Divided into five chapters, each of which is more or less self-contained, Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior explores the many forms of adversity that women face. Kingston uses women's stories to explore her own cultural history. As a first-generation Chinese American, she struggles to reconcile her Chinese cultural heritage with her emerging sense of herself as an American.
In the memoir's first chapter, "No Name Woman," Kingston's mother, Brave Orchid, tells her daughter about an aunt on Kingston's father's side of the family. This aunt, whom Kingston names No Name Woman because her real name is never spoken by the family, becomes pregnant while her husband is working in America. When No Name Woman no longer can hide her pregnancy from her family and her village, the villagers destroy the family home as punishment for her adultery. After giving birth in a pigsty, she kills herself and the baby by drowning in the family well.
In the second chapter, "White Tigers," Kingston recalls the legend of Fa Mu Lan, a woman warrior who leads her people to victory in battle. As a child, Kingston felt girls could not achieve greatness in a man's world. "White Tigers" is the story of her own childhood fantasy of overcoming feelings of inferiority as a female. Like Fa Mu Lan, she imagines herself leaving home at seven years of age and being brought up by martial arts teachers. She becomes a great warrior, triumphantly returning to her home to save her people.
"Shaman" relates the story of Brave Orchid's extraordinary medical career as a midwife in China. After giving birth to two children in China, Brave Orchid takes the unusual step of attending medical school, after which she works as a doctor in her home village and becomes a very successful healer. Eventually, she gives up her career to join her husband in America. However, unable to practice medicine in America, she and her husband open a laundry business in California.
