Maxine Hong Kingston shows that one can form an identity through silence in The Woman Warrior; Kingston develops this theme through different stories her mother tells her.
Throughout The Woman Warrior, Kingston slowly finds her own identity by examining heavily weighted talk-stories, stories containing the mores and values of society through many generations. These stories are relayed to Kingston through her mother, Brave Orchid. Convinced by her mother’s stories, Kingston grew up believing, “we failed if we grew up to be but wives or slaves” (Kingston 18). As Kingston matures, she recognizes a pattern of silenced women who have lived under male doctrines. After witnessing their silences and how it has continued to deprive these women of living …show more content…
In "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe," schooling becomes a process of identity formation or exclusion, an experience of fighting for individual identity and facing the pressure to assimilate. At the American school, Kingston and other Chinese-Americans play silent roles, trying desperately to not be called out for their lack of English skills. As Kingston says, "When I first went to kindergarten and had to speak English for the first time, I became silent" (Kingston 165). Since then, Kingston still feels "a dumbness - a shame," that haunts her even till this day, causing her voice to crack "in front of the check-out counter” (Kingston 165). As Kingston matures in the story, the author begins to notice the detrimental effect and its pattern of keeping silent as illustrated when she tries to help a girl in her school find her own voice. In an intense scene, Kingston tries to get the silent girl to open up: From this life changing moment, Kingston exhibits an urgency to reach out and help this girl whose reserved demeanor reminds the author of her two late aunts. The sheer length of the dialogue represents the prolonged time Kingston remained to herself, suppressing and bottling up all this anguish and torment inside. As a result of many years of being deprived of a voice, when Kingston does find her own voice, loud and clear, it pours out
Throughout The Woman Warrior, Kingston slowly finds her own identity by examining heavily weighted talk-stories, stories containing the mores and values of society through many generations. These stories are relayed to Kingston through her mother, Brave Orchid. Convinced by her mother’s stories, Kingston grew up believing, “we failed if we grew up to be but wives or slaves” (Kingston 18). As Kingston matures, she recognizes a pattern of silenced women who have lived under male doctrines. After witnessing their silences and how it has continued to deprive these women of living …show more content…
In "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe," schooling becomes a process of identity formation or exclusion, an experience of fighting for individual identity and facing the pressure to assimilate. At the American school, Kingston and other Chinese-Americans play silent roles, trying desperately to not be called out for their lack of English skills. As Kingston says, "When I first went to kindergarten and had to speak English for the first time, I became silent" (Kingston 165). Since then, Kingston still feels "a dumbness - a shame," that haunts her even till this day, causing her voice to crack "in front of the check-out counter” (Kingston 165). As Kingston matures in the story, the author begins to notice the detrimental effect and its pattern of keeping silent as illustrated when she tries to help a girl in her school find her own voice. In an intense scene, Kingston tries to get the silent girl to open up: From this life changing moment, Kingston exhibits an urgency to reach out and help this girl whose reserved demeanor reminds the author of her two late aunts. The sheer length of the dialogue represents the prolonged time Kingston remained to herself, suppressing and bottling up all this anguish and torment inside. As a result of many years of being deprived of a voice, when Kingston does find her own voice, loud and clear, it pours out