The Inner Battles Of Mulan
8 Pages 1897 Words
€ś...the heroine is presented to the reader in a distinctly girlish terms as she sits at her window, weaving and sighing” (Simmons 59). The analysis forges the thought in the reader’s mind that the author was intentionally meaning to make Mulan sound more “girlish”. This is the only obvious example of woman’s inadequacy to men created in this poem. Kingston’s version of Mulan puts so much emotion and feelings into Mulan’s character that it makes the original version pale in comparison considering “The Ballad of Mulan’s” vagueness.
There are many examples of the inadequacy that Mulan felt due to gender barriers. One of these examples is, “Chinese executed women who disguised themselves as soldiers or students, no matter how high they scored on the examinations” (Kingston 39). Mulan knew what the consequences would be if someone found out she was a woman serving in the army. Like anyone else, she was scared that someone would find out she was a woman. The way that the Chinese dealt with issues facing women in the military just reinstates that fact that, “Her function is to assure procreation...” (Kristeva 50). Women were obviously not treated equally and would not be treated equa...