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Background

Prior to writing her first book, The Woman Warrior, Kingston wrote all poems, prose, and short stories in the first-person singular. In fact, it was not until the fourth chapter of The Woman Warrior that she “felt the claustrophobia very strongly” and feeling like she had to overcome this self interest, she began to use third person. She claims that she was able to step outside of herself in writing “At the Western Palace” by thinking of I Love Lucy and using the typical form of the episode at the end, where they always have a confrontation, similar to the one had by the sisters and the husband. However, “A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe” switches back to first person, as Kingston returns to her own story, picking up from where her mother’s story ends. When commenting on this part of the story, she says that she wanted to show the reader who this first-person narrator, “this ‘I,’” is. Kingston acknowledges that in her first three sections of The Woman Warrior she creates a world, where the reader may believe what they see; she wanted to show them that it could, in fact, just be “some dumb kid who sits in a corner”. In China Men, which is a companion to The Woman Warrior, Kingston's does'nt like herself to struggle with her voice, as well as, her strength as a writer/listener and finally towards the end, after getting rid of the narrator, she noticed a “psychological improvement” and feels like a more integrated person. ^[7] From China However, there were also benefits in The Woman Warrior being a very self-centered I-book, as Kingston calls it. The autobiography aspect of the book allowed Maxine to better understand herself in relation to her family, as well as her place in the world.^[8]

Kingston said that in writing The Woman Warrior she fell into a habit of writing all types of information and stories down. Anything - until some of it started falling into place. ^[9] It was this habit that allowed Kingston to complete The Woman Warrior in just three years while teaching at a boarding school that demanded she be on call twenty four hours a day.^[10]

Kingston reflects on The Woman Warrior as having Chinese rhythms captured by the American language. She writes, as well as, adds to and translates the stories of people whose experiences are in Chinese into her language, English. ^[11]

Writing in this “fusion language,” which is an American language with Asian tones and accents, or rhythm, is a way that Kingston brings together Chinese and Western experiences. This “melding” of the two experiences –the images and metaphors—is what makes Kingston’s style her own. Kingston admits that one of the ways she works to bring these two together is to speak Chinese while writing or typing in English. ^[12]

Kingston also admits to keeping only the necessary cultural imagery, out of fear that people would think her to be “exotic.” The ones she did allow to remain in The Woman Warrior were those that were so integrated in her life that she thinks of them as American imagery. However, reflecting back on her first book, she now finds that they do in fact, look “really Chinese.”^[13]

Other fears that Kingston had while writing The Woman Warrior was of telling the truth. Aware that her parents were illegal aliens and that many of their stories were enough to get them deported, Kingston struggled with this fact in her writing. Being warned not to tell these family secrets, she would write them. Her mother’s talk-stories are what mainly comprises The Woman Warrior.^[14]