Maxine Hong Kingston Essay Example For Students

Maxine Hong Kingston Essay For many of the writers discussed in class, family stories are a guide to live by. The family stories told, give an outline of morals as well as a way to stay close to their true family. Both Cofer and Stone show how family stories give them a very strong form of acceptance. Acceptance is key for each of the writers because they both face the challenge of living as multicultural people in a world that tends to shame diversity. These stories are extremely important to Cofer and Stone; questioning them would violate all they believe in. However, there is another side to this subject. Maxine Hong Kingston reveals to the reader a different side to family stories. A side that is not of love and acceptance, but more of hate, betrayal, and rejection. In some cultures family circles cannot always be of love and protection. In her case she reveals to the reader a family circle that would murder in order to keep the circle clean of sin, no matter what the cost. Kingston may not successfully gains the recognition from the family, but at least she is sure of herself now. I am worthy of eating the food. She reassures herself that she too is useful and respectful. Though she may not be the dutiful swordswoman in her mothers eyes, and her mother is certain that she will grow up as wives or slaves. Kingston chooses to be a warrior who will stand up and fight against all these traditional discrimination. She has successfully found another way to achieve what the woman warrior has achieved by using a pen. She is confident of herself despite lacking recognition from the villagers and her family. The story of Fa Mu Lan also helps Kingston understand herself better with Kingston own reinterpretation of the story. Reinterpreting the story is a process of self-revelation. Through the reinterpretation of the story, she actually learns that the only way that she will gain approval of the villagers or her family is to take her fathers place in fighting and behead the baron and evil emperor. The impossibility of doing this makes Kingston acknowledge the difference between her American life and the fantasy. She may not be like the swordswoman having all kinds of hard physical training, to copy tigers anger or stalking kill, etc. However, she does learn to stand up in her life to challenge the racist. When her boss called her Nigger Yellow, she pointed out that I dont like that word, unlike the no-name aunt who endured all humiliation silently, she expresses her dissatisfaction. She also challenged the boss when the boss was being unreasonable. I refuse to type these invitations. Though this is again not her mothers intention in telling her the folklore, Kingston displays courage in fighting against injustice by using a pen. She does not recede under the spite teasing of others. Kingston is not a timid woman who let this kind of inequality continue without people paying attention to them. She is a female avenger and she sees herself as a liberator from all these old attitudes of China. In conclusion, the intention of the mother telling Kingstons stories is somehow twisted. Kingston breaks from the restrain of tradition and work out a set of her own values. She librates from the patriarchal society. She is not submissive anymore,. She writes her desire and dissatisfaction and in turns opens the way for understanding herself better.