You have to read the three discussion posts i have gave you and replies separate to each one.
1. In this chapter “Song for a Barbarian”, Kingston explained the troubles she had. Issues arose in the beginning of this chapter where she explained her troubles in school as a Chinese-American student. She explained how it took her and her sister many years to start speaking and fear would come to them when trying. “It was when I found out I had to talk that school became a misery, that the silence became a misery. I did not speak and felt bad each time that I did not speak” (pg. 166) The anxiety she faced when trying to speak English and the feedback she received when trying, was mainly negative and caused this fear to last longer. Eventually, she admits to needing to get over it since it is making her life more miserable. She explained how her mother cut the frenum of her tongue so she would not be “tongue-tied” and would be able to speak any language. Her mother going to this extent, shows how important it is to her that her daughter speaks other languages than Chinese, specifically American. On page 172, she states “normal Chinese women’s voices are strong and bossy. We American- Chinese girls had to whisper to make ourselves American- feminine. Apparently we whispered even more softly than the Americans.” This quote explains how her voice is lessened due to being a American- Chinese girl. This shows the power of women in different parts since she explains how women in China have a strong voice but even women in America who do not have a hard time speaking up and having the power to speak. During another part of this chapter, Kingston explains a time where her frustrations arose from her and made the same judgements those made on her. There was a quiet girl in one of her classes that she created this villain toward her and that was always steered toward Kingston. While the quiet girl was crying due to her hair being yanked, she said “You’re disgusting,” I told her. “Look at you, snot streaming down your nose, and you won’t say a word to stop it. You’re such a nothing.” (178) This is a very powerful quote since she is giving that same anxiety that she received to this quiet girl knowing the impact it had on her growing up. The reader would believe that she would empathize with the quiet girl rather then act how every other American and American- Chinese acted to her.
2.When Kingston was fresh to the English speaking country she had a hard time. At an early age she was put in a kindergarten class full of new kinds of kids and a new language. She says there were some Chinese girls that she felt comfortable with but she knew she would need to adjust to become a Chinese- American girl as well as living in the hyphen world. “The other Chinese girl did not talk either, so I knew the silence had to do with being a Chinese girl” (Kingston Pg 166). Because Kingston was a first generation Chinese-American, she felt intimidated by the other kids in the class and was embarrassed of being non-verbal for the most part which made her upset. When she noticed the other Chinese girls also did not speak, she felt a little more comfortable and not alone.
Kingston’s mother, also being new to American culture, was confused which led to frustration then anger. For example, when the delivery man brought medication to their home by mistake. Her mother grew furious with confusion and violence. “That ghost. That dead ghost. How dare he come to the wrong house?”(Kingston Pg 169). In China they believed in ghosts, curses and thought people were out to get them.
For the ending of the chapter, after years of hardship that was faced in the savage lands Yen sang songs. The children learned them so they would be remembered for generations to come in memory of the struggle. After being forced to marry, she gave everyone the gift of song. That is when Kingston says they had something to give all along.“—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” (Kingston Pg 209).
