What Was Learned About Maxine From the First chapter

In the first chapter of "Woman Warrior", as I said before, it started with Maxine's mother telling her about her aunt that no one talks about, because she had got pregnant, but not by her husband, because he had been away in America for a few years, then killed herself the day after she had the baby. The mother used this story to tell her daughter, Maxine, what the consequences of following in her aunt's footsteps, and getting pregnant out of wedlock, being forgotten, as if she was never born, because of the shame she would bring to the family. And after Maxine's mother left her in her room, she starts thinking about her mother, and being a Chinese emigrant, and the story she was told, itself, but the person she thinks about most is the aunt, she never met. Most of the first chapter was filled with stories Maxine had made up, about her aunt, some about how she could have looked like, acted like, how she had met the man who had gotten her pregnant, what she had done after and before she had the baby, the minutes before she had killed herself and her baby, and many others like that. From these stories that Maxine tells, we learn a lot about her, and her character.

What we first learn from the stories Maxine tells us is that she is a very imaginative person, especially with all the different scenarios she goes over about who and how her aunt met the man who got her pregnant. She first comes up with a very unlikely story about this secret man, whom no one in the village knows, who gave her orders which she had to follow, which is seen, when Maxine says, "Some man had commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil," (Hong Kingston, 6). But then as she thinks of more scenarios, and more about the village, Maxine realizes that this is quite improbable, and keeps on coming up with more and more stories that become more and more realistic as she thinks of them.

Also, we learn that Maxine in some ways cares a lot about looks/ appearances, and fashion, concentrating on how her aunt might have looked, such as when she explains why she would never be able to find out any more about her aunt, she would be mentioned once and never again, "If I wanted to know what clothes my aunt wore, whether flashy or ordinary," (Hong Kingston, 6). Then later, when she starts imagining what her aunt looked like, she thinks about what her aunt might have done to herself to make her look pretty, "At the mirror, my aunt combed individually into her bob … she brushed her hair back from her forehead, tucking the flaps behind her hears. She looked a piece of thread, and ran the double strand across her forehead. When she closed her fingers … the string twisted together catching the little hairs. Then she pulled the thread away from her skin, ripping the heirs out neatly … she cleaned the thread, then rolled it along her hairline, and the tops of her eyebrow," (Hong, Kingston, 9).

Then near the end of the chapter, Maxine says, "In the twenty years since I have heard this story I have not asked for details nor said my aunt's name; I do not know it," (Hong Kingston, 16). From this quote, we see how trustworthy, and somewhat fearing of her mother, Maxine is in keeping her family's secret. We know that she understands the importance of not telling anyone about her aunt and what happened to her, or even mentioning her name. Which also shows a certain amount of maturity, to not want to upset her parents.