Saturday, July 17, 2010
FWoman Warior
I found this book to be a little confusing with all of the story-telling happening. Once I researche d some of the themes, things became a lot clearer for me. I liked the use of metaphors such as: "round cakes" and "doorways" to represent the "circle" or "roundness" of Chinese life- the idea that the villagers are connected and responsible for one another's life. I also learned that Kingston uses talk stories. Talk stories often involve the fantastic and fuses realistic events with majical qualities. The first part of the book was the most interesting to me (No Name Woman). I believe this is definately her Aunt that has supposedly committed suicide. I found the story from Kingston's mother to be quite frightening. Her mother's purpose is to scare Maxine into not having an adulteress affair so that she won't bring shame on herself or the village. Instead Kingston has mixed feelings about her identity as an Asian-American and her gender role as a result. Later in this section of the book Kingston puts herself in her Aunts situation and tries to imagine what it was like. She actually writes as if she is the Aunt telling the story. She fantasizes about her Aunt being a timid woman ordered into submission by a rapist. She imagines her harboring a slowly blossoming passion attempting to attract a mans atttention by carefully defining her appearance. She rejects the idea that her Aunt was a wild woman with loose passion, as woman did what they were told by men in their culture. She articulates that her Aunt's greatest crime was stepping out of the role that Chinese society and traditions has proscribed for her. It was sad to here about the Aunt taking the baby to the well for the suicide. The baby had to have been a girl and I'm assuming she did this act out of respect and love for the child as it would have been discriminated against and ridiculed as an outsider and illigitemate all of its life. This proves that there is plenty of discrimination to go around. An individuals twisted desires and need for power can pollute an entire culture with norms and rules.
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It is disheartening to hear about such attrocities and how the hatred that causes them is widespread. The woman jumping in the well with her child to save both of them from living with the pain of being a woman reminds me of "Beloved" and Sethe killing her child to save it from the suffering of slavery. Sadly ignorance is contagious especially in times of change. Those townspeople could not explain the woman being pregnant since her husband had been gone for over a year so they accuse her of adultery when very likely she was raped. I found it hard to grasp the fact that women could not say no to a man if he wanted to have his way with her, married or not. After reading this book it does make me feel like we’ve come a long way.
ReplyDeleteI like the story of the the aunt as well. I think it was easier to grab ahold of because it had less elements of fantasy. No warrior princess or ghosts. It is a different way to think that a prego woman would be treated so badly that she would commit suicide. Not only was she turned on by the village but also her family. The house was destroyed and the people stole what they wanted. ANd then all of that cause a woman to kill herself but even worse, her baby. It is weird to think that a woman stepping out in the little ways tyhe author suggests would bring such a dissent. It is a culture shift that to me makes no sense.
ReplyDeleteI to think her Aunt had a baby girl. I can also agree that she took the life of the child and herself to save her from the life she would have to live. I may not agree with taking the life of an innocent person let alone a child. She could have explored other options before she hopped into the well with the baby. She could have escaped and went to America like her sister did. The Aunt could have endured the ridicule of have a child out of wedlock and if not at least the baby could have had a life. We will never know because instead of letting her child live she took both of their lives. I do not believe suicide is the answer for anything that life throws at us.
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