Essay on "Rethinking Orientalism: The Woman Warrior"

Essay 4 pages (1300 words) Sources: 4

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Rethinking Orientalism: The Woman Warrior

Orientalism is defined as the exoticism of the 'East' in the eyes of the 'West.' It is a colonial understanding of non-white, Asiatic peoples as 'other.' It views the East as feminine, foreign, mysterious and submissive. As a postmodern concept it is not attached or intrinsic to the nature of the person practicing the ideology. Much as women can be sexist and discriminate against other women, non-white people can also use the tropes of Orientalism. However, Maxine Hong Kingston's memoir of growing up as a Chinese-American, the Woman Warrior, uses the images of Orientalism, not to objectify China, but to embark upon a journey of self-discovery as a writer. Kingston takes a deliberately ironic view of the construct of Orientalism and of the genre of memoir itself. She blends folk tales, second-hand personal accounts, and tales of her familial past in China and American as a way of reflecting upon Chinese-American identity and the immigrant experience.

Kingston's memoir is not a straightforward, linear, chronological coming-of-age narrative. It suggests the experience of a people, rather than an individual. Long stretches of the narrative are told in the third, rather than in the first person. The history of modern China during the Cultural Revolution is woven seamlessly in with the stories of Kingston's own family. Like any memoirist, Kingston is a selective narrator, and she purposefully chooses incidents that highlight the themes she wishes to address in her life history: the role of women, the fear of losing one's mind, and the need for individuals to speak across the barriers of time and language.

Unlike the classical Caucasian Orientalist, Kingston does not use the contrasts between China and her own life in America to show the superiority of the West or East, but instead to search for the truth. For example, when telling the story of a relative who drowned herself after giving birth to a child out of wedlock, Kingston imagines various scenarios that could have lead the woman to her fate. The stereotypical image of the repressed Chinese woman with her feet bound is given new life in Kingston's ideation. Kingston first wonders if the woman was raped, then if the woman was highly sensual, and then finally Kingston takes comfort in the fact that rather than being consigned to dust and forgotten, through her words the 'No-Name' woman will always be remembered. But even though she is able to speak for the woman, Kingston is also aware of the fact that she can only present her imaginative versions of the relative's tale. The tale is already twice-told, passed down from mother to daughter. This is also true of all of her mother's experiences, like the story of her mother 'Brave Orchid' attempting to reunite her sister Moon Orchid (Kingston's aunt) with her American husband. Unlike the traditional Western Orientalist, Kingston is at least self-conscious about the fact that Chinese culture cannot be perfectly translated into English prose.

Some of the images of China that Kingston conjures up in the book, such as the powerful woman warrior with her parent's names carved upon her back who braves tigers and dragons, do suggest a kind of Chinese painting of an earlier era. However, Kingston is clearly retelling the narrative to provide herself with a source of strength and power in contemporary society, rather than merely presenting a tale of a young woman from a far-off and magical land. The excitement of the narrative of the woman warrior derives from its exotic setting, but the meaning ascribed to the narrative is Kingston's. Kingston also tells the story of her mother, a woman who was able to become a midwife and gain an education, despite the difficulty of a woman doing so during that era in China. Kingston acknowledges that the woman warriors of China are not only exotic sorceresses, but also the ordinary woman who survived oppression,… READ MORE

How to Reference "Rethinking Orientalism: The Woman Warrior" Essay in a Bibliography

Related Essays:

Woman Warrior Term Paper

Woman Warrior

Night after night my mother would talk-story until we fell asleep. I couldn't tell where the stories left off and the dreams began, her voice the voice of… read more

Term Paper 5 pages (1626 words) Sources: 1 Topic: Mythology / Folklore / Science Fiction

---

Women's History and Policy Opinion Piece Essay

Women's History And Policy Opinion Piece

Historically, the political arena has been a stronghold of the masculine gender. The representation of the feminine gender has been equivalent to extremely minor… read more

Essay 4 pages (1253 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Women / Feminism

---

Women's Suffrage in the 19th Century Term Paper

Women's Suffrage In The 19th Century

Although the right of women in the U.S. To vote for their preferred political candidates was finally guaranteed through an amendment to the constitution… read more

Term Paper 8 pages (2561 words) Sources: 10 Topic: Women / Feminism

---

Women in Management and the Glass Ceiling Has it Been Shattered Models and Best Practices Research Paper

Women in Management and the Glass Ceiling

In the last 20 years, women have shattered the glass ceiling that once kept them out of senior management positions in business, politics,… read more

Research Paper 10 pages (3250 words) Sources: 7 Topic: Women / Feminism

---

Women's History Research Paper

Women's History Questions

In the early days of the United States, particularly the 1790's, women had a very limited role in public and political life. However, the massive political changes… read more

Research Paper 5 pages (1670 words) Sources: 0 Topic: Women / Feminism

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>