Friday, October 9, 2009

Essay: "No Name Woman." Maxine Hong Kingston. 1975.

Essay: “No Name Woman.” Maxine Hong Kingston. 1975.


One-minute review: The treatment of women in Chinese tradition. No one is allowed to mention her mother’s sister's name. It’s as if she hasn’t been born. She committed the crime of adultery. The entire village attacked the family which is disgraced. She gives birth and then she takes her baby with her to her suicide by drowning. The terror of tradition.


Comment: A powerful story of the effects of traditionalism that strangles humanity. Rays.


Best American Essays of the Century. Editors: Oates and Atwan. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 2000.

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