The Woman Warrior is told in 5 chapters all based on the stories of five women. Kingston’s forever dead aunt, Chapter One “No Name Woman”, a mythical female warrior, Fa Mu Lan, Chapter 2, Kingston’s mother, Brave Orchid Chapter 3, Moon Orchid, Kingston’s aunt, Chapter 4, and finally Kingston herself, Chapter 5. In the first chapter, “No Name Woman,” begins with an aunt Kingston never knew she had existed or even lived. This aunt had brought disgrace upon her family by having an un-authorized child. She committed suicide by killing both herself and her baby by jumping into a family well in China. When she heard the fable, which is told to be a curse and forbidden, Kingston is never permitted to reference her aunt ever again, and it the story …show more content…
Also known as Mulan in the Disney movies. Fa Mu Lan’s story is told through Kingston’s first person narrative. She trains to become a warrior since she was seven years old. She leaves her family to be trained by a group of an old couple and becomes ready to fight. She then returns to her family and they are so glad to see her. They tattooed her, putting the family symbol to represent them. She now leaves, and then leads an army of men or villagers, (and even pretending to be a man herself) against the forces of a corrupt aristocrat and emperor. After the emperor is defeated she returns to her family becoming a wife and mother. This story is sharply compared to Kingston’s own life in America, which she can barely deal with her racist bosses, the color “Nigger Yellow”. However her words are the weapons that defeat the …show more content…
“ Shaman is mainly about Kingston’s mother as a non-parent in China. Brave Orchid, also the antagonist of the stor. Brave Orchid was a powerful healer, wife, and the destroyer of evil spirits. To a young Kingston, Brave Orchid’s past is as stupefy as it is horrific, and a lot of the images from her mother’s story, Chinese babies were left to die, slave girls being bought and sold, a woman being attacked by stones till death by her villagers, those haunt Kingston’s dreams for years. After many disagreement and conflicts, they eventually arrive at some kind of understanding and become normal family people, with warm love. The title of “At the Western Palace” refers to another of Kingston’s mom’s stories (Brave Orchid.), a ruler who married four women. It is a comparison for her sister Moon Orchid’s (aunt) situation: Moon Orchid’s husband, a successful Los Angeles doctor, he had left her in China and remarried in the United States. Brave Orchid urges her sister into a dreadful encounter with her husband that demands her part as his wife. As a result, Moon Orchid, who doesn’t know anything about the English language, she is left to repel for herself in America. She suddenly goes insane and dies in a California state mental
Within Megan H. Mackenzie’s essay, “Let Women Fight” she points out many facts about women serving in the U.S. military. She emphasizes the three central arguments that people have brought up about women fighting in the military. The arguments she states are that women cannot meet the physical requirements necessary to fight, they simply don’t belong in combat, and that their inclusion in fighting units would disrupt those units’ cohesion and battle readiness. The 1948 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act built a permanent corps of women in all the military departments, which was a big step forward at that time. Although there were many restrictions that were put on women, an increase of women in the U.S. armed forces happened during
Do you believe all women are smart enough to get an education or strong enough to go to war? In countries like Afghanistan and even America, there is a preconceived notion that women are simply best for bearing children, raising them, cleaning, and cooking for their husbands. From a young age, many women are given gendered roles, such as being taught by society to find husbands and care for children. For instance, girls are given baby dolls and kitchen sets for their birthdays instead of books. In Flashes of War, by Katey Schultz, the two stories “Deuce Out” and “Aaseya and Rahim” the protagonists Stephanie and Aaseya may live in different worlds, but they share much more than we think. Because of predetermined expectations that society has imposed upon women, Schultz’s book comes to a surprise since it defies pre-conceived notions of women.
Fa Mu Lan is a changing character who grows from a little girl to a renowned warrior to a kind mother. On the other hand, Abigail Williams remains stubborn, selfish, and influential throughout her story. Their external circumstances either shape them or don’t. While they are alike because they both face challenges, Fa Mu La challenges adversity causing her to gain strength as a character and for Abigail, it is others disagreeing and conflicting with her.
In the chapter "White Tigers" from her book The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston first fantasizes of a Chinese woman warrior before switching back to the reality of her American life as a woman. Using her imagination, Kingston dreams of a strong female avenger who manages to satisfy often opposing roles, such as warrior and mother and who receives honor and respect from her family. Yet in her true life, Kingston faces a much different world in which she struggles to fight for her beliefs and encounters disapproval from her parents. Employing her fantasy which starkly contrasts her real life, Kingston provides an alternate, more liberated view of a woman's role and abilities which reflects her own aspirations and wishes for an ideal life.
The three additional important fact that were in the book were Revolutionary Women, Railroads and Telegraph, and Commodore Mathew Perry and the opening of trade in Japan.
Kingston, Maxine Hong. "No Name Woman." 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. 4th Edition. Ed. Samuel Cohen. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 227-39. Print.
With the advanced development of technology, specifically DNA analysis, the process of how historical research is conducted can divert from a traditional approach to a scientific method which can potentially avoid usual historical evidence. The article “Famous Viking Warrior Was a Woman, DNA Reveals”, by Judith Jesch, discusses an uncovered Viking grave that contained a skeleton along side items that are normally buried with warriors, and the skeleton's DNA was later tested to discover that the skeleton was a woman. With the found information, and DNA evidence, the archaeologists concluded that the skeleton was that of a great female Viking warrior leader. The analysis is debated through the article “Let's Debate Female Viking Warriors Yet Again” by a series of
Throughout the second chapter of her memoir, “White Tigers”, Kingston recalls the story of Fa Mu Lan, the mythical woman warrior, which her mother tells her as a child
In The Woman Warrior, Kingston develops the image of a dragon as a symbolic reference to her fight against the unbearable expectations women are supposed to uphold in order to illustrate how living with these expectations has impacted Kingston in a positive way. While in the mountains, a bird leads Kingston to an old couple who asks her to stay with them. They show her a mirage of her parents, which ultimately persuades her to accept their request. Remaining with the couple, she is trained to become a fierce and powerful warrior, disregarding the over-exaggerated social standards pertaining to women. Although years later she is forced to remain where she is, she eventually puts her training to use and goes to battle disguised as a man. Throughout
In “What Happens When Women Fight Back”, Joan Walsh argues that women are the best hope to save the country after Donald Trump’s inauguration. Walsh celebrates the fact that “the woman-powered resistance is more vital, brilliant, and powerful than she has ever dreamed” and, that they are in a constant fight with the now current president, Donald Trump. Throughout the article, Walsh attacks Trump and his actions while in office. Walsh seems to target Trump in many instances throughout her article, but her main point is that the resistance movement led by women is growing each and every day. These women have on goal in mind, gender equality. Walsh seems to hint that Trump is an obstacle they have to overcome to achieve their goal. Walsh makes it clear that she is a firm believer in the women’s movement, and that these women are the best hope to save the country from Donald Trump, and his unjust policies.
Kingston’s “No Name Woman” is a story that revolves around morals, society and family expectations, and women role in society. Kingston writes the story of her aunt that committed suicide in China and she has never heard of until her mother spoke of her once. The purpose of Kingston story is to show women role in China and how women were trap in their society.
For those who have forgotten, Mulan tells the story of a young Chinese woman who runs away from home dressed as a man to join the army in her father’s
Not every female warrior was mythical. Joan of Arc is possibly the most famous female warrior. But there were many others who do not receive recognition for their accomplishments. An e...
The legend states that Hua Mulan lived during the Northern Wei dynasty. She is a mythical figure from ancient China portrayed in the Chinese poem, Ballad of Mulan. Though both princess warrior show and movie, The Legend of Hua Mulan and Disney’s Mulan have different character personalities and reasons of going to war. The Legend of Hua Mulan is straightforward and seeks to depict Mulan as a warrior. Disney’s Mulan, however, depicts Mulan as trying to prove her parents wrong and bring home a man as in all Disney movies. This shows that Hua Mulan is a better role to girls that Disney’s Mulan.
Kingston writes about herself as Fa Mu Lan because she dreams of becoming a warrior. Kingston contrasted this story with her own life in America, where she can barely stand up her racist bosses. Then she realizes she was strong enough to face them. This is another example of how her race affected her and how people treat her as a person. In the third chapter, “Shaman” predominantly focuses on Kingston’s mother, Brave Orchid and her old like back in China. As a child, Kingston was terrified of her mother’s talk story where she was told that Chinese babies are left to die, slave girls being bought and sold, etc. The story ends by her visiting her mom after not seeing her for a