Blog Post #4 Topic 4

Being a first generation college student, I know the struggles that both Maxine Hong Kingston as well as Sandra Cisneros went through in their lives. From the interactions with people and them having expectations as to what they expect of you. Kingston allows for the interpretation of others perspectives in their encounters with people while Cisneros delves more into her daily life being similar to others.

For Kingston, in her novel Women Warrior, she decides to show her life through the eyes of her younger self. Her self that is not as mature nor knowledgeable about the experiences she went through. Her self that only saw the experiences as events rather than as experiences where she took information from. In her case, I do believe that portraying her life events this way will give a different view on what she went through but in my opinion it breaks from any really lesson she may want to portray. Since readers see the story from the perspective of a young child, themes that are more serious such as indoctrination and assimilation seem less intimidating than they actually are to others. I have seen my peers struggle to adapt because of the language barrier that they were forced to learn if not suffer consequences. Fortunately for me, I adapted with the English language eventually because my school "helped" me learn but also knowing my background. In Kingston's novel, she does include how she felt but at times some parts seem irrelevant to understanding why she would include them. For example, when she decided to bully the young girl because it annoyed Kingston that the little girl was not at the same level of socializing. Still, this event may seem irrelevant to understanding the problems that appear with being part of a different culture than the norm. Still, with her inclusion of these events, it goes to show that these are events she found important to finding happiness or rest when she was facing other issues.

 For Cisneros, she is similar to Kingston. They both have elements in their stories that show their character developments but never truly explain why such event may be deemed as important. To them, it seems that these events are what made their experiences unique. To Kingston, her sense of time changes from time gaps to leaps whereas Cisneros goes in a more chronological order with a relative speed of sharing the tale. In this way, Cisneros has the ability for readers to focus on characters and grow with them. As they discover the mysteries of the people and situations around them, the reader is also learning the environment perceived by the narrator girl. I find that by giving character development to multiple characters gives a more realistic vibe to the story where not just one character gets developed. I find that by being involved with others who shared a similar story with me and had experiences that made us grow, it made me comprehend different ways of life than just me experiences them. For example, when my peers explained that they were having trouble understanding basic American culture ideas, I would understand and we would not feel as estranged.

Therefore, though Cisneros and Kingston do go about telling their stories through similar yet different ways, they both attempt to show that their experiences despite being almost irrelevant or strange is what makes them unique. I find that by sharing their encounters, it distinguishes their voices from the typical literature.