Silence In The Short Story 'No Name Woman'

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

Silence, a romance written in the Middle Ages, deals with a girl named Silence who is raised as a boy due to the fact that the king at the time, King Evan, made a law stating that women could no longer inherit from their parents. This was after two counts had died after fighting over women. Thus, to be sure Silence would receive her inheritance, she was brought up as a boy and treated like one for about the first quarter of her life, until it is revealed at the end that she is indeed a woman. Upon the realization that she is a woman, King Evan uplifts the ban on female inheritance. He also marries Silence, who had served for the King for many years as a male.

Allison Dorothy’s story “Don’t Tell Me You Don’t Know,” is about the relationship between the narrator and her mother and focuses on how women choose to live in abusive relationships because of factors like low economy and need for support from her husband. The narrator lives far from her relatives because she cannot see herself being bound by the society and its rules which doesn’t seem to change according to modern-day perspectives on gender roles. She hates her mom and doesn’t even call her often because she is not happy with the fact that her mom and her aunts live with their husbands who don’t respect women. She is furious because she wants the women to act against the misbehavior of their husbands. The narrator seems lamenting as well, as she herself couldn’t do much to change the situation and make it better. Her aunt Alma visit is unexpected which brings up the subject to children and this is when the narrator reveals the abuse that she suffered from her stepfather and the fact she feels that because she is homosexual, her family won’t accept her. Aunt Alma tells her of the condition her mom is living and that she needs love and care from her children at this old stage of her life. The narrator has a

They’re always about something bad happening” (McCarthy 269). So by this statement, we know that the boy while empathetic, still feels negative emotions for himself. We feel as if the boy is what keeps the book going, the fire; he is the only one who can and will keep the story going because he is seen as something greater than all. After the father dies, we see that the boy finds a group of wanderers and joins them.

The author starts the book with the story of her aunt. This story was a well-kept family secret being that her aunt’s actions were of great disappointment to the family. The “no name woman” as the story names her, was forgotten by all her family because she had a child that was not from her husband. This story gives a clear

In the thirteenth-century French romance, Silence, translated by Sarah Roche-Mahdi, the titular character faces challenges because of her gender-identity for no reasons of her own. Silence is unable to achieve knighthood as long as she is a woman. The French romance was written to test the boundaries of this genre, and proved that in the end, the female archetype found so often in Arthurian literature will always remain the same.

When reading this story, readers learn the importance of growing up and how family can never be taken for

As a young woman, Denver is lonely and terrified. She knows that, "her mother had secrets -- things she wouldn't tell; things she halfway told" (38). These secrets, she understands, are

First, a significant event takes place in Naomi’s life in which she portrays silence. At the simple age of 4 years old, Naomi is repeatedly raped by Old Man Gower. The next door neighbor, Old Man Gower, “begins to undress me. I do not resist.” As an innocent child, Naomi keeps silent about these events because she wants to protect her relationship with her mother; furthermore, Naomi states, “If I tell my mother about Mr. Gower, the alarm will send a tremor through our bodies and I will be torn from her.” In an attempt to keep the love and shelter her relationship, Naomi remains quiet about these horrid incidents. At the young age of 4, Naomi learns to believe that silence will guarantee no problems.

However, his words are a key element to the story because they reflect valuable lessons that the children may need for future reference. The narrator wants to save the children from heartache and disappointment; however he fails to realize that all children must experience these emotions for themselves in order to become mature. As the narrator stares into the lives of the children, it seems as though he is reliving his own life. His

This story is about the author’s aunt who drowned herself along with her newborn baby in the family well. The child was illegitimate as her husband had not been home for a few years. “No-Name Woman” gives an account of how Chinese society have been up until the 21st century. Women were to do as they were told at all times from birth to death. Their main function has been to bear children, mainly sons, and to take care of her husband. All marriages are arranged, sometimes to avoid incest because everyone in the village is related. All independent feelings, emotions and desires were to be taken to the grave. The author’s aunt was different. While her husband was away she has an illicit affair that produced a child. This was the worst kind

My mother knew both my strengths and failures as a child. For me, I felt as if she knew all the chats and talks we had over the years were about to pay off. She always said things were like “pulling teeth”

In Sister of my Heart, a coming-of-age novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, the two main characters, Sudha and Anju, are not aware of the secret that runs within their families. The act of keeping a secret is to purposely keep something hidden. Although telling the truth can help create a stronger and more honest relationship, in some cases, when the secret is revealed, it can have a negative effect. Sudha exemplifies this as the secret she keeps from Anju affects Sudha's life and her relationship with Anju.

She considers that “some man had commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil.” (Kingston 6). Kingston writes her initial version of the “No Name Woman,” who was raped, raided, and died an outcast, but Kingston determines that this telling does not fit her understanding of China. Therefore, Kingston entertains another hypothetical, that her aunt took a lover and saved him from shame by giving “silent birth” and not revealing the lover’s identity (Kingston 11). Here, Kingston critically examines the inherited talk-story of her mother to determine the meaning she should obtain from the death of her aunt. Her mother’s conclusion is that she must not become pregnant, but Kingston is uncertain about the simplicity of her mother’s story. In the “No Name Woman,” Kingston introduces the fictitious memoir structure that she utilizes through the variety of interpretations of her aunt’s story. Consistently through the memoir, Kingston writes contrasting accounts of the same stories and imagines the stories of others to further her themes about silence, authenticity, and identity formation.

I answered back, “ I just want to know what my mother was like. I was thinking why a person so close to my mother, who she trusted, would end her life just like that. “