A Response to Kingston's Warrior Woman Sometimes, I have to admit, I look at my mother and wonder where she comes from, what the hell she's thinking, and why she acts the way she does. I can't be like her because, as I tell myself, if I notice her strange behavior now, I'll be able to catch it in myself before it's "too late." The funny thing is, I'm sure he did and still does the same thing towards his mother. What's even worse is that I see my mother becoming like her mother, despite my mother's hopes that she won't be like my grandmother. Does this then mean that I will become like my mother or that I am already like her? Why does this thought scare me? Kingston herself appears to be grappling with these questions as she writes The Woman Warrior. In the chapter "At the Western Palace" she writes largely from her mother's point of view, and through this process, perhaps learns more about the way she acted as a child towards her mother. His mother often tries to compliment her children, but all they do is run away, go into another room. It's as if they can't be bothered by their mother's words, by the pride she feels for them. Instead of enjoying her words and her love, they want to hide, to protect themselves from her words, from having to deal with her. What must it have been like for Kingston to have to write this about herself, to realize the ways in which her words and actions distanced her from her mother? But then Kingston's own words continue to make her mother seem like an outsider, the one different from everyone else, making her mother appear again as the one who is the ghost. The children, including her husband, seemed to simply go along with her, making no effort to want to learn about Chinese culture and therefore not bothering to know about their own mother. How many times have we done the same to our own mothers, not bothering to talk to her, just humoring her because we can't be bothered to find the time to actually care about what she wants??