Girl in Trench Coat

. We have hinted at what The Woman Warrior's genre is before--what is it? How would you describe Maxine Hong Kingston's style of prose? How does it function? What are the relationship between the narrator's life, myth, and her mother's background?

'The Woman Warrior' can be classified as 'talk-story,' which has its origins in Haiwaiian, meaning to chat or gossip. It is tempting to relate this to MHK's own life, as she moved to Hawaii after participating in anti-war protests to write 'The Woman Warrior' as well as 'China Men' (1980).

MHK has an extraordinarily lucid and poetic style of prose- almost as if she is dreaming, which brings to mind William Blake's messy fever dreams. Her stylistic choice perhaps plays into how she intends to communicate her subject matter- the stuff of legend. However, in 'Shaman,' when she is talking about her American life, instead of relating Brave Orchid's, her mother, stories, the prose becomes more clinical and methodical.  It is as if, by doing so, MHK creates a clear divide between the freedom she experiences as either Fa Mu Lan or Brave Orchid and her little, ordinary personality which cannot even stand up to petty bosses. 

Note, for example, HK's rendering of the difference between her fantasy of Mu Lan and her actual reality. She acknowledges that although they are different, "What [they] have in common are the words at our backs." 

The narrator utilizes the metaphor of Mu Lan's tattooed grievances to draw a parallel between her 'other' self and the day to day grievances of dealing with racism and explicitly being labeled racist epithets such as 'chink' and 'gook.' She likens the "report[ing of] a crime" to "report[ing] to five families." In her legend of Mu Lan, she can enact "vengeance," as seen in the fluid and vociferously fiery prose.

However, when the narrator returns to the realm of the ordinary, it is crucial to understand that she switches register, from a lyrical one to a more muted diction. 

She writes, "I turn on the lights before anything untoward makes an appearance." 

The adjective 'untoward' suggests something inappropriate or unexpected, which further reinforces the idea that the narrator creates a duality of self, not unlike Dubois' idea of the 'Veil.' She has to 'push the deformed into [her] dreams, which are in Chinese, the language of impossible stories.' She fashions an escape from the drudgery of her typical American life by indulging in 'the deformed,' meaning the fantastical. 

Her dreams are in Chinese, the manifestation of her 'other' self, her 'Chinese' self which separates from her 'American' self and becomes 'impossible stories,' and myths such as the legend of Fa Mu Lan and the fantastical stories her mother, Brave Orchid, tells her.

The relationship between the narrator's life and myth and her mother's stories is one of escapism via a fictional and strange universe where she can take on the form of a mighty warrior who defended the honor of China from invaders. She can  immerse herself in tales of cultural and familial pride- a mother who defeated a ghost, and  an aunt who defied expectations till her last breath. 

 before anything untoward makes an appearance. I push the deformed into my dreams, which are in Chinese, the language of impossible stories

"What we have in common are the words at our backs. The idioms for revenge are "report a crime" and "report to five families." The reporting is the vengeance—not the beheading, not the gutting, but the words. And I have so many words—"chink" words and "gook" words too—that they do not fit on my skin.