The Woman Warrior By Maxine Hong Kingston

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston heavily deals with women and their experiences/roles in society. In each of the five sections, a woman is the central character with little to no male presence, and the novel explored both the humiliation and empowerment of being a woman. Specifically, No Name Woman and White Tigers show two different experiences of being a woman in society by portraying the central character as either more feminine or masculine in terms of character traits. These differences are shown in the choice of language and presence of pregnancy. In No Name Woman, we are shown the version of a woman’s life where she breaks her traditional norms and is shamed by her community. One way this is shown is through the language that

No Name Woman takes on a harsh perspective of a potentially non-consensual pregnancy. We commonly see adultery used as a dehumanizing aspect of women in literature (i.e., The Scarlet Letter, The Girl on the Train, etc.), and this section of The Woman Warrior does the same. While it is not explicitly said how the pregnancy came to be, it is said that no matter what it was No Name Woman’s fault: “Aiaa, we’re going to die. Death is coming. Death is coming. Look what you’ve done…” (pg. 13). All the blame was placed upon No Name Woman, she was at fault because she committed adultery regardless of whether it was consensual or not. It is also implied that the pregnancy could be a product of rape: “Women in the old China did not choose. Some man had commanded her to lie with him… She obeyed him; she always did as she was told… And she might have separated the rapes from the rest of living…” (pg. 6-7). While this is not confirmation, it shows that even in a circumstance of sexual assault, No Name Woman would still be to blame for her out-of-wedlock pregnancy. On the other hand, in White Tigers we see a story where the pregnancy added to the inspiration of the story. Fa Mu Lan falls pregnant and gives birth during the time of battle, even carrying the newborn baby under her armor as she fought. However, Fa Mu Lan’s pregnancy wasn’t portrayed as a weakness. In fact, the pregnancy taking her out of the battle is glossed over: “I hid from battle only once, when I gave birth to our baby…We made a sling for the baby inside my big armor, and rode into the thickest part of the fighting,” (pg. 40). The birth of her child during battle seemingly adds to her glorious persona and is seen as a testament to her strength as a warrior-and more importantly a woman. The contrast between the shameful pregnancy of No Name Woman and the disciplined pregnancy of Fa Mu Lan serves as a foil. It further