Chloe Fiore Del Vecchio
“The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston revolves around this internal conflict, this push and pull between American culture and Chinese culture. She uses this chapter to elaborate more on the challenges she faced living in a Chinese household in America. Her parents are Chinese, speak Chinese, and follow Chinese traditions while on the other hand Kingston is trying to assimilate into American culture as well. She tries to make herself seem “American feminine”. Kingston feels as if she is being torn between both worlds without really being a part of either, like most other first-generation Chinese Americans. She experiences her Chinese culture secondhand through talk-story, she has no first-hand experiences of her culture. While being first generation Chinese American, she is not yet fully immersed in the American culture. She still learning American cultures while trying to assimilate into this new country. Due to this talk -story Kingston finds herself trying to differentiate between what is Chinese, what is real, and what is just made up.
One of the major difficulties that Kingston faces in her growing up being Chinese American is learning to speak English to non-Chinese people. This challenge first appears when she is required to speak English in kindergarten and is still an ongoing issue going into adulthood. For a while her resolution was to stay silent until she realizes she is required to speak, Kingston states “At first it did not occur to me I was supposed to talk or to pass kindergarten” (Kingston 166). Whether Kingston was at Chinese school or American school she still found it incredibly difficult to speak, Kingston explains “Not all the children who were silent at American school found voice a Chinese school” (Kingston 168). This wasn’t a problem she shared alone, she speaks of her sister and other Chinese Americans all sharing the same roadblock. She speaks of this one silent girl in particular and criticizes her. She even corners the girl hurting her by pulling her hair until she speaks, which she never did. Kingston starts yelling at the girl telling her how horrible her life would be if she never speaks, it can be inferred that Kingston is projecting her own worries about herself onto this silent girl. You can tell how ashamed Kingston is about this interaction, she believes her karma for this is why that she was in the bed for the next 18 months due to a mysterious illness. Kingston infers this by stating “The world is sometimes just, and I spent the next 18 months sick in bed with a mysterious illness” (Kingston 183). This scene really shows and makes readers understand how speaking was a very serious challenge that these Chinese Americans were forced to endure
Towards the end of this chapter Kingston finally stands up to her mom. She goes on a tangent about how she refuses for her parents to just give her away to be married to a wealthy Chinese boy. She talks about how she is smart, independent, and going to make a life for herself. Kingston states “They say I could be a scientist or a mathematician if I want” (Kingston 201). Eventually her mother starts shouting “Ho Chi Kuei. Leave then” (Kingston 204). This can be translated two half ghosts; this expression implies the Chinese born immigrants resentment of the American born generation’s rejection of Chinese cultures. This fight with her mom allows her to discover her strong personal voice. She has now found her own identity apart from the talk story she has heard all of her life. She concludes this chapter and memoir by bringing up a female Chinese poet Ts’ai Yen. She was captured by a non-Chinese tribe and was forced to live amongst them for 12 years and never fully assimilated into their culture. Kingston explains “when she was 20 years old, she was captured by Chieftain during a raid by the southern Hsiung-hu (Kingston 207-208). Kingston relates because she also sees herself as a foreigner amongst Americans. Kingston is caught between her parents’ traditions and her new life in America.
Discussion Questions:
1.) Do you think Kingston was justified in being cruel to the silent Chinese girl, or was she trying to help her speak, Why do you think it is important that Kingston added this confrontation in her memoir?
2.) Do you think Brave Orchid was justified in the harsh things she said to Kingston, after Kingston’s outburst on page 202, what do you take away from this interaction?
Works Cited:
Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior. Vintage International, 1976.
Hi Chloe, really interesting post!
To answer your first question simply, no she was not justified in her actions, but on some level, I think she truly did believe she was trying to help. This interaction between Kingston and the silent girl was very frustrating to read because of Kingston’s relentless and cruel behavior, however, this moment felt much deeper than it seems on the surface. Immigrant children and children of immigrants whose first language is something other than English often go through something called “the silent period,” and Kingston herself is not immune to this. Before Kingston introduces us to the silent girl she writes: “When I went to Kindergarten and had to speak English, for the first time, I became silent. A dumbness-a shame-still cracks my voice in two…A telephone call makes my throat bleed and takes up that day’s courage. It spoils my day with self-disgust when I hear my broken voice come skittering out into the open” (165). She tells us early on that she struggled with speaking, and still does because she feels self-conscious and is far too aware of the mistakes she makes because she was raised in a household in which she was taught to speak Chinese (and even so she struggles with Chinese because she was not given a bilingual education but that is a topic for another time). I’ve always seen this moment when she tortures the silent girl as a moment of self-hatred being projected onto someone who represents things Kingston hates about herself and the representation of Chinese-Americans in media. She hates the girl for being silent as she once was. She hates the girl because she is “neat” meaning she’s well dressed and groomed, which is a stereotype of Asian-Americans in film and other forms of media. By being so cruel to the silent girl Kingston is trying to “help” by forcing her to no longer be what Kingston resents about herself and Asian representation in the media. There is no justification, but one can understand where her mind was at in this of her life.
Hi Chloe. I was glad you used question one for your discussion question. When I was reading the part of the book where Kingston was cruel to the silent girl, I was utterly disgusted. I was overwhelmed, shocked, and upset. I was filled with so many emotions. How could she do that to her? I definitely think that she was not justified for her actions. That confrontation of trying to make her talk was more about Kingstons own issues than the silent girls. You can tell Kingston didn’t feel comfortable in her class filled with Americans and neither did the silent girl. “I hated pastels. I would wear black always. I squeezed again, harder, even though her cheek had a weak rubbery feeling iI did not like.” (Kingston, 177). She is constantly comparing herself to the silent girl and sees herself in her. She hates that. They both get picked last for sports and she hates that, she hates that people talked about the silent girl yet she chimed in too, she doesn’t want to be associated with her. “I stared at the curve of her nape, I wish I was able to see what my own neck looked like. I hope it did not look like hers.”(Kingston, 176) Kingston may have thought she was helping the girl to talk, but she really was yelling at her, yelling at her for not fitting in, not looking like others, not practicing American societal norms.
Hi Chloe, I really enjoyed reading your post and liked how you talked about the two cultures in Kingston’s life. For your first question, I do not think that Kingston was justified at all to be cruel to the silent girl. With saying that I do think that her intentions weren’t just to hurt the silent girl. I think that Kingston saw her old self a little bit in the girl and thought that being mean to the silent girl would somehow help. When Kingston was just about done with being cruel to the silent girl she says “ You don’t see I’m trying to help you out, do you? Do you want to be like this, dumb (do you know what dumb means?), your whole life?” ( Kingston, 180). This makes it seem like Kingston has gone through this conversation with herself before because she has this whole dialogue with herself since the girl doesn’t respond to her many questions once. We know that Kingston used to be silent, but she was able to get out of it so maybe this was her way of giving the silent girl a voice. I still don’t believe that Kingston was justified to do this even though she was trying to “help”. I think it is important that Kingston added this to her memoir because it did seem almost like a reflection of who she was at one point and how she might’ve felt during that time when she was the silent girl.
Hi Chloe! This was a great post, I’m glad you asked your first question. To answer that question – no, I do not think Kingston was justified in her actions of tormenting the silent girl in her class. While reading this, it brought back horrific flashbacks to bullying in my own school and I could barely get through it. Nonetheless, she was not justified in her actions. Kingston had other issues with herself that she had to deal with and took them out on the silent girl. Kingston herself is going through an insecure moment in her life and decided to take it out on her classmate who is going through a “silent period” in her life. Being cruel and trying to “help” are two very completely things, and Kingston was just being cruel. After the confrontation, I believe, as well as Kingston believes, that she got her karma for this interaction. “The world is sometimes just, and I spent the next eighteen months sick in bed with a mysterious illness” (Kingston 181). In conclusion, Kingston’s actions were not justified. If she actually wanted to help the girl, she could have simply been nice instead of torturing her.
Hi Chole, I enjoyed reading your post! To answer your first question I would say that Kingston bullying the quiet girl was definitely not justified. Kingston is uncomfortable with silence. She has witnessed how silence led to extreme sadness and her aunt being forgotten by family. Silence to her represents weakness and isolation. Kingston bullying the quiet girl was a projection of her own insecurities. She discussed how there was a time were she deeply struggled with speaking English resulting in her own “silent period”. It is clear that this insecurity has stuck with her. She mentions that ” I thought talking and not talking made the difference between sanity and insanity. Insane people were the ones who couldn’t explain themselves” (220). Kingston feels that silence leads to insanity and through this quote it suggests that maybe she has experienced not being able to explain herself. When she bullies the quiet girl she yells ” And you, you are a plant. Do you know that? That’s all you are if you don’t talk. I you don’t talk, you can’t have a personality. You’ll have no personality and no hair” (214). Kingston compares this quiet girl to a plant suggesting that by not talking you aren’t even considered human. Kingston should have helped this girl instead of tormenting her into talking.
Hi Chloe, amazing post! I liked how you talked about the effects of the two cultures on Kingston. I feel like Kingston struggled a lot with embracing both cultures. I think Kingston wasn’t justified in being cruel to the silent Chinese girl because she could’ve done things differently. Then again, I understand that she was trying to help. I feel that if she didn’t say something to the silent girl then the girl would’ve continued to be silent. I think it was important that Kingston added this confrontation in her book because it helped show that not many people who identify as Asian feel comfortable embracing their culture. According to The Woman Warrior it states, “Not all children who were silent at American school found voice at Chinese school.” (Kingston 168). This shows that people who identify as Asian don’t feel comfortable even in an environment where there are people who share the same background and culture. I think it’s sad that so many different cultures have stereotypes. I feel like that puts pressure on people because society has embedded certain expectations and if those expectations aren’t met then people are looked at wrong.
Hi Chloe, I really liked your blog post! I liked that you talked about the struggles with being able to be a part of two different cultures and where Kingston stands in her culture. I think in some ways Kingston was justified in being cruel to the girl that would not speak, but also some of the things she did were not nice at all. I think that knowing the what the Chinese culture is, it makes sense that she was cruel, but also with American society, those types of behavior are not as easily accepted. I think that Kingston meant well by trying to get the quiet girl to speak. I believe that it was important to include this confrontation because it shows how difficult it really can be to be an American-Chinese. “We American-Chinese girls had to whisper to make ourselves American-Feminine. Apparently we whispered even more softly than the Americans”(Kingston 172). This shows a big struggle that American-Chinese girls face is knowing how loud to speak to be able to fit in, and may even end up being too quiet for either culture. These girls are under a lot of pressure to fit into two totally different cultures, and they probably end up feeling very lost and confused on what to do.
Hi Chloe! I really enjoyed how you spoke in reality about the situations that are being portrayed. As I am reading your first question, I do not think it was justified for Kingston to be cruel to the silent girl. Connecting to what Lindsey said, it was hard to read because going through that first or second hand brings back memories that you do not want to remember. It is hard to read and reflect on something so personal like that when you have been in those shoes or have watched it happen. I feel as if it was not justified for Kingston to act that way however I feel as if she is not used to both cultures. The text states, “At first it did not occur to me I was supposed to talk or to pass kindergarten” (Kingston 166). This could be taken in two different contexts, one being confusion of the culture or the other being cruel and judging the culture.
Hi Chloe I liked that you chose to write about this. It seems like though the whole book the trouble with balancing American and Chinese ways of doing things is always brought up. These cultures are so different and the example I found most interesting to me was Kingston describing recess at the Chinese school “At recess we had the school to ourselves, and also we could roam as far as we could go” (Kingston – 168). In comparison most or maybe all American schools have teachers supervising the students at recess. Also, most or all schools would take disciplinary action against students who took one foot off school property if the student didn’t get an okay from a teacher or the principal. So, it seems like Kingston is making fun of the American school system and how up tight they are about the time when students are supposed to relax and enjoy themselves.
Hey Chloe!! I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I found it very fascinating that Kingston was so heavily impacted by both cultures. I do not think that Kingston was justified in any way to be so mean and cruel to the silent girl. Since Kingston went through so much trauma of not being able to speak fluent English I thought she would be more understanding and patient. “There were other quiet Chinese girls not of our family” (166). This quote stood out to me as it resembles that Kingston was well aware that many other young Chinese girls went through the exact same struggle. I personally thought Kingston would have been more kind since she was so young at the time. This quote is very powerful as it resembles the hard truth Asian-Americans face everyday. It is not fair that they feel constantly judged and uncomfortable to speak loud and confident due to their cultures judgement. This chapter made me realize the true struggles of being a Chinese- American girl. It’s unfortunate that our society judges so many cultures based on racist ideologies.
Hi Chloe, great post! I thought the scene with Kingston bullying the girl was very interesting. In regards to your first discussion question, while I think bullying is never justified, we can understand why it is Kingston does it. She has never shown herself in the book to be a cruel person, flawed yes but cruel no. This is important because we have to the ask ourselves why did she do this. It is very clear that Kingston almost wanted to “protect” this girl in a strange way. She didn’t want the girl going through American life where there would be harsher bullies than herself, Kingston wanted to somewhat prepare the girl to defend herself against those bullies. “Make a fist. Come on. Just fold those fingers up; fingers on the inside, thumbs on the outside. Say something. Honk me back. You’re so tall, and you let me pick on you” (Kingston 179) We see Kingston desperately trying to get the girl to stand up for herself, even saying that someone taller should be more intimidating, implying that if she just defended herself no one would bother her. Yet the silent girl still does nothing. Kingston projects how she feels about herself, about the cultures, about what is “proper” in both these places. Kingston does not fit in to either one, but she sees this quiet girl who dresses in bright colors and doesn’t talk back and it makes Kingston angry, the quiet girl is everything Kingston isn’t. So while Kingston is bullying the girl trying to get her to be tough like herself, it might also be a bit of jealousy that Kingston has for the girl. Maybe Kingston even just wanted to befriend the girl, someone who is like her, doesn’t fit in to the American culture, she wanted someone to relate to but the girl refuses to talk which would make it difficult for anyone to be friends with her, or to marry her as Kingston mentions. It’s important because we see the frustration Kingston feels and probably has felt throughout her whole life, we see it has affected her and perhaps she’s upset that she sees someone else in the same boat as her.
Hi Chloe, I really enjoyed your blog post and thought you brought up some really interesting points about Kingston and her issues with identity. In regards to your first discussion question, I don’t think that anyone should talk to someone or be mean to someone regardless of the situation. However, I do understand why she was angry with the girl. I feel as though Kingston sees herself in the girl. She had a hard time speaking and had issues with understanding the English language. When this girl doesn’t speak it can be seen as Kingston reflecting her own internal struggles out on someone who is like herself. This can be seen in the novel when Kingston is interrogating the little girl and says, “‘You’ve got to let people know you have a personality and a brain. You think somebody is going to take care of you all your stupid life? You think you’ll always have your big sister? You think somebody’s going to marry you, is that it? Well, you’re not the type that gets dates let alone gets married. Nobody’s going to notice you’” (Kingston 181). In this passage it shows how angry Kingston is at the girl. From an outside perspective it just looks like Kingston is angry because the girl will not speak. On the other hand, it is more than that. Kingston mentions how the girl must show people that she has a personality and a brain. This is similar to Kingston because she always tries to do well in school in order to prove herself. Like when she tells her Mom that she got straight A’s (even though her mom contradicted the importance of straight A’s). Then, when Kingston mentions the topic of marriage to the young girl, she could be hinting towards her issues of marriage. That she does not want to marry whoever her mother wants her to.