Woman Warrior By Kingston Essays - Personal Life, Brain

Woman Warrior By Kingston Food strengthens us, without it we are weak. Eating has always been an important factor with families living in poor conditions. Often, those who could not help to produce more food are considered inferior or unworthy to eat. Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior is no exception, due to the relation it creates between eating and the strength of people. This is shown through the tale of Fa-Mu-Lan, the story of the eaters, and the references to the fellow relatives left in China. In the tale of Fa-Mu-Lan, the narrator is given a survival test, where she has to survive a mountain trek without provisions. During that trek, the narrator finds herself weary from hunger. Hunger brings out her animal instincts, because she needs to stay strong to live. ?On the fourth and fifth days, my eyesight sharp with hunger, I saw deer and used their trails when our ways coincided. Where deer nibbled, I gathered the fungus, the fungus of immortality? (25). The narrator is forced to search for her food to eat. The hungrier she becomes, the more feral she is. Meat also played a role in the connection between food and strength. During the beginning of her story she claimed she no longer needed meat. After she became starving, she breaks down and eats meat. I saw the rabbit had sacrificed itself for me. It had made me a gift of meat? (26). Her will was eroded by the hunger because as her hunger increased, she became weaker and her resolve was easier to destroy. When the narrator was not starving she was in control of her faculties. Hunger however, strips her even of vision, as she imagines things that do not exist. The narrator says, ?Hunger also changes the world when eating can't be habit, then neither can seeing. I saw two people made of gold dancing the earth's axis? (27). Viewing two gold dancers would be wonderful to witness, however the chances are very slim. The hunger had weakened her to the point of confusion, and possibly dilution. Just as hunger weakens a person so they cannot command themselves, eating will make a person powerful and the masters of others. The stories of the heroes who ate heaping amounts of food illustrate that those who can eat have extraordinary powers. The narrator says before, that her mother is powerfulbecause she can eat anything ? quick, pluck out the carp's eyes, one for Mother and one for Father. All heroes are bold towards food? (88). Her mother is master of the ghost because she can consume it. The story of Kao Chung also illustrates this point. This hero eats five chickens and drinks ten bottles of wine prior to slaying a sea-monster. The scholar-hunter Wei Pang was also a great eater; in fact, he was the most fantastic according to the narrator. He shoots a glowing sphere composed of flesh with eyes in it, and then eats it with his servant. Bye eating, these two heroes are able to conquer their foes. The story of Chen Luan-feng is another is another example of how eating makes a person powerful. By eating forbidden foods, Chen calls down an angry thunder god whose leg is chopped off by Chen, and the thunder god is then at the mercy of Chen. ?Big eaters win? (90) is the comment regarding an anonymous scholar from Hanchow. This scholar discovers some valuables on the side of the road; however, an evil frog guards them. He chases that frog off only to have two smaller frogs com that night. He proceeds to eat every frog that visits him, ?And at the end of the month the frogs stopped coming, leaving the scholar with the white silk and silver ingots? (90). These heroes are rewarded for their eating habits, but those who cannot eat are weak. The relatives of the narrator are always asking for money. They are weak characters because they are forced to rely on others to live. Unlike the heroes who command themselves and others, these relatives are not even in command of their own life, rather they have given up their life to the Communists. Because the Communists are cheating them out of food, they are starving and weak. The narrator says, ?What I will inherit someday is a green address book full of names. I'll send the relatives money, and they'll write me stories of their hunger? (206). The narrator describes the relatives very unflattering. They are considered lazy and unable to

Family and Sense Essay

Family and Sense Essay Family and Sense Essay How Migrant Hostel relates to belonging? Migrant hostels, like the one described in this poem, were old army camps with dormitory style accommodation. Men and women were not housed together. The migrants Skrzynecki depicts in the poem are those who came to Australia after World War 2 at the invitation of the government. There is a tone of bitterness in the poem, as these migrants were separated and isolated from the rest of the population even though they were actually invited to come to Australia. It is this separation that brings about feelings of isolation and lack of belonging in their new country. The bitterness is further highlighted by the fact that these migrants were helping Australia to recover after the war, and they were treated so appallingly. The shared memories and common culture connect them. How 10 Mary Street relates to belonging? The scenes of domestic joy and comfort in this poem represent the sense of belonging the family feels while living at 10 Mary Street. The family experience belonging in the home because it is where they can express their true selves and their culture. The house provides the security for the family to enjoy their time together. There are scenes of the poet’s parents nurturing the garden while their son greedily enjoys the fruits of their labour when he eats too many strawberries and peas. The family lived in the house for 19 years, and during that time shared many happy times with family and friends. It was in the house that they could celebrate their homeland and truly express their culture, which that may have needed to suppress when they were in the outside world either and school or work. It is with some bitterness that the poet alludes to the forthcoming destruction of the house to make way for industry. There is a sense here that no amount of time will allow this family to feel a lasting sense of security and belonging How St Patricks College relates to belonging? This poem explores the effects of schooling on an individual’s sense of self. The poet’s mother chose St Patrick’s College for her son’s education as she is impressed by the uniform of her employer’s son, although she seems to have known little about what the school would mean for her son. However, the poet’s mother would like both her son and herself to belong to a particular social group which she considers significant. From the poet’s first day at school, he feels oppressed by the watching eyes of ‘Our lady’ and contempt for the motto ‘let your light shine’. Despite catching the bus to school for eight years, the poet still feels like he didn’t belong- it is with some irony that the poet describes being ‘privileged’ to wear the uniform. When he leaves school the poet is surrounded by darkness and feels that the schooling his mother

Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 40

Leadership - Essay Example Concern for the people in an organisation entails making sure that the employees have the best working conditions and a given a fair remuneration. Creating favourable conditions in the work place for the employees makes them feel appreciated and increases their loyalty to the organisation, which then translates to them working with a lot of dedication hence more improved performance in the organisation (Kuballa, 2007). Concern for productivity within an organisation entails increase the output levels in the organization. A firm that aims at increasing productivity is mainly concerned with improving efficiency of the production process; however, this may be at the expense of the satisfaction of the employees (Lohrasbi, 2006). Productivity in an organisation cannot be achieved unless the employees are willing to improve the performance; poor treatment of the employees leads to low productivity even when an organisation has put in place measures to improve productivity, this is because those measures that have been put in place require human labour in order for them to work (Sharma & Gupta,