Figurative Language In The Woman Warrior

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The Woman Warrior begins in with Maxine Hong Kingston’s Mother telling her a rare story that few people know about and unknown aunt that Kingston had. Her mother tells her that the aunt commits suicide after being disgraced for having a child that was not within her marriage; people knew this because the husbands were at war. Kingston’s mother tells Maxine Hong Kingston as warning in order to prevent this from happening again. Kingston finds this interesting but is ordered to never discuss this with anyone again. She decides to commemorate her aunt by comparing both their lives as well as creating stories that related to her aunt. With this in mind, Maxine Hong Kingston compared her aunts actions of defiance to her own customs and how history and tradition has changed. She continues by imaging her aunts terrible moments up to her death. As a Chinese tradition people would give gifts to others; nevertheless, Kingston imagines her aunts who roaming around the village confused with who to give gifts to. …show more content…

These culture were the creator of who Maxine was and who she represented. She was strong and reserved individual who had her dignity but also a voice that she could use whenever she was oppressed. Cultures are important because they define what type of person you are. You leaner the customs practiced in these cultures. Figurative Language In the Woman Warrior, the figurative language used was used to hide things from people who the characters didn't want other to know. This is what occurred when Maxine spoke of her sister in law, “I had not noticed before that she had such a protruding melon of a stomach.” Maxine Hong Kingston uses this metaphor to speak about her sister in law who is pregnant but cannot speak about it in front of her mother. Brave Orchid being the typical Chinese woman would have gone against the pregnancy because she was a raised with other values.

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