No Name Woman, by Maxine Kingston, is a rich narrative told by a woman speculating about her forgotten aunt. Her aunt is the No Name Woman because she became pregnant with a man who was not her husband. She lived in a strict village in China where sexual acts were very taboo and for her to be pregnant was a terrible crime. The villagers destroyed her home and she was forced to flee, then she committed suicide. No Name Woman's niece speculates about her life and her secret lover in great detail, trying to understand this forgotten woman. The niece is the author of the essay, Maxine Kingston. She is a celebrated Chinese-American author who has gained much recognition because of the gender, feminism and ethnicity issues discussed in her books. Kingston's purpose in writing No Name Woman was to give her aunt her life back. This woman was knowingly forgotten from her own family, but Kingston brings her back and paints the story of her life with words. She definitely achieved her purpose because even though it was all speculation, Kingston used imagery to make it seem real. For example, when she was describing her aunt's pregnant belly,she writes, "But I did not think, 'She's pregnant,' until she began to look like other pregnant women, her shirt pulling and the white tops of her black pants showing." The imagery in this makes the No Name Woman real and makes the audience empathize with her. The similes and metaphors in No Name Women also lend to the effectiveness of the essay, for example, comparing the angry mob to a great saw makes the mood that much darker. The audience Kingston wrote this for was most likely for immigrant Americans who have their own stories from their homeland, and their own "No Name" people. It also seems specifically for women because Kingston first portrays No Name Woman as a victim, but then she turns the tide and and makes No Name Woman someone who made her own choices and knew exactly what she was doing, going with a feminist theme.
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| Pregnancy, Vanderbilt University |
