In the Chinese culture, the gender role stereotype is something that women today need to be aware of. The inequality of the sexes was extreme; males were hostile to females, and they despised women in the past because they were seen as fragile and incapable of high level jobs. Women were viewed as inferior. Men had rights of property ownership, while women needed to obey their fathers, husbands and sons. They were supposed to put their men's interests before their own. However, today China is changing. Many people from China now live all over the world and they have had to adapt to their new environment. Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan are North American Asian writers whose families have been living in the United States. The contents of their two books are the situation of Chinese American life experiences, family and difficulties within the generational problems that occur between mothers and daughters.
Maxine Hong Kingston in New York City
Kingston
Kingston, OntarioIn The Woman Warrior and The Joy Luck Club, mothers tell stories to their daughters. They turn to their own experiences and cultural values so their daughters can avoid a tragic fate in America. They talk about the past, the legends passed down from generations and the beliefs of Chinese culture. The two stories expose the fate of women suffering from patriarchy and sexism in China. Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan illustrate a cultural view on women's rights in the past. They tell stories of dissolving into American society and being raised by Chinese mothers. They show how immigrants try to pass on their values, instincts, and knowledge to the second generation. Kingston and Tan express their main concerns about the Chinese tradition existing for families that live outside China; they focus on the significance of telling stories, conflicts between mothers and daughters, and gender...