The Woman Warrior

The Woman Warrior While reading The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston it makes the reader wonder how our ancestors dealt with their everyday lives in the 1920’s. What we consider hard labor and sacrifice; they might have considered a mini vacation. We could go out about our lives and not have to worry about anybody but ourselves. They had to deal with everyday criticism from the people in their neighborhood, watching their every move and every choice they made.
Kingston talks about an aunt that was denied and never spoken of; from her father’s side, because she had brought a great amount of shame to their family. As a woman there are many expectations that are required to be met. Kingston is being told the story of her aunts’ life by her mother, but her mother seems to be using the story as a fair warning to her. “Don’t let your father know that I told you. He denies her. Now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you. Don’t humiliate us. You wouldn’t like to be forgotten as if you had never been born. The villagers are watchful.”(Kingston 5). This quote is very powerful especially for a girl that is expected to make her family proud and their culture is their number one priority. It also focuses on her becoming a woman, now that she has reached puberty she will be attracting men but she’s expected to remain a respectable girl or she will bring shame to her family. The village will react the same way they did with her aunt. The story with her aunt was to be, that her husband and all her brothers had left to America to find jobs and send money to their families. She had become pregnant without seeing her husband for two years. The village did not tolerate adultery and went to attack their home; they destroyed her belongings and slaughtered their animals. The aunt ends up killing herself and the baby in the family well. A deeper side of the quote can also be seen, family is everything to them unless they do something