warrior, Fa Mu Lan (Hua Mulan), she does so in the first person, as though Kingston is the woman warrior in the story. Throughout the book, we learn that each
The Warriors Ethos is a book written by Steven Pressfield, which was published in 2011. The book highlights a very rich history of warriors and their supporters alike. My goal with this paper is to draw some parallels between the examples in the book and what I took away as applicable to our lives as infantrymen In the United States Marine Corps. Chapter one is named “ Tough Mothers “. The chapter that stuck out to me most for giving perspective that I lacked prior to reading this book.
The story is a first-person story that is narrated by Sonny ‘s brother who provides not only insight into their lives, but also the environment they lived in. The narrator addresses their storyline including the dark sides of his community although he does so with a lot of cautious. With the manner in which the narrator is narrating the story, it is clear that he has got some difficult time when he is expressing his ideas and emotions. The narrator writes after the death of her daughter where he is writing back to his brother.
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.
They will read about how much Saya misses her mother and how difficult it is for them to communicate. Students can also see how Saya’s father persevered and did not give up on trying to get the story of Saya’s mother to the public through writing letters. Students can learn about the importance of speaking up and not staying silent, since Saya’s letter led to giving her mother’s case coverage and eventually having her mother released from the corrections facility. I do believe there are multiple things that students can learn by using this book, and that an activity on storytelling and writing letters can be used in a lesson plan with the
First Generations: Women of Colonial America, written by Carol Berkin, is a novel that took ten years to make. Carol Berkin received her B.A. from Barnard College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. She has worked as a consultant on PBS and History Channel documentaries. Berkin has written several books on the topic of women in America. Some of her publications include: Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence (2004) and Civil War Wives: The Life and Times of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis, and Julia Dent Grant (2009).
“Her actions remind me that, even under unbearable circumstances, one can still believe in justice,” in David Henry Hwang’s foreword, in Ji-Li Jiang’s memoir Red Scarf Girl, commemorated even during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution anyone can overcome adversity (9). Ji-Li Jiang was a young teenager at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, and living through a very political time in China’s history made Ji-Li into the person she is today. Ji-Li’s intelligence, her choices, and family devotion made her into the headstrong and successful person she is today. Even when Ji-li thought she was unintelligent, others saw she was wise. There were many moments when Ji-Li was reminded she was very smart.
The narrator starts the story off by reflecting back to when Sonny was a young boy. He then compares his students to Sonny and realizes they could end up like him one day. For that reason, the narrator starts to doubt his
With Fanny’s narration, readers dove into the McCoy life and learned peculiar family facts such as Ma’s vengeful religion. For example, Ma would “put the pebbles of everybody she prayed for” (4) by her tree stump. Through Fanny’s narration, readers learned about the McCoys and were not given an insight of the Hatfields. Hatred between the families did not start from birth, and in this case it stemmed from the actions between them. Naturally, Fanny was taught to dislike the Hatfield folk, so readers merely knew what Fanny thought of them.
Jiacheng Liu Final paper (a)summary Citizen Barlow a young African-American, arrives in Pittsburgh and is part of the freed slaves. While working at the local mill, Citizen steals a can of nails. Another man is accused and choose suicide rather than face arrest and a life in which it is unfairly identified as a thief. Citizen wants to redeem his guilt for causing the death of one person and looking at Aunt Ester, whose healing powers are legendary. A 285-year-old aunt Esther lives in a house with Eli, his friend and protector, and Black Maria, a young woman wearing the clothes for a living and who Aunt Esther hopes to pass his powers.
Kidd uses the characterization of Lily, T. Ray, May, and Deborah to demonstrate the theme that people’s lives are more complex than they appear. By using these characters, Kidd demonstrates how judgements are made about people based on their actions. People don’t always think about how a person really feels on the inside and they do not know about everything that goes on in their head. This is a theme that is significant to the world at any time period because everyone can relate to it. Therefore, the theme of this story is significant in people’s lives
It was there morbidity. This was the real issue between us as it had been between her and my father,”(45). James’s mother is desperate to cure her son of his lies, so much as she doesn’t realize that she is hurting him. James’s mother is distraught and is upset with the fact that he is an outsider and unlike his other siblings. Because his mother does not understand his problem James is yearning to get away from her and find out who he can be without being under the influence of her.
This is significant because the character with the biggest change only speaks twice and is barely represented in the story. The character that goes through this is the daughter figure she goes from unknowing to knowing, this was achieved through repetition. Repetition plays a very key role in this story because it reapplies it and it forces you to engage with the material again. To be honest, this story exemplifies the teaching methods of America. Jamaica formulated a strong tone, and presented it in
This paper will discuss the well-published work of, Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. New York: Schocken, 1975. Print. Sarah B. Pomeroy uses this book to educate others about the role women have played throughout ancient history. Pomeroy uses a timeline to go through each role, starting with mythological women, who were called Goddesses.
During the novel the reader can notice that there are copious different lessons the characters learned. The principle theme in the novel is that love and forgiveness are essential aspects in a family. The ending of the book seemed quite sudden and leaves you asking a great deal of questions. What happens
In fiction, the narrator controls how the audience connects to and perceives the various characters in a story. A good author can manipulate the narration to connect the audience to certain characters and deepen the reader’s understanding of their conflicts. In “Previous Condition” and “Sonny’s Blues,” James Baldwin illustrates themes of loneliness and isolation in the pursuit of finding a space that feels like home. Although this theme is clear in both stories, Baldwin is able to portray it very differently in each story through the relationship he allows the reader to the characters struggling with these feelings. While “Previous Condition” provides a more intimate relationship to the narrator, “Sonny’s Blues” is able to deliver an additional level of understanding by telling the story through Sonny’s brother, therefore disconnecting the reader in a way that forces him or her to share the characters’ feelings of isolation and confusion.