Kingston utilizes her individual story to draw in and aid an audience in understanding the Asian-American experience at-large. Storytelling has some of the greatest impacts in delivering a message to readers. A writer can describe an issue as abstractly as they want, but personalizing a message helps the reader unpack a complicated matter in simple terms. The themes that Kingston writes of are extremely nuanced and would be difficult to fully understand without the personalization she delicately infuses. The very way the chapter begins highlights this perfectly. The disorienting summarizing of a village storming your house, killing your animals and destroying everything your family has worked hard for grabs the reader by the throat. The telling of a woman killing herself and her own baby out of pure shame and despair exposes a reality most people will never come close to even thinking about. It is often said that humans are incapable of fully understanding something until they understand it. We see a litany of examples constantly, of homophobic people changing their views when they find out their own child is gay, and many others of people altering their behavior after being personally impacted by it. Great authors are able to utilize this school of thought to connect with their readers, something that Kingston does with grace. While Kingston’s work will resonate with Asian and Asian-American audiences, she understands the more difficult task is reaching outside of that audience and making her work accessible to all. Through personal storytelling, the reader will not experience the story personally but gets as close as possible to it. This is essential not only in exposing readers to unknown worlds but also in breeding compassion and sympathy in audiences. After reading this story, perhaps the reader will not be radically changed, but they certainly will walk away with an enlightened perspective of an experience they would otherwise know little to nothing about.
Recent Comments