Women in Conflict

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In “No Name Woman” figurative language was used mostly to describe appearance. It is said that her “hair lured her imminent lover” (Kingston, 1975). Although the young girl was highly admired for certain features, she was unhappy and still left home. One reason was the conflict between herself and society. It is said that one of her reasons for leaving was poverty (Kingston, 1975). This conflict existed between the young girl and the society in which she lived.

Exposition, which “describes the setting; provides background details and introduces the characters”, is utilized to give the readers background knowledge in “What’s It’s Like to Be a Black Girl” (Clugston, 2014). Smith does this in the beginning with the subtitle “For those of you who aren’t”. This small detail gives insight into whom the poem is written for and a glance of the meaning. In “No Name Woman”, exposition is used throughout the story in order to give details about the obstacles the aunt went through.

Although, both authors present conflicts within the text, they are presented in different ways to varying degrees. Smith uses imagery as the major literary element through the poem. Almost every stanza centers on describing the events that a black girl encounters. As for the Kingston’s story, the literary elements are equally used and distributed. There is no one element that is used to more frequently than any other. This gives the story variety and requires the reader to make connections.

There were also many similarities in the text and the conflicts presented in the text. As mentioned, both texts presented conflict primarily with women. Certain circumstances such as having their feet tied or discovering the development of their breast were events that only pertained to women. Both texts also speak on conflicts of individual versus self from a particular culture. It is clear that the poem written by Smith deals with the conflict of a young black girl, whereas “No Name Woman” deals with the internal conflict of a young Chinese American girl. Both text present conflicts that are specific to each culture. Also, the conflicts of both individuals revolve around appearance. For the women, appearance seems to be a major issue that result in other occurrences.

It is obvious that the works of both Smith and Kingston dealt with conflicts of individual versus self and individual versus society. These particular conflicts involved women and how they viewed themselves and also how society viewed them. It is not apparent rather each individual learned to deal with their conflicts, but they do use various literary techniques to convey their messages. These techniques helped to add to the visualization, readability, and the understanding of the text. Overall, both text give keen insights into the sometimes debilitating conflicts that the main characters are faced with and the struggles of appearance that are dealt with from young age through adulthood.

References

Clugston, R. W. (2014). Journey into literature (2nd ed.) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Gu, Y., Mei, Q., Fernandez, J., Li, J., Ren, X., & Feng, N. (2015). Foot Loading Characteristics of Chinese Bound Feet Women: A Comparative Analysis. Plos ONE, 10(4), 1-9. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0121695

Kingston, M. (1976). The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. "No Name Woman" New York: Knopf :.

Smith, P. (1991). What It’s Like To Be A Black Girl [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://spokenwordacademy.tumblr.com/post/35719312252/what-its-like-to-be-a-black- girl-for-those-of