Blog Post 4 - Topic 4 - Na

    In Maxine Hong-Kingston's The Women Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghost, she depicts the journey of a young Chinese girl and how she faces challenges of growing up in an immigrant family. The protagonist is portrayed as shy and meek and that she lacks a voice. Hong-Kingston's description of the protagonist plays on stereotypes of people from a Chinese background and also people from Asian descent. This negative stereotype is reinforced by Hong-Kingston and presents a bad image to the general public that has no knowledge about people of Chinese descent.  Not only does Hong-Kingston utilize Chinese stereotypes in her writing her descriptions of other kids throughout the story stereotype them, such as labeling the kids of African American descent "black ghost" and described them as loud and obnoxious . Even though this is may come off racist, since the narrator is from the protagonist's point of view it is appropriate. The protagonist is a child so she probably doesn't know that it is wrong or correct, she is simply describing what she is experiencing. And in her day to day life, the protagonist is surrounded by Chinese people and the stark contrast between the mannerism of the Chinese and other children will stand out.

       In contrast, Hong-Kingston is able to show readers that the main character isn't always the meek and shy girl. Her usage of Chinese school to contrast the differences between the main character's  mannerism in public and Chinese school show readers how dynamic her lifestyle is. Even though Hong-Kingston's writing plays on a lot of stereotypes, they are appropriate because she is describing an experience that many Chinese children may have. Stereotypes obviously come from real life experiences and that is why they are labeled as stereotypes.  

       The main character shows how she has many fears such as being perceived by the pharmacist that her family is poor and that she is a beggar.  These fears eventually will lead her to corner another Chinese girl in the bathroom. She bullies the other Chinese girl because  she does not like that the other Chinese girl is perpetuating stereotypes that the protagonist doesn't like, such as not having a voice. Her anger and frustration at that Chinese girl mirrors how some people view Hong-Kingston's writing.  This whole issue revolves around people feeling the need to act or speak a certain way so that they don't give people a bad experience or memory about their minority. There is a lot of fear built on giving other people who aren't apart of your ethnic community a bad perception of your community.  This allows me to sympathize with how Hong-Kingston writes and why she needs to describe the protagonist like she does. The struggle to appropriately present yourself to the majority is still very apparent in modern society. For example, some Muslims may feel the need to act their best in public because they know that western society already has built up a negative view on Muslims.  As someone from a minority, I understand this feeling too. Every time a documentary, book, or movie is popularized I hyper analyze details from those books and movies and using my own experience and knowledge I decide what is appropriate and what isn't.  As someone who isn't Chinese,  I can't appropriately critic her writing  and if it really is true to a Chinese immigrants experience. In general,  as long as Hong-Kingston  doesn't present events or traditions that are obscure  as common,  her descriptions seem appropriate because it reminds me of my own experiences as a child of immigrant parents.