The Woman Warrior

After attending the class discussion and rereading, I began to feel a sense of connection to the narrator of the short story “The Woman Warrior” by Maxine Hong Kingston.  “The Woman Warrior” displays a story about a first generation Chinese-American narrator trying to find a balance between the two cultures.  The narrator’s mother would often times warn her about certain life situations that may humiliate their family by telling her stories to grow upon (5).  One of the stories that she narrates is about the tragic event of her dead aunt that led their family to disgrace.  The story offers several possibilities about her dead aunt’s promiscuous act.  However, the most likely story was that the dead aunt “supposedly” had forbidden sex and got pregnant.  Due to the Chinese culture and the desire to represent a prestigie reputation; the aunt’s village raided her house and excluded her from being associated with the town.  The narrator’s mother particularly articulates this story because the narrator has started to menstruate and she doesn’t want her to bring their family to shame by doing any wrong deed. 

Being a first generation immigrant myself, I can relate to a lot of the feelings that the narrator portrays.  My family, as well, has made sure that I understand that I shouldn’t be doing certain unacceptable actions that would bring my family to disgrace.  The narrator and I have both been put into a situation where we have to find a balance between the American and Indian/Chinese cultures.  The narrator states “Those of us in the first American generations have had to figure out how the invisible world the emigrants built around our childhoods fits in solid America” (5).  It is very challenging to be living in an American society as well as being brought up with different cultural and moral values.  Fortunately, through time and experience, I feel that I have been successful in balancing both of these worlds.  Luckily, America is considered to be the melting pot of the world filled with heterogeneous societies.  This has made the process much easier.  However, I often times find myself disagreeing with certain issues that my family brings up due to the American influence.  I have had to decide for myself about the types of morals and values that I want to live with.  In fact, I find it rewarding that I am able to be exposed to so many different types of ideas and that I can pick and choose and decide how I want to live my life. 

The narrator explains a Chinese tradition of having the daughter-in-law live with her husbands’ parents after marriage (7).  This is also similar in my Indian culture.  A lot of my cousins have had to move in with their husbands’ parents and play the infamous role of being a housewife and a daughter-in-law.  Traditionally, they are not allowed to work.  However, as the times have changed, more and more wives are found working in several industries.  Although I cannot connect to the dead aunt’s story that the narrator writes about; I can relate to a lot of the cultural complexities that she implies.  Confusion and frustration is found commonly in first generation immigrants.  However, the hardship that many of the first generation immigrants, as well as their parents, have experienced only makes them a better-rounded person due to the fact that they can understand multiple traditions, religions, and cultures.