What Is a Literary Analysis Essay?
The story by Maxine Hong Kingston is a breathtaking description of her life experience and one of the peculiar methods Chinese people use to prevent their children from being ‘tongue-tied’. This method aimed to remove the possibility of children struggling with speaking languages other than Chinese. A little Chinese girl, the story’s protagonist, had a difficult experience related to being ‘tongue-tied’ that challenged all her childhood years growing up in the USA and trying to start speaking English. The difficulties this girl had to overcome made her recall those years as the period of her always being silent since adjusting to the new surroundings was difficult. Thus, the most important aspect of the story ‘Tongue-Tied’ by Maxine Hong Kingston, analyzed in the paper, is connected to highlighting the issue of adjusting to a new culture and society.
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Critique of ‘Tongue-Tied’ by Maxine Hong Kingston
In the story ‘Tongue-tied,’ Kingston presents a detailed personal experience with the language barrier she experienced growing up as a Chinese American. The start and end of the story are quite sudden and take some time to understand. It uses a deductive approach to presenting information, beginning with a short introduction to one aspect of Chinese culture and then explaining the evidence based on it.
The story starts with a little girl trying to understand why her mother cut the frenulum on her tongue. The girl heard her mother saying that it was done to ensure she did not have problems speaking other languages in the future. However, she tries to compare herself to other children who did not have this done to them, but she still cannot answer whether it helped her, considering her major problems speaking English.
It takes away the girl’s confidence and affects her adaptation to American culture. She is always quiet and hardly ever talks to anyone but her family and some Chinese children. Speaking English and hearing her voice stress her and make her very unhappy about the noises that come out of her throat. She does not seem to overcome the challenge of speaking a new language and socializing with others.
Furthermore, the ending of the story is also sudden and quite abrupt. The author mentions the girl’s little gain when she manages to speak loudly in class and contrasts it with another girl who whispers. This little detail has a hidden meaning that demonstrates the similarity of the problem for other Chinese people who live in this country.
The author has a unique writing style that describes everything from the point of view of a little girl who was back then when the story took place. Reading the story makes a reader see and comprehend everything happening with the girl’s eyes. It builds a special attachment between the protagonist and the readers, especially those who had a chance to understand for themselves how difficult it is to adjust to new surroundings and start speaking another language.
The author cleverly used a comparison that proved that both Negro students and Chinese students did not have the same rights as others. She calls these groups of students’ Black Ghosts’ and ‘Ghosts’, respectively, to show that they are not like others.
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The contradiction between the American and Chinese worlds is one of the main features of the story. This aspect explains the feelings of foreigners when they try to adapt to new conditions. The story demonstrates how difficult it is to comprehend the difference between the values of two cultures and lifestyles in the little girl’s example. She has noticed that her silence must have something to do with being Chinese since other Chinese kids did not speak much in American schools either. However, when the Chinese children met at the Chinese school in the evenings, almost all became different. They way they were behaving, screaming, and talking loudly to each other showed that they felt much more confident in their native surroundings amongst their Chinese peers.
Even the girl talked to others and participated in school activities more when surrounded by Chinese kids in their little Chinese community in the USA. Thus, the author shows that at such a young age, the girl was already able to make relevant conclusions on difficult issues like cultural differences and the problems with adjusting to the new society.
Kingston’s description of all events makes it understandable that she felt very different from the American students but accepted everything. She did not negatively react to the mocking from other children. The girl was quite detached and independent, which is impressive for such a young kid. Kingston mentions the teachers excluding her and other Chinese children from the activities in which the rest of the students participated.
And again, the author does not express jealousy or sorrow because of being treated differently. She presents it as a fact expected to happen since they were different from American children. Furthermore, by mentioning the pictures that the girl painted black at school, the author hints at how unhappy and confused she must have been. Her internal world has always searched for the correct path between the Chinese and American worlds.
Interestingly enough, Kingston’s story is quite emotionless in that strong emotions like sadness or this girl’s feelings of rejection by society are absent. I suppose it is because of the modesty and unpretentiousness traditional to the Asian culture. Children are taught to be quite reserved and accept life the way it is with its problems and hardships. That is why this little girl does not complain or describe her sufferings from being in a foreign environment.
Additionally, her family does not participate much in her social life at school and kindergarten because of the language barrier and probably other reasons. Apparently, this factor contributes to the girl acting like an adult who understands everything and has the courage to carry on. She has no choice but to tolerate everything the way it is and stand up for herself.
Literary Analysis Essay Conclusion
Therefore, Maxine Hong Kingston’s story presents an extremely interesting narrative about something that happened in real life. The author’s description of her feelings and everything that she had to go through while trying to adjust to American society is a perfect guide for readers to understand what it was like. Thus, imagining yourself in the place of the little scared and confused girl who has always felt different from the other kids is easy.
Moreover, the story contradicts Chinese and American cultures, demonstrating how difficult it was for the little girl to adapt to the new culture. Even though the girl has never expressed her real emotions or expressed how stressful it was for her, her internal world is constantly contradictory. The words chosen by the author and her writing style make it very engaging to read. Moreover, the author’s naïve feelings from her childhood memories in the USA make the story trustworthy and believable.