Maxine Hong Kingston: On Discovery

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This activity contains 3 questions.

What is Kingston’s central idea in “On Discovery”? To what extent is this piece about gender switching? About gender roles? About power?

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

What ironies does Kingston play up in “On Discovery”? Consider both verbal irony and irony of situation—that is, ironic comments and ironic developments in the action.

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

Discuss the following comment by Simone de Beauvoir in relation to “On Discovery”: “One is not born a woman; one becomes a woman.”

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

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