Tuesday, May 20, 2014
The Woman Warrior: Narration and Style
America has a complex history, as it is a nation that has been made up of immigrants. The Woman Warrior as a record of immigrant experience. How does Homsher and Ya-jie believe the narrative structure and style of the novel contribute to understanding an American experience? How does Kingston's story compare with the stories of other immigrants you may be familiar with, for instance your own, or those of your family, or those you have read about in other books? Be sure to use textual support from both articles.
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In the articles, Deborah Homsher and Zhang Ya-jie have shown to have interpreted not just the story but its context in very different ways. In "The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction", Homsher believes that because Kingston was not able to express her struggles and wishes through speech as "the Chinese are taught to keep misfit emotions silent" (Homsher 94), the freedom that has been given to her in America has allowed her to bring forth her story into literature. Homsher believes that through the American experience, Kingston made "writing..a sneaky form of suppressed speech" (Homsher 95). Contrarily, in "A Chinese Woman's Response to Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior", Ya-jie believes that the American experience has not necessarily brought much good to Kingston (at least in regards to the cultural perspective of her writing). As Ya-jie "read it for the first time, because the stories in it seemed somewhat twisted, [they were] Chinese perhaps in origin but not really Chinese any more, full of American imagination" (Ya-jie 103). The American experience has fogged the raw Chinese culture in Kingston's writing and instead, Kingston has incorporated a different technique than Ya-jie is used to as well as a different state of mind. As with immigrants in our society, I've seen with fellow young Ethiopians how they have abandoned the respected culture of our ancestors out of fear of rejection by others in America. Many, not just Ethiopians, have taken advantage of the freedom of being able to construct a new life for themselves. In the same way, Kingston has chosen to integrate American expression (found through her experience in the U. S.) into Chinese culture as she tells the story of her life through reality and imagination.
ReplyDeleteSosna, I agree with your analysis on how both authors of each article see in The Woman Warrior. This does connect with immigrant groups such as Ethiopians, if not all. As you said Ya-jie believes Kingston is "too american" , but in actuality it is that side of her makes the story somewhat understandable.
DeleteI love how you connected your personal experience into what you wrote cause it makes it sound more genuine. Nice Job.
DeleteI really like how you revealed the difference between Ya-jie and Homsher by explaining how America has effected (affected?) Kingston's stories. The connection you made with Ethiopians further helps your argument and provides credibility. However, I think you could go into further detail about the Ethiopians, otherwise, great job!
DeleteYour interpretation of the question was excellent. Thank you for using quotes, your analysis confused me at first. The effective quotes further helped establish your interpretations of the texts. I also enjoyed your personal connection. The connection to modern immigration powerfully stated that cultural genocide and assimilation to American culture still goes on in our society. Through this connection, I realized that cultural assimilation will continue for the rest of America's existence and not just a thing of the past.
ReplyDelete-Brennan Quinn
The articles by Deborah Homsher and Zhang Ya-jie have contrasting views on how the book The Woman Warrior is constructed and how it pursues the life of immigrants in America particularly Chinese immigrants. In Deborah Homsher’s article she believed that Kingston’s connection with fiction in her autobiography allows the reader to understand the struggles of being an immigrant but also an American. Homsher also believed that since “The Chinese are taught to keep misfit emotions silent…” (Homsher 94) Kingston’s act of writing The Woman Warrior is a “defiant telling” (94) which breaks the silence of Chinese women. On the other hand in Zhang Ya-jie’s response to The Woman Warrior she believes that although Kingston speaks out as a Chinese American she is full of American imagination (Ya-Jie 103). Ya –jie feels as if Kingston has lost her culture in America she begins to correct her on how the Chinese really are. Ya-jie contradicts Kingston’s fictional yet true stories of “The No Name Woman” and “The White Tigers” with the truths of Kingston’s perspective. Ya-jie’s take on Kingston’s writing is also seen today in this generation of immigrants in American society. In time the youth immigrants from different countries forget their traditional values and usually start to be infused with American ones, ultimately leading to cultural genocide.
ReplyDeleteEmigration to America has always been sought after by most people in foreign countries. America was considered a melting pot for people of different cultures to come into without being discriminated based on that culture. "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Kingston is a perfect example of that. In "The Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction" by Deborah Homsher and "A Chinese Woman's Response to Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior" by Zhang Ya-jie both believe that the narritive structure and the breaking up of the novel that intertwines Chinese tales and reality shows how Culture stays with someone no matter if they leave a country which in turn turns the American Experience into a melting pot. The British proverb "Old Ways Die Hard" relates to this because "ideas (that are) rooted for centuries in a people's mind are not wiped out easily" (Ya-Jie 105). People are brought up learning one thing which they later pass down from generation to generation. One example of this is the story of Fa Mulan who was a woman warrior. That "inherited" story is linked with "explications and memories" of Kingston to be able to "construct a picture" of Kingston's ancestors (Homsher 93). That gives the reader a view of her family members which contrasts with the memoir that this book is. That also relates to the journey of Livia Bitton-Jackson in her memoir "I Have Lived A Thousand Years: Growing up in the Holocaust" because of the fact that she accepts what had happened to her in the concentration camps and she tells that story through her memoir to pass down the horrors of the Holocaust from generation to generation.
ReplyDeleteCarolina Vallin
DeleteI like how you connected Bitton-Jackson's memoir to The Woman Warrior, but I feel you could have explained how that memoir related specifically to America being a melting pot of cultures.
I completely agree with you Zoe,I felt that although Ya-jie criticized some aspects of Kingston's novel she still understood her portrayal of the American experience that would seem to be one of different perspectives.This is a strong argument,but I would have liked it you would have elaborated on the connection to the "melting pot".
Delete-Laurice
Luis Almanza
ReplyDeletePeriod 8
Homsher and Ya-jie both present the ideas of cultural orgin and identity. These identities shape America (the place in which the immigrants travel to) and subsequently shape themselves as well. As Kingston story writes with a "distance of the narrator, this self relaying quality, contrasts with the intimacy one can sense in reading a book" (Homsher 93). This sense of distance, common place in both the authors narration style, implicate a profound affect and nostalgia implaced by many Americans that they are linked to America but however not apart... yet. This is a constant misunderstanding by many non immigrants, from personal stories heard from families members to even the stories of immigrants now in the 21st century there is a always a evident want versus reality. The want is to become linked and be linked but the reality is your not linked till you lose the label as "immigrant". Similiary the "British proverb says, Old Ways Die Hard" implicates a struggle associated the American experience and how freedom has come a long way (Ya-jie 103). This narration with a theme of such a proverb gives the American experience in 3 words "ever changing freedom". A example would be the treatment and right for women, 60 years ago women were still encaged by the cult of domesticity and now is non existent. Both Ya-jie's and Homsher's narration show a distorted American experience to already Americans but a very real one for immigrants. One of pain and struggle but above all else soemone a sense of cultural accomplishment and mixing and always perseverance. If it had not be for narrators such as those two ignorance would be inevitable.
Luis, I really enjoyed how you brought in the concept of the "distance of the narrator". Reading the article, this idea of incorporating a feeling of distance in literature was confusing but you explain it really well. You threw me off a bit when you mentioned the "distorted American experience to already Americans". Maybe state it differently..? Other than that, good analysis as I agree with many of your points.
DeleteI agree with you about the way that you say that freedom is every changing with the American experience. I believed that since immigration has come a long way that not all of the knowledge of a culture is being fully given and that it is lost along with trying to achieve the American Experience
DeleteYou made many good points however you attempted to support it with assumptions.I agree with Americans shaping their culture, maybe develop that more. Maybe how Americans take both their American and Ethnic heritages and form their own personal culture that they alone can relate to.
DeleteHomsher views Kingston's work as one that can connect to Chinese immigrants coming to America and creating their own American experience by bringing their cultures into that experience. Kingston structures this story by using facts that people can connect to and follow along with the characters experiences "Kingston recognizes the power of concrete details embedded in tales of faraway places since her own mother, the shaman, used this technique to build China in Stockton, California"(Homsher 94) As Homsher, Ya-jie would agree to Kingston use of using facts to connect with her audience "search for my own reed pipe and sing for my own kind"(Ya-jie 107) Ya-jie recognizes that Kingston included the Chinese culture in a "American" book, making it easy to see how immigration is not completely leaving behind your identity because you can bring it to America and share it with others. This being how Kingston creating an American experience for her audience to see. When my mother came here from Mexico, she kept all her traditions but also conformed into being an "American" making her own experience as an American. All my mom changed was the language she would speak the most which was english instead of spanish. This relates to The Woman Warrior in the way that, an American experience is based on who you are whether you be Chinese or Mexican. Being who you are but being able to adjust to the people who live in America.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I also like how you included your mother's experience, it really supports the point you are trying to prove that there are many american experiences not just one.
DeleteGreat job Bethany! Your analysis of the articles responding to "The Woman Warrior" is excellently connected to your mother's story. Like the narrator, your mother created an identity for herself that included American culture and her own.
DeleteBoth Deborah Homsher and Zhang Ya-jie praise the message of feminism present throughout Maxine Hong Kingston's "The Woman Warrior". However much acclaimed, both authors disagree with the narrative structure of the novel. In "The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction", Homsher believes the experience of Kingston's female relates, experiences which has exceeded her, allows a "freedom to explore fantasy dramatically" while many would consider the writing fiction (96). Homsher believes the fiction created around the stories Kingston was told provides a deeper insight. The latter interpretation provided by Zhang Ya-jie in "A Chinese Woman's Response to Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior" suggests that the fantasy and fabrication of the stories told diminish "The Woman Warrior" in a sense that there is no traditional Chinese values displayed. Ya-jie comes from China and was brought up on traditional Chinese values, so when she read "The Woman Warrior" she felt the stories were "somewhat twisted, Chinese perhaps in origin but not really Chinese any more" (103). Ya-jie suggests that the falsehood and embellishment in the novel hinder the authenticity of the stories and offend national pride of the Chinese. This differs from the view of Homsher who proposes the idea that the fabrication of the stories help the novel. A story of immigration that stands out is "Esperanza Rising" by Pam Muñoz Ryan. It is the story of a young Mexican girl who grew up pampered until she was forced to flee to America to escape persecution. She is forced to grow up and take care of her family. She goes through other obstacles, but in the end, she is left new new hopes and aspirations. The story of Esperanza is similar to many Immigrants who escape persecution to seek a better life, resulting in tales of the past and new dreams.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really great response, Madison. I really liked your approach to the feminist values that both author's saw in Kingston's piece when addressing the prompt as it was not something that I saw at first in these pieces and took a lot more research to prove. Your textual support that you used was also spot on and only made your already clear argument even more credible.
DeleteHomesher describes The Woman Warrior as a mixture of narrative and myth. The mythical section of the book juxtaposes "a woman who, as an outlaw, became a victim against a second woman, dutiful and heroic"(Homsher 93). This contributes to the American experience because two individuals are being contrasted; the American experience includes "outlaws", the people who oppress immigrants, and the fearless, who are the immigrants coming to America to live a better life without caring about the Americans' opinions. Zhang Ya-jie judges Kingston's book. Ya-jie explains that "the word "ghost" may imply many different concepts" in the Chinese language(Ya-Jie 103). Kingston probably uses this vague word to allow the readers to interpret who the ghosts are, either the Americans or the Chinese. The Woman Warrior is similar to the immigrant stories I am familiar with because when immigrants come to America they try to build a place to maintain their culture. For example, in Chicago there is a Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Village, ect. Kingston's mother tried to construct a China in America in order for Kingston to grow up around Chinese traditions. It is very common for immigrants to construct an environment similar to where they immigrated from.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about the contrasting individuals. You were able to clearly separate who these people are. You also closely related this to the same matters that are presented in Chicago which many may not be fully aware of. At a glance yes there are people who know what little neighborhoods exist in Chicago however, not many actually question why these may even exist and in some cases how important these neighborhoods are.
DeleteIn the articles by Homsher and Ya-Jie, both authors interpret "The Woman Warrior" in as a vessel for a feminist message that portrays the correct way to be strong and not give up, while not being so intent that you lose yourself in the process. Homsher paints "The Woman Warrior's" format as one with "a distance (from) the narrator, (with) self-effacing quality that contrasts with the intimacy one feels when reading this book" (Homsher 93). Though the narrator herself never stepped in China and was American, she was still successful in creating a narrative that held traditions of her family with a show of strength for herself as a woman. Using anecdotes and traditional stories, this was achieved when interwoven with Kingston's own life story, as Homsher believes. Similarly, Ya-Jie sees "The Woman Warrior" as a piece that has a purpose "...to show how a Chinese-American finds her own identity...and how she uses words and stories to rebel against the old and to contribute to the new" (Ya-Jie). When Ya-Jie first read the piece, she was upset at the lack of knowledge of her own culture and the ignorant remarks that Kingston made. However, when she realized that this was not an "old" piece of literature with "old culture" ideas from the perspective of someone not just Chinese but American as well, she accepted Kingston's attempt to add to the "new culture." This new culture that Kingston intended to contribute to accepted the "new" woman that fought for her sexuality and had feminist beliefs. Kingston's story compares well to the movie "Selena" where Selena, a Mexican-American, is told that she has to be twice as good of a person. Since she is too white to be "Mexican" she has to prove that she is Mexican to that culture while at the same time not being "too Mexican" and not being accepted by whites. The line that she has to walk is similar to Kingston's, as shown by her autobiography "The Woman Warrior."
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Noah, I really like how you tied in the movie Selena. It's a good example to use for individuality and acceptance in America.
DeleteNoah, this is well written. I like how you described the way Ya-jie later understood what Kingston's purpose for this book was. The way you said, "when she realized that this was not an "old" piece of literature with "old culture" ideas from the perspective of someone not just Chinese but American as well, she accepted Kingston's attempt to add to the "new culture" was well written and helped me better understand what Kingston's purpose of the text was.
DeleteLaurice Skinner
ReplyDeletePeriod 8th
At the dawn of the seventeenth century settlers from England established colonies under British rule. These colonies which would eventually unite and become the United States of America. In “The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston: A bridging of Autobiography and Fiction” and “A Chinese Woman’s Response To Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior the authors, Deborah Homsher and Zhang Ya-jie believe that the author has synthesized myths and reality to portray the reality of the true American experience. The old British proverb says “Old Ways Die Hard"; ideas rooted for centuries in a people's mind are not wiped out easily" (Ya-jie 105). People are brought up learning one thing which they later pass down from generation to generation. Referring to the idea that although Kingston is Chinese-American she still holds on to some very different cultural aspects present in China, but also creates a piece that is, “Chinese perhaps in origin but not really Chinese anymore, full of American imagination” (Ya-jie 103).Ya-jie agrees with the idea that the author has incorporated the Chinese culture, but it is not fully present as it appeals to American writing styles as well. America is often called the melting pot because it is built upon the mixture of various cultures. Those who have not experienced this feeling doesn’t understand what the American experience is, and often writes off the individual as having assimilated into this culture. Homsher agrees when she states that “Kingston’s use of inherited stories to begin or center most of her chapters creates ambiguity between the close personal and the distant impersonal” (95). This sense of distance, common place in both the authors’ narration style, implicate the profound by many immigrants because they are a part of the American culture, but they still are not completely linked to it. My grandfather would often tell my siblings and I, stories that his father had told him. He often told how his father would tell him to deny any idea presented by someone unlike himself. His father was a slave ,and taught my grandfather to deny the American culture, not realizing that the foundation of America is that of immigrant experiences. To accept that you are Chinese-American, African-American, or Latino-American isn’t cultural genocide you are simply adapting that culture into one that shares many.
Max, your last sentence is wonderful, adding a thoughtfulness that not only brings all of your ideas together, but also demonstrates awareness. Your transition from context to analysis and analysis to evaluation were disjointed, and at times your language language lacked formality and clarity. A good response with a thorough analysis, and to quote British, "jolly good show!"
DeleteHomsher and Ya-jie believe different things about The Woman Warrior. Homsher believes that Kingston "seperates her book from more traditional, chronological autobiographies"(Homsher 1). Homsher says that she thinks that by choosing and incorporating parts in Kingstons life that Kingston is able to "make her own past and her kinfolk real"(Kingston 2). Homsher also says that Kingston uses "concrete details embedded in the tales of faraway places" to show and bring those far away places back to life and seem closer. Ya-Jie believes that Kingston has lost felt to much bitterness against her "chinese origin"(Ya-jie 1) which would have given her a different perspective of how her culture really is. Ya-jie also believes that by using the word "ghost" tpp much that she is giving Americans the impression that Chinese are abusing the word. Immigrants today tend to lose some of their culture and knowledge of thier origins just as Ya-jie believes that Kingston has as well. Even as moving simply to the city to provide for the family you lose some of who you are by changing your routine and habits to fit urban lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteI like how you split it up in to how the book was structured rather than the author's belief on the topic. It's a cool change and your quotes worked really well.
DeleteI agree with your perspective of immigrants. Even though moving may not seem like such a big change at first, over time it becomes apparent that they are no longer as traditional as their home country's people. Immigrants assimilate unconsciously and over time their "culture" fades away- especially in America, were there is no central culture.
DeleteIn the critiques of "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston, Zhang Ya-jie and Deborah Homsher both argue that the narrative lacks true Chinese influence. The piece of literature shows an ever changing American way of life. Although the story tells of the author's experiences as a Chinese-American girl, "the distance of the narrator, this self-effacing quality, contrasts with the intimacy one can sense in reading the book" (Homsher 93). The story lacks a direct relation to the true immigrant experience and although the Chinese culture is mentioned, it is told with "American imagination" (Ya-jie 103), which suggests that Kingston's credibility regarding the American dream is somewhat distorted. For many immigrants, they find it more difficult to recreate their culture in America, which is not the way Kingston tells her story.
ReplyDeleteOlivia, I agree with you that Zhang Ya-Jie argued that the narrative lacked true Chinese influence but in Homshers piece i felt she didn't argue that. Contrary she thought Kingstons book was very well written and everything in it helped separate her book from all the others. Homsher points out everything that Kingston did good in the book but i didn't get from Homshers piece that she thought the narrative lacked true chinese influence. Besides this i agree with your analysis. Good Job
DeleteYes i agree with you both, I tried to explain that in my response but I think you do a really good job explaining the different responses Ya-jie and Homsher has to "The Woman Warrior".
DeleteIn the response articles, Ya-jie and Homesher interpreted "he Woman Warrior" to be a combination of Chinese and American culture, which ultimately creates the American culture. Zhang Ya-jie begins in the article "A Chinese Woman's Response To Maxine Hong Kingston's 'The Woman Warrior'" saying she was offended when Kingston said "' the Chinese are too loud and 'tell lies'"(Ya-jie 108). During the twentieth century, Chinese-Americans were subjected to racial discrimination. Ya-jie believed American culture distorted Kingston's writing style. Ya-jie however changes her position to agree with Debrah Homesher in her article "A Bridging of Authobiography and Fiction." By the end of "The Woman Warrior," the narrator is a "complex adult, rather than as a crazy mosaic of mutually exclusive pieces"(Homesher 98). The narrator had to mature intoa woman who knows who she is. All her life, the narrator was told she is purely Chinese when in fact that is not the case. Being born and raised in America, the narrator adopted an identity that includes American and Chinese culture. Kingston "uses words and stories to rebel against the old and to contribute to the new"(Ya-jie 104).
ReplyDeleteI disagree, I do not think that American culture distorted Kingston's writing style, I think the opposite.Ya-jie's critique shows how her writing wa very biast and hypocritical.
DeleteIn the articles, both authors, Ya-Jie and Homsher, have different views on Kingston's structure and style of the novel. Homsher believes that the distinctions made by Kingston "between fact and fantasy... separates her book from more traditional, chronological autobiographies"(Homsher 93) Homsher states that the way Kingston links stories with memories of her own makes the story "very close to the work of fiction, but it is always done as part of the effort to make her own past.. real" (94) Homsher states that "Kingston constructs a partly fictional world" to let the reader reenter the story imaginatively to see the story clearly while also being emotionally involved. While Homsher believes everything told by Kingston seems real, Ya-jie states that the stories in the novel “seemed somewhat twisted” and although “Chinese perhaps in origin but not really Chinese any more” but “full of American imagination” (Ya-Jie 103) The book did not appeal to Ya-Jie the first time she read it due to the fact that it offended her sense of national pride and idea of personal discretion. Many Chinese references that Kingston used “a Chinese writer would have told it differently” (Ya-Jie 103) Ya-Jie believes the structure of the novel impacted the understanding of an American experience because Kingston didn’t fully understand all the Chinese concepts she incorporated into her book leading to wrong connections between the two cultures. For example Kingston stated “‘The Japanese though ‘little’ were no ghosts, the only foreigners considered not ghosts by Chinese.’”(103) and Ya-Jie disagrees saying “this is not true; actually we chinese did use the derogatory meaning of ghost for Japanese invaders as well.”(103) Homsher and Ya-Jie both had contrasting views on “The Women Warrior” but at the end both agree that “Kingston invites singing”(Homsher 98) for their own kind.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Homsher and and Ya-jie do come to an agreement that Kingston invites singging for their own kind. Both Homsher and Ya-jie give the perspective of how they interpret the novel and it is interesting to see their views and how they are alike in many ways.
DeleteHomsher believes the of the novel, The Woman Warrior, is an autobiography that gives the readers the chance to give it the “reality test” by “comparing it with their own opinions and experiences” which contribute to the understanding of the novel and give the reader a chance to personally connect. This gives the reader a greater perspective and makes the novel more intimate and realistic, which as an autobiography is crucial (Homsher 96). Kingston is also developing “sympathy” which creates an emotional connection between the reader and author and “she is as involved in the process of learning as we are” (Homsher 93). This personal relationship with the author’s story creates a connection between reader and author.
ReplyDeleteKingston’s story compared to the story of my own immigrant family’s story is very different, yet very similar. I feel a connection with the author without having read the novel yet. As a product of an immigrant father and third generation Mexican on my mother’s side, I feel, similar to Kingston, as though I do not know my parents and grandparents native countries, however it has somewhat been constructed in my environment. Yet, when I meet someone or mingle with family from those countries I find myself very different, as Zhang Ya-jie states about The Woman Warrior, “Chinese perhaps in origin but not really Chinese any more, full of American imagination” (Ya-jie 103).
In agreement with your main argument but was the argument in which you presented strong enough to end in a quote. The answer is no without fulliy explaining the quote with a short analysis the quote just creates the "I'm confused" attitude. Maybe explain what is the American Imagination and who defines it first or end in a more simple quote.
DeleteI agree with what you are saying but would like to point out that the last sentence of the first paragraph does not really seem necessary. Also just for clarity you should mention what country your father is from.
DeleteIn “The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction” by Deborah Homsher, and “A Chinese Woman’s Responce To Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior” by Zhang Ya-Jie, both Homsher and Ya-Jie both give contrasting ideas on how Kingston has wrote her book. Homsher believes that Kingston had supported her culture, embracing her culture identity while being an immigrant in America. Homsher writes “Kingston knows the power of concrete details embedded in tales of faraway places...in order to build China in Stockton, California.” this shows Homsher believes Kingston was trying to maintain her culture by writing this book. On the other hand, Ya-Jie believes that “Kingston held too much bitterness against her mother and her Chinese origin.” This shows how Ya-Jie believes Homsher actually was trying to shed her culture identity and assimilate into the American culture, rather than preserve her culture identity and bring China into America.
ReplyDeleteGreat job Jason. Your analysis is clear and concise and you have the evidence to back up your thesis. I would analyze a little more next time but I enjoy your paragraph, simple but powerful.
DeleteJason,
DeleteI completely disagree with your analysis as both Homsher and Ya-jie believed that there is cultural genocide present in Kingston's "The Woman Warrior". If you were to go on with the one quote about how the mother was trying to build a China in California for her daughter, anyone can realize that the mother's attempt to preserve the culture of her daughter was futile. As a result the daughter suffered from cultural genocide of her Chinese customs by becoming succumbed to attempting to match the status quo of American customs.
Deborah Homsher and Zhang Ya-jie have different interpretations of the context in "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Kingston. Ya-jie believes that the American experience has not culturally benefitted Kingston and has actually made her a ghost. While Homsher believes that Kingston does the opposite and that Kingston can express her struggles thanks to the freedom America has granted her. Ya-jie believes that the American experience and influence has blurred the Chinese culture that Kingston intended to portray; that her "stories seemed somewhat twisted, [they were] not really Chinese anymore, [but now] full of American imagination" (Ya-jie 103). Similar to how Kingston twists her stories I've personally experienced how several of my friends who are Mexican as I at times reject or twist our culture that in reality is beautiful and respected by our ancestors who when immigrated to America strived to perserve it. However, we twist or reject our culture out of fear of rejection and the temptation to start over is so great that we take the opportunity similarly to how Kingston chose to integrate the American expressions and experience into the Chiness culture creating the challenge between reality vs imagination. On the other hand Homsher believes that Kingston could not express her true story because "the Chinese were taught to keep misfit emotions silent" (Homsher 94) therefore she couldn't express her struggles. However, with the freedom she is given through the American experience she is able to express her struggles and true story.
ReplyDeleteSarah, I completely agree. I really liked how you used the first quote and explained it, very well done. In addition, I enjoyed reading the second part of you response and then used a quote from Homsher to add on to it. Nice job Sarah!
DeleteNice Job Sarah. I totally agree with your response and the quotes you chose they flow really nice and connect to each other. I also really enjoyed your connection and the retell of your own experience.
DeleteBoth Homsher and Ya-Jie interpret "The Woman Warrior" as a feminist literature that portrays the ideals of individuality in culture. Homsher describes "The Woman Warrior's" as a story where the author has the "freedom to explore fantasy dramatically" (Homsher 96)The narrator has never been to China but she was still able to create a narrative that held original Chinese traditions and customs. Ya-Jie interprets "The Woman Warrior" as a story that "shows how a Chinese-American finds her own identity...and how she uses words and stories to rebel against the old and to contribute to the new" (Ya-Jie). At first, Ya-Jie didn't agree with Kingston but she later realized that Kingston was not just dismissing her culture but she was adding on to it. With the new idea Kingston brought up, it depicted the feminist standards that Kingston believes in. Kingston's story compares well to the Latin-American girl population living in America. Most young girls are brought up by their Latino mothers under Latino values however a large population of these women realize that they must be their own person. Although they can be part of the Latino culture, they also can be a part of the American culture. This acceptance of individuality is depicted through Kingston's "The Woman Warrior".
ReplyDeleteCarolina Vallin
ReplyDeleteIn the articles, Deborah Homsher and Zhang Ya-jie bring up the issue of authentic use of Chinese culture in Kingston’s The Woman Warrior. In “A Chinese Woman’s Response to Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior”, Ya-jie writes about her experience when first reading Kingston’s book. According to Ya-jie, Kingston, an American-born woman who was raised with Chinese and American values, uses stories such as “No Name Woman” that may “have been true in old China”, but because Kingston was not a “Chinese writer”, she incorporated American fantasy into the originally Chinese stories. (103). Therefore, Ya-jie makes Kingston’s American experience as that of a woman trying to incorporate her Chinese culture into her American life. Homsher, on the other hand, makes Kingston out to be a girl who had a “China up around her” (Homsher 94) trying to include her American life into her Chinese upbringing. Because Kingston grew up with a personalized China, Homsher concludes that Kingston was left with “terrifying gaps…when she begins to explore” the American society around her making her a “frightened and challenged” Chinese American adolescent (95). Both Homsher’s and Ya-jie’s interpretations can be seen in immigrants who come to present day America. There are those who try to keep their born-into culture while learning to incorporate themselves into the American lifestyle like my parents, or those who were raised in American and try to connect to the culture from their birthplace like myself.
Adriana Amador
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
Homsher believes the narrative style in The Woman Warrior makes Kingston appear as close to the story as an author and as distant to the story as a new reader. This is done, Homsher believes, so the story will be able to practically tell a story that Kingston has inherited. The fact The Women Warrior is not completely her own story presents a falsity to the story before a reader even reads begins it, however, the way Kingston does the impossible (making the story tie into her own stories) leaves the reader with the ability to take away some lesson from this “cautionary tale” (Homsher 93). By weaving more than one account of the immigrant story together that so many Americans originate from, Kingston provides the chance for many to reflect on their own accounts while at the same time recognizing new elements to a familiar story.
Homsher and Ya-jie’s response of “The Woman Warrior” uses a specific voice in their writing style that shows the assimilation of an individual into American culture, which ultimately shows the understanding of the American experience. In Ya-jie’s response of “The Woman Warrior”, she makes remarks of how Kingston over uses certain words that have different connotations in the book which “may arouse confusion amoung Westerners and give them a wrong impression” (Ya-jie 103) about the Chinese. The criticism by Americans and development of stereotypes of the Chinese people forces immigrants from China to assimilate to American culture and ideals as so not to be wrongfully branded in an American perspective of a Chinese individual. This creates a theme of the cultural genocide of immigrants, as they would lose a sense of their culture in an attempt to Americanize themselves and not stand out as a foreigner. In Homsher’s response to “The Woman Warrior” she comments on how Kingston “spliced myths and anecdotes told by her imposing.. Chinese mother” which expresses her little knowledge of her heritage as she cannot differentiate Chinese myths from actual stories. In Homsher’s response to “The Woman Warrior” she talks of how Kingston’s mother tried “to build China in Stockton, California, to prevent her daughter from becoming a foreign” (Homsher 94) of her Chinese culture, which presents a sense of cultural preservation. However, Kingston’ s mother’s attempts are futile as Kingston becomes “un-Chinese, unfamiliar, untraditional” (Homsher 94) but transforms into this Chinese Americanized individual. Kingston’s story compares to that of a peer in my second grade class who immigrated from Italy to America, as he couldn’t speak of English at first. However, when this peer grew up learning English, American customs and traditions as well as how to act and appear to be an American teenager from his friends and teachers he significantly lost a sense of his heritage. The American experience is that of learning how to do things the American way and being Americanized in the process in order to fit in with the status quo of the country.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your analysis and the quotes that you used in your response to the question.When you used “may arouse confusion among Westerners and give them a wrong impression”, your analysis shines a new light more as i would not have thought the meaning of the quote to be like this. Keep up the good work.
DeleteI think you did a great job incorporating text into your analysis and showing its connection to Amerian experiecne.
DeleteIn both “A Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction” by Deborah Homsher and “A Chinese Woman’s Response to Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior” by Zhang Ya-Jie, the authors believe the American experience has distorted the Chinese culture for Hong Kingston. Homsher writes “the warrior’s story is simultaneously hers and not hers” (95). Kingston, a Chinese- American, tells stories based on Chinese culture. This culture may be obligated to her by her immigrated parents. Since she lives in America now, she becomes Americanized; her stories are no longer her stories to tell since she is no longer Chinese. Kingston “actually challenges old and new” ( Ya-Jie 104) cultures. Born in America, the American experience has influenced her thoughts and emotions. She makes both her newfound thoughts in America and Chinese thoughts and emotions into the stories she tells. By intertwining different cultures; she became the warrior of no name, but of herself and the identity she creates. The American experience made it possible to create one’s own identity by removing the culture that is traditionally allowed to define them. Through personal experiences, I witness a similar occurrence. Mexican traditions and customs have always hindered my family. My mother, born in Mexico, has imposed this culture on. However, I am American, and I have developed non-traditional customs of my own. Assimilation is, I think, a reason for this. I have assimilated to the American customs- that is, that there is no specific customs. America is made of many different ethnicities, religions, and cultures. I am no longer exposed to my family’s culture, but to all. I then can create my own culture free from the one I am obligated to have.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of your statements for the American image distorting the old Chinese culture. However, I don’t thinkt that the Chinese culture passed through to Kingston was lost, just flushed out and dimmed. Even though she can not relate to her mother’s experiences or the morality that she holds because of her American identity, she still holds on to the Chinese aspect of herself. The American experience has affected her emotions fairly but her Chinese ancestry also plays a part in her imaginations. She’s able to piece her mother’s story together by relating to her own experiences. Instead of the American experience removing the traditional culture, it’s more of incorporating the American culture along with the traditional culture to create a new sense of identity.
DeleteZhang Ya-jie and Deborah Homsher both construct their own understanding of the American dream, however, their ideals contrast greatly. Homsher believes that Kingston's Chinese traditions and tall tales embody the what it means to be an immigrant in America through "inherited stories with explications and memories of her own" (Homsher 93). Contrastingly, Ya-jie claims that Kingston fell victim to American influence and that her stories were "somewhat twisted...full of American imagination" (Ya-jie 103). It is this assimilation into current societal culture that Ya-jie perceives to be the American dream for an immigrant such as Kingston. Immigrants during this era clung to their homeland culture through tradition but also adapted and conformed to American ideas.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I was able to see that Homsher and Ya-jie view their ideas differently because Ya-jie feels offended by some of Kingston's statements and believes that the stories aren't Chinese anymore but more so full of American imagination.
DeleteBoth Homsher and Ya-jie react differently to The Woman Warrior. Homsher believes that Kingston's novel was not a true autobiography because Kingston left parts of the story "for the reader to interpret" instead of telling it as it is (Homsher 93). Homsher explains how Kingston is only the witness to what is happening and is only "someone who is distant enough to see clearly" (Homsher 97). This only reinforces Homsher's idea that The Woman Warrior was not a real autobiography. On the other hand, Ya-jie is offended by the novel. Ya-jie felt that Kingston did not fully understand her own culture which was why she had made derogatory statements that offended Ya-jie. For example, the fact the Kinston states that the Chinese are too loud was hypocritical and in fact offensive according to Ya-jie. Even though both authors felt that the novel had different perspectives on The Woman Warrior, they agree that the novel was great in the way Kingston juxtaposes her characters.
ReplyDeleteVictor Iturralde
ReplyDeleteMr Saldivar
American Lit 8th
5.20.14
In the articles, Ya-jie and Homsher have different views on the structure and style of Kingston’s novel “The Woman Warrior”, one. Homsher argues that Kingston’s work is "very close to the work of fiction, but it is always done as part of the effort to make her own past" (94). Homsher argues that Kingston creates this partial fiction so that it can keep the reader engaged in their mind by running their imagination, while still allowing for the emotional appeal that the reader can connect to through the narrative side. This structure allows for a very attentive reader, and opens the readers mind up more to the voicing of how an individual experiences the American culture, customs, traditions, and how they might become Americanized to match these American ideals. Ya-jie argues that Kingston has shied away from her Chinese origins and says "the word "ghost" may imply many different concepts”, suggesting that Kingston’s overuse of the word is leading Americans to think that the Chinese are abusing the word. (Ya-Jie 103). American immigrants have to face the decision of whether to ignore the racial prejudices, and preserve their culture; or to conform to the American ideals, and leave behind their cultural roots.
In the responses to The Woman Warrior" by Kingston, Homsher claims that Kingston creates a subjective and objective point of view of Chinese culture, while Ya-jie thinks Kingston exaggerates parts of the story in attempt to connect to the readers. Although ‘The Woman Warrior” is an autobiography, it is fiction in the sense that Kingston inputs her own, not necessarily true perspectives. “Kingston constructs a partially fictional world in order to be able to reenter it imaginatively as a reader, someone who is distant enough to see clearly but is also emotionally involved in the story ( Homsher 97). Similarly, Ya- jie thinks that the fictional part of the book might be too fictional and “somewhat twisted”; nevertheless, claiming that Kingston does not know true Chinese culture because she was raised in America (Ya-jie 103). The Chinese- American experience that Kingston attempts to demonstrate “could have been true in old China, but a Chinese writer would have told it differently” (Ya-jie 103). Since Kingston was born in America she is not able to understand the true life of a Chinese immigrant, therefore, not understanding the Chinese- American experience she intends
ReplyDeleteIn “The Women Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction” by Deborah Homsher and “A Chinese Women’s Response to Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Women Warrior” by Zhang Ya-ji, both writers explain the exclusion and empowerment felt by Kingston as a Chinese-American and her attempt to bind pieces of her mother’s stories of her ancestry together while filling the gap with her imagination. As a Chinese American, Kingston felt as if she was “part hovering ghost” (Homsher 95), not fully accepted by her family because of her American ideology and not fully American because of her Chinese ancestry. Even though her parents attempted to create for her a false place of being and a bubble much similar to China, the language Kingston adapted from Americans gives her power and much frightens her parents. Kingston was a “part un-Chinese, unfamiliar, untraditional” (Homsher 94) girl that spoke the language and holds the customs of the oppressors of minorities. As an American born Chinese, Kingston was never able to fully understand her parent’s culture, or the roots of which she was from. Therefore, she became an oberserver who’se able to tell stories from a distance, only adding in her imagination to bring richness to the text. Kingston was able to find “her voice and..[told] the sad stories of her two aunts” (Zhang 106) which was forbidden to her since youth. By doing so, she reconfirmed their existance and broke away from the traditionally strick rules of her family, empowering herself. As Zhang Ya-jie also mentioned, Kingston’s stories are “Chinese perhaps in origin but not really Chinese..[it’s] full of American imagination” (Zhang 103). Not only Kingston, but most children grown up in America are more “Americanized” and does not know as much about their origins as they tend to believe. That’s where Kingston’s differentiation between reality and fantasy come into play, she’s able to blend an American view of China along with the realistic stories that’s given to her by her mother.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement that both of these responses talk about Kingston's struggle to keep both parts of her culture alive. And while I understand your analysis of both responses; I disagree because I interpreted Homsher's response as talking about how Kingston observed her surroundings and didn't really experience them, making her an observer, while Ya-jie's piece contradicts Homsher by stating that Kingston has allowed growing up in America to detach her from Chinese culture and in the process her writing doesn't accurately represent Chinese culture at all because Kingston is so "Americanzed".
DeleteIn the critiques of “The Women Warrior” by Maxine Kingston, Zhnag Ya-jie believes that Kingston lacked the true Chinese influence in her text and does not show through her the text her “chinese origin” (Ya-jie 1) which would have made her text much more reliable and brought a much more different perspective. Deborah Homsher believes that Kingston is able to “separate her book from more traditional, chronological autobiographies” (Homsher 1). This then shows Homsher’s belief that Kingston is able to write a text that is individual just to her because of the perspective it is written in. Homsher also brings up that idea that by bringing in parts of Kingston’s own personal life she is able to “make her own past and her kinfolk real” (Kingston 2). Immigrants who move from one country to another most times try to keep their intact to them so they can pass that down from generation but as most times what happens they become enculturated by their new home and tend to forget about their old lives back in their old country. This is a lot like some of my family members who maybe my uncles who came from Mexico are still influenced by their Mexican culture but they were not able to have their kids really keep their culture alive in them which means it dies with my uncles.
ReplyDeleteIn “The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction” Homsher describes how she believes Kingston’s story is an autobiography that allows reader to do a reality test by comparing it with their own opinions and experiences. This allows the reader to better understand the story and to connect to what happened on a personal level. The story “seems much more intimately adaptable to the involvement of readers” (Homsher 96). This connection the reader has makes the story seem more realistic and familiar to the reader. Kingston is also establishing an emotional connection between the reader and herself as “she is as involved in the process of learning as we are” (Homsher 93). Kingston’s story is comparable to the story of my family, as the majority of my family immigrated from Mexico themselves. I feel a personal connection to the author without knowing her or reading the novel. As the son of two Mexican immigrants, I can somewhat relate with Kingston. Though, unlike Kingston who Ya-jie saw as “Chinese perhaps in origin but not really Chinese any more” (Ya-jie 103), I have been to Mexico and I have also grown up with Mexican culture, traditions, and so on. When I am with someone from my family or anyone that is Mexican I can instantly relate with them and feel a connection with them.
ReplyDeleteIn Deborah Homsher's and Zhang Ya-Jie's critiques of "The Women Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston both critique the fact that Kingston's stories seemed "full of American imagination," (Ya-Jie 103) and not true to Chinese culture. The fact that Kingston "never set foot in China, where her mother was a medical student, nor was she present in Los Angeles, when her fragile aunt received the rebuff that led to her madness" (Homsher 93) creates a distance and "contrasts with the intimacy one can sense in reading the book." (Homsher 93) This contributes to the idea that Kingston is creating a false sense of Chinese culture since she was not present in these events.
ReplyDeleteBrennan Quinn
ReplyDeleteThroughout the articles, Ya-jie and Homsher convey their interpretations of “The Woman Warrior” by Maxine Hong Kingston. Their views are somewhat conflicting on what they believe is within Kingston’s book. Homsher interpreted the text from a more liberal point of view. She believes that the American experience was a productive thing for Kingston, the new found American freedoms she had gave her the power to write her story onto paper. Contrasting to Homsher, Ya-Jie interpreted the text as Kingston losing her culture and becoming crippled to the new American culture. My great-great-great grandpa fled the family farm in Norway to come farm in America. Originally named Gabriel Gabrielson, he changed his name to Gabriel Hill to avoid prejudice from the predominantly German populated Midwest.
Kelly Acevedo
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Brennan, I agree with your interpretation of how Ya-Jie and Homsher's views of "The Woman Warrior" were different. However, you could have expanded your argument a little more with quotes from both articles. I liked how you incorporated your family member's change of name to assimilate into the American culture and acceptance.
With both articles being responses to Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior, the beliefs of authors Zhang Ya-jie and Deborah Homsher are very similar when it comes to the effectiveness of Kingston's writing style in the novel. The Woman Warrior is a collection of stories told to Kingston by her mother as well as memories from her childhood. These stories, or myths, were used "to prevent her daughter from becoming a foreign ghost" (Homsher 94). However, despite these stories, it is said that they "create ambiguity" amongst each other (Homsher 94). In addition, with the informal tone that sometimes comes with writing stories, Ya-jie believes that "Kingston used the word [ghost] in too many places with different connotation" therefore creating confusion and taking away from the overall meaning of the stories (Ya-Jie 103). Both Homsher and Ya-Jie believe that Kingston's use of stories created "terrifying gaps" that ultimately "gave [Westerners] a wrong impression" of her Chinese American experience (Homsher 95, Ya-Jie 103).
ReplyDeleteWhat different connotations of the word "ghost" are there in the story, based on Homsher and Zhang Ya-jie? One connotation represents the view of the Chinese parent on their American-born child, and how they are untraditional. However, I'm wondering what others could represent.
DeleteBoth Homsher and Ya-Jie describes The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston, as containing both fact and fiction, but the authors have opposing views on the effect this has on quality of the narrative of women in society. Homsher believes that by having elements of the stories be fictitious, Kingston is able to distance herself, "enough to see clearly but...also emotionally involved in the story" (Homsher 97). Kingston imbues herself with a bit omniscience as the narrator by removing herself from the story. The women whose story she tells in the book are individuals who she has never met and narrates each as an outsider. Moreover, she is tells the stories outside, she herself represents the work of powerful forces, in that she is heir to their heritage and values, shaping both her character and identity. Homsher argues that this help to crystallize the meanings of the books symbols and themes as well as to point out the contradictions in views of the role of women in both society and of themselves. In contrast Ya-Jie believes that Kingstons use of fiction creates, "confusion among westerners and [gives the]...wrong impression" (Ya-Jie 103). Ya-Jie refuses to compromise fact for the sake of clarity and meaning. She views that fiction of Kingston adds to her autobiography as diluting diluting the Chinese-female experience, and missing an opportunity to connect to issues facing Chinese women. Homsher and Ya-Jie each agree in their review of The Woman Warrior that though China has in moved forward in its treatment of women, in many ways Chinese culture continues to repress and degrade them. As a practicing Jew, and an individual that spent years in Jewish day school, I have seen a culture that is liberal on my issues, but continues to value men over women. I am part of the reformed sect of Judaism, which is the least strict and the most liberal, and both encourages and allows women to be part of ministries and take part in religious services. In contrast I have also observed Jewish girls who are forbidden to read the torah because of their gender, women that are forced to stand behind men during daily prayer as a sign of submission, and read articles of Orthodox girls being spit on by old men for "tempting their eyes" with their unconservative dress. There is understanding in the Jewish community that different sects choose to adhere to the laws of the Torah differently, but the extrapolation of these laws to decry the degradation of women is disputed. Both Chinese-American and Jewish women often reject the values of the past for modern ideals in order to escape the restraints their culture places on them, but by doing so they are ostracized by their community. The conflict between past and present values is not being discussed in either culture, demonstrating the lack of voice Kingston describes as making women "ghosts". To resolve the conflict of gender in culture, women must refine new and old values to create a new culture that supports an egalitarian society rather than patriarchy.
ReplyDeleteHomsher shows how Kingston uses fictional techniques in explaining her and her family’s stories, in order to depict contradicting identities in the American experience. Homsher says that Kingston works to “… develop a large sympathy for her mother…” (98), despite the disagreeable Chinese cultural values she enforced on her. Through this, Kingston tries to accept her culture. However, Homsher also says that Kingston is “breaking the silence” of Chinese morals, by openly interpreting the story of her aunt getting raped. Kingston defies her Culture here by disregarding the Chinese moral of “silence”, to express her newfound voice. Homsher says Kingston expands truthful emotions and stories, in her struggle with knowing the extent of her loyalty to the Chinese culture. Kingston’s story contradicts Rodriguez’s in Always Running at first, because he didn’t feel a pull to be disloyal to his culture for the sake of himself. Instead, he took so much pride in it, that he constantly fought for his “barrio” in street gangs and ignored his own voice.
ReplyDeleteI like your connection to "Always Running," although I think there is more of a similarity in Rodriguez's and Kingston's accounts than you mentioned. Both narrators are second-generation citizens, partly influenced by their heritage but also evidently influenced by American society. It is these two sides to the narrators that allow them to speak honestly and ambiguously about their topics. Kingston and Rodriguez create an identity that is neither "Chinese" or "American, "Mexican" or "American," but one that is individual.
DeleteI didn't see this earlier but I completely agree with Molly's extension of that connection. I should have included more specifics like that. Thinking it over though I'm not completely sure that Rodriguez's "Always Running" was told with an equal balance of bias and fact.
DeleteBoth Homsher and Ya-jie articulate that the structural composition of "The Woman Warrior" allows ambiguity to form around the immigrant experience. Homsher suggests that it is the distance of the narrator from the characters she is describing that allows the reader to observe the story somewhat indifferently; "Kingston
ReplyDeletesometimes regrets, but also employs her role as onlooker, at one
point stepping back to look through the eyes of her visiting aunt and examine the messy, ink-stained child, herself. This situation recalls the situation of a fiction writer, who also stands apart from the story by using a narrator to "speak" and judge" (95). Ya-Jie believes that Kingston's narration is flawed and culturally influenced; "it did not appeal to me when I read it for the first time, because
the stories in it seemed somewhat twisted, Chinese perhaps in origin but
not really Chinese any more, full of American imagination" (103). According to Homsher and Ya-Jie, Kingston's impartiality to the tale allows her accounting of Chinese immigration to blend with unintentional Americanized storytelling, thus creating a cultural representation of "Chinese-American" that the book ultimately strives to communicate.
I thought it was interesting how you connected Kingston's narration point, to her Americanized version of the story. I think this makes a lot of sense because in Homsher's article, Chinese children raised in the United States are deemed to be "untraditional," in the sense that they are separated from their Chinese roots.
DeleteIn “The Women Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction” by Deborah Homsher and “A Chinese Women’s Response to Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Women Warrior” by Zhang Ya-jie, both writers explain the continuous struggle felt by Kingston as a Chinese-American and her attempt to assimilate into American culture and stay connected to the Chinese part of her. Kingston’s struggle is a common one for children of immigrants; the struggle between cultural preservation and cultural genocide. Being brought up in America where speaking freely is encouraged juxtaposes with the Chinese tradition of keeping “misfit emotions silent” (Homsher 94). The freedom America offers causes Kingston to become more and more distant from Chinese traditions because they are rigid and suffocating by comparison. Homsher perceives Kingston’s American experience as a positive one as Kingston was able to use literature as an outlet to help mediate her internal conflict. On the contrary, Ya-jie interprets Kingston’s American experience as negative because the Chinese aspects of Kingston’s writing were overcast by “American imagination” (Ya-jie 103). Ya-jie feels that America is partly responsible for the lack of Chinese culture shown in Kingston’s writing; that at some point during Kingston’s life assimilating into American culture and Kingston’s want to be accepted by Americans, Kingston has killed her culture instead of preserving it.
ReplyDeleteKelly Acevedo
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Deborah Homsher and Zhang Ya-jie both believe that the narration of "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston is a feminist piece of literature in which the narrator tries to assimilate evenly into her cultures: American and Chinese. However, both writers differentiate in their opinions of how Kingston wrote her novel. In Deborah Homsher's, "The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction," she believes that because Kingston's voice was oppressed as a child since " the Chinese are taught to keep misfit emotions silent," she felt the need to let herself be heard as an adult (Homsher 94). Kingston, according to Homsher, realized that what her mother and the villagers had done to her aunt, was morally wrong. On the other hand, in Zhang Ya-Jie's "A Chinese Woman's Response To Maxine Hong Kingston's 'The Woman Warrior,'" she also believes that the Chinese moral acceptance of women in society is that of a minority when compared to males. However, she argues that Kingston's novel is based more on an American life with some Chinese origin in which she altered the stories to be "full of American imagination" (Ya-jie 103). Kingston's story compares to my own, as I am a first-generation American that came from immigrant Mexican parents. I grew up equally in both cultures: Spanish was spoken in the house and around family, while English was spoken in "American" settings such as school and public places. Like Kingston, growing up in two different cultures proved to be a challenge at times when my parents would deem me to be too "guera" ('white girl', it's my nickname) because of my lack of love for some traditional foods or taste in music. However, over time we came to the conclusion that I would not like all of the traditions of the Mexican culture but my love for some of them would be enough for me to be able to proudly call myself "Mexican-American."
In the articles written by Homsher and Ya-jie, both authors recognize that Kingston emphasizes the use of stories in Chinese American culture because they help create a sense of where their roots are. Immigrants often find themselves loosing contact with their original roots, and in Chinese American culture, stories are passed down from generation to generation to keep their cultural values alive and relevant- even in America. Homsher recognizes this in Kingston's "The Woman Warrior", where mothers play a key role in keeping the Chinese culture alive: "To prevent her daughter from becoming a foreign ghost, a non-human thing like monsters in Stockton who delivered newspapers and picked up garbage, but spoke no recognizable human language, the mother had to raise a China up around her child verbally" (Homsher, 94). One of the ultimate goals of immigrants was to keep their children from becoming ghosts- un-Chinese/ untraditional people who loose contact with their roots. They did this by telling stories that were passed down by many generations so that the child would grow up knowing something about where they came from. Homsher enforces this idea when she says: "Kingston's use of inherited stories to begin or center most of her chapters creates ambiguity between the close personal and distant impersonal. Ya-Jie also recognizes Kingston's use of stories to enforce cultural values: "Kingston knows people and how to tell stories. She found her voice and fought like a real warrior by telling the sad stories of her two aunts" (Ya-Jie 106). Kingston's overall use of inherited stories adds to her narrative voice which is used to enforce the cultural values that immigrants tend to forget when they come to America.
ReplyDeleteIn the the articles "The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction" by Deborah Homsher and “A Chinese Woman's Response to Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior,” by Zhang Ya-jie both authors explain how they have interpreted The Woman Warrior in their own way. Homsher believes the American life that Kingston has lived, she is able to overcome the fear of “the act of speech... It sometimes burned the throat of Maxine, the shy Chinese-American, to speak aloud” (Homsher 94). Living the life of an American, Kingston was able to stray away from the Chinese traditions and making decisions of her own. Through her writing, Kingston uses the freedom she is handed in America to tell of her American experience. For Ya-jie, she believes Kingston, at first felt “the stories in it seemed somewhat twisted, Chinese perhaps in origin but
ReplyDeletenot really Chinese any more, full of American imagination” (Ya-jie 103) but later found purpose to the book and agreed with what Kingston had to say. Ya-jie believes “Kingston's purpose is to make use of all these stories to show how a Chinese-American finds her own identity, how much she has to struggle through - the old culture as well as the new - and how she uses words and stories to rebel against the old and to contribute to the new” (104). Ya-jie starts to understand what Kingston was trying to share to her readers. She sees how her American writing style has developed the person the author is today. Her writing style is part of her explanation of her American experience. Kingston’s story can easily compare to my mother;s life. Growing up she battled with having a mother who only spoke spanish living in a place where everything was ‘Americanized.’ It was difficult for her to be the Latina her mother wanted but also become the person she wanted to be. Her American experience has influenced my brothers and I to be the people we are today. Homsher says, “Every Chinese child raised in America tends to become part ghost in the eyes of its immigrant parents: part un-Chinese, unfamiliar, untraditional” (94). As my mother grew up, she began to stray away from the traditions her mother taught her growing up and followed the american traditions. This causing my grandmother to have a hard time being able to understand my mother’s choices.
Neve, I really like how you viewed Kingston's story of the cultural identity of an immigrant through the ideas of freedom and restriction. Kingston points to her Chinese culture as holding a level of restriction on the "act of speech," and being an American provided Kingston the freedom to retell Chinese stories to an audience unfamiliar with the stories. However, Ya-jie also showed a level of corruption in the true nature of these Chinese stories when they were told through Kingston's "Americanized" viewpoint. Both Chinese and American perspectives of the story limited the meaning that Kingston was able to portray through a certain legend. Kingston ultimately gained freedom over the presentation of these stories when presenting them though the "hybrid" lense of a Chinese-American.
DeleteDeborah Homsher stresses that Kingston's memoir is unique through the combinations of stories that she experienced herself or that she took from another and added to it. Homsher also notes that unlike typical story-telling-style memoir's, Kingston leaves some parts of her's "left for the reader to interpret," (Homsher 93). Homsher also touches on the cultural aspects of Kingston's book acknowledging that, "when a mother tries to construct China in a foreign place, there are bound to be terrifying gaps waiting for the daughter when she begins to explore a larger world," (Homsher 95). This excerpt addresses the difficulty for immigrants to preserve their traditions and beliefs through their children because of the fear of exclusion. However, the larger world Homsher describes is America, which is supposed to be founded on ideas such as freedom and individuality. The opposing reality of this foundation is expressed when Homsher writes, "A person must talk out loud to join the community, but somehow the thoughts this girl has alienate her," (95). The irony of not being able to do what Kingston needs to is an example of the primary issue faced by immigrants or their kin.
ReplyDeleteKingston had her own experiences specific to her, however the general challenges she faces are similar to those described in Luis Rodriguez's "Always Running". Both Rodriguez and Kingston tell their stories in what Homsher describes as "someone who is distant enough to see clearly but is also emotionally involved in the story," (97). Kingston's memoir sticks out from others because of it's atypical approach.
In Homsher’s “The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction” and Ya-jie’s “A Chinese Woman’s Response to Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior,” the novel’s narrative structure reveals the American experience of the clash between traditional thinking and culture, and new schools of thought. Homsher interprets the Woman Warrior’s narrative structure as one which ”Kingston links inherited stories with explanations and memories of her own” (Homsher 93), which allows for genuine experiences to be included in the story. Homsher states that “...the mother had to raise a China up around her child verbally...Every Chinese child raised in America tends to become part ghost in the eyes of its immigrant parents: part un-Chinese, unfamiliar, and un-traditional” (Homsher 94), which shows the friction that is caused by trying to preserve an old tradition in a foreign land. The Chinese-American is alienated from both Chinese, and Americans; this clearly depicts how a personal narrative reveals the clash between tradition and new ideas and culture. Further, when Ya-jie states ”Furthermore, some of Kingston’s remarks offended my sense of national pride as well as my idea of personal discretion” (Ya-jie 103), she establishes the interpretation that the novel is controversial and sparks debate over the role of traditional school of thought. Ya-jie uses her controversial claims to say “Women should...be treated as independent beings, not just the housekeepers or the pets of men. Their equality should become one of fact, not just of law” (Ya-jie 106), which embodies the clash between different cultural ideologies. Kingston’s experiences relate to the experiences of my parents, who emigrated from Mexico, to the United States, in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Much like Kingston, they still retained their traditional culture and embraced it, but were viewed as outsiders by their fellow countrymen and by the new people they encountered in the United States.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction" by Deborah Homsher and “A Chinese Woman's Response to Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior”, by Zhang Ya-jie both authors see the detachment to the Chinese culture and the assimilation to American customs. Homsher states that in coming to America the mother tries to keep customs but also chooses to retreat.“A mother tries to construct China in a foreign place, there are bound to be terrifying gaps waiting for the daughter when she begins to explore a larger world”(Homsher 95). If not fully submissive in the American way of life, immigrants have a hard time. Therefore it is difficult for immigrants to continue with their beliefs and customs. Zhang Ya-ije also had a similar belief, he believed that in the retelling of a Chinese story the story was told not by a Chinese but a Chinese-American with American beliefs. He believes that “The Woman Warrior” seemed, “Somewhat twisted, Chinese perhaps in origin but not really Chinese any more, full of American imagination”(Ya-ije 103). Zhang Ya-ije later states “It is, after all, an American story, not a Chinese one”(Ya-ije 104). Both authors believe that “The Women Warrior” is not a traditional Chinese story but a story of immigration and the struggle of fitting and adjusting to a new world, just like million of immigrants still suffer to assimilate now in the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteIn the two articles, “The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction” by Homsher, and “A Chinese Woman’s Response To Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior,” by Ya-jie, The Woman Warrior by Kingston is being criticized on the many different ways of interpretation. In Homsher’s article, she speaks about how Kingston “attempts to bridge a division by telling all her guilty secrets to her mother...somehow the thoughts this girl has alienate her” (Homsher 95). Here, it seems that Homsher understands the unity of speaking with one another and the complicated relationship between Kingston and her imposing mother. Unlike Homsher, Ya-jie says that “Kingston held too much bitterness against her mother and her Chinese origin” (Ya-jie 103). Being in the 21st century where there are therapists and counselors that you are able to speak to, Ya-jie doesn’t really seem to understand the importance of being able to be successful and more confident and honest in daily tasks throughout life.Coming from Mexico, my grandmother learned a lot of things of being a female for herself because her ancestors were always so conservative. My mother, being the 1st generation here in the U.S, was a lot less conservative because she was raised around different cultures other than Latinos. Having friends from not only the Latino culture, my mother began questioning my grandmother and became angered with her. My grandmother and her sisters had to change the way they grew up and actually be comfortable about being honest about personal issues. Having that close relationship with someone, helps in preparation for future problems that can be solved for an easier way of life. That is why schools and a lot of places have counseling services everywhere so that Americans can now have that little advantage that they never had before.
ReplyDeleteThe Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston narrates the author's self reflection on the issues of cultural identity through a mixture of autobiographical stories and legends. However, "A Chinese Woman's Response to Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior" by Zhang Ya-jie and "The Woman Warrior, by Maxing Hong Kingston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction" by Deborah Homsher provide an important clarification as to the purpose in Kingston's unique style of narration. Through a collection of stories, Kingston is not retelling Chinese legends, but instead exploring a China "raise[d] up around her.. verbally" by Kingston's mother (Homsher 94). This "verbal" China is a unique product of imagination, distinctive because of its fusion of descriptions of the "Old China" and the observations of Kingston's home life in California. Ya-jie recognizes the piece as a self-reflection of the struggle of an immigrant, helping Kingston bear the "old world's superstitions and mysteries, [while] entering into the new world's liberty, reason, science, and technology," (104). Ya-jie isolates Kingston's piece as unique to an immigrant, documenting how emigration creates a level of separation from the reality of life in a different country. Homsher also observes a level of distance in the retelling of certain legends, noting that "the Fa Mu Lan chant is 'impersonal' or 'suprapersonal'; it has gained an existence and form of its own," (95). This separation between the narrator's personal stories and Chinese legends reflects a deeper separation between Kingston and her own secondhand understanding of the Chinese lifestyle that is the background of such legends.The fact that Kingston's legends gain "an existence and form of [their] own" are also reflective of the creation of a new cultural identity, one that is a fusion of old world Chinese traditions and American culture. As a first generation Polish-American, I understand Kingston's struggle to distinguish between two entirely different lifestyles. Having only visited Poland twice in my life, accounts of Polish life and customs often comes as a comparison to life in America. This constant comparison between Poland and America creates a degree of separation from Polish culture, as my own perceptions of Polish culture become more analytical than familiar. Kingston's account of the creation of a unique Chinese-American identity resonates with the stories of countless American immigrants and their descendants, as these individuals struggle to define their culture in a battle ground between ancestry and pop-culture.
ReplyDeleteIn Zhang Ya-Zhei’s “A Chinese Woman’s Response” and Deborah Homsher’s “A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction”, the two authors reveal a clash between foreign ideals and American individualism. According to Ya-Zhei, “Disregard for women is still in people’s minds”(106). Although it can be seen in Chinese culture, it can also be witnessed in the Latino community. Women are commonly seen as unequals and used as tools around the household. They are often the last to eat because they are busy making food for everyone else. Once a mother sits down to eat, everybody else has already left the table. She can’t express her feelings to the people she loves the most, and thus a gap between generations is made. Just like Kingston, i have realized just how little i know about my mother. It wasn’t until 6th grade that i found out she was raised to become a wife and mother. Brave orchard and my own mother were raised to be oppressed.
ReplyDeleteAn immigrant must feel so divided when it comes to social conduct. They are told to follow the old ways and traditions, but are taught in American school and society that those traditions might be wrong. For a woman such as Kingston, they can chose to either please their parents or please society.
Homsher states that “Every Chinese child raised in America tends to become part ghost in the eyes of its immigrant parents: part un-Chinese, unfamiliar, untraditional”(94). Being a first-generation immigrant from a first-generation I have been taught that a perfect wife is an obedient one, yet I have spent enough time here to disagree with them. They believe a perfect marriage is one where the father brings home the bacon and the mother cooks it. They don’t believe a single parent household or same sex marriage is right. I despise my aunts and uncles for putting those ideas in their children’s heads, but i refuse to disown my country and my culture. It is this refusal that keeps an immigrant’s child from becoming a ghost.
In both article responses, "A Chinese Woman's Response to Maxine Hong Kingston's: The Woman Warrior" by Zhang Ya-Jie, and, " The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kinston: A Bridging of Autobiography and Fiction" by Deborah Homsher, Kingston's work is constructively criticized and textually proven to lack authenticity. Kingston's interpretations of the Chinese culture are, " Full of American imagination" ( Ya-Jie 103) she's stemmed away from her Chinese heritage and in doing so is bias towards them. Kingston pushes for her acceptance in the American culture, to the point that she no longer supports Chinese ideals/ morals and sides more with the American way of life. Homsher presents a similar type of analysis over the Woman Warrior. She elaborates on Kingston's cross between Fantasy and Reality and how that stifles the readers ability to distinguish a common ground between the two. But, "A great deal of fiction has been created from the search of "ghosts"." ( Homsher 98) Kingston's autobiography turn fiction took a toll on how well the Chinese culture was displayed, and will be interpreted. Kingston's true search for self must come from the truth of her Chinese origin and must not be manipulated to appeal the to American Society.
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