The Girl in the Book The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

Even when faced with physical and verbal abuse, the silent girl in “A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe” refused to speak, By this act, the silent girl is the most sympathetic character in The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston Asian children, especially daughters, have a tendency to listen to their parents and do not dare to retort or fight back, “I reached up and took the fatty part of her cheek, not dough, but meat, between my thumb and finger”.

Kingston did just what a stereotypical Asian mother would do when their daughter is not behaving, and the silent girl expresses the role of a girl who is unable to stand up for herself. The way children are unable to fend for themselves in the presence of their parents, or a person of authority is characterized in the silent girl.

Even when there‘s an easy way out, the silent girl chooses to remain silent: “Why won’t you scream ‘Help?’  Kingston wants the silent girl to respond, and thus, the silent girl had a choice, to yell help and stop this suffering, or to not retaliate, and face this abuse.

She chooses to take the abuse willingly. In this way, the silent girl is characterized as stubborn and not willing to say anything when it’s the only way to get out of this mess With Kingston acting as the silent girl’s mom, the silent girl can do nothing but endure the abuses of her mother Helplessness and inability to express herself is the only Characteristic that only she displays in the book.

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The silent girl is just a character in the book, but there are numerous other people just like her in the real world.

One of the most prominent characters in the book is the narrator’s “no-name” sister, who is known simply as the “girl” throughout the book. The girl is presented as a complex character who embodies both traditional Chinese values and the struggles of living in a new culture. She is described as beautiful and obedient, but also as rebellious and brave. She is contrasted with the narrator, who is more independent and outspoken. One of the most prominent moments in the book involving the girl is when she becomes pregnant out of wedlock and is forced to kill the baby to protect her family’s honor. This moment highlights the oppressive nature of traditional Chinese values, particularly for women, and the difficult choices that women must make to survive.

Throughout the book, the girl is portrayed as a symbol of the struggles faced by Chinese-American women in a society that often does not understand or value their experiences. She is presented as a complex and multifaceted character who embodies both the strength and the challenges of being a woman in two cultures. Overall, the girl in “The Woman Warrior” represents the tensions between tradition and modernity, Chinese and American culture, and the struggles faced by women in both. Through her experiences, the book explores the complex and often painful realities of being a Chinese-American woman and the ways in which these experiences shape identity and self-perception.