The Woman Warrior And Junot Diaz's Drown

“No Name Women” from The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston and Junot Diaz “Drown” has a few themes that are similar. There is that of poverty, silence, race, traditions just to name a few. Going more in depth on two one is that of family. In Kingston’s The Woman
Warrior she focuses mostly of her mother, whom she learned her cultural traditions. Kingston writes of the dynamics that the female roles have in the family: mother/daughter, aunt/niece. She speaks about what it means to be a family and how one person debts are passed down from generation to generation as Kingston states here, “ ‘…what happen to her could happen to you. Don’t humiliate us.’” (1508) Where as in Junot Diaz’s “Drown” the son, in the story expresses how his father walked out on him and his mother and how he takes care of her. By giving her money to pay bills, walks her through bad neighborhoods ensuring her safety even to the point of protecting her from the hurt of his father when they speak on the phone. His mother is a main stable in his life she is all he really has. By witnessing his mother and father’s emotionally abusive relationship, the boy became very protective of his mother.

Secondly, sexuality In The Woman Warrior, this theme is speaking about it in two ways, becoming of age when the girl in the writing starts her cycle into women hood.

This time in her life brought on the talk of adultery by her mother. Her aunt shamed the family on becoming pregnant by her husband, but the town folks and her family felt as if she betrayed him because they felt there was no way for this child to be his because he was away in America. In “Drown” Diaz shows the theme of sexuality for example where he states in these line “We sat in front of his television, in our towels, his hands bracing against my abdomen and thighs.” (1672) I believe the young man tries to find himself in part of the story. He is trying to prove to himself not his homosexuality but that of his

masculinity.
There are many ideas or thoughts one can gather from these two pieces. The similarities are there and so are the differences. Differences such as masculinity verses felinity or race, drugs, poverty. Nevertheless the overall experiences that both these characters have shown the struggles of growing up in their families following the traditions and respect for family are very much similar. Both of these works define American Literature showing relationships among emigration experience, ethnic history in America, and a type of writing.