[Sorry for the delay--I posted these questions but they got saved as a 'Draft' instead. Just realized now it didn't post!]
Q1: How does the figure of Joan of Arc parallel, in some ways, the relationship Bao had with the First Emperor of China? Is this a purely 'good,' and positive influence on Four-Girl's life? Is becoming a 'saint' her way of becoming a 'god/hero'?
Q2:What is Four-Girl's relationship to Christianity throughout these pages? What compels her to become a "secondary devil"? Why wouldn't someone like Bao and his followers understand this?
Q3: Besides the obvious juxtaposition of Joan of Arc/The First Emperor (Q1), what other echoes do we see from Boxers to Saints? Where do we see other themes repeated, or slightly embellished, in Four-Girl/Vibiana's story? Why do you think Yang is at pains to do this?
Q4: Since Yang dedicated this volume to the "San Jose Chinese Catholic Community," what kind of portrait of the saints and martyrs of the faith does he offer? Is this a pious, even dogmatic work compared to Boxers? Or is he just as critical of them as he is of the Boxer Rebellion? Where might we see one view or the other?
Q1: Both the Emperor and Joan act as spirits of guidance for their respective heroes. Bao and Vibiana look to their spirits to aid them in making crucial decisions that shape their story. However, the dynamic between Vibiana and Joan is very different from Bao and the emperor. Joan is acting out her story as Vibiana observes, while the Emperor only relays accounts of his past to Bao. This might show that Vibiana has a greater capacity to learn about the past and understand the significance of these stories. Also, The Emperor is forceful and ruthless while Joan operates in a more gentle and encouraging manner.
ReplyDeleteQ4: I think Yang is definitely more biases in favor of the Christian communities in the books. There was far less criticism present in Saints. Each time the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists is mentioned or features, they are depicted as a terrorizing force. The foreigners are often seen as victims, such as the women who reach the community asking Father Bey for sanctuary. It could even be argued that Bao is a primary antagonist in Saints, since he ultimately executes Vibiana and leads the siege on the town. Yang also explains away most of the negative portrayals of Christians from Boxers. The bearded man who took fish from Bao's father is painted as a "bad egg" in the Christain bunch, who is eventually turned away by father Bey. He also assaults Kong after he refuses to leave the church with him. Father Bey is also shown to be a more empathetic and caring character.
Q1: Like Bao, Four- girl’s relationship with her visionary character also seems to largely reflect her own desires. What I mean by that is she believes she is following her figures example but in reality she is pursuing her own desires or seeking to impress another person. Therefore, in this way it is not a good relationship because Bao and Four-girl both “follow the example of their figure” but in reality they are pure ideas acted on in a foolish or misguided way.
ReplyDeleteQ3: This is also ironic that the heroes who are looked up to in both books have been twisted in such a way. Whereas, western heroes tend to be portrayed as perfect figures. Perhaps Yang wants to convey a message to us that there were several ways the Chinese involved in the Boxer rebellion simply didn’t understand what they were getting themselves into. Also, the Christians are portrayed in a more corrupt and dark way in both books, suggesting that not only the Chinese were to blame for being misguided. For example, while the Christians claimed to be in China on a mission trip, in the book they are really portrayed as more of invaders. They begin to slowly take over China and colonize the country while claiming to help the “barbaric people”. Which isn’t the first time in history people have felt it is there duty to “help others become civilized” or basically invade them and take advantage of them. Obviously not all people who missioned to foreign countries did that, but it seems to be a fairly common trend in history. I am specifically referencing the British empire. “When the British took over a territory, or so the argument went, they brought civilization to the barbarian, enlightenment to the heathen, prosperity to the impoverished, law and social order to the brutish primitive. While most saw no reason to apologize for forwarding British economic interests in the colonies, imperialist expansion found further justification in Britain's self-appointed mission of spreading "civilization, commerce, and Christianity" across the globe, in the words of the famous explorer and missionary David Livingstone.” (http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/victorian/topic_4/civilizing.htm)
Q1: Joan and the Emperor parallel in that both of them try to give guidance and knowledge to their respective heroes, but both of them fail to see some of the irony in what they are saying. While the Emperor wants to take back China because it was something that HE built, we see Four-Girl going through Joan’s story as it is brand new to her. These two “spirits” are more so embodiments of the “heroes” ideals and morals and goals than they are spirits, and I believe that is part of the reason we see such an easy comparison. When we have goals, we often times don’t consider how those goals can block others, and instead we see the blocks as obstacles, instead of things we can work with. Bao and Four-Girl both deeply desire what their spirits want to give, but seem somewhat afraid of what it would take to get that.
ReplyDeleteQ4: Yang seems to bias the Christian faith over the native Chinese, honestly in both books. The graphical representations of battles and victories that Bao’s resistance had were clearly made to make us take a step back and think about what is happening. However, I think that the important thing to remember about Yang’s decision to give us two viewpoints is that we are supposed to see that both sides were wrong with how they approached the situation. The foreigners shouldn’t have asserted so much power on the native Chinese, and they DID often abuse their power and the establishment of the church. However, the Chinese resistance, as we see with the differences in Bao’s and Mei-Wen’s approaches, fail to see that the two groups may be able to coexist, or that it is RIGHT to try and coexist, despite what your enemies do. Mei-Wen and Vibiana both somewhat see this I believe, and I believe that they were given to us as examples of the “right” method (and to further cement the wrongness of the Chinese Resistance, with all of their talk of the English Yin.)
Q2: Four-Girl uses christianity as a way to escape her life as Four-Girl and become Vibiana. She gains a new life, a new family, and a new sense of purpose (even though she still hasn't figured her purpose out yet). Vibiana isn't connected to her cause the same way Bao and the Big Sword Society was. She used her religion as a tool, and implemented it when it suited her. VIbiana believed that she belonged with the secondary devils because she was already being called a devil. She wanted to fit in, and that’s where she did. She left being uncomfortable and found a place where she felt at home. Bao and his societies left their homes and everything they knew based on a fanatical dream of a China united against the foreign devils. The stories are almost exact reflections of each other, up until Vibiana is killed.
ReplyDeleteQ3: Again, the reverse parallelisms come into play. The Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fist perform a ritual to gain the powers of gods, and the foreign devils perform a ritual to summon the holy spirit to cleanse and inhabit those who are baptized into the church. The interesting part is that they both include the same actions. You bow, write/speak some ritual words, and consume something. But they happen in the opposite order. Bao must bow to the bean garden, consume the ashes of his text, and breathe out everything within him. Father Bey first breathes out his spirit, Vibiana eats some salt, and then she bows while she is baptized. Yang included this to show the parallelisms between both of our worlds. We may believe different things, but we’re all people in the end. And we all die.
Q1: Joan of Arc guides Vibiana to some degree. It might not be as extreme as the Emperor was doing to Bao, but she does still guide her. A strong parallel I think is that the Emperor and Joan could just be the imagination of Bao and Vibiana. That both of the kids think that these great spirits are coming down to direct them to their destiny, when in reality it could be that they themselves might have put them on this path of rebellion.
ReplyDeleteQ2: Christianity of Four-Girl is an escape from an oppressive society. This religion, from her point of view, is filled with 'devils' like herself. People that are tossed out by they own culture, but accepted into Christianity. I think this acceptance is what draws her to becoming a secondary devil. Bao hasn't really experienced such oppression from his very family. He has grown up to believe in his culture and to fight for its survival. But for Vibiana that culture has ostracized her.
Q2: Four-Girl's relationship to Christianity is not what many would consider legitimate, if we are strictly speaking of her before she was given a name. She sleeps through the lessons and really only shows up because she gets free cookies and an escape from her abusive and negligent family. I wouldn't even consider it a "relationship" as much as just an open door she has yet to enter. She has acknowledged that it's there, and somewhat identifies that she's welcome inside. But I can imagine her being in a room with two doors, one leading to her own culture and one leading to Christianity, and while her name is Four-Girl, she's just hanging out in the room and she's not inside any of the doorways. I don't think someone like Bao would understand this because Bao has a fairly strong foundation of beliefs and sense of belonging and community. He has his father and his brothers, and although their relationship dynamics aren't perfect, it is clear there is love and connections. They all believe similar things and go to things like the operas and have strong bonds and ties to their culture. Four-Girl does not. She is kind of alone, no connections, mistreated, outcast... it makes sense that she would find a connection in a place that claims to accept all people. Humans naturally seek meaningful connections with others.
ReplyDeleteQ4: I am still a little on the fence about Yang's intentions when writing this. On one hand, he dedicated Saints to an American Catholic Church. That's a pretty big indicator that he views Christianity in a positive light. But on the other hand, he dedicated Boxers to the illustrators. I googled them and their exhibits are in China and I think they are Chinese illustrators. So he dedicated Boxers to Chinese culture in a way. My opinion is still up in the air. I absolutely think he might be pointing out both the flaws and good things with both sides. It's easy to interpret any way you want. With Saints, it even reminds me of the young adults, teens, and children who join terrorist organizations like ISIS. These kids feel alienated and like they don't belong, and then they hear about ISIS and maybe talk to a "recruiter" and they end up somewhat brainwashed because they WANT to belong somewhere so bad, that they don't really care what the group is all about. This type of thinking reminds me a lot of Four-Girl/Vibiana. However, I do think Yang portrays Christianity in a more positive light than he does with Bao's culture in Boxers. (Is it a religion, or what? I don't know the name of what was/is practiced by them...) He portrays Vibiana's guide, Joan, as wise, level-headed, determined, and more soft spoken than he portrays the Emperor. The Emperor is brash, violent, forceful, hot-headed. All of the things western readers see as negative. However, the beginning of Boxers helps us to feel sorry for Bao and understand why he did the awful things he did. We got to get a glimpse of his culture and the good times he had before the Christians came in and screwed everything up, for lack of a better term. So maybe he is trying to be unbiased, but is failing a little due to being from the west.
Q1: Joan of Arc parallels to the first emperor by being Vibiana's spiritual guide. She guides Vibiana into thinking that Vibiana should be a Warrior Madien, and this causes Vibana to be killed, much like the first emperor did with Bao.
ReplyDeleteQ2: Four-Girl's relationship to Christianity is the same as Bao's relationship to the opera Gods. They both were told the stories but they both fell asleep to it. Both the Opera Gods and Christianity were used as an excuse. Bao just wanted revenge, while Four-Girl just wanted to escape.