One must fall first in order to learn how to stand up. The author, Maxine Hong Kingston admires her unnamed aunt for showing individuality but is afraid she will be denied by the family. She wants to show her strength and individuality like the warrior Fa Mu Lan, but according to tradition, Chinese females “fail if they are anything but wives or slaves” (19). Kingston tortures the silent girl in the school’s restroom, determined to get the poor girl to speak, only to find that Kingston herself, is similar to the silent girl. In The Woman Warrior, Kingston struggles to find her individuality, but only by becoming an outcast can she find her individuality.
Maxine Hong Kingston begins her search for a personal identity with the story of an aunt, to whom this first chapter’s title refers to, “No Name Woman”. The first we thing read is Kingston’s mother warning Kingston, “You must not tell anyone . . . what I am about to tell you. In China your father had a sister who......

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Title: Woman Warrior
Approximate Word Count: 454
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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