How important is your name? In “No Name Woman” by Susan G Kingston she talks about her nameless aunt who has committed adultery and is forgotten because of it. Chinese culture is very strict and non-forgiving it caused this woman to commit suicide along with her new born child because she couldn’t take the torture of living and constantly being judged for a possible mistake. This world that Kingston lived in names were like a privilege. If you did something to distort the Chinese culture your family along with the outsiders would forget you like you never existed. Names are very important to every individual because it’s nothing like having your own identity to separate you from everyone else and it gives a way to directly remember a person. The story is called “No Name Woman” (221 Kingston) for the reason that the author’s aunt identity was taken from her for committing adultery. Women in the world that Kingston lived in had to be civilized and were not able to have their own opinion about things. These women in my opinion didn’t have much freedom they were always expected to do certain things and to be a certain way. Since things were so uniform when women did do things out of the ordinary it was a very big deal to their population and surrounding. Understanding the Chinese culture was confusing for Kingston. “Chinese-Americans, when you try to understand what things in you are Chinese , how do you separate what is peculiar to childhood, to poverty, insanities, one family, your mother who marked your growing with stories, from what is Chinese? What is Chinese tradition and what is the movies?” (Kingston 223). Kingston questions her tradition and she doesn’t seem very sure what it is. She questions whether what her mother did by... ... middle of paper ... ...d her mistakes as well as her families. Kingston could be her aunt’s “substitute” (233) because just like her aunt made a horrible mistake of committing adultery, Kingston did also by betraying her mother’s guidelines of keeping the story a secret. Kingston made multiple books about her aunt and her secrets the one thing that her mother asked her not to do was not to tell anyone and she did it anyway. Kingston did it because she didn’t want he aunts ghost to haunt her. There will always be a substitute the nameless woman won’t be the last person to not be able to abide by the Chinese traditions. Her aunt will always be the nameless woman because Kingston never found out her aunt’s name. People should have to live under such strict rules because they are bound to be broken by someone. People should also be forgiven and not taken to the extremes of forgetting someone.
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
names are prevented from being able to reassimilate within society, they are the outcasts. It also
One justifiable meaning of a name is the fact that it changes a person's self esteem.For example, in "Excerpt from Beans Trees" by Barabara Kingsolver, the main character shows emotion on how she wanted to change ,and in the
Their selection of new names are hiding their past, but at the same time, representative of their future. Similarly, my great aunt’s name had an impact upon her life, as well as others. My great aunt, Ilene, had decided to change her name to Elizabeth, after graduating from William and Mary College as a English History major. My great aunt’s many family members thought this was an odd and irrational decision to suddenly change her name. Since she is an English History major and a great admirer of Queen Elizabeth I, my great aunt desired a unique name that reflects her love for the subject of her future. After careful thought, my family had come to realize how this choice is important to her new identity. My name also has a meaningful impact upon my life. My middle name, Christine, is connected to my grandmother’s first name. My mother chose the name Christine to honor my Grandmother, whom she strives to model each day, as do I. I am very blessed to have inherited her name and hope someday to obtain my grandmother’s courage, hospitality, wisdom, and kindness. In conclusion, a name defines who a person is and helps create the identity of a human being, which can influence how he or she is perceived by others. A name can never be taken away from oneself or others. If human beings did not have their own names, they are no longer individually unique.
In the beginning of the first chapter, Kingston has made the theme of the book very clear: Chinese women are voiceless. It is notably ironic that the story begins with something that is supposed not to be said: her unnamed dead aunt: "`You must not tell anybody about that', said my mother." (1) From a Chinese's perspective, adultery is an awful thing that should not be mentioned because it is considered a shame of the family. Any woman who commits adultery must be her fault. However, Kingston does not agree on that. In fact, she even shows sympathy to her aunt. "The [aunt's] real punishment was not the raid swiftly inflicted by the villagers, but the family's deliberately forgetting her. . . . My aunt haunts me--her ghost drawn to me because now, after fifty years of neglect, I alone devote pages of paper to her." She felt that her aunt who became pregnant other than her husband might only was a mistake. Her tragedy happened was due to the Chinese tradition. Kingston believes that Chinese women become voiceless in a traditional, male dominated Chinese society is not be...
In conclusion, Chinese cultures prohibition is seen, by observing the relationship expectations, education, and gender roles and jobs. The Chinese culture needs to be more cultivated as it constricts the newer generation’s capability in Canada. In Wayson Choy’s book The Jade of Peony, he describes the struggles of a immigrated Chinese family, as they try to follow two cultures to adjust in a new country like Canada, but still hang on to the old traditions of China, the kids of the family struggled as they tried to follow these two cultures. We have all been in a similar situation where we have immigrated to a new country to seek a better future where we have a better lifestyle and education, to help our family grow.
This is evident in the persistence of elderly characters, such as Grandmother Poh-Poh, who instigate the old Chinese culture to avoid the younger children from following different traditions. As well, the Chinese Canadians look to the Vancouver heritage community known as Chinatown to maintain their identity using on their historical past, beliefs, and traditions. The novel uniquely “encodes stories about their origins, its inhabitants, and the broader society in which they are set,” (S. Source 1) to teach for future generations. In conclusion, this influential novel discusses the ability for many characters to sustain one sole
At first, Ji-li thought she was the luckiest girl in the world. She came from a very wealthy, loving, respected, and dependable family. In growing up in such was so was she too, “I was happy because I was able to excel and always expected to succeed. I was trusting, too. I never doubted what I was told…”(Jiang 1). The way Ji-li felt towards her family, proving that is the kind of family is everything Ji-li wanted. It is important for her, so then she can feel comfortable, then the family dynamics changed. Ji-li’s relationship has changed due to the Cultural Revolution, because when the change started to happen, she was okay. Ji-li then hated her family’s guts and background; near the end of the book. Ji-li feeling’s toward her family was unbreakable or even strengthened more than ever, and never went away. “… I would never do anything to hurt my family, and I would do everything I could do to take care of them. My family was too precious to forget, and too rare to replace.” ( Jiang 262-263). The importance that she will never abounded her family even in the most difficult times in her life. The reason the change occurred was Ji-li knew she could change her name, but she will always be a Jiang. She could also never leave the best thing in her life. Ji-li had other problems in her life as well, besides her family, there were her friends. Well
Oftentimes the children of immigrants to the United States lose the sense of cultural background in which their parents had tried so desperately to instill within them. According to Walter Shear, “It is an unseen terror that runs through both the distinct social spectrum experienced by the mothers in China and the lack of such social definition in the daughters’ lives.” This “unseen terror” is portrayed in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club as four Chinese women and their American-born daughters struggle to understand one another’s culture and values. The second-generation women in The Joy Luck Club prove to lose their sense of Chinese values, becoming Americanized.
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.
There are still families that are respected because of their legacy. For instance, the Kennedy’s were already a prominent family in society before John F Kennedy became president. Other prominent family names include Hilton, Gates, Booth, and Pinckney because of the histories and wealth associated with these families. This way, people are still born with a certain level of honor and prestige based on the family name they carry. Even on a local level, families carry reputations of having certain traits. Before meeting a Falls, one may expect to encounter a calm, reserved, intelligent person because those are traits associated with the Falls name. On a personal level, a person’s name still holds keys to a story. Public records are kept on everyone. A skilled researcher could uncover a person 's past simply by researching a name because that name carries a story. Anything a person does, whether good or bad, is associated with a name. Sometimes people to form opinions on someone based on a person’s name because the name alone tells a story. Modern cultures may view names casually, but they still carry power
That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet” (Shakespeare). Aname holds so much uniqueness and so many connotations whether positive or negative. Your name is one of the big factors that makes a person an individual as well as very self confident. Unfortunately as i’ve said before women were stripped of their names which played a huge part in losing a part of who they were. A quote that displays personality is when offred gets in the car that Saturday morning in September and she says “My name isn’t Offred, I have another name, which nobody ever uses now because it is forbidden. I tell myself it doesn’t matter, your name is like your telephone number, useful only to others; but what I tell myself is wrong, it does matter” (Atwood, 84). This shows a different personality because of the role that she has in society her name was changed to represent property to Fred. This displays a different personality because she doesn't like her name and struggles with Emotional Labor, she has to subside her emotions and feelings of wanting to be addressed and use her real name but has to be obedient and follow the rules of society but referring back to Shakespeare and the quote, when Offred is called anything other than what her real name she knows that it’s not the “Real” her rather it is the person who society enforced a role upon and molded her to be society expects her to
Gish Jen’s “Who’s Irish?” explores a Chinese grandmother’s thoughts and beliefs about her ethnically integrated family. The grandmother tells the story as though she is looking back on past events and thinking about how they have affected her present life. As her tale begins, she identifies her granddaughter, Sophie, as a wild three-year-old (161). Perhaps the grandmother associates with Sophie’s strong will, because she reveals her own intense nature when she says, “I am hard work my whole life, and fierce besides.” (161). Jen provides an immediate glimpse into the grandmother’s true character that remains constant. As the grandmother recounts her time living with her daughter, Natalie, while babysitting Sophie six hours every day, she gives numerous examples of her fervent beliefs about the roles that members of a family should play. Ultimately, it is the ethnic differences that occur between their generations that divide the Chinese grandmother and Natalie, even though they share the same race.
Lindo Jong provides the reader with a summary of her difficulty in passing along the Chinese culture to her daughter: “I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix? I taught her how American circumstances work. If you are born poor here, it's no lasting shame . . . You do not have to sit like a Buddha under a tree letting pigeons drop their dirty business on your head . . . In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. . . . but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character . . . How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best”(Tan 289).
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