Orchids

Reading Woman Warrior, I was interested in the relationship between Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid.  When Moon Orchid arrives in the United States from China, it is clear that her and Brave Orchid are almost opposite.  Their personalities are completely different as one is bold and outspoken and the other timid.  Brave Orchid does strenuous work in the laundry all day while Moon Orchid cannot handle the labor and the heat.  Brave Orchid insists that Moon Orchid confront her husband who left her in China 30 years earlier.  This chapter highlights the differences between Chinese and American culture in a way that the storyline between Brave Orchid and her daughter cannot because of the generational cap which contributes to differences as well.  Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid are simply different types of women but this does not stop Brave Orchid from pushing Moon Orchid to find her husband.  The consequences are disastrous.  Moon Orchid is incapable of living between these two worlds in the ways that Brave Orchid has managed and the way the narrator is still figuring it out.  Moon Orchid identity has suffered and she is driven into madness towards the end of her life.  The narrator also has a timid personality type which shows through especially in her youth.  Moon Orchid serves as a type of tragic role model for the narrator who is still figuring out how to form an identity between two cultures.