Critical Analysis of No Name Woman

A detailed Summary of Critical Analysis of No Name Woman

A Critical Analysis of "No Name Woman"

Times are different depending on which society one happens to come upon, and no one person has the ability to see everyone's point of view. In Maxine Hong Kingston's short story "No Name Woman", there is the belief that the narrator is faced with pressures from a deeply entwined, scapegoating and contradicting community. In this story while the aunt goes through a major ordeal, the rest of the village takes it personally. The story itself put it so splendidly,

"The villagers punished her for acting as if she could have a private life, secret and apart from them." (p. 396)

The narrator was told a story from her Chinese culture, of a forgotten aunt whose husband went away to America. During his absence the aunt mysteriously became with child. No one questioned her on how the child was miraculously conceived. Instead they attacked her and her family, showing their shame of the situation they were unwillingly placed in. The Villagers ransacked the family's house and belongings; even her own flesh and blood, her family, later joined the accusations. After she gave birth, the aunt took what little pride she had left, and committed suicide in such a manner, that no matter how they tried to eras

"...a woman combing her hair hexes beginnings," (p. 394)

Chinese communities were too deeply routed to have solitary life; almost everyone in the village is connected to every other by blood or marriage. In China, families are very proud of their way of life and village around them, particularly those people related through marriage. Traditionally family ties were very strong; when a Chinese woman married a Chinese man, she was forced to shed her biological family, and join her husband's family. The woman would move in, and become a part of the extensive group of aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, parents and children, forming a perfect unity that works together for a common goal...survival. After the aunt's husband's departure to America, along with all the other men, to start a life for the family, she was unsuitably returned, possibly reflecting something amiss, as even noted in the story,

"Women looked like great sea snails...the Chinese did not admire a bent back;

The "no name" aunt knew what she was doing on the last day. While giving birth in the pigsty she remembered the old story she used to be told. The ancestors would themselves give birth, so as to deter the gods from stealing their child's life, hoping the deities would think the baby to be a piglet. Although no one wanted the baby to come, probably even including even the mother herself, up until the birth, she felt such a fondness for the child while it suckled. It was like any other innocent child, it was her "little ghost", who would share her fate for no other offense than to have simply been born.

When she combed her hair, bad luck hit, striking everyone including herself. Perhaps she had gone against traditions, and made herself up for that man she had fallen in love with. Women are made to be plain,

"...they had sent her

Some common words found in the essay are:
Name Woman, Woman Times, Hong Kingston's, husband's family, name woman, chinese culture, hair belonged, pride left, life village,

Approximate Word count = 1225
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English