1. Why does Maxine’s mother cut her tongue? How has this incident impacted her? (short)
2. What is the symbolism behind Maxine’s black paintings? (short)
3. Reflect on the scene where Maxine taunts/tortures the silent Chinese girl in the bathroom. Why does she do this? What bothers her so much about the girl? How does it impact Maxine? What does she learn from the incident?
4. Discuss Maxine’s issues of voice. Use specific quotations to focus your writing like when Kingston describes her voice as “a crippled animal running on broken legs . . .” (169) or when she explains, “we American-Chinese girls had to whisper to make ourselves American feminine” (172).
5. Reflect on Maxine’s mysterious illness.
6. Reflect on Maxine's parents' matchmaking plans.