Literary Analysis

Amy Tan and Maxine Kingston Juxtapose internal and external conflict 1

Human beings grow up in societies that define proper ways of conduct and provide a framework by which

the individual is expected to model his/her behavior. Young people frequently find themselves at a

crossroads when their desires and aspirations run contrary to the expectations of the society. This is

precisely the situation in which the characters of the short stories that I have selected for my analysis find

themselves in. In the stories Fish Cheeks and No Name Woman, the writers Amy Tan and Maxine Hong

Kingston, focus on internal conflicts and conflicts of self against society faced by their characters to

reveal how individuals sometimes experience a lack of fulfillment and self-expression while trying to live

up to the perceived expectations of the societies that they live in. The writers achieve this purpose by

intricately weaving a variety of literary techniques into their narratives including manipulation of

narrative point of view, figurative language and imagery, and exposition.

Amy Tan recounts an instance when she had turned fourteen. She fell in love with a minister’s son.

Therein lay her conflict for he was not Chinese, but white. She so desired this boy that she wished she had

“a slim new American nose” (Tan). The writer wastes no time in presenting the first problem that she

faced. Apparently her belief was that it was expected that she should meet a Chinese boy. Her social

expectation was that she should maintain the cultural norms including associating with people of like

culture. The writer manages to make this clear without explicitly stating it. A bigger problem of a culture

clash is hinted at. When her parents invite Robert’s family for Christmas dinner she is mortified for she is

positive the event will be a disaster. She is so obsessed with the differences she fails to seek ways of

building a bridge. This makes her so tense and embarrassed at who she was for she felt her culture was

somewhat inferior. She had also presumed that the Minister’s family would be scandalized by what they

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56

1. Amy Tan and Maxine

Kingston Juxtapose

internal and external

conflict

Your title page should contain

a shortened version of your

title in all capital letters and

the words "Running head:" in

the upper left corner. The

page number should appear

in the upper right corner. In

the center of the page, add

the title of the paper, your

name, course name and

number, instructor’s name,

and the date. For additional

information, please visit the

Ashford Writing Center,

located at

https://awc.ashford/edu.

Utilize ‘Writing Resources’,

within the main toolbar, to find

help in this area. [Stephen

Rogers]

2. Human

Indent each paragraph five

spaces or 1/2 inch from the

left margin per APA 6th

edition guidelines. [Stephen

Rogers]

3. Fish Cheeks and No

Name Woman,

Properly punctuate the title of

a work. [Stephen Rogers]

4. Too much space between

paragraphs. [Stephen

Rogers]

5. it

Words such as "there is" or "It

is" or words such as "This,

that, these, those" are

useless in meaning and are

just filler. To provide stronger

writing, define what those

words are. Doing so gives

you a clearer piece for your

readers and you get to "beef-

up" your word count.

[Stephen Rogers]

6. Apparently

Apparently, [Stephen

Rogers]

Amy Tan and Maxine Kingston Juxtapose internal and external conflict 2

experienced. Her experience is essentially a struggle to reconcile her internal feelings with what she

perceives to be the expectations of others, namely her family and object of her love.

Maxine Hong Kingston’s narrative, told in first person point of view gives the account of a story told to

her by her mother about an aunt who allegedly committed suicide after scandalizing the family by having

a baby out of wedlock. Apparently the moral of the story is to impart on the narrator the need to adhere to

cultural and societal expectations of proper conduct for a girl just beginning to have her periods. Any

deviation would result in severe punishment such as the one meted on the aunt who in never even

mentioned and that family goes through life as is she never existed. The story that the narrator is told is

not to be repeated to anyone and in fact the victim is not even acknowledged by name hence the title ‘No

Name Woman’(Kingston). The narrator struggles with what to make of the information she has. She

wishes to know more about the dead aunt but since she is forbidden to mention it she is left with more

questions than answers. She agonizes as she imagines her aunt’s situation but with no way of satisfying

her curiosity she gives her aunt a new identity and recreates her situation. She is haunted by the ghost of

her aunt and eventually decides to acknowledge her by writing the story. Here the writer presents a

character that has both an internal conflict as well as an external one.

There are similarities and contrasts in the way both writers have approached the conflict in their

respective stories. Both writers present the conflict quite early in the story by explicitly stating it in the

exposition. Amy Tan introduces the mix of feelings associated with the impending Christmas dinner by

using vivid imagery. She wishes she had “a slim American nose” (Tan)while Kingston also introduces us

to the conflict early when she presents the narrator’s mother telling her daughter the story of her dead aunt

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1. Maxine

Indent each paragraph five

spaces or 1/2 inch from the

left margin per APA 6th

edition guidelines. [Stephen

Rogers]

2. on the aunt who in never

even

Try reading your essay out

loud. This technique can help

you to eliminate awkward

phrasing, repetition, and other

errors. For additional

assistance, refer to Writing

Reviser. Click on "Learning

Resources" (on the left-hand

menu in your course) >>

Writing Reviser. [Stephen

Rogers]

3. the dead aunt but since

she is

This is a run-on sentence.

The following example

demonstrates how to correct

this error: It is correct to write,

"Samantha wrote a paper.

Anne worked on her math

homework," rather than

"Samantha wrote a paper

Anne worked on her math

homework." For additional

information, please visit the

Ashford Writing Center,

located at

https://awc.ashford/edu.

Utilize ‘Writing Resources’,

within the main toolbar, to find

help in this area. [Stephen

Rogers]

Amy Tan and Maxine Kingston Juxtapose internal and external conflict 3

with the warning, “You must not tell anyone”(Kingston). She then weaves the conflict into the plot as she

tells the ‘story within the story’.

The difference in revealing the conflict as revealed by the writers is the manner in which the plot

advances. In Amy Tan’s story the narrator tells the story from the first person perspective while Kingston

lets her mother speak directly. This is probably to emphasize rift between the perceptions of the mother

and her own. She comments on the situation but lets the reader get her mother’s words first hand. By

telling the story from the two perspectives the conflict is further heightened as we sense the divide

between the generations. The narrator feels that a boy would have stood a better chance of survival than

her aunt’s child, “It was probably a girl; there is some hope of forgiveness for boys” (Kingston). This is

further illustrated when she insinuates that the man responsible for her aunt’s pregnancy was most likely

among the hooded villagers that stormed the family home. In comparison, Tan’s first person narrative

viewpoint gives the story more immediacy as we do not get the idea we are being manipulated as is the

case with Kingston’s narrative. When she acts as a buffer between us and the story then what we get is her

perspective and the feeling that she could be biased in her judgment.

Works Cited

Kingston, M. H. (n.d.). The No Name Woman.

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1. story’.

story.'" [Stephen Rogers]

2. Works Cited

Please see an APA formatted

references page in the Writing

Center. [Stephen Rogers]

Amy Tan and Maxine Kingston Juxtapose internal and external conflict 4

Tan, A. (n.d.). Fish Cheeks.

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