Let's face it. Society is chock full of subtle, and not-so-subtle, demands to conform to the "norm", and going with the flow is a big part of life. Ideas of conformity are beaten into us as soon as we're able to comprehend the world we live in. A large piece of the conformity pie deals with the role of the woman, and how she should look and act. A good pair of literary works that illustrate the conflict which I assume that all women encounter are "No Name Woman" by Maxine Hong Kingston and "Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy. I say that I assume because, being male myself, I really have no idea what the female gender is all about. However, I'll see what I can do. When viewing the two works together, one realizes that although the price for rejecting cultural norms can be shame, torture, and even death, fully embracing the ideals is often a worse alternative.

"No Name Woman" is an excellent example of the possible horrors awaiting those who won't fit the mold. The story is set in the culture of China in the early 1900s. The female role in this culture bears strong similarities to that of a slave. Women were essentially not supposed to have their own opinions, thoughts, or wants

"Kingston's addition of this line is not without meaning. It illustrates a peculiarity common to virtually every civilization's history: the favor of male infants to female. This act is cradled in the structure of the patriarchal society itself, where the husband's surname is kept after marriage. A result of this is the favoring of male children, who will carry the surname a further generation" (Hung 78).

Another illustration in "No Name Woman" of the cultural preference of males over females is a line concerning why the aunt decided to kill herself and her child. "It was probably a girl; there is some hope of forgiveness for boys." Lan Hung addresses this line in the book Translating Cultures.

This apparent goal of an ancient surname is found in societies all over the globe and all through time. The only exceptions are, of course, Matriarchal societies.

Although the two works are from different eras, each with their own separate histories, languages, customs, and mentality, their attitudes toward women, and what was expected of them, is strikingly similar. At the simplest level, women of both cultures were inferior to men. This is expressed in "No Name Woman" by the fact that the adulturing male was free from blame by the village. Not only that, but he also "joined the raid on her [the aunt's] family" when it came to be known that she was with child. Ironically, the same cultural values that destroyed the young girl's life had forced her to commit the heinous crime. "My aunt could not have been the lone romantic who gave up everything for sex," Kingston explains, "Women in old China did not choose. Some man

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Approximate Word count = 1096
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)