The Woman Warrior is a tale of a Chinese American girl-child, called Maxine, born in the United States. Transplanted from their roots in China, her parents naturally drew from their Chinese culture and traditions in raising Maxine. These traditions have been passed on from generation to generation, dating back to 221 BC. The Chinese culture and traditions have many facets, a weaving of reality and fantasies. In The Woman Warrior, Brave Orchid utilizes the Chinese traditions of talk story to shape and affect the life of her daughter Maxine, who is growing up in America.

Maxine’s mother uses several talk stories for parental instruction just as the Chinese have done for centuries. She still drew from her ancestors’ culture, even after living in the United States for years. The idea of ever returning to China was a distant dim hope cherished by Maxine’s parents. She still thought of her true home as being China. Rufus Cook’s critical essay agrees with my interpretation of using a past culture to raise children. “…when it came to bringing up their children, they tended to pass on attitudes and values appropriate more to Guandong fishing village…” (Cook 136).

The second influential talk story, “White Tiger”, is the story of a woman warrior. It demonstrates the place of women in Chinese society. Brave Orchid explains to Maxine that she will be a wife or a slave one day, because those are the traditional roles of females in China. “She said I would grow up a wife or slave, but she taught me the song of the woman warrior, Fu Mu Lan” (Kingston 20). The only way Maxine could escape that expected role in life would be to become a woman warrior and save her family from starvation and poverty. Maxine understands that she and the swordswoman are not so much different. She and the woman warrior want to be accepted by their people. They are very similar through words. Just as the woman warrior’s family had written words on her back, Maxine realizes that words are her weapons. Maxine learns that her words can unite her with her people in America. “The swordswoman and I are not so dissimilar. May my people understand the resemblance soon so that I can return to them. What we have in common are the words at our backs” (Kingston 53). Brave Orchid seemingly accepts the traditional roles for girls, but she also teaches Maxine the woman warrior story. Prior to the narrative of the warrior woman, Brave Orchid was teaching Maxine the chant of Fa Mu Lan, the girl who took her father’s place in battle. Maxine’s mother is somewhat of a warrior in her own way. She achieves a high status in her village by becoming a doctor, which gives Maxine inspiration. She senses that her daughter would someday need to be a warrior, to fight for her place between two cultures in America. Through the use of this talk story, Brave Orchid was attempting to teach Maxine the skills she needed to survive. Maxine decided to be like Fa Mu Lan, and to break tradition by rebelling against her mother.

Brave Orchid’s own disrupted memories, or talk stories, of the past dominate Maxine’s life. In the first chapter, Brave Orchid uses the talk story “No Name Woman” to teach Maxine about how the Chinese people handle adultery. Before she even begins the story she warns Maxine ““You must not tell anyone…”” (Kingston 3).

I agree with Rufus Cook on his point of the children always being cautioned about not telling, but for a different reason. Cook cites, “… Kingston’s parents were always cautioning her as a child, although in most cases she had no more idea than anybody else what it was she wasn’t suppose to tell”( Cook 140). In contrast, I think Maxine knows what she is not supposed to tell, but she does not know why. The central figure in the” No Name Woman” disgraces herself, her family, and her village by having an illegitimate child. Her family chooses to no longer acknowledge her existence in their society. In the Chinese culture, the people’s daily existence revolves around everything being done for the good of the family and their village. Doing otherwise is considered an act of disgrace. The family and the villagers felt that the woman was betraying them because she committed an act of self. The aunt ultimately kills herself and her child because of the shame she brought to her family and villagers. Her mother is trying to teac

Some topics in this essay:
Brave Orchid, Rufus Cook, Woman Warrior, Name Woman”, American Culture, Lan” Kingston, Brave Orchid’s, Mu Lan, Cook Kornemann, America Maxine’s, talk stories, brave orchid, woman warrior, talk story, mother’s talk stories, mother’s talk, chinese culture, maxine’s mother, culture traditions, story brave, brave orchid’s, story brave orchid, warrior talk story, “no name woman”, fa mu lan,