Warrior Woman- Elements of Totem Religion

Chinese Dragon Totems

               
                The Confucian elements in The Woman Warrior are distinct: community trumps individual needs, religious hierarchy dictates family roles, and women are to obey relationship roles. Despite the clear Confucian sway there are undertones of ancestral worship and animal reverence.

                Emile Durkheim said that Totem worship is the origin of all religion.  A totem is any animal or object which reflects the community and its sacred connection to God. It represents not only deities, but also ancestors. In totemic cultures, equal emphasis is placed upon veneration for the eternal divine and for diseased ancestors. Animal totems act as both vertical and horizontal axis mundis: they connect an individual with both God on high and the ghosts around him. This demonstrates the Totemic principle that the sacred soul is a piece of a whole, not an island unto itself. In traditional practice, it was believed that one could utilize the power of his totem in times of need. Durkheim’s description of ancestral totem worship is found in the “Shaman” chapter of The Woman Warrior.

                In this section, Kingston retells a humorous anecdote about her mother’s experiences in college. While studying, the women in the dormitory hear a mysterious noise coming from a room believed to haunted. Her mother readily volunteers to investigate, claiming she has no fear of ghosts. Having found no apparition, mother tells the girls: “There’s nothing to be afraid of in the whole dormitory, including the ghost room. I checked there too” (Kingston 67). Kingston’s commentary on this scene reveals traces of totemic superstition: “My mother may not have been afraid, but she would be a dragoness (“my totem, your totem”) During danger she fanned out her dragon claws and riffled her red sequin scales and unfolded her coiling green  stripes” (Kingston 67). This statement shows that Kingston’s ancestors worshiped a dragon totem. Her mother clearly values the power of dragons to help her in times of need.

                And such a time would arise within minutes of mother’s triumph. Returning to the ghost room she finds a hostile Fox spirit, unseen before. She threatens the spirit, “When morning comes, only one of us will control this room, and Ghost, that one will be me. I will be marching its length and width; I will be dancing, not creeping like you… Do you know what gift I will bring you? I’ll get fire, Ghost!” (Kingston 70). She galvanizes her roommates, who assist her in burning the spirit using alcohol and oil. With the help of her family’s dragon totem, Kingston’s mother was able to defeat the violent Sitting Ghost. But this ghost was just the first of many hostile manifestations of evil ghosts. Throughout the remaining conflict, her mom relies on her totem to help fight the myriad Ghosts which ceaselessly attack her village. In these cases, her mother vanquishes the monsters by eating them alive. The undertones of totemic religion are subtle, but important in The Woman Warrior.

Durkheim

Animism, Ancestors, and Totemism 101

Modern Interpretation of Totemism