There are few identities that fit neatly into conventional binary systems of thought. Binary oppositions that exist in the spheres of race and gender exclude individuals who occupy the intersections of these identities. In The Woman Warrior Kingston, the objective is not to dismiss these binary oppositions, but to demonstrate that the story of a Chinese-American woman does not and cannot fit into them. In this way, Kingston must oppose binary systems of thought in order to properly relay a specific narrative: one that is generally excluded and distorted. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In “White Tigers,” Kinston tells the historical story of Fa Mu Lan in order to establish representation where representation cannot be found. In the original tale, Fa Mu Lan fights to defend her country, but in Kingston's version, she fights against a corrupt emperor. This narrative decision destabilizes the divide between fiction and non-fiction, but not only for theatrical purposes. At the end of “White Tigers,” Kingston writes, “My parents had bought their coffins. They would sacrifice a pig to the gods that I had returned. From the words on my back and the way they were accomplished, the villagers would make a legend of my perfect parentage. My American life has been such a disappointment” (45). These lines serve at first glance to demonstrate a rather stark contrast between the binary of fiction and non-fiction. The telling of Fa Mu Lan's imagined story is abruptly interrupted by Kingston's following thoughts on America. Ultimately, this narrative choice is not intended to reinforce the divide between fiction and non-fiction, but to show that Kingston's desired and actual narrative lacks representation in history and the present. There is a certain futility in the phrase “My American life has been such a disappointment” (Kingston 45). She understands that her story is not fiction, but that doesn't take away from Kingston's very real experience of it. Kingston must rewrite Fa Mu Lan's story to correctly represent her identity as a Chinese-American woman. The original story appeals to the conventional ideals of Chinese culture and even Chinese womanhood: loyalty, obedience, and perseverance. Kingston's decision to fight against the corrupt emperor, however, alludes to his own struggles against an oppressive patriarchy. In this oppression, his story is not erased: he is simply not given a platform on which to exist. Kingston must forge his own story in order to represent his own identity. Kingston struggles against oppressive hierarchies of power, but must also confront more internal binary oppositions. Much of his story is complicated by the fact that it was passed to him by unstable and opposing sources. Kingston must constantly consider the binaries of subjectivity and objectivity, reality and lies when attempting to present her narrative. For example, much of what his mother, Brave Orchid, passes on to him is fraught with inconsistencies and slippery, elusive explanations. At the beginning of “Shaman,” Kingston’s mother tells him that she once had two other siblings: “Their two children had been dead for ten years” (60). However, at the end of the story, Brave Orchid retorts, "No, you must have been dreaming." You had to make up stories. You are all the children that exist” (103). Here we see how Kingston cannot clearly mark the boundary between reality and fiction or between subjectivity and objectivity:her mother's story is simply not presented that way. Furthermore, this can be understood as being a product of Brave Orchid's own relationships struggling with restrictive binary thinking. Her stories are incoherent because binary systems of thought prevent acceptance of her identity. The possible shame and cultural shame of having dead children This would prevent Kingston's mother from speaking explicitly on the subject: she must be the mother of dead children but also appear as an adequate mother. Similarly, Kingston must accept his mother's stories while maintaining unspoken doubt. She writes in “No Name Woman”: “In the twenty years since I heard this story, I have not asked for details or spoken my aunt's name; I don’t know” (Kingston 16). Here we see a fundamental opposition at play that permeates all of Kingston's attempts to reckon with his narrative. The story of her ghostly aunt torments her, and yet she doesn't even know her aunt's name. With unstable oppositions between reality and fiction and between subjectivity and objectivity at the basis of Kingston's story, it is clear that his story would therefore challenge binary thinking. The struggle to appeal to both ends of binary oppositions is one of the main roots of Kingston's narrative. The expectation to maintain honesty but also utmost discretion extends to the sphere of race relations in which Kingston operates in America. Her identity is made complicated by the intersection of the Chinese and American identities she occupies. Kingston tells the story of his years at the American school and describes a moment when the divide between Chinese and Americans, foreigners and not, was particularly clear: "The class laughed at how stupid he was not to notice things. “She calls him my father,” he said. Even we laughed, even though we knew that his mother did not call his father by his name, and that a son does not know his father's name” (177). Here we see that the desperate need for assimilation prevents non-white Americans from being able, in a sense, to fully exist within their own identity. Kingston and the other Chinese-American students are aware of the boy's situation, and yet they laugh alongside their American classmates. Indeed, no space is created for those who are both foreign and not: they must either appear entirely Chinese and face discrimination, or attempt to “Americanize” themselves to appease their white peers. Kingston cannot relay a story that adheres to racial binaries because she herself opposes them simply by her existence. It must respond to both American and Chinese identities, and does not have the option of occupying just one place on the binary. Additionally, Kingston must further deconstruct her identity by appealing to American ideals of femininity. At this point, the many binary forces governing Kingston's identity have begun to reveal themselves, and the complex nature of its oppression is clear. Kingston is doubly oppressed as a Chinese American and as a Chinese American woman. She cannot simply assimilate into American culture; it must do so taking into account the gender expectations of both cultures. She writes, “When we Chinese girls listened to adults tell stories, we learned that we would fail if we grew up to be only wives or slaves” (Kingston 19). Here, Kingston is referring to the rigid structure of the gender binary and the resulting oppressive expectations of gendered performance. She must become a wife or slave or risk being considered a useless woman. Kingston writes further: “We girls.