The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston, illustrates the story of a girl trapped between the culture of her surroundings and the traditions her mother forces upon her. The collection of memoirs is non-linear because Kingston goes back and forth between childhood and adulthood, instead of beginning as a child and proceeding through her adulthood into middle age. Kingston acts as the character-narrator in each section, and all the sections together build the total plot. Kingston writes about her conflicts as she struggles to differentiate herself from her mother and to gain her own sense of voice and identity. This is an autobiography of Kingston’s life, as she presents her journey and makes apparent the conflict with her mother, Brave Orchid. Through her mother’s stories and the strong influence of the American culture, Kingston’s life and imagination spin off in a new direction.
She is confronted by many complications that cause problems with her mother and with her attempt to discover her personal self as well. Although Kingston’s adaptation to American culture causes many conflicts with her mother, she is able to overcome misfortune and become a Chinese-American with the help of Brave Orchid’s tales. In Kingston’s first story, “No Name Woman,” the stories of the narrator’s mother are first introduced. Kingston is totally under the control of her mother as she listens against her will to Brave Orchid’s confusing and disturbing stories. The first account of her aunt’s suicide and infanticide teaches her how careful a young woman must be when growing up in the Chinese culture. She learns from her aunt’s failure to be faithful to her husband and never commit adultery. However, Kingston feels an intense connection with the outcast of her family. Kingston senses this bond because she feels completely divided from her family and never will be entirely linked to her Chinese heritage. The reason she senses this is because she already feels separated from her traditional Chinese customs. The plot progresses when Kingston finds ways to challenge her mother’s power. Brave Orchid tells her to participate in the family’s punishment of the no-name aunt by never speaking her name. Nevertheless, Kingston not only speaks it but also writes about her aunt touchingly and compassionately. Kingston writes, “My aunt haunts me- her ghost drawn to me because now, after fifty years of neglect, I alone devote pages of paper to her” (16).
The Term Paper on The Impact of Lu Hsun’s Short Stories to Modern Chinese Culture
This paper analyzes four of Lu Hsun’s short stories namely Kung I-Chi, Medicine, Soap, and Diary of a Madman, and examines rising patterns in Hsun’s works that display the philosophies he believed in and those that he opposed. Kung I-Chi is about a man “who studied the classics but never passed the official exam (Kung I-Chi 11),” so he could not get a decent job but to be a copyist. But as he was ...
Her mother tells her tales that mix truth with fiction, and Kingston protests against this confusion and leaves home determined to study science. This shows that Kingston disapproves of the Chinese ethnicity and feels sorry for those who must suffer banishment like her aunt.
“White Tigers” explains the pressure placed on Chinese girls by their families to succeed. She states that, “when we Chinese girls listened to the adults talk-story, we learned that we failed if we grew up to be but wives or slaves” (19).
When she is in the presence of “great power, [her] mother talking story” (20), the expectation for her to be successful increases. As a young girl, she “couldn’t tell where the stories left off and the dreams began” (19).
The narrator recalls her mother singing about the woman warrior, Fa Mu Lan. Kingston’s imagination takes the reader into the mind of a girl who attempts to please her mother by striving to become a woman warrior.
In the beginning of “Shaman,” the reader notices the escalating pressure placed on Kingston while hearing about her mother’s bravery at medical school. Brave Orchid refers to America as being “full of machines and ghosts” (96).
The Essay on Brave Orchid Chinese American Kingston
... difficulty mentioned is the differences between Chinese and American customs. Kingston states, Her bad boy and bad girl were probably sneaking hamburgers, waiting ... to sweeten the bad luck that the medicine brought. My mother thought she taught the Druggist Ghosts a lesson in good ... Orchid lived an easier life in China. Not only was work hard in America but it was also extremely difficult for a Chinese ...
These false statements about a life unknown to her mother preoccupy the narrator’s mind. Since Kingston was given a false sense of reality, she is required to discover herself and the world on her own. She has to put an end to her fear of the “size of the world” (99) her mother has already embedded in her thoughts. A meeting between Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid, her aunt, helps to further realize her place in life and just how far she is from the Chinese tradition. Moon Orchid is another example of Chinese womanhood Kingston wants to avoid. On an extreme scale, her mother is loud and embarrassing, and Moon Orchid is silent and more reserved. Kingston is determined to be like neither of these Chinese women. All these events allow her to see the culture shock Moon Orchid has experienced, but also how adjusted Kingston is to the present American culture.
Although, at first, it was difficult for Kingston to get used to the school life in America, her overall growth and maturity is obvious in “A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe.” She has to overcome her introverted personality caused by Brave Orchid’s influence. Her mother tells her she is worthless as a girl, but Kingston excels in school to prove her worth. Brave Orchid ridicules Kingston by saying she has “no IQ- a zero IQ” (183).
The reader is able to understand the anger building deep inside Kingston when she takes action in the bathroom scene where she torments a quiet girl in her class. While feeling pity for this young girl, the reader feels sympathy for the conflicts the narrator goes through. Now as a grown, mature woman, Kingston is able to build the strength to confront her mother in later years. The plot climaxes when Kingston confronts Brave Orchid, accusing her of lying and confusing her. At the same moment, Kingston confesses to being imperfect. She strongly rejects her mother’s way of thinking and living as she proclaims her final decision saying, “I had to leave home in order to see the world logically, logic the new way of seeing. I learned to think that mysteries are for explanation” (204).
The Essay on Religions Of China Overmyer Life Chinese
Daniel L. Overmyer " religions of China; the World as a Living System Long Grove, Illinois Waveland Press, Inc. Copyright 1986125 Page Count Daniel Overmyer's, Religions of China, discusses the historical developments of the different religions of China. It also addresses the impact religion has on the daily life of the Chinese in the past and present. Overmyer introduces the Chinese living system ...
Kingston’s returning to her native country affects the flow of the plot since it is somewhat ironic because she wanted to leave her Chinese culture in the beginning. The conclusion of the plot has Kingston returning to her mother, recognizing her mother’s value as a great teller of tales and teacher of life.
The life Kingston has to battle through is an interesting one. Identifying herself as a Chinese-American seems to curse the narrator throughout the autobiography. Yet in the end, she realizes she must leave home to discover her purpose in the world, whether in China or America. The harsh disapproval of Brave Orchid causes negative effects to Kingston but at the same time gives her strength to face her mother. Even though the stories of her mother’s Chinese experiences push Kingston further away from her ethnicity, eventually it causes an interest in discovering what is really true. Kingston declares, “Soon I want to go to China and find out who’s lying…” (205).
This is what ultimately causes the absent relationship between them to come to a conciliation. The plot takes Kingston through her difficult life, where she gains the strength, intelligence, and appreciation that allows her to understand her mother and her storytelling power.
