Maxine Hong-Kingston's The Woman Warrior

Growing up is a hard time, and for the three most important characters in the short stories, “Two Kinds,” “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant,” and “Fish Cheeks” it certainly is no different. It makes them feel unacknowledged when all they want is just independence and acceptance of the ones that they find to be important to them. Acceptance is something every person wants to gain from everyone, it just is not something focused on commonly.

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston addresses prevalent topics faced in America today. How should women act? Should women be treated differently from men? In her memoir, Kingston faces many obstacles with her Chinese-American identity such as finding her voice as a young woman. In “White Tigers,” Kingston tells her own version of a popular Chinese ballad, “Fa Mu Lan,” while incorporating her own reality back into the section. In her literary criticism, “Empowerment Through Mythological Imaginings in “Woman Warrior”,” Sue Ann Johnston comments on Kingston’s use of myths in the memoir, and believes that myths are Kingston’s most effective means of conveying messages to readers. Although these myths are effective, Johnston overlooks Kingston’s incorporation of these myths back into her own life. As demonstrated in “White Tigers,” Maxine Hong Kingston reveals that a woman warrior requires strength, dedication, independence, and confidence through her mother’s talk-stories and personal struggles during her life.

O-Lan, “the good earth” as Wang Lung called her as she lies dying, is a major character from The Good Earth. But to say she is a major character does not do her justice, O-Lan is not just a major character, she is the major character. The quote “behind every great man there is an even greater woman” almost puts O-Lan’s personality into perspective. O-Lan, although a flat and static character, still greatly impacts the main storyline despite her not being very loquacious.

Many people believe Disney princesses can alter a child’s perspective about his or her self. The way princesses act and what they wear both affect children’s state of mind. The essay “Girls on Film: The Real Problem with the Disney Princess Brand” by Monika Bartyzel claims that the image of Disney princesses changes the way both children and society feel about women.

Kingston has rarely seen independent woman and they seem to be very happy every time she’s encountered one. Kingston dreams of one day being able to be like the happy independent woman in the pictures. “A job and a room” seems so simple, but in a life where Kingston is told she can be a wife or a slave this seems like quite the luxury. In another example Kingston, through Fa Mu Lan, reveals how one’s life is more fulfilling if he or she defies the gender norms. In “White Tigers,” Fa Mu Lan is preparing to leave to war as she “[puts] on my men’s clothes and armor and tied [her] hair in a man’s fashion. ‘How beautiful you look,’ the people said. ‘How beautiful she looks’” (36). Fa Mu Lan has to dress as a man, because in China she is not allowed to fight in an army. She pursues what she wants even though she must dress as a man to do so. Fa Mu Lan decides to do what she wants to do without regarding what society thinks she should do because that’s what will make her the

Parents play a very important role in the lives of their children. If parents do it in the right way, it positively impacts children’s mental and emotional condition. One of the main characters from the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie, does not have that kind of relationships with her parents, with who she can share her thoughts or who to get a good advice from. The main reason of all Connie’s mental and emotional problems is that her parents do not play a good role model for her and compare with the older sister.

Jamaica Kincaid writes “girl” A story or poem that is something like a lecture from a mother figure to a daughter figure. There is an enormous amount of ways to present the tone. The tone of “Girl” is loving, caring, but strict. Jamaica uses literary devices to achieve the tone. She uses characters, setting, plot, point of view and style to establish a tone. Tone us pretty much an overall feeling of the story. When you start to break down tone into feelings, you can see how you could manipulate it to express your feelings. Jamaica Kincaid chose to attack loving by the fact that the lecture is advice on life. Ms. Kincaid attacks caring by telling her what not to do. The author attacks strict by not letting her speak very much. She also portrays how she strict she is through her intense use of detail when speaking.

In The Woman Warrior, Kingston develops the theme seed of strength and how Mulan demonstrates it to lead an army against the emperor in order to illustrate why Kingston looks up to Mulan for finding her motivation to go against the Chinese norms that follow her family to Chinatown. When Kingston enters the world in America, her mother immediately puts regulations on her so she will not be able to follow her dreams. At an older age mother repeatedly tells Kingston her future occupation when she gets older, a wife or a slave. Straight A Kingston refuses to have her dreams crushed so she looks to Mulan for inspiration to succeed in the Chinese culture. Mulan was a woman who lead an army whose purpose was to overthrow the emperor in the capital of

This story that Suyuan Woo tells her daughter shows how deeply the Japanese invasion of China affected the identity of many Chinese people. They were forced to flee their homes and their lives with only a few of their valuables, but eventually they had to give up those up too. Those few items were all that they had left to define themselves and remind them who they were so when they lost them they lost a significant part of who they were. Suyuan Woo lost more than just her past identity, she actually had to leave her twin babies on the side of the road in the hopes that someone could save them. This shaped her identity because throughout the remainder of her life she had to wonder if leaving them behind was the right choice and if they were

Since younger age, we are introduced to the very first kind of entertainment called ‘cartoon’. It is presented both as comic books and television shows. As a child, people tend to prefer an animated cartoon or animation. Animation cartoon in various types is widespread and famous all around the world as it does not only entertain people, but many of cartoons and animation cartoons give readers and audiences good moral for the living. It can be said that this kind of entertainment is a good source of communication because it is mostly reflected from real situation of people. The audience can relate to the films and consider about specific contents that are being presented.

During times of crisis, women have been marginalized continuously, and although many would like to think so, conditions for women have not changed much over time. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak both reflect that. Women in literature and in real life who deserve lead roles are often forced into supporting roles. Most people understand this but few acknowledge it. Strong female characters such as Liesel in The Book Thief, Penelope in The Odyssey, and Antigone in Antigone need to be honored the same way strong male characters are.

Unlike Sojourner Truth, Qiu Jin in her except, Injustices to Chinese Women, was softer and more passive in term of language. Although the first half of Qiu Jin’s except also showed sorrow and sadness, it was not filled with anger like Truth’s except. The live of a Chinese woman back then was like a object, a “thing” instead of a human being. From being treated like a “useless thing” the moment they were born to being sold to different family as a wife in exchange for money for their family, Chinese women have no power in choosing their destiny. It is so sad to see how women have to be fit in with the traditional Chinese standard. Just because men prefer women with small feet, they have to bind their feet so tight together, so tight that after their bone and meat became weird shape.

The narrator and main character, Kingston, underwent a huge arc throughout the book, especially in the last chapter "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe." In the beginning of the story, Kingston talks about how her mother cut her tongue in order to avoid her getting tongue tied and keeping her quiet. Throughout her childhood, Kingston was a very shy and reserved girl. She was unpopular and didn't say much. Seemingly because of the fact that her mother cut her tongue, Kingston was alienated, shy and quiet throughout her childhood.

Fa Mulan: After receiving military training from the Chinese army, Mulan mastered a variety of martial art techniques including Tessenjutsu and Bojutsu. In battle, Mulan is an extremely observant, tactical fighter who is capable of improvising a number of different methods to overcome her adversaries . Mulan wields the Jian, a double edged straight sword, demonstrating an expert level of skill. Possessing astounding accuracy, Mulan is shown to be proficient in the use of a bow and arrow.

In The Woman Warrior, Kingston uses simile to compare a pregnant Fa Mulan to a powerful man in order to show how she defies stereotypes and is strengthened by something which most would view as a hindrance. During Mulan's pregnancy, she marches with the foot soldiers and wears her bulky armor to appear as a robust and powerful man, and embrace her pregnancy. She uses her physical transformation during the last four months of her pregnancy in order to make herself appear stronger, which is demonstrated when she says, " I wore my armor altered so that I looked like a powerful, big man" (Kingston 39). Following the birth of her son, she immediately returns to battle with her son in a sling on her back, which she describes as, "At the back of