Compare And Contrast Woman Warriror And Woman Warrior

Opposites balance each other out, and without opposites the world would be a very bland place. Nothing new would be learned because everyone shares all of the same beliefs and there would be no progression. Progression relies on varying opinion and questioning authority. “Woman Warriror” by Maxine Kingston is a story about a family who has recently moved from China and tries to assimilate themselves in the new culture while still having expectations that were produced from their old culture. At one point Brave Orchids sister, Moon Orchid, moves in with them but ends up struggling to find a place for herself in the fast paced difficult life in “The Western Palace”. Brave, written by Chapman, is a movie about a feisty young woman named Merida

In “Woman Warrior” and Brave the characters Moon Orchid and Merida play complete opposites. Merida plays a strong woman warrior who always opposes authority while Moon Orchid is silent and allows everyone to mistreat her. Merida is a signal of strength and power and a woman warrior while Moon Orchid embodies what it means to have none of the qualities that a woman warrior should have because she is submissive and allows herself to be mistreated on a constant basis. Moon Orchid is on the very far side of the spectrum because she is completely submissive and listens to anything that she is told. When Moon Orchid is confronted with a problem she attempts to run and hide from her problems. She demonstrates this when she says, “I’m scared,” said Moon Orchid. “I want to go back to Hong Kong” (1750). Instead of confronting her problems like she should she models what it means to be submissive and not an example of a true woman warrior. She is not a role model that girls should grow up looking at. Moon Orchid does not show strength because she has many obstacle in her life and she just gives up and

She does not worry about how other people will see her, she just wants to be herself. She questions all authority and does not blindly follow rules that are laid out for her. There is a competition where the men of her village compete for her hand in marriage. She was not interested in any of them but her parents were not giving her a say in her own engagement so she proclaims, “I, Merida, will shoot for my own hand in marriage” (Chapman). She does not sit there silently when she sees something that she disagrees with. She knows that it will enrage her parents and most of the village but she decides to fight for her own rights because no one else will. A woman warrior does exactly this, fights not just with her words but with authoritative actions like this that challenge the standards that a society sets for its people. Merida believes that she can change her future and that path is not set for her to follow as she says, “There are those who say that fate is something beyond our command. That our destinies are not our own. But I know better. Our fate lives within us. You only have to be brave enough to see it” (Chapman). This is part of what makes her such a brave person; not believing that everything is out of her hand, but deciding that she will make and impact on the world. She is a perfect embodiment of a woman warrior and a modern day