What is the importance of this passage in relation to the novel itself? To Kingston's understanding of self? Be sure to use textual support.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Woman Warrior: White Tiger
"Night after night, my mother would
talk-story until we fell asleep," Kingston
What is the importance of this passage in relation to the novel itself? To Kingston's understanding of self? Be sure to use textual support.
What is the importance of this passage in relation to the novel itself? To Kingston's understanding of self? Be sure to use textual support.
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In "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Kingston, the passage about how her mom would tell her stories about Fa Mulan and other heroine shows us that Kingston wants to break from the tradition that Asian woman were only seen as doing one role. Kingston's mother told her that she would "grow up a wive and a slave" (Kingston 20). The normal for all woman was to be as a trophy to the husband and to basically do whatever they are told. The part in the passage about how she "couldn't tell where the stories left and the dreams began" relates to the fact that Kingston would imagine herself as Fa Mulan to enforce her breaking away from traditions while also showing us her being a "ghost" (Kingston 19). She makes Fa Mulan's story her own which relates to the aunt as a "ghost" because she was living through Fa Mulan as the aunt was living through Kingston.
ReplyDeleteZoe, I definitely agree with you in regards to Kingston making Fa Mu Lan's story her own but I don't think this is where Kingston really sees herself as a ghost. It makes sense why one would think think so but I think that Kingston isn't necessarily making herself symbolically invisible here like her aunt for example was.
DeleteI agree with Sosna. I believe Kingston does not relate Fa Mu Lan to the Aunt as a ghost, rather a comparison to how woman are powerful in different ways. I do like how you incorporated the quote about wife and slaves because it helps your claim.
DeleteZoe, your points about Kingston defying gender roles were very well stated and credible . Kingston seems to connect her stories with her imagination to empower herself. However, Kingston may not have became a ghost yet in this passage or chapter. This chapter seems symbolic to the fact that Kingston realizing that she doesn't have to do what is expected.
DeleteCarolina Vallin
DeleteI agree with your points on gender roles and how Kingston defied them, but I was a bit confused when you said that her aunt was living through KIngston. If Kingston is living through Fa Mu Lan, how does her aunt live through Kingston?
In "The Woman Warrior", Kingston uses the passage to demonstrate how the stories have no distinction between reality and legends, creating a new identity. The passage relates to the novel by creating mixed-stories relating to the memoir. There is no straight fact or fiction because the stories connect reality and fairytales. As for the passage affecting Kingston, it reveals the paradox made in Kingston through the stories told. Kingston lives through Fa Mu Lan in a story, making Kingston endure the hardships Mu Lan had to conquer. Living through Mu Lan allowed Kingston to open her mind and "make [her] mind large so that there is room for paradoxes" (Kingston 29).Kingston is suppose to use her mother's tales as a way to connect Kingston with her family, however, Kingston uses the tales as a way to distance herself and create a new identity, thus creating a paradox.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you in the fact that Kingston was living through Fa Mulan
DeleteI like your recognition of the paradox in Fa Mu Lan's tale. I think this is a driving force in the creation of Kingston's sense of self. Although you reference the connection between Kingston and Fa Mu Lan, I think you could expand a bit more on how this contributes to the development of Kingston's character.
DeleteI agree with Molly, you could have expanded on Kingston's character a bit more. I do like (and agree with) how you said Kingston lives through Fa Mu Lan, making Kingston endure the hardships.
DeleteThis passage verbalizes the connection between "the voice of heroines," which we hear in Fa Mu Lan's story, and Kingston's sense of self. Throughout the novel, Kingston is constantly being suppressed by the demands of Chinese tradition, yet yearns for a way to develop her individual character in the face of the ancestral "ghosts." This compromise is found in Fa Mu Lan, a tale about a strong and capable woman, still embraced by patriarchal Chinese society. Thus, Kingston adopts Fa Mu Lan as her idol; "She said I would grow up a wide and a slave, but she taught me the song of the warrior woman...I would have to grow up a warrior woman" (10). Evidently, the ideology behind Fa Mu Lan and the rules that Kingston's mother enforce are contradictory; it is this contrast of ideas that drive Kingston's character throughout the story, shaping her into the woman warrior of her dreams.
ReplyDeleteMolly, I agree with your idea that the story of Fa Mu Lan is almost like a bridge for Kingston with her two cultures that she has. Fa Mu Lan is almost an idol for this reason too and I thought that was really great reasoning.
DeleteIn The Woman Warrior by Maxine Kingston , the passage in the “White Tigers” chapter establishes the gender roles put on by Kingston by her mother saying that she will be “a wife and a slave” (Kingston 20). However Kingston’s mom contradicts this by telling her woman warrior stories such as the one of Fa Mu Lan. Kingston takes this story and retells it as if it was her by mixing reality with imagination to stray away from her Chinese values. Kingston says “I would have to grow up a warrior woman” (Kingston 20) suggesting that she will take on a Chinese male role and build her sense of self by taking on the life of Fa Mu Lan, a woman. Kingston wants to become those “heroines in (her) sleep” (Kingston 19) in order to gain an identity other than being a “ghost”. Fa Mu Lan and Kingston’s Aunt are both “ghosts” in the novel presented by her mother, but Kingston uses both “ghosts” as a guidance story rather than a cautionary tale.
ReplyDeleteJanaei I agree with your statement completely. Kingston seems to blend reality with imagination similar to how she also integrates the invisible world (Chinese society) with the real solid America. I also agree with how this story was originally told to Kingston to establish gender roles yet her mother contradicts the concepts and ideals of the Chinese reality by telling this story. However, perhaps the fact that this story is told as a folk tale supports the idea that the Women Warriors are simply a myth? What do you think? Great job Janaei.
DeleteI agree with your analysis, Janaei. I like how you used the establishment of gender roles in the novel to show, that in reality, women are thought as being less than men. Also, your last sentence brings up a good point; Kingston uses these ghosts to guide her; however, it seems like her mother is telling Kingston these stories as a caution of what not to do.
DeleteI agree with you Janaei. I feel like your analysis sort of ties into magical realism doesn't it? Maybe you could tie it in since she is mixing the reality of Chinese standards to the magical story of Fa Mu Lan
DeleteIn "The White Tiger" Kingston deals with being a ghost by reminiscing and analyzing the actions of her ancestral ghosts to help herself escape being a "ghost" belonging to no reality. In "The White Tiger" she focuses on Fa Mu Lan and the story of how she shed the patriarchal jacket that was holding her back to become the woman warrior, and developing her own sense of individuality, (something Kingston struggles with) while still being accepted by the Chinese society and existing in the Chinese reality. As Kingston is "taught the song of the warrior women" (Kingston 10) she analyzes and envies how Fa Mu Lan is able to exist with individuality and not be a ghost in her society. She eventually puts Fa Mu Lan on a pedestal, praising her, and embracing Fa Mu Lan's story, thanking her for helping her with making the decision "to grow up a woman warrior" (Kingston 10) and escape being a ghost by creating a new reality by integrating the invisible world (Chinese society/culture) with the real solid America.
ReplyDeleteSarah, nice job with the analysis! Despite a couple of your sentences being fairly lengthy, I felt they were still very clear and understandable. In addition to that, I was also quite intrigued by the explanation of putting Fa Mu Lan on a pedestal as well as the connection to the metaphorical jacket that we have discussed in previous stories. Well done Sarah!
DeleteSarah, I really like your response. I like how you keep connecting everything with the metaphorical jacket because it's interesting that no matter what the context is the character always has to shed some type of label before the story is able to expand and you started to talk about that. Good job Sarah!
DeleteIn “The woman warrior” Kingston states that she “had to get out of hating range” (52) out of a Chinese culture that oppressed woman. Kingston finds hope from the Fa Mu Lan story her mother would tell her when she was a kid. Kingston states “The swordswoman and I are not so dissimilar”(53) From this story Kingston starts to “understand the resemblances” and she uses Fa Mu Lan’s story to guide her through the hardships she encounters within the culture. She idolizes Fa Mu Lan and adapts Fa Mu Lan’s ways, shaping herself into a woman warrior.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying and also think that another point would be that she feels as though she would want to do something greater like Fa Mu Lan not just be a "wife or slave"
DeleteI agree that Kingston and Fa Mu Lan have helped shaped her into a woman warrior. Fa Mu Lan also helps better understand Kingston's action and her perspective.
DeleteIn "The Woman Warrior", Kingston uses this passage to express the strength possessed in the delicacy of women. Kingston sees women as people who use "the spirit of the white crane if it would teach [them] to fight" (19). Like white cranes, women are recognized for their grace and femininity. Kingston on the other hand, recognizes that with this grace comes great power. Her mother's voice is what allows her to fall asleep. It is as she is falling asleep that she hears the voice of her mother, the voice of a woman, the voice of the delicate, became the voice of the powerful; the voice of the heroines. Kingston understands that women hold the most poised, impactful roles within her society and because of that, she acknowledges that she has a greater purpose as well.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the novel thus far, Kingston has been subject to her Chinese culture being forced upon her. Her mother even attempts to determine her own fate, saying how she would "grow up a wife and a slave" (Kingston 20). However, Kingston's mother fed her imagination with stories of warrior women and heroines, specifically, Fa Mu Lan. It is through Mu Lan's story that Kingston is able to develop her own sense of self, something that is not completely Chinese and not completely American. She attempts to construct the idea that women can be strong-willed and independent and at the same time hold on to traditional family values. Kingston ultimately adopts all of the values presented in the story as she constructs her sense of self. Additionally, she does so in the midst of her family's rigid traditions and values.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how you mentioned Kingston's mother being very contradicting of herself. We can see this in the way you said she tells Kingston to be a wife and slave, but also encourages the independence of Fa Mu Lan.
DeleteAlso, after Mu Lan comes back from war, she says, "'Now my public duties are finished... I will stay with you, doing farmwork and houswork, and giving you more sons.'" (Kingston 45). This quote is exemplary of the balance the story advocates between a traditional domestic life and the independence of a warrior for women.
Miles, I thoroughly enjoyed your response. I liked how you incorporated how Kingston struggled to identify with either culture, and to cope with being a misfit she associated herself with Fa Mu Lan.
Delete-Brennan
Kingston writes, "I couldn't tell where the stories left and the dreams began, her voice[her mother's]the voice of heroines in my sleep" (19). This quote reflects the novel as a whole because Kingston's mother tells her many stories, and Kingston is trying to figure out which stories are real and which ones are not. In "White Tigers" of The Woman Warrior, Kingston's mother tell her the story of Fa Mu Lan, a woman warrior. Kingston tries to apply the concept of the woman warrior to American society, but she realizes that Chinese people in America still treat woman as inferior.
ReplyDeleteKingston is confronted with a conflict because through the Fa Mu Lan story she proved to be strong, powerful and superior to men; however in America, she is considered worthless by society, including her own family. Kingston did not know what to believe from her mother's stories anymore because those stories did not reflect Kingston's experiences.
I like that you said that she realizes Chinese people in America still treat women as inferior. Both China and America treat woman is if they are less than everyone.
DeleteIn The Woman Warrior, Kingston uses the stories her mother uses to pass along the traditions and Chinese culture in order to create her own identity and using these stories as a justification for straying away. In the beginning of White Tiger, Kingston writes of the legend of Fa Mu Lan in the first person, because Kingston herself wants to be represented as a strong and powerful heroine, rather than the silent, unwanted “bad little girl”(Kingston 47). By utilizing the legend of Fa Mu Lan, Kingston sets her own standards as to what she can and cannot accomplish, often doing things because she “wanted to be a swordswoman” and not be unwanted by her culture. The stories are the way for Kingston to escape reality and integrate the American world with her fantasies. This way she could prove that “girls are necessary too” and connect herself to the Chinese swords woman who share the same “words on their backs”, because through words Kingston is empowered and can carry out her warrior tasks (Kingston 52-53).
ReplyDeleteIn The women warrior by Maxine Kingston she says that "we learned that we failed if we grew up to be but wives or slaves"(Kingston 19) which here she talks about how as a women to her family and her families traditions and customs if she was to be anything other than a wife or slave she would fail and they would outcast her just like they did her aunt. It also states that "my mother told others that followed swordswomen through woods and palaces for years"(Kingston 19) which here would show how she is using these story tellings to build up role models for the children thus contradicting the role that was expected of women in her family to be just "wives or slaves". This gives the understanding that Kingston wants to bring these conflicts into place and wants recognition for something greater in herself.
ReplyDeleteKelly Acevedo
DeleteJuan, I agree with your point in how she wants to be more than a "wife or a slave." However, you could have expanded this idea by talking about Fa Mu Lan and her story and not just restating the quote.
In "The Woman Warrior" Kingston uses the passage stated above to display how she is finding her individuality within the Chinese culture and stories while still trying to figure out how to find a median between the stories and her mother's rules. Under Chinese tradition, women usually are not warriors fighting for their lives, rather they stay home and tend to the children and father's needs. However, in the Fa Mu Lan story that her mother tells her, Kingston believes this dream of being a woman warrior is tangible and accepted. Kingston's mother however continues to teach her principles about Chinese society that are contradictory to the stories she tells. Thus Kingston "couldn't tell where the stories left and the dreams began, her voice the voice of heroines in my sleep" (Kingston 19). The contradiction between traditional Chinese customs and the story of Fa Mu Lan is used to help drive the search for Kingston's individuality forward.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talk about her struggle to find a middle ground between woman and warrior. I would talk more about Fa Mu Lan's and Kingston's similarities
DeleteIn "The Woman Warrior," Kingston constantly battles with cultural pressures that she herself has a lack of understanding of and no one to give her leeway for not knowing. She tries connecting to traditional stories such as the ones her mom tells her before she goes to bed, but she has little actual life events to connect these stories to in her Chinese-American life and finds them hard to value because of this. However, in the story of Fa Mu Lan, Kingston finally sees independence of women as a possibility of something that bridges both cultures she internally struggles with. This revelation by Kingston is shown when she realizes that "The swordsman and I are not so dissimilar" (Kingston 20). Here the connection of American culture and Chinese that Kingston's story is bent on showing is made apparent and shown to be the driving force of who she is.
ReplyDeleteLuis Alamanza
DeleteThe idea of cultural bridging and tying together is very understandable and concise Noah. How Kingston also sees herself as a swordsman and the charectoristics that they both embody aswell show that perhaps they are the same is very well done.
In the "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston, Kingston tells the tale of a female heroine, Fa Mu Lan, and compares Fa Mu Lan's mix of femininity and masculinity to her own search for self. Through Fa Mu Lan, Kingston uses the woman warrior as a metaphor of her struggles to adjust to American life as a Chinese immigrant. Kingston says, "'The first thing you have to learn', the old woman told me, 'is how to be quiet.' They left me by streams to watch for animals. 'If you're noisy, you'll make the deer go without water.'" (Kingston 23). This represents that while Kingston trained, she learned that her words had the largest impact. Silence could make a greater impact on understanding culture than actions could. Kingston said of her and Fa Mu Lan, "What we have in common are the words at our backs. The reporting is the vengeance-not the beheading, not the gutting, but the words" (Kingston 53), with this showing that only Kingston can create the forcefulness and power behind her own words. Her words are the backbone behind breaking her culture into something more connectable and giving herself the ability to truly understand the old Chinese traditions.
ReplyDeleteOlivia, I really liked the way you put Kingston's' search for herself between feminity and masculinity. I agree that Kingston learned about the impact her words can have in changing things for women's role. When Kingston realizes that her words can put forth ideas that can influence groups of people, she's also empowering herself. Through the story of Fa Mu Lan, it can be seen that Kingston fantasizes for a place where women can take on the masculine roles of men while maintaining their femininity as mothers and wives.
DeleteCarolina Vallin
ReplyDeleteMaxine Kingston writes about the stories of heroines that her mother would tell the little girls until they fell asleep; stories that Kingston uses to write The Woman Warrior, her memoir. In “White Tigers,” Kingston dreams herself as Fa Mu Lan, a warrior woman who defied the Chinese woman’s role of growing into “a wife and a slave” (20). As Fa Mu Lan, Kingston is received with pride from her village and parents that “would sacrifice a pig to the gods” because she had returned (45). However, when Kingston tries to bring that sense of accomplishment into her American life, she is met with disappointment from her Chinese family because she is a girl in a culture that believes it is “better to raise geese than girls” (46). When she tries becoming a warrior woman in her American home, Kingston becomes a ghost: a person who defied her role, and is ignored because of it. Listening to talk-story about heroines and ghosts makes Kingston question the values and traditions upheld by the Chinese she knows, and stray away from these values in her common day actions like cooking, cleaning, studying.
I completely agree with the fact that you think that her mothers stories and Chinese traditions are just pushing Kingston away from her families customs. The try to tell her how to act and be like but completely contradict themselves.
DeleteLuis Almanza
ReplyDeleteAmerican Lit.
Period 8
In Maxine Hong Kingston's "White Tiger", the use of the passage is to bridge the "story" of Kingston to the legend of Fa Mu Lan to demonstrate that both are Legends in themselves. However, Kingston's difficulties involving traditions and cultures which embody gender roles are reflective in the legend of Fa Mu Lan. Through this Kingston is able to present and see herself as not only a legend but a living example who defied tradition and "won". Kingston is faced by a analogy of "girls are maggots in the rice" as well as her counterpart, Fan Mu Lan who defies such by becoming a warrior who saves a nation (43). Due to this Kingston is able to comparatively represent and still be represented through the actions she perceives as Fan Mu Lan, as well as her early childhood to young adulthood. With this the identity in which Kingston creates the women warrior is a identity which embodies Fan Mu Lan and her struggles to Kingston's struggles to not straying from cultural ties and traditions.
Could you further explain how Kingston's difficulties involving traditions and culture which embody gender roles help her see herself as a legend? You do not really explain this and it just left me confused.
DeleteIn “The Woman Warrior”, Kingston contrasts the stories/ legends her mother tells her with reality to skew her perception of herself. “Night after night, my mother would talk-story until we fell asleep. I couldn’t tell where the stories left and the dreams began, her voice, the voice of heroines in my sleep (Kingston 19). Kingston has a constant struggle of being a traditional Chinese woman as her mother imposes on her, or becoming a Chinese-American that is ridiculed amongst her family. “From the fairy tales I’ve learned exactly who the enemy is…business suited in their modern American executive guise…” (Kingston 48). Her mother enforces this image of America being a superficial world that many stories show, yet when she tells Kingston about “girls who saved her villages” (Kingston 45) she contradicts herself. All the stories her mom tells her enslave women or show how women are disappointments to Chinese families and that they are “just as good as geese”. This shift between story and reality makes Kingston question her upbringings and who she wants to be;thus her true identity.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe passage from “White Tiger”, in The Women Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston, Kingston intertwines her own wishes for the empowerment of women with the fantasies of Fa Mu Lan which highly contrasts the reality in which women are seen by the Chinese emigrants and the family she grew up in. Kingston retells the story of Fa Mu Lan in first person, with her narration transcending time, space, and more importantly, the old traditions in which she grew up in. In her fantasies, Kingston becomes Mu Lan, the legendary women warrior. She interjects her own personality at times, saying that she would rather have chocolate chip cookies than the rice the old man and women offers. Due to Kingston having an unclear image of China, she can only see the “world like an ink wash” (Kingston 20) and only able to depict her environment as the drawings portray them. As a warrior, Kingston/Mu Lan able to “build up [an]..army [strong] enough to attack fiefdoms and..pursue enemies” (Kingston 37). As a women she has the power to command men and win victories over men in battle. At the same time, she retains her femininity, and as a wife, “gave birth to [a] baby” (Kingston 40). As Fa Mu Lan, Kingston has the power of life and death at her hands. She even switches traditional roles when she “gave [her] husband the baby and told him to take it to his family” (Kingston 41). However, in reality, Kingston was unrecognized by her family in her accomplishments such as getting straight A’s. She was often told that “‘Feeding girls is feeding cowbirds”’ (Kingston 46). In this form of reality, Kingston is unable to do anything towards the discrimination from her neighbors and bosses except weak forms of protest such as “let[ting] the dirty dishes rot” (Kingston 47) and “refuse[ing] to type..[the] invitations” (Kingston 49) that she was told to type by her boss. This got her fired. Unlike Fa Mu Lan, Kingston does not have the opportunity or capability of saving a country and making her parents support the idea of empowering her as a women. She’s unable to escape the traditional roles of women which creates an internal struggle between her enchained self in America and her fantasies of the free and powerful women, Fa Mu Lan. Later, she finds her own empowerment through words that can unite people with the same goals and ambitions. Her words became Fa Mu Lan's metaphorical Sku Sword that she can yield at will.
ReplyDeleteLina, fantastic response! You really used the quotes effectively to compare and contrast Kingston with the mythical character of Fa Mu Lan. Kingston makes it clear that she and Fa Mu Lan originate from the same culture that persecutes and oppresses women. I really appreciate your use of Kingston's description of her fantasies as a "world like an ink wash." I feel like this quote truly contrasts the world of Fa Mu Lan and Kingston, showing how the success of Fa Mu Lan was merely an expression of Kingston's own desire to overcome gender roles, and Kingston's recognition of the fact that this outcome is fictionalized. I also really appreciate your connection to Kingston's writing, showing how Kingston ultimately did achieve the recognition and acceptance of Fa Mu Lan, but through a different medium than "masculine" militarism.
DeleteIn “White Tigers,” not only does Kingston tell the story of Fa Mu Lan, the heroine who took her father’s place in the army, but in doing so, she tells the story as if she were Fa Mu Lan. This passage reflects how Kingston interweaves the stories of Chinese culture with her real life in America. Kingston dreams big and wishes “to grow up a woman warrior,” yet she is disappointed with her life in urban America (20). Her dream is described as a bird and a “miracle,” but “before [she] could get the words out [she] understood that the bird was insect-size because it was far away” (49). Similar to the “ships at a distance,” Kingston finds herself struggling to fit into American culture without disowning her pre-existing Chinese culture; The culture she so desperately wishes to hold on to through the story of Fa Mu Lan.
ReplyDeleteIn "White Tiger", Kingston's character is intertwined with the heroic character, Fa Mu Lan. Kingston's true character is seen through the eyes of her mother's stories. Kingston comments on her dreams saying,"'No, I haven't,' I would have said in real life" (21). Her comments helps the reader to understand that Kingston is still stuck within her dreams trying to discover her individuality. Fa Mu Lan is used to better understand her perspective and showcase the difficulties she undergoes and why she does what she does.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your response and the fact that Kingston lives through her mothers stories since she uses Fa Mu Lans experience as her own, which helps show Kingston's identity.
DeleteIn “White Tigers” from The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston, Kingston writes about how he mother told her what is expected of women in the culture, and how she will be “a wife and a slave” (Kingston 20). This shows that Kingston is being taught that she will be oppressed, but later in the passage, Kingston's mother starts telling her stories of the few women who were able to break those gender roles and become strong independent women. This gives motivation to Kingston to “grow up a warrior woman” (Kingston 20). This shows how Kingston is trying to become the strong independent woman that she hears in the stories that her mother tells her, and not just be a “ghost” of her society.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your claim of Kingston's own culture teaching her to be oppressed. I think this is systematic oppression, and not just a social norm anymore. This once social norm has evolved into a subconscious mindset which subordinates women and any other group deemed "undesirable" by the group in power.
DeleteIn Maxine Hong Kingston’s “White Tiger” Kingston creates her own identity using her mother’s stories, which she used to preserve Chinese culture and tradition, as justification for straying away. Kingston tells the story of Fa Mu Lan to make herself seem like a strong heroine instead of just a girl as “There’s no profit in raising girls” (Kingston 46). With the use of the story of Fa Mu Lan, Kingston makes decisions in her life based on her belief that “The swordswoman and I are not so dissimilar” (53). Kingston is also using the stories to prove that “girls are necessary too” (52) as well as to connect to Fa Mu Lan and preserve Chinese culture.
ReplyDeleteIn The Woman Warrior, the quote stated above shows the way that Maxine Hong Kingston moves freely between listening to her mother’s stories and taking part in them. The passage relates to the theme of reality in the story, which Kingston challenges using the warrior tale of Fa Mu Lan. She does this to escape negative gender customs enforced on her by Chinese culture. Kingston decides to leave her reality and take part in Fa Mu Lan’s story of independence and feminine pride, demonstrated as she tells the story in first person (making herself Fa Mu Lan). She also admits to this at the start of Mu Lan’s story when she mentions what she would have done “…in real life” (Kingston 21), implying that she is in another person’s story. After Kingston finishes being in the story of Fa Mu Lan, she says, “And it was important that I do something big and fine, or else my parents would sell me when we made our way back to China.” (45-46). Kingston’s reason for jumping into Mu Lan’s story is because it gave her the impression that being a warrior would alleviate her from the traditional duties of Chinese woman, like being sold as “wives or slaves” (19). As this is one of the first stories she hears about a woman like Fa Mu Lan being praised for independence, it serves as a great inspiration to her, and seemingly one of the only ways to obtain that herself.
ReplyDeleteI think it was important that you emphasized the fact that Kingston envisioned herself as Fa Mu Lan, entwining herself in this Chinese talk story and how it reveals a big part of Kingston's identity. I think you should just expand on how exactly that contributes to her understanding of herself. Not just what she believes but her understanding her place and role as a Chinese American writer.
DeleteIn “The Woman Warrior” by Maxine Kingston, the battle of living an American culture and Chinese culture at the same time is exposed. The passage that speaks about what Kingston’s mother would do night after night shows how Kingston she grew some understanding of the role of women in the Chinese culture. Throughout the novel, she is surrounded by what is the “right thing” to do or be, but searches for a way to be her own individual rather than becoming a “ghost” like many others. Her mother teaches her about Fa Mu Lan. She is a character who shows Kingston the way to be both a strong woman while being surrounded by the ways of the Chinese culture. Kingston’s mother said she “would grow up a wife and a slave, but taught [her] the song of the warrior woman, Fa Mu Lan. [She] would have to grow up a warrior woman” (20). The stories told by her mother teachers her the role of women in a household but also what it is to be a warrior influencing the type of character Kingston plays throughout the book distinguishing her from the “ghosts” who surround her.
ReplyDeleteYour analysis on The Woman Warrior is excellent. I agree that Kingston's personal conflict is reflected in the chapter "White Tigers." She has difficulty finding her own path while she's encouraged to be a slave to someone. Kingston uses Fa Mu Lan as an outlet to discover her own values to become a woman warrior. I also liked how you related the passage to "ghosts" from the film Crash.
DeleteNeve,
DeleteI agree with your response. I like how you brought up the fact that Kingston is stuck with having to balance the needs of her culture and the wants of herself as an American woman. I also like your quote, I think it supports your overall analysis very strongly. Good Job!
Kelly Acevedo
ReplyDeleteAmerican Lit. Period 5
06-03-14
In Maxine Hong Kingston's, "White Tigers," she writes about her mother's stories told to her as a child growing up in both cultures. Her mother envisioned her to successfully grow up to be a wife or a slave, preventing Kingston from dreaming about becoming a warrior or woman heroine. However, later on in her life in the book, she retells the story of Fa Mu Lan to make her seem like the heroine she always dreamed of, while at the same time, preserved her Chinese culture through the story. Since Kingston tells the story of Fa Mu Lan in the first person, she questions the reality of her cultural upbringings as a Chinese-American woman.
In No Name Woman Kingston questions the separation from “what is peculiar to… [her] mother who marked [her] growing with stories, from what is Chinese” (Kingston 5/6). In White Tigers, Kingston reinforces these same questions in a story her mom tells her of a woman warrior named Fa Mu Lan. Kingston mixes Mu Lan’s told experiences with what Kingston “would have said in real life” (Kingston 21). With these mixtures of stories and identities, Kingston is able to see the resemblance of her and this woman warrior, who sought vengeance for her family and harsh realities. Kingston suggests her writing is like the vengeance Mu Lan sought. By using an important Chinese story figure, she sees what she too can offer as a Chinese woman in America. She is able to combat social criticism through her writing and in White Tigers she is able to grasp herself as a woman warrior. She begins to realize that even if women cannot be seen in reality as a warrior in her Chinese culture, she may be able to still accomplish this status as a Chinese American. Looking within stories told by her mother, Kingston witnesses a part of herself she is able to transcend with the making of her new identity.
ReplyDeleteKingston included the passage "The White Tiger" in her novel The Woman Warrior as a reflection of Kingston's desire to be accepted and respected by her family. As a Chinese-American, Kingston is trapped by traditional Chinese gender roles that expect her to "do the women's work; then do more work, which will become ours too," (48). Kingston becomes aware of the unfair gender expectations force her into constant work with no reward, and that prevent her from ever receiving the same validation as a male. Through the story of Fa Mu Lan, Kingston creates an alternate reality where a woman is able to achieve the same respect and acceptance as a man from her Chinese community. For Fa Mu Lan, hard work is not never ending, but instead allows her to "[build] up my army enough to attack fiefdoms and to pursue [...] enemies," (Kingston 37). Fa Mu Lan was able defy the traditionally passive role of women and become an individual of action, producing tangible results from hard work while also receiving recognition and admiration.
ReplyDeleteThe story of "The White Tiger" provides an escape for Kingston, creating a world in which Kingston is able to overcome the traditional domestic role of women in order to achieve success, and most importantly, recognition and support from her community.
Maxine Kingston uses this passage in the chapter "White Tigers" of her novel The Woman Warrior to show that there is no boundary between fact and fiction. She says this as her mother tells stories of a woman warrior, Fa Mu Lan, and her journey to becoming strong and independent to fight in the war in her father's place. This entire story contradicts what her mother previously said Kingston will be "a wife and a slave" (Kingston 20). Kingston narrates the story as if she is Fa Mu Lan, and through this story, she distinguishes what her personal values are from Chinese cultural values. While her mother tells Fa Mu Lan's story to show few women are domesticated, Kingston's generation is still encouraged to aspire to be "wives or slaves" (Kingston 19).
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis on how the story of Fa Mu Lan goes against the Chinese perception on women. Why do you think her mother chose to tell her the story of Fa Mu Lan when she has the perception that women can only be either a wife or a slave?
DeleteIn the first two parts of Kingston’s memoir, Kingston has had her Chinese culture forced upon her by her mother. The passage on page nineteen shows how Kingston is annoyed with her mother’s constant nagging. Her mother has stained her self-identity and self-esteem through the tales of ‘the old country.’ Kingston’s mother warns her that she will “…grow up a wife and a slave” (Kingston 20). Through her mother, Kingston is no longer able to identify as truly Chinese or truly American, as misfit.
ReplyDelete-Brennan
Interesting approach Brennan, however "annoyed" may not be fitting for how Kingston feels. I took it more as conflicted by her mother's contradiction between what she enforces and what she subconsciously teaches. Also, when Kingston's mother says Kingston will "grow up a wife and a slave" it may not be a warning, but more of a truthful statement in Kingston's mother's eyes.
DeleteIn the chapter "White Tigers" Kingston internalizes the story of Fa Mu Lan by making herself that character and living the experience of the woman warrior to further understand herself. Kingston goes through many different experiences as Fa Mu Lan as a way of fulfilling her need to separate herself from the label of a "ghost": "I would have for a husband my own playmate...We will be so happy when I come back to the valley, healthy and strong and not a ghost" (Kingston 31). The stories allow Kingston to fulfill her personal wants and the wants of her family as well. She strives to become deeply rooted in her culture by being Fa Mu Lan and not becoming a ghost. Kingston is also able to carry out the traits of a man while still being a woman to fulfill her want of not breaking away from her culture: "I hid from battle only once, when I gave birth to our baby" (Kingston 40). Kingston is able to keep the appearance of a man fighting for his family and country but is secretly carrying out the duty of a woman by giving birth to a child. By becoming part of the story, Kingston is able to fulfill her needs as a woman, but also as an individual within her Asian culture.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth: your analysis of the piece was insightful and maintained a clear concise structure from beginning to end. Though I would agree that Kingston connects the life and mysticism of Fa Mu Lan with her own reality I would disagree with your statement that the purpose of is to combat the criticism social criticism she faced. Rather, Maxine Han Kingston writes White Tigers in The Woman Warrior, as chapter that describes conflict, in order to symbolize the conflict she faces in her life as a Chinese American woman. Fa Mu Lan is a story of a woman that is told to Kingston by her mother. Mu Lan was a woman who was praised by her community and given the villagers most precious, "gifts... their sons" (Kingston 36). Kingston admires Mu Lan because in contrast she lives in a environment where she is devalued for her gender, and when she tries to gain greater independence and change gender as Mu Lan did, her mother, "[yells] 'Bad girl'" (Kingston 47), creating a paradox between the image of independence her mother gives of a strong woman by telling her about fa Mu lan and her actual parenting of Kingston. Kingston lives her life with a conflicted image of herself as both an independent woman and a housewife, prompting her narrate as Mu lan in order to be able to clarify these conflicting identities.
ReplyDelete"Night after night, my mother would talk-story until we fell asleep," Kingston writes. "I couldn't tell where the stories left and the dreams began, her voice the voice of heroines in my sleep" (19). .
ReplyDeleteThis passage is important because it demonstrates Kingston's complex understanding of self in that she does not have a concrete character personality, yet creates character personalities for those with no name. When referring to her mother during her youth, Kingston recalls, "She said I would grow up a wife and a slave, but she taught me the song of the warrior woman, Fa Mu Lan," (20). By being being told one supposed absolute, but learning through another, uncertainty in her personality is set in early on. The uncertainty is highlighted as the unique autobiography continues when stories from the past or some fabricated combine with what is believed to be her own reality. Later after seeing through the magical gourd the trouble with the men in her family while she simultaneously is menstruating, Kingston writes, "i bled and thought about the people to be killed ; I bled and thought about the people to be born" (33). The parallelism in the excerpt comes from the repetition which enforces that Kingston shares the pain that her family feels with "I bled". The opposites of those being killed and those being born references the cycle of life and also another balanced confusion similar to those of identity in Kingston's life.
I like your analysis, it is thorough and I agree that Kingston does not have a concrete personality, and creates these new personalities.
DeleteAdriana Amador
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
In "The Woman Warrior", Kingston narrates the story of Fa Mu Lan through first person despite this not being her own experience. This combining of herself and a legendary, female warrior is significant because not only does it appeal to the audience in the present that Kingston addresses, however, it also obviously blends Kingston’s Chinese heritage with her American culture. Kingston had to create her own Chinese history, therefore, placing herself in a famous story of another, more widely accepted, heroine she has given herself and audiences an understanding of who she is as an Asian-American. This relates to the mother’s voice being the “voice of heroines” (Kingston 19) because just like Kingston who has “become” Fa Mu Lan, her mother has also “become” other famous legends in order to tell the folk stories which shape the Chinese culture and Kingston’s version of her Chinese culture.
I agree with you Adriana. The story gives Kingston a feeling of acceptance from her mother because she places herself into this Chinese character that saved her village. I didn't get the connection to the passage right away but now I understand that her mom's voice adds to Kingston's imaginary hero dream as a voice of reason and Kingston's Chinese culture.
DeleteIn The Woman Warrior, the passage of "Night after night, my mother would talk-story until we fell asleep," Kingston writes. "I couldn't tell where the stories left and the dreams began, her voice the voice of heroines in my sleep" (Kingston 19), connects to Kingston’s fantasies about Fa Mu Lan to her quest for female empowerment within her Chinese and American cultures, which establishes her identity as a Chinese-American. During her fantasy about Fa Mu Lan, Kingston states how awesome she is as a military leader. Kingston says “I inspired my army...At night I sang to them glorious songs that came out of the sky and into my head...We brought order wherever we went” (Kingston 37), which depicts Fa Mu Lan (Kingston is the fantasy) as a powerful figure. In this time and place where “Chinese executed women disguised as soldiers...no matter how bravely they fought” (Kingston 39), Fa Mu Lan empowers herself and thus empowers Kingston. Kingston uses this fantasy as motivation for her small-scale liberation struggle in her Chinese culture. After one villager says “Feeding girls is like feeding cowbirds” (Kingston 46), Kingston “would thrash on the floor and scream so hard that I (she) couldn’t talk” (Kingston 46). This is like her Fa Mu Lan fantasy in the sense that both scenarios reject the traditional treatment and role of Chinese women. Kingston begins to understand herself after she has experienced hardships from both her Chinese culture, and her American life. Kingston’s boss says”’Nigger yellow’” (Kingston 48), which is a racially discriminatory comment towards her. After experiencing rejection in both her Chinese life and discrimination in her American lifestyle, Kingston finds herself as a true Chinese-American; a group that deals with the tug-of-war between their traditional values and their new ones, but are ultimately neglected by both.
ReplyDeleteIn “The Woman Warrior” by Maxine Kingston, she could not “tell where the stories left and the dreams began” (Kingston 19) as the talk-stories that her mother told her transferred from reality to fantasy and vice versa, which mixed Kingston’s understanding of Chinese culture and Chinese folktales. Kingston’s mother attempts to prevent the cultural genocide of her daughter by telling her such stories and learning from such customs. However, Kingston is being taught of the oppression of Chinese women in a free country where all persons are essentially equal no matter you sex, religion, race, et cetera, which affects her understanding of why these women would not stand up for themselves as American women did in the woman’s rights movement. Being taught two different cultures and identities, that of Chinese and American, would make Kingston question herself of which identity should she define herself as, since the term Chinese-American is a contradiction on itself for women since one cannot be oppressed by the Chinese society and be a free and independent person in America; these two cultures cannot be utilized as one whole definition to a person as there differences are great and customs, laws, style of government contradict each other. Kinston, despite of the challenge of defining herself between an American or a Chinese individuals, decides to define an understanding of herself by using her mother’s talk-stories which perfectly blends the oppression and triumphs of a Chinese woman although some of the stories are fantasies. With this new identity that Kingston creates, she can now live in America while still culturally preserve herself by living through the identity she made based on the Fa Mu Lan and the oppression that the Chinese women endured.
ReplyDeleteIn the "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston, Kingston collided her life in the U.S with the story her mom tells her of Fa Mu Lan in order to create an identity for her herself with the mix of cultures. When Kingston's mother tells her the story of Fa Mu Lan, Kingston begins to picture herself as her, and when retelling her story as Fa Mu Lan Kingston adds on her own American bias. When telling the Fa Mu Lan story as Kingston she encounters the villagers Kingston in her mind states “I like chocolate chip cookies”(21). Kingston ties her American and identity in her Chinese experience in order to understand herself as a Chinese-American. Kingston later states, "The swordsman and I are not so dissimilar" (40). Kingston relates to Fa Mu Lan yet still has an American lense in which she uses to see life. Although Kingston can connect to Fa Mu Lan she is still in the middle of the clash of cultures, thus proves the struggle of being a Chinese-American.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Women Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston, Kingston connects herself and her struggle to break away from the Chinese oppression of women through Fa Mu Lan, a young woman who takes her father’s place in battle, disguised as a man. Through this talk story Kingston is able to combine both her Chinese culture and also her American culture by showing Kingston's identity as a women who wants to be more than "a wife and a slave" (Kingston 20).
ReplyDeleteIn The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston Kingston, Kingston’s mother telling her bedtime stories allows Kingston to picture herself as the heroine in the stories, thus empowering herself. One of the stories Kingston is told is the story of Fa Mu Lan. As Kingston starts to fall asleep, she pictures herself going on the journey that Fa Mu Lan goes on, breaking free of the stereotype given to women of a wife and a slave and empowering herself. The stereotypes are broken when she decides to empower herself in the form of Fa Mu Lan “She said i would grow up to be a wife and a slave, but she taught me the song of the warrior women, Fa Mu Lan. I would have to grow up a warrior woman.” (Kingston 20) The stories told to Kingston are meant to help her embrace her culture and in that attempt, rather than embrace it, Kingston uses it to empower herself and grow, both as an American and a Chinese-American.
ReplyDeleteIn The Woman Warrior, Kingston shares with us that her mother would tell stories from old traditional folk tales until they fell asleep. She tells us that she had a dream that would relate to the story of Fa Mulan that would directly be an element in her the speaker’s dream. A major theme in this book of a Chinese-American finding her own identity is in fact the idea of an identity. The speaker shares with us that she would tell her mom about her American side of living which was getting straight A’s in her classes but her mother pushes the idea of being not being good enough because she responds with “Let me tell you a true story about a girl who saved her village.”(45) Kingston says that her American life was a disappointment. Her mother tells her of a story about a brave woman in China who saves the people creating an identity for her daughter to learn about and soon grow into. So the speaker dreams of this warrior and this warrior detaches herself from a woman slave identity that was given to her by her own family and village. After achieving this the warrior comes back and creates her own identity of being a woman and a mother but also this warrior that has of equal strength as a mom or a woman. She breaks away from it and this helps the speaker find her own strength to break away from her own label when she says “And I have so many words- ‘chink’ words and ‘gook’ words too- that they do not fit on my skin.”(53)
ReplyDeleteIn the second chapter, White Tigers of The Woman Warrior by Maxine Kingston, Kingston’s mother contradicts the gender roles she establishes by telling the story of Fa Mu Lan, a woman warrior. Kingston’s mother tells Kingston that she will grow up to be “a wife and a slave” (Kingston 20). Here, Kingston’s mother explains that the Chinese female is essentially domesticated to be a slave to their husband. Kingston’s mother proceeds to tell the story of Fa Mu Lan, a strong female that broke the gender role of being a domesticated housewife by becoming a warrior. Instead of being confused by the conflicting female identities her mother presents to her, Kingston finds comfort in the story of Fa Mu Lan. In the first chapter on the text, No Name Woman, Kingston learns the story of her aunt that became a “ghost” in her family when she broke Chinese traditions. Kingston struggles with preserving her Chinese culture while continuing to be a strong woman. The identity of Fa Mu Lan, a woman both strong and praised by the Chinese culture gave Kingston hope that she could be strong and independent of Chinese gender roles. Kingston uses Fa Mu Lan and the “voices of heroines” to blend her realistic and imaginative identities, allowing her to escape reality and use these heroines to lead her down the path of self discovery.
ReplyDeleteNaomi Morales
ReplyDeleteIn "The Women Warrior" Kingston's mother's talk-stories become more of a guidance to Kingston to defy the traditional culture her mother had tried to scare her into in the first chapter "No Name Woman". Kingston mother states "Now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you. Don't humiliate us. You wouldn't like to be forgotten as if you hadn't been born" (5). Kingston is supposed to fear being rejected and to follow the traditions but in "White Tiger" the story of Fa Mu Lan brought change in Kingston's life "if i could not-eat, perhaps I could make myself a warrior like the swordsman who drives me" (48). Fa Mu Lan's talk-story defied gender roles,and she became a hero to Kingston, as she was going into adulthood, Fa Mu Lan helped her set her path into changing her role in society.
In Maxine Hong Kingston's, "The Woman Warrior: White Tiger", Kingston tries to personify what she believes to be a "true warrior" but that dream clashes with her reality. Her femininity deprives her of the ability to find a balance between woman and warrior. In the chapter Kingston is caught in battle in the middle of her pregnancy, "I hid from the battle only once, when i gave birth to our baby." This part of the story as she gives birth to her child, displays her feminine side but when she later gives the child to her husband, switching naturally assumed roles, it emphasizes on her masculinity. Kingston as a child was lost withi her own two worlds of real and fake. As a girl, "Night after night, my mother would talk-story, until we fell asleep. I couldn't tell where the stories left or the dreams began, her voice, the voice of heroines in my sleep" (Kingston 19) she was lost as a child and was left to differentiate the reality and fantasy. She as a young girl has held on to that habit and continues to do it as an adult.
ReplyDeleteIn “The Woman Warrior” by Maxine Kingston, Kingston mixes fiction and fact in order to try to overcome her own sense of oppression. She tries to stop being a ghost by becoming embodying Fa Mu Lan, a strong woman who fought for her country and became a hero. In her childhood, Kingston was “taught the song of the woman warrior”(Kingston 10). She wishes she could be like the woman warrior and embrace her individuality rather than despise it. She grew up loving the Woman Warrior because they both overcame hardships. Kingston states, “the Swordswoman and I are not dissimilar”(Kingston 53). The story of the swordswoman tells its listeners what they can truly accomplish. The story of the Woman Warrior was not a story of a woman who happened to be a warrior, but a warrior who happened to be a woman.
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