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Fa Mu Lan
Brave Orchid’s sister, who arrives in the United States after spending years living in Hong Kong. Moon Orchid differs from her sister, who is only one year older than she, in that she is a rather passive personality and less independent. Brave Orchid does not respect Moon Orchid’s fondness for fancy dresses or her inability to perform hard work, which becomes clear when Brave Orchid tries to employ her younger sister in the family laundry. Brave Orchid decides that Moon Orchid will resume her rightful role as First Wife by traveling to Los Angeles to reunite with her husband. Moon Orchid has been supported by her husband since he left her to immigrate to the United States. Though she obeys her sister’s instructions, she is rather uninterested in living with her husband and is resistant to seeing him again. When she does see him, he rejects her yet again. The encounter devastates Moon Orchid, who goes to live with her daughter until she develops a paranoid fear that the “Mexican Ghosts” are plotting to kill her. Brave Orchid has her sister move back in with her in Stockton, but Moon Orchid’s paranoia only increases and Brave Orchid is unable to treat her. Brave Orchid surmises that Moon Orchid’s spirit is unsettled due to wandering too much. A sign of her sister’s madness is that she only has one “talk-story,” whereas sane people have many. Moon Orchid’s daughter then commits her mother to a state asylum. Moon Orchid is happy in the asylum, where she meets other women with whom she can speak; as a result, her sister notices that she has learned another “talk-story.” Moon Orchid dies in the asylum shortly after their visit.
Moon Orchid Quotes in The Woman Warrior
The The Woman Warrior quotes below are all either spoken by Moon Orchid or refer to Moon Orchid. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
4. At the Western Palace
Quotes
“A long time ago,” began Brave Orchid, “the emperors had four wives, one at each point of the compass, and they lived in four palaces. The Empress of the West would connive for power, but the Empress of the East was good and kind and full of light. You are the Empress of the East, and the Empress of the West has imprisoned the Earth’s Emperor in the Western Palace. And you, the good Empress of the East, come out of the dawn to invade her land and free the Emperor. You must break the strong spell she has cast on him that has lost him the East.”
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“Oh, Sister, I am so happy here. No one ever leaves. Isn’t that wonderful? We are all women here. Come. I want you to meet my daughters.” She introduced Brave Orchid to each inmate in the ward—her daughters. She was especially proud of the pregnant ones. “My dear pregnant daughters.” She touched the women on the head, straightened collars, tucked blankets. “How are you today, dear daughter?” “And, you know,” she said to Brave Orchid, “we understand one another here. We speak the same language, the very same. They understand me, and I understand them.” Sure enough, the women smiled back at her and reached out to touch her as she went by. She had a new story, and yet she slipped entirely away, not waking up one morning.
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Moon Orchid Quotes in The Woman Warrior
The The Woman Warrior quotes below are all either spoken by Moon Orchid or refer to Moon Orchid. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
4. At the Western Palace
Quotes
“A long time ago,” began Brave Orchid, “the emperors had four wives, one at each point of the compass, and they lived in four palaces. The Empress of the West would connive for power, but the Empress of the East was good and kind and full of light. You are the Empress of the East, and the Empress of the West has imprisoned the Earth’s Emperor in the Western Palace. And you, the good Empress of the East, come out of the dawn to invade her land and free the Emperor. You must break the strong spell she has cast on him that has lost him the East.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“Oh, Sister, I am so happy here. No one ever leaves. Isn’t that wonderful? We are all women here. Come. I want you to meet my daughters.” She introduced Brave Orchid to each inmate in the ward—her daughters. She was especially proud of the pregnant ones. “My dear pregnant daughters.” She touched the women on the head, straightened collars, tucked blankets. “How are you today, dear daughter?” “And, you know,” she said to Brave Orchid, “we understand one another here. We speak the same language, the very same. They understand me, and I understand them.” Sure enough, the women smiled back at her and reached out to touch her as she went by. She had a new story, and yet she slipped entirely away, not waking up one morning.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
