An Analysis of Maternal Love’s Influence on Children in The Woman Warrior

Abstract：The Woman Warrior is a one of the representatives of Maxine Hong Kingston.The novel integrates Kingstons living experiences with a series of stories that combined Chinese history，myth，and beliefs told by her mother.This paper will make an analysis on the influences of maternal love on children and connect it with the character，the mother Sweetness，in God Help the Child.

Key words：The Woman warrior；influence；maternal love

I. Braves Influence on her Daughter in The Woman Warrior

“Shaman” relates the story of Brave Orchids extraordinary medical career as a midwife in China.After giving birth to two children in China，Brave Orchid takes the unusual step of attending medical school，after which she works as a doctor in her home village and becomes a very successful healer.Eventually，she gives up her career to join her husband in America.However，unable to practice medicine in America，she and her husband open a laundry business.In The Woman Warrior，the mother Brave Orchid was the first generation of Chinese immigrants，and she was deeply influenced by Chinese traditional culture and concepts.In order to establish herself in the American society，she had to try to learn the local language and adapt herself to their customs.She struggled very hard，and said that“I cant stop working，I hurt.My head，my back，my legs hurt.I get dizzy.I cant stop.” As a traditional Chinese woman，the traditional culture was deep-rooted in her heart.She also use traditional Chinese culture to educate her daughter.For example，she told her adolescent daughter the story of “No Name Woman” to warn her daughter to keep virginity and behave herself.She accompanied her children to grow up and tried to help them to build up values and behavior codes which she believed right.In the spiritual aspects，she spared no efforts to enrich the spiritual world of her daughter by telling her various kinds of stories of ghosts including her experiences of catching a ghost during her studying medicine.However，the values she conveyed had not get her daughters consent.Instead，it brought her great distress and resistance.She imagined that she could be trained to become a warrior like Fa Mu Lan from the time she is seven years old，then leads an army of man against the forces of a corrupt baron and emperor.Brave Orchid is as brave as her name.As a student，without fear of the ghost，she can stay in a room which is full of so called ghosts.In America，faced with racial discrimination，she made a living by herself and worked as hard as a man to feed her family.Brave Orchid is also very industrious.In the To Keung School of Midwifery，although she was not the cleverest student，she studied hard and spent much time on her study and finally became a top student admired by all the students.

II.Sweetnesss Influence on her Daughter in God Help the Child

In God Help the Child，the daughter，Bride，was abandoned by her father since she was born and was neglected and abused by her mother.Her light skinned parents were shamed of her.When she was born，her mother Sweetness thought that“She was black she scared me.”Her father treated his daughter like she was a stranger，“more than that，an enemy”.He never touched her.Therefore Bride grew up in a single-parent family.Her mother Sweetness raised her in an extremely strict way，“Very careful in how I raised her.I had to be strict，very strict.Lula Ann needed to learn how to behave，how to keep her head down and not to make trouble.” Bride has received a lot of physical punishments during her childhood from her mother.Her childhood is filled with neglect and violence.Her mother was not bad，but she may have done some hurtful things to her child because she had to protect her.What Sweetness did to her daughter had left a great influence on the childhood of the daughter.

As a crucial family member，the character of mother has a significant influence on the growth of the children.As a traditional Chinese woman，Brave Orchid represents the image of selfless and dedicatory mothers.She accompanied her children to grow up and tried to help them to build up values and behavior codes which she believed right.In the spiritual aspects，she spared no efforts to enrich the spiritual world of her daughter by telling her various stories of ghosts including her experiences of catching a ghost during studying medicine.However，Sweetness ignorance and neglect to Bride has left a big shadow on the growth of her whole life.

Conclusion

This two novel present us with two different images of mothers.From their performances in taking motherhood responsibility，we can see that what mothers do plays an extremely significant role in the growth of their children.Rich maternal love could help children establish healthy and powerful characteristics.Nevertheless，the lack of maternal love may destroy a child，and push the child into deep loneliness and depression.

References

楊春."《女勇士》：從花木蘭的“報仇”到蔡琰的歌唱." 外國文學研究，3（2004）：74-79.

作者簡介：

馮宇（1994—），女，漢族，河南新鄉人，英語專業碩士，單位：云南大學外國語學院英語語言文學專業2017級碩士研究生，研究方向：美國文學。

（作者單位：云南大學外國語學院）