Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Maxine Hong Kingston, the narrator and author

One way to think about this is that we all have the tendency to imagine ourselves as the main characters in our life stories. And since Kingston is both the author and central narrator, we see these stories from her specific point of view. With Kingston's cards-on-the-table approach to telling stories, we trust her and feel for her. Of course, Kingston is very generous with her storytelling, making her mom a central figure in her stories as well.