No Name Woman

Blog Post 3: No Name Woman

by Maxine Hong Kingston

Pages 383-394

In her 1975 essay No Name Woman, Maxine Hong Kingston, known for helping to establish the personal memoir as a writing form, writes of her father’s forgotten sister. The woman was impregnated by an unknown man and was thus scorned by her community. She drowned herself and the newborn and was forgotten as though she had never been born. Kingston, not allowed to inquire about this lost aunt, fantasizes about her in a stream-of-consciousness manner, and in the process reveals the Chinese societal expectations for women and their repression of individuality.

        The story of the forgotten aunt, Kingston writes in an anecdote, was told to her when she began to menstruate as a warning to remain pure. Rather than being frightened, Kingston is curious, as her fantasies lead her to imagine what kind of woman her aunt might have been. Vivid imagery is used to take the reader inside the story and within Kingston’s imagination to personally visualize the life of a Chinese woman. She knows, however, that this curiosity is strictly forbidden. Her mother would do nothing unless “powered by Necessity” (Kingston 385). The capitalization indicates necessity is a powerful force in Chinese society, as well as a repressor of individuality, as it does not allow for one to be expressive unless it is absolutely required.

Kingston also uses the term “roundness” throughout one section to symbolize familial unity and dependency on one another. “The round moon cakes and round doorways, the round tables [...] these talismans had lost their power to warn this family of the law, a family must be whole, faithfully keeping the descent line by having sons to feed the old and the dead, who in turn look after the family” (Kingston 391).  The aunt was punished for placing herself above her family through her engagement in sexual activities. The repression, however, exists only for women. Kingston stated that many men in the village journeyed to America, leaving their wives at home to live in accordance with tradition. Thus, Kingston successfully portrays the way in which Chinese society represses individuality and women.

(347 words)

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Women Should...

Both the image and Kingston's essay express the restrictions placed on women in their daily lives. Though the essay is focused primarily on Chinese women in the past, the image above displays that what many may regard as an issue of our ancestors is in reality a struggle of the present. Google's search prediction, which is based upon commonly searched phrases, completes the phrase "women should" with "stay at home," "be slaves," "be in the kitchen," and other such oppressive concepts.