Tina's review
bookshelves:
read-for-school
status:
Read in February, 2008 — I have a copy to sell/swap
** spoiler alert **
"The Woman Warrior" explores a girl's search for identity. Is she Chinese, American, a ghost, a slave, a crazy woman? The writing is so unique, written in a memoir yet fictional manner. Very poetic, beautiful writing that asks to be read aloud. I actually did read some aloud to Chris, just because I was so struck by the passage that I had to share it with someone. I'm so glad I read this!
Here's my entry for the class discussion board:
In “The Woman Warrior”, we learn how difficult it is for Chinese-American girls to develop a sense of identity. Where do they belong: In the world of China, where girls are discarded as slaves and called maggots, or the world of America trying to fit in amongst the ghosts? To reiterate the point of her unattainable identity, the narrator never reveals her name to her readers. This makes her even more anonymous to us, and accentuates the fact that she herself has had difficulty discovering whom she really is.
Growing up, her mother ...more
"The Woman Warrior" explores a girl's search for identity. Is she Chinese, American, a ghost, a slave, a crazy woman? The writing is so unique, written in a memoir yet fictional manner. Very poetic, beautiful writing that asks to be read aloud. I actually did read some aloud to Chris, just because I was so struck by the passage that I had to share it with someone. I'm so glad I read this!
Here's my entry for the class discussion board:
In “The Woman Warrior”, we learn how difficult it is for Chinese-American girls to develop a sense of identity. Where do they belong: In the world of China, where girls are discarded as slaves and called maggots, or the world of America trying to fit in amongst the ghosts? To reiterate the point of her unattainable identity, the narrator never reveals her name to her readers. This makes her even more anonymous to us, and accentuates the fact that she herself has had difficulty discovering whom she really is.
Growing up, her mother did not fully teach her about her Chinese heritage and customs. Instead, her mom was upset by her questions and disgusted that these things weren’t instinctive to her daughter. The author writes, “From the configurations of food my mother set out, we kids had to infer the holidays. She did not whip us up with holiday anticipation or explain…How can Chinese keep any traditions at all? They don’t even make you pay attention, slipping in a ceremony a clearing the table before the children notice specialness” (185). In some respects her mother had given up on her American born children maintaining a sense of Chinese heritage, or understanding Chinese “ways”. When forcing Moon Orchid to face her husband, Brave Orchid says to her son “You can’t understand business begun in China. Just do what I say. Go.” (151). She doesn’t accept the fact that her children might have some insight into life in America and instead treats them as if they have no understanding of life on either continent. She also refers to her children as Americans, (“Don’t be silly. You Americans don’t take life seriously.” (150), yet for years the children lived with the expectation that someday their family would move back to China. This must have further confused their sense of belonging.
As a result of her befuddled identity, the author grows up unsure of her place in the world. She refuses to talk when she enters public school and even when she begins talking she does so in an unsure, “squeezed duck” voice. She becomes infuriated at the girl who never talks, perhaps because she sees herself in the girl, and tries to force the girl to speak. I found it particularly interesting that she spent so much time describing this episode between her and the silent girl, alone in the bathroom. I believe she was combating herself at this moment, trying to force herself to speak normally. The author also is full of fear. She’s afraid of ghosts, afraid of becoming a crazy woman, afraid of being married to a man she doesn’t know, afraid of being sold for a slave. These are all types of identities that she knows she doesn’t want thrust upon her, but which her mother has led her to believe could be a possibility for her life. Even as a grown woman, returning home for a visit, her mother still has a strong hold on her daughter’s sense of well being and identity. “I could feel her stare – her eyes two lights warm on my graying hair, then on the creases at the sides of my mouth, my thin neck, my think cheeks, my thin arms. I felt her sight warm each of my bony elbows, and I flopped about in my fake sleep to hide them from her criticism.” (100). Once again, she is viewing herself from her mother’s perspective (too skinny!) and she loses her own sense of self.
One last point that I found fascinating was how she has researched her Chinese heritage. Throughout the novel, she mentions phrases and words that she has tried to discover the meaning to. One example is Ho Chi Kuei, for which she lists about 12 different translations that she’s discovered. She continually searches for a fuller understanding of who she is, and where her identity lies.
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The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts 
