The Woman Warrior by Maxine Kingston - Essay Example

One of the most difficult aspects for any particular writer to engage is a level of integration and separation from the subject matter that they are presenting. The authors fall into the rut of becoming to detect and merely representing the information that they seek to portray in and unemotional and underinvested manner. By means of comparison, many writers integrate too deeply with the information that they are presenting and engage it on a personal level; mixing their own biases, views, and interpretations of each and every situation – so much so that the reader is left with a one-sided and uneven approach to the material that they had been presented with. Accordingly, effecting the right balance between a personal integration with the story and a level of divorced narrative is an exceptionally difficult feat to accomplish. However, it is the belief of this author that Maxine Hong Kingston, within her book The Woman Warrior, accomplishes just such a task. As a means of analyzing the degree and extent to which this takes place within the text, the following analysis will focus upon the development of a strong female identity, the way that this identity engages with the narrative itself and includes a fusion of legend and personal myth/belief, as well as the revelation of East Asian American consciousness and the manner through which Maxine Kingston presents this within the respective stories included within the text (Hope 27). Firstly, from an examination of the text, it can clearly be noted that each of the stories seeks to develop what can be termed as a strong female identity. At first glance, the hardships, traditions, and repressive social norms that defined the lives of the heroines could be seen as proof that the entire premise and the rest of the book was intended to display the unethical, unfair, and unreasonable treatment that women within traditional Chinese culture were forced to live in. However, upon closer glance, the reader can come to the understanding of the fact that the text helps to represent the indomitable female spirit; even within the confines of abject levels of adversity. This can be noted with respect to the ways in which the individual stories each figuratively take place within a stringent and conservative/traditional Chinese society in which women are not expected nor required to possess any form of dominance, self will or self determination. Says Kingston of the way in which sexism and gender were reinforced within traditional Chinese culture: “You must not tell anyone," my mother said, "what I am about to tell you. In China your father had a sister who killed herself” (Kingston 19). However, notwithstanding this fact, each of the characters that are presented within the text show their will to power and desire for developing their own identity in unique ways. The reader may be quick to question whether or not this is true with relation to the No Name Woman that drowned herself and her children (Jenkins & Marti 243). Although this paradox may strike the reader as contradictory at first glance, the fact of the matter is that the strong female identity and will to power of this individual was perhaps greater than any other individual within the text; as she chose self imposed death over a lifetime of hardship, ridicule, and cruelty for herself and her child at the hands of an uneducated and enlightened village. Once again within this particular story, effectively presenting the actual occurrence, intermixing myth, and maintaining the ability to recount and retell without interjecting too much bias was a task that was difficult to maintain; due to the unique storytelling style that Maxine Kingston employed. However, from an analysis of the way that it was represented within this particular portion of the book, it can be stated that this was done with a degree of expertise that few other authors could have affected. Another interesting aspect of the stories that Kingston reveals is the fact that a key differential between American and Chinese cultures. Whereas this is apparent with regards to much of the information that she presents, due to the fact that some of the material is necessarily shocking to a Western audience, she nevertheless boldly discusses the East Asian consciousness. At one point in the book, this strong East Asian American consciousness is revealed as the heroine actively criticizes her husband and states, “When your father lived in China, he refused to eat pastries because he didn’t want to eat the dirt the women kneaded from between their fingers” (Kingston 99). Although this slight is minimal, it helps to draw a level of focus upon the fact that the woman could expose the inherent sexism that existed within East Asian culture and seek to hold it out as an example for what her children should not engage in at home. Regardless of the approach that individual makes to Maxine Kingston’s book, the fact of the matter is that the book necessarily engenders a high degree of narrative form, personal myth, and old legend. As a means of this, the author spends a great deal of time focusing upon the differentials that exists between first and second generation immigrants. It is by focusing upon these particular groups that the mixture of personal experience, legend, and cultural bed can most effectively be denoted. Within each and every one of the stories that have thus far been discussed, the author seeks to provide each of these three components in some measure. However, even though this could effectively be performed merely by discussing her own life and analyzing the way in which cultural myth, legend, and personal experience factor into these stories, a far more effective means of performing the same task is to utilize first and second generation immigrants, inclusive of her own family, as a means of noting the subtle similarities and dissimilarities that exists between these groups. Perhaps no more effectively can this be noted that with regards to the point in the book in which the children reference the fact that “Chinese people are very weird” (Kingston 125). Whereas it is expected that a difference between culture, demographic, and national origin will have a powerful impact with regards the way in which people understand their role within society as compared to others, Kingston helps to leverage this understanding in a more full and complete manner by delineating these differences as compared to the same ethnic group; merely differentiating them based upon whether or not their first or second generation immigrants (Shubert 284). From the information that is thus far been provided, it can effectively be understood that Maxine Kingston sought to accomplish several goals through telling such a differentiated and nuanced tale. Whereas analysts have been arguing back and forth for decades over whether or not this book should be categorized as wholly fiction or whether or not it should be categorized as nonfiction, the ultimate delineation of this question is in fact besides the point. The ultimate point is to understand the fact that unique cultural and sociological dynamics between individuals of different ethnic backgrounds, unique interpretations of feminism and expectations of norms between different groups of people, and unique understandings of language, behavior, and almost each and every other form of human interaction exists predicated upon the past historical and cultural interpretations that an individual is exposed to. Whereas it is true that Maxine Kingston was not directly exposed to ancient Chinese culture and tradition, the explanation of cultural norms and the expectation that she should engage with them and replicate them, both for herself and for future children, was actively denoted with respect to the way in which the mother continually impressed upon Maxine the power and importance of these tales. Works Cited Hope, Angela. "FULLY WARRIOR: Cooperative Unity." TAMARA: Journal Of Critical Postmodern Organization Science 5.1/2 (2006): 24-38. Business Source Complete. Web. 20 Nov. 2013 Jenkins, Kathleen E., and Gerardo Marti. "Warrior Chicks: Youthful Aging In A Postfeminist Prosperity Discourse." Journal For The Scientific Study Of Religion 51.2 (2012): 241-256. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Nov. 2013 Kingston, Maxine H. The woman warrior : memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts. London: Allen Lane, 1977. Print. Shubert, Adrian. "Women Warriors And National Heroes." Journal Of World History 23.2 (2012): 279-313. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Nov. 2013 Read More