Women In The Chinese Culture In Maxine's Woman Warrior

While categorizing each and every person living on the face of this Earth through stereotypes remains a virtually-impossible task, culture does in fact play a role in shaping humans into the people they are. Such cultural traits and customs can conflict with those of other cultures, with one prominent example being the silence of Asia contrasted with the openness of America. Maxine Hong Kingston covers these two topics in depth in her 1976 memoir The Woman Warrior, throughout which a young, insecure girl develops a voice of her own, gaining an increased appreciation for her Chinese-American heritage in the process. The world that she lives in values open communication, often causing those who internalize their feelings to struggle with establishing meaningful interpersonal connections. A character loosely based upon Kingston’s own upbringing and stories that she has heard, Maxine remains unaccepting of her true self until she manages to achieve a cultural balance, learning to respect and somewhat yield to the American value of verbal communication.

In the story “Two Kinds”, author Amy Tan, who is a Chinese-American, describes the conflicts in the relationship of a mother and daughter living in California. The protagonist in this story Jing-mei Woo’s mother is born and raised in China, and immigrates to the United States to escape from the Chinese Civil War. For many years she maintained complete Chinese traditional values, and has been abided by it deliberately. This kind of traditional Chinese culture has also affected her daughter profoundly. However, Jing-mei is born and raised in the United States. Despite she has a Chinese mother; she is unfamiliar and uncomfortable with Chinese

Wife. Servant. Maid. Interchangeably, these words rolled off the tongues of the typical 1970’s man. “Wives bore the full load of housekeeping, spending an average of 55 hours a week on domestic chores.”

Maxine Kingston in “The Women Warrior” presents a traditional Chinese society that anticipates women not to decide what is best for them all by themselves. Kingston creates a woman who goes beyond this ritual culture constraint and who take up

The theme of “voiceless woman” throughout the book “the woman warrior” is of great importance. Maxine Kingston narrates several stories in which gives clear examples on how woman in her family are diminished and silenced by Chinese culture. The author not only provides a voice for herself but also for other women in her family and in her community that did not had the opportunity to speak out and tell their stories.

For centuries, women have had the role of being the perfect and typical house wife; needs to stay home and watch the children, cook for husbands, tend to the laundry and chores around the house. In her short story “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid provides a long one sentence short story about a mother giving specific instructions to her daughter but with one question towards the end, with the daughter’s mother telling her daughter if she had done all the instructions to become a so called “perfect” woman, every man would want her. Kincaid’s structuring in “Girl,” captures a demanding and commanding tone. This short story relates to feminist perspectives. The mother expects a great deal from her daughter to have a certain potential and she does not hesitate to let her daughter understand that. As a matter of fact, the story is about two pages long, made into one long sentence - almost the whole time the mother is giving her daughter directions to follow - conveys a message to the reader that the mother demands and expects great potential in her daughter. The daughter is forced to listen and learn from what her mother is telling her to do to become the perfect housewife. Throughout the story, Kincaid uses the symbols of the house and clothing, benna and food to represent the meanings of becoming a young girl to a woman and being treated like one in society. Women are portrayed to appeal to a man to become the ideal woman in society, while men can do anything they please.

In her novel Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston provides insight on the struggle that growing up with dual heritage presents in the understanding of one’s identity. Kingston recalls feelings of frustration when faced with the high expectations she felt she needed to live up to as the daughter of immigrants, who constantly talk-story to her about fantastical and idealized Chinese figures. Kingston, in the face of these expectations, feels conflicted on whether she should strive for success in her parents’ eyes, or towards success in fitting into American society. This conflict results in Kingston never fully understanding her identity as a Chinese American, as she is unsure which aspects of herself are derived from being a first-generation

In her short story, “Two Kinds,” Amy Tan describes the childhood of a Chinese immigrant’s daughter. Jing-Mei seeks to desperately become her own unique person but her mother has other plans for her because Jing-Mei’s mother realizes the abundant opportunities that are available to her daughter. Like many immigrants, Jing-Mei’s mother did not have the privilege of becoming a trained child genius, pianist, or a movie star. Instead, Jing-Mei’s mother had to endure many hardships in China such as losing her parents, her home, husband, and two daughters. Despite her past, Jing-Mei’s mother is optimistic about her daughter’s future in America, the land where Jing-Mei has the opportunity to become anything that she wants to be. Scenario after

“Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on. She tested our strengths to establish realities”(5). In the book “The Woman Warrior,” Maxine Kingston is most interested in finding out about Chinese culture and history and relating them to her emerging American sense of self. One of the main ways she does so is listening to her mother’s talk-stories about the family’s Chinese past and applying them to her life.

Maxine Hong Kingston’s novel The Woman Warrior is a series of narrations, vividly recalling stories she has heard throughout her life. These stories clearly depict the oppression of woman in Chinese society. Even though women in Chinese Society traditionally might be considered subservient to men, Kingston viewed them in a different light. She sees women as being equivalent to men, both strong and courageous.

Society for a long time has made the women in its second best. In the past, maybe even today, women were told that they should marry successful men, have children, and be good housewives. Women are told to be “seen and not heard,” as if they were just an ornament to be on display. Sometimes in marriages, women are no more than property, they are expected to assume the identity of being just a wife. For some women, this destiny is known and understood, therefore these women use their womanhood to progress themselves into better suited situations, but for many others this way of life can be a challenge when there is a long for a different type of life outside of their constraints of marriage. Some women want to be free to

Women roles in society have been to take care of their families, and do what is required of “ a woman”. In Jamaica Kincaid’s poem Girl, a mother is giving her daughter advice on how to be a woman; simultaneously, reminding her if she does not obey these duties, she will be considered a “slut”. The mother is explaining to her, the role women play in society, how to act around a man, take care of your spouse, and how to never act less than a woman. Reading Kincaid’s poem alongside the academic article titled, The Female Breadwinner: Phenomenological Experience and Gendered Identity in Work/ Family Spaces, I have concluded that women’s roles in society are outrageous; however, they are improving. This poem has more to do with gender roles and less to do with the pride, integrity, and self worth a woman feels internally as a result of the things she has been taught.

The books I’ve chosen to review are set on two different continents. This makes the comparison of the lives of women across the world more efficient and broader. What makes the comparison more practical, realistic and interesting is the fact that the characters in the two books 'The Woman Warrior ' and 'Wild ', lived in the same century. The authors specifically bring out the duties and the expectation that mothers were held to in the upbringing of their daughters as at that time and place. The authors, however, present the picture of motherhood in a fairly narrow view. They ignore the role of mothers in the upbringing of their sons and instead dwell on their duties and responsibilities in the bringing up of their daughters (Kingston & Gordon 2005). Therefore, I chose to compare how the theme of motherhood has been portrayed in the two ethnically diverse texts.

Maxine Hong Kingston uses her memoire The Woman Warrior as a way to bring to life many talk stories she heard while growing up in a Chinese immigrant home. The Woman Warrior is a complex piece of writing that is able to weave fantasy and reality into one singular unit. Throughout the book Kingston explores the various obstacles that Chinese women faced in their life, whether it be as an immigrant in America or as a young women still in China. Each woman in the book had their own unique experience when it came to being a Chinese woman and Kingston does a great job bringing all of the experiences together to explain the complex roles these women played.

Throughout history, women have been seen in many different lights. From a woman’s perspective she is strong, smart, helpful and equal to men. In the eyes of men, she is seen as the weaker being, the housewife, and the caretaker. By looking at the following pieces of writing, one can see that through the centuries, women have struggled to break out of the mold that man had put her in and make themselves known in society as important.