Blog #4 topic #4

        As a first generation American (I came to the United States when I was three years old) I have experienced some of the problems faced by the characters of Maxine Hong Kingston’s “The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts.” However when reading this story I found myself particularly frustrated with the story and with Kingston.

When I started kindergarten, I did not understand English. The only words I knew on my first day of school were: yes, no, and thank you. I do not criticize the silence of the girls in the story, as I understand what it feels to not understand anything. In my experience, I strived to learn English, to make friends, and try to be better than my classmates at math. I did not have any family or people close to me to guide me or help me. However, the teachers were very nice and supportive. I remember in first grade, when my class was learning the “th” sound, and when the teacher saw I was not able to say it right, she stopped the class and knelt down by me and for a few minutes made me try to use my tongue the right way until I was able to say the “th” sound correctly. I remember how happy and proud I was, and how for the rest of the day, I would show of how I could say “th.” I am frustrated at the way Kingston portrays the “Americans” in the story, and fails to acknowledge their kind efforts. I have experienced this country to be a true “land of immigrants” and a real “land of opportunity.” I have felt the way the government and specifically schoolteachers went out of their way to help kids like me. 

Kingston’s story of the mother forcing the girl to go to the pharmacist and force him to give her candy is ridiculous. I am not familiar with the Chinese culture and their superstitions, However I feel that any sane person would not act the same way the mother did. No matter what her superstitions were, the mother was in a whole different country, “everything” works differently here. In her case the people in this new country look, speak, dress, eat, and act differently than what she is used to. If one were to consider that she is the minority, in reality she would not come here and try to force things to work her way, she would need to make herself compatible to the way of life here. 

If I were to write a story about Immigrant experiences, I would make it more realistic. In my case, I feel that there would still be many “touching” stories without having to exaggerate or be ridiculous. In my story, I would write about people labeling me as a Russian, when I was in fact from Western Ukraine, a place that has a history of being used, oppressed, and culturally destroyed by Russians. People with my background typically hate Russia, Russians, and the Soviet Union and are very bitter about the history in that region. I remember myself constantly arguing with people that Russia and Ukraine are NOT the same thing. 

Every culture has its own identity, history and experiences. Immigrant experiences, for various reasons are different for each culture. I do recognize that I may have misunderstood Kingston, and what this story was intended for. I hope to find more stories of immigrant experiences and compare them, or perhaps even write my own.