The Woman Warrior | Themes

The Woman Warrior Themes

Identity and Search for Self

People form their personal identities through life experiences and interactions with the people around them. The Woman Warrior collects five stories from Kingston's life that contribute to her growth as a person and the development of her identity.

From the time Maxine is a small child, she questions who she really is, and where she belongs in her family, Chinese culture, and American culture. As a kindergartner, Maxine does not speak.

She does not talk to her classmates or to her teachers. She struggles to overcome her inability to talk, trying to discover herself and to connect to her Chinese and American communities. Her mother's "talk stories" and admonitions about "ghosts" keep Maxine suspended between Chinese and American cultures. For three years, her silence is total. Underscoring the strangeness of her silence, she covers her school paintings in black paint. Her teachers fear for her sanity.