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More handpicked essays just for you.
Stereotypes of women in literature
Gender stereotypes in literature
The importance of orientalism
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Have you ever judge a book by the cover or made a bad first impression without getting to know the person first? Human beings need to come to the realization that everyone come from different walks of paths. We need to stop labeling people as "the other." No-Name Woman, Kingston 's aunt experienced Edward Said 's concept through the people in her village by them looking at her situation through a one-sided lens. The village that Kington 's family lived in had a preconceive notion on what the people should behave like and adultery was like a sin and a crime no matter of the circumstances. According to Brave, on page 223 "The villagers is always watching." Everyone in the village knows everything that is happening, therefore they know that No-Name …show more content…
Although she got pregnant by someone other than her husband they did not look at the good and joyful moments the child could bring. Having a baby can be stressful, especially being that the village was not doing so great. The baby could have brought guilt, anger, depression, and loneliness to the aunt, family, and village lifestyle because having a baby from someone other than your husband was a disgrace to the village, based on the orientalism of women. Society expected the women to do certain things in the village and to behave a particular way. The author suggests that if her aunt got raped and the rapist was not different from her husband by exploiting "The other man was not, after all, much different from her husband. They both gave orders; she followed. ‘If you tell your family, I 'll beat you. I 'll kill you. Be, here again, next week." In her first version of the story, she says her aunt was a rape victim because "women in the old China did not choose with who they had sex with." She vilifies not only the rapist but all the village men because, she asserts, they victimized women as a rule. The Chinese culture erred the aunt because of her keeping silent, but her fear had to constant and inescapable. This made matters worse because the village was very small and the rapist could have been someone who the aunt dealt with on a daily basis. Maxine suggests that "he may have been a vendor …show more content…
Dead ghost! Ghost! You 've never been born." This was said by the villagers because she and her son, "little ghost" was an outcast. According to traditional Chinese belief a ghost is the spirit form of a person who has died due to misfortune, then comes back for revenge. This theme of judgment got worse because through the concept of orientalism because the aunt was at first considered an outcast and then it got worse and everyone wanted her to become a ghost, to be dead as if she never existed. This was done by the way the citizens viewed the aunt for her "sin". They emphasized her being dead when they raided the home "the people with long hair hung it over their faces." Which is what the Chinese people viewed the ghost as Kingston explains that her aunt drowned her child with her because she knew that her child would grow up to be a pariah and wanted to spare it the shame that had killed her, made her a ghost, even before she died. She could have abandoned her child but in the village culture "mothers who love their children take them along." The protagonist also suggests that the baby was a girl because males were the preferred sex and if it was a male her aunt would have abandoned the baby for the village to take care of
The theme that has been attached to this story is directly relevant to it as depicted by the anonymous letters which the main character is busy writing secretly based on gossip and distributing them to the different houses. Considering that people have an impression of her being a good woman who is quiet and peaceful, it becomes completely unbecoming that she instead engages in very abnormal behavior. What makes it even more terrible is the fact that she uses gossip as the premise for her to propagate her hate messages not only in a single household but across the many different households in the estate where she stays.
... to the husband. Yet the reader is presented with woman Wang, who ran away with another man from her husband, Jen. Some of the reasons of her departure could have been neglect from her husband, that she had bound feet and that she had no children. Her actions contradicted any moral wife at that time. After relentless pursuit of happiness woman Wang returned home, there she met her death. The Legal Code justified certain parameters of vengeance on behave of the husband toward his adulterous wife. Nevertheless, Jen was not allowed by the law to simply slaughter his wife. Moreover Jen accused an innocent Kao, for which Jen could have been sentenced to death. Were woman Wang's actions right is for the reader to decide.
Imagination is a quality that everyone has, but only some are capable of using. Maxine Hong Kingston wrote “No Name Woman” using a great deal of her imagination. She uses this imagination to give a story to a person whose name has been forgotten. A person whose entire life was erased from the family’s history. Her story was not written to amuse or entertain, but rather to share her aunts’ story, a story that no one else would ever share. The use of imagination in Kingston’s creative nonfiction is the foundation of the story. It fills the gaps of reality while creating a perfect path to show respect to Kingston’s aunt, and simultaneously explains her disagreement with the women in her culture.
Kingston’s mother takes many different approaches to reach out to her daughter and explain how important it is to remain abstinent. First, she tells the story of the “No Name Woman”, who is Maxine’s forgotten aunt, “’ Now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her can happen to you. Don’t humiliate us. You wouldn’t like to be forgotten as if you had never been born”’ (5), said Maxine’s mother. Kingston’s aunt was murdered for being involved in this situation. The shame of what Kingston’s aunt brought to the family led them to forget about her. This particular talk-story is a cautionary tale to deter Kingston from having premarital sex and to instill in her fear of death and humiliation if she violates the lesson her mother explained to her. Kingston is able to get pregnant but with the lecture her mother advises her with keeps her obedient. Brave Orchid tells her this story to open her eyes to the ways of Chinese culture. The entire family is affected by one’s actions. She says, “‘Don’t humiliate us’” (5) because the whole village knew about the pregnant aunt and ravaged the family’s land and home because of it. Maxine tries asking her mother in-depth questions about this situation, but her m...
In Maxine Kingston’s “No Name Woman” she retells the story about a tragic past family secret. Kingston reveals the horrible family dishonor of her aunt who committed suicide, and murdered her newborn son, by jumping into the family well in China. She continues to explain her thoughts and emotions evoked from her aunt’s actions. As time passes, Kingston’s opinion and thoughts change and her perspective is altered. Kingston shows an evolutionary change in opinion toward her aunt by explaining her different thoughts in different stages of her life.
In China if you were a "different kind of girl" your family would completely disown you. That 's what happened in Maxine Hong Kingston 's essay "No name Woman". Her aunt, whose name shall never be named violated the norm for women. The aunt 's husband was gone and when he was gone the aunt winded up pregnant and everyone in the village knew it wasn 't her husband 's child. The author believes that her aunt was forced to commit adultery because she writes, "My aunt could not have been the lone romantic who gave up everything for sex.Women in the old China did not choose. Some man had commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil. I wonder whether he masked himself when he joined the raid on her family"(386). Women can be forced to have sex with a man but the women are still at fault. The women get the worse treatment in situations like this while men 's treatment subsides. Maxine Kingston quotes her mother, " Don 't let your father know that I told you. He denies her, Now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you. Don 't humiliate us. You wouldn 't like to be forgotten as if you had never been born. The villagers are watchful"(385). It sees as that the women are the only ones who have to carry this stress of "don’t humiliate the father by going against the standards for women" while men are free to do what they so choose and if they do anything wrong they are soon
As the women narrate the harm caused by men, they lose track of the beings that they once were and become different people in order to cause a reaction in others. These women are hurt in ways that cause them to change their way of living. The Lady in Blue becomes afraid of what others will think of her because a man impregnated her: “i cdnt have people [/] lookin at me [/] pregnant [/] I cdnt have my friends see this” (Shange, Abortion Cycle # 1 Lines 14- 16). Instead of worrying about the life of her child, she worries about how her...
The fact that the fictional mothers and daughters of the story have unhappy marriages creates a common ground on which they can relate. However, marriage has different meanings for each generation in this book. In the mothers’ perspective, marriage is permanent and not always based on love. Especially with their marriages in China, which was a social necessity that they must secretly endure in order to be happ...
Sethe is an extremely devoted mother who is willing to go great lengths to protect her children. Although she cannot even recognize her own mother from anything besides a scar (72) she still understands the importance motherhood can play in a woman’s life. As a slave, Sethe is stripped of her rights to obtain an education, a career and so much more, however, she does not allow her rights to be a wife, a mother, and to bear children get taken from her because she knows these are a few things in life that are only granted to women. When she d...
Deborah Tannen’s essay, “There Is No Unmarked Woman”, explores the idea of “marked” and “unmarked” words, styles, titles, and how females have no ability to choose an unmarked position in life. She posits that “The unmarked forms of most English words also convey ‘male’” (88). Tannen is incorrect in her premises because females are able to choose unmarked hair and clothing styles, men are marked just as often as women, and many unmarked forms of words no longer convey “male.”
ghost come back to life, a random woman who came to fulfill the needs. of the protagonists, and the view of, does it really matter? These possibilities will be discussed throughout the duration of this essay. and it will be left to you to decide what you think. In the support of Beloved actually being the baby ghost re-born, you could use the fact.
Kingston’s “No Name Woman” is a story that revolves around morals, society and family expectations, and women role in society. Kingston writes the story of her aunt that committed suicide in China and she has never heard of until her mother spoke of her once. The purpose of Kingston story is to show women role in China and how women were trap in their society.
It pinpoints out how women were taken as during the 1900’s. The story also highlights the extremes of repression and sexism by viewing the woman as mad by a rest cure. In the view of the Narrators role as a woman, lack of intellectual stimulation in her thought and unjust environment usually led her insane. This points out failure in the society in which sexism and oppression was carried out towards women. An aspect of feminism portrayed by the Narrator in the story is how she tries to dismiss John’s opinions. She repeatedly requests him to relocate her to another room downstairs. This is an aspect of feminism which should be encouraged among women to demand for their freedom. The Narrator takes part in not conquering with John. But as time goes she is less able to feel the usual relief. John rejects the request and replies to her that she must spend in the nursery room which is barred and rings similar to those of dungeon on the walls. She is denied the right to choose what pleases her. Later she comes to like the nursery room where other times she locks herself up to avoid husband’s disturbance upon the story. Also the act of Narrator’s wallpaper routine is a sense of imprisonment. She recognizes that the pattern is so ugly like a cage imprisoning women who are desperately trying to escape. The Narrator figuratively tears the bars and the wallpaper of the cage to clear her way to escape.
Traditional gender roles exist in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, but traditional distribution of power between the genders does not. In analyzing each character and their life, it’s easy to see how Marquez presented each in terms of his own view on gender constructs. Marquez portrays femininity and masculinity very differently. But why would Marquez choose to make such a clear distinction between the roles of each gender? Marquez sees women as spiritual and overpowered by traditional standards, and men doomed by their own obsessions. Men are wily and therefore vulnerable, whereas women are dignified and durable, and survive for much longer.
...n and fertile part of the country was a symbol of the productive part of the woman and the barren part is the symbol of the man who did not want the baby. And the other readers stated that these two different parts of the land were a reflection of the inner part of the woman. The reason for the man not to want a baby was considered as an obstacle for him to travel. It was observed that the woman readers were supporting the woman in the story and the man readers were supporting the man’s part of the argument...