TwiceOppressed-AFeministDiscussiononMaxineHongKingstonx27sNovelTheWomanWarriorMemoirso

1、Twice Oppressed - A Feminist Discussion on Maxine Hong Kingston s Novel The WomanW arrior Memoirs oWith the publication of Kate Millets Sexual Politics, feminist criticism became a challenge to the traditional norms of English studies in the 1970s. Millet initiated the first modern principles of fem

2、inist criticism by embarking upon a critique of sexist assumptions in male-authored texts and introducing some of the fundamental terms, such as patriarchy, which gained considerable significance in feminist literary studies. In her studies, Kate Millet claims that patriarchy as an institution is a

3、social constant so deeply entrenched so that it runs through all other political, social, or economic forms whereby that half of the population which is female is controlled by that half which is male. The principles of patriarchy appear to be two-fold: the male shall dominate the female, and elder

4、male shall dominate younger.Ruth Robbins in her recent work Literary Feminisms, lists among the oppression women have endured by being formed under patriarchy, which can be categorized intothree parts: physiological oppression, cultural oppression and psychological oppression. Especially the physiol

5、ogical oppression of womeni s hardly avoided. In the following paragraphs, the author focuses on cultural oppression and psychological oppression of Chinese women in The Woman Warrior.The title of the first chapter is No NameW oman, which refers to the low social status of the Chinese woman, and ind

6、icates her oppression in a patriarchal society. Without a name, you are, literally,a nobody. Disregard for womenis deeply rooted in the thousands of years of feudal history (Zhang 19). It is well known that all girls did not have names in China in ancient times. Only when she was married did the wom

7、ana cquire a name; a name which consisted of the husbands surname and the Chinese character shi. There is nothing to distinguish these womenf rom each other besides their surname. On the other hand, men have different first names that are named by their parents with best wishes. Different names of w

8、omen and men embody the inequality between men and women and men are superior to women. Cultural oppression is the first oppression of patriarchal societyIn the novel, no name womens husband leaves China to seek his fortune in America, which is referred to Gold Mountain. During her husbands absence,

9、 no name woman commits adultery, an affair which is met with hostility by the other villagers. Even worse, she bears an illegitimate child and refuses to give the name of the child s father: She kept the mans name to herself through her labour and dying; she did not accuse him that he be punished wi

10、th her. (18). Therefore, all the evil consequences are fall upon no name womans shoulder, and the man who has adultery with her escape from the punishment. As a result, she becomes alienated from family and society. Villagers hate her because she probably brings disaster to the village. Whats more,

11、her family ignores her totally as her adultery behavior humiliates the fame of the whole family. No name woman is abandoned and deserted by all the people, so she has no way to go but drowns the infant and herself in the family well. However, in the villagers eyes, her death is not enough to pay bac

12、k her adultery affair. They look for the most brutal way to treat the weak woman.Nobody holds a memorial ceremony for her or sacrifices and renovates her gravestone. Nobody isallowed to mention her name. After her death, no name woman continues to be discriminated against and accused both by her fam

13、ily and the villages. From her familys side, she humiliates the honor of her family. From the villagers side, she is accused out of superstition that she brings huge disaster to the village. Even after the family immigrates to America, her suffering does not stop.Kingston is told by her mother that

14、dont tell anyoneyou had an aunt. Your father does not want to hear her name. She has never been born (21). She becomes a no name woman in deed. Furthermore, it is not enough to let no name woman die. Not only do villages and her family torture no name womanw hen she is alive, but they also persecute

15、 her after her death. No namew omani s condemned to eternal anonymity for violating the stringent Chinese codes of female chastity (Lin 41). That is the rule to women, but not to men. As a woman, she must be loyal to her husband no matter her husband is alive or dead, and no matter her husband is fa

16、ithful or not. But as a man, he can have more one woman.Even worse, it is an honor to have many wives, because only the rich can support a big family with many wives and sons. That is the fate of Chinese women.There are many Chinese female immigrants in the novel, such as no name women, Brave Orchid

17、, Moon Orchid and Maxine Hong Kingston, some of whoma re the silent victims and some of whom fight for their rights and seeking for their identities under the oppression from both gender and ethnicity perspectives in the patriarchy society and the white-dominated America society. Their tragedies are

18、 caused by many factors and their personalities, but patriarchy is the key.Work Cited1 Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. New York: Random House, 1981.2 Lin, Patricia.“Use of Media and Other Resourcesto Situate The Woman Warrior. ” Approaches to Teaching Kingston s the WomanW arrior. Ed. Shirley Geok-lin, Lim. NewY ork: The Modern Language Association of America. 1991.3 Millet, Kate. Sexual Politics. Granad