Gender Roles

The ways in which we think about gender--what constitutes masculinity or femininity--are products of a socially constructed ideology so ingrained in our beliefs systems that it dictates how we think about ourselves and how we act in relation to one another. Think about the role that gender plays in Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street. How does gender affect characters' beliefs about themselves and the ways in which they act in the world? More specifically, in what ways do characters adhere to what is socially acceptable according to their gender roles? In what ways are these roles defied?

Now consider this issue beyond the scope of the novel. Do they function the same way in the world today? In what ways do our genders dictate our behavior and influence the ways we think about ourselves and our place in our communities (family, workplace, school, etc)?

Woman Warriors

The title of Maxine Hong Kingston's novel The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts suggests, in its use of the definite article "the," that this memoir is about one particular woman warrior, not a woman warrior but the woman warrior. Who is the woman alluded to in the title? (Justify your answer.)

What is your definition of a woman warrior? How does your definition contrast with Kingston's? What other women in the novel could be characterized as warrior women, and how do these women influence Kingston's journey into womanhood as she attempts to navigate her Chinese and American idenetities as well as what it means to be a woman in both cultures? Finally, do you believe Kingston succeeds in becoming a warrior woman herself? Why or why not?