Silence as a Means of Resistancein The Woman Warrior and Pangs of Love

Abstract

An issue of restrictive stereotypes based on white hegemonic models is all pervasive in Chinese American literature.Many Chinese American writers seek to propose alternative models to counter such stereotypical concepts associated to the margin. It also challenges restrictive white hegemonic heterosexual masculine types that deem Chinese and Asian American men alike as emasculate and effeminate.The white hegemonic masculine types, which are in theory centered in homophobia and in opposition to femininity, in turn further oppressed Chinese American women who are historically suppressed into inferior status. Laws prohibited women from entering America which resulted in the homosocial male community and, in return, further manifest the emasculated and effeminate stereotypes of Chinese American men. Interrelated and inter-manifesting layers of complexity contributing to Chinese American stereotypes and oppression are impossible to negotiate with frequently cited singular alternatives, such as “hyper masculine” masculine models. The Chinese American characters in these texts under study namely,The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston and Pangs of Love by David Wong Louie, both female and male, elicit such complex layers of oppression.The research makes the study of the characters in relation to multiple and imposed silences, including self-imposed silence, all of which maybe seen in relation to acts of resistance and a potentiality for plurality that allows at best for the reconfiguration of strict gender definitions or self-invention.