Throughout Maxine Hong Kingston’s, The Woman Warrior; Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, the recurring idea of “ghosts” has become a vital piece to the novel. In the memoir, Shaman, the narrator discusses the types of ghosts she and her mother have encountered. At the start of the memoir her mother is haunted by a sitting ghost in her dormitory. Kingston writes, “This Sitting Ghost has many wide black mouths. It is dangerous. It is real. Most ghosts make such brief and gauzy appearances that eyewitnesses doubt their own sightings. This one can conjure up enough substances to sit solidly throughout a night. It is a serious ghost, not playful at all” (Kingston, 74). In this instance, the ghost the narrator’s mother is referring to is a spirit, a dead ghost. This type of ghost is one that is easily fought off; it can be destroyed; and it does get destroyed. Kingston states, “I told you, Ghost, my mother chanted, that we would come after you” (Kingston , 75). Her mother knew that if she showed no fear and confronted the ghost, the ghost could be ravaged. She also tells the story of the ghost she encountered on the footbridge she crossed in China. Kingston states, “One twilight, just as my mother stepped on the bridge, two smoky columns spiraled up taller than she….She used the bridge often, but she did not encounter those ghosts again” (Kingston, 88). Again, the ghost her mother encounters are dead ghosts, just spirits and shows no fear. But not all of the ghosts the narrator and her mother come across are similar to the Sitting Ghost and the ghosts on the footbridge.
In January of 1940, the narrator’s mother migrated to the United States. Following her move, she gave birth to her daughter, the narrator, during the middle of World War II. The narrator discusses the types of ghosts she encounters. Kingston states, “But America has been full of machines and ghosts- Taxi Ghosts, Bus Ghosts, Police Ghosts, Fire Ghosts, Meter Reader Ghosts, Tree Trimming Ghosts, Five-and-Dime Ghosts” (Kingston, 97). In this quote, it is evident that these ghosts are alive. Rather than spirits haunting and tormenting people, these ghosts are just average people in their everyday lives. Kingston also states, “The Japanese, though ‘little,’ were not ghosts, the only foreigners considered not ghosts by the Chinese” (Kingston, 93). Here, the narrator describes every foreigner as a “ghost” besides the Japanese.
In this memoir, ghosts represent the unknown; they are the fear and uncertainty the narrator faces. This is why the Japanese are the only foreigners not considered “ghosts”, to the Chinese, the Japanese are familiar and comfortable. But, the American culture is not. The narrator does not understand the American culture, so everyone within the American culture is labeled as a ghost. Sometimes it can be unclear whether or not the ghosts are alive or dead, or are in the past or present. But in each senacrio they repsent something differet. When the narrator’s mother tells her ghost stories, it shows how she is brave and also, unaffected she is by the cultural differences. When the narrator uses the word ghost, she is referring to the mysteries and insecurities she is facing in the unknown culture she is emerged in. Her mother is portrayed to be strong, confident, and secure within herself when she tells her ghost stories. Her ghost stories are also ways of teacher her daughter lessons about life. By telling her daughter how she stood strong against these ghosts, is a way of telling her to be confident and fearless in every aspect of life.
Questions:
- What lessons or advice do you think the narrator’s mother is trying to portray through the stories of the bridge ghost and the Sitting Ghost?
- Do you think it is peculiar that even though the Japanese are an adversary to the Chinese, they are the only foreigners not considered ghosts? Why or why not?
When you use the quote “The Japanese, though ‘little,’ were not ghosts, the only foreigners considered not ghosts by the Chinese” (Kingston, 93), you don’t really explain why it’s significant until the beginning of the next paragraph. You say, “In this memoir, ghosts represent the unknown; they are the fear and uncertainty the narrator faces. This is why the Japanese are the only foreigners not considered “ghosts”, to the Chinese, the Japanese are familiar and comfortable. But, the American culture is not.” I think that’s a great explanation of the quote you use above, but it would be more helpful to your readers if it were written right after the quote. Anyways, I think it perfectly explains what ghosts represent in the book. The narrator struggles with embracing American culture and also with separating what parts of her are Chinese and what parts of her are American. Kingston writes, “Chinese-Americans, when you try to understand what things in you are Chinese, how do you separate what is peculiar to childhood, to poverty, insanities, one family, your mother who marked your growing with stories, from what is Chinese” (Kingston 5), which I think reinforces your idea that American culture is foreign to the narrator.
All in all, I think you did a really good job analyzing what ghosts represent in the book. Towards the end there is some misspelling, so always remember to proofread!
When reading your blog post I found it very helpful when you stated that, “she is referring to the mysteries and insecurities she is facing in the unknown culture she is emerged in” when discussing why she labels everything as a ghost. Throughout the reading, I found this confusing and this thought helped clear that up. An example that supports this theory is when she is talking to the American that she is cleaning laundry for and labels his bag as, “Noisy Red-Mouth Ghost” (Kingston 105). This shows that, when the man offended her, she instantly labeled him a ghost even though he was a real person.
I believe that the lesson the mother is trying to teach with the ghost stories is that you have to always remain calm and confident. If she were to panic in either situation, she likely would have ended up in a much worse situation.
I do not think that it is strange that they do not consider the Japanese ghosts even if they are enemies. This is because they are well aware of their culture and intentions, so there is no need to label them as mysterious, a term I often associate with ghosts.
Overall, great blog post, it really helped me to better understand the reading!
Ghosts play a very very big role in this book. However, I could not figure out the significance until you cleared that up. Ghost’s also played a major role in the narrator’s childhood for example “When the thermometer in our laundry reached one hundred and eleven degrees on summer afternoons, either my mother or my father would say that it was time to tell another ghost story so that we could get some good chills up our backs”(Kingston 87). This shows that ghost stories were important in the upbringing of the narrator and was important to her parents to tell her these stories. I think the point of the stories is to build up the confidence of the narrator that ghosts aren’t that bad. I also enjoy the fact that you showed the different instances where the narrator’s mom encounters spirit ghosts and then alive ghosts and I think this is very important because the narrator’s mom is trying to show her daughter that no matter what kind of ghost you encounter, you can overcome them.
You did an amazing job with your blog post and I really enjoyed reading it!! You definitely cleared up a couple things for me and all together it was great!! Good Job!
It is important to note that even though the Japenese may not be seen as ghosts, they are mythical in their own ways. The stories on page 93 illustrate the idea that while the Japenese are not ghosts, they are not fully human. Both tales rest on the idea that the Japenese have some connection to the Chinese. In one tale, it is said that they may be descendants of “the Chinese explorers that the First Emperor of Ch’in (221-210 B.C.) had deployed to find longevity medicine.”(Kingston, 93)
The narrator speculates that the mythic island they were searching for- the island with creatures such as unicorns and phoenixes- might have been Japan. This is seen by the quote, “a fairy mountain, which may have been Mount Fuji.” (Kingston, 93) (Mount Fuji is found in Japan)
The other tale is much less kind, implying that the Japenese are the offspring of an ape and a Chinese Princess.
Both tales draw a connection between Chinese royalty and unknowable things. If the Japenese did not have such a connection to China, I am sure they would also be called Ghosts. Ghosts in this book represent the unknown. The Japenese are not entirely unknown, but they are also not Chinese. As such, tales are spun to form a middleground. It is important to remember, however, that even Ghosts are people. This is demonstrated by your quote, “Rather than spirits haunting and tormenting people, these ghosts are just average people in their everyday lives.”(2)
I really appreciate the emphasis that you put on the quotations of what the narrators mother is saying, rather than what is supposedly the ‘truth’ of the situation. What I mean is that throughout the text, Kingston goes back and forth from either quoting or drawing an image from the narrators mothers mind, or restating it as a means (or what seams to be) for both the reader and Kingston to process. So far I am thinking that they are both living and dead in the sense that they never truly existed to begin with, and are a combination of stories fed to the narrator by her mother, and perhaps empty-vessel like people that thoughtlessly leave trouble in their wake. The mothers intention in telling or identifying such stories as ghost stories, or people as types of ghost people, seem to directly relate to an invisible burden, or representation of avoidable consequences. What is most clear to me comes through in the ghosts that arise with a story involving a lesson for how to avoid the wrong decision (in mothers eyes).
In the passage where Kingston writes from the perspective of mother “You think this is suffering? I can make my ears ring louder by taking aspirin. Are these all the tricks you have, Ghost? Sitting and ringing? That is nothing. A Broom Ghost can do better. You cannot even assume an interesting shape. Merely a boulder. A hairy butt boulder. You must not be a ghost at all. Of course. There are no such things as ghosts.” (Kindle Locations 970-972) Here the writer is bringing up a theme shes already addressed before in the mothers background in medicine, and the kind of pressure she uses as guidance for her daughter- later she accuses her daughter for using LSD when it was only cold medicine. Another thing that I love about this quote is that here she ends this line with ” there are no such things as ghosts” it is evident that the mother wishes to protect the listener of the story- her daughter- from being afraid of this ghost she is talking about, but not so much so that she doesn’t wish to prescribe caution and instill some fear.
Later, as you bring up with her move to America, these ghosts do become more present, and take the form of humans- but in the same sense as before, are still ghosts. What I disagree with in your post is that I think that these people are not ‘regular’ or are not participating in tormenting. What stuck out to me was that all of these service industry or government job positions can all involve a negative interaction with people that is tormenting to either party. Furthermore, the mother, as the narrator and thus Kingston includes a sentiment about the overworking and mundane-ness that is felt from the daily grind in the face of the urban renewal; ““This is terrible ghost country, where a human being works her life away,” she said. “Even the ghosts work, no time for acrobatics. I have not stopped working since the day the ship landed.” (Kindle Locations 1491-1492) Here at this point in the text Mother is further defining her definition of the concept of a ghost, and almost identifying as being one herself. What I find so interesting about this interpretation of the mother in this passage as opposed to the previous two, and that she is also subversive about her own belief in ghosts. Those concepts that she pulls from regarding quality of life and honesty with oneself and surroundings after such trauma (from my understanding so far) are the ghosts that we are learning about as we read Kingstons take on it.
The labeling of ghosts throughout, “Woman Warrior” is somewhat confusing and puzzling when you read it. This blog post cleared up the stretched definition of the word ghost, by using details and imagery to describe what they truly are. When Hailie writes, “In this memoir, ghosts represent the unknown; they are the fear and uncertainty the narrator faces. This is why the Japanese are the only foreigners not considered “ghosts”, to the Chinese, the Japanese are familiar and comfortable”. The ghosts could be dead and in their graves, as well as alive and breathing. Ghosts in this story are people who the narrator can not understand or familiarize themselves with. For example, in the story, an American is referred to as a , “Noisy Red-Mouth Ghost” (Kingston 105), because the narrator felt pain and was annoyed at the American, so she immediately labeled him as a ghost.
I agree with you when you stated that sometimes it’s unclear whether or not the ghosts are alive or dead, or are in the past or present because the way Kingston tells us these stories it is unclear what is imaginary fro what is not. I also do think it is peculiar that even though the Japanese are an adversary to the Chinese, they are the only foreigners not considered ghost, but in the passage they explain why. “The Japanese, though ‘little,’ were not ghosts, the only foreigners considered not ghosts by the Chinese…Chinese without sons stole the boy babies of Japanese settles why left them huddled up at the ends of the potato rows.” (Kingston, 93) This entire excerpt from the book explains that even though the Japanese are foreigners, they are not completely foreign as they have history in their culture. The Chinese consider those who are completely different from them ghosts, the people who don’t follow the same traditions they do. Kingston explains that the Japanese may have descended from Chinese explorers, and whatever the case may be, they are connected as they were even to royalty.