An Analysis of the Awakening of Feminism Reflected in No Name Woman

王 佳

（云南大學外國語學院，云南昆明 650091）

Nowadays feminism means the movement which leads us to find equal rights for women with men.We can say feminism is a global struggle against the gender inequality.In the early 19th century to the early 20th century,people joined the movement to try their best to change their working environment,the right of education for women (Sandra,1985).”Up to now,people still struggle for the equality to the men.Women have not had the real equal right as the men,so the feminist movement will keep on now and then.

As far as I am concerned,though Maxine Hong Kingston had been living in America for a very long time,but she still knew that even in Chinatown,the position of women is still low.Chinese women has been suffering and influenced by the feudalistic thoughts for thousands of years.She felt pity for women living in the hell and was influenced and touched by the feminist movement.She hope that through her literature,she could awake the feminism consciousness in China and women can live for themselves one day.And No Name Women was such a great literature work which implicated the feminist thought that the author yearned for women's freedom and liberation.The author described the no name woman as a woman worrier who struggled to death for freedom and independence.The purpose of the author was to appeal Chinese women to gain freedom and dignity and to be independent,striving for their own interests.

“She kept the man’s name to herself throughout her labor and dying;she did not accuse him that he punished with her.To save her inseminator’s name she gave silent birth”.It really shocked me.Because,on the one hand,the no name woman dare to challenge the traditional thought to desire for true love and she chose to protect the one he loved though she had to burden the commit herself and maybe died for it,but she still made such a decision.Her braveness was a typical woman worrier in my mind.On the other hand,the no name woman showed the greatness of women as a mother.She“Endure a silence because of her inferior gender.She uses silence to achieve some level of dignity in defying their gender role”(Cheung,1993).Here,the no name woman showed her strong sense of dignity and belief and she was more powerful than men,because she protected her beloved man till the end.She wasn’t afraid of death,on the opposite,she thought she was a defender of her love,belief,and dream.She dared to challenge the patriarchal society and her death was meaningful:the no name woman was a pioneer who broke the order of rules.And she even chose to kill her child because she didn’t want him to suffer the cruel reality.As a mother,how courageous she was to make such a decision,but she did.She was actually a representation of Maxine Hong Kingston and the author wanted to build such an image to appeal women to stand up and to live for themselves to be an independent and respectful human.Viewing on no name woman,we can see vividly that women are also brave to fight for freedom and challenge the feudal society to express their own ideas.Actually,I had read some articles about Maxine Hong Kingston and though she lived in Chinatown in America,but women there were still bullied and discriminated by white people.Therefore,I guess that she wrote stories like no name woman was to change the images of Chinese women who were also capable enough to devote themselves to the society and powerful enough to struggle for their life and happiness.

Patriarchy is another important topic reflected in the No Name Woman.In the No Name Woman,we can see that the author depicts a society that women were submitted to men.“Women in the old China did not choose”.Indeed,at that time,women were born to be inferior to men,and their marriage was decided by their parents.When married,they belonged to their husband and women didn’t live for themselves foe whole life which I think is very horrible.But the most horrible thing is that women at that time,they would not complain about their unfair destiny and they would show no sympathy to what happened to another woman.They were indifferent like men and they were comforted if other women were more miserable than themselves.So at that time,people’s character was abnormal.Women are demoted to meaningless otherness in the society,as objects of men.“A family must be whole,faithfully keeping the descent line by having sons to feed the old and the dead,who in turn look after the family”.Therefore,I think women in the ancient time were sacrifices to the so called family,and they could be called slaves,servants and belongings to men and to her family.And even today,a lot of so called housewives,some of them depend on their husbands to earn money and to some degree,they lose freedom and voice in the family.And at the same time,they don’t care what is happening outside the room,so overtime,they don’t have common language with other family members that can easily leads to conflicts and housewives are lonely in my opinion.Therefore,nowadays,a lot of men still hold such an opinion that married women should sacrifice their work to be the primary caregivers for husbands,children and the whole family which is not fair to women.I think that the no name woman struggled to death just to show the spirit fighting against the patriarchy.From the death of her,we can see how women were oppressed and influenced by the cruel system.The causes of the death of the no name woman were the deep-rooted feudal autocracy and the patriarchal culture.As far as I am concerned,comparing with the no name woman’s crime,they were more afraid of her breaking the system and the tradition.Maxine Hong’s mother just told the story to her secretly because no one in the family would admit her identity because she brought them only misery and foe.It showed how submitted and obedient her mother was.She just followed her husband’s order,and maybe she had the same thoughts as the no name woman did,but she didn’t have the courage and when she saw the behavior and attitude of her family and the villagers,what she could do was only to educate her kids not to be an immoral person.Therefore,the no name woman was a sacrifice to the age but she was also a woman worrier who awaked the feminism conscious in someone’s heart.

The last part I wanted to illustrate is about cultural integration reflected in No Name Woman briefly.

“The young Chinese Americans,known as the second generation immigrants,have to contend with institutional,internalized and intra-racial racism,Chinese American youngsters cannot but feel that they belong to two conflicting culture:the Chinese culture,which grew from Chinese roots and was transformed by its own history on American soil,and the European culture imposed by white America”(Wei,1993).

As a Chinese,she couldn’t get rid of the traditional Chinese culture,but as an immigrant,she had no choice but to accept the American dominant culture and rituals.Therefore,in the No name Woman,we could feel that her heart was very complex.She may have a lot of conflicts with her parents and even doubt the Chinese culture.But Chinese traditional culture had rooted in Maxine Hong Kingston’s mind and her written style,her language etc were all influenced by Chinese culture.And I think after gradually adapting to American culture,she would understand better of Chinese culture.

All in all,through reading the No Name Woman,I understand the author’s intend.Maxine Hong Kingston hoped that through her stories,the world could see a new image of Chinese women.

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