No Name Woman LR - Book was required for English 1A course in Santa Rosa Junior College PDF

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Book was required for English 1A course in Santa Rosa Junior College...

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“No Name Woman” is the first chapter of a memoir written by Maxine H. Kingston. The title refers to the author’s aunt whose tragic story she will explore in attempt to touch such subjects as cultural and personal identity. In this chapter writer is in search for a way to reconcile her Chinese cultural background with the influence of new reality, i.e. “emerging sense of herself as an American” female. In the beginning of the chapter Maxine Kingston tries to uncover what her Chinese cultural history is. First, she recalls the story of her aunt’s tragic death, which happened back in China and was told by her mother, as a neutral side. Apparently, her aunt became pregnant by some man, whose identity was never disclosed, while her husband was working in America. She was humiliated by villagers for her sin and soon was found drowned in the family’s well along with her newly born child. This story was used by author’s mother as a caution intended to discourage daughter from having premarital sex with the hope that “fear of humiliation and death” will serve as an effective mean. Author treats this story as a buffer that could help her understand what in her Chinese cultural background is “peculiar to childhood, to poverty, insanities, one family,” and etc. from “what is Chinese.” “Because her mother's messages are difficult to adopt or apply to her immediate American reality,” she alters her mother’s story based on her own perception of “patriarchal nature of traditional Chinese society, in which women were conditioned to do as they were told, without question.” Many factors could have caused the tragedy. For example, the woman’s inequality in Chinese traditional society leaves her unprotected from man's sexual advances. Double standards accepted in the Chinese traditional society justify punishment for unfair woman, while the chances are that the man, who is as guilty of the adultery as this poor woman, could be among the punishers.

Despite her mother’s warning not to tell to anyone about her aunt, she pays a tribute to this woman by writing “No Name Woman.” She feels sorry for participation in a “silent punishment,” but would like to think that at the very end her aunt wasn’t a victim, but a person that had control over her own fate as she took her baby along with the only purpose, i.e. not to let the child suffer from people’s cruelty. Author understands that her aunt was not a bad woman, but a casualty of poor living circumstances and outdated traditions. Stories from her childhood influenced her development as an individual, but today she is able to see through their simplistic nature the shadow of a Chinese cultural heritage. Initial Reaction:

While reading “No Name Woman”, I instantly felt angry with people that punished author’s aunt. Without speculating on to what really happened to this poor woman and why she cheated if she really did, I think her only fault is that she was born during the time where society conformed to strict traditions rather than to the sense of justice or, at least, to mercy. I understand that traditions, in their turn, were created to encourage socially acceptable behavior. I agree that from the moral point of view adultery is not a good thing, but judging someone without knowing all circumstances and, moreover, punishing by humiliation is a worse deed. To my mind, humiliation and incitement to suicide are among the worst sins a person can possibly commit. Some traditions are simply used to justify inhumane behavior, especially, when people that follow those traditions are driven by instinct of self-preservation. In any case I am really happy that I am not a victim of a well-meant tradition, and that I have rights, i.e. right to say no to a man, right to equality between man and woman, right to be a single mom, and right to be treated as a human being....