Summary:
"The Woman Warrior" consists of five stories which focuses on five women: Kingston's long-dead aunt, "No-Name Woman"; a mythical female warrior, Fa Mu Lan; Kingston's mother, Brave Orchid; Kingston's aunt, Moon Orchid; and finally Kingston herself. Based on her mother's stories, which are integrated with Kingston's imagination, "The Woman Warrior" reveals her past childhood experiences, and explores her struggle to reconcile her Chinese heritage with her American identity. It is only at the very end that Kingston realizes that, through her writing, she can express her concern about the unfairness toward the voiceless Chinese women.
Finding the voice to speak
"The Woman Warrior" consists of five stories which focuses on five women: Kingston's long-dead aunt, "No-Name Woman"; a mythical female warrior, Fa Mu Lan; Kingston's mother, Brave Orchid; Kingston's aunt, Moon Orchid; and finally Kingston herself. Based on her mother's stories, which are integrated with Kingston's imagination, "The Woman Warrior" reveals her past childhood experiences, and explores her struggle to reconcile her Chinese heritage with her American identity. It is only at the very end that Kingston realizes that, through her writing, she can express her concern about the unfairness toward the voiceless Chinese women.
In the beginning of the first chapter, Kingston has made the theme of the book very clear: Chinese women are voiceless. It is notably ironic that the story begins with something that is supposed not to be said: her unnamed dead aunt: "'You must not tell anybody about that', said my mother." (1) From a Chinese's perspective, adultery is an awful thing that should not be mentioned because it is considered a shame of the family. Any woman who commits adultery must be her fault. However, Kingston does not agree on that. In fact, she even shows sympathy to her aunt. "The [aunt's] real punishment was not the raid swiftly inflicted by the villagers, but the family's deliberately forgetting her. . . . My aunt haunts me--her ghost drawn to me because now, after fifty years of neglect, I alone devote pages of paper to her." She felt that her aunt who became pregnant other than her husband might only was a mistake. Her tragedy happened was due to the Chinese tradition. Kingston believes that Chinese women become voiceless in a traditional, male dominated Chinese society is not because they are oppressed by the men. It is because they have too many obligations. The power of tradition pressured on the women is so strong that makes them silence. This can be seen from omission of male characters among the five stories of the book. This kind of thing is unspeakable and it shows that Kingston's willingness to break the silence. Another example is when her aunt was found that she had committed adultery, not just her aunt suffered the punishment, but also the whole family. "We could hear [the villagers] in the kitchen breaking our bowls and banging the pots. They overturned the great waist-high earthenware jugs; duck eggs, pickled fruits, vegetables burst out and mixed in acrid torrents." It clearly shows how women's reputations are closely linked with their families.
Kingston feels that there is a need for her to voice this out. Being an American Chinese, Kingston is not able to forget that this kind of thing could have happened. Since she is effectively forbidden from talking about it with anyone, therefore writing it down as a memoir and telling something which is supposed not to tell publicly, can be considered as Kingston's rebellion against the old Chinese customs and the traditions. And that is one of the reasons that she shows sympathy to her aunt since her aunt unintentionally broke a Chinese tradition which is what Kingston intended to do. Also, although the story is named as "No Name Woman", by writing down her aunt's story, Kingston has actually given this silence woman a voice.
However, surprisingly, it also takes a long while for her to find her voice. This can be seen from the last chapter "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe." Among all the five chapters of "The Women Warrior", this chapter is the most personal one. Surprisingly, as a famous writer, Kingston was a very quiet girl, who was afraid to speak a single word during her childhood, and even her adulthood. There are a lot of reasons contributing to this. Kingston and a lot of American Chinese children are told not to talk about their lives to outside Americans. They are told to lie or keep quiet to Americans about their Chinese community. This shows that the emigrants want to keep insulated as possible from the outside world. They want to retain their customs and traditions even though they are in America. Because of that, this has become a struggle for Kingston to find her own voice.
There is a powerful episode in this chapter which demonstrates her struggle in speaking up to express her identity. There is a girl at school who is in the similar case as Kingston that she also does not speak anything. This episode gives a detailed description of how that girl is tortured by Kingston. '"Come on! Talk! Talk! Talk!" [The girl] didn't seem to feel it anymore when I pulled her hair........ "I am going to pull harder. Don't make me pull anymore, or your hair will come out and you're going to be bald."' Kingston forces that girl to speak because that girl is so similar with Kingston. They all face difficulties in expressing themselves in English. At the same time, they need to engage into the new culture. As they are so socially and physically alike, by seeing that girl, Kingston sees the reflection of herself at school. She is afraid that she will be a silent girl forever as she sees all the things that happened to that girl. In fact, this episode actually related with the theme of the previous stories: female, language, silence and identity. "If you don't talk," Kingston explains to the silent girl, whom she never names and thus denies an identity, much like No Name Woman's family denied her an identity, "you can't have a personality. . . . You've got to let people know you have a personality and a brain." By saying this, Kingston realizes that the importance to speak up to express her identity.
In fact, her struggle in finding her voice is actually accused by her identity: American Chinese. While her parents expect Kingston will follow all the Chinese traditions and become a good wife, she herself actually wants to become "American-famine." To her, all those Chinese traditions and customs are so intangible that makes her hard to understand them. She often misunderstands what her mother means. At the same time, she wants to fully engage into American society. She does not want to be just a tradition Chinese woman who she will never be. This can be seen from her argument with her mother. "I know what you're up to. You're thinking he's rich, and we're poor. You think we're odd and not pretty and we're are not bright......... They tell me I'm smart, and I can win scholarships. I can get into colleges......... I won't let you turn me into a slave or a wife." However, that actually is not her mother's thinking. "I cut it to make you talk more, not less, you dummy. You're still stupid. You can't listen right. I didn't say I was going to marry you off......... we can't sell people. Can't you take a joke? You can't even tell a joke from real life." This clearly shows that how Kingston struggles in finding her voice due to her misunderstanding of her mother's saying.
Although it takes a long while for Kingston to find her own voice, she finally realizes that the power to gain words in order to show her identity actually comes from her mother and also her identity as a Chinese ancestor. By finally understand all those stories and myths given by her mother, Kingston eventually begins to tell story about herself. This shows that she begins able to live harmoniously, in both Chinese and American cultures. In the end, talking her past through writing has become a way for her to cure her silence, and to retain her identity as the true first American Chinese in her family.
I have consulted writing tutor in the writing workshop.
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