Shame of silence
"A shame of silence" by Maxine Hong Kingston is primary an expressive paper. In this essay, the writer, a Chinese girl, faces her frustration and discomfort before a situation suffered since she was a child. The fact that she could not speak English fluently made of her a shy girl isolating her from the rest of the classmates in kindergarten. Expressive is not the only purpose of this paper. It also tells a story, her own story, about her experience at kindergarten, home and Chinese school, and makes this paper a literary writing as well. There is no intention of the author to convince or persuade others, neither to explain a topic. As for a pattern of organization, Maxine Hong Kingston uses description to illustrate the story. She also uses pattern of narration to write the story which events are related in time. The essay is full of figurative images grabbing the reader's attention. "A shame of silence" talks about the cultural differences that make an individual not to reflect what he or she really is, and how these differences can affect his or her personality, communication and relationship with others. Kingston's primary purpose is expressive. Since the beginning, the authors define self as a silent pers
The author also uses the description pattern several times. She decide to stay silent and cover all her school painting with black paint or with layers of chalk the drawing on the blackboard. " In addition to the narration pattern. " The author also picture the comfort she felt when she was at the Chinese school when writes, "we played captured the flag in the auditorium," we climbed the teak ceremonial chairs and made flying leaps off the stage. The events are narrated in a chronological order. She considers them as daring talkers. "What did you said?" says the cab driver, or "peak up", so I have to perform again, only weaker the second time". Figurative images such as "A telephone call makes my throat bleed" or "my broken voice came skittering cut into the open" are all over the essay. " she wants to let the reader know that she barely spoke with others, not meaning the literal significance of the words "Silent years" which is a year that did not talk at all. In the first expression, the writer shows emotional pain she feels every time she has to talk on the phone. Such cultural traits usually remain as part of the personal behavior during the entire life. She starts talking about her shame and fear every time she had to read or speak in English in front others when writes, "A dumbness a shame still cracks my voice in two, even when I want to say "hello' casually, or ask an easy question in front of the check out counter. For example, she writes "I liked the Negro students (black Ghost) best because they laughed the loudest and they talked to me as if a were a daring talker too.
Common topics in this essay:
Hong Kingston,
Kingston Chinese,
American Chinese,
Black Ghost,
Yat-sen Chiang-Kai-shek's,
English Crisis,
chinese school,
Shame Silence,
shame silence,
speak english,
hong kingston,
maxine hong kingston,
maxine hong,
Maxine Hong,
talked daring talker,
bones rubbing,
school writes,
american chinese,
bones rubbing jagged,
example writes,
voice coming,
voice bones rubbing,
laughed loudest talked,
|