Finding the Voice to Speak

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Finding the voice to speak "The Woman Warrior" consists of five stories which focuses on five women: Kingston's long-dead aunt, "No-Name Woman"; a mythical female warrior, Fa Mu Lan; Kingston's mother, Brave Orchid; Kingston's aunt, Moon Orchid; and finally Kingston herself. Based on her mother's stories, which are integrated with Kingston's imagination, "The Woman Warrior" reveals her past childhood experiences, and explores her struggle to reconcile her Chinese heritage with her American identity. It is only at the very end that Kingston realizes that, through her writing, she can express her concern about the unfairness toward the voiceless Chinese women. In the beginning of the first chapter, Kingston has made the theme of the book very clear: Chinese women are voiceless. It is notably ironic that the story begins with something that is supposed not to be said: her unnamed dead aunt: "`You must not tell anybody about that', said my mother." (1) From a Chinese's perspective, adultery is an awful thing that should not be mentioned because it is considered a shame of the family. Any woman who commits adultery must be her fault. However, Kingston does not agree on that. In fact, she even shows sympathy to her aunt. "The [aunt's] real punishment was not the raid swiftly inflicted by the villagers, but the family's deliberately forgetting her. . . . My aunt haunts me--her ghost drawn to me because now, after fifty years of neglect, I alone devote pages of paper to her." She felt that her aunt who became pregnant other than her husband might only was a mistake. Her tragedy happened was due to the Chinese tradition. Kingston believes that Chinese women become voiceless in a traditional, male dominated Chinese society is not be... ... middle of paper ... ...sell people. Can't you take a joke? You can't even tell a joke from real life." This clearly shows that how Kingston struggles in finding her voice due to her misunderstanding of her mother's saying. Although it takes a long while for Kingston to find her own voice, she finally realizes that the power to gain words in order to show her identity actually comes from her mother and also her identity as a Chinese ancestor. By finally understand all those stories and myths given by her mother, Kingston eventually begins to tell story about herself. This shows that she begins able to live harmoniously, in both Chinese and American cultures. In the end, talking her past through writing has become a way for her to cure her silence, and to retain her identity as the true first American Chinese in her family. I have consulted writing tutor in the writing workshop.

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