Fa Mu Lan Equal Rights for Women in China - 955 Words

Despite the oppression women were subjected to in China, they still occasionally overcame it and accomplished something extraordinary. Some worked, and helped to earn the family living, some were extremely honorable in their efforts to uphold their chastity or their familys honor, and some accomplished even more influential feats. Fa Mu Lan trained for fifteen years in order to become a woman warrior. She became as strong as a man, but swifter and more graceful. After saving her father from the draft by dressing up as a man, she assembled an army. Her army never lost, because Kuan Kung, the god of war and literature, would always ride before her into battle. Interestingly enough, another of the more extraordinary feats was that of†¦show more content†¦A female writer makes a bow in this direction in the preface to her poem when she assures her reader that she wrote it after finishing [her] embroidery. (Mann, 77) Women writers accepted their household duties and did no t deviate from them, which enabled women to accomplish these works without creating trouble. The peacefulness of writing also enabled the women to keep their main gender role, while still functioning influentially. Women wrote better than men due to the lack of a quest for honor or power. They did not need to worry about exposing their inner self to the world, as long as it kept their honor intact. They were able to express intense emotions in a distilled manner that men either could not accomplish or would not let on to. Women writers showed their intensity through expressing feeling instead of taking away the lives of others. In contrast to the peaceful production through writing, the fact that the entire Fa Mu Lan example was centered on war was also a problem. Women should be able to be equal or superior to men without having to kill them, and the extreme amounts of violence and killing Fa Mu Lan accomplished was not necessarily a good thing. The fact that she performed so many violent acts also decreased her femininity. By being so aggressive, she became more masculine. Also an issue is the credibility of the accounts of Fa Mu Lan. Some are rather fantastical, including her beadsShow MoreRelatedOn Mother-Daughter Relationship in the Women Warrior6552 Words   |  27 Pagesin United States(the special focus on mother-daughter relationship in the Chinese-American women writings) From the nineteenth century, Chinese-American literature has been discriminated by the American literature canon. Most early Chinese American works tended to cater for the taste of the white readership. The situation changed till the later half of the twentieth century when the Civil Rights Movement took place in the United States, during which more Chinese writers emerged on the literaryRead MoreWomen Empowerment Depicted in Maxine Hong Kingston’s Autobiography The Woman Warrior1778 Words   |  8 Pagesparenting skills of complying to and contradicting stereotypes of oriental women, permitted her to visualize the potential to attain a better life and to be the exception of the ongoing stereotype of the submissive oriental woman. By rebelling against certain aspects her Chinese heritage, Kingston set high standards for herself and other Chinese American women and this serves as an inspiration for other oppressed oriental women. Uncertain about her identity, Kingston relied on her mother’s narrativesRead MoreASAM 5 Notes Essay6590 Words   |  27 Pagesto. Youre just hung up on the way some people try-- its not your way! (123-33) Three Generations and Women Sonnys father, mother, uncle Sonny, narrator, Isabel The school boys and the narrators children We assume things from one generation to the next get better. The narrator questions this assumption over and over again (11). A deep fear of what will happen to his children Women as grounding forces Isabel, the mother The social context This particular story gains power and resonance