Maxine Hong Kingston’s No Name Woman

Student’s Name Instructor’s Name Course Date No Name Woman Maxine Hong Kingston’s No Name Woman is a captivating piece of writing that contains several stories capturing a myriad of societal and cultural issues that mainly affect the Chinese. Kingston’s No Name Woman illuminates in the problems that Chinese women have endured for centuries and the repercussions that the adverse culture has had on Chinese women and the society at large. The stories by Kingston’s mother shed more light to the horrifying position in a woman in traditional China, the journeys that brought the family to America, and helps Kingston identify with her culture through the change in time. Kingston’s mother narrates the story of her ‘well-drowned aunt,’ depicting the nature and the dangers of male chauvinism and society’s close-mindedness in traditional China and the impact on women in society. In the story, Kingston aunt became pregnant even though her husband was away for years (276). Her giving birth infuriated the villagers who responded by invading their home and destroying everything along their path (276). Kingston’s mother feared for her daughter’s life and the honor of her family’s name. In a clear warning, Kingston’s mother tells her daughter not to “humiliate us. You wouldn’t like to be forgotten as if you had never been born. The villagers are watchful” (277). The dominant story depicts the weakness of a woman in a society where she would rather be dead than bring shame to the family. ThetFrom the warning, Kingston’s mother insinuates on the vulnerability of women to rape without the possibility of redress. Kingston’s mother tells her daughter that she also has “started to menstruate, what happened to her [aunt] could happen to you [Kingston]” (276). The statement confirms that the aunt had been raped and that it only took a female to mature (to menstruate), to be susceptible to rape. The depiction is a clear danger to Kingston and any oth...