Self-study
P1
With their recognition of Maxine Hong Kingston as a major literary figure, some critics have suggested that her works have been produced almost . ██ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ █ █████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███████████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ████████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ███
Critics' perspective ·
Kingston's work doesn't seem to be based on prior Chinese American influences
Author's perspective ·
Critics overlook influence of "talk-story" on Kingston's work
Talk-story is a traditional Chinese form of oral narrative
P2
█████████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ██████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ █████ ███████████ ████████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ██ ███████████ ███████████ ██ ██ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██████ █████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ █ █████ ████████████ █████████████ ████ ████████ ███████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ █████████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ████████ ███
History of talk-story ·
Ancient form of storytelling in China, rarely written, brought to U.S. by Chinese immigrants
Relevance to Kingston ·
Her literary work includes written adaptations of talk-story
P3
████████ ███████ ████████ ████ ██ █ ████████ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ██ █ ████ ████ ██ ██████████ ███████ █ ████████████ ███████ ████ ██████████ █████ ███ █████████████ ███ ██████████ ████████████ ██████ ██████████ █████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██
Kingston's method ·
Builds narratives using key elements and themes drawn from memory
Contrast this with written storytelling traditions, in which telling a story right means getting the order of words right; Kingston seems more focused on getting the broader "shape" of the story right, rather than on the specific wording
Kingston's perspective ·
on writing down traditionally oral stories
Writing them down doesn't halt the oral tradition; stories can continue to change over time
P4
██████████ █████████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ████ █████ ████████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ ██████████ █ █████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ █ ████████ ██ █████ ███████████ ███████████ ███████████ █████████ ████████ ███████████ ███████ ██ ████████ █████████ ████████████ ███████████ ███████████ █████████ ████ ██ ███████████████ █████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ████████ ██ █████████ █████████ ███████ ████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████ █ ████████ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ █ ███████ ████ ██ ███████████
Example of Kingston's work ·
"China Men" book
Book includes many characteristics of talk-story and can be considered a written form of talk-story
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Spotlight
17.
In which one of the █████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██
a
Scraps of plain ██████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ █ ████████████ ██████
The “multicolored” part suggests a fusion between two things, the way Kingston fuses Chinese talk-story characteristics into written English. But her work isn’t a patchwork of English and Chinese; it’s all English, and just feels more like a Chinese talk-story. (B) describes this better. Also, the “scraps of plain cotton cloth” part throws off the analogy even more. Kingston doesn’t use “scraps” of “plain” language to achieve her effect. She takes very specific, poetic elements of the Chinese language and weaves them into English. (A) would be more analogous if said that certain special cotton fibers are woven into a quilt to give it a different texture or appearance.
b
The surface texture ██ ██████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ █ █████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ █ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████
In this scenario, certain characteristics are applied to cotton in order to make it more like wool. This is analogous to how in Kingston’s work, certain characteristics (allusion, oral-aural qualities) are applied to written English to make it more like a Chinese talk-story.
c
Because of its ████████ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ███ █ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ██████████████
In this scenario, one thing (linen) is rejected for being inappropriate to achieve a certain result. But the final sentence of the passage doesn’t suggest that Kingston rejects one thing in favor of another. Rather, she takes written English, and then adds certain Chinese characteristics.
d
In making a █████ ██ ██████ ██████ █████ ██ ███████████ ███ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ██████████
In this scenario, two things (cotton and linen) are similar enough to be used interchangeably. But the final sentence of the passage doesn’t suggest that Kingston uses English and Chinese interchangeably as substitutes, or that one is as suitable for her purposes as the other. Rather, she takes certain characteristics of Chinese and works them into English in order to make English more like a Chinese talk-story. (D) would be more analogous if it said that cotton fiber is added to linen in order to give the linen a different feel.
e
Because of their ████████ ███████ █████████ ██████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ████████ ██ █ █████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ █ ███████ ██ █████ ████ █ ████ █████ ██████
In this scenario, two things are woven together (cotton and linen) to achieve some benefit that one of those things alone doesn’t have (the combination is cheaper than linen alone). This is similar to how Kingston weaves characteristics of Chinese into written English in order to give English certain talk-story qualities that it normally doesn’t have. But the “similar textures” part of (E) ruins the analogy. Kingston doesn’t add Chinese characteristics to English because the languages are similar; she does so because Chinese has certain special characteristics that are emphasized in talk-stories. If anything, Kingston weaves Chinese into English because Chinese is different from English and lends English certain qualities that it doesn’t normally have.