King Duk Mandate Of Heaven Analysis

Also, King Duk’s operatic embodiment of Kwan Kung causes Donald to have two father figures: one paternal and one mythical. King Duk is a strong man who was in the army, born in America, “cook[ed] in the kitchens of the most powerful men in the world,” and a former railroad brakeman (Chin 9). He chooses to perform Kwan Kung, a role few take because of its demands. As King Duk puts it:
“No sex. No meat. No talk. No company. You do everything alone… Nobody wants to play Kwan Kung. Too risky. What if they accidentally forget and eat a hot dog… Kwan Kung does not accept the mess up of responsibility allowed by Western psychology. Real men, real actors, real soldiers of the art don’t lose control,” (Chin 67-8).
Essentially, King must become or incarnate
When King Duk is explaining to Donald about the mandate of heaven, he says, “Watch out, your power is going to corrupt you. Pervert your princes and make outlaws of the honest people and your rotten dynasty will die for sure. Kingdoms rise and fall. Nations come and go. That’s the mandate of heaven,” (Chin 123). Essentially, power is transitory and is transferred to kingdoms and nations as they come into power. Those in power determine the laws and determine the violence for upholding those laws. Moreover, those in power are able to rewrite the narrative of history but, as King Duk puts it, “History is war, not sport! …You gotta keep the history yourself or lose it forever, boy. That’s the mandate of heaven,” (Chin 122). By saying history is war not “sport” or fair reveals history is rewritten in order for the nation in power to remain in power. Furthermore, King Duk’s embodiment of both the god of literature and war’s tasks are related because the existence of the nation is dependent on violence and the rewriting of history. Therefore, at the end, Donald’s description of the disappearing airplanes is all the more profound. He