Solution to A Cultural Dilemma: The Strategy of Parody in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior

Abstract

The Woman Warrior is the most commonly read yet most controversial one among all the works written by Maxine Hong Kingston. Although it was published as nonfiction and considered as an autobiography by common readers, critics and scholars have held different viewpoints concerning its identity. She labels the book as “memoirs”, but family anecdotes, folktales, myths, historical stories, dreams and memories are mixed all up in the book. Besides, the writing techniques are also different from traditional autobiographies. Taking the social background and the writer’s personal experience into account, the paper analyzes the protagonists, structure and narrative strategy of the book and concludes that The Woman Warrior is in fact a parody of contemporary autobiography. By challenging the static notion of autobiography, Kingston claims her cultural status as an ethnic woman writer in America.