divided into five chapters depicting three worlds in conflict. The first is the traditional Chinese experience communicated to Kingston by her mother. ôWhenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told . . . a story to grow up onö (Kingston 5). The second is the experience of her ancestors in the United States, trying to make their way as immigrants while holding on to their Chinese cultural values, and passing their values on to Kingston. The third is KingstonÆs experiences trying to fit into 20th Century American culture as a Chinese-American. ôThose of us in the first American generations have had to figure out how the invisible world the emigrants built around our childhoods fits in solid Americaö (7).
KingstonÆs mother Brave Orchid is a major factor in the difficulties faced by Kingston. Her motherÆs ôtalk-storiesö and antipathy to assimilation in American culture causes Kingston a great deal of pain and confusion. Brave OrchidÆs beliefs that Americans are not to be trusted, and that women should be silent, presented o
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