The Analysis of Gender Identification in The Woman Warrior

顾红霞 张艳威 任智巍

【Abstract】This paper mainly analyses Maxine Hong Kingstons work The Woman Warrior from the perspective of gender identity， trying to show readers the process of Chinese womens pursuit of gender identity， freedom and independence.

【Key words】The Woman;Warrior gender identity

【摘要】本文主要是從性别身份认同的视角对汤婷婷的文学作品《女勇士》进行分析，力图向读者展示华裔女性在追求性别话语权和自由独立的过程。

【关键词】女勇士;性别身份认同

【作者简介】顾红霞（1980-），哈尔滨学院，讲师，研究方向：英语教学，认知语言学;张艳威（1973-），哈尔滨学院，副教授，研究方向：英语教学，英美文学;任智巍（1975-），哈尔滨学院， 副教授，研究方向：英语教学。

【基金项目】本文为2017年度黑龙江省哲学社会科学研究规划项目;汤婷婷作品折射出的性别政治探究（项目编号：17WWB067）的阶段性成果;为黑龙江省教育厅规划课题：深度学习理论指导下的英语专业混合式教学体系构建研究（项目编号：GJC318088）阶段性成果。

Ⅰ.Introduction

Maxine Hong Kingston is a very famous Chinese American woman writer in American literary world. The Woman Warrior as Maxine Hong Kingstons debut was published in 1976; Maxine Hong Kingston acquired an enviable reputation for it in American literature up to now. The book became a classic in woman literature because of large quantity of description of strong female. Maxine Hong Kingston focuses on describing the story of his mothers female relatives and refigures some characterization on the basis of the facts in The Women Warrior.

This paper will mainly unscramble and analyze the Chinese American Literature from the angle of gender identification， trying to demonstrate the process of Chinese American women sought the discourse， freedom and gender independence.

Ⅱ. Gender oppression

It has male chauvinism both in the western and eastern countries. There are some folk adages in old china： “A woman without talent is virtuous”， “Long hair， shot wit.” There is not always a prejudice against women in the society until the establishment of the PRC. In the traditional patriarchal society China， there are two kinds of reasons of womens low status： The external and internal reasons.

Firstly， it is important that effects of environmental and social. Chinese traditional oppression of women， women had too many unreasonable rules to obey， such as： “the three obedience and the four virtues” （in ancient China a woman was required to obey her father before marriage， and abide by her husband during married and comply with her sons in widowhood）; and four virtues （loyalty， bodily， charm， propriety in speech and efficiency in needle work）—wifely submission and virtue. In The Woman Warrior， Maxine Hong Kingston describes some women who were going to home after the play， they were shaking their heads and singing some songs to kept them happy Where the needle goes， the thread follows....loyal to him ，a lifetime to follow him.

Secondly， self-shaping is a deciding factor. That is a fact that female were controlled and managed by patriarchal discourse for so a long time that they became the same party with male automatically. They instilled a lot of absurd theories about the three obediences and the four virtues to their daughters from childhood. The pressure of female not only because patriarchy oppression but also self –binding from the woman. Her pressure is not merely from patriarchy oppression but also some women including her neighbor and families. This sentence exposes the reason of females miserable destiny is sexism and patriarchy. At the same time， the writer also expresses sympathy and compliment to her aunt. She protested against sexism and patriarchy and reflected a kind of rebellious spirit.

Ⅲ. Racial oppression

In The Woman Warrior， Racial oppression is embodied in Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid. We can make out racial oppression and the sorrow of Chinese-American obviously. “Dont say truth to other American and just tell them you were born in San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake （Since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake， a number of Chinese had chance to tell a lie that they born in America）. And your birth certificate and your parents were killed in the earthquake...”the writers mother told her. Therefore “Dont say anything” become a maxim during dealing with American. As newlyweds， Moon Orchids husband was gone to America; her husband married a new wife in America. Moon Orchid not only assumed responsibility for filial piety for her husband at home， but also stayed faithful for him. After waiting for decades， encouraged and supported by Brave Orchid， she decided to go America to find her husband and got back to her right as a wife. Moon Orchid covered her face with one hand and motioned no with the other Moon Orchid was out of step with the circumstance.

At the last she was sent to the madhouse until the advent of death. Some other race and color were both faced racial discrimination by American. There is racial discrimination between different race and color.

Ⅳ. Gender awareness in The Woman Warrior

1.The awakening of gender consciousness. In feminine view， the symbol of patriarchy is taking the loss of power of discourse from the women. For feminists， they will never leave the precious territory to them; they will fight about breaking aphasia for all time. In the first part of this work， no name aunt chose a kind of untraditional subject position， decided to struggle with silence. In the end， she chose death----silence forever as a rejection and resistance for male-dominated society. It is meaningful that she selected a special way to take her own life by jumping into a well.

Well means drinking water for Chinese， is the sources of all lives. She died in her own well， did not make people drink. It is a sort of revenge for the villagers who persecute her including her families. She implements his power of discourse in this manner ---narrates her existence to villagers at every moment.

In the third story “shaman”， writers mother called Brave Orchid conflicted with a Sitting Ghost which reflected Chinese American women resisted with racial oppression and in quest of their power of discourse. A sitting ghost rode on Brave Orchid and crushed her. Brave Orchid triumph over it through kept talking. It is not hard to see the real moral from this process： sitting ghost which rode on her back stands for Chinese Exclusion Law destroy mind and body of Chinese American. The way of Brave Orchid defeated the sitting ghost is talking constantly---it prove that it is important getting power of discourse. No matter to women or to Chinese American， getting power of discourse means they have possession of gender identity and get the right to say feminines opinions. Brave Orchid defeated the sitting ghost， overcame fearfulness and insecurity and built a new self-awareness of gender.

2. Rebellion and defiance for gender identity. In the second story “Tigers”， According to the description of the mother and her imagination， Maxine Hong Kingston adapted the story of Fa Mu Lan. It is well known Mu Lan hid her identity and joined the army instead of her old father. Her image is accepted by traditional society and hand down a good reputation to a hundred future generations， which because of everything is in order filial piety. Fa Mu Lan was not a good daughter who joined the army for the father in Maxine Hong Kingstons story. This is a woman warrior who was guide around and around the tallest mountain， climbing ever upward until come across an old granddad and a grandma. Under his instruction， Fa Mu Lan became a warrior in the end. Of course， she decided to study martial arts for fighting against the Huns， protecting her home and defending her country but also in order to escape her fate of the hard work in the fields such as digging up potatoes. She did not devote her to the dominator， also cut off the head of the emperor. An emperor is the supreme symbol of feudal society， so that her behavior was considered to be rebellion and defiance of gender identity in the feudal society.

Ⅴ.Conclusion

This paper interprets the Chinese American writer Maxine Hong Kingstons masterpiece The Woman Warrior： Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts Mainly from the perspective of gender as well as the ethnic points and so on. For a long period， feminists have long resisted with patriarchal power. Feminists achieved freedom for a lot of oppressed women. As ethnic Chinese in the third world， Chinese American women how to fight for right in the term of racial， cultural and gender issues. Chinese feminist writers shape numerous female images. They expressed their aspirations about eradicating racial and cultural integration. In the Oman warrior， Kingston is largely figuring out

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