Quotes: The Woman Warrior Flashcards
“You must…”
Finish the quote
Why is it important?
Which section is it taken from?
“‘You must not tell anyone’ my mother said”
The first paradox of the narrative - we are immediately being told information which is supposed to be unspoken - trying to empower the people who have been silenced by giving them a voice
‘No Name Woman’
One of the central struggles for Kingston was establishing herself and own identity as both a Chinese and American woman - she struggles to find a voice and perhaps feels held back by strong cultural limitations - in speaking of that which is supposed to be unspoken through the form of a memoir, Kingston is consciously rebelling against societal expectations and empowering herself through that rebellion
“At first they threw mud and rocks at the house. Then they threw eggs…”
Finish the quote
Which section is it taken from?
“At first they threw mud and rocks at the house. Then they threw eggs and began slaughtering our livestock. We could hear the animals scream their death - the roosters, the pigs, a last great roar from the ox”
“Your aunt gave birth in the …………… last night. The next morning when I went for the water…”
“Your aunt gave birth in the ….pigsty…. last night. The next morning when I went for the water, I found her and the baby plugging up the family well”
‘Your aunt’ ‘her’ ‘the baby’ both ‘no name woman’ and her child are completely stripped of an identity
‘Plugging up the family well’ - almost as if her death is a burden
‘The family well’ alienates Kingston’s aunt who isn’t apart of the family
“Don’t humiliate us… the”
Finish the quote
“Don’t humiliate us… the villagers are watchful”
“Whenever she had to warn us about life,…”
“Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told us stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on. She tested our strength to establish realities”
“Be careful what you say. It comes true. It comes true. I had to leave in order to see the world logically, logic the new way of seeing. I learned to think that mysteries are for explanation. I enjoy the simplicity. Concrete pours out of my mouth to cover the forest with freeways and sidewalks. Give me plastics, periodic tables, TV dinners with vegetables no more complex than peas mixed diced carrots. Shine floodlights into dark corners: no ghosts.”
This passage marks Kingston’s cultural transition and acceptance of American values over her Chinese heritage - her process of Americanisation
- evidenced by her championing of rational and logic over mysticism and fiction: “mysteries are for explanation”
- this cultural transition sees her become distanced with her Chinese heritage as she has lost the ability to identify herself with the fictional creative ‘talk stories’ her mother once told her: “mysteries are for explanation”
- her prioritising of a simple life and her sense of Americanisation has even embedded its way into her form of writing as she repeatedly uses short sentences: “it comes true.” “I enjoy the simplicity”
“Thick blood…”
“Thick blood welled out of him like red velvet”
Him - humanising he elephant
Similie - shows a lack of understanding - disconnection with the animal
Link to Said’s Orientalism