Abstract: Maxine Hong Kingston’s first novel The Woman Warrior depicts the tough experience of Chinese diasporic women, who face with dual oppression from patriarchal society and racial discrimination. Its publication has aroused wide attention at home and abroad. As a diasporic group, Chinese Americans have displayed obvious characteristics in the cultural identification of diasporic communities. Based on diaspora theory, this paper tends to explore the construction of identity from both gender identity and cultural identity in The Woman Warrior. It draws a conclusion that to construct new identity, Chinese diasporic woman has to integrate masculine and feminine characteristics, accepting both Chinese culture and American culture. 

  Key words: diaspora theory; Chinese American; identity; culture

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

  1.1 Maxine Hong Kingston-1

  1.2 The Woman Warrior-2

  1.3 Literature Review-3

2. Diaspora Criticism Theory-4

  2.1 The Concept of Diaspora-4

  2.2 Diaspora Criticism Theory-4

  2.3 The Woman Warrior and Diaspora Theory-6

3. Pursuit of Gender Identity in The Woman Warrior-6

  3.1 Male Oppression Imposed on Chinese Diasporic Women-7

  3.2 Struggling for Gender Identity-8

     3.2.1 The New Image of Fa Mulan-9

     3.2.2 Brave Orchid-10

  3.3 Diasporic Woman’ s New Female Identity-12

4. Pursuit of Cultural Identity in The Woman Warrior-12

  4.1 Racial Discrimination Imposed on Chinese Diaspora-13

  4.2 Struggling for Cultural Identity-15

     4.2.1 The First-generation Diaspora’s Struggling for Cultural Identity-15

     4.2.2 The Second-generation Diaspora’s Struggling for Cultural Identity-16

  4.3 Chinese Diaspora’ s New Bi-culture Identity-18

5. Conclusion-19

Reference-21