The Woman Warrior / Maxine Hong Kingston
Word Count: 222
Parker Greene
From The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
" " …You're always believing what those Ghost Teachers tell you. Look at the size of the jaws!")…
" You get reparation candy, " she said. " You say, 'You have tainted my house with sick medicine and must remove the curse with sweetness.' He'll understand." " (pg. 453)
Maxine Hong Kingston was the eldest daughter of Chinese immigrants to the Unites States, being raised with both American and Chinese cultures. Maxine's parents were still accustomed to the Chinese culture, while having to learn how to live in American culture, making Maxine go to the drugstore to ask for reparation candy for making the wrong delivery. Maxine's mother is talking to her and telling her to go to the drugstore to lift this "curse" that has been put onto them, but this is something that her parents were accustomed to because of China, but America did not work that way. Later on in the same page, Maxine is trying to reason with her mother that these white people will think that she is crazy or a beggar just looking for money. I find it very interesting just how differing the culture is just for the world of medicine, pharmacists giving candy or raisins out with every order and as a way to lift a "curse".
This excerpt was interesting to read. I think that it spoke on a culture shock because of how the children and their parents were raised differently. I also think that there was some hidden meaning in the passage such as when their mother said "white ghost" and things like that.
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