I don't think that Woman Warrior is an easy read, but it is a very insightful one. I knew that China wasn't up on women's rights, but I had no clue as to the abuse and degradation that still goes on there. Woman Warrior, Beloved, and Indian Killer were definitely learning experiences for me about how minorities and woman are treated all around the world. I think it is a great thing that people can write these kinds of stories to educate the world about what it is really like. After reading these books, it has given me a fresh look and total appreciation that I am a white woman that was born in the United States. You grow up knowing that we are better off, but it really hits home after you read about these kinds of specific discrimination and abuse.
I liked the part where she is trained to be a woman warrior and triumphs over all the battles. In a way I think this sort of relates to how she feels about her mother being a doctor. Even her mother says that her father couldn't support her daughters without the mother working. The mother says, "I'm the one with the big muscles"(104). For the mother to be a doctor in a country that treats woman like dogs, this is quite an accomplishment. I think that Kingston looks up to her mother even though she didn't get the love she needed as her daughter; it helps to shape who she is and her desire to be a Woman Warrior. I'm glad that she showed us the difference between being an American/Chinese person and a Chinese person in China. I didn't realize the differences and the different issues that they have to address not just from other Americans, but from relatives in China.
I agree that the novels we have read this year shed light on parts of the world that sometimes go unnoticed or might seem taboo. Woman Warrior was no different. I think the Asian Culture is foreign to a lot of people in the U.S. It gives a great view into the Asian or Chinese value system. It was a painful and delightful. It was heartbreaking and insightful. The view into being an Asian/American made me think about the way that all immigrants feel. As the U.S. faces the cotroversy at its southern border, I can see the importance to understand those that are trying to get here. The prejudice and the struggle they face. Add to that being a woman, coming from a culture that does not value women and it become a lifelong struggle.
ReplyDeleteI found it very ironic that we read the books we did in a class that's goal was to give us an accurate picture of the American Dream. In an American lit class I would not have expected to read a book about drugs and three books about non white people living in the US. Now that I look back this was truly the best way to represent the American Dream, not by looking at the everyday average white male in society but by looking at the pursuit of the Dream by the not so average perspective.
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