American History

The third chapter of Pfaelzers book entitled Driven Out is about the fate and experiences of the early Chinese women in America. Aptly titled as The Womans Tale, this chapter narrates the sufferings that Chinese women experienced because of racism, discrimination, and injustice. The chapters discussion revolved around the common images attached to Chinese women in the past, which are slave prostitutes who spread diseases and infidelity and obedient women that are subjected to foot binding.

Questions addressed by the text are what are the implications of these images to their status in the society and their experience in America and what is the role of the American society against the bigotry and conflict with the Chinese race. The main point that Pfaelzer evidently achieved in delivering to its readers is that the injustice and sufferings experienced by the Chinese women are caused directly to them by the prejudiced white Americans and the abusive Chinese men who took advantage of them. The stigma of being diseased prostitutes and second-rate citizens were unfairly imposed on them and history documents how they remained helpless against these cruelties.

Pfaelzer documents in The Womans Tale how the discrimination and hardships the Chinese have endured were caused by political and social weakness of Americans in protecting and treating fairly the races that are different from them. The early Chinese women lived around the prejudice that they have the power to taint the physical and moral purity of the nation and therefore should be avoided, controlled, or removed from the lands of the country (Pfaelzer, 2008, p. 97). The chapter also narrates that there had been attempts to correct this treatment to Chinese women. Aside from the incomplete laws like the Page Act, there also came to a point when Chinese women tried to fight back. Some managed to liberate themselves for a short period of time but they remained vulnerable and never easily achieved freedom.