Point of View in The Woman Warrior "...Point of view is... an artful treatment of the facts [in a story]...," a treatment with which the author decides who is telling the story, as well as the credibility given to the story (Macauley and Lanning 132). Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior is not a story, but an autobiography of her life as a Chinese-American girl growing up in California. Although it is not a story, Kingston must decide from which point of view she is going to tell her own story. In The Woman Warrior, the author Maxine Hong Kingston writes in various points of view due to her realizing that, if she writes solely in first person, she will write an autobiography much like all others, only focusing on herself; instead, …show more content…
In this autobiography, Kingston becomes the omnipotent author in the chapter entitled "The Western Palace," as she tells the story of her mother, her aunt, and her aunts life after she moves to California from China. In this chapter, Kingston writes the anecdote as if she knows the whole story, "...[borrowing] the vision of a character and [seeing] things from that persons point of view...," as she does many times with her mother's and aunt's feelings in the tale, allowing us to see more into the characteristics of each character (Macauley and Lanning 142). Kingston later notes that she does not retell the anecdote from her personal experience, rather from "...one of [her] sisters [telling] her what [her brother] had told her...," revealing to us that she "...twisted [it] into designs..." that would help fulfill the purpose she has for that chapter: showing the Chinese traditions that her mother sticks to, even after moving to the United States, to show the differences that first and second generation Chinese immigrants have, and to show some characteristics of her mother (Kingston …show more content…
The readers of The Woman Warrior do not see true first person until the last chapter "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe," where Kingston tells of her school life as a young girl. This chapter, through stories of her "... eighteen months sick in bed with a mysterious illness...," "...[playing] capture the flag in the auditorium...," and tormenting a shy girl who refused to talk, Kingston shows readers her experiences as a young Chinese-American girl going through school, "...[establishing] an intimacy and involvement for the reader...," who begins to see Kingston as a real person, instead of family members or the fictional characters of ancient folklore (Kingston 182, 168: Macauley and Lanning 139). In most chapters in The Woman Warrior, Kingston tells a tale from her childhood, then applies it to her life as a Chinese-American in the first person. In "White Tigers," Kingston tells how "[her] American life has been such a disappointment" compared to the heroic life "... of Fa Mu Lan, the girl who took her father's place in battle" (Kingston 45,20). In "Shaman," she tells of how "...[her] mother has cooked for [her]: raccoons, skunks...snakes, garden snails, turtles...[and] catfish..." and the great variety of food is the reason why her mother was so brave and heroic, but showing obvious disgust as she says "she would live on plastic" (Kingston 90,
In “No Name Woman,” the theme of silence starts with the elementary words of the memoir stating you must not tell anyone. This statement is ironic because Kingston is in fact telling everyone, giving voice to Chinese customs and the lives that are foregone. As written in her memoir, she states, “You must not tell anyone,” my mother said, “what I am about to tell you. In China your father had a sister who killed herself. She jumped into the family well. We say that your father has all brothers because it is as if she had never been born.” (Deshazer 308). It is especially notable and ironic that the memoir begins with the phrase “You must not tell anyone.” Her effort in No Name Woman is to write about that which is never said; her unnamed dead aunt, and the outrageous behaviors in her mother’s Chinese village. Kingston was not necessarily silenced direct by a male figure; however, the words said by her mother “You must not tell anyone” is a representation of Kingston father’s authorization voice through her mother’s explanation. Kingston’s effort is also about discovering a voice, as both a Chinese-American
In The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston blurs fiction and reality using a poetic, singsong writing style, blending sentences together using sentence structure and diction. She also relies heavily on symbols to reveal inner conflict that she had while growing up Chinese American, trying to determine what was authentically Chinese and what was illusion.
The theme of “voiceless woman” throughout the book “the woman warrior” is of great importance. Maxine Kingston narrates several stories in which gives clear examples on how woman in her family are diminished and silenced by Chinese culture. The author not only provides a voice for herself but also for other women in her family and in her community that did not had the opportunity to speak out and tell their stories.
At this point in her autobiography, Kingston remains disoriented about her position in the two enveloping cultures, and Ling suggests this idea by considering the significance of Kingston's two culturally different responses rather than only one- either American or Chinese.
Maxine Kingston in “The Women Warrior” presents a traditional Chinese society that anticipates women not to decide what is best for them all by themselves. Kingston creates a woman who goes beyond this ritual culture constraint and who take up
Throughout the novel The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston, the past is incorporated into the present through talk-stories combined into each chapter. Kingston uses talk-stories, to examine the intermingling of Chinese myths and lived experiences. These stories influence the life of the narrator as the past is constantly spoken about from the time she is young until the novel ends and she becomes an adult. Kingston incorporates two cultures. She is not a direct recipient of Chinese culture, but she has her own sense of talk-story, that she learns from her mother, which tells the old Chinese stories with a sense of myth, in a new American way. This is a way of weaving two cultures together, bringing the Chinese past into her present American life.
Maxine Hong Kingston once said, “I 've been writing since I was 7, but before that, I was orally making stories. This quote expresses Kingston’s fervor for writing and storytelling outside of her short story “White Tigers from the Woman Warrior”, which emphasizes the importance of literature, which is her art, by retelling her own childhood as the “fairy tale” of the Woman Warrior, Fa Mu Lan, and connecting it back to her own life. The introductory paragraphs, coupled with the word carving scene and the concluding final paragraphs, evoke Fa Mu Lan and present Maxine’s life as analogous to Fa Mu Lan’s life story. While it is understood that they did not know each other, Maxine complicates this “relationship”, for lack of a better word, by using a first-person narrative as opposed to a third-person narrative while retelling the “fairy tale”, which in turn complicates subjectivity of Maxine, and the relationship between Maxine and Fa Mu Lan. Moreover, the words in the word carving scene in the middle of the “fairy tale” are double symbols of suffering and of perfect filiality, which is a trait common in Chinese culture. By and large, these early on passages, and each section from there on, and the word cutting scene, utilize the literary devices of point of view and central symbol to influence the audience to acknowledge Maxine 's claim that Fa Mu Lan is her model, and that she, Maxine, is fruitful in taking after her case since they both have words "at their backs."
The building at 111 South Michigan Avenue, home of the Art Institute of Chicago, was opened in 1893 as the World’s Congress Auxiliary Building for the World’s Columbian Exposition. The building was passed on to the Art Institute after the end of the exposition. Designed in the Beax-Arts style by Boston firm Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge, building has become an icon for chicagoans an tourists alike. The Modern Wing, the Art Institute’s latest and largest addition to date, opened on May 16, 2009, and was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano. The 264,000 square foot addition now houses the museum’s collections of modern European painting and sculpture, contemporary art, architecture and design, and photography. The new
The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston presents the story of a girl trapped between the cultures of her surrounding environment and that which her mother and family have forced upon her. Knowing only the Chinese way of life, this girl’s mother attempts to familiarize her daughter, whom is also the narrator, with the history of their family. The mother shares this heritage through the use of stories in hopes the narrator will be prepared for her ultimate return to China, which is a life completely foreign to her own. Through these stories and the strong influence of the surrounding American culture, the narrator’s life and imagination spin off in a new direction. She is confronted by
Kingston’s mother had once told her, “you must not tell anyone [about your aunt],” and yet in direct defiance, Kingston then “devote[s] pages of paper to her [aunt].” Her actions which defy her mother’s strict order are purposely directed through her rebellious intention to do so. Kingston argues that the emigrant generation, which consisted of her mother, had taken their culture with them because “those in the emigrant generations who could not reassert brute survival died young and far from home.” Yet raising their progeny, they must teach them what they know and understand. Kingston therefore believes that “they must try to confuse their offspring as well, who, I suppose, threaten them in similar ways – always trying to get things straight, always trying to name the
Maxine Hong Kingston’s novel The Woman Warrior is a series of narrations, vividly recalling stories she has heard throughout her life. These stories clearly depict the oppression of woman in Chinese society. Even though women in Chinese Society traditionally might be considered subservient to men, Kingston viewed them in a different light. She sees women as being equivalent to men, both strong and courageous.
Think about the MORAL model. After reviewing your peers’ comments, has your thinking about the issue changed? Why or why not.
My mother was in the room. And it was perhaps the first time she had heard me give a lengthy speech using the kind of English I have never used with her.”(417) Overcoming the barrier between languages she spoke aided Tan in building a bridge between cultures. She changed her language to assimilate into American culture while also keeping familial culture. A piece of heritage that uses a language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk. Tan grew up with this language and she still uses it with her mother, husband and in her books. (418) Another method to find identity in a new host society is through appearance. In the essay, “No Name Woman” by Maxine Kingston ideals in appearance were passed from generation to generation. Altering ideals when creating identity is noticed in Kingston’s essay. A long held tradition in many Chinese families is that many generations live under the same roof and this can cause a conflict in ideals. Conflicting ideals between generations is shown as Tan tells how the younger generation hid the identities of their sexual color and their character. Hiding these new identities they hoped to avoid potential conflict with generational ideals. Kingston did not hide her identity, she found herself “walking erect (knees straight, toes pointed forward, not pigeon-toed, which is Chinese-feminine) and speaking in an audible
Kingston begins The Woman Warrior by writing a story which started with her mother insisting that she “must not tell anyone...what I am about to tell you.” (Kingston 3). Kingston’s first written words are a defiance of this silencing. Silence is a motif that permeates the entirety of The Woman Warrior; Kingston
ANS 1: Organisation design is the way of an organsiation which followed by the staff of organsation and it shows the goals of company. Organisations design is the combination of planing and process. Organisational design also shows the aspects of organisation. Organisation design shows the aspect of organisations and changes of company. For the betterness of company sometimes they make changes and that changes known as new design of organisation. Organisation desing belongs to brand and goodwill of company. In organization design they also shows the strategies and process of achieve goals. They can change organisation design anytime.