New Critic (post 2)

This is another bunch of quotes that I thought were appealing in Woman Warrior.

"In dark and silver dreams I had seen him falling from the sky, each night closer to the earth, his soul a star. Just before labor began, the last star rays sank into my belly. My husband would talk to me and not go, though I said for him to return to the battlefield. He caught the baby, a boy, and put it on my breast. "What are we going to do with this?" he asked, holding up the piece of umbilical cord that had been closest to the baby." (pg. 40)

I thought this was an interesting way for Maxine Hong to illustrate pregnancy. Instead of going into the details which many readers might find a little disturbing, she creates a metaphor which she believes represents how pregnancy happens. I also thought the quote was funny at the end where they ask what they are supposed to do with the umbilical cord. In the next paragraph or the one after that, Maxine Hong explains that they have to keep it so that they can show their baby boy. She said that when she grew older her parents gave her her umbilical cord which had been all shriveled and dry, so she tells her husband (father of the baby) to wrap the umbilical cord around the pole of a red flag.

"The swords opened and closed, scissoring madly, metal zinging along metal. Unable to leave my skysword to work itself, I would be watching the swords move like puppets..." (pg. 41)

The description of the swords slashing together was incredible. I could really hear the sounds coming from the swords and the positions they were in. When I had read this I actually flinched a little because the 'metal zinging along metal' didn't give me a pleasant noise. Instead of saying the swords hit each other, Maxine Hong goes into depth of the imagery and sounds given during this battle scene.

"We faced our emperor personally. We beheaded him, cleaned out the palace, and inaugurated the peasant who would begin the new order. In his rags he sat on the throne facing south, and we, a great red crowd, bowed to him three times. He commended some of us who were his first generals." (pg. 42)

This part was very direct and straight to the point, there was no zigzagging around the idea of the emperor being beheaded, except I think that maybe it would've been better. She could've described how the head came off but maybe that would be disturbing to some. Maxine Hong (as Fa Mulan) creates new order and elects a man, a peasant specifically, who she knows has the best interest for the people of China because he had been through the sufferings and other treacherous things that the previous 'dead' emperor had placed upon the people. From this point I thought of the rest of the story as a 'new beginning' because Maxine Hong 'Fa Mulan' had accomplished what she had wanted to and the training up in the mountains with the old man and woman had really come to good use.

"I touched the Long Wall with my own fingers, running the edge of my hand between the stones, tracing the grooves the builders' hands had made." (pg. 42-43)

Another descriptive quote written by Maxine Hong - just the imagery is wonderful. It may be one sentence but it captures so much within it. Also, I believe that when saying 'Long Wall' Maxine Hong is referring to the Great Wall of China which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World today, so I saw importance of history in this quote as well.

"I attacked the baron's stronghold alone..."I want your life in payment for your crimes against the villagers."...'Girls are maggots in the rice.' 'It is more profitable to raise geese than daughters' He quoted to me the sayings I hated." (pg. 43)

Finally, 'Fa Mulan' finishes all that she wanted to do by killing the baron. She goes in alone, which proves courage and that she is not afraid to do what's right even if it means going by herself. She talks to the baron and explains why she's there, therefore giving his death a meaning. When the baron responds to her by saying these awful quotes - sexist quotes - she is frustrated and angry. I was angry as well because I could not believe this is actually what some of the men thought in China. How can you compare a woman, a human being to a maggot?! An insect! It's just unbelievevable. It's unacceptable and once hearing what the baron said I knew that 'Fa Mulan' was going to kill him - no doubt at all.

"My mother and father and the entire clan would be living happily on the money I had sent them. My parents had bought their coffins. They would sacrifice a pig to the gods that I had returned. From the words on my back, and how they were fulfilled, the villagers would make a legend about my perfect filiality." (pg. 45)

Apparently, from all her success in the battles she had made some money to send back home to her family who had probably been worrying and awaiting the news. I could sense the happiness and thanks that the family had for the gods, since they had kept 'Fa Mulan' alive and well.

The words that she's referring to are the scars on her back that her parents had engraved to keep her safe during her journey and during the battles. She is saying that the scars had helped her through and their purpose had been fulfilled. The villagers would celebrate and honor her as a heroine - a heroine who made a new life for all in China.

"To avenge my family, I'd have to storm across China to take back our farm from the Communists; I'd have to rage across the United States to take back the laundry in New York and the one in California. Nobody in history has conquered and united both North America and Asia. A descendant of eight pole fighters, I ought to be able to set out confidently, march straight down our street, get going right now. There's work to do, ground to cover. Surely, the eightly pole fighters, though unseen, would follow me and lead me and protect me, as it the wont of ancestors." (pg. 49)

In this quote, Maxine Hong is back from her fantasy about living her life as Fa Mulan, but she is comparing her life to Mulan's. It's a very interesting quote which I didn't understand at first and still am a little lost, but she's talking about the journey that she would take to 'avenge her family' if they were hurt in anyway and what she plans on doing if that ever happens.

"Fights are confusing as to who has won." (pg. 51)

This is a very simple statement, but it is absolutely true. It may only be eight words but it applies to many different things. Fights are very confusing as to who has won because it depends on the perspective of people and what they believe 'winning' is. Maybe someone would think that winning is conquering the enemy, or maybe it's learning morals and lessons. Who knows? Each person has their own idea of who has won a fight and each person has their own right to think however they want.

"I live now where there are Chinese and Japanese, but no emigrants from my own village looking at me as if I had failed them. Living among one's own emigrant villagers can give a good Chinese far from China glory and a place...But I am useless, one more girl who couldn't be sold When I visit the family now, I wrap my American successes around me like a private shawl; I am worthy of eating the food." (pg. 52)

Maxine Hong gives an idea of how her life is different from what it would be if the people from her old village were living around her. With the mixed cultures of Japanese and Chinese Maxine Hong seems to be more comfortable and happier with herself. She has gained self confidence from being in America and knows that she's a girl, a girl who is worthy of eating her food, and worthy of her freedom.

" "When fishing for treasures in the flood, be careful not to pull in girls," because that is what one says about daughters...I read in an anthropology book that Chinese say, "Girls are necessary too"; I have never heard the Chinese I know make this concession. Perhaps it was a saying in another village. I refuse to shy my way anymore through our Chinatown, which tasks me with the old sayings and the stories." (pg. 52- 53)

The first part of the quote before the ... has a different idea than the part after the ..., but this is why I connected them together. Because Maxine Hong is trying to figure out the importance of women, and the importance of herself she is learning more and more about the ways that not only her family, but how other people might think. As she says, "Perhaps it was a saying in another village", so maybe other villagers treated women with more importance. Maxine Hong seems to want to find a source that says how important women and girls are because it will make her a stronger person, mentally, spiritually, and physically.

"The swordswoman and I are not so dissimilar...What we have in common are the words at our backs. The idioms for revenge are "report a crime" and "report to five families." The reporting is the vengeance-so many words-"chink" words and "gook" words too-that they do not fit on my skin." (pg. 53)

Maxine Hong refers to the scars on her back that she had when she was Fa Mulan, but also to the invisible scars on her back as she is then. She explains similarities of the lives that both her and the swordswoman live. They both have writings on their back - one visible the other invisible - and how that writing has affected the way they live and the values that they follow.