No Name Woman in Maxine Hong Kingston's Writing - Essay Example

No Name Woman in Maxine Hong Kingston's WritingThe aunt with no name in Maxine Hong Kingston's writing titled "No Name Woman", had committed the unspeakable sin of adultery. The sin was viewed as even more egregious since it had resulted in a pregnancy. Had the transgression not been so obvious, it may have merely resulted in silence. However, once the sin was exposed the family and villagers sought to placate the gods. The transgression was a direct affront to the superstitions and religion of the village people.

There was no discussion of the harm done to the husband, and the family's objections were mainly due to the harm that came and would continue to come from the villagers. The family reacted by proclaiming, "Death is coming. Look what you've done. You've killed us". They were not saddened by the husband or the aunt's condition. They feared the wrath of the villagers and the gods.The aunt's suicide would be yet one more transgression of a Chinese taboo. As much as the pregnancy would bring anger from the gods, a suicide would bring embarrassment upon the family.

She would be punished for this by stripping her of her name, identity, and history. The author's expository essay paints a graphic picture of a woman who did not exist. Her visualization of the aunt's final hours brings the reader closer to the woman and generates empathy for her situation. By making the aunt human, Kingston has brought her to life, and placed her punishment in contrast to her sin. By fictionally creating the story, the author has also minimized her own guilt built up from years of silence.

Kingston confesses, "[.] they want me to participate in her punishment. And I have". By writing this essay, she has undone the years of neglect the story has been subjected to.Kingston is making a statement in "No Name Woman" that illustrates the gender bias of the Chinese culture. She show's that even in her most innocent light, that of having been raped, the aunt is still an outcast and humiliating to the family. Time and distance could not erase the uneasiness of the events. Yet, the perpetrator of the sin was never revealed as if the simple act of being a male could dissolve all responsibility.

The author demonstrates this when she recounts, "The other man was not, after all, much different from her husband. They both gave orders: she followed. "If you tell your family, I'll beat you. I'll kill you. Be here again next week". She further describes this attitude when she recounts her mother telling her, "[.] we were lucky we didn't have to have our feet bound when we were seven". Women were subjected to a form of indentured bondage that placed them as second class entities. A man might be forgiven, but a woman never would.

Kingston tells the story with shame, not for the event, but for her years of silence. Her matter of fact style and evenhanded treatment of the aunt helps level the playing field. She is sympathetic to the aunt as she tries to reincorporate her into the family. The tragic tale places the sin on the family and the village. They are the ones who have transgressed the line of right and wrong. The author has mercy on the aunt and sees her as noble in the taking of her and the baby's own life. It was a courageous escape from a situation with no way out.

The aunt did not commit suicide to shame the family. The aunt took her life to escape the torture of the people and to alleviate the child's future suffering as an unspeakable outcast. ReferencesKingston, M. H. (n.d.). No name woman. Retrieved December 14, 2006, from http://www.cis.vt.edu/modernworld/d/kingston.html