Seeking Resistance Within Madness

【Abstract】：The Woman Warrior， a masterpiece of Maxine HongKingston， occupies a unique and influential position in Chinese Americanliterature. Its immediate success not only brings great reputation to theauthor， but also paves the way to establish her paramount status as aChinese—American writer. After its publication， critics have used diverseperspectives to analyze this book， such as feminism， Orientalism，anthropology and psychology. Unlike these usual ones， the paper willprobe the deeper connotation behind mad women images to seek theunspeakable resistance and rebellion within madness.

【Keywords】： resistance；madness；mad woman images；TheWoman Warrior

Woman WarriorMadness always receives a compelling focus in the literature hall.Many domestic and international writers pay special favors to the madimages， especially for the mad woman images which contain differentmetaphors. As for the definition of “madness” in literature， Chin Frankholds the view that “talk and no talk become the standard to distinguishmadness and normality” （216）. Feminist literary master Showalter pointsout “crazy woman is the product of power controlled society， it is arequirement to maintain the power” （87）. The women images in this booksymbolize the embarrassing situation of Chinese—American women whoare in marginalization and with double cultural identity.

“The village crazy lady”， a typical victim of Chinese man dominantpower system， is the first manifestation of mad women images in TheWoman Warrior. The only thing we know about the mad woman is that sheis battered to death as a spy by the villagers， because they firmly believe“she gives signals to Japanese invaders with a mirror disguised in her heir”（Kingston 95）. The villagers think she is crazy and mad， because thebehaviors of this crazy lady have challenged the traditional Chineseculture—The Three Obedience and Four Cardinal Principles. In theChinese man dominant power system， woman is man’s property. Anywoman who violates the rules and teachings will be driven out from ration，so the “mirror” and “spy” are only excuses for the villagers to kill her. Theimage of “the village crazy lady” can be interpreted as rebellion andresistance to patriarchy and Chinese man dominant power system. Herself—consciousness to pursue female beauty and ego completelychallenges traditional Chinese culture.