ipl-logo

The Woman Warrior

1398 Words6 Pages

A mother in today’s society sole purpose is to be there for her kids. She is supposed to teach them what is wrong from right, and also cater to her children’s needs. However, the actions of mothers worldwide are criticized due to society not fully understanding the decisions the parents have made on behalf of their children. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior, the mother-daughter relationship is not an understanding one. This is because the daughter was raised in America while the mother was raised in China. They grew up with two different perspectives of the norm, and it impacted their relationship drastically. Out of their relationship, however, the daughter picked up on her mother’s talent of telling stories. In Dorothy Allison’s …show more content…

Allison grew up in a household were she was surrounded by men. When Bone would go over to her aunts one thing that stuck in her head was that women where “born to mother, nurse, and clean up after the men” and “men could do anything…no matter how violent or mistaken” (Allison 23). This had an influence on how she perceived her mother. Allison puts this in the novel to give the readers a sense of the environment Bone and Anney grew up in. The stress on what women should do is torn by men who affect Bone’s and Anney’s mother-daughter relationship. Instead of nursing and cleaning up after her daughter, Anney does those things for Daddy Glen more. When Anney first found out that her daughter was getting beat by Daddy Glen by the school nurse, she left the school nurse in haste. Bone describes her mother’s lips as “swollen where she had bitten them” (116). The mother-daughter relationship is shown here because Bone’s mother is torn. She loves and cares for her daughter, but always finds herself drawn back Daddy Glen and defending him. Bone knows that her mother is torn between the two, because while she says she will always be there for her she senses the passion she had for Daddy Glen. Later on Anney moved back in with Daddy Glen. Bone was back in the very situation she was in before with Daddy Glen beating her. Even though Bone was being abused by physically mentally and emotionally she still cared what her mother thought. A part of her felt entitled to making sure her mother was happy. Bone states, “I would work as hard as he did to make sure she never knew” (118). This is not only a sign of abuse in rape victims this is also a sign of compassion. She shows understanding for the situation her mother is up against even if she is so young and despicable things are being done to her when she is just a

Show More
Related
1755 Words | 8 Pages

She is the illegitimate child of fifteen yr. old Anney Boatwright. Bone is an intellectually curious, intense, angry girl. She become the focus of her mother’s second husband, Glen Waddell, rage and jealousy and he proceeds to physically and sexually abuse her. Due to this she becomes independent, defiant, and sexually precocious but, at the same time blames herself for Glen’s actions.

Read More
875 Words | 4 Pages

Glen tells Anney that they don't need anybody else. Chapter 5: In this chapter, Glen tells Anney that when he has enough money, he's going to adopt Bone and Reese. Reese calls him "Daddy," but the word sounds strange to Bone, and she thinks about what happened in the hospital parking lot. When Bone cries, Anney gathers her up, and Bone sees Glen watching with his mouth set in a straight line and his eyes cold.

Read More
1245 Words | 5 Pages

In the book Bastard Out of Carolina, Bone survives her stepfather’s, Glen’s, abuse by finding ways to escape from it. For instance, at the beginning of chapter nine, Bone’s mother permits her to work with her in the diner for extra spending money and encourages her to occupy her days in order to avoid Glen when he comes home from work (Allison 119). Although Bone attempts to take her mother’s advice to prevent the abuse by finding ways to circumvent it, the abuse persists because Glen personally seeks out Bone. Yet, Bone discovers a diversion from Glen’s persistent abuse when she finds metal fishing hooks connected to chains at the bottom of the river behind her Aunt Raylene’s house. Bone’s desire to keep these metal hooks and chains for herself is unusual because according to societal standards such items seem to appeal more to males as sharp tools used for sport.

Read More
445 Words | 2 Pages

The psychological damage this left on Bone was ultimately worse than the physical abuse she dealt with from her stepfather. Bone’s unfortunate circumstances are the reason behind her constant struggle with identity. She experienced things one should never have to even hear about as a young and innocent child. Danger arises and everything goes downhill after Anney marries her third husband, Glen Waddell, out of fear of being alone. The way he took his frustrations out on Bone was violent and repulsive.

Read More
1155 Words | 5 Pages

Women seem to need men in this book. Anney already is struggling with money so she has to stay with her abusive husband even when she knows he is hurting Bone. When it came down to it, she needed a husband who would make money more than she needed another mouth to feed and she left Bone in order to keep her

Read More
119 Words | 1 Pages

American lawyer and author, Amy Chua in her essay, “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior”, compares and contrast the stereotypical success of Chinese children versus the children of Western. 70% of Western mothers said that “stressing academic success is not good for children”, while roughly 0% of the Chinese mothers felt the same way. Chua’s purpose is to the point that Chinese children repay their parents by obeying them and making them proud, but Western parents don’t have the same view of children being permanently indebted to their parents. She adopts a formal tone in order to explain Chinese children’s success, in her intended audience, Chinese parents. Chua achieves her purpose through the use of anecdote and selection of details.

Read More
209 Words | 1 Pages

Throughout the entire novel, Bone could see that all her mother wanted was to be happy, and because of this she has allowed her happiness to be second to that. When Bones says that she can see her mother clearly, I believe that she is finally seeing that her mother ultimately will not choose her over Glen and even though she may see all of the horrible things he has done to her, she will never choose bone over the illusion of having a perfect family. After every episode of abuse and every time she realized what was happening to her child, she made excuses for Glen, “Maybe he needs to talk to somebody. Raylene said maybe he needed a doctor.” Every time she made an excuse for his actions and him hurting Bone, she chose him over her daughter,

Read More
1167 Words | 5 Pages

American culture values self-reliance and expressing one’s self; “‘if you don’t talk, you can’t have a personality’” (180). By contrast, Chinese culture praises the silent and values community disposition. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s memoir Woman Warrior, the narrator must learn to combine the present of the American world while simultaneously blending the past of the Chinese culture brought upon by her parents. Kingston uses Maxine’s experiences to illustrate that children often lose their voice and repress their sense of self when the older generation’s beliefs contradict to their surroundings.

Read More
1046 Words | 5 Pages

Glen knew that he could exploit Bone's helplessness and fear, especially as her mother was occupied with the birth of his child. Tyson highlights in her writing that movies such as Cinderella “equates femininity with submission, encouraging women to tolerate familiar abuse" (Tyson 88), explaining how customary ideals in our culture indicate that females are expected to submit themselves readily; this encourages them to more easily accept maltreatment from those they rely on. Despite feeling embarrassed

Read More
486 Words | 2 Pages

Lit Analysis II In The Woman Warrior, Kingston compares Chinese women's voice with American women's voice as a symbolic reference of her constant struggle to find her identity in order to give deeper insight of her continuous conflict due to her battle of pleasing her mother's strict cultural belief and fitting in with America. Kingston is raised in America with parents who are only aware of Chinese lifestyle and not quick to adapt to the American lifestyle. Her mother tells her stories about women getting pregnant to only commit suicide as it is a disgrace to have sex before marriage in her culture. Additionally, her mother tells her stories about brave women warriors for Kingston to aspire to become strong and independent.

Read More
893 Words | 4 Pages

On the negative side, boys are more willing to rape her. To prevent this from happening, Sally’s father forbids her from talking to boys. At this point, it becomes extremely ironic. Her father tries to protect her from abuse by other boys, only to beat and abuse her himself. The father’s love turns out not to be so loving after all.

Read More
812 Words | 4 Pages

That for someone to actually understand a women it would take a medical professional. They are viewed as filled with too many emotions and have too many worries. They are way different compared to men, because according to men they are fairly simple to understand. Viewed as impossible to understand, too emotional, and too different from men. In the role of society “Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman” (p43).

Read More
1117 Words | 5 Pages

His darker side appears when Glen turns Reese’s grandma’s brother Matthew away and refuses to let Anney sign anything without him present. When it’s clear that Glen is wrong in his actions towards the Parsons, Anney is angry at Glen; at first. She then acts as though what he is doing is what’s right for his family. Anney tells Bone “…Glen needs to take care of this, you understand?

Read More
1091 Words | 5 Pages

The time when this story took place was a time when women were viewed as second class citizens. Mothers had traditional roles, which usually left them in the house, while men also had their roles, outside of the

Read More
1604 Words | 7 Pages

The universal knowledge and strength of a mother can become, ironically, an element that provides difficulties in many relationships. The love between a mother and daughter is eternally enchanting and frustrating, invigorating and challenging. Mothers serve as a role model and example to their daughters, providing insight and guidance in every walk of life. Despite the stress many mother-daughter relationships endure, a mother’s advice is imperative. Through examining Amy Tan’s book The Joy Luck Club, Sandhya Shetty’s painting Mother and Daughter, and “Sonnets are full of love, and this is my tome” by Christina Rossetti, the power of a mother’s influence is evident.

Read More

More about The Woman Warrior

Related Topics

Open Document