Family,Society,Nation:An Exploration To The Female Identity In Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston is regarded as a masterpiece of Chinese American literature.The novel focuses on Chinese American women with their struggle in cross-cultural background.There is a generation gap between the female identities of the Chinese immigrants such as mother Brave Orchid and the aunt Moon Orchid,and the Chinese American such as narrator "I".They hold different opinions on Chinese traditional culture and American culture which have exerted influence to various degrees and from different perspectives.Therefore,this thesis will analyze the identity of Chinese American women.The thesis is divided into four chapters which respectively examine family identity,social identity,national identity and the ideal identity of Chinese American women constructed by The Woman Warrior.Chapter One has a discussion on family identity of women and their attitudes towards life presented in the novel.From the analysis of the family identities of the figures as Moon Orchid,No Name Woman and Brave Orchid,the author hold the view that the novel criticizes the discipline of Chinese feudal culture upon women and intends to show that only by shaking off the antiquated idea of "the three obedience and the four virtues",can women be awaken from the view of marriage in Chinese feudal culture and accept the idea of female independence in American modern society,so as to realize their recognition of family identity.Chapter two focuses on the issue of social responsibility to analyze the females’identity.The feudal Chinese traditional definition on female gender identity which deeply influences Mother Brave Orchid,No Name Aunt and Aunt Moon Orchid restricts female into family as mother,wife and daughter,and deprives women of their rights to take part in the social affairs and enter the public area.Meanwhile,the narrator "I" finds that the Chinese folklore "Fa Mu Lan" told by the mother Brave Orchid,has the significance of encouraging women to assume social responsibility and advocating gender equality.The novel represents the figure of Fa Mu Lan from the original image as a filial daughter who takes the father’s place in the conscription army to a woman warrior who wipes out the enemies and saves the villagers,and the figure of the mother Brave Orchid who has prevailed over all dissenting views and determined to be a doctor to cure the patients in China in order to demonstrate that women are capable of social responsibilities as men if they have the opportunity to enter the public area.Chapter Three focuses on women’s national identity and their contribution to world.This chapter mainly analyzes Brave Orchid,Narrator I and Ts’ai Yen in the novel to demonstrate the influence of cultural difference over females’ national identity construction.Chinese American women are confronted with choices in cultural conflict.The first generation of immigrants as mother Brave Orchid are keenly aware of both Chinese and American cultures and endeavor to reconcile the differences.They still regard themselves as Chinese women.The second generation of immigrants such as narrator "I" are born and grow up in America as Chinese Americans.Their knowledge of Chinese culture primarily comes from the parents’ words and deeds as well as the political propaganda by the American government.As a result,their national identity tend to be an American.At the same time,through imagining and rewriting the story of Ts,ai Yen,the narrator "I" has expressed her yearning for cultural integration.Chapter Four has discussed the ideal identity of Chinese American women constructed in The Woman Warrior based on previous discussion.By focusing on the expression of the construction of women’s ideal identity by the narrator "T",this chapter holds the view that the novel has criticized the obsolete Chinese feudal female view which has deeply afflicted the aunt Moon Orchid and No Name Woman.Besides,the novel tries to establish women’s ideal identity on the basis of the integration between the advanced ideas of female independence and equality from the figure of Fa Mu Lan and Ts’ai Yen,and the feminism in contemporary American society.The ideal identity not only contains women’s economic independence,mental independence and awareness of social responsibility,but also involves how to absorb the essence of both cultures in the cross-culture context,so as to achieve the construction of national identity of organic cultural integration.The Woman Warrior has not only revealed the irreplaceable social value of women and rewritten their history but also construct an ideal female identity which has absorbed the essence of both Chinese and American cultures and integrated both civilizations by presenting the female identities represented by different figures.The novel presents a significant exploration into the identity construction of Chinese American women.