Kingston upon Thames

In the opening of the first chapter, “No Name Woman”, we can see how Kingston lived in a continual conflict between messages, sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle, of two cultures. How could a bridge be built on this terrible emptiness with socialization within a framework of expectations on the one hand and acculturation on the other? The lack of public voice, the silence, the secret kept, formed the loose threads of the story of the aunt who committed suicide and whose name was erased from the…

Individuality and community are the two defining characteristics for humans. Driven by both his rage and vanity, Wittman in Tripmaster Monkey by Maxine Kingston searches for a balance of these principles. As a character, Wittman is a confused artist. He is trying to be an individual in contemporary society, but finds this impossible because people think of him as different. Wittman correctly comprehends that this is because of the color of his skin. Wittman wants people to view him as…

Mountains are an important symbol throughout The Woman Warrior; therefore, I chose a Chinese painting called Summer Mountains. Mountains can symbolize obstacles, progression, loneliness, and isolation. In Summer Mountains, there are various mountains of different sizes; similarly, to how mountains take on different meanings throughout The Woman Warrior. For example, mountains first appear in the novel when Kingston’s mother mentions the Gold Mountains. The Gold Mountains refers specifically to…

Sisterhood of Spies Women of the OSS is about the untold contributions made by the woman of OSS (Office of Strategic Services) during World War II. The author, Elizabeth P. McIntosh, begins by introducing OSS and its origins. The first half of the book describes the operations and concepts of the different branches; the second half shows the adventures and actions of the women. The author relates stories from her own experiences as well interviews of over 100 women who served all over the world.…

Maxine Hong Kingston published a masterpiece of literature in 1976, “The Woman Warrior”. Many people found the reading a bit complex to grab, like why was the aunt is the no name woman? Now I have to admit the literature was a bit miscellaneous but I understood. Each chapter has its own meaning have why it is being told; the answer is in between the lines. Overlooking the reader’s review they raised many logical questions such as: why is the aunt labeled as the no name warrior? Why did the…

In 1975, Maxine Hong Kingston wrote a book that blends a collection of memoirs, an autobiography and a Chinese folk tale. Throughout The Woman Warrior, Kingston reports a complex portrayal of the 20th century experiences of Chinese-Americans living in the U.S in the shadow of the Chinese Revolution. “ White Tigers”, the second chapter, has the feel of a warrior epic. It is drawn from a traditional Chinese myth about a woman who fights in place of her father. It is separated into two completely…

lifestyle, and attitudes. No Name Woman by Maxine Kingston describes the story of a woman who was forced into silence and shaming because of her pregnancy caused by rape while her husband had been gone for years. Such situation did not please the rest of her family and community, leading the woman towards silence and death as a cause of not fulfilling the society’s…

In the short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, the author creates a conflict between a Chinese mother and her daughter. The relationship between the mother who wanted her daughter to be prodigy, and her daughter who refused to be prodigy is presented (43). She uses dialogue, irony, similes and metaphors to illustrate and set her writing. Tan’s main message that stands out in the story is parents-to-kids relationship, in this case mother-to-daughter relationship. With all the details given by the…

The rhetorical devices tone and parallelism are used in both the memoir, Funny In Farsi, by Firoozeh Dumas, and the graphic novel, American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang in order to entertain readers and develop the over-arching theme of self-acceptance. Dumas uses colloquial and comic tones in Funny In Farsi in order to keep readers engaged and understate the impact of the hardships she faced on her road to self-acceptance. In the chapter “I Ran and I Ran and I Ran”, Dumas tells the story of…

Through various viewpoints, overlapping timelines and embellishments manifested by the author, Maxine Hong-Kingston is able to examine female roles and their assimilation into Chinese/Chinese-American society and culture; an extensive projection of Kingston’s intimate past and selfhood. Within this memoir, Kingston attempts to resolve the complexity of her own identity, being a Chinese-American, as she continuously discovers her cultural roots and sorts their placement within her own life. In…