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When reading the chapter “At The Western Palace”, there was so much that took place that started to make more sense now then when first reading the book.  So many different obstacles occurred which made the characters in the book to be more brave and stronger.  One of the characters, Moon Orchid, finds out some horrible news that her husband that she married back in China has remarried and started a new family in America.  Her husband moved to Los Angeles to become a successful doctor about thirty years ago and they have not seen each other since.  The reason being they have not seen each other in so long was due to money issues and not being able to afford a plane fare.  When she first lands in America she is absolutely thrilled and is so happy to finally be able to live in this country.  Moon refers to America as “ The Gold Mountains”, which in my opinion is a great way to describe a place that someone has wanted to come visit and now finally has. Unfortunately, her sister brought her to America to confront her cheating husband and his new family that he has started with this new woman.  But she is too embarrassed and doesn’t want to confront the man, so Brave starts to encourage her to do so and says if she doesn’t do anything about it that she will do it herself.  When reading this chapter, so many thoughts and questions were going through my head about this situation that took place.  It makes me wonder what Moon was mentally going through when she found out about the horrible news that she received.  

While reading this chapter and seeing how the characters were dealing with this situation, there were several lines that really stood out to me due to the way each person would be speaking with each other.  “Maybe we ought to put your aunt in the middle of the street, and she can lie down with her legs bent over.  But Moon Orchid kept shaking her head in trembling no’s.” “Why don’t you push her down in the intersection and pour ketchup on her? I’ll run her over in a little bit. Said her son”(150).   From an outsider’s perspective, I was in total shock by the way the characters would be communicating knowing that Moon Orchid was going through a tough situation.   They way they would say these things and not put her feelings into consideration, it mind blowing to me.  Having to read this chapter about this type of situation makes it more appealing to me how important it is to always think before you say or do something toward someone.  Connecting this lesson towards the book, readers can see that this is not the only time a character says something that is totally uncalled for towards someone else regardless if they have a different obstacle going on in their life.  As the chapter continues, the “ghost” gets brought back up towards the end of the chapter and continues to make connections from the previous chapters when they would also mention the “ghost”. Bringing up the “ghost” makes the book even more mysterious and draws the readers into the book even more.  The author created these “ghosts” with different occupations that are attached to their name throughout the book.  Reading about these ghosts and how they go along with the story line, makes me think about why the characters are even thinking about ghosts.  “That week a letter came from my niece saying that Moon Orchid had become afraid.  Moon Orchid said that she had overheard Mexican ghosts plotting on her life.  She had been creeping along the baseboards and peeping out the windows.” (155).  Reading this quote makes the readers wonder why the ghosts have such an important role in this book and what they could be foreshadowing.  In some class discussions, we have talked about what the ghost could represent when they use an occupation word when talking about the ghost.  As a class we have come up with some ideas that they could mean or what they could be signs of.  We came up with how they could stand for fears that people have or even some of the unexpected events that could try to happen in the book.  This keeps the outside viewers on edge when reading about this and makes them wonder if that is the true meaning.  

When reading this chapter, the author made so many different obstacles to occur that would make the readers on edge.  Having to see how the characters interact with each other and communicate, it is so interesting to hear and wonder why they talk to each other with rude comments.  Then when the author continues to talk about the “ghosts” it makes sure the readers are thinking of what could happen in the future with the characters.  In conclusion, reading this chapter keeps the readers on their toes and wonders what could happen in the future for the characters.  

Discussion Questions

1.  Why do you think Kingston keeps creating these types of situations that the characters have to face? Do you think there could have been a better outcome?
2.  How does the title of this chapter “At The Western Palace” connect to the obstacles that occurred in this chapter?  

Citations
‘At The Western Palace’ , The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston

I Attended the event Distinguished voices with Benjamin Garcia. Benjamin Garcia is a poet who shared his poems in the Corey Union Fireplace lounge. He shared the book Thrown in the Throat which is an award winning book. This book won the National Poetry series and the Eugene Paul Nassau Poetry Prize. Garcia read a few of his poems from this book but then also jumped into some new work that he was working on. Garcia was a very good speaker and gave background on each poem before reading them to help people get an understanding of them. This was great because many people even myself struggle to understand some poems and it gave a better understanding to what as going on and what it was about. Garcia said his main objective when righting is that people get something from it like excitement even if they don’t understand the poem. 

One common theme I found from all of his writings was language. Garcia talks about how profanity to him his hate and discrimination. I found this interesting because most profanities are used in those situations but I also understand how most of the time it isn’t used for that. Language is a big aspect in writing because that can take a simple topic into a more complex topic. Each one of his topics were worded in a way that made more light be shed to a topic he questioned. I found it interesting that he would use profanity because that causes a smaller group that you can sell to. I found this interesting because if he wanted to shed more light on these topics you would want a larger group to sell to. 

I liked the Q and A because he talked a lot about writing advice which can go for anything. I also liked this because you can hear his responses to ordinary everyday people. This is good because usually a question you have someone else ends up asking.

There is not one set manner to express individual values, stories, and feelings especially in literature and Benjamin Garcia surely intends to break these regulations of typical works. Earlier this week in the Corey Union Fireplace Lounge, the English Department shared one of many distinguished voices in literature where Benjamin Garcia shared his groundbreaking take on poetry with his non-fiction, Thrown in the Throat. There, he read his poems which shared non-traditional values to invoke a reaction from queer people of color as well as a furthering his stance on issues often faced in immigrant households, restraints in today’s America and the innerworkings of balance of one’s identity. Although his poetry was meant for a specific audience, all can take something from his humorous yet emotional writings as everyone can relate to a sense of rejection and even opposition to modern society. However, this was not a typical poem read in a high school classroom. Most have a certain perception of what writing must look like but with Garcia’s colorful language, he was able to work with a broader field which although might seem vulgar, he clarifies that is anything but. Garcia genuinely believes that words are just words and if cursing in poetry is incorrect, so is disrespect of another human being based on something that is not controlled. His work is unique and resonates with an audience that does not understand his personal struggles but can promote a deeper human understanding once he leaves. 

Language truly is a principal factor in any writing and even with the tone throughout, Garcia ensures his work is far more complex and emotional than what it may seem with question sharks, to boundaries, egg teeth, the corpus flower and even a taco. Each poem was carefully crafted to bring light to something he questions and while reverting to his own experience, his work flourishes into poetry which is typically not seen. Furthermore, he emphasizes that each experience is unique to each person as are opinions. However, with this his work appealed to me as he discussed his beliefs of his Hispanic family and experiences I could relate to at some points in my life. What was especially intriguing was the manner he weft Spanish into his poetry so effortlessly and in a manner that only annunciated the importance in one language over the other. Although his use of language could be portrayed inappropriate, the introduction to it only proved how much society stops us and corrects the wrong actions. His language only accentuated the meaning of situations that immigrants may face of being colorists and judgmental due to their culture along or even destigmatizes sexual relationships which are taboo today. By bringing awareness to these, we unleash a side of humanity that all think but do not describe outside the comfort of our personal relationships. There he further defines that his poetry is just writing as he pleases, such as creative works should be. Throughout the event, he emphasizes that he is proud that his work truly belongs to him and that he did not hold back in any way whether it be the genre he was to compose to or the topics he discussed as his poetry was released as a non-fiction due to it not falling along the guidelines it needed. However, he further compared this to the manner that genre could fall within or outside of a spectrum such as all people do whether they deny it or not and that even in this “a poem is a series of arranged mistakes” in which one can decide where to take it. He truly did this even granting himself permission to discuss and speak in the manner he did and by the end of it I believe all can say they were pleasantly surprised and swayed by his writing.  

Garcia’s book can be relayed back to the experience of all people as someone in their family had to emigrate to the Americas and experience the experiences he had. Struggling with sexuality, gender, culture or poverty are all grand and common issues in our society and help conform people into their own individual identity. Whether it be relating their culture to a taco as he did or breaking glass ceiling regarding open discussions, every person has faced their individual battles and that is clear. Even in class we can relate stories told through works such as, The Raisin in the Sun, back to his poetry to describe poverty and discrimination in a way one cannot control their identity but is bound to face discrimination. In the previous situation in which the family was in, they could not afford much, and money became the root of their issues which sparked aggression amongst all, Garcia had experienced as well. In the way, his family did not have space, they did not either, where he felt a burden to his family, all in the Younger family had as well. Furthermore, Garcia felt a common internal struggle in balancing his identity while separating it from his life in America which is a common thing among Kingston’s The Woman Warrior, as she struggles to find herself. Overall, we observe that multicultural literature follows us and brings great points of discussion in the understanding of one another and Benjamin Garcia does an amazing job doing so in his though provoking works. 

For the Distinguished Voices in Literature Event, the author for this event was Benjamin Garcia. He is a poet and most commonly known for his book, Thrown in the Throat, which was a winner of The National Poetry Series. During this event, he read many of his poems from this particular book and then he read a few new things that he has been working on. One thing he kept mentioning throughout the event was about how he likes to make his writing fun or bring some type of enjoyment to it. Even if the reader cannot relate to or understand his writing, he wants people to get something out of it. I did end up enjoying all of his poems and I really liked his writing style. Before each poem, he would give a little background about it, which definitely made a difference when it came to understanding his writing. 

One thing that really stood out in his writing was the different messages he was trying to get across. In the poems from Thrown in the Throat, he included a lot of profanity. To me, I thought it brought humor to his poems. He went on to explain how to use these words were profanity but profanity to him was discrimination and violence in the world. I really loved the way he compared these. This really made me think about how there are so many bigger issues in the world and something as little as a curse word could be a huge problem for someone. Additionally, I thought that having a book of poems with so many curse words could be a huge risk. When I say risk, I mean a risk in the sense of the ability to be able to sell the book. He said that having poems with this much profanity narrows down the market to which he can sell to. I found it brave that he was willing to  still include the profanity to his poems because he thought that it belonged and gave a stronger message and in return, he had a smaller market of people who would buy his book. 

At the end of the event, there was a Q and A. I really loved this part because I was able to hear him answer questions from other people and there was some stuff that hadn’t even crossed my mind yet. One part I found very interesting was when he was talking about how he got published. Originally, I had not realized how hard and expensive it was to become a published author. He said that each time he went to submit his writing, he had to pay at least twenty dollars. For someone who isn’t even published yet, that has to be very difficult financially. I can see where for many authors this can be frustrating and make you lose hope. But for Garcia, he talked about how after he realized that it was reasonable to keep paying that much to submit his writing, he would only submit his writing one time a year and it was only for a prize that he really wanted. After ten years of doing this, he finally had his work published. I found it really inspiring that he was willing to keep doing this for such a long period of time. For myself, I feel like after just a year or two, I would feel extremely discouraged and probably would stop trying. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the event and am looking forward to more events like this in the future.

The event attended was a Distinguished Voices in Literature Event. The speaker of this event was Benjamin Garcia. He shared many of his poems with us in the Corey Union Fireplace Lounge. He is a writer, in particular a poet. The book that he was sharing with us was Thrown in the Throat. This is an award winning book that won the National Poetry Series and the Eugene Paul Nassar Poetry Prize. He prefaced his reading by letting us all know that the thing most important to him in poetry is fun and enjoyment. He let us know that there would be things from his poetry that we would most likely not understand, but he hoped that we could at least enjoy it. I definitely enjoyed all of the poems he shared, even the most complex and complicated poems. He showed great emotion while sharing his poems and made you care deeply about what he was saying, even when you didn’t fully understand it. My favorite poem of his was the last one that he shared which is a newer poem and not a part of Thrown in the Throat. This was “the Taco Poem”. It was so fascinating to me how he could take such a simple thing, a taco, and create such a deep story surrounding it. He uses mundane words and creates such beauty out of it. 

One theme from all of his works centered around language. You could tell listening to his poems that every single word he spoke had a deep meaning behind it. Many of his poems centered around language which is also something that we talk about in class. In both works that we have read so far, it is very important to understand the language that the author is using to fully understand the meaning of the text and this was reinforced in his reading. Garcia is an immigrant which influenced some of the poems that he shared. This became a parallel to me with Maxine Kingston’s memoir The Woman Warrior. Kingston is also an immigrant, from China, and this is a big part of her life and shapes her memoir. Garcia shared with us that most of his poems are not non-fiction, they are shaped by his life experiences but are not fully factual which also relates to Kingston’s memoir. A memoir is not an autobiography, it is not fully factual, it is Kingston using her life experiences and can be subjective. I thought that this was an important parallel between the two pieces of work. Another connection that I drew was to A Raisin in the Sun when he mentioned that he grew up very poor and his living space was very compact with too many people in it. This was a lot like how the Youngers were living and I thought that was also an interesting parallel. 

I think that the Q and A at the end of the event was very insightful. He gave a lot of advice to writers but could also just be life lessons for everyone. He told us that we cannot be afraid to make mistakes and that mistakes can lead to beautiful things. I think this is important in writing where the first draft of a piece is never to its fullest potential. This is also insightful to life in general. We should not be afraid to make mistakes, we never know what is going to come out of mistakes. He shared with us that many mistakes that he made in his writing actually make his writing better and stronger. He also shared with us that we need to give ourselves permission. Permission to write what we want, but also to be who we are, like what we like, and dislike what we dislike. I loved that I attended a poetry event but left with valuable life lessons as well.

During the reading with Benjamin Garcia, he mentioned his personal experiences living as a homosexual person of color and how it influences his writing. Given that he began his college career as a biology major, he draws a lot of inspiration from the natural world. He mentions animals a lot and many plants. I like how he was able to take characteristics from certain species and relate them to his personal life and experiences. The reference to the corpse flower was especially interesting to men and I enjoyed the analogy of living one’s truth and not living simply to please people. As someone who enjoys writing, I took a lot of inspiration from his methods and techniques. My mindset changed when he was saying that failures are learning experiences and still teach valuable lessons for later work. The part as well about him not staying within the rigid confines of the genre was insightful as well. His last poem about the tacos was incredibly unique and he made many clever analogies. The implementation of humor makes the poem enjoyable to hear but there are many underlying themes that are relevant to society and topics in his personal life. He added many details in the poems he read about his family and poverty which reminded me of A Raisin in the Sun. His experiences as a person of color are not something I can personally relate to, but his detailed accounts of growing up with the culture were inspiring to hear. I also really liked how he talked about natural disasters and hurricanes as well as unpleasant flowers to show the complex, displeasing ways that nature can be. Before the reading, I went to the workshop and he gave very good advice and writing exercises that I will be using in the future. The general theme of the generative workshop was memory and he had us focus on one random object. From there we described it and came up with two others following the same process. He had us write about the connections between them and he used one of his poems as an example. I thought it was fascinating how he could create such a compelling, cohesive piece of work from the image of coffee on sponges, hummingbirds, and lungs. He had us take three keywords inspired by the random objects and stem words off of them, then create sentences and stimulate creative work. This exercise, though seemingly simple, created very complex and thought-provoking ideas and I will for sure use this tactic in the future when I am in a writing slump. He mentioned how he can bend the reality of past events and it helps him process what happened. This creates different emotions and helps live the events out in different ways. I liked how he mentioned characters and books within his own pieces and the allusions enhanced their relatability of them. Almost everyone knows the story of Harry Potter and I like how he connected it to his own story in a way that many people can understand. The workshop and reading were impactful and I learned about writing tactics, his personal struggles, and ways to approach writing to have positive outcomes.

After reading the section Shaman in Maxine Hong Kingston’s book “The Woman Warrior”, I find Kingston’s mother to be infuriating. The Kingston’s mother decisions and stories only scar Kingston and make it hard for Kingston to fit into her new American world. This is seen throughout much of Shaman, for instance there is the slave trade story and the story about fighting ghost both of which complicate or shape Kingston’s views in very obscured ways.

The stories about ghost are first shared in the chapter when Kingston tells us that her mother went to China to take up an education in medicine. Her mother got a degree in “midwifery, pediatrics, gynecology, medicine, surgery, therapeutics, ophthalmology, bacteriology, dermatology, nursing, and bandage.”(57). Whilst in med school we hear stories of Kingston’s mother being a prominent shaman who wards of the ghost that attack and fed upon the babies that the mother delivers. After moving to the United States however Kingston’s mother the high regarded shaman had told her young daughter all about the ghost of her past. Kingston took these tales to heart thinking that in the new land every person that was not like her racially was a ghost but most of all the pale white ghost that she feared. By telling Kingston a plethora of stories that she was too young to hear Kingston grew up with the notion that the stories where real and that pushed her further away from her new American world as she constantly lived in fear.

The day that Kingston’s mom chose to partake in slavery probably changed Kingston the most however. As a girl Kingston remembers going to the market with her mother to buy a slave. Whilst at the market her mother ranted to her daughter telling her how much of a burden she was costing her “two hundred dollars american money” when slaves where free (83). This put down undoubtedly had negativly effected the raising of Kingston, being a memory that she would carry with her till she wrote this memoir. These feelings deminish self worth and pride obscuring the way that Kingston was taught to view herself.

In conclusion Kingstons mother was detrimental to her self asteam, and feelings of self worth negatively driving her childhood.

Discussion questions

1. How does nurturing affect children and the way they grow up?
2. Why does Chinese culture get stereo typed so deeply and the actual cultural gets hidden so extensively?

After reading the Chapter ‘Shaman’ in the woman warrior, it gave me a good understanding of who the mother is and who the mother wants Kingston to be, as well as how similar they are. The mother was a very strong-willed person who persevered mostly during her old age it seems. When the mum went to study medicine, her age wasn’t told true, she did not want anyone to know her age, ‘My mother did not let it be known that she had already had two children and that some of these girls were young enough to be her daughters’(125). ‘Older people were expected to be smarter;’ (127). Though she studied for 20 years before going to school for medicine, she told them it was just 10 years. She did not want her age to affect how she got her education. Looking at this, it reminded me of the previous chapter ‘White Tigers’, how Kingston compared herself to Fa Mu Lan, and how they had to change their identity just to succeed in life as a woman. Fa Mu Lan had to disguise herself as a male in order to fight in the war just to help her family. Kingston refused to give in to the pressure women were given just to be called a wife or slave. Now learning the story of her mum, having to lie about her age so she could peacefully learn medicine as she wanted to.  

There were a lot of Ghost mentionings in the book, from when the mum went to medical school, straight to when they migrated to America, yet in America, the ghosts seemed to take a more defined shape than the ones in China. In China they had names for the ghosts, ‘Boulder’ or ‘Sitting’ ghost, ‘Sit Dom Kuei’ and such, yet in America, it was very simple, ‘Police Ghost’, ‘Bus Ghost’, ‘Taxi Ghost’ and such. This gives the idea that China seems complex yet simple, while America was simple yet complex, meaning in China when it comes to its culture, or ancestral history, it seems very complex from an outsider’s point of view, while the living style for the most part, is simple, yet in America, things just seem straightforward, this is that and that is this, while it is hard to have a good and simple life from an immigrant’s perspective, yet, in the end, it all comes down to a person’s perspective, whether they are native to a specific country or not. Kingston though doesn’t seem to like hearing about ghosts, or seeing them anymore, she stated to her mum, “I don’t want to hear Wino Ghosts and Hobo Ghosts. I’ve found some places in this country that are ghost-free”. It may have been fun or interesting to her when she was little, but she seems to lose interest in ghosts now.

The mum also expressed what it’s like migrating to a new country, how the minute she stepped into America, she started working, she started to regret moving there, stating how time seemed to move more slowly in China than in America and how you wouldn’t seem to rush a lot as they do in America. “This is terrible ghost country, where a human being works her life away”(208), implying that she simply worked her life away, just to make a better life for her children. “I have worked too much. Human beings don’t work like this in China. Time goes slower there.”(210) which gives us an immigrant perspective of what it’s like working in a different country than their own. “I can’t sleep in this country because it doesn’t shut down for the night.”(210), 24/7 people are working just to make ends meet. 

Kingston also made a connection to her parents and grandmother, how her grandmother always send letters to her parents to come back to China, and how she misses them, and the parents refused, now that the mum is growing old she also would love to see her house full of relatives, her children, her children’s children, and her in-laws, yet they haven’t been, so the mum is feeling so lonely, the same way the mum is feeling. “The gods pay her and my father back for leaving their parents. My grandmother wrote letters pleading for them to come home, and they ignored her. Now they know how she felt.”(207), which leads to the question, would this continue along their family line, would the gods pay her, and her siblings, back as well for not going back to their parents, or would there be a change along the line. 

This whole chapter was definitely a bit confusing, and I am not sure if this blog post helps clear up anything based on this chapter for anyone but hopefully, this helps and as well gives some helpful insight to anyone.

Questions

1. How did the story of the “spy” who was stoned play into Kington’s mum’s story? Did her death play into the reason her mum left China?
2. Do you think that the setting or time that the mum gave birth to Kingston (Middle of World War 2), played some type of role in how she wanted her to grow up, and why she told her all these stories? 

Citations

‘Shaman’, The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston

After reading Chapter 2, “White Tigers,” in Maxine Hong Kingston’s book “The Woman Warrior,” it helped me better comprehend what was happening in Chapter 1 and how confusing it was. It also demonstrates the key point that Maxine Hong Kingston is attempting to make in this chapter. By telling the heroic struggle of Fa Mu Lan, one of the Women Warriors from whom the memoir takes its name, the chapter illustrates a more positive tone in the author’s search for her Chinese American identity. As we continue reading the chapter, I hope that my explanations of some of the symbols Kingston uses will help you, the reader, gain a better grasp of it.

One of the key themes of this chapter is the empowerment of women and how they were mistreated in China, but a figure named Fa Mu Lan demonstrated how they could be equally as strong as men and just as effective leaders. On the first page of the chapter it states, “Perhaps women were once so dangerous that they had to have their feet bound. It was a women who invented white crane boxing only two hundred years ago. She was already an expert pole fighter, daughter of a teacher trained at the Shao-lin temple, where there lived an order of fighting monks” (Pg 19). When men felt they had great authority, you can observe the injustice and maltreatment of women in China. They wanted them to remain at home and take care of them, not even to consider raising an army or engaging in combat in any way. Listening to Fa Mu Lans story makes me upset because of how hard she had trained and how difficult it was to try and get to the point of a woman warrior and there could be so many more with the help of training. It is shown with this quote from the book, “ ‘What would you like to do?’ the old man asked. ‘You can go back right now if you like. You can go pull sweet potatoes, or you can stay with us and learn how to fight barbarians and bandits’ “ (Pg 22).
She ultimately chooses to remain with the two elderly people because she recognizes the freedom in it. She understands that if the training is successful and what they claim is true, she wouldn’t have to slave away but could instead develop into a leader and a warrior. After a long 15 years of training it was time to take back what was rightfully hers. So that people wouldn’t discover she was a woman and lose respect for her, she had to disguise herself to appear like a man. It worked and she began to gain a following of people that would help her on her quest to take over. After defeating everyone, Fa Mu Lan is reunited with her family. You can see the struggles Fa Mu Lan faced throughout the chapter as she worked to earn the respect she desired, but you can also see how proud of herself she was of herself once she finally succeeded in doing so because of the love and respect she had earned from others. Nevertheless, most women will never experience it since they are forced to work as slaves and are unable to showcase their talents. The book immediately made it clear to me that women in China are not treated equally to males.

Towards the end of the chapter it goes into how Maxine Hong Kingston reflects on her American life. She says her American life is a disappointment. As she went away to college in the 1960’s she wanted to change the world like Fa Mu Lan but not have to turn into a boy, but she wanted the treatment that boys get in China, for example her brother that gets welcomed with chickens and pigs. She uses her time in America to escape from the slave life she is used to living back in China. This quote explains it, “Even now, unless I’m happy, I burn the food when I cook. I do not feed people. I let the dirty dishes rot. I eat at other peoples tables but wont invite them to mine, where the dishes are rotting” (Pg 48). This quote shows how the American lifestyle is much simpler for a woman. If she didn’t want to do something she didn’t have to and she proved it, in China a woman couldn’t get away with that.

In conclusion, You definitely see the unfairness women in China are treated with but it is the warriors who make the name for themselves and rise above all. I hope you guys understand the chapter a little more with this information and feel free to comment and help me understand anything I might have misinterpreted or may not understand fully.

Discussion questions:

What role does Fa Mu Lan play in The Woman Warrior?

What significance does the rabbit’s self-immolation in “White Tigers” have for Fa Mu Lan?

“The Woman Warrior ” by Maxine Hong Kingston is an intense memoir that blends elements of myth, fiction, and autobiography to explore the differences in the Chinese-American experience. Chapter 2, “White Tigers,” Is the main section of the book that explores issues of identity, femininity, and cultural expectation. At the start of this book, it is very confusing and seems to be misleading in many different directions with no real meaning. At the end of the first two chapters, it begins to resolve itself and you begin to see the bigger picture.  In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at this chapter and examine some of its most significant symbols and figure out what they mean. 

The chapter opens with a retelling of the legend of the woman warrior Fa Mu Lan, a figure who disguises herself as a man to create her own army and take back everything her village has lost. Kingston uses this legend as a starting point to explore the idea of gender roles in Chinese culture, particularly as they relate to women. Throughout the chapter there is a repetitive quote “there is no profit in raising girls. Better to raise geese than girls” (pg 46). The repetition in this starts to point you in a direction where women are treated like nothing other than a disgrace to their family and culture if they aren’t slaves or housewives. The story continues when the character follows a bird up a mountain to find an old couple living there. The couple tells her that if she stays they will turn her into a warrior woman who can defeat entire armies. When she is told this she begins her journey of training. After years of being taught how to be a warrior she then starts her journey by faking herself to be a man and beginning to create her own army. This is the start of the revenge for her family. While she starts to defeat everyone in her path she reunites with her husband. She becomes pregnant and has a baby while on the journey to take back everything. She has to change her appearance and hide the baby under her armor so that nobody can notice that she is a  woman. If the people found out they would no longer respect her and it would be a disgrace to China. Once she defeated the emperor and began to return home she remembered she only had one more task left and that was to defeat the baron who drafted her brother. Once she finds him the last thing that he says to her is “It is more profitable to raise geese than daughters” (pg 42). Once again that saying is brought up in this chapter. Another person says that women are no good for anything. This is the perfect reason why she wanted to become a warrior woman to show that gender doesn’t limit you to being able to do the same things that men do. Throughout the chapter, you get a sense that the Chinese culture frowns upon women doing basically anything and that they aren’t treated anywhere equal to men. 

At the end of the chapter the story is related to her and how she is treated in America by her parents. The warrior woman is a reference to modern day women. Instead of battling in a war she had to get straight A’s. “Which meant I was getting straight A’s for the future of my husband’s family, not my own.” (pg 47) Everything that she was doing was never for her own good but for the reputation of her husband and his family to look good. The memoir that Maxine Kingston was writing about was referring to her own life as she related her childhood stories to what she experienced as a citizen in America. Through this discussion of “White Tigers,” Kingston reveals how women in Chinese society are often defined solely by their relationship to men. This creates a kind of cultural pressure that can lead women to prioritize their male relationships over their own families. 

As we reflect on “White Tigers,” two significant questions emerge:

1. Why was Chinese culture against women being able to be treated equal to men?
2. If women were able to prove that they could do things men can do, why were they so frowned upon for it and not respected?

Works Cited: 

Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts. New York :Vintage Books, 1989.