Maxine Hong Kingston's The Women Warrior

Maxine Hong Kingston's The Women Warrior explores the tension of individual and collected identity through storytelling. In the three short stories, "No Name Woman," "White Tiger," and "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe," Kingston uses narratives as her main strategy to question the traditional Chinese community that remains undisrupted, and that continues to oppress women. In analyzing the autobiography, Kingston uses silence to show the oppression, while the storytelling serves as a form to find her own voice. Each of the stories refer to women who Kingston has identified with- women without a voice, they serve as a reminder of hope and what she could become. She integrates oral storytelling told by her mother to indicate the unresolved experiences, and to add her own interpretation of them. In a way, her mother serves as the guide for Kingston who wants to find her own voice and break the barriers of oppression. The autobiography is about the

There is a voice in everyone, but sometimes it is buried deeply inside. They have to fight their way to be able to find it, and that is what Kingston does. Her story is true, and heartfelt as she is aware of what she is bringing to herself. However, that is what everyone needs to do even if young girls are afraid of the backlash that they can receive from their families, they still need to continue to fight for change. Linda Morante confirms the "warning of a child frightened by a desolate expanse of widening silence" that she no longer wants to participate in (78). There is a widening silence in the Chinese community, and most of the time, they are unwilling to change that. However, while women have grown to become used to that silence, Kingston has not. She no longer wants to participate in a culture that forces women into oppression, and brings the stories forward to break through the