Maxine Hong Kingston and the Search for Identity :: Biography Biographies Essays

Maxine Hong Kingston and the Search for identity Maxine Hong Kingston is in search of herself. She tries to find herself as a woman in a man's world, as a Chinese in America, and, as a daughter instead of a son. In all her writings one can see her search for her identity. One can feel her rebellion to convention, her need to break the barriers of society, her desire to make a perfect world where everyone is treated as an equal. But most of all her writings depict her as a strong and proud woman who is willing to battle against convention and society to preserve her convictions Kingston is on a search to find her identity. She tries to find herself as a Chinese in American society. There is a struggle within herself to distinguish that which is Chinese from that which is American. Kingston tries to find herself and her voice in America. She says, "We American-Chinese had to whisper to make ourselves American feminine. Apparently we whispered even more softly than the Americans."(Kingston 714) Kingston tries to make herself fit into American society by "...invent(ing) an American-feminine speaking personality."(Kingston 714) She writes that she needed an "American-feminine" personality to have dates. A deep rooted insecurity can be sensed in Kingston. She does not believe in her own attractiveness. She feels a need to become another person to be accepted in American society. She's incapable of attracting dates but her invented personality can. Though Kingston is on a quest to find herself there seems to be a conflict in her mind between the person she really is and the person she wants to become. In "Silence" she talks of her desire to have an American sounding voice. In the essay "Woman Warrior" Kingston dreams of herself as a female avenger, taking revenge on the society that denied her family and herself happiness. She sees herself as a strong, capable, ruthless warrior--- almost a man. Kingston is unhappy with the person that she is. She seems to be unable to meet her expectations of herself. The writer struggles to deal with the person she is and the person she aspires to be. Though she tries to find herself , she cannot find her place, and her voice in America. Kingston searches for her voice in America yet she becomes almost mute. She writes that as a child she used to cover her pictures in black.