This essay is based on the article “No Name Woman” by Donald McQuade and Robert Atwan. The culture that is focused upon in this article is the Chinese culture. It is evident form this article that the Chinese have a unique culture that is centered on the family and societal morals. In the article, the authors address the idea of adultery in the Chinese culture. The Chinese culture abhors adultery. Adultery is treated as being a formal of moral decadence. The perpetrators of adultery face serious repercussions for actions of adultery. For example, the protagonist in the article becomes pregnant when her husband is at war. Clearly, the pregnancy cannot be associated with her husband because he had been away for a long time.
Unlike Western cultures that are based on an individualistic framework, the Chinese culture is communalistic. All members of the society are actively involved in the affairs of other members of society. This accounts for the reason as to why other members of the society were watching the pregnancy of the protagonist in silence. On the night that the lady is giving birth, the villagers storm into the home and conduct rituals that are meant to condemn the actions of adultery that are committed by the lady. These rituals included the damaging of property and the slaughtering of animals (McQuade & Atwan 458). After the rituals, the villagers also had to cleanse themselves using animal blood and meat. To illustrate the seriousness with which the Chinese society abhors adultery, the protagonist in this article if forced to deliver her baby in a pigsty. This shows that society does not value the child and the mother because the child was conceived out of adultery. Actions of adultery do not only bring shame to the individual that is involved in the actions but also brings shame to the immediate family. This accounts for the reason why the family does not discuss any matters regarding their sister who committed adultery. The family treats the protagonist as if she never existed. This is meant to alleviate the feeling of shame that emanates from the actions of the protagonists. The denial of the protagonist by both the family and the society at large was very humiliating to the character. This led the protagonist to take away her life and that of her child by drowning herself and her baby in a family well.
The story teller in the article is a Chinese-American but the story still resonates in her mind. This shows that culture is an element that remains within an individual despite a change in geographic location. It is evident that despite the fact that the story teller is raising her kid in a different culture in the United States, the story teller feels the need to educate her children about the expectations of the Chinese culture. The story teller’s daughter might not fully understand the Chinese culture, but there are important lessons and values that the daughter can reap from stories of the traditional chines culture. The telling of the story is timely because the story teller gives the story at the time when the daughter begins to have her menstrual cycles. At this point, the mother understands that her daughter is vulnerable to societal evils such as premarital sex that might lead to pregnancy. The story teller would not like the daughter to be a disgrace to the family through her involvement in adultery. If the story teller failed to adequately advise her daughter, then the blame would be on the mother because parents in the Chinese culture are bestowed with the responsibility of mentoring their children. The story telling technique that is adopted in this article illustrates the fact that culture in the Chinese society is passed through oral traditions. Story telling is one of the ways that elements of culture are passed from one generation to another. It is clear that even the story teller had been told similar stories by her mother when she was younger. Oral stories have an educational value that individuals can be able to use through their lives so that they can be able to lead lives that are congruent to the expectations of culture.
Another important element that is evident from this culture is the idea of the roles and responsibilities of both women and men in the Chinese culture. It is clear that men in the Chinese culture are bestowed with the responsibility of providing and protecting their families (Guillain 74). This is the reason as to why the story teller’s husband and other men within the village went to war and left behind their wives to take care of their children and their homes. The traditional Chinese society positions women in the domestic sphere while men are responsible for the public sphere. However, elements of changes in cultural dynamics are evident in the article. Women are no longer constrained into the domestic sphere. They have begun to take up responsibilities in the public sphere. Despite these changes, the Chinese culture articulates for maintenance of respect and preservation of societal morals such as chastity.
References
Guillain, Charlotte. Chinese culture. Chicago, Illinois: Heinemann Library, 2008. Print.
McQuade, Donald, and Robert Atwan. The writer's presence: a pool of readings. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. Print.
