October 27, 1940 is a chinese american author and professor emerita at the university of california, berkeley, where she graduated with a ba in english in 1962. The woman warrior npr coverage of the woman warrior. The woman warrior discusses footbinding, sexual slavery, and infanticide of baby girls, but it also tells of a woman who brandishes a sword to save her people. The woman warrior is a triumph in feminist literature. Although kingston honors her aunt by retelling no name woman s story in the woman warrior, she blames herself for having kept silent about this woman for more than twenty years. Essay brave orchid and maxine hong kingston s the woman warrior. First published in 1976, it has become a classic in its innovative portrayal of multiple and intersecting identitiesimmigrant, female, chinese. Kingston s no name aunt is the first person we hear a story about in the woman warrior. Although kingston honors her aunt by retelling no name womans story in the woman warrior, she blames herself for having kept silent about this woman for more than twenty years. It shows a chinese american lives and how their lives and perspectives are different. This is the story that a chinese mother told her chineseamerican daughter. Maxine hong kingston begins her search for a personal identity with the story of an.
Kingston, her mother brave orchid, and her aunts, moon orchid and no name woman. Chinese culture the woman warrior, written by maxine hong kingston in 1976, depicts the stories of five women kingston s no name aunt. The woman warrior audiobook by maxine hong kingston. Through this story, kingston immediately lays out the influence of her mother as a storyteller, as well as the themes that this memoir will continue to dance around women, family, and the power of storytelling. Her first book, the woman warrior, blended fiction, memoir. Maxine hong kingstons no name woman essay examples. Maxine hong kingston, an eminent memoirist and a celebrated chineseamerican autobiographer, is best known for the woman warrior.
For example, here in no name woman, kingston says of her mother, who. She is a sister her father does not acknowledge as ever having been born because of the humiliation she brought to the family. Chairman mao mao zedong 18931976, founder of the chinese communist. The woman warrior by maxine hong kingston the best book of nonfiction published in 1976. Among her works are the woman warrior 1976, awarded the national book critics circle award for nonfiction, and china men 1980, which was awarded the 1981 national book award. Editions of the woman warrior by maxine hong kingston. The writer, maxine hong kingston, was one of the leaders during the second wave of feminism, where she and other nonwhite writers focused on the connection of racerelated topics to feminism. Kingston learns from her mother that she once had an aunt who killed herself and her newborn baby by jumping into the family well in china. Maxine hong kingstons the woman warrior is a widely read memoir first published in 1976. Memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts, maxine hong kingston is trapped between two identities, to be an obedient housewife or a woman warrior that shatters those cultural expectations. Discussion questions for the woman warrior pbs newshour. The woman warrior won the national book critics circle award and was named one of time magazines top nonfiction books of the 1970s.
The national book critics circle read by kimchai lam i just did a reading of pages 17, and ill be. Within this work she wrote the nonfiction essay called no name woman. No name woman essay explores feminism aspects in the story by maxine hong kingston. Memoirs of a girlhood among the ghosts 1976 weaves together elements from. This essay analyses the short story no name woman by maxine hong kingston.
No name woman by maxine hong kingston you must not tell anyone, my mother said, what i am about to tell you. Were never suspicious of her intentions since she is so vulnerable and open, never claiming to know everything. Kingston asks how do you separate what is peculiar to childhood, to poverty, insanities, one family, your mother who marked your growing with stories, from what is chinese. Maxine hong kingston, american writer, much of whose work is rooted in her experiences as a firstgeneration chinese american. No name woman by maxine hong kingston setting structure jumps from stockton, california where she lives to her parents home village in china represents how the narrator feels maxine hong kingston whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like.
Memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts by maxine hong kingston. Many people found the reading a bit complex to grab, like why was the aunt is the no name woman. Memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts 1976 and its companion volume, china men 1980. Asian and feminist identity in the woman warrior thoughtco. The woman warrior no name woman summary course hero. Memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts is maxine hong kingston s first and most famous book.
Maxine hong kingstons woman warrior no name woman 123. Background of study adultery defined as a sex relationship between a married woman and a man other than her spouse or a sex relationship that usually happened also between unmarried couples in their relationship. Memoirs of a girlhood among the ghosts 1976 weaves together elements from traditional chinese folktales and incidents from the authors experiences or family stories in five interconnected chapters. Maxine s passion for writing and storytelling the stories her mom told her growing about the difficulties their family went through in 1924 china her struggles growing within two. This book has been around for over 42 years and won the national book critics circle award in 1976. The womans husband had left the country years before, so the villagers knew that the child was illegitimate.
In the woman warrior, maxine hong kingston explores her identity. It was published in 1976 to great critical acclaim, winning the national book critics circle award for nonfiction. I later learned the essay is the first section of maxine hong kingstons beloved 1976 memoir. Remarkable quote chinese americans, when you try to understand what things in you are chinese, how. No name woman ends up drowning herself in the well. She concludes that the real lesson is not how no name. Through this story, kingston immediately lays out the influence of her mother as a storyteller, as well as the themes that this memoir will continue to dance around. Kingstons noname aunt is the first person we hear a story about in the woman warrior.
Mhk writes about her no name aunt is to briefly portray a background for the rest of the memoir. No name woman by maxine hong kingston free essay sample. Those of us in the first american generations have had to figure out how the invisible world the emigrants built around our childhoods fits in solid america. Our august pick for the pbs newshour new york times book club is maxine hong kingston s 1976 memoir the woman warrior. Analysis of maxine hong kingston no name woman 1670 words 7 pages. The book blends autobiography with what kingston purports to be old chinese folktales, although several scholars have questioned the accuracy and authenticity of these folktales. Maxine hong kingston narrator and authoralternate dimension where ghosts take on many forms and truth is whatever gets passed on. Maxine hong kingston is a chinese american author and professor emerita at the university of california, berkeley, where she graduated with a ba in english in 1962. Memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts is a book written by chinese american author maxine hong kingston and published by alfred a. A short excerpt from the 1990 kqed documentary profile of maxine hong kingston s life growing up in stockton, ca.
Her notable books included the memoirs the woman warrior, china men, and i love a broad margin to my life. No name woman in maxine hong kingstons the woman warrior. Maxine hong kingstons woman warrior no name woman the excerpt, no name woman, from maxine hong kingston s book, woman warrior, gives insight into her life as a chinese girl raised in america through a tragic story of her aunts life, a young woman raised in. In addition to being a canonical work, the woman warrior is considered a landmark in chineseamerican literature. The daughter of chinese immigrants, maxine hong kingston grew up in california. Now i have to admit the literature was a bit miscellaneous but i understood. We say that your father has all brothers because it is as if she had never been born. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of. One evening last april, i met maxine hong kingston. In no name woman, maxine hong kingston recalls the events of her aunts life in the vague world of her chinese.
The woman warrior, china men excerpts, produced by the american audio prose library, inc. Kingston has contributed to the feminist movement with such works as her memoir the woman warrior, which discusses gender and ethnicity and how these concepts affect the lives of women. The no name woman you must not tell anyone what i am about to tell you what influenced the book. Kingston commences the story by arguing that all myths and. Maxine hong kingston published a masterpiece of literature in 1976, the woman warrior. In her awardwinning book the woman warrior, maxine hong kingston created an entirely new forman exhilarating blend of autobiography and mythology, of world and self, of hot rage and cool analysis. No name woman is a short story written by maxine hong kingston and was included in her book the woman warrior,with the first publication date in 1975. She wants to scare kingston by telling her how destructive and horrible the villagers can be when a woman humiliates her family by getting pregnant, and the entire. A classic, for a reason celeste ng via twitter in her awardwinning book the woman warrior, maxine hong kingston created an entirely new forman exhilarating blend of autobiography and mythology, of world and self, of hot rage and cool analysis. In china your father had a sister who killed herself.
If i had lived in china, kingston speculates, i would have been an outlaw knotmaker, which is an indirect reference to no name woman. Check out our revolutionary sidebyside summary and. At the end of no name woman, kingston reflects on the importance of her mothers story. We children came up off the ground over the melting cones our parents brought home from work and the american movie on new years day0h, you beautiful. First published in 1976, it has become a classic in its innovative portrayal of multiple and intersecting identitiesimmigrant, female. Maxine hong kingston woman warrior no name woman genius. Maxine hong kingston s the woman warrior 1574 words cram. Maxine hong kingston s mother tells kingston the story about the no name woman because she wants to make sure kingston knows she would humiliate the family if she got pregnant. She was giving a reading to celebrate the woman warriors fortieth anniversary, and i found out about the event at the last moment and decided to attend. No name woman first person we hear a story about in. Kingston has written three novels and several works of nonfiction about the experiences of chinese americans. If she and her aunt have similar notions about desire, then maybe kingston can understand her aunt, despite their differences in time and place.
Kingston considers no name woman within the context of 1970s sexual liberation, whose notions of sexual freedom do not fit kingston any more than they would have fit her aunt. She was born as maxine ting ting hong to a laundry house owner in stockton, california. A list of important facts about maxine hong kingston s the woman warrior, including setting, climax, protagonists, and antagonists. Near cooper union, on the fourth floor of an nyu building, i entered the.
The berkeley repertory theatre performed sharon otts world premiere adaptation of the woman warrior in 1994. In china the aunt had become pregnant long after her husband and brothers had celebrated their. Acclaimed author maxine hong kingston s the woman warrior broke new ground when it was first published 35 years ago, weaving autobiography, history, folklore, and fantasy in to a candid and revelatory story about the daughter of chinese immigrants in mid20th century california. No name woman essaysin 1976, maxine hong kingston wrote her work called the woman warrior. The woman warrior opens with the story of maxine hong kingston s forgotten aunt, the no name woman. Maxine hong kingston s no name woman a persons identity cannot be given to her, instead a person must achieve a sense of her character through personal experience and selfreflection. These chapters follow the lives of several women while they lived in china andor after immigration to the united states. Literary analysis of no name woman 6151 words bartleby. The woman warrior won the national book critics circle award in 1976 for nonfiction, and china men was awarded the 1980 american book award. Maxine hong kingston recounts learning about life through the stories of her mother and grandmother. Maxine hong kingston s autobiography begins with her mother telling her a story which she must never repeat about the aunt she never knew she had. His fake book 1989, was set in the bohemian world of the san francisco bay area during the 1960s. Kingston commences the novel by arguing that all myths and tales are contingent on specific cultural necessities.
309 1495 1512 194 895 11 100 195 443 283 245 94 1275 98 824 1122 1089 229 1508 667 737 1560 1572 660 396 492 1285 618 1113 1448 1534 1608 842 865 1149 960 898 1085 837 1226 25 904