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Honor In Tony Bancroft's Mulan

985 Words4 Pages

In ancient Chinese tradition, one of the highest achievements for any person was the act of bringing honor. Typically, bringing honor to one’s name is predetermined for every person. For instance, women are expected to bring honor to their families, while men are expected to bring honor to their country. However, these expectations can cause one to doubt or distort their own self-image. In Tony Bancroft’s Mulan, the female protagonist Mulan experiences a loss in her own self-perception. She experiences various expectations from her family, her country and also her own inner desires. Frequently, Mulan seeks to find herself while also raising her own respectable reputation. Therefore, Mulan regains essential pieces of her identity through the …show more content…

Early on, struggles to bring honor as a bride. Before meeting the matchmaker, Mulan projects, “Help me not to make a fool me, and to not uproot my family tree, keep my father standing tall” (Mulan). With regards to expectations, Mulan feels pressure to uphold her family, and especially, her father’s honor. Due to the way she is brought up, she believes that her only way to bring honor is by being a wife. Despite this contrasting Mulan’s nature, she goes to the matchmaker for the sake of her family’s expectations. But due to her lackluster efforts and lack of self-acceptance, Mulan is unsuccessful as a wife. Although she is unable to be a wife, Mulan succeeds in bringing honor as a warrior. As an act of bringing the Fa family a good name, Mulan brings home gifts from the emperor, but Mulan’s father states, “The greatest gift and honor, is having you for a daughter” (Mulan). For once, Mulan finally realizes that her family accepts her no matter what she does. Moreover, she no longer needs a false image to be accepted. In saying so, her family helps her realize that her greatest asset is being herself, not someone her family wants her to be. Hence, Mulan gains acceptance from her family by bringing honor. Although being accepted by her family is an achievement for Mulan, her greatest struggle is accepting

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