Amy Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston both compose fiction through the lenses of gender and ethnicity. Both authors use symbolism, imagery, and rhetorical strategies to provide unique insight into Asian American experiences and identity. Likewise, both Tan and Kingston show how gender impacts their self-concept and status within the overarching patriarchal society. Their work can and should be read concurrently to best appreciate the gamut, diversity, and breath of the Asian-American female experience. Although Tan and Kingston naturally have different perspectives based on their own personal experiences and also on their different social and political goals, these two authors share much in common in terms of their elucidation of how racism and patriarchy intersect in American society.
Amy Tan’s most famous work is likely The Joy Luck Club, which focuses on mother-daughter relationships within the Chinese American subculture. The emphasis on mother-daughter relationships stresses the significance of gender to identity construction. Likewise, Maxine Hong Kingston focuses mainly on gender issues in The Woman Warrior. Both Tan and Kingston show how patriarchal norms impact identity and demonstrate different ways Asian women subvert or challenge those patriarchal norms. Tan is especially cognizant of the role that generational differences play, as the characters in The Joy Luck Club change their attitudes and outlooks to reflect corresponding shifts in American society. In addition to explicating gender roles and norms, both Tan and Kingston talk about how Asians are perceived through the eyes of non-Asians, and how those perceptions impact self-concept.
Tan and Kingston differ in their tone, style, and storytelling methods but both firmly address race, gender, and social status in their novels. Using the medium of fiction allows both Tan and Kingston to explore the political implications of self-empowerment. Their respective semi-autobiographical novels avoid overt polemics but still do invite discursive practices and critical inquiry.
