Maxine Hong Kingston’s “The Woman Warrior” is novel composed of myths and memoirs that have shaped her life. Her mother’s talk-stories about her no name aunt, her own interpretation of Fa Mu Lan, the stories of ghosts in doom rooms and American culture have been the basis of her learning. She learned morals, truths, and principals that would be the basis of her individuality.Since her mother's talk-story was one of the major forces of her childhood and since she herself is now talking-story in writing this book, stories, factual and fictional, are an inherent part of Kingston's autobiography. Finding one's voice in order to talk-story, a metaphor for knowing oneself in order to attain the fullness of one's power, becomes one of the book's major themes.The story her mother told her, “No Name Woman,” is meant to deal with issues concerning a young woman’s life. I think that it is her mother telling her not to be a disgrace to the family’s name. Brave Orchid, Kingston’s mother, grew up in a small village in rural China where every action of the residents was common knowledge to the villagers. The villagers’ mentality then was to weed out the less productive and bad inhabitants that would put a strain on the already poor village. She states how her father would not admit to having a sister because of the humiliation she caused them. The man who got her aunt pregnant wanted to kill her because he did not want to be embarrassed, when actually it was his fault just as much hers. Kingston’s mother tells her this story because she wants her daughter to be the perfect female for their family. "Don't let your father know I told you. He denies her. Now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you. Don't humiliate us. You wouldn't like to be forgotten as if you had never been born. The villagers are watchful." This is frightening for K...
