Question: I have created six threads related to the first three chapters of Woman Warrior.Each thread presents a group of related questions.
For discussion leaders,select one set of questions and post a well organized and developed response to that thread. You may not respond to a thread a different discussion leader has already responded to. (See Discussion Board Guidelines under Course Information to be sure you understand content and length requirements.). Due Wednesday Sept. 6th 11:59pm
1- Why do you think Kingston has chosen to write chapters primarily about her no name aunt, a fantasy Fa MuLan-self, and Brave Orchid? How, if at all, are these women connected? What role does each, or do they collectively, play in Kingston's memoir project of understanding and representing the self?
2- Analyze Brave Orchid's encounter with the sitting ghost at medical school. What might the ghost symbolize? How is this final scene related to the final scene of the chapter involving a grown Maxine at home with her mother?
3- Why does Maxine imagine herself as a warrior, based loosely on Fa MuLan? What contradictions are presented in thestory of the fantasy warrior self? How are these conflicts related to her life and struggles in reality?
4- How would you describe Brave Orchid as a mother? Discuss the various positive and negative effects/influences she has on Maxine, her sense of self and belonging,and her sense of possibility.
5- How does Maxine attempt to negotiate her cultural identities? Why is this so difficult,or if you prefer, what are some of the specific challenges involved in understanding her cultural identities?
6- What are the significant dimensions of the relationship with her unnamed aunt that Kingston attempts to develop by writing about her? What kind of "ancestral help" does she seek? Why does she need such help?Why seek it from this distant, unknown and unknowable woman?
From the book: Kingston, Maxine Hong. Woman Warrior: Memoir of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. NY: Vintage, 1975.