March 22nd

 "Sometimes I hated the secrecy of the Chinese."

- Page 455, The Woman Warrior

                Kingston in this memoir talks about her life in California as the daughter to Chinese immigrants after the revolution. It was here that her parents became owners of a laundromat and her family was raised to not speak to 'ghosts' or the white folk. Her mother made her beg and in turn, mortified her in front of many white individuals who thought she was homeless and a beggar. As a small child, who already had disabilities, these issues within her family were destructive. 

        Kingston's physical disabilities played a large part in her childhood as she was always seen as an outcast. She was unable to walk correctly, she dropped everything she carried and heard voices and saw films that were not actually happening. Although the memoir never explicitly states that she had schizophrenia, one can infer that she might have. At the time, this would have been largely unacceptable, especially when her family was trying to marry her off to another asian man. To me, this was the saddest part of the story, because even though she needed to be married off first as the oldest, no one wanted her. 

        As Kingston's story goes on, she begins to question the life she has lived and the people that surround her. Are her family back home, begging for money, really in need? She seems to have a moral dilemma between believing those who say something that awful is happening and thinking it is a ploy to not have to work. However, even through all of this, she perseveres and continues on in her family. Honestly, I take pity on her because I don't think that her disability fully allows her to understand the scope of her relationship with her family-- one that is detrimental and vile. I don't think that they love her or care for her the way parents should and that is super sad. 

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