Writing Home Storyteling in Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior and China Men
Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Humanities
First Advisor
Wallace, Miriam
Keywords
Kingston, Maxine Hong, Storytelling, Multicultural Identity
Area of Concentration
Literature
Abstract
This thesis explores the use of storytelling in Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior and China Men. For Kingston writing is an explicitly political act which attempts to heal personal and collective traumatic wounds inflicted by American racism and traditional Chinese misogyny. Kingston's tool in the healing process is storytelling, which in The Woman Warrior and China Men consists of historical re-visioning and the appropriation and adaptation of mythic (both traditional and familial) stories. Kingston's telling of mythic stories in The Woman Warrior shapes ancestral tradition into a form which empowers her identity as an American woman, creates an intersection between her American experience and her Chinese heritage, and highlights the importance of her own role as a storyteller. Historical re-visioning in China Men works to introduce to the Eurocentric, dominant culture in the United States to the often traumatic experiences of Chinese immigrants. By telling the stories of Chinese ancestors in America, Kingston revisits the source of the traumatic wounds which played a large part in silencing the Chinese American community. Some of the central questions which I will attempt to answer in this thesis include: How is Kingston's telling of history different from a traditional, 'authoritative' account of the same events, and with what significance? In what ways are mythic and fainilial stories adapted or creatively supplemented, and to what effect? And, how does the narrative structure of these books affect the interpretation of Kingston's storytelling?
Recommended Citation
Hossack, Andrew, "Writing Home Storyteling in Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior and China Men" (2003). Theses & ETDs. 3247.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/3247
Rights
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