Wild Swans
1. To what extent are the three women whose lives form the narrative link in this work the victim of forces over which they have no control, and to what extent do they assert their own individual will in spite of those forces?
2. One of the Western stereotypes of Chinese women is that they are submissive and passive (and therefore, some would say, weak). How do the stories of these three women confirm or challenge that stereotype?
3. How do you explain the willingness of so many people to believe in Mao Zedong for so long when his policies appeared, over and over again, to have failed?