Analysis Of Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior

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“Daring” (166) and “noisy” (166) personalities are of high value in the United States. By sharp contrast, the expectation of silence and secrecy govern Chinese culture. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s memoir entitled The Woman Warrior, Kingston illustrates a childhood spent caught in between the two dissenting communities; one of solid America, and the other of the invisible world of stories her family knows and retells. The author uses the two sets of imposing values to show that those faced with harshly outlined societal expectations often grapple with developing an individual voice, causing internalized discontent. This struggle eventually brings a reconciling of the established societies, and a discovery of their own powers of expression. In …show more content…

As Maxine Hong Kingston plays after school with the silent Chinese girl, their innocent games turn to vindictive bullying as Maxine aims to physically force the girl to speak. Finally, “sounds did come out of her mouth, sobs, chokes, noises that were almost words” (178). The word “almost” implies an in between area, something that is neither this nor that. For the author, this lack of distinction symbolises her own ambiguity in terms of her place in two separate communities, and consequently also embodies her search for a resolution to the duality of her identity. The clash of customs that controls her, ultimately causes a violent response portrayed through the tormenting of the quintessential Asian girl. The harassment of the silent girl reflects the surfacing of Maxine’s internalized rejection of the hold both cultures have on her. For the author, the other girl epitomizes all that she abhors about Chinese culture; the way the Chinese appreciate the silence, and the secrecy that it maintains. Not only that, her softer, quieter peer also delineates all that she resents about herself, especially her inability to conform to what she believes to be, the more powerful American society, despite her best efforts at speaking louder. Susan Cain corroborates the narrator’s needing to adapt without the obstruction of “a double consciousness- part Asian and part American- with each side calling the other into question” (Cain 198). Maxine Hong Kingston’s desire to satisfy the warring sides of her personality manifests in the attack on the mute girl, revealing that the weight of a collective’s standards ultimately culminates in a direct challenge of the restraints placed on

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