Woman Warrior#6

Quote#1

"If only I could let my mother know the list, she-and the world-would become more like me, and I would never be alone again." Pg.198-Maxine Hong
I chose this quote because it shows how much guilt she had built up. The page before this quote shows the narrator, Maxine, creating a list of all the bad things she had done in her head. She is explaining how she would like to show her mother the list and get it off of her chest. She is looking back on everything that she had done and wants to gain back the ties she severed with her mother. This counts as a hardship that Maxine had to endure during her new life. She didn't want to be a part of the Chinese culture that she so much hated but she didn't want to be alone.

Personal connection:

I have a personal connection to this quote and part of the story. My family is Jewish. They are not super religious but they are involved in the Jewish community and we celebrate all of the holidays. A year or two ago I decided that I didn't want to be part of a religion. It was not because I had anything against it. It was because I felt like religion in general restricted people from living life to the fullest. I felt like that "my belief is the right belief" stuff wasn't appealing. It is hard to separate from something that your entire family is a part of. Maxine wanting to get away from her Chinese culture is like me wanting to get away from my religion that I was born into.

Why does the narrator invoke Fa Mu Lan and Ts'ai Yen?

Quote#2

"I cut it to make you talk more, not less, you dummy."
Earlier in the chapter Maxine's mother talked about how she cut Maxine's tongue when she was little so that she wouldn't be tongue tied. Maxine thought of this as her mother's way of getting her to stop talking when it was really to get her to talk more. Maxine's mother seemed like she only verbally abused and hurt her feelings because that is what the Chinese do. That was part of their culture so Maxine's mother justified it.


Why does the author never give her name in the narrator’s tales?