Not Standing Out, But Fitting In

One thing about heroes is that they have the tendency to stick out like a sore thumb. This is often the case because their heroic actions attract attention. I am not attaching any negative connotation to heroes, but rarely does a true hero go unnoticed. Some names will simply never be forgotten. One thousand years from now, people will still recognize the names of Hercules, Charlemagne, and Gandhi. Heroes represent values so universal that their influence often spreads outside of their immediate surroundings. I’ve never been to the Aegean Sea or to Turkey, yet I know the name of Achilles and the deeds that he did. Cultural diffusion aids the spread of spectacular stories and characters like Achilles and Fa Mu Lan. The ferocious swordswoman Fa Mu Lan was, she had a difficult time fitting in as a regular person.

What differentiates the Chinese American woman heroes in Kingston’s novel is there tendency to avoid sticking out. Kingston, Brave Orchid, and Moon Orchid are all content in their traditional roles. And the author finds their struggle between the American and the traditional heroic, as well (see my first discussion post). What is heroic about these women is the value they place on fitting into humanity as a whole. It is true that Kingston places great importance on fitting in with Americans, but she, her mother, and aunt place even higher importance on being one of the human race. When her mother moans over their Chinese lands being sold, Kingston tells her, “We belong to the planet now, Mama. Does it make sense to you that if we’re no longer attached to one piece of land, we belong to the planet? (107)” Kingston’s words make remarkable sense in a collectivist culture. The importance is placed on the group. Usually, the family or the village is the “in-group,” as psychology would define the term. Here, however, the entire realm of humanity is the group unit. From this passage, I saw deep into Kingston’s beliefs on the nature of the human and its interaction between others. She sees no difference between Communist Chinese and, say, African jungle-dwellers. Each group is without a slip of paper entitling them to land. They both, however, place their feet on the Earth when they walk. They are equally entitled to the Earth, and all belong to the planet.

In the next chapter, Brave Orchid further demonstrates the point her daughter made earlier in the novel. She says, “We’re all under the same sky and walk the same earth; we’re alive together during the same moment” (154). Another universal truth. But does it proclaim something that grabs one’s attention? No. It is more of a common-sense, implied truth. However, that does not mean it is not a heroic truth. Brave Orchid furthers the opinion that as a species, humans are all similar and connected in one big group. One subgroup is not so different from another subgroup, because each is constantly dealing with the same sort of problems as the other. For example, take the global warming situation. Just because people in Alaska are not getting as hot as Moroccans does not mean that the repercussions of global warming will not affect the entire planet. For issues like this, humans must overcome petty differences and recognize each other as members of the same in-group. Such a revelation, by a woman many would deem regular or ordinary, is truly heroic.