Philosopher King - White Tigers Part 2

For the second part of the chapter "White Tigers" I want to do the job of philosopher king. For this job I have to identify the major themes that occurred in the section.

Make-Believe: A major theme throughout the telling of the ballad of Fa Mu Lan there is a lot make-believe wound in with the reality. An example of this is when she fought the giant general and when she cut off his leg he turned into a snake. This obviously is not true because people can't just turn into snakes when their legs are cut off. Another time the general she was fighting was a genie out of a water gourd. This also can't be true. However the fact that she did battle many generals is true, which means that the truth is hidden in the magic that is told.

Woman are Weaker: This theme is very evident many times in this section. One time that it is evident is when Fa Mu Lan goes to kill the baron. When she tells him that she is a girl, he starts quoting phrases about girls being worse than boys. Two of these phrases are "Girls are maggots in the rice" and "It is more profitable to raise geese than daughters." Also we see this theme when Fa Mu Lan finds all of the women in the Baron's house. The women were locked in a room without any light and their feet were bound. Also when we go back into Maxine's point of view this theme is still obvious in many places. One of these places is when her parents are ashamed that they have two daughters in a row before they had any boys. Also when Maxine's brother returns from Vietnam without being hurt, her family hosts a feast and celebration for him. However, when she returned from college and from marching to change the world, her parents did nothing to recognize her accomplishments.

Racism: We can see this theme when Maxine is working for the art supply house that sold paint. Her boss made a remark about the color "Nigger Yellow". This comment was referring to her. She told him that she didn't like that word, but he didn't care at all. Also this chapter mentions that her family was denied food and work just because they were Chinese.

Women's Hidden Strength: This theme is major because Fa Mu Lan is the most famous Chinese woman that used her hidden strength to help many people and to fight as a general. Also the chapter talks about a legend that the women that were held captive in the Baron's house became a mercenary army of swords-women. This means that all of the time that they were captive they were hiding there strengths that they later released when they became a mercenary army.