Literary Terms
1. Symbolism- The words that are written on Fa Mu Lan’s back before she goes to
war is symbolism of Chinese culture of the back of her never leaving her.
Kingston can relate to this because she will always be Chinese-American, which
can be a burden to her in America due to discrimination, language barrier, and or
even differences in education between Chinese and Americans. Also, her mother
drilled Chinese traditions and culture into her head when she was a child, just as
the parents of Fa Mu Lan cut Chinese into her back. Page 35, “It hurt
terribly…my skin like lace”.
2. Symbolism- ghosts haunt her the characters throughout the book. Foreigners, or
non-Chinese are represented by ghosts. The book also has literal ghosts. They
seem to be an embodiment of fear and things to overcome. Ghosts can be a
symbol for Kingstons struggles in America. Especially due to the fact that when
in the Americas, everyone was resembled as ghosts. On page 104 ghosts are
connected to problems that the characters are having, especially with age. “Those
Urban Renewal Ghosts…tell Chinese age.” Ghosts also may be something that
Brave Orchid disregards because they float around throughout her life in the form
of Americans, or just others that are not Chinese.
3. Metaphor- page 48 “From the fairy tales…impossible to meet eye to eye.” This
shows not only literally can she not meet them eye to eye, but because they are
from different places, these Americans have different viewpoints and opinions
that differ from Kingston’s. The significance of this is that due to the fact that
they could not agree, Kingston finally left her home, which is when she found her
place in society and America.
4. Symbol- Mountains represent isolation, safety, fortune and possibility in The
Woman Warrior. The mountain in "White Tigers" is a magical place where Fa Mu
Lan learns wisdom and martial arts. In "Shaman," the mountain near Brave
Orchid's village is a place of refuge during the Japanese bombing of China. Page
26 “The fire went down for a moment…it has made me a gift of meat.”
5. Symbol- bound feet is a symbol that often comes up in this novel. It shows the
restrictions upon woman in Chinese culture. Page 44 “The servants who walked
the ladies had abandoned them, and they could not escape on their little bound
feet.” Kingston did not have bound feet, so she was not restricted to what she
could do with her life, especially because she was born in America, so she had her
whole life to take her opportunities chances to make a better life for herself.
6. The circle appears in "No-Name Woman" as a literal symbol, or "talisman," to
represent the Chinese belief in community, family kinship, and law. On page 23,
Kingston wrote “I learned to move my fingers, hands, feet, head, and entire body
in circles”.
7. Motif- Talk-stories, which are seen in every chapter of this novel, help to show
the Chinese tradition and how one generation passes their culture, and even
superstitions, down to the next generation. Talk-stories can be seen especially in
the beginning of the novel in No-Name Woman, and at the end about Ts’ai Yen.
Most of these are told by Brave Orchid are life lessons, but also are ways to take
their children believe in what they believe in. The stories told to Kingston may
have confused her with what to belive in, but also brought to her inspiration
throughout her life.
8. Theme- role of woman in society
In every chapter, Kingston bases her stories on women in her life that affected her as an
individual. For example, her mother tells stories of woman warriors, and was a known
doctor herself. Kingston was able to reach for a higher bar, but at the same time, her
mother many times disempowered her. She says thing such as, “better to have geese than
a girl”. Women, although always put lower than men throughout the novel, were images
of success, and lessons of what not to do, throughout her life. Therefore, when Kingston
left home, she could make her way into understanding herself and finally finding where
she belonged in her new society.