Analysis of Balancing Both Chinese and American Cultures in Woman Warrior
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- Category: English: Novels
- Date Submitted: 04/06/2011 06:30 AM
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A critical analysis of balancing both Chinese and American cultures in Maxine Hong Kingston’s "Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts"
Kingston cannot be defined as simply American, however she can hardly be defined as exclusively Chinese either. This is to be expected though, as neither culture had a full pull over her in her youth, but both were definitely strong influences of the development of who Kingston stands as today. Her parents brought over much, if not most, of the culture that they grew up with. They brought the religion, the superstitions, the food, and other particulates of their culture over to America. They wore western clothes, went to public schools, and watched western television. At the same time though they lived in a Chinese oriented suburb, went to a Chinese school after they finished their school day at American school, and helped their parents run the family business.
Her mother embraced the Chinese culture far more than she ever did an American one, but even she wasn’t entirely akin to one culture. She definitely had many obstacles with the strange American culture that she was often unsure how to interact with. Her mother’s struggles with integrating herself into the American strongly affected Kingston as well. Kingston often found herself embarrassed by being forced to act as a go between for her mother and America. Her mother would force her to clash the cultures together, in many extremely uncomfortable instances. In one scenario a “Delivery Ghost” (169) had accidentally delivered some medications to the wrong house. Instead of viewing it as Kingston did, as a simple mistake, she feared for a curse being put on her family. She forced Kingston to return to the drugstore and demand that candy be given to “remove the curse with sweetness” (170). When Kingston attempted to explain to her mother the differences is culture her mother would not, or could not, understand. She forced Kingston to go to the store to demand...
Kingston cannot be defined as simply American, however she can hardly be defined as exclusively Chinese either. This is to be expected though, as neither culture had a full pull over her in her youth, but both were definitely strong influences of the development of who Kingston stands as today. Her parents brought over much, if not most, of the culture that they grew up with. They brought the religion, the superstitions, the food, and other particulates of their culture over to America. They wore western clothes, went to public schools, and watched western television. At the same time though they lived in a Chinese oriented suburb, went to a Chinese school after they finished their school day at American school, and helped their parents run the family business.
Her mother embraced the Chinese culture far more than she ever did an American one, but even she wasn’t entirely akin to one culture. She definitely had many obstacles with the strange American culture that she was often unsure how to interact with. Her mother’s struggles with integrating herself into the American strongly affected Kingston as well. Kingston often found herself embarrassed by being forced to act as a go between for her mother and America. Her mother would force her to clash the cultures together, in many extremely uncomfortable instances. In one scenario a “Delivery Ghost” (169) had accidentally delivered some medications to the wrong house. Instead of viewing it as Kingston did, as a simple mistake, she feared for a curse being put on her family. She forced Kingston to return to the drugstore and demand that candy be given to “remove the curse with sweetness” (170). When Kingston attempted to explain to her mother the differences is culture her mother would not, or could not, understand. She forced Kingston to go to the store to demand...