What Should Your Role Be In Society, Kookie?

There seems to be a constant conflict between men and women with the thought of men dominating over women. Kingston depicts a male-dominated society in her writing. Many people feel the need to express that men always have the say over women and such. However, at times, men are not the actual ones who are oppressing women but it is a power of tradition that women carry throughout their lives. "But I am a useless, one more girl who couldn't be sold"(Kingston 52). Kingston's mother constantly makes her feel as if she doesn't mean anything to the world and this makes Kingston feel meaningless unless she became an amazing warrior like Fa Mu Lan. In this case, Kingston's mother is more of a dominating figure over her rather than specific men. Men in her writing was portrayed in a helping manner throughout her battles and wars. Yes, women can be strongly sexist as well, however in this case, I think that her mother is trying to gain the potential title of "the mother of a perfect child". Many parents these days believe that sending their kids to a very good university gives them the title of an amazing mother, but after gaining the title of this so-called superiority, what comes next? Of course parents stress how important it is for their kids to get 4.0 GPA and perfect score on the SAT and ACT. The point is that they don't really get how stressful and burdening it is for their kids. Many students might indeed feel as if true domination lies within their mothers or fathers. Yes, males can be depicted as very oppressive and dominating to women even to this day, however, men might not be the only "oppressive" ones in the world today. Kingston felt as if getting straight A's wasn't even satisfying to her mother. People always want more and more and more and their hunger is never satisfied. People must understand the importance of no oppression. Both the feminist article by Bell Hooks and Maxine Kingston's writing expresses how they don't want any oppressing sides. How nice would it be if the world had no oppression or dominance over anything or anyone?