“The Woman Warrior” by Maxine Hong Kingston: Arguments About Prejudice, Gender, and Culture

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Brief description of chapters 1-3
Comparison and contrast of the main theme
Conclusion
Reference

Introduction

“The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts” is a creative non-fictional account of two worlds that begets different themes. This novel was penned down by Maxine Hong Kingston. The writer implicitly correlates several narratives with her own life. We find engulfing silence in the first chapters that later overtly show the triumph narration of the song. The clever diction in this novel inextricably exemplifies how the identity of the protagonist and other characters is obliterated. The first three chapters exemplify the search for identity and growth. However, the narrator’s use of silence not only makes the audience take notice of her memoir but to presents the selfless nature that engenders the true identity of the characters. Her use of narratives creates a collage of one’s life and struggle to integrate between different worlds. The symbolic articulation of silence fervently mutes the struggle of Maxine to integrate between American and Chinese cultures. Women in the novel are prejudiced and silenced from one epoch to another. Therefore, “The Woman Warrior” explicitly brings forth various arguments about prejudice, gender, and culture by thematically using the aspect of silence that fervently becomes louder to the audience.

Brief description of chapters 1-3

The first chapter encapsulates the story of the No-Name Woman from a mother’s perspective. The words “You must not tell anyone” tell of the muting experience a woman is faced with while in China. The mother’s tonal voice explicitly tells the story of the woman who killed herself (Kingston, 1989). We find an adulterous account of the No-Name Woman who becomes pregnant. The husband to the woman had been absent from the country. The villagers become pissed about this act and opted to demolish her house. Sadly, she gives birth in a pigsty and later drowns herself together with the youngling in a well. In the second part, there are chances that the No-Name Woman might have been raped. This is elucidated in the essence that Chinese women had no autonomy of choice or preference either in their sexual or normal existence. The voluptuous nature of the No-Name Woman approves for her sexually liberated lifestyle that the narrator rarely acknowledges. The woman ostensibly brought disgrace to the family and thus she is forgotten by the family members and villagers. This is a cautionary story to Kingston who has mixed feelings about Chinese culture and the No-Name Woman (Kingston, 1989).

The second chapter is titled the White Tigers. The chapter gives an account of a fantasy life of a warrior woman called Fa Mu Lan. The story is derived from Brave Orchid’s talk stories and narrated in the first person. She finds her way to the house of an elderly couple as she stalks a bird (Kingston, 1989). The couple is bequeathed with clairvoyance ability that steams up her spirit to be a renowned powerful warrior. She is given an offer of being trained to be a great warrior. She goes to the White Tiger’s mountain and her diet toggles her to have hallucinations. As she attains the age of 14 she returns to her master. She is taught how to fight using a magical sky sword. In addition, Fa Mu Lan is magically shown her family’s image, her matrimonial arrangement, and her future companion. She is later shown how her conscripted husband is ambushed by the Chinese baron’s defense force. Her efforts to rescue the husband seem futile as she is told by her master that it was not at the right age to do so. Several arrangements ensue as she prepares to battle the Baron’s army. Riding on a white horse and disguised as a man she conquers many battles and becomes a heroine (Kingston, 1989). The story tells of her ability to be a diligent apprentice who accomplishes a male-dominated task. Kingston correlates such amazing ability of the warrior woman and her academic prowess but she meets the utter prejudice and opts to speak louder to her people to seek an audience (Kingston, 1989).

The third chapter is titled Shaman or a magician, which explicitly gives an account of the writer’s mother called Brave Orchid. Brave Orchid traces her life episodes from China to America. She manages to pursue education and attains a medical credential from Canton. We are introduced to malevolent ghosts that she manages to fight and trounce. She can heal the sick and jolt away malicious ghosts. A very frightening correlation between monster-eating humans and her mother is told to Kingston. The culture of the Chinese is evident here. Several talk stories like a child being born with a physique anomaly discontent Kingston. Brave Orchid imparts the knowledge to Kingston that white people in America resemble ghosts.

Comparison and contrast of the main theme

Well, Kingston employs cleverly the theme of silence in the above-discussed chapters to epitomize her own identity and voice as a Chinese American woman. The first chapter tells the story of her dead aunt who seemed unworthy mentioning. Her struggle with American life encases her search for identity and self-esteem. Here we see how the women have been deprived of their ability to speak and remain judged silently. This enforced silence makes Kingston correlate her life and find her inimitable self. She wonders at the ignorance of the villagers. The motif she uses enlaces her Chinese background from Brave Orchid narrative in the three chapters. The stories are Non-Name Woman, White Tigers, and Shaman. She correlates each story with her own life-giving forth the prejudices women encounter e.g., being murdered and scornful response from bosses who look down upon women no matter how elite they are. For example, the No-Name Woman makes a notable background to Kingston’s own life. Here she narrates her silenced life and later extrapolates to be a voiced Chinese American woman. Both chapters show how women are faced with prejudice and neglect as they try to seek identity. The paradox in these chapters revolves around the life experience of Brave Orchid and Kingston. However, the stories in the chapters differ in genres. That is, the first and last narratives are real and the second one is fantasy-oriented. In the first story, the No-Name Woman does not find freedom because she is purportedly called adulterous without verification. This neglects consent to her esteem which guides her and sadly she loses her life. In the second story, Fa Mu Lan the warrior woman gets basic skills to perform a man’s task. But she does not fully go to war as a woman; she disguises herself to resemble a man. Lastly, the Shaman story gives the inevitable power of Brave orchid who attains a high educational level of being a doctor. Both chapters are cleverly interrelated with fantasy and truth that show the American and Chinese cultures and their responses towards women.

Conclusion

The above discussions show how the different cultures oppress women through muting them. However, they are silenced in different ways but they finally find their freedom even if death seems the last remedy. Women’s bodies are objects used by men to fulfill their lust. Meaning they have no voice about their destiny. As we see Maxine and other characters struggling to find their identity. Therefore, “The Woman Warrior” explicitly brings forth various arguments about prejudice, gender, and culture by thematically using the aspect of silence that fervently becomes louder to the audience.

Reference

Kingston, H. M. (1989). The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. New York, NY: Vintage.

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“The Woman Warrior” by Maxine Hong Kingston: Arguments About Prejudice, Gender, and Culture

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