Home in the Story of Hua Mulan, Essay Example

The setting of a story is typically important for defining its context. However, it is also often useful to introduce the cultural meaning of a text. Although the setting of each section of a story is essential for the complete understanding of its plot, the concept of “home”, which defines where the main characters live, contribute to the reader’s ability to fully appreciate what has been written. In the Song of Mulan, Poem of Mulan, and Ballad of Mulan, an understanding of Hua Mulan’s home is useful because it allows us to put the story in the context of ancient Chinese society. Therefore, Hua Mulan’s bravery becomes exceptionally important because it exceeds what would be expected from an average woman during her time period.

In the several stories of Hua Mulan, the concept of home is primarily implicit. Each tale provides approximately two paragraphs that describe home by introducing who Hua Mulan is at the beginning of the story and her differed reception upon returning home to her town. In Poem of Mulan and Ballad of Mulan, the story begins with Hua Mulan sitting at a loom and thinking about the war. In Song of Mulan, Mulan is provided with her father’s draft information by hand. In both cases, this provides us with information about Hua Mulan’s home. While we are not told of the specific time period that the story is occurring in and therefore cannot deduce the specific war that Hua Mulan is concerned about, we do know that her home is in danger of being attacked and that the army wishes her father to assist its defense. Therefore, we observe that Hua Mulan’s love of her father and love of her home inspires her to join the army in place of her father.

We again directly observe Hua Mulan’s home towards the end of the tale when the soldiers return home from their duty. In all three renditions of the story, the townspeople seem extremely grateful for the work that has been done. However, all of the characters in the story appear to be shocked that Hua Mulan is female. This helps characterize Hua Mulan’s sense of home because it is a society in which little is expected from women. Despite Hua Mulan’s bravery, her participation in the army was both unique and brave, and likely stood out as a single event rather than encouraged similar actions from other women.

Hua Mulan’s war-torn and male dominated society are the primary characteristics that describe her home. However, the several stories of Hua Mulan demonstrate that she was able to identify problems with her home and loved it so much that she was willing to do whatever it took to make constructive changes to it. While this is obvious from what is written, it implies some essential characteristics about Hua Mulan’s society that further defines the concept of home in the story.

Firstly, Hua Mulan’s society was dominated by men. Since this story is estimated to have been written in approximately 1300 A.D., women around the world had little power. In ancient Chinese society in particular, women were expected to remain at home and attend to “womanly” affairs such as raising children and tending to the home. We learn that Hua Mulan’s wants and needs deviate from this norm in the beginning of the Poem of Mulan and the Ballad of Mulan. Specifically, the Ballad of Mulan reads “No one is?on?Daughter’s heart, No?one?is?on?Daughter’s?mind” (7-8). This demonstrates that Hua Mulan is behaving atypically for a women of her age because she is not preoccupied with the concern of obtaining a husband. Since this was the goal of many young women because the acquisition of a husband and marriage was considered achieving status in the community, Hua Mulan could be considered atypical. Due to her definition of home, this was likely worrisome for her family who likely believed that they would be required to continue supporting her rather than to marry her off. An important consideration in ancient Chinese society is the role of a woman in marriage. When a woman is married, her family provides her husband’s family with a dowry, which marks that the woman is being transferred to this new family, and may not necessarily see her old family again. In this sense, the role of the woman is deemphasized because she is seen as property and a barer of children rather than a human who is capable of doing great things. This concept of home makes Hua Mulan’s actions even more important when she shows them that their thoughts of women are untrue, and that sex is irrelevant to worth.

Hua Mulan helps her home change their understanding of women towards the end of the tale when she reveals her gender to the townspeople and her military comrades. The Poem of Mulan states, “The male hare wildly kicks its feet; The female hare has shifty eyes, But when a pair of hares run side by side, Who can distinguish whether I in fact am male or female?” (60-64). This line emphasizes that even though men and women appear different, if they do a similar action, it is impossible to detect whether a man or woman did it. In doing so, Hua Mulan is emphasizing the usefulness of women and stating that they are not given an adequate chance to do good deeds for their home. While Hua Mulan’s love of her family and town encouraged her to brave war, a secondary factor that contributed to her bravery was the want to shift her town into one that would be understanding of a woman occasionally performing jobs that are typically performed by men.

In conclusion, Hua Mulan’s concept of home drove her want to join the military in order to protect her loved ones and her town that she knows so well. Even though Hua Mulan’s home wasn’t described in detail, the introductory and concluding paragraphs of each story provide the reader enough information to be able to infer the context of the story. Ultimately, ancient Chinese society wasn’t an ideal home for women to live due to their expectations to remain in the home and serve as mothers and keepers of the home. However, Hua Mulan challenged this concept of home to demonstrate the value of women and that their role should be changed to reflect the abilities rather than their societal expectations. As a consequence, Hua Mulan was held as a hero for her radical ideas. Her concept of home enables us to emphasize the difference between her home and ours.