The Woman Warrior

by

Maxine Hong Kingston

– In her fantasy as Fa Mu Lan, the baron is an evil lord who has seized control of Kingston’s / Fa Mu Lan’s village. He hoards all of the villagers’ food and oppresses them with his army. The baron sends a horseman to Kingston’s family’s imagined home in ancient China to conscript a man—“one from each family”—into his army. Kingston describes the baron as having “a piggish face.” When the woman warrior / Kingston faces him in her male disguise, he is counting his money on an abacus. Kingston / The Woman Warrior pulls off her shirt to reveal the words her parents have engraved into her back. The baron is shocked at seeing her breasts, letting him know that the warrior is actually a woman. Kingston / The Woman Warrior cuts off his head, then lets the villagers into his stronghold, where they drag his family and servants out into the courtyard for punishment.

The Baron Quotes in The Woman Warrior

The The Woman Warrior quotes below are all either spoken by The Baron or refer to The Baron. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Storytelling and Identity Theme Icon
).
2. White Tigers Quotes

It is confusing that my family was not the poor to be championed. They were executed like the barons in the stories, when they were not barons. It is confusing that birds tricked us.

Related Characters: Maxine Hong Kingston (speaker), The Baron
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Woman Warrior LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Woman Warrior PDF

The Baron Quotes in The Woman Warrior

The The Woman Warrior quotes below are all either spoken by The Baron or refer to The Baron. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Storytelling and Identity Theme Icon
).
2. White Tigers Quotes

It is confusing that my family was not the poor to be championed. They were executed like the barons in the stories, when they were not barons. It is confusing that birds tricked us.

Related Characters: Maxine Hong Kingston (speaker), The Baron
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis: