Cycle 19: White Tigers - New Critic

Tomorrow our class will be participating in our first lit circle. In my group my role is the new critic. As new critic my job is to select passages from the story and explain the importance of each passage. The section of The Women Warrior that we had to read was White Tigers.

• At first I saw only water so clear it magnified the fiber in the walls of the gourd. The old man encircled the neck of the gourd with his thumb and index finger and gave it a shake. As the water shook, then settled, the colors and lights shimmered into a picture, not reflecting anything I could see around me. There at the bottom of the gourd were my mother and father scanning the sky, which was where I was. “It has happened already, then,” I could hear my mother say. “I didn’t expect it so soon.” “You knew from her birth that she would be taken,” my father answered. “We’ll have to harvest potatoes without her help this year,” my mother said, then they turned away toward the fields, straw baskets in their arms. The water shook and became just water again. “Mama. Papa,” I called, but they were in the valley and could not hear me. (22)
  

This passage is of great importance to me because it gives a major clue about her destiny. By her parents saying she would be taken ever since birth, this passage shows that her parents already knew she was going to be taken. This passage also expresses the value of moving on. Not only did her parents know to let go and move on, but she also knew her duties and moved on as well. As a reader we also learn that there old people are magical because of the special gourd they have.

• A white rabbit hopped beside me, and for a moment I thought it was a blob of snow that had fallen out of the sky. The rabbit and I studied each other. Rabbits taste like chickens. My mother and father had taught me how to hit rabbits over their heads with wine jugs, then skin them cleanly for fur vests. “It’s a cold night to be an animal,” I said. “So you want some fire too, do you? Let me put on another branch, then.” I would not hit it with the branch. I had learned from rabbits to kick backward. Perhaps this one was sick because normally the animals did not like fire. The rabbit seemed alert enough, however, looking at me so acutely, bounding up to the fire. But it did not stop when it got to the edge. It turned its face once toward me, then jumped into the fire. The fire went down for a moment, as if crouching in surprise, then the flames shot up taller than before. When the fire became calm again, I saw the rabbit had turned into meat browned just right. I ate it, knowing the rabbit had sacrificed itself for me. It had made me a gift of meat. (26)

At first, when reading this passage I thought the rabbit was one of the old people, testing to see how much will power she had. When she described how the rabbits were skinned and used to make fur coats, I thought she was going to skin the poor rabbit. I felt this was an important passage because instead of skinning the rabbit, she added another branch to the fire to keep the rabbit warm. That part of this passage showed great loyalty. Eventually, when the rabbit jumped into the fire and sacrificed itself for her, I thought that was supposed to teach the girl that good things will happen if you wait.