– A sixth-grade classmate of Kingston’s and a fellow Chinese-American girl who will not speak. Kingston bullies her into talking by calling her a “sissy-girl” and pinching her cheek. The girl has the ability to speak—Kingston claims to have heard her speaking, yelling even, in Chinese and English at her home, and the girl sometimes reads aloud in class—but she refuses social interaction. Her timidity and neatness annoy Kingston. The girl recalls Kingston’s own fears about being unable to speak, as well as her exasperation with all of the silences and secrets within her family.
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The Quiet Girl Character Timeline in The Woman Warrior
The timeline below shows where the character The Quiet Girl appears in The Woman Warrior. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
5. A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe
The quiet girl was a year older than Kingston and in her class for twelve years. Her older...
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Kingston hated the quiet girl . Kingston hated that she was the last chosen for her team and that Kingston...
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Kingston examined the quiet girl ’s face. She had “baby soft” skin with “pink and white cheeks.” She seemed fragile,...
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Kingston became so frustrated with the quiet girl ’s refusal to speak that she began to cry and plead with her to speak....
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...for eighteen months and could not go to school. When she did return, she saw the quiet girl again; she had not changed. She wore the same clothes and had the same haircut....
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