A Guiding Bird Fighting Into The Mainstream From The Margins

Maxine Hong Kingston(1940-) is a Chinese American writer. The Woman Warrior , her first published book and an autobiographical novel, tells about the psychological course of a second-generation Chinese American girl who suffered greatly from the conflicts between the Chinese culture and the American culture. Diverse critical approaches to and perspectives on the book reflect the inclusive nature of The Woman Warrior. However, not many critical studies have focused on the theme of margin and mainstream to probe into the status quo and the way out of Chinese American women and of the Chinese American group. This thesis intends to interpret The Woman Warrior from the perspective of cultural studies centering around the theme of margin and mainstream.Through analyzing the stories of those Chinese American women who are influenced by both the old Chinese culture and the American mainstream culture, this thesis argues that losing their basis of the Chinese culture and meanwhile being not entirely absorbed by the American mainstream culture, Chinese American women are always on the double margins because of the oppression of women by the old Chinese culture represented by their parents, and that of the Chinese American group by the American mainstream culture.In order to share all the rights that an American citizen should enjoy, Chinese American women long for shaking off the sexism within their minority group and the racism of the American mainstream through their struggles and efforts, and for winning the affirmation and acceptance of the Chinese American culture and the Chinese American group by the American mainstream culture. In order to cast off the sexism against Chinese American women and to break away from their marginalized position, Chinese American women have to recenter themselves withinthe Chinese American group. And in order to win the approval and acceptance of the marginalized Chinese American culture and the Chinese American group by the American mainstream culture, a system of equal dialogue between the two cultures is prerequisite. Adhering to the principle of mutuality and that of seeking common ground while reserving differences, the two peoples will at last understand each other and accept their cultural differences;and then a symbiotic system will be constructed between them through equal dialogue. To Kingston, this kind of equal dialogue has to appeal to equal cultural identities, and literature as a discourse is a peaceful yet powerful way of constructing a cultural identity. Kingston, with keen insight, eventually sheds the bondage of the two cultures and deconstructs her trans-cultural identity by positioning her identity in a world culture shared equally by everyone.Globalization has become a trend, but only cultural globalization which is based on symbiosis (not Westernization) can make heterogeneous cultures coexist and make all nations enjoy equally the right of survival and development, making it possible for margin to evolve into mainstream.