Maxine Hong Kingston's memoirs do not share the focus of typical memoirs: biographical details of friends, siblings, favorite pastimes. Rather, Kingston examines the social influences that have shaped her life, view of herself, and the world. The author looks mostly at her mother's "stories", which are stories about Brave Orchid and life in China. Part of this Chinese legacy is the social and familial oppression of women that runs firmly throughout the stories in this novel. Perhaps the most egregious example of this oppression can be found in the startling scene that comprises the first chapter of The Woman Warrior, No Name Woman. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Brave Orchid tells her daughter a cautionary tale about her "unnamed" sister-in-law who committed suicide in China after conceiving an illegitimate child while her husband was in America. The story itself, telling the deeds of a woman that her family refuses to remember, becomes a taboo: “You must not tell anyone what I am about to tell you,” warns the narrator's mother (1). By only preserving the sin of the story and thus the condemnation of the “nameless aunt,” the mother effectively neutralizes any specific characteristic that defines a person, successfully inflicting the aunt's punishment and making her a literal nobody. The narrator ponders, wondering, “what did my aunt wear,” imagining the possible scenarios that led to her aunt's pregnancy and death (6). Was it rape? Or mutual infatuation? Did it matter? “Being a woman, having a daughter in times of hunger was wasteful enough. My aunt couldn't be the only romantic who gave up everything for sex. Women in China did not choose” (6). The birth scene is one of the most disturbing and adorable scenes in the book. There is so much beauty in the scene: ten little fingers and toes, the act of breastfeeding for the first time, and a baby sleeping on its mother's belly. The scene is in stark contrast to the filth of a pigsty in the cold of the night. It is ironic that a woman, the only being capable of completing the birthing process, is ostracized because of that very act. It is tragic and it is beautiful that the newness of a life mixes so soon with the stillness of death - the water of the well swallowing up the two sparks of life that burn like the wandering stars in the night sky that is the only testimony of the loneliness of the aunt. How terrible and beautiful it is that "mothers who love their children carry them with them", even in the stillness of death, which is much kinder than the politics of society. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay After the men of the family left the village, Kingston observes, “They expected her alone to maintain the traditional ways, which her brothers, now among the barbarians, could tinker with without detection. Heavy, grounded women had to keep the past against the flood, safe for the return” (8). But in a world where women are “maggots” and “slaves” and encouraged to take part in their own subordination, one could not expect otherwise. “There is no profit in raising girls. Better to raise geese than girls” (46). The only way to escape this legacy lies in contrast with the traditional view of women as slaves or servile wives: the warrior woman embodied in the avenging woman Fa Mu Lan. This figure represents a contrast to the traditional Chinese feudal system and provides the narrator with an alternative model to follow, as well as a scope of power.