Cycle 18: No Name Warrior - More Quotes

This past week our class started reading The Woman Warrior, and completed the first chapter called “No Name Warrior.” “No Name Warrior” is a story about Maxine’s aunt which was told by Maxine’s mother. The story Maxine’s mother told her was about her aunt that committed suicide after giving birth to a baby that did not belong to her husband, but someone unknown. After Maxine’s mother tells her the story she ends up leaving the scene, leaving Maxine to ponder the possibilities in which this story took place. After finishing “No Name Warrior”, our assignment was: what does Maxine’s description and imagination about her aunt say about her?

• In one scene Maxine imagines, “Perhaps she had encountered him in the fields of on the mountain where the daughter-in-law collected fuel. Or perhaps he first noticed her in the marketplace. He was not a stranger because the village housed no strangers. She had to have dealings with him other than sex. Perhaps he worked an adjoining field, or he sold her the cloth for the dress she sewed and wore.”(6)
  

In this quote Maxine imagines three different scenarios in just one paragraph, this shows off how big Maxine’s imagination really is. Because there scenarios are all so wild, it reflects that Maxine has a wild personality. As readers, we learn that Maxine is creative. These scenarios are just three out of the many in this chapter. To imagine such creative ideas, she must have a creative mind.

• In another scene Maxine describes her aunt’s actions: “To sustain her being in love, she often worked at herself in the mirror, guessing at the colors and shapes that would interest him, changing them frequently in order to hit on the right combination. She wanted him to look back.”(9)
  

Because Maxine is a teenager, her thoughts reflect that of a teenage girl. When Maxine describes her aunt looking at herself in the mirror, I assume Maxine is self conscious herself and cares what she looks like. In this description Maxine talks about colors and shapes, this may show Maxine’s bright, colorful, and artistic side.