A Woman's Fight Against Subjugation

Rebellion: A Woman’s Fight against Subjugation
What would society be today had women tolerated oppression and remained voiceless as they had done for many years? Through the short story “No Name Woman”, the author, Maxine Kingston, gives a voice to a woman who was deemed unworthy of having one. Though Kingston’s mother shared the story with Kingston as a warning, she took a completely different approach in the way in which she shared it with the world. Through her words Kingston paints an image of a courageous, strong-willed woman who refused to conform to what a woman was supposed to be in that setting. With women being strong and rebellious in response to subjugation in a male-dominant society, they are able to discover their individuality.
Commonly, suicide is seen as a sign of weakness. Yet, this reason did not apply to No Name Woman’s purpose in taking her own life. Her decision to commit suicide was to not give the village people the satisfaction of tormenting her any more than they had already done. The rebel in her refused to let anyone else control her life and since she could no longer do that her life no longer had purpose. No Name Woman decided to kill herself in the well to spite the family and poison their drinking water. In the Chinese culture it is believed that the drowned one, waits silently by the well to pull down a substitute (Kingston 33). Killing herself by the well instilled fear in the people. Though they wanted to move on from her death as if she never existed, she will forever be associated with the well until someone else’s soul replaces
What matters is the fact that she had a name. She was one of few women who realized early that she was entitled to living her life as she pleased and when she realized that someone was trying to snatch that prerogative from her, she concluded that her life was no longer worth living. Through her life she proved that women are powerful beyond measure. For years, women were thought to be voiceless, second-class citizens in a male-dominant society. Her experience can inspire people everywhere to use their voices and stand up for equality between the sexes and encourage women to express their identity with pride. As Nelson Mandela once said “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an