The Woman Warrior, a work that defies easy classification, is neither wholly a work of fiction nor, strictly speaking, an autobiography. A clever blend of fantasy, childhood memories, folklore, and family history, Kingston's work is revolutionary precisely because it transcends genres. Her unique literary skills, vision, and style have established her as one of the most significant American writers in the late twentieth century. Simultaneously a historical, fictional, biographical, and imaginative work, The Woman Warrior is studied not only in English literature classes but also in anthropology, women's studies, sociology, folklore, and American and ethnic studies, as well as history.
Two reasons why The Woman Warrior is hard to label are its lack of a strictly linear plot, with each chapter's story self-contained and independent of other chapters, and its content, which seems so different from traditional memoirs. While many American autobiographical works, such as The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, detail the struggles of their protagonists, who generally rise from a low status in society to achieve success, The Woman Warrior works differently. Kingston provides scant information about her post-college adult life and her successful career as a teacher. Absent from The Woman Warrior is a conspicuous and clearly defined episode of reaching a successful stage in life — be it financial, religious, or otherwise — typically seen in many other American autobiographies. Instead, Kingston presents the writing of her autobiography itself as her success, her cathartic act of making peace with her family and society, and gaining an understanding of herself, of who she is and where she fits in the world around her. Readers who expect a story about achieving success as defined by standard American mythology — the American Dream — sometimes find The Woman Warrior disappointing.
For her part, Kingston considers The Woman Warrior very much an autobiography in the American literary tradition. In a 1987 interview with Paula Rabinowitz, in which she discusses both The Woman Warrior and China Men, Kingston states: "I am trying to write an American language that has Chinese accents. . . . I was claiming the English language and the literature to tell our story as Americans. That is why the forms of the two books are not exactly like other books, and the language and the rhythms are not like other writers, and yet, it's American English."
