*Don't read if you haven't seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - ending revealed and discussed.*
I thought that her jumping off the mountain was an ambivalent act - there were two possible endings - Lo's wish might come true, or she might die, and whichever happened was out of her hands. It would be destiny either way.
I also thought that no matter how much she loved Lo, she did not want to live with him in the desert, really. Shu Lien, the older woman warrior, had the benefit of having been brought up to be a warrior, it was part of her family tradition, but the younger woman warrior, Jen, had broken with tradition. She could not remain with her family, she would not be satisfied as the wife of a bandit. The only place she would have ever belonged would have been in the company of warriors, and Li Mu Bai wanted to bring her there and teach her to follow the path she had chosen. She promised him that if he defeated her, she would accompany him there as his pupil, but she reneged.
Why? Because she cannot follow the Tao. Inside she is like Lo, untutored, willful, primitive. She has much power but she does not use it for good. She needed more training than she got, partly because she was brought up in the traditional role for females, which was inadequate for her nature, but also because her nurse was an evil woman, and as a result, Jen became immoral, a thief, a liar. Refusing to honor her promise to Li causes his death - he throws the Green Destiny into the water, telling her that she doesn't deserve it, she doesn't deserve that destiny, which is true. She plunges after it, her nurse rescues her, and now Li must save her - and saving her, he dies.
Finally at the end she realizes what she has done. She will never be welcome on Wutan Mountain. She will never fulfill the destiny that she was born for.
Jumping off the mountain is both atonement and her last, most willful act. Either she will die or be forgiven. |
