The Road to Individual Expression “If you don’t talk, you can’t have a personality” characterizes how the American culture is formed around speaking up and being different. The American culture differs in many ways from the Asian culture; the Chinese culture values family and traditional roles, while Americans value individuality. In the novel Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston, the protagonist, Maxine, struggles to adapt to the surrounding American culture as she grows up in a family that follows traditional Chinese culture. The clashing of cultures causes Maxine to question her identity and struggle to make a platform from which she can speak up and show her true personality. Kingston informs the reader of Maxine’s struggle to find herself
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For example, Chinese culture values emotional reconciliation and showing regret when making mistakes. In addition, they value spiritual purity over materialistic values. When Maxine was younger, a convenience store delivered a medicine to her family that didn’t belong to them, which her mother considered as a great offense. To make up for the wrongdoing, Maxine’s mother sent her to the store to get reparation, telling her to tell the owner “You have tainted my house with sick medicine and must remove the curse with sweetness” (170). The word “curse” suggests the presence of a spirit or supernatural being in order to punish a certain person. The Chinese culture strongly believes in the existence of supernatural powers and spirituality. Maxine’s mother reflects the Chinese culture as she tells her daughter that the owner of the store can only rid the curse through the use of something sweet, which will counter the bitterness of the curse. By contrast, the American culture will admit to its mistakes, but does not understand the importance of spiritual purity. The drugstore owner mistakes the meaning of what Maxine says and responds with “Can I give you some money?” (171). The word “money” suggests a medium of exchange in the form of paper and metal coins. This money solely has materialistic …show more content…
She experiments with her voice throughout the novel and eventually finds it, but still has trouble expressing herself to her controlling parents. The result of her holding in her voice is that one night when eating dinner, “[her] throat burst open. [She] stood up, talking and burbling” (201). The usage of the word “burst” suggests that something that had been forcefully repressed , has pushed its way out. In this situation, Maxine is trying to express how words came out of her mouth suddenly and with great force, having been locked in her mouth for a long time. The word also suggests that it was a very sudden action, meaning that it was of rare occurrence and therefore significant.Throughout the novel, Maxine had always done what had been asked of her from both cultures and had very little time to really express herself. This quote reveals the longings that Maxine has to live other own life, but struggles with confidence and the role that her family has over her life. Maxine struggles to deal with the role that her family plays over her life and constantly wrestles with the idea of living away from them and carving her own path, rather than following following family tradition. Maxine’s family represents the Chinese culture that she has been caught between. Maxine feels a duty to her parents, but not necessarily to a culture that she never grew up in, and that is what she confesses in her
For example, Chinese culture values emotional reconciliation and showing regret when making mistakes. In addition, they value spiritual purity over materialistic values. When Maxine was younger, a convenience store delivered a medicine to her family that didn’t belong to them, which her mother considered as a great offense. To make up for the wrongdoing, Maxine’s mother sent her to the store to get reparation, telling her to tell the owner “You have tainted my house with sick medicine and must remove the curse with sweetness” (170). The word “curse” suggests the presence of a spirit or supernatural being in order to punish a certain person. The Chinese culture strongly believes in the existence of supernatural powers and spirituality. Maxine’s mother reflects the Chinese culture as she tells her daughter that the owner of the store can only rid the curse through the use of something sweet, which will counter the bitterness of the curse. By contrast, the American culture will admit to its mistakes, but does not understand the importance of spiritual purity. The drugstore owner mistakes the meaning of what Maxine says and responds with “Can I give you some money?” (171). The word “money” suggests a medium of exchange in the form of paper and metal coins. This money solely has materialistic …show more content…
She experiments with her voice throughout the novel and eventually finds it, but still has trouble expressing herself to her controlling parents. The result of her holding in her voice is that one night when eating dinner, “[her] throat burst open. [She] stood up, talking and burbling” (201). The usage of the word “burst” suggests that something that had been forcefully repressed , has pushed its way out. In this situation, Maxine is trying to express how words came out of her mouth suddenly and with great force, having been locked in her mouth for a long time. The word also suggests that it was a very sudden action, meaning that it was of rare occurrence and therefore significant.Throughout the novel, Maxine had always done what had been asked of her from both cultures and had very little time to really express herself. This quote reveals the longings that Maxine has to live other own life, but struggles with confidence and the role that her family has over her life. Maxine struggles to deal with the role that her family plays over her life and constantly wrestles with the idea of living away from them and carving her own path, rather than following following family tradition. Maxine’s family represents the Chinese culture that she has been caught between. Maxine feels a duty to her parents, but not necessarily to a culture that she never grew up in, and that is what she confesses in her