Women Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston - Book Report/Review Example

Maxine Hong Kingston 's "Women Warrior" is a ic piece of literature, elucidating in details the different problems and aspects of a woman's life. Through the talk-stories of her mother, she discovers what different women have been through, how each reacted to the ordeals of her life and what end did their reactions brought to them. All these stories initially confused her, but eventually helped her find her own identity in an American society with Chinese parents. These stories aren't only helpful in finding her self but also assisted her in understanding the power of language. Based on five such talk-stories, Kingston divulges her journey in search of an identity. As Butler says:" In Maxine Hong Kingston's work The Woman Warrior, the technique of several different narrators from several different points of view is used to tell the story of a woman's struggle with identity as a minority in American culture" 1 Before starting with these stories, but must get acquainted with the idea of " talk-stories." These were several stories her mother told her, where reality was mixed with imagination, and their basic purpose was to transfer the Chinese values from one generation to next.2 The first story," No Name Woman", is about one of Kingston's aunt who drowned herself and her baby in a well, after being pregnant with a baby that was not her husband's. This story focuses on gender discrimination and patriarchy in the Chinese society. Though her aunt had no say in the sexual experience that made her pregnant, she was hold responsible for it. This exposes the double standards in the society towards women. Her house, that is Kingston's father house, where her in-laws sent her after her husband left for America, was ransacked. Her mother tells Kingston about her aunt at the start of her menstruation to caution her against premarital sex and though her aunt might have been forced to have sex with her culprit, Kingston wants to believe that she was seductress with her own special charms.3 Silence plays a very important part in this chapter. Her aunt was a quiet women and she died in silence. Her mother tells her not to tell anyone about this aunt. "Don't tell anyone you had an aunt. Your father does not want to hear her name. She has never been born." They also believed that when someone died in silence, their ghost haunts that place and is always in search of a replacement. But Kingston's writes about this story, letting everyone know, for two reasons. Firstly, because she thought that those who remained silent have a tragic end like her aunt. Secondly, because she believed that if she remained silent it would be like participating her crime against her aunt. "But there is more to this silence: they want me to participate in her punishment. And I have" Therefore by letting everyone know she can escape from being the substitute her ghost was looking. But she fears sometimes that this could lead to more chasing and punishment by the ghost." People who can comfort the dead can also chase after them to hurt them further-a reverse ancestor worship"4 However, silence has been accentuated here and even the chapter name's " No Name Woman" signifies silence. "White Tigers" are an attempt to find a strengthening feature in her Chinese identity. She doesn't want to believe that women were as helpless and submissive as her aunt in the preceding chapter. She musters her strength and hope from the "Warrior Woman" and that fictitious character is "Fa Mu Lan". What Kingston finds most amusing about this woman, despite of endless flaws in the story, is that this woman is an all-rounder. Though a fighter on the field, voracious and aggressively fighting against the enemies, she is very apt at all female duties too. She, like any other Chinese woman, gets married and has a son. It is strongly argued that Fa Mu Lan was probably Kingston's self-image, how she saw herself and more importantly how she wanted to see herself. This is evident from use of the word in subjunctive mood--"would". This indicates that either Kingston saw herself as powerful and strong as Fa Mu Lan or desperately wanted to see herself as a warrior woman. The latter might be an earnest desire of Kingston--a desire that rose within her heart that was beleaguered by fears of helplessness, submissiveness and weakness she felt as a woman with an aunt like the lady in "No name woman". There is also her desperate yearning for women to be accepted and acknowledged by her family and the Chinese society at large, capable of carrying family's name. "If an enemy should flay me, the light would shine through my skin like lace." " The light" here could be indicative of family's honor and public's appreciation of Fa Mu Lan's sacrifice. A mysterious couple that makes her both physically and mentally invincible trains Fa Mu Lan. When Mu Lan's family needs her, she returns and is welcomed warmly, as they would have welcomed a son. The most interesting part comes with ascribing of words of grievances in Mu Lan's back by her father. Though extremely painful, this act symbolizes much more. This act signified the power of language. This turned her into a text that spoke of their revenge. She was made to go through two kinds of pain. One was psychological in nature as it reminded her of all the losses her family had to endure. The other was the physical pain of the knives that moved through her back.5 "We are going to carve revenge on your back," my father said. "We'll write out oaths and names." "Wherever you go, whatever happens to you, people will know our sacrifice," my mother said. "And you'll never forget either." . . . My father . . . brushed the words in ink, and they fluttered down my back row after row. Then he began cutting; to make fine lines and points he used thin blades, for the stems, large blades. My mother caught the blood and wiped the cuts with a cold towel soaked in wine. It hurt terribly -- the cuts sharp; the air burning; the alcohol cold, then hot -- pain so various. I gripped my knees. I released them. Neither tension nor relaxation helped. I wanted to cry. If not for the fifteen years of training, I would have writhed on the floor. I would have had to be held down. The list of grievances went on and on. (34-35) By writing about this act on paper, Kingston has done what Blake calls as " corroding fires." It helps to avoid turning anger/frustrations into violent action while still keeping the feelings alive. 6 However, she is disappointed to discover that it not Fa Mu Lan's individual personality that is revered but her sacrifices for her people. Moreover she realize that Fa Mu Lan is considered beautiful when dressed in "man's fashion" However, Kingston finds solace in the fact that Fa Mu Lan and she had a common concern: a concern for their people. She further learns that the God of war and God of literature in Chinese religion is the same: Kuang Kuang, which further connects her to Fa Mu Lan. She appreciates that they both have the power of language: Fa Mu Lan shows it through the words ascribed on her back and Kingston uses it with her pen. They aren't silent but carry messages that travel great distances. They are women who have created their own destinies and they refuse to be slaves to the society.7 "Shaman", the chapter following the "White tigers" is all about Brave Orchid, Kingston's mother. She is woman with healing powers, healing the physically ill and scaring away ghosts. This chapter is about Brave Orchid's own struggle for a self-identity and how she becomes a renowned and respectable doctor from a "no-body". Brave Orchid started her education of midwifery after she lost two of her children. At the medical school, she proves herself as a brilliant and courageous student, earning exceptional grades and challenging to stay overnight in a haunted house. For the first time, she felt free and valuable. "She would not have to run errands for my father's tyrant mother with the bound feet or thread needles for old ladies." The story starts with Kingston unfolding her mother's medical certificates and instantly she felt connected to China. "The smell of China flies out . . . a smell that comes from long ago, far back in the brain." The use of the word " smell" shows how deeply connected she was to China, though probably she has never been there, she could sense (smell) and recognize what China would be like. Kingston then goes on, to narrate her mother's struggle: how Brave Orchid broke the societal chains, which bound women from growing and finding their destinies, and became a doctor. Acquiring education boosted her confidence and one talk-story about challenging the "Sitting Ghost" shows her valor and her fight against established beliefs. The story is basically about "ghosts". The "ghosts" here are not supernatural beings but refers to all problems, fears and paradoxes that haunted Kingston's mind. Kingston must learn to conquer these "ghosts" in order to find her identity. "Once upon a time," Kingston remembers, "the world was so thick with ghosts, I could barely breathe; I could hardly walk, limping my way around the White Ghosts and their cars." One of fears (ghosts) she was being sends back to China to sold as a slave girl. However, once her mother declares that there was no possibility of returning China, she relaxes and comes into peace with her Chinese past. Ghosts, some argue, refers to the communication and generation gap between her mother and her. In the words of E. D. Huntley, the Associate Dean at Appalachian State University, the "ghosts represent the gulf between Maxine and her mother, the ambiguities in their relationship. They are ghosts to one another, strangers in some fundamental way, each finding the other disturbingly incomprehensible"8 Kingston argues that her mother has strong power of language for she knew the importance of language and of having a name for herself, which didn't even change after coming to America. She believed that she has inherited her mother's strength of character and power of language. "I am really a Dragon, as she is a Dragon, both of us born in dragon years. I am practically a first daughter of a first daughter." In the next chapter "Western Palace", Moon Orchid, Brave Orchid's sister arrives in America, to visit her husband who has abandoned her for thirty years. This is narrative about a frail woman, who was deserted and alienated by the society. Because Moon could fight for her rights and didn't have strong power of language, she was abandoned by her husband, for who she was like a "ghost", "They [Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid] had indeed entered the land of ghosts, and they had become ghosts". After an abortive confrontation with her husband, Moon Orchid starts to live at daughter's house in California. However, grief-stricken and home sick, Moon Orchid's fears and isolation amplify. As she cant understand anything happening around her, everything is "ghost" to her. Eventually, she loses her mind and is moved to California's mental hospital. There is a great difference between the two sisters; one is "Brave", while the other is "flower of the moon"-whose entire life revolves, just like the moon, around her husband. The former is strong, while the latter is passive and submissive. The power of language cant is emphasized more than in the meeting between Brave Orchid, Moon Orchid and her husband. When Moon Orchid finally meets her husband, she is shocked and tongue-tied. He looks so young and Americanized, as Kingston writes, "smelled like an American". Already frightened by the idea of meeting him, finding him so young, Moon loses her power of language and becomes extremely quiet, unable to speak for her. On contrary, her husband is furious and orders her never to come and see him again. Hurt and abandoned, yet unable to do anything about her conditions, Moon become schizophrenic and is admitted to mental asylum. This incident highlighted the power of language to Kingston. She was convinced that people who could find their own identities and didn't speak up for them, eventually turned into ghost," perhaps Moon Orchid had already left this mad old body, and it was a ghost." Realizing the importance of having a strong individualistic personality, Kingston and her sisters decided to educate themselves well to survive on their own. "Brave Orchid's daughter's decided they would never let men be unfaithful to them. All her children made up their minds to major in math and science"9 In the last chapter, Kingston tells how she learns to assimilate into the America culture and society and develops a fine personality embodying both Chinese and America values. The chapter starts with the Kingston's discussion with her mother who tells her that she has cut Kingston's frenum so that she can learn new languages and because she thought her daughter had power of language, which she must use to succeed in this world. Initially, she has great problem in learning English and remains silent most of the time in her kindergarten. When she finally learns English, she also learns the difference between American and Chinese culture. The emphasis on "I" in English symbolizes the emphasis on individualism in English. On the other hand, at the Chinese school, the children are made to read aloud in groups or collectively, emphasizing on how much Chinese values collectiveness. In the entire chapter, we learn what silence meant to Kingston. She hated the silent girl at Chinese school because to her silence meant no personality, no say in important matters and eventually led to alienation and death, just like "No Name Woman" and "Moon Orchid. She also fears that that her/any one's inability to speak would lead to insanity. Finally, Kingston introduces the last talk-story of Ts'ai Yen, in the last chapter " A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe" who was captured by Non-Chinese barbarians, sung songs in Chinese to keep China alive in her memories and who was finally released by them after twelve years. She believed that her parents viewed Americans just like Ts'ai Yen viewed her captors. And her mother told talk-stories to keep China alive just like Ts'ai Yen's sung songs. In end, Ts'ai Yen recognizes barbarian cultures and for Kingston 's this meant her own recognition of Chinese past and her mother's acceptance of American culture. Thus, this entire book focuses on Kingston's own search of identity and power of language. In fact language helped her find her own individualized personality and giving her a voice of her own, and consequently casting away all her fears of alienation and insanity. Bibliography: 1)"Maxine Hong Kingston." 18 Apr 2007 . 2)"The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston." Yahoo Education. 18 Apr 2007 http://education.yahoo.com/homework_help/cliffsnotes/the_woman_warrior/ 3)"The Woman Warrior." Enotes. 18 Apr 2007 . 4 Feng, Pin-chia. "Maxine Hong Kingston." National Chiao-Tung University, Taiwan 15 April 2007 5) Gliserman, Martin. Psychoanalysis, Language and Body of the Text. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1996. 6) Bloom, Harold. Asian-American Writers. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1999. 7) "Rhetoric Analysis-Maxine Hong Kingston's the warrior woman." 22 April 2007 . Read More