Double Consciousness of Chinese American Women in The Woman Warrior

【Abstract】Kingston was born in Stockton， California， to first？鄄generation Chinese immigrants， Tom and Ying Lan Hong. The Woman Warrior which full name is The Woman Warrior： Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts， was her representative work published in 1976. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. This paper tries to explore how double？鄄consciousness of Chinese women showed in this book.

【Key words】Double？鄄consciousness； the Woman Warrior； Deconstruction

【中图分类号】I712.074 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2016）20-0013-01

The Woman Warrior is the most famous book of Kingston， there are five chapters in this book： No Name Woman， White Tigers， Shaman， at the Western Palace and A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe. There are four themes of the whole book： silence （both gendered and racially constituted）， necessity for speech， the construction of identity and the search for self？鄄realization， the mother-daughter relationship and the conflicts that it engenders. After we read the whole book， we know that ii is a book about a little girl—“I”. It tells a story of a little girl and people around her. This paper will analyze double？鄄consciousness of Chinese American women from two aspects—gender and race.

As for the aspect of gender consciousness， there are two parts in this aspect. The first one is deconstruction of simplex female features. In this whole book， female characters have double features. For example， Brave Orchid was a progressive woman in China who was well educated. But when she came to America， she became a traditional Chinese woman. She often told superstitious stories to her daughter and forbid her daughter with traditional ideas in China. Fa Mu Lan is a woman warrior， she took the place of her father and fight with enemies. When she succeeded in doing that， she came back to her life. She became an obedient wife and tender mother.

The second aspect is deconstruction of gender binary opposition and patriarchy. In Chinese tradition， girls cannot choose their life， they must obey their parents arrangement. But in this book， the woman warrior realized herself after training in the mountains. The little girl leaved home when she was only 7 and met an old couple. There was no gender discrimination in this home. The old man and his wife love and respect each other.

The other aspect is race consciousness. There are two parts in this aspect. The first one is the description of ethnic difference. To one question， Chinese people and American people always have very different responses. For example， the understanding to eclipse of the moon is different. Teachers in America told the little girl， that is a common result， because the Earth goes between the sun and the moon， then， the shadow of the earth casts to the moon. But her mother told her， it is because a dog swallows the moon， so they should knock the pot cover to drive away the dog.

The second one is deconstruction of Orientalism. In Orientalism， Asian women are obedient， weak， and even the sex slavers of man. American society is the civilized society， western world is the best. But in this book， the author deconstructs that kind of thoughts. Brave Orchid is a very advanced woman in China， but when she comes to America， she became a superstitious， overbearing housewife. Chinese people lived in a very bad life in America. At that time， many events happened in China， so Chinese society was in a mess， but in America， there were also many homeless people and crazy women. So by the description of American society， the author tells us that the so？鄄called civilized country also has its darkness， pains and weakness.

At the end of this book， the author shows her ideas. She hopes that different cultures can blend with each other. There will be no gender or race discrimination in the world.

Work Cited：

[1]刘学东，王建会.评《女勇士》中女性形象的自相矛盾现象.大连海事大学学报.2010（6）.

[2]方红.汤亭亭小说研究与国界艺术.南开大学出版社.2007.

作者简介：

黄婷婷（1991-），女，辽宁人，现为沈阳师范大学在读研究生，研究方向为英语语言文学。