The Woman Warrior Understanding the mother/daughter relationship

In the novel, The Woman Warrior, chapter one, No Name Woman, the narrator is told an exaggerated story by her mother and learns of an aunt that she once had. The sister of her father, who died (from suicide) after giving birth to a baby conceived outside of her marriage. Is this a believable story? Can it be true? What do you think about the story?

From a mother’s perspective The mother, in this situation, tells the narrator this story to protect her daughter. During those time getting pregnant outside of marriage would bring shame upon a family, and sometimes could cause social problems for the woman who is pregnant, like being shun by the community. The mother clearly used this story as a scare tactic to prevent her daughter from doing something she could one day regret.

How far is too far when protecting our loved ones? Now that we know that the story that was told to the narrator was a fable, the topic of a mother’s protection for her children, especially for her daughter(s) comes into question, but how far is too far?

Sometimes parents do everything that they can do to protect their children from the dangers in the world, but sometimes parents fail to see the other side of the situations, how this affects the child. Has anyone ever been in a situation where you felt your parents were being unfair to how you feelings? This is to prepare the students for an open class discussion. This is a way to learn more about your students and for them to get to know each other more.

Class discussion If you were the parent in the situation, do you agree with the story the mother told her daughter? If you were the child, how would you feel if your mother or father, told you this story? What do you think the mother could have done better? Pick a student at random to start this exercise off. The student who is called upon must answer all three questions.

Assignments Choose one (1) of the following : Chose one (1) partner to perform a skit. One student should be the mother and the other, the daughter, acting out the story the mother told the narrator. You can change the words and add words if you choose to do so, but the message should be the same. There is a 3-5 minute limit so be creative. Costumes are encouraged, but not required. Write a letter, as either the parent or child, to the parent or child, explaining why you chose to tell that story or your reaction to the story. Must be one page. Example: Dear Daughter, I am writing this letter to explain that I only told the fable of the no name aunt to protect you from the dangerous position you could be put in if you were to become pregnant before marriage.