Fa Mu Lan Character Analysis

Kingston’s mother uses the celebration of Fa Mu Lan’s return from war to teach Kingston how to become a perfect Chinese woman warrior who fights modern day injustice. After being criticised for being a girl while seeing the boys get praised, Kingston tries her best to be like a boy. Kingston points out, ”I went away to college- Berkeley in the sixties- and I studied, and I marched to change the world, but I did not turn into a boy. I would have liked to bring myself back as a boy for my parents to welcome with chickens and pigs.” (47). Keeping Fa Mu Lan’s heroic act in mind, Kingston, a grown woman, fights modern day injustice by marching around Berkeley, but she still does not completely accept her role as a woman. Growing up witnessing the …show more content…
Consequently, Kingston does not become a perfect Chinese woman warrior because she will not cook or clean. She does all that she can to be a bad girl because it is the closest to being a boy, who one day will be man enough to be a warrior. Furthermore, Kingston dismisses the duties that are more feminine, but she brings up the difference between men and woman to show how resilient her heroine, Fa Mu Lan is. Kingston explains, “Marriage and childbirth strengthen the swordswoman, who is not a maid like Joan of Arc... No husband of mine will say ‘I could have been a drummer, but I had to think about the wife and kids. You know how it is’ No one supports me at the expense of his own adventure”(48). Kingston believes that marriage and childbirth is what makes a hero. Joan of Arc is often perceived as a heroine who fought in a war for France, killed before she married and had children, Kingston claims that Joan of Arc is at most a maid compared to Fa Mu Lan who is a real heroine. While both Fa Mu Lan and Joan of Arc went to war, only Fa Mu Lan was the one who fought up until it was time for labor, shows that womanhood only adds strength to a