The oppression of women has been around for thousands of years. With a Chinese setting reflected in the text “No Name Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston, it is apparent of such oppression. Women can react differently to this subjugation, however there is an abundant amount of evidence to show that the author's aunt, No Name Woman, was not a weak and submissive woman, but rather a rebel who fought back. No Name Woman’s strategic suicide in the well to trouble the community, the authors display of her rebellious self in the text, and No Name Woman taking the life of her probable baby boy from the community shows that instead of letting their subjugation break their spirits, these women rebelled in their own ways. No Name Woman’s ability …show more content…
The sex of the child “No Name Women” carried was unknown, although the author believes it was a girl by stating “It was probably a girl; there is some hope of forgiveness for boys.” If the child was in fact a girl, No Name Woman would show a weakness that would give her the image of a submissive woman. By taking a girl to death with her, it is probable she did this to save her daughter from the societal beliefs of the community and from suffering she would have to endure because of the origin of her birth. In this community women are seen as useless, more like property, compared to the men, this can be seen when Kingston says, “To be a woman, to have a daughter in starvation time was a waste enough.” They thrive because of the men in their community, while women can't be the providers, so just having another mouth to feed that would eventually lead to another useless woman was seen as horrible to the citizens in the community. If the baby was a boy, No Name Woman would have cut the village off from another source of income, leader, and another man who would potentially abuse another woman in the community, rather than the child being a girl and just taking her because of pity. No Name Woman did not want her child to be forgiven, and she had a better reason to take a boy from the