Woman Warrior

I am mixed about Woman Warrior. At times the stories that Kingston Wrote were easy to follow and felt like a real memoir. Other stories like the one about Brave Orchid, were not so easy to follow. I don't know much if anything about Chinese culture and history, so the stories of ghost could be true in some sense. The story of the sitting ghost and the ridding of said ghost was awkward. I feel like the ghost had greater meaning than purely face value, but I failed to see the significance. I believe the reason we read this story was to gain perspective on what it means to be an Asian American and the difference in views that today we hold as Americans. Also to get perspective into what it means to be a woman. The arranged marriages, the fear being left alone, and brutal village people carrying torches with a hatred for adulterous women. Also reading through the chapter of the woman warrior, felt like reading the script for Disney's Mulan. I figure that is an ancient Chinese tale that both the book and the movie have drawn from. The White tigers chapter was probably my favorite. It with the chapter about brave orchid gave a boldness to the women in the book. It was a contrast to the opening of the book that chronicled her aunts suicide. The book claims to be memoirs of a girlhood, but seems like there is a lot of fiction throughout. I liked the fictional elements and I really don't want to get hung up on the fact that it was or wasn't a true memoir. It did bring to light the crap that Asian women deal with. Rape was a big part of what happens to women in that culture. In the book it is mentioned and the effects are still seen today. Sex trafficking continues to be a large problem in the Asian world. The stories in the novel also show the social issues felt by Asian Americans through prejudice and the like. Woman Warrior was much better than Beloved was, and for that I am truly grateful.