Maxine Hong Kingston - No Name Woman

This article discusses a girl whose mother tells her a terrible story about her aunt. Up until the tim that her mother informed her, she had no idea that she had even had an aunt. Her mother tells her how her aunt had gotten pregnant, and was tortured by the village because of it. This led to her suicide, along with the child. I found this story to be very disturbing. Although I don't think suicide is right or necessary, I do understand her aunt's reasons for doing so. She was ready to give birth at a time where the men had been working for a long time, and the people were not at peace. She was tortured for becoming pregnant with a man other than her husband, and this was looked down upon in her culture. I feel that her aunt may have felt trapped, and did not have an option with her pregnancy. She had most likely been forced to have sex, and in the Chinese culture women did what men said to do. If I were her, i would have been terrified of the men and the way society ran. Being put in such a situation is unfortunate. Kingston goes on to describe her vision of her aunt, and how she must have been beautiful and outgoing. She sort of gives two sides of her aunt - a beautiful woman who obeyed rules, and a woman who put herself out there sexually. Although Kingston did not know any details about her aunt other than her suicide, she probably had a decent guess. The fact that her father denied ever having a sister must have made Kingston feel low. Her mother told her the story to inform her how to not act, but I think this story would discourage me. I would feel negative about women in general, and this would make me feel like less of a woman. Although the moral behind telling her daughter about the story may have been wrong, it ended up informing Kingston about her long lost aunt. If I were her, I would be terrified by the story, but glad to know everything about my family, rather than hearing a lie my entire life.