Voice, or the lack thereof, plays a huge role in The Woman Warrior. The first lines of the novel read, “‘You must not tell anyone,’ my mother said, ‘what I am about to tell you. In China your father had a sister who killed herself. She jumped into the family well. We say that your father has all brothers because it is as if she had never been born’” (Kingston 1). From the very beginning, the narrator struggles to find her voice. Chinese customs dictate that the members of the community keep to themselves. Yet, the narrator yearns to buck the Chinese customs.
Despite Chinese customs of silence, Brave Orchids talk-stories keep so much of her Chinese culture alive. If she had not told the narrator all of her tales, both those of fact and those of fiction, then the narrator would not have known about the traditions and culture of her Chinese relatives. Words give these women power, making them powerful.The ending of “White Tigers” describes the overarching theme of the novel:
The swordswoman and I are not so dissimilar. May my people understand the resemblance soon so that I can return to them. What we have in common are the words at our backs. The idioms for revenge are “report a crime” and “report to five families.” The reporting is the vengeance—not the beheading, not the gutting, but the words. And I have so many words—“chink” words and “gook” words too—that they do not fit on my skin (Kingston 53).
By comparing the swordswoman with the writer, Kingston aligns the narrator as a seeker of revenge. She notes that “the reporting is the vengeance,” so she must tell her stories.
Brave Orchid and the narrator’s stories empower and give voices to the women immigrants who need it the most. Not only are these women oppressed by their own men and customs, but also by the shock of a new culture and class. Sharing the stories that are meant to be forgotten avenges the women from their current plight. The narrator, and Kingston herself, avenge their peers through talk-story.
No comments:
Post a Comment