Shaping Personal Identity in Hawthorne & Kingston

Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter and Maxine Hong Kingston in The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts depict strong women struggling to shape themselves beyond the restrictions of convention. Hester Pyrnne and Maxine Hong Kingston seek to forge new social identities which surpass the codes of their respective communities. Relying upon their creative spirit, they are unable to be limited by worn-out societal restrictions for women. They understand that society seeks to impose upon them unreasonable and oppressive conventions. Instead of accepting the power and weight of these conventions, these women are willing to challenge their communitiesÆ petty and destructive centers. In transgressing the too-rigid gender codes which have been ordained for them, Pyrnne and Kingston can be seen embodying a necessary feminine revolt. It is only by delving into the depths of their own creativity that these women are able to challenge the old standards while establishing alternative paths for women.

The Scarlet Letter stands as a classical account of what happens when a woman is asked to be a cardboard heroine. Ironically, the destruction which falls upon Hester for giving birth to an illegetimate child begins to reflect not only her failings but those of the entire community. In punishment for committing adultery, Hester is asked to wear an ôAö emblazoned in red upon her chest. This ôscarlet let

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once she vainly saw herself as the ôdestined prophetessö but that she came to see that the angel destined to lead mankind to loftier heights must be ôlofty, pure and beautifulö (Hawthorne 177). Here Hawthorne remains true to the rigid dichotomy imposed by Puritan belief which prefers to perceive the world as split between good and bad, polarized between right and wrong. Yet despite his own buired prejudices and his own deeply rooted desire that women be unsullied in their virtue, the depiction of Hester Prynne remains one of the most compelling portraits of a fallen woman wronged by her hypocritical community. In The Woman Warrior Kingston is equally interested in showing how restrictive sexual codes can destroy not only a communityÆs transgressive women but the community itself. In ôNo NameWomanö Kingston begins her memoir by recalling the sad fate of her paternal aunt who defied Chinese sexual taboos and conceived a child with a man other than her husband. The Woman Warrior begins ôYou must not tell anyoneö (Kingston 3). The entire book unfolds as a counter-reaction against that sanction. It is as if Kingston draws her strength from challenging the restrictive taboos which eventually killed her long lost aunt. It
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Approximate Word count = 2182
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)