Summary of The Woman Warrior Written by Maxine Hong Kingston - Book Report/Review Example

The book -The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston is a collection of memoirs, which can be best classified as creative non-fiction. The writer, Maxine Hong Kingston blends autography with old folktales from the Chinese, portraying an experience of the Chinese – Americans living in the US in the shadow of the Chinese revolution. The sections- “No Name Woman”, which has three characters; Maxine’s aunt (the “no – name woman”), Maxine (narrator), and Maxine’s mother tells the norms of the Chinese.

Its title takes its punch line, “you must not tell anyone”. This reflects the strength of a woman and portrays someone embraces her feminine sexuality to attract a lover. The punishment was not the raid inflicted by the villagers, but the family’s deliberately forgetting the “No name woman”. ‘White Tigers’ story talks of Fa Mu Lan, a woman worrier who took her father’s place in a battle. After the end of the battle, she goes back to serve her people and families.

Kingston, borne at the middle of World War II, learnt from her mother’s stories that all the white people around were ghosts. This created fear of the known - Chinese people in her. Later on “At the western palace”, when Brave Orchid is at the airport waiting for her sister from Hong Kong, she describes all the non-Chinese people at the airport as “ghosts”. This story shows the division of people in their races.