Stories and narratives are omnipresent in Chinese and American culture. These stories are often used as warnings or to teach a lesson to those who cannot or have not experienced something firsthand. The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston is a patchwork of stories that the main character and her family experience and tell. These “debate stories” often speak of one extreme or the other: women who are refined and erudite leaders, or women who disguise their feminine identity and/or let their lives be dictated by their husbands. Maxine's personal identity is often blurred by these constant stories, and they continually affect the way she interprets reality. Through these stories that Maxine's mother tells her, her mother intends to teach her that as a woman, especially a Chinese woman, she must be calm and submissive. However, after all these debate stories, Maxine slowly finds her voice and begins to create her own debate stories. She imagines multiple scenarios and endings for the many characters she meets and, ultimately, imagines different consequences for her own life. In this novel, Maxine's life is engulfed by stories and legends intended to limit her as a woman. However, it is precisely these stories that ultimately allow her not only to control her own destiny, but also to realize that she does not have to fit into one mold. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Maxine's mother tells her about her aunt, the "Nameless Woman," to illustrate how women are targeted and silenced in China and how Maxine must restrain herself to avoid the persecution her aunt faced confronted. As a result, Maxine recognizes the difficulties she will face over things she has no control over. Her aunt was a victim of being pregnant during a difficult time, when it is very possible that "a man ordered her to sleep with him and be his secret evil." (6). In ancient China, women had little say in their lives, and if a man demanded that a woman do something, she had no choice but to do as he said. Maxine also imagines how “the other man was, after all, not very different from her husband. They both gave orders, she followed them. “If you tell your family, I will beat you. I'm going to kill you. Be here next week. Nobody ever talked about sex” (6). Maxine is aware of her silence, especially when it comes to sex and sexual assault, and therefore her lack of power and control over the situation. Her mother tells her this story as a warning, reminding her that if she is promiscuous or simply cannot hold her tongue, she will be severely punished. Her mother reminds her of this before she even begins to tell the story, first emphasizing: "You must not tell anyone [...] what I am going to tell you" (4). Ironically, this story of a woman silenced must also remain silent. Although there is no evidence that Maxine disobeyed her mother's orders to never speak of this story, she certainly thought a lot about why her aunt could make such a huge mistake. His imagination allows him to sympathize with his aunt, realizing that she probably had no control over the situation. This story is meant to scare Maxine into being obedient and quiet. However, Maxine realizes that the mother probably killed her child to protect him from the limits of thesociety, but it still does not have enough confidence in its abilities to push its limits. societal norms. In "White Tigers", Maxine learns that a woman can be much more than a wife or a slave, and uses Fa Mu Lan as a role model in her American life. Even though her mother tells her: “There is no profit in raising girls. It's better to raise girls than geese [...] "When you raise girls, you raise children for strangers"", Maxine begins to realize that she also has value and that she can be a strong warrior like Fa Mu Lan (46 years old). She uses the story to stand up to her racist boss, and even though she is fired, she recognizes that "there is work to do, a way to go." Surely, the eighty pole fighters, although invisible, would follow me, lead me and protect me, as is the custom of the ancestors” (49). She draws strength from the story of the heroic Fa Mu Lan to fight her battles instead of being trampled as she was taught to be in "No Name Woman". Maxine realizes that even though she doesn't have the physical weapons to crush obstacles like her racist bosses, she does have her words. She notes, “The swordsman and I are not that different. What we have in common are the words on our backs. Reporting is revenge – not decapitation, not evisceration, but words” (53). Fa Mu Lan teaches her that she is also capable of fighting back and can use her words to fight like a swordswoman and take back what is hers. She empowers herself by creating a story similar to Fa Mu Lan's that presents her as a hero, not just a silent woman. Through Moon Orchid's story in "At the Western Palace", Maxine sees not only how a woman can be powerful and more than just a wife or slave, but also that Moon Orchid goes crazy because of her incapacity to communicate. When Moon Orchid arrives at her husband's workplace, he simply tells her, "It's a mistake for you to be here." You can't belong. You don't have the toughness for this country [...] You can't talk to [my guests]. You can barely talk to me” (152-153). Moon Orchid learns that she is not American enough to belong in the life her husband leads, in the same way that Maxine learns that she does not fit into either culture. Her husband tells her that she cannot live with them because of her lack of words. Moon Orchid eventually goes mad in her crowded new home in Los Angeles, eventually ending up in an insane asylum in California before passing away. This story shows Maxine that she could end up like her aunt if she continues to stay silent. She also learns that she must vary her personal stories when Brave Orchid says, "The difference between crazy people and sane people is that sane people have variety when they tell a story." Fools have only one story that they talk about constantly” (159). To thrive, Maxine realizes that "variety" is essential and that she must avoid telling a single story about herself, particularly that she is and will continue to be a submissive and quiet Chinese girl. Maxine learns that it is imperative that she find her voice and tell her many personal stories to avoid being driven to madness by the standards of not only her mother, but also society. "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe" is the story that fully gives Maxine, in her relationship with the poet Ts'ai Yen, understanding that she can also fit into American and Chinese cultures, rather than being a “typical” quiet Chinese girl in America. Maxine struggled with combining American and Chinese cultures her entire life, feeling too Chinese for school..