No Name Woman by Maxie Hong Kingston recounts the tale of her aunt, who shall remain nameless throughout the text. Kingston’s mother explains that she once had an aunt who killed herself by jumping into the family well. The family, consisting of four brothers, including Kingston’s father and their sister, considers the aunt to have never been born.
No Name Woman | Summary
The aunt’s husband left for America, “the Gold Mountain,” a few days after the village celebrated seventeen hurry-up weddings. Kingston’s aunt was pregnant, and the villagers knew she could not have been pregnant because her husband sailed for America, many years ago. “The village has also been counting” and knew the child was illegitimate. On the night the baby was to be born, they raided the house, “threw mud and rocks at the house”, threw eggs, and slaughtered the livestock. That night the baby was born in the pigsty, and the next morning, as Kingston’s mother went to fetch water, she found the aunt and her baby “plugging up the family well”. The aunt brought the family and their ancestors disgrace and humiliation, because of which the family has forgotten her as if “she had never been born”.
The author’s mother recounts the narrative of their aunt as a cautionary tale for the children to not engage in premarital sex and end up like their aunt since they have started to menstruate and “the villagers are watchful”. Kingston, who belongs to the first American generation, had “to figure out how the invisible world the emigrants built around our childhood fits into solid America”.
To learn about her Chinese tradition and culture, Kingston cannot ask about her “Father’s drowned-in-the-well sister”, which leads her to invent fantasies and theories around the no-name woman, her aunt. In one such theory, the author thinks of her aunt, not as a “lone romantic who gave up everything for sex”, or a submissive woman who “always did as she was told”. Kingston imagines scenarios where her aunt must have had “dealings” with the man “other than sex”. Or perhaps “he sold her the cloth for the dress she sewed and wore”. She thinks the other man was not very different from her aunt’s husband since they both gave her orders and she followed.
Kingston also mentions the concept of the outcast table, where the aunt, who lived in the same house as her parents, ate at an outcast table since the older people made wrongdoers eat alone and fed them leftovers. The aunt lived in the same house as the daughter-in-law, which hints at disgrace for the family. In another, the author imagines her aunt having growing desires to have perfect appearances and to be noticed since she might have worn combinations that interest the other man. She kept the other man unidentified and did not accuse him of being punished by her. At the time of labor, she was alone and gave birth in a pigsty. However, the child would remain without a family or purpose of its own, and thus, the aunt jumps in the well along with her child, who probably might be a girl, because “there is some hope of forgiveness for boys”. Lastly, the ghost of Kingston’s aunt is not spared even after death because the family makes sure she has to bed for food from other ghosts, “snatch and steal it from those whose living descendants give them gifts.”
No Name Woman | Analysis
The text ‘No Name Woman’, by Maxine Hong Kingston, as part of her book ‘The Woman Warrior,’ was published in 1975. Written in first-person perspective, the author remembers the tale of her aunt, the no name woman, which was told by her mother as a cautionary tale.
The tone of the story is miserable and sorrowful as the readers learn about the author’s aunt, who commits suicide along with her newborn baby. The mother recollects the story of the estranged aunt to warn her children about life since they have started to menstruate. According to the mother, the tale serves as a warning that if the children engage in adultery or other activities that might bring shame and humiliation to the family, they will be forgotten and denied like their aunt.
The text alludes to the Immigration Act of 1924 that prevented Asians from entering America, referred to as the Gold Mountain. It represents hope for a better future and recreating history. “All of them sent money home” symbolizes those men left in search of work and improved their lifestyle. Although the aunt remains nameless throughout the text, the author provides her with an identity as a “no-name woman” that is characterized by anonymity. “The villagers are watchful”, signifying that the private actions of an individual are in reality public. Through the narrative of the no-name woman, the author describes the strange realities of Chinese society and the gender roles expected of women.
The author, who belongs to the first American generation, is trying to understand her Chinese identity and tradition from her mother. She imagines the scenarios that her aunt must have faced as she broke the code of conduct of Chinese society. Through these scenarios, Kingston describes the men in her aunt’s life as oppressive and dominant. The other man, who was involved in an affair with her aunt, did not take responsibility for the child. The author imagines him to have joined the raid on her family:
“His demand must have surprised, then terrified her. She obeyed him; she always did as she was told”.
Kingston also considers the possibility of her aunt being a timid, submissive woman who gave into the desires of a powerful man, from whom she bought oil or gathered wood in the same forest. The aunt and her illegitimate child are considered a threat for having disrupted the social order of the community. The family also alienates her as a punishment, not allowing her to have food with everyone.
The author lets her imagination run free by imagining that her aunt lured suitors with her hair and often guessed the right combination that interested the other man. According to Kingston, her aunt’s attention to her looks would have caused gossip among the villagers.
Finally, the author describes the process of birthing as extremely heart-breaking and lonely for her aunt. The villagers harassed her and called her a “ghost,”, which led to her exile far enough from the house. She gave birth to a girl, and since the child was without a family, it would be abandoned by the rest.
The family deliberately makes an effort to forget the aunt and deny her existence even after her death. They made her suffer forever by letting her beg for food and scraps from other ghosts and snatch and steal gifts offered to other ghosts by their living descendants. In conclusion, the narrator calls the aunt a powerful woman and “a weeping ghost” and thinks of her father and his family as frail since they were harmed by the no-name woman’s acts.
No Name Woman | Themes
Through the narrative of the ‘no-name woman’, the author sheds light on the themes of gender roles in Chinese society and identity in a patriarchal setup.
The readers understand the oppressive nature and the fixed gender roles that are fostered within the communities through the tale of the author’s aunt. With the illegitimate child and an extramarital affair, the community, along with her family, has ostracised her and denied her existence in their lives. She disrupted social order and conduct, which eventually led to her death. Gender roles are demonstrated as the men in the family sail for America, leaving the woman in China.
“The night she first saw him, he had sex with her. Then he left for America. She had almost forgotten what he looked like.”
It suggests the distant nature of their relationship soon after the marriage. Also, being the only daughter in the family, she does not have a fair share in the family property like her brother, and the Chinese synonym for marriage is “taking a daughter-in-law”. Thus, the grandparents had given away their daughter to her husband’s family, and the aunt was left with no voice in the situation.
The theme of the identity of a woman as determined by patriarchy is explored in the text since the aunt is considered a ghost and an outcast because she has broken the social order. Her story serves as a symbol of how society treats women who break away from patriarchal norms. Since she had an affair with an unidentified man and betrayed her husband, the village and family have caused her suicide. The aunt has no agency of her own and is always juggling her identities as a daughter, sister, and daughter-in-law. The author gives no narrative voice to the aunt, which reflects the silence imposed on her for breaking the law. The mother warns her children not to be influenced by their aunt since it would lead to humiliation and disgrace for the family once again.
No Name Woman | Title
The title ‘No Name Woman’ is significant because, throughout the text, the readers are made aware of the anonymous identity of the unnamed woman. It is due to the disgrace, shame, and humiliation that the aunt has brought to the family that they deliberately erase her existence from their lives. It indicates that the liberal nature of her aunt has led to her death and her suffering forever, even after death.
No Name Woman | Character Sketch
The character of Kingston, the author of the text, as a child relates the tale of the no-name woman. The author portrays herself within the text as a layered and introspective character. She displays emotions of empathy for her aunt, who was outcast by her family and the village, which led to her death. She invents scenarios or theories around the death of her aunt, giving the latter a voice of her own through Kingston’s character. She acknowledges the silence and injustice faced by women and the alienation felt by her aunt. The readers also understand Kingston as stuck between the dual identities of being a Chinese-American woman. She is combining the liberal ideas of American society with the restrictive, heritage ideas of her Chinese culture.
No Name Woman | Literary Devices
Kingston applies many literary devices to the text of ‘No Name Woman’, like irony, imagery, symbolism, and the technique of non-linear narrative.
The literary device of irony is evident at the beginning of the text, where Kingston’s mother asks her to remain silent about the tale of her unnamed aunt:
“You must not tell anyone… what I am about to tell you”.
It is ironic since it is forbidden for the author to talk about the no-name woman, but she thinks of and describes the hypothetical scenarios that led to the death of her aunt. Although she has been asked to keep quiet about her estranged aunt, Kingston writes about her and makes her readers aware of the oppressive and restricted Chinese society. “After fifty years of neglect, I alone devote pages of paper to her.”
The author uses vivid visual and auditory imagery to describe the raid that took place at her ancestral home in China, carried out by the villagers. Through the use of figurative language and stylistic diction, Kingston allows the reader to imagine the extent of the raid:
“Some were crying. Like a great saw with teeth strung with lights, files of people walked zigzag across our land, tearing the rice.”
“Their knives dripped with the blood of our animals. The smeared blood on the doors and walls. One woman swung a chicken whose throat she had slit, splattering blood in red arcs about her.”
Kingston makes use of symbolism, and one such example would be the symbol of “America, the Gold Mountain,” which represented the American Dream for the Chinese people, looking forward to settling and making a living in America. However, the author mentions 1924, when the Chinese settlers migrated to America, a year in which the Immigration Act of 1924 was passed. “Those lucky enough to get contacts waved goodbye from the decks”. The Act restricted the immigration of Asians, which symbolizes that although America represented hope for the Chinese, it was like gold, which can provide enough money to make a living or is completely unattainable.
The narrator follows a non-linear narrative to describe the sequence of events that led to the death of her aunt. She oscillates from past to present, recounting the incidents that might have caused her death but also blending them with her fictional scenarios, leading to an amalgamation of fiction and reality. The reader is unaware whether the fictional accounts might have been the reality of the aunt’s tale.
