Maxine 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.

Leonardo Da Vinci once stated, “The greatest deception men suffer from is their own opinions.” For eras on end, stereotypes and misconceptions have stood as obstacles preventing individuals from sharing experiences, perspectives, and ideas with one another. Amy Tan further exhibits an individual’s tendency to form preconceived opinions in her novel The Joy Luck Club. The pairing of Chinese mothers and daughters throughout Tan’s novel proposes that deception has a drastic effect on a woman’s life and the manner in which she is perceived.

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

Women were not allowed to smoke in public, they couldn’t even leave the house without an older woman or a married woman. Of course as we all know women can do that now. Women also had to wear nice long professional dresses when they were in public view. It was unacceptable for a woman to smoke in public. Many found it unladylike, today women smoke in public. Women were also expected to stay at home and cook food and take care of the children and whatever house work needed to be done. Some women were allowed to have jobs but it wasn’t any factory jobs or major work like the guys did that didn’t believe the girls could do better or at all. Girls were either nurses, secretaries or servants. After World War I started the jobs did change, women

Joseph Campbell's definition of a hero’s journey can be seen across many characters in the novel, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. In order to meet this definition, one must overcome three stages: the department, the fulfilment, and the return. Tan depicts Jing-mei Woo as a shell of a woman who is forced to take up the footprints of her late mother. She then learns the meaning of family and is able to fulfil her mother’s dying wish by resurrecting her past life in China, which allows her to complete Campbell's definition of a hero’s journey.

Laila’s feminist identity was influenced by her father, Hakim. Hakim is mostly referred to as Babi in the novel. Babi was a high school teacher, in other word, an intellectual. Intelligence is devalued by the majority in their society, therefore being a teacher makes Babi an extraordinary person in the novel. Since Fariba, Laila’s mother, was distanced from her, Laila had a special bond with her father. Babi’s doctrine of the importance of education was implanted into Laila. “I know you’re still young, but I want you to understand and learn this now. Marriage can wait, education cannot. You’re a very, very bright girl. Truly, you are. You can be anything you want, Laila. I know this about you. And I also know that when this

With the rise of civilization also came the rise of patriarchy-based societies and the slow decline of the importance of women in society. For the longest time the history of the world has been written by men who have been the head of the patriarchy and have forgotten the role of women in history. It is important to realize that women do in fact have a place at the table with men when it comes to importance in history, and are not just the ones cooking and serving the meal. It is women who tasked with raising the next generation. By looking at women of the past, people of the future can learn and evolve to fight oppression and gain their own power. Come up with a good thesis that doesn’t suck.

In “The Power and Glory of the Maya Queens”, an archaeologist, at University of Calgary, Kathryn Reese-Taylor identified and explained Naachtun’s alliances. According to Reese-Taylor, for several months, she and her team mapped Naachtun’s architecture and ancient texts. Later, the archaeologist detected in loose beaded skirts that there were many queens in the lowland Maya. Moreover, Kathryn Reese-Taylor says, “studies from throughout the ancient Maya world to show that women were not sidebars in Maya society, but significant actors in their own right”. It is a well-described definition of Maya women’s skill. Although there is a long way to understand warrior queens’ history, it is never too late to learn a biography of the extraordinary women.

Throughout history, people have been unjustly wronged. African Americans were enslaved, women were oppressed, the Jews were murdered, and the Native Americans were robbed. A common feeling that lives among these betrayed people is revenge. Fleur, a Native American becomes possessed with revenge in Louise Erdrich’s book, Four Souls. Fleur Pillager’s love for her land and thirst for justice lead her on a journey that tangles the two, and everyone involved. What will remain when love and revenge collide, and both want control of the heart?

The silence Kingston experienced as a child was a reflection of the Chinese culture and their view of women. The Chinese culture seemed to always try to silence women. If women tried to be successful they would be persecuted,

Kingston uses the character Fa Mu Lan as a role model for young Chinese woman like her self. Fa Mu Lan is a brave/courageous warrior that is the opposite of what Chinese women are supposed to be in society. Thanks to Fa Mu Lan the narrator and other young Chinese girls growing

Writer, Maxine Hong Kingston, in her excerpt “No Name Woman”, from her book The Woman Warrior, narrates a part of her history from the story of her family. Within her excerpt from paragraph 21 to paragraph 27, Kingston recounts a story of her aunt committing suicide after giving birth to an illegitimate child. Her purpose is to share and inform about her Chinese culture through her family’s past. She expresses an ambivalent tone while retelling her aunt’s story in order to appeal to contradictory thoughts in her mature readers. With the use of ethos and pathos, diction and syntax, Kingston is able to create an ambivalent tone toward her aunt’s history.

Each and every character in Yu Hua’s To Live is a catalyst through which the author explores human nature. The novel itself follows the life of Fugui, whose narrative is framed by pre-communist, Maoist, and post-communist China. Though he chronicles a long period of time, Yu Hua effectively uses characterization to present and prove his claims on human nature. Throughout Fugui’s journey, each character he encounters reflects on an aspect of humanity, through an event or group of people. For example, Long Er symbolizes the death of feudalism, while Fengxia symbolizes the Chinese people under a fascist, nationalist government. In Yu Hua’s To Live, Fugui’s son Youqing is a symbol of the Chinese people living under Mao because they were child-like in their innocence, and Youqing’s journey proves that naively trusting authority leads to deception.

Xie is a mother, a sister, and a grandmother to 4 children and 13 grandchildren. She was born in the winter of 1953 at a local province where the majority of the people are farmers. Till her mid-40s she immigrated to the US, in search of a better opportunity for her and her family.