Technique to Break the Silence in The Woman Warriors - Research Paper Example

English 15 November Talk-story: A Technique to Break the Silence in The Woman Warriors “The Woman Warrior” by Maxine Hong Kingston is an autobiographical account of the writer’s personal growth and development as a woman and as an individual while living in America as an immigrant from China. The memoir is divided into five sections where the first three chapters deal with the life stories of a nameless woman, the legendary myth of Fa Mu Lan and the life’s story of the writer’s mother while the last two chapters are narrated in first person and depict the story of the author and her interpretation of her aunt’s life Moon Orchid. Kingston has utilized various stylistic and linguistic techniques to subtly bring forth the repressed situation of the women during her childhood both in China and America. One of the major techniques used by the author is that of using the technique of Talk-story to break the silence. The theme of silence has multidimensional meaning and multi-layered subtext that has been incorporated in the text by the writer in the form of various myths, motifs and symbols. Throughout the text it is apparent that the little village where the writer grew up in America was an extremely conservative and more or less a typical Chinese society although the readers observe a constant struggle between the elders and the younger generation where the former constantly try to live by their Chinese customs and traditions while the latter are trying to break free. As Wong also says, Kingston’s purpose is to make use of all the 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 (18). Kingston amalgamates oral story telling with written storytelling and the uses the oral stories to structure the novel as well as to develop the character of the narrator. During the narrator's childhood her mother used to tell "talks-story," about a variety of children myths, legends, family narratives and other memories or recollections that she had of China. So the writer uses those past experiences and oral narratives to explain her present as well as the present of many other women of same or different race because the basic issues and problems of women subjugation that are discussed in the novel are universal in their nature. Hence this blend of her mother's mythical or legendary stories and family narratives with her own interpretations can be assimilated as an attempt on the writer’s part to understand herself, her mother and her other female relatives as well as Chinese-American women in general. As Sabine also states that Kingston’s stories have a, “constant breaking in and out of the present and past… but the past breaks through and changes and enlightens the present and vice versa” (3). The book begins with the words, “You must not tell anyone…what I am about to tell you” (Kingston 1). From the very beginning of the memoir it is observed that Kingston’s mother is constantly trying to silence her. The taboo story of her aunt carrying an illegitimate child is one that must never be told as it is too shameful. As her mother also tells Kingston while remembering the time when she had discovered her aunt’s pregnancy that, “No one said anything. We did not discuss it” (Kingston 1). It is apparent that maintaining this vigil of silence is like a cyclic reaction because of the suppression in that Chinese community where Kingston is forced to keep silent because of her mother, while her mother is silenced for the fear of carrying that dishonor. Even when Kingston’s mother finishes the story she says, “Don’t let your father know that I told you. He denies her” (Kingston 5). The mother hides her voice and thoughts because she is well aware of the fact that she should not have told Kingston about her aunt since the father is too ashamed and embarrassed to hear of it and it is her responsibility to live in the shadow of her husband and should never present him with any disagreement or go against his wishes. On contrary Kingston is silenced because the Chinese community detests discussing any taboos instead they prefer to develop a blind eye especially when the issue is about a woman who has disgraced herself accidently or otherwise. Yet the reason her mother tells her this story is because she wants her daughter to learn from her aunt’s mistakes and should never bring shame to the family. Hence the purpose is to learn from the past mistakes yet the learning should occur in silence as well because this is the right way according to the Chinese culture and a woman should never raise her voice to be heard. Another important aspect of this technique of talk-story is the part it plays in developing the character of the narrator. In the novel she says that her mother cut her tongue so that she could be a better speaker, though Kingston believes that “she should not have cut at all, tampering with my speech” (Kingston 164). The writer continues to describe the beginning of her silence where she says, “When I went to kindergarten and had to speak English for the first time, I became silent. A dumbness- a shame- still cracks my voice in two” (Kingston 165). In this line the word ‘shame’ is of grave importance because it was shame that first silenced her. Her embarrassment is so great that she prefers not to be heard at all. Her shame can be compared to the silence and shame of “No Name Woman” who silences her family. Then again it can be inferred that it is not only the shame that forces her to be silent but it can also be the fear of the unknown that stops her from speaking. However it is observed that when the narrator grows up she desires to break that silence. She writes, “My silence was thickest - total- three years when I covered my school’s paintings. I painted layers of black over houses and flowers and suns” (Kingston 165). Kingston’s rebellious vandalism symbolizes her desire to speak and her struggle. The act portrays her desire to establish her existence. Since she cannot speak, she utilizes a different method to illustrate her presence in school. Since throughout the memoir, Kingston is forced into secrecy and silence. Kingston narrates, “sometimes I hated the secrecy of the Chinese. ‘Don’t tell’ said my parents, though we couldn’t tell if we wanted to because we didn’t know” (Kingston 183). This is another form of silence that can be observed in the novel where there is a sense of secrecy within the Chinese American community which created a hush due to an immense fear of being deported. The second section of the novel, “White Tigers” tells the legend of a famous woman warrior, Mu Lan: “She (the narrator's mother) said I would grow up a wife and a slave, but she taught me the song of the warrior woman, Fa Mu Lan. I would have to grow up a warrior woman” (Kingston 89). This legend, along with other legends of Chinese women warriors, shows an exciting and glamorous role for women for a change. Mu Lan became a woman warrior in order to save her elderly father from conscription and to bring law and order in her village. Even in this case it is observed that the biases against women still remains i.e. because Mu Lan did her deeds out of filial responsibility rather than personal glorification so she is the right role model for Chinese women. Hence further forcing women to learn to sacrifice. Boynton and Malin assert that, “in ‘White Tiger’ Kingston revisis Fa Mu Lan myth to demonstrate the presence of the ‘woman warrior’ in Chinese folklore, all the while imagining herself as the swordswoman who defeats the enemy and is a source of pride to her family” (323). Therefore Kingston can be compared to this warrior woman as she breaks through the barriers of the restrictions and aspires to let herself be known to the world moreover to help her fellow women realize their folly of letting the society govern them. Moreover the narrator needs this heroic role model to help her feel a sense of her own worth in a culture that frequently emphasized the worthlessness of a woman. As it is stated in the novel, “Girls are maggots in the rice.' 'It is more profitable to raise geese than daughters” (Kingston 43). Also, “when fishing for treasures in the flood, be careful not to pull in girls (Kingston 49). The use of talk-story in the novel can also be inferred as the writer’s attempt to understand her mother as well as to be able to make her character more tangible. The story of her mother's slave girl bothers the writer as well as the readers because the whole idea of girls being sold as objects is abhorrent. Another reason that this bothers the writer can be the feeling or realization that her mother may have valued her slave more than she does her daughter. The slave knew the art of bargaining while the daughter does not only lack in the skill of bargaining but also felt embarrassed if she had to translate her mother’s bargaining in an American store. Even though her mother assured her that she paid more to the hospital when her daughter was born than she paid for the slave in China, it is apparent that she resented it. The good and bad impact of every talk-story is something that is evident throughout the course of novel because every story either affected the writer in a positive or a negative manner and results in making her the sort of woman that she became. For example her aunt’s story is something that makes her fear her future and further aids in damaging her self-confidence. As it is also observed that she says in the novel, “I thought every house had to have its crazy woman or crazy girl, every village its idiot. Who would it be at our house? Probably me” (Kingston 199). According to her mother’s talk-story there had been on crazy woman in a village in China who was stoned to death and it was a general consensus that every family in the village had one crazy woman. This consensus forces the readers as well as the author to ponder on the reason for such an occurrence i.e. whether this insanity is there because of the way Chinese traditions teaches the society to behave with a woman either in China or in America or is poverty the only reason. Although the answer to this question is impossible yet the writer simply enlightens the readers about her life as well as the lives of many of her fellow Chinese women mythical and real individuals so that they can deduce their own conclusions. From the novel it can be assimilated that the writer has successfully broken the silence that she grew up it. Ironically, even though Kingston’s mother had forbidden her from ever speaking of her aunt yet her act of writing this book is a proof of her rebellion of breaking that silence and secrecy. For Kingston fiction acted as a cathartic process of finding herself and her voice regardless of all the restrictions she grew up with. When referring to the story Kingston states, “I have thought that my family, having settled, among immigrants who had also been their neighbors in the ancestral lands, need to clean their name, and a wrong word would incite the kin people even here. But there is more to this silence: they want me to participate in her silence. And I have” (Kingston 16). Kingston not only acknowledges her silence but in a way also professes the guilt that she feels in playing her part in keeping this vigil of silence for so long although through her act of amalgamating fiction and her real life story in “The Woman Warrior” she finally rectifies the situation and deals with her past. The ghost of history actually haunts Kingston as she narrates, “My aunt haunts me- her ghost drawn to me because now, after fifty years of neglect, I alone devote pages of paper to her” (Kingston 16). Though this ghost of history haunts her present yet by writing about her aunt, in a way she finally sets her aunt’s spirit free by unveiling her life story. The Woman Warrior is ultimately Kingston’s gradual process of finding her voice and breaking her silence. She tells stories that she is not allowed to tell and she gives a brutally honest account of all her actions without the fear of being judged or condemned and this is true breaking of the silence that she achieves by utilizing the technique of talk-story in her autobiographical memoir. As Griffith also states, “writing about trauma involves processes of acting out, working over, and to some extent working through in analyzing and 'giving voice' to the past" (3). Hence the novel enlightens the readers about the fact that in Chinese society women were taught to suffer in silence and it was thought to be a crime if the woman desired to break those traditions. No voices were heard, but carvings were left on the barracks of their environment. For Kingston, she held her tongue because her mother told her to never speak of “no-name” aunt since it could bring shame to the family. Secrecy within the Chinese community created silence instilled in her Chinese classmates at school. When she was forced into silence for so long she automatically started feeling ashamed of speaking in public as well. This silence and difficulty in speaking affected Kingston to write a memoir full of taboo stories as well as personal anecdotes. As Grice also agrees that, “the Talk-story enables Kingston to gather together the divergent stories of female kith and kin under the umbrella of her own exploration of female self-hood and subjectivity” (39). Works Cited Boynton, Victoria, and Jo Malin. Encyclopedia of women’s autobiography. 2. K – Z. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2005. Print. Grice, Helena. Maxine Hong Kingston. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988. Print. Griffiths, Jennifer. “Uncanny Spaces.” Studies in the Novel Vol. 38 Issue 3 (2006) : p353-370. Web. Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warriors. New York: Knopf, 1994. Print. Sabine, Maureen Alice. Maxine Hong Kingston's Broken Book of Life. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 2004. Print. Wong, Sau-Lin Cynthia. Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior: A Casebook. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Print. Read More