This is the last WW post I am making which consists of important quotes. A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe was the final chapter in Woman Warrior, it summarized many elements, themes, Etc expressed within the entire book and set a good closure for this novel.
"I made other children open their mouths so I could compare theirs to mine. I saw perfect pink membranes stretchinginto precise edges that looked easy enough to cut. Sometimes I felt very proud that my mother committed such a powerful act upon me. At other times I was terrified - the first thing my mother did when she saw me was to cut my tongue." (pg. 164)
This quote reflected the side of Maxine Hong that tried so hard to embrace what she had. Even if it was odd to have a 'cut tongue' she wanted to compare it to others and show them how different she is. I also considered the fact that her tongue being cut by her mother had just been a simple metaphor which described herself and the person that she had become. Her mother had been trying so hard to hurt her in every way that she'd leave cuts in Maxine's heart and mind. It would damage herself, but she'd always try to stand back and stand up for herself, but this would only be on and off. It wouldn't be a continuous feeling, but when feeling strong and confident she'd show her feelings off, when the feelings were opposite she'd shy herself away from others, ashamed of what she was.
"A dumbness - a shame - still cracks my voice in two, even when I want to say "hello" casually, or ask an easy question in front of the check-out counter, or ask directions of a bus driver...A telephone call makes my throat bleed and takes up that day's courage." (pg. 165)
The difficulties that Maxine had to face with her cut tongue were infinite. It was another example of how the lack of communication made her have a hard life where she suffered to speak, just too ashamed because of her own voice. She knew what it sounded like and she didn't like it. In order not to deal with the comments and snickers she expected because of what she sounded like, she decided that it was better to keep her mouth shut as much as she could. Connecting to the idea of how the 'cut tongue' might just be a metaphor, maybe Maxine Hong is just ashamed of herself and doesn't want to reveal herself and who she is to others because she doesn't want to come face to face with the comments (which she expects are bad) that others might give her.
"I liked the Negro students (Black Ghosts) best because they laughed the loudest and talked to me as if I were a darling talker too...Some Negro kids walked me to school and home, protecting me from the Japanese kids, who hit me and chased me and stuck gum in my ears. The Japanese kids were noisy and tough." (pg. 166)
The concept of 'ghosts' reoccurs in this part of the book, but this time the ghosts are good. It builds up the idea that everything in someone's life is a type of ghost, whether it's good or bad, the ghosts are just everywhere. In this case the ghosts protected Maxine Hong and tried to help her out while fending off those that were hurting her. In this case, ghosts were the angels that watched over Maxine and wanted her to feel accepted. They didn't want to cause any harm and had no intention of harming her at all.
"When it was my turn, the same voice came out, a crippled animal running on broken legs, You could hear splinters in my voice, bones rubbing jagged against one another. I was loud, though. I was glad I didn't whisper." (pg. 169)
Another quote that described the unpleasant sound of Maxine Hong's voice. The difference is that this quote says that Maxine Hong tries to be loud and speak out instead of shying away from others. Maybe only when she was required to speak did she talk and when she did talk she tried her best to be loud and outspoken which might have taken away the attention from her weird voice. I thought this quote also showed how Maxine Hong was trying to fight the pain her mom had caused her and trying to cope with everything she had because she knew that there was no way to get rid of it and she had to live with what she had. Maxine had decided to embrace her voice and present it to the world trying not to be ashamed and trying to be confident in herself, for herself.
"You can't entrust your voice to the Chinese, either; they want to capture your voice for their own use. They want to fix up your tongue to speak for them." (pg. 169)
This quote goes back to the idea of looking deep into the Chinese culture that had mentioned quite a bit in the other chapters as well. It is saying that you can NEVER trust the Chinese with your own voice, which I found kind of ironic because Maxine didn't trust her voice with her mom. Her mother had been the one that had cut her tongue so that she would never be tongue-tied, which was a very weird perspective on cutting the tongue. Maxine Hong had never chose to get her tongue cut, but because her tongue had been cut she had restrained from talking therefore making it easier for the mom to do all the speaking. The last sentence of the quote gives deeper questions and thoughts to the readers because the mom had 'fixed' Maxine Hong's tongue to make her able to speak faster without hesitation. Even if the mom had wanted this and tried to make it happen, it hadn't happened, it had only made the situation worse. Maybe this is the reason for this quote in the book, because Maxine doesn't trust anyone, especially her mom and even herself.
"And the Chinese can't hear Americans at all; the language is too soft and western music unhearable...Normal Chinese women's voices are strong and bossy. We American-Chinese girls had to whisper to make ourselves American-feminine." (pg. 172)
Another quote that goes deep into cultures, but this one is more of a comparison. I like the expression 'American-feminine' used in this quote because it's just a funny way of saying these things. It's saying that each nationality had their own way of expressing their feelings, and for America it seems to be that 'quiet' is the best solution where in China being 'loud' is the only option. I think the reason for this is because America is such a free country where everyone's voice really is heard because everyone has their own rights living in America (it was given to them because they are citizens of America). Whereas in China there was so much poverty, still exists today, where not everybody is heard and you have to fight in order for others to listen to you, and that's why you have to be loud. If you're quiet like the Americans then no one will want to listen to your voice, they probably wouldn't be able to hear it anyway.
"I had fragility...I hated her weak neck, the way it did not support her head but let it droop; her head would fall backward...I wanted a stout neck. I grew my hair long to hide it in case it was a flower-stem neck. I walked around to the front of her to hate her face some more...Her skin was fleshy, like squid out of which the glassy blades of bones had been pulled. I wanted tough skin, hard brown skin. I had callused my hands; I had scratched dirt to blacken the nails, which I cut straight across to make stubby fingers....She was so neat. Her neatness bothered me. I hated the way she folded the wax paper from her lunch; she did not wad her brown paper bag and her school papers. I hated her clothes - the blue pastel cardigan, the white blouse with the collar that lay flat over the cardigan, the homemade flat, cotton skirt she wore when everybody else was wearing flared skirts. I hated pastels; I would wear black always...She wiped her eyes with her papery fingers...The skin on her hands and arms seemed powdery-dry, like tracing paper, onion skin. I hated her fingers. I could snap them like breadsticks." (pg. 176-177)
The constant use of 'hate' was a very strong element within these different sentences that I captured in this sequence. Apparently Maxine was trying to toughen up this fragile girl who she had known for quite awhile and began comparing this girl to herself. It seems as if Maxine can't stop the comparing obsession because she has a fascination with learning about others as well as herself. This quote reflected Maxine's angry and tough side, the side she inherited from her mother - being a strong, confident women and having every aspect of your body showing that off.
"They were all funny-looking FOB's, Fresh-off-the-Boat's, as the Chinese-American kids at school called the young immigrants. FOB's wear high-riding gray slacks and white shirts with the sleeves rolled up." (pg. 193-194)
I found this quote very interesting because of the use of FOB, which is actually a commonly used term today. It's funny how this book, not published too long ago, talks about this older time period where the word FOB had originated. It just gave a little history on the vocabulary and explaining a little about how it began.
"My telling list was scrambled out of order...But they kept pouring out anyway in the voice like Chinese opera. I could hear the drums and the cymbals and the gongs and brass horns." (pg. 203)
Maxine Hong finally breaks her shell and speaks her heart out telling her mom her true feelings about her and everything, every event that had occured in her life. When she did this, magic happens and Maxine Hong's voice becomes this beautiful orchestra where there are drums, cymbals, gongs, and brass horns. I think that her voice had just been a mirror image of her brain and because she had been thinking bad thoughts about herself her voice was a mess, sounding horrible and unpleasant. When Maxine finally tries to look on the positive side of things and faces the one enemy she had been battling all along, her mother, her brain opens up and sends signals to Maxine Hong's vocal cords that she has finally done was she should've done from the beginning - stand up for herself.
"That's what we're supposed to say. That 's what Chinese say. We like to say the opposite." (pg. 203)
Although Maxine Hong speaks out her mind Maxine's mother remains as the stubborn and ignorant lady she had always been. She tells Maxine these things that still made Maxine a little sad, but she doesn't react as she would've before. Maxine learns the truth that had been there all along (as well as her confidence), which was that her mom always said bad things about her just to build up her mental strength. Not realizing that this might've been true from the beginning Maxine just told herself that there was something wrong with her and that's why her mom didn't like her, but in fact Maxine Hong's mom really did care about Maxine and her future and only thought that by doing the things she did would make Maxine the strong character she had finally become. Maxine's mom didn't want her daughter to be weak and fragile, but strong and able to speak up for herself and maybe, just maybe Maxine's mom had actually been waiting for that day when Maxine talks to her like that. She might've acted like she didn't care, but deep down she must've been so proud of her daughter for finally finding herself.
"Her is a story my mother told me, not when I was young, but recently, when I told her I also talk story. The beginning is hers, the ending, mine." (pg. 206)
A quote which reflects mother and daughter connection. "The beginning is hers" to me showed that Maxine's mom may have started her life - cutting her frenum (in the tongue), telling her to do this and that, telling her stories, showing her how to be strong, and so much more. But "the ending, mine" Maxine had created her own ending by talking to her mom and telling her how she really felt and how angry she had been with her mother over the years. Maxine finally found who she was and her own inner strength which had been hiding all along.
"During her twelve-year stay with the barbarians, she had two children. Her children did not speak Chinese. She spoke it to them when their father was out of the tent, but they imitated her with senseless singsong words and laughed. The barbarians were primitives. They gathered inedible reeds when they camped along rivers and dried them in the sun....Then, out of Ts'ai Yen's tent, which was apart from the others, the barbarians heard a woman's voice singing, as if to her babies, a song so high and clear, it matched the flutes. Ts'ai Yen sang about China and her family there. Her words seemed to be Chinese, but the barbarians understood their sadness and anger...Her children did not laugh, but eventually sang along when she left her tent to sit by the winter campfires, ringed by barbarians...She brought her songs back from the savage lands, and one of the three that has been passed down to us is "Eighteen Stanzas for a Barbarian Reed Pipe," a song that Chinese sing to their own instruments." (pg. 208-209)
This woman Ts'ai Yen reminded me a little of Maxine Hong herself, because even though the situations are different the actual aspect of both life stories are the same. Maxine had been controlled by her mom most of her life but she found herself after using her voice and standing up for who she was. Ts'ai Yen had been taken away by this barbarian man and had had two children with him who didn't even respect her own culture. But she found herself through her own voice as well, but in song, (like Maxine's orchestra of a voice) and it also connected to the barbarians around her and her children finally found a way to respect their own mother. The importance of both stories is great because they both express that the only way to be who you truly are is finding yourself and expressing that in any way possible with your voice and your actions.
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