Maxine Kumin

I am a girl. I have always been a girl, have always seen myself as a girl, and hold onto being a girl as a part of my identity. For most of my life, this identity has not had a profoundly negative nor positive impact on how I live. I have the privilege of having grown up in liberal Sonoma, where my being a girl did not automatically make me lesser. I played Co-Ed soccer until I was 10, was given the same opportunities to learn as the boys in my classes, and never had anyone other than a…

In the memoir The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston writes about her experiences as a Chinese American growing up in the United States. Although the value of women differ in China and America, they are still seen as inferior in both counties. Kingston shows her enmity toward the way females are viewed in Chinese culture through the use of talk stories, comparison, and personal experiences. Kingston incorporates the use of talk-stories into her writing as a technique to show how society views…

“Conception: The Origins of a Story” as Applied to The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior depicts the hardships Kingston faces as she attempts to balance the culture of the country in which she resides, America, and the culture of her home country, China. This struggle is shown by Kingston’s account of various parts of her childhood, which shape who she is. Rather than simply a list of Kingston’s experiences, The Woman Warrior is a novel with broad social implications.…

upon immigrants, naturalized citizens, and even mythological characters. Their lives, told through talk stories, reflects not only the innate desire to feel part of a community, but also the yearning to create a distinctive identity wholly their own. Maxine Hong Kingston proves, if anything, shortcomings exist within the traditions each and every culture across the globe and in order to live successfully and fulfill any dream we must remember imperfection is synonymous with…

Genji’s Future Love Within The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, chapter three titled “Lavender” stands out to encompass many Chinese ideals that help further understand their history and way of life. Throughout the entirety of chapter three, Genji develops a deep interest for a young girl named Murasaki, and the chapter sheds insight on the chase of women and indirectness. In order to fully understand Shikibu’s claims throughout the chapter, it is imperative to unpack the details within the…

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts, by Maxine Hong Kingston, the narrative investigates numerous sides of the immigrant encounters in the United States. The book focuses not only on those who immigrated to the U.S. from China but preferably on the first generation born in this country. Within the woman in question stories the narrator pulls us into her problems of growing up in an immigrant society and her fight with various aspects of her Chinese heritage: her fear of being…

In Maxine Hong Kingston’s story, Silence, she reveals a painful and strict childhood when she didn’t speak. Through reading this story one can discover the relationship she had with her silence which she conveys to the audience as comfort. The Silence of her voice provides considerable information towards her Chinese beliefs. The idea of moving can be harsh on whoever experiences the concept of leaving behind a sense of security. When traveling around the world, one can differentiate various…

Kingston measures her success against her mother’s tale of a woman who learns the ways of a warrior and grows up to save her village; and feels dissatisfied with her achievements due to the unattainable greatness she strives for. While Kingston is growing up, her mother tells her stories of the past, and paint a picture of the warriors that walked before her. Growing up, she looked up to the legendary heroine, the woman warrior, who saved her village; bringing greatness to herself, and pride to…

Throughout Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, there is focus on repression, silence, and obedience. Kingston weaves her story through five small tales that show the expectation of Chinese and Chinese American women. With a focus on the tale of the “No Name Woman,” the plight of Kingston and her family is exposed, as is the years of Chinese oppression. Through the tale of the “No Name Woman” in The Woman Warrior, Kingston reveals her own desire to be…

Through The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston recounts on her life as well as her family’s past. Her cultural background calls for many unheard of customs and stories. Kingston’s mother teaches her daughter lessons through stories to show the importance of a message. Both death and ghosts reappear throughout the memoir and how ghosts never die. Kingston describes how revenge is a driving force for many actions throughout the memoir and how death seems to be answer to all issues but is not.…