The Woman Warrior Cultural Analysis

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston displays the battle Kingston faces between Chinese and American cultures. Growing up in San Francisco to a family of Chinese immigrants, Kingston wants to break free from the standards imposed on her by her family. Surrounded by stereotypes and expectations, Kingston finds it difficult to accept both her Chinese and American cultures, but does. Like Kingston, I am born to a family of immigrants who hold their own beliefs and I have to balance between both my household culture and American culture.
My dad was the first person from my family to come to America. Only after raising his own family up in America did he begin to bring over my aunts, uncles, and grandparents. My relatives were perplexed by

many American components such as my and my older brother’s actions. Like my relatives, Moon Orchid takes a while to adjust and realizes many things like how different the children are in America. My grandma and aunts would always ask what I was doing and followed me around which got on my nerve a lot. Moon Orchid performs the same action only to get resentment from her nephews and nieces. She criticises the kids for not being demure, respectful, and humble. She dislikes how they stare at her and how they always accept compliments. My aunts would compliment my older brother and me whenever they saw our awards and learned of our averages. I always responded with a thank you, similar to how the kids in Brave Orchid’s household answered. I didn’t really care about their compliment, but I responded with a thank you because it was polite. I feel like Moon Orchid’s interpretation of the children’s thanks you’s differ from how they see it. They have no reason to be modest in front of a family member, especially one they yell at a lot. The children might be brushing the compliment off with a thank you and not even care since Brave Orchid forces them to say good morning to Moon Orchid everyday. My mom forces me to greet family and elders with “Assalamualaikum” (“May peace be upon you” in Arabic) everyday even though I want nothing to do with them most of the time.
My cousin, Akhter, got married in Bangladesh and came to America without his wife. When I read the part in White Tiger when Moon Orchid confronted her husband, I thought of Akhter a lot. Like Moon Orchid’s husband, Akhter “turned into a different person. The new life around me was so complete; it pulled me away” (154). Even with a wife in Bangladesh, Akhter got into a relationship with another woman for over a year which was unacceptable when our family learned of it. Moon Orchid’s husband acted in the same way and forgot about his wife back home in China. I can not agree to both his and Akhter’s actions which I find it very disrespectful towards the initial female partner. I just don’t know what ties Moon Orchid’s husband back. If polygamy is illegal in the United States, why did Moon Orchid’s husband not divorce her? He has no reason to send her money if he is pulled away to the American lifestyle. He has children with his second wife and a family to take care of so he does not want to endanger it if it is found out that he has two wives. In Islam, polygamy is allowed however with conditions such as taking care of, tending to, and providing for each wife equally. My cousin realized that he could not have two relationships so he ultimately had to end one of them. Moon Orchid’s husband did provide for her and her family, but I still don’t find it just that he ignored her for 30 years.