HW: Review for quiz tomorrow on the following terms:
SOAPSTone
Anadiplosis: occurs when the last word in a sentence, clause, or phrase is repeated at the beginning of the next sentence, clause, or phrase.
Ex. “They call for you: the general who became a slave; the slave who became a gladiator; the gladiator who defied an Emperor.” – Gladiator
“Our time has come. Suffering breeds character; character breeds faith; in the end faith will not disappoint.” Jesse Jackson, 1984 Democratic National Convention
Anaphora: Repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of lines, clauses, or sentences.
Ex. This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise.
Shakespeare, Richard II
Anastrophe: Inversion of the usual word order in a sentence or parts of a sentence.
Ex. A promising Jedi, you are. - Yoda
Asyndeton: Omitting connecting words, usually conjunctions, between clauses.
Ex. We laugh, cry, scream, shout.
Polysyndeton: Adding connecting words (conjunctions) between clauses for effect.
Ex. We laugh and cry and scream and shout.
Epanalepsis: Beginning and ending a clause or sentence with the same word or words – a circular sentence.
"Common sense is not so common." - Voltaire
Epistrophe: Repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of lines.
Ex. I do not like dogs. When did I ever say I like dogs? And why would you possibly buy me a dog?
20 comments:
Thanks dude
I'm not sure where this assignment is supposed to go, but I'm answering #2 of No Name Woman.
Forbidden knowledge is always more tempting than the knowledge handed over on a silver platter, which is why Kingston hooks her readers with the first sentence, "You must not tell anyone... what I am about to tell you." Essentially the whole leading dialogue serves as a hook because even after the secret is revealed, there still remain so many unexplored questions. Since Kingston can't probe her mother for details, the rest of the essay is Kingston's ground for exploring all the possibilities that could have affected her aunt's situation. Employing pathos, Kingston offers various background stories for her aunt that all make her seem much more a victim than a whore. For example, Kingston says she was probably forced to have sex, and had no choice or say in the matter. And by painting a realistic image of her aunt, all alone in the emotional and physical pain of childbirth, Kingston elicits deep sympathy from one for her aunt. After all the images of her victimized aunt, Kingston then reminds readers of how the story began: "'Don't tell anyone you had an aunt... She has never been born.'...They want me to participate in her punishment. And I have." Kingston defies her mother and her family by arguing that her aunt must be forgiven and loved, not shamed and worse, forgotten. In order to bring justice for her aunt and all others in her position, Kingston feels it is her duty to unleash this secret so that they can be freed at last from unfair turmoil.
--Sarina
Everyone wants to know about where they came from, and Kingston is no different. However, she is presented with a much harder obstacle to overcome to explore her past. Only what remains of her heritage are ghosts because coming to America causes the emigrants to modify themselves so that their past becomes muddled. This can be inferred from her description, "the invisible world emigrants built around our childhoods that fit in America" (240). Despite her mother telling her not to talk about her aunt because of the shame it brought their family, exploring possible scenarios for her aunt is her only connection to their true heritage. Another reason for defying her mother stems from sympathizing with her Aunt. They both seem to be hunting for reality: they both seem to be outsiders in their world. Where her aunt is an outsider because she is considered and adulterer, Kingston is an outsider because she has to sculpt a reality of her own without any support. Because she feels this connection with her aunt she doesn't believe that she should just be forgotten and therefore spreads a more empathetic version of the story than the harsh scare tactic her mother offers.
Kingston goes against her mothers wishes of keeping such a story private in order to cleanse her great Aunt's name. Viewed as immoral in previous years, the author tries to bring the reader to feel sympathy for the poor woman who in another light could be seen as something more positive than just a disloyal wife. By exposing the turn of events of that fateful night when the house and land was ransacked and pillaged, the reader feels sad and empathetic for the family, thus shining her in a positive light instead of a negative light. In addition, exploring the different possibilities that could explain her great aunt's treachery forces the reader to think more in depth in the subject instead of forming a negative opinion right off the bat. Kingston tells this story to clear her family name and to sympathize with her great aunt and forgive her.
Idk where to put this either. I guess this is the best place.
Kingston tells the story of her neglected and unremembered aunt because she notices the similarity between them and takes pity on her. By getting her story out in the open, Kingston, knowing that the rape was not her fault, respects her aunt. Kingston knows that “women in the old China did not choose. Some man had commanded her to lie with him;” thus, she could not refuse him and had no other choice but to sleep with him (par. 15). Another reason why her aunt let the man take advantage of her was her yearn to fit in with society and not stand up to him and cause a commotion. Just like her aunt, Kingston says, “I have tried to turn myself American-feminine” even though she knows of her Chinese background and tradition (par. 31). In this way, both Kingston and her aunt want to fit in with those around them and fall into pressure. Recognizing that “the real punishment [for her aunt] was…the family’s deliberately forgetting her,” Kingston wanted to stop the tradition of brutal ignorance and shed light on her forgotten aunt once again. By telling her aunts history, Kingston does something more important than following her mother’s request—she respects her aunt.
-Rachel Marty
I believe that Maxine Hong Kingston writes about her aunt’s experience in “No Name Woman” because she wants to not only pay respect towards her aunt, but also to show the reader the harshness of Chinese society. Kingston feels that her aunt didn’t deserve that the type of punishment for her mistake that she made, and I think she is secretly scolding her father for “shunning” her out of the family and never letting anyone even mention her name or any of her aunt’s good attributes or contributions towards the Chinese society or their family. The main reason Kingston proceeds to tell the story of her aunt is because she feels the woman was mistreated by her family and village. The author tries to imagine what the circumstances were surrounding the situation. Kingston has an American view of the incident and is trying to come to terms with the reason for her family’s behavior, She finds that she does not agree with them and by telling the story, even after her mother told her not to, she is trying to vindicate her aunt and rebuke her family. By emphasizing the backwardness of the Chinese culture and the repression of women in the Chinese society, Kingston is looking for her place within the Chinese heritage where she can be comfortable with herself.
-Angela
I think Kingston tells this story about her aunt to show that her aunt wasn't as bad as her family thought she was and to show how parts of the chinese thinking and culture has been corrupted in the past. Kingstson begins with "You must not tell anyone...what i'm about to tell you" as a hook to grab the reader's attention because we are always that much more eager to find things out that we are 'not suppose to.' Kingston points out in her story that even though her family condemned her aunt because it was and is so wrong of her to become pregnant while her husband was gone, it was probably not entirely her fault. Kingston explains that men basically has all the power in Chinese culture: they conducted the family, could trade their children for other children, were the ones who inherited the land and wealth of old people. They were the ones that set the rule for their household, but not only did they have power over the women in their family, in society they had power ad Kingston suggests that her aunt's man probably forced her to have sex and it wasn't her own will like in the Scarlet Letter or anything. Kingston proves the corruption of Chinese culture when she explains that her aunt's man was the one who ordered the raid upon her house.
2. As more generations of immigrants dwell in the American society, they tend to feel an urge to discard their ancestry. In Kingston's "No Name Woman," not only does she deal with the fact that her aunt is no longer to be remembered, but she also talks about her own feelings about her Chinese race. By not mentioning any trace of her aunt, she is also hiding part of her heritage. Kingston admits, "They want me to participate in her punishment. And I have...The real punishment was not the raid swiftly inflicted by the villagers, but the family's deliberately forgetting her" (par. 47-48). Kingston's writings reveal how the Chinese society wants to hide identities for the sake of honor in their family's name; however, Chinese in American societies "take new names when their lives change and guard their real names with silence" (par. 11). Chinese-Americans in Kingston's view change their names because they try to mask their true self. By Kingston keeping quiet about her aunt's life, she is erasing parts of her culture and sees the brutality of betrayal.
--Lauren Taniguchi
Kingston's purpose of opening with "You must not tell anyone" is to hook the reader in. People are always drawn to know what they are not supposed to know, so from this first sentence, the reader wants to know more. However, Kingston goes on to disobey her mother by telling the reader. Kingston tells the "forbidden" story to the reader in order to evoke sympathy for her aunt. Kingston states, "Women in the old China did not choose. Some man had commanded her to lie with him..." (241). Although the family regards the aunt as though she were never born, Kingston shows us that it was not entirely her aunt's fault. Old China was a society in which women were subordinate to men. Thus, her aunt had no choice but to do what the man had commanded of her. Kingston furthers our sympathy for her aunt by describing the difficult situation her aunt is put in after having the baby: "Carrying the baby to the well shows loving. Otherwise abandon it" (249). Because she got pregnant, the aunt became an outcast in society with no hope of forgiveness, which is why she commits suicide. However, having the baby creates a dilemma: she could abandon the baby, or she could take it with her to death. Overall, this is a no-win situation. In this way, Kingston evokes even greater sympathy for her aunt by showing that Chinese society held such a negative view of her that she was even forced to have her baby die with her. Kingston reveals what her mother told her not to tell in order to draw up some forgiveness for her aunt.
Audrey Virginia Proulx
Kingston tells the story of her aunt to try to give the "no name woman" a name. Kingston describes the women in her mother's Chinese village as being very homogeneous. They wear the same dull clothing, they all submit to their husbands and fathers, and they even have the same hairstyles. Only Kingston's aunt tries to be different and dares to wear her hair a different way, and because of this she draws attention to herself and gets herself into a position that cannot be reversed. The other women of the village think it is best to blend in, to go unnoticed, and to "forget" events that cause shame and disgrace. They believe that anyone who is different and does something that society disapproves of deserves to lose their name and be forgotten forever. Kingston tells this story because she respects her aunt and thinks that her aunt's bravery and desire to be different should earn her a name. Kingston contrasts Chinese culture, in which the nonconformists are intentionally forgotton, with American culture, in which only those who puposely stand out have a name and are remembered in the long run.
2. Kingston makes it clear that in China, her aunt's crime of adultery was unforgivable. Kingston's aunt would become an "outcast" shunned by the Chinese village. Even her own family would "hang on to the offenders and fed them leftovers" (pg. 242). In China, Kingston's aunt would never be forgiven, even her grave would be inferior to another person's grave. Nevertheless, I think Kingston feels sorry for her aunt and wants to forgive her, which is why she "devote [these] pages of paper to her" (250). Kingston is the only one of her family who still respects her aunt because she has been mixed with the customs of America. So Kingston is writing and letting people know about her aunt in here and now so that her soul might be forgiven here in America instead of China.
-Alan Tuan
Kingston begins with this sentence because it is an excellent hook. Not only will the reader be getting in on a secret, but it's one that the author is not supposed to be tell you. It makes the reader feel privileged to hear the rest of the story; Kingston is telling them that they are important enough for her to break her promise. The fact that it is in the form of dialogue only accentuates the excitement caused.
- The Chase
2. At the beginning of the essay, Kingston’s mother tells her to not reveal anything from their discussion. However, Kingston disobeys her mother and tells the reader many details about her aunt because she wants to present a lesson and family background to the reader. In a very personal way, she describes the Chinese attitude towards such “unloyal” women. Despite what one may think at the beginning, Kingston little by little reveals the true story of her aunt, illustrating how helpless and powerless women were during that time. She portrays a mob mentality by showing how her aunt’s seemingly friendly village banded together to ostracize her, just because her child would bring disappointment and hardship upon the village; she writes, “adultery, perhaps only a mistake during good times, became a crime when the village needed food” (par. 38). Lastly, she emphasizes to the reader the Chinese attitude about the importance of image, as her aunt’s own family shunned her because of her “betrayal.”
--Emily Liang
#2
She tells us the story for a number of reasons. One, she lives in a new age in that forgiveness is much easily attainted and punishments are not as harsh. So she wanted to tell the story of her aunt because no one else would and it seems that she wants the story to live on unlike her aunt. In some way, she is honoring her aunt and what she had to go through during her pregnancy. Also, i agree with Sarina in that forbidden knowledge is more tempting then knowledge just given to you. Its like when someone has a secret and they begin to tell you it but then don't. You now have the urge and curiosity to know what it is and you will go to great lengths to find out this piece of information. It is a brilliant way to hook the reader.
Matt
2. I felt like I was reading a diary entry, and Kingston does a great job of grabbing the reader's attention by making the whole passage seem so secretive.However as secretive as it was, the story was still described in so much vivid detail that Kingston paints this elaborate picture that may not have all been based on truth, but sympathy and another perspective. It's not until the very end that she reveals her own insecurity about revealing her aunt's real story. She makes a point that even though her aunt was trapped between what society and her family asked of her ,and her own desires, she would still be angry that someone told her point of view because she does give in to those who looked down upon her. Kingston still tells the story because to her the whole secret seemed somewhat unfinished. The truth, as elaborately painted as it was, had to be compared with what everyone else saw. The pages are given to her aunt because her story needed to be heard.
shayma
2. Maxine Hong Kingston's essay, or in this case the first chapter to one of her major memoirs, deals with many major cultures differences and family dillemas. Opening "No Name Woman" with a quote as dramatic and hooking as "you must not tell anyone...what I am about to tell you" is a major hint to the reader that something important and dramatic coming. The fact that Kingston's family acts as though her aunt never existed demonstrates how conservative they are. Because Kingston does not know the whole story and she knows that it would be totally inappropriate to ask her mother for clarification, she begins to think up logical scenarios herself. I think that Kingston probably wants to think the best of her aunt, so she tells the readers that her aunt was forced into the situation and had no way out, and had to obey the men she was with. The suicide of her aunt was a major act of shame on her family's name, so Kingston knows never to hurt her family in the same way. Her mother tells her to not "humiliate [us] [and that she] wouldn't like to be forgotten as if [she] had never been born" (paragraph 11). Reading this part of Kingston's memoir wants me continue with the whole book!
2. Kingston's main purpose for telling the story of her aunt is to acknowledge her existence and avoid ignoring the truth. To her mother, the acts of his husband's sister are shameful and the sort of activity that burdens the reputation of a family. In Kingston's opinion, she assumes the worst about the aunt's character solely off these actions, whereas the author would like to think that there were extenuating circumstances, which made her more of the victim than the self-destructive abomination. Kingston argues that maybe an abusive man pressured her, and maybe she ended her life with acts of kindness such as giving a silent birth to prevent the spread of the man's name and going to the pigsty in order to shelter the baby (Kingston 15, 32, 44). Unlike her mother, she would prefer to be open about this misfortune rather than trying to hide it incessantly. Kingston allows a grand audience to read about her family because she wants to be relieved of the secret and to show that one sketchily-described sequence of events cannot justly describe a person's character. The rest of her kin should be more respectful and hope the deceased relative had the best intentions in mind.
Kingston opens her essay by describing the secretiveness of the story in order to capture the attention of the reader. It is human nature to be inquisitive of the "secrets" of others. This inquisitiveness arouses a level of interest from the reader. In addition, in describing this as a secret with her "mother", Kingston shows that she is ignoring her mother's wishes. Ultimately, these mother's wishes are analogous to the dogmatic views in certain the aunt's society. Her rejection of her mother's wishes represents her rejection of the mother's message.
Rohan Puri
Kingston's disappointment in the traditions and customs of her family is evident from this narrative. Kingston tries to support her aunt and explain why it might not be that her aunt was a disloyal or bad wife, in fact, she emphasizes that the most likely reason for her aunt's pregnancy was rape, something which wasn't her aunt's fault by any means. What I found most interesting was a quote from the end of the passage, which reads, "My aunt haunts me--her ghost drawn to me because now, after fifty years of neglect, I alone devote pages of paper to her, thought not origamied into houses and clothes. I do not think she always means me well. I am telling on her, and she was a spite suicide, drowning herself in the drinking water" (250). This shows that in Kingston's mind, even her aunt, who suffered due to the traditions of her society, doesn't want to be addressed or have her story told since it goes against the norm and brings shame. The reason that Kingston tells this story despite what she was told to do is to do her best to express the unfairness that she feels was pitted against her aunt; the unfairness that drove her aunt to kill herself. Kingston is trying to emphasis that her aunt's 'crime' was not what it appeared to be and to give her aunt some peace and reassurance.
2) Kingston explains exactly why she is telling the audience about her aunt even though she was explicitly warned not to late in her essay. Her reasoning is as such: in not speaking of her aunt, she was punishing her by shunning her ghost. Kingston does not necessarily believe that her aunt's deed was so terrible as to deserve punishment; in fact, she believes that her aunt's village under different circumstances would have accepted her as well. She therefore is not inclined to treat her as if she had never existed, for she views such treatment as punishment.
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