The significance in the title demonstrates that Chinese women don’t have much power because they can’t even be given a name! In the Chinese culture woman are suppose to not do nothing to be a disgrace to their family. And if the daughter brings disgrace to the family then they pretend she never was born and throw her out. They have to throw her out because if they don’t then she will bring harm into the family. The narrator say’s, “.. the family broke their silence and cursed her… Aiaa, we’re going to die. Death is coming. Death is coming. Look what you’ve done. You’ve killed us. Ghost! Dead gosht!” (Kingston, 17). Specially the girls in the family feel repressive, and strictly ordered to do what they are said to do. Their whole life can’t be private, they have to think about their family every time they are going to make a decision. They need to question themselves, “Will this decision harm/disgrace my family and Village?”They have no self opinion, respect, or voice. I mean they can’t even married who ever they want their family chooses their husbands.
Once they live with their husband they are submissive/must obey to their husbands because they are the ones in control. It reads, “If you tell your family, I’ll beat you. I’ll kill you. Be here again next week” (Kingston, 9). This quote demonstrates that the narrators aunt couldn’t tell anyone nothing because the fear of her husband killing her ruled over her. I connect this to the real world because there has been many cases that women feel submissive to their husbands. They do what they are told because their self-esteem and fear blocks their mind from the harm the husbands are doing to them. In the story it also demonstrates that having a baby boy gives you more power or at least they have a bigger chance of being forgiven. So being a male in the Chinese culture gives you more power and more opportunities. Males are those that passed down the fails name.
The older in Chinese culture also make a great impact in the younger ones. They are the ones responsible to keep the families name high and respected with no mark. Chinese culture take much pride in their families name, that’s why if someone brings disgrace then they are a threat to their family because the rules are never broken. Why? I don’t know. No one questions the culture, because it has been like that for many years, the stories are past down. The narrator say’s, “.. they want me to participate in her punishment. And I have. In the twenty years since I heard this story I have not asked for details nor said my aunts name..” (Kingston,18). The younger ones, like women fear that if they ask why they have those rules they might get punish. For example in the narrators mother tells her the story of her aunt so she won’t do the same thing. She say’s, “Now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you. Don’t humiliate us. You wouldn’t like to be forgotten as if you had never been born. The villagers are watchful” (Kingston,5). The Chinese stories are passed down so the young would hopefully learn from them and be feared not to disrespect their family.