"The Woman Warrior"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the central role played by aunts, the sisters of fathers or mothers who serve as surrogate female role models, in Maxine Hong Kingston's "The Woman Warrior". The paper describes the main characters, claiming that they are not warrior women but actually embody the antithesis of the woman warrior-heroine. The paper contends that the protagonist of the story, a woman warrior, taught Kingston how to navigate the tricky path of being Chinese-American.

From the Paper:

"No-Name Woman and Moon Orchid are not necessarily innately weak; in fact, Kingston attempts to imbue both aunts with symbolic power and therefore both women are catalysts for Kingston's growth and self-realization. Brave Orchid's talk-story of No-Name Woman stimulates Kingston's fertile imagination. Filling in the gaps of her mysterious aunt's life, Kingston imagines what went on in her aunt's psyche to lead her to her fate. As with many of the incidents and tales in The Woman Warrior, the story of No-Name Woman could indeed be a fiction, a tall tale her mother drew up for the sole purpose of frightening her daughter away from premarital sex. The No-Name Woman tale could have been a family myth, one passed on from mother to daughter for generations for that very purpose. Even if the aunt was real, Kingston has no way of discovering the truth and is thus forced to complete the picture of No-Name Woman herself."

More papers on "The Woman Warrior":

• Book Review # 73819 : "The Woman Warrior"
• Book Review # 105059 : "Maxine Hong Kingston's "The Woman Warrior"
• Book Review # 27638 : "The Woman Warrior"

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