話: Stories
I was born into a Chinese household, and grew up with
Chinese traditions and stories. When I began to read “White Tigers” of Maxine
Hong Kingston’s Woman Warrior, and
learned that Kingston would relate to us the “chant of Fa Mu Lan,” (Kingston) I was thoroughly expecting to enjoy another great evocation of the “Ballad
of Mulan” (which I never have and never will get tired of). So when the story
started off with a girl being led into magical mountains by a bird, I was
hopelessly confused, and remained that way for another ten pages.
Eventually, I accepted that Kingston had taken
liberties with Mulan’s story. But as I continued to read, I recognized more
allusions to Chinese legends. There was the legend of the jade rabbit, in which
a rabbit leapt into a pit of fire to feed a disguised deity. There was the
story of Yue Fei, who allowed his mother to carve the words “serve your country
loyally” onto his back before departing for war. There was the tragedy of Meng
Jiangnu, whose husband was drafted to build the Great Wall (which Kingston
accurately calls the “Long Wall” (Kingston) so props to her for that) and died, causing her to weep
until her tears collapsed a section of the wall.
It’s quite evident that Kingston was also born
into a Chinese household, and grew up with Chinese traditions and stories. What
puzzled me was, why would she change them? Why would she combine them? People usually either follow the original story word for word, or make up a new story altogether. Before Kingston, I hadn’t ever come across people who took
well-known legends and altered them.
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| Maxine Hong Kingston - looks like someone with lots of words. |
But Kingston once “could not figure out what was [her]
village” (Kingston). She could not figure out what she needed to save. After
her version of Mulan’s story, Kingston continues to reveal to us her own life –
which in comparison, seems pitiable. Maybe she was losing her identity – her Chinese
identity. And to save that, she would need to make room for the “words… that do
not fit on [her] skin” (Kingston 53), her past stories and present struggles —
she needs to bend them, to change them, so they can fit.
Which makes me wonder – are there things in my past
that I need to alter, so that they can fit into my future?
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| One of my all time favorite movies and adaptations of Mulan's story: Mulan from Disney Seems like she had to deal with a good amount of words, too. |
Beautifully done! Gorgeous! OUTSTANDING! You did an amazing job showing the world the chinese culture -- the chinese stories and traditions. Your insight on traditional chinese legends gave your piece much more depth! It was very entertaining to read! You did a fine job selecting your images! I praise you; WELL DONE!
ReplyDeleteHi Jenny!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how you connected your personal life to Kingston through a shared background. I also like how your images were embedded into your post (I can definitely learn from that).
Building off your post, identity is constantly evolving. There is no way to know for sure if the image we are setting up for ourselves "fits into the future" but we must loyally hold onto our personal values and morals.
Nice post!
Thanks,
Shannon Lin