The Traditional View of Women in China

It was our assignment to pick a role and carry out the duties that came along with it for our Literature Circle Figure 8’s. I chose the role of Philosopher King, who identifies the themes/big ideas of the section.

The biggest overlying theme for this section of The Woman Warrior is that of the roles and traditions of Chinese women. The first page of this reading begins with Maxine explaining how Chinese girls would listen to the adults talk story all the time. A lot of the things they heard while listening, were the standards of Chinese women. Women were considered to be a failure if they didn’t grow up to be something special; being “wives or slaves” was not good enough in their culture. What I understood from this chapter, was that having a daughter in China, was not held as highly as having a son. They liked men, for they believed they created a stronger work force and more warriors who could fight. People of that culture traditionally saw women as weak and useless. Chinese women heroines were known as swordswomen. These swordswomen always got even with the enemies of her family.

Maxine speaks of how she grew up hearing stories about swordswomen from her culture, namely Fa Mu Lan. Maxine, with her great imagination, tells the story of Fa Mu Lan, from Fa Mu Lan’s perspective.

Fa Mu Lan was a Chinese girl, whom at the age of 7 followed a bird up into the mountains, where she met an old couple who wanted to train her to become a warrior. For an extensive 15 years, Fa Mu Lan lived in the mountains away from her home and family, fasting for days, and learning how to use the magical “sky sword.” When Fa Mu Lan turned 22, the old couple allowed her to return to her village, to take the place of her father in the war. Willingly she took on this duty, traveling on a white horse into war with words of revenge scarred into her back and an army of sons following behind her. She won many battles, and was re-united with her husband, a childhood friend. During that time, she became pregnant. After delivering the child, she sent her husband back to the village with her son. In her last act of revenge, she beheaded the baron whom took away all the sons of her village.

Fa Mu Lan is an interesting portrayal of a Chinese woman, for she deals both with traditional and warrior ways. Even after all her training in the mountain, she is still a woman, a wife, and a mother. At the same time, she can kill armies of people like no one else. When she led her army, she let them believe she was a man, for as she said, “Chinese executed woman who disguised themselves as soldiers or students, no matter how bravely they fought or how high they scored on the examinations.” Chinese traditions and rules were very strict, it seems.

After Maxine finishes her story of Fa Mu Lan, the focus switches to her life in America. She speaks of how no matter what she does, nothing pleases her family, and mentions the example of straight A’s. They only see her as a disappointment, never living up to their expectations. And her life isn’t made any easier by the comments that she hears from all the Chinese immigrant villagers, such as, “Feeding girls is feeding cowbirds,” “There’s no profit in raising girls. Better to raise geese than girls,” and “I would hit her if she was mine. But then there’s no use wasting all that discipline on a girl. When you raise girls, you’re raising children for strangers.” She describes how people would shake their heads when they saw her and her sister, and how whenever her Great-Uncle would take her brothers shopping, she would not be allowed to come because she was a girl. Maxine was not given as many privileges as her brothers. Even when she grew up and went to Berkeley, she received no warm welcome on her return home. Thus, she takes a stand against these unreasonable Chinese traditions, by acting as a contumacious Chinese girl who refuses to take part in roles such as washing dishes or cooking food.

Maxine wishes that a bird would come to her as one did to Fa Mu Lan, and lead her away from her life, so that she may become a swordswoman. She tries to do good things, but can’t even accomplish them. For example, her attempt to stand up to her racist manager had only gotten her fired. Therefore, dealing with her dying relatives under Communist control in China seems like an even more daunting and impossible task.

The story of Fa Mu Lan is a major contrast to Maxine’s reality. By the end of the chapter, Maxine knows that her words are her weapons, similar to Fa Mu Lan, whose back was scarred with words of “revenge”. Both of these figures have been burdened by words, also. The only way for Maxine to use her words as weapons, is through her own effort and will. This can be seen as a parallel to Fa Mu Lan and her magical sky sword, which she had to command through her own will power.

The only things that seem to be holding Maxine back are the Chinese traditions of how women should act and behave. These Chinese traditions are bound to her, even though she is living in America. Like she says, “Even now China wraps double binds around my feet.” (p.48) Once Maxine finds her will and inner strength, she can break through these binds and break through the Chinese traditions which constantly burden her.