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A critical note on the theme of mother - daughter relationship in Maxine Hong Kingston' s the woman warrior
The woman warrior analysis
1 pages in the women warrior by maxine hong kingston
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Recommended: A critical note on the theme of mother - daughter relationship in Maxine Hong Kingston' s the woman warrior
Quest for Identity in Maxine Hong Kingston's Autobiography, The Woman Warrior
Maxine Hong Kingston's autobiography, The Woman Warrior, features a young Chinese-American constantly searching for "an unusual bird" that would serve as her impeccable guide on her quest for individuality (49). Instead of the flawless guide she seeks, Kingston develops under the influence of other teachers who either seem more fallible or less realistic. Dependent upon their guidance, she grows under the influence of American and Chinese schools and the role models of Brave Orchid, Fa Mu Lan, and Moon Orchid. Her education by these counselors consequently causes her to abandon her search for an escort, the bird to be found somewhere in the measureless sky, and she begins to look inside herself for "the ideograph 'to fly'" (Kingston 35). The new song Kingston finally creates with her "talk story" of Ts'ai Yen, verifies her optimistic distinction from her educators, cultural norms, which have indoctrinated and restricted her childhood.
During much of her childhood, Kingston goes to the "American School" during the day and the "Chinese School" in the evening as she filters the conflicting material given in each of these environments to determine what works in her Chinese-American life. In attending the American school, Kingston discovers American ideologies of loquaciousness and arrogance. From the influence of their American schoolmates Kingston and her siblings "never said, 'Oh, no, you're too kind. . . . I'm stupid. I'm ugly.' They were capable children. . . . But they were not modest" (Kingston 134). The children expected their Chinese parents to join in their arrogance, and Kingston proudly tells her mother, "I got straight A's, Mama" (45). H...
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...d not the measureless sky, her voice begins to sing a distinctly Chinese-American song. Kingston sings just as Ts'ai Yen "sang about China and her family . . . [from] savage lands," and speaking of her newly found identity, established in America but conceived in China, Kingston decides, "It translated well" (Kingston 209).
Works Cited
Hunt, Linda. "'I Could Not Figure Out What Was My Village': Gender Vs. Ethnicity in Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior." Melus 12.3 (1985): 5-12.
Kingston, Maxine. The Woman Warrior. New York: Vintage Books,1989.
Ling, Amy. "Maxine Hong Kingston and the Dialogic Dilemma of Asian American Writers." Ideas of Home: Literature of Asian Migration. Ed. Geoffrey Kain. East Lansing: Michigan SUP, 1997. 141-56.
Wang, Veronica. "Reality and Fantasy: The Chinese-American Woman's Quest for Identity." Melus 12.3 (1985): 23-31.
Tachiki, Amy; Wong, Eddie; Odo, Franklin, eds. (1971). Roots: An Asian American Reader. University of California, Los Angeles Press.
He, Qiang Shan. "Chinese-American Literature." New Immigrant Literatures in the United States: A Sourcebook to Our Multicultural Literary Heritage. Ed. Alpana Sharma Knippling. WEstport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996. 44-65.
“Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on. She tested our strengths to establish realities”(5). In the book “The Woman Warrior,” Maxine Kingston is most interested in finding out about Chinese culture and history and relating them to her emerging American sense of self. One of the main ways she does so is listening to her mother’s talk-stories about the family’s Chinese past and applying them to her life.
Woan, Sunny. "Interview with Gene Yang American Born Chinese." Kartika Review - an Asian American Literary Journal. Kartika. Web. 25 July 2011. .
“The minute our train leaves the Hong Kong border and enters Shenzhen, China, I feel different. I can feel the skin on my forehead tingling, my blood rushing through a new course, my bones aching with a familiar old pain. And I think, my mother was right. I am becoming Chinese. (179). In the story A Pair of Tickets by Amy Tan, the protagonist character, Jing-mei, finds herself in several difficult situations due to how her social and cultural upbringing has shaped her. She finds herself pulled between her Chinese DNA and her American background. While she was raised being told that she was Chinese and “it’s in her blood”, she does not identify as such, because she grew up in America and only sees herself as an American. After her mother’s passing,
Similarly, Wong also grew up in America with a traditional Chinese mother. In contrast, Wong’s upbringing involves her mother forcing her into attending two different schools. After her American school day, Wong continues on with Chinese school to learn both cultures. Her mother felt it was her duty to “[. . .] learn the language of [her] heritage” (Wong 144). This puts a burden on Wong as she starts to despise the Chinese culture.
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.
...in her essay “No Name Woman”. The Chinese tradition of story telling is kept by Kingston in her books. Becoming Americanized allowed these women the freedom to show their rebellious side and make their own choices. Rebelling against the ideals of their culture but at the same time preserving some of the heritage they grew up with. Both woman overcame many obstacles and broke free of old cultural ways which allowed them an identity in a new culture. But most importantly they were able to find identity while preserving cultural heritage.
The second and third sections are about the daughters' lives, and the vignettes in each section trace their personality growth and development. Through the eyes of the daughters, we can also see the continuation of the mothers' stories, how they learned to cope in America. In these sections, Amy Tan explores the difficulties in growing up as a Chinese-American and the problems assimilating into modern society. The Chinese-American daughters try their best to become "Americanized," at the same time casting off their heritage while their mothers watch on, dismayed. Social pressures to become like everyone else, and not to be different are what motivate the daughters to resent their nationality. This was a greater problem for Chinese-American daughters that grew up in the 50's, when it was not well accepted to be of an "ethnic" background.
Eating is vitally important in the memoir The Woman Warrior. It is regarded as a sign of strength in the book. That point is shown through Fa-Mu-Lan, the story of heroes, and through relatives in China. With those, Kingston became educated in two differing cultures, possibly influenced by both. The connection between hunger and strength is well known throughout the ages, as the old military adage states, 'An Army marches on its stomach.';
Many of the early immigrants that desired to come to the United States possessed skills that helped shape our great nation. When the first wave of immigrants to the United States came via Ellis Island, they were primarily from Europe and came with skills that helped build America. Some were tradesman, seamstress my architects, etc. Steve Malanga a Senior Editor for City Journal (New York) and accomplished writer noted that “Though fleeing persecution or economic stagnation in their homelands, that era's immigrants brought important skills that fit easily into the American economy and helped supercharge the work force” (1). Today’s massive waves of illega...
Though Maxine was quiet in American school, it didn’t mean that she was quiet in Chinese school which started after American school at 5:00pm and ended at 7:30pm. This was her escape from English where most of the kids, including a couple of Negro kids that enrolled, could talk, shout, sing, chant, and joke around without the fear of embarrassment. Children were allowed to do whatever they wished during recess. Chinese school was where the well-behaved boys in American school played tricks on girls, and where the girls had fistfights during recess because there were no rules. They played dangerous games in dangerous areas of the school and even wandered off into the city while the teachers sat in the classrooms and “drank tea and warmed their hands at a stove” (425).
The United States was established by immigrants and is still dependent among them; the unfairness towards immigrants is not what the United States was established for— “promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty” is what is stated in the constitution— the government is disregarding a central contribution to the economy, rather than accommodating their needs. Since the early years of America, the country has been known as the “land of opportunity”, with the promise of jobs, land and freedom from persecution. In the nineteenth century the English boarded the Mayflower destined to a country where an individual could commence a new life with an equal chance of success or failure, no matter what country he or she came from (Ewig, 2012). The nineteenth century immigrant view of the United States has not changed much in twenty first century; America is still seen as “the land of opportunity”, however entering the country and becoming a citizen has amount to be more difficult now; laws and bills have been enacted to regul...
June-May fulfills her mother’s name and life goal, her long-cherished wish. She finally meets her twin sisters and in an essence fulfills and reunites her mother with her daughter through her. For when they are all together they are one; they are their mother. It is here that June-May fulfills the family portion of her Chinese culture of family. In addition, she fully embraces herself as Chinese. She realizes that family is made out of love and that family is the key to being Chinese. “And now I also see what part of me is Chinese. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is in our blood.” (Tan 159). Finally, her mother’s life burden is lifted and June-May’s doubts of being Chinese are set aside or as she says “After all these years, it can finally be let go,” (Tan 159).
There are many kinds of air pollution. The ones I want to talk about are the ozone, acid rain, carbon monoxide and toxic air contaminants. Ozone is formed when hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide react in sunlight. Therefore, ozone is at its peak during hot summer days. Exposure to high levels of ozone can have serious consequences on your health. It can cause respiratory disease, loss of pulmonary elasticity, and premature aging of our lungs. Next, is acid rain, which occurs in the atmosphere in the form of sulfur and nitrogen oxide. These pollutants can have serious damaging affects on aquatic, forest and wildlife ecosystems, as well as deterioration of buildings. Carbon monoxide is another form of pollution. It reduces the blood?s ability to carry oxygen. If a human is exposed to higher levels, it can cause chest pains, angina attacks or even death.