The Woman Warrior

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1976

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Parts 4-5

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Essay Topics

Reality, in The Woman Warrior, is something richer and more complicated than plain fact. How do legend, folklore, magic, and history inflect Kingston’s telling of her own life story?

Kingston wrote The Woman Warrior in 1975 and studied at Berkeley during its 1960s political heyday. How might the historical and cultural context in which Kingston came of age have influenced her writing?

The Woman Warrior begins, “You must not tell anyone […] what I am about to tell you” (3). What role does the breaking of taboos—especially taboos around secrecy and femininity—play in this story?