Summary Of Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior

In Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior, Hong Kingston shares a tragic story involving one of her aunts. Originally the story was told to Hong Kingston by her mother, but a lot of the information was withheld so Hong Kingston includes a lot of what she thinks could have happened. Regardless of what is true and what is not, this piece of writing was extremely engaging and interesting. Hong Kingston dives into the norms held in Chinese culture and how they affect different people. This chapter starts off with a simple introduction by Hong Kingston’s mother of her aunt the ultimate demise she suffered. Right off the bat, Hong Kingston’s mother tells her she is telling this story in order to assure Hong Kingston does not suffer the same fate.
Then the story kicks off by giving information on the "No-Name Woman" and her husband. Originally the man had gone to the United States in order to send money back home. Years later the "No-Name Woman" gets pregnant and those around the village suspect foul play as the husband had been gone for years. Then one day the villagers stormed the house where Hong Kingston’s mother, aunt, and other family members were in order to punish her. They wore white masks and tied their hair up in countless ways. They killed cattle and completely destroyed everything they could reach. By then the "No-Name Woman’s” family had decided pretend she had never been born because of the disgrace she had brought. That same night the aunt gave birth to her child in a pigsty. However, the next morning when Hong Kingston’s mother went to the well to get water she discovered the aunt and her child dead in the well. The aunt had killed herself and her child as she discovered they would have no role in the village since they had been cast away. Hong Kingston then goes on to add that she imagines her aunt as a ghost begging for scraps from the things given to other ghosts by their adoring relatives. This was truly a tragic ending for everyone involved. When Hong Kingston was first told this story she was not informed about some things so she decided to include what she thought may have happened. During one part she describes someone who could have raped her aunt, threatening to kill her if she ever told anyone. Even believing that the rapist could have been in the group of people who ransacked her house. Hong Kingston even talks about the type of women her aunt was by not telling on her rapist even when all had been lost. In another idea she looks at her aunt as a woman who wants to attract men’s attention. She would look at herself in the mirror all day and think of different ways she could look more attractive. All these were things that ran through Hong Kingston’s head as she tried to put everything together. While these things could have happened, nothing is known for sure. My thoughts on this reading were of extreme sorrow. Throughout the entire thing I felt the aunt was completely being put in unfortunate situations. It was hapless that she got pregnant by someone who was not her husband but did her house really need to be raided because of that? On top of that her own family turned their back on her. If your own family cannot help you in your time of need then who can? I believe everyone here was at fault for the death of the poor woman and her child. They made her feel so worthless that she felt she was better off dead. And the fact that her story is being passed around in a way to scare girls from having sex is also messed up. It feels like no one cares about her even after she is dead.