They tell you it’s not real, they tell you don’t be scared. But is it really the ghosts you’re scared of, or is it your lack of knowledge about their placement?
In Hansberry’s “A Woman Warrior”, ghosts are present throughout the story and play important roles. However, it can be hard to tell what the ghosts are truly there to represent. Is this idea a mistake or is that exactly what Hansberry is trying to insinuate? From reading the story, we know ghosts are present and that they are always around, but we have no true insight as to their true effects on Hansberry. This is truly an intelligent tactic Hansberry uses to write her story and make readers really evaluate what is happening.
Ghosts usually represent a “spiritual” being that was taught to us at a young age to signify fear. We have knowledge of their presence but have no true experience or interactions with them. Many are scared of ghosts because we are told stories that say ghosts are bad and they haunt you and will do bad things to you causing us to fear our own curiosity of these beings.
In the passage, Hansberry is referring to Americans as ghosts, portraying them as scary beings because she only has knowledge of their presence. Due to stories her mother has told her growing up, she’s fearful to act on her curiosity towards them. The stories that she was told of the “Newsboy Ghost”97 in Chapter 3 (Shaman) and how “He shouted ghost words to the empty streets. His voice reached children inside of houses, reached inside the children’s chests. They would come running out or their yards with their dimes. They would follow him just a corner too far. And when they went to the nearest house to ask directions home, the Gypsy Ghosts would lure them inside with gold rings and then boil them alive and bottle them alive.” (97). This shows that the narrator’s mother instilled fear into her when it came to American people, specifically those of Caucasian decent, making them out to be ghost which affiliated them with negativity.
Although ghosts were symbols of negativity, curiosity always seemed to surface. Curiosity allows her to create her own reality but fear blinds her from the truth. “When we heard the real newsboy calling, we hid, dragging our newspapers under the stairs or into the cellar, … We crouched on our newspapers, and plugged up our ears with our knuckles until he went away.” (97). This shows how their curiosity allowed them to create their own newspaper, mimicking the actual newsboy. However, this also shows how the fear created by the stories told from their mother, prevents her from being culturally in tuned.
How does her knowledge of ghosts affect her views on society?
How does story telling affect the power of ghosts in the narrator’s life?
I liked your analysis of the Newsboy Ghost story, especially when you say, “This shows that the narrator’s mother instilled fear into her when it came to American people, specifically those of Caucasian descent, making them out to be ghost which affiliated them with negativity. Although ghosts were symbols of negativity, curiosity always seemed to surface. Curiosity allows her to create her own reality but fear blinds her from the truth.” In earlier parts of the book, the narrator struggles with separating what parts of her are Chinese and what parts of her are American, but her curiosity allows her to discover American culture. Kingston writes, “Whenever my parents said home, they suspended America. They suspended enjoyment, but I did not want to go to China” (Kingston 99). The narrator has found enjoyment in American culture, and her mother tries to dismiss it.
I wanted to read your blog post because your title drew me in, but I couldn’t get past you writing that Hansberry is the author. Maxine Hong Kingston is the author of The Woman Warrior. Always proofread your writing!
Brave Orchid is portraying how different her life is since she emigrated through her stories to her daughter. In China she was a brave shaman, wealthy, highly respected, and educated. Since moving, she attends to her family and works two jobs. Brave Orchid says “this is terrible ghost country, where a human being works her life away” (Kingston 104). She doesn’t have the opportunities that she had back in China and doesn’t prefer her life here. Brave Orchids stories showed her daughter why she is proud to be her mothers daughter, but it also affected how she views life. For example, although the narrator never first handedly experienced airplane bombing, she lives her life watching for three airplanes bombing and dreams of the sky being covered with air traffic because of her mothers stories. “From earliest awareness, my mothers stories always timely, I watched for three airplanes parting…I dream that the sky is covered horizon to horizon with rows of airplanes, rocket ships, flying bombs, their formations as even as stitches.” (Kingston 96).
I really like the title you chose for your blog. It drew me in because I never thought to connect new beginnings to ghosts. “When we heard the real newsboy calling, we hid, dragging our newspapers under the stairs or into the cellar, … We crouched on our newspapers, and plugged up our ears with our knuckles until he went away.” (97). The narrator was in a new situation and Americans seemed very distant. “In the passage, Hansberry is referring to Americans as ghosts, portraying them as scary beings because she only has knowledge of their presence.” I loved how you compared ghosts to Americans, it helped me understand the reading better. Great Job!
When Kingston was growing up, ghosts were everywhere. “Once upon a time the world was so thick with ghosts, I could hardly breathe; I could hardly walk, limping my way around the White Ghosts and their cars” (Kingston 97). There were names for every “ghost” she encountered, “… Taxi Ghosts, Bus Ghosts, Police Ghosts, Fire Ghosts, Meter Reader Ghosts..” (Kingston 97). Many of these “ghosts” weren’t ghosts at all, but rather things that were unknown and foreign. In saying “Once upon a time..” Kingston is inferring that it’s no longer the same in her life. She was once surrounded by “ghosts” but now that she is familiar with the American culture, she knows that they were in fact just unknown people to her, and are therefore no longer ghosts. Her inability to breathe was from the fear of the unknown. As you pointed out, “Many are scared of ghosts because we are told stories that say ghosts are bad and they haunt you and will do bad things to you..”. The fear instilled into Kingston is what took her breath away when coming in contact with these “ghosts”.
The English language was “ghost language” to Kingston and her family. “We hid directly under the windows, pressed against the baseboard until the ghost, calling us in his ghost language so that we’d almost answer to stop its voice, gave up” (Kingston 98). This shows once again that the fear of the unknown connects to the fear of ghosts. Since Kingston and her family didn’t know the language or the culture, it made sense that everything was ghostly to them.
There are times when something is unfamiliar to a person they tend to avoid it or fear it. Whether it’s easier for the person to do so or fight back and learn to understand it, is truly up to them. Kingston embraced the American culture and was able to dispel the fear of ghosts where her mother, still a stranger to the culture later in life, still found ghosts everywhere, “You’re always listening to Teacher Ghosts, those Scientist Ghosts, Doctor Ghosts” (Kingston 102).
Sometimes it’s better to live a life where you’re unafraid to face your fears, “Ghost, I will burn you” (Kingston, 70), even when it’s something that you can’t quite explain or understand.
All in all, I really liked your post! I really wish that you had proofread before submitting though. It was hard to keep reading without the correct author, but your detail in your post helped smooth it all out! 🙂
I think that the narrator’s knowledge of ghosts makes her a little scared of society. For example, she is comparing Americans to ghosts and because of this she now associates Americans with frightening things. Kingston says, “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. Once upon a time the world was so thick with ghosts, I could hardly breathe; I could hardly walk, limping my way across the White Ghosts and their cars. There were Black Ghosts too, but they were open eyed and full of laughter, more distinct than White Ghosts” (Kingston 97). I think that Kingston included this quote to emphasize the fact that her knowledge of ghosts has made it hard to deal with American society.
First off, I love your title! It really drew me towards your blog. Storytelling makes the reader view the ghosts as bad “What frightened me most was the Newsboy Ghost, who came out from between the cars parked in the evening light. Carrying a newspaper pouch instead of a baby brother, he walked right out in the middle of the street without his parents.” (97 Kingston) She views the Newsboy as a threat and the sister and the narrator mimic him yelling a ‘chant’.
The narrator’s knowledge of ghosts also affects how she views society. ” Kingston says “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. Once upon a time, the world was so thick with ghosts, I could hardly breathe; I could hardly walk, limping my way across the White Ghosts and their cars. There were Black Ghosts too, but they were open-eyed and full of laughter, more distinct than White Ghosts” (Kingston 97). Many of these “ghosts” weren’t ghosts at all, but rather things that were unknown and foreign. Great job! 🙂
I was very captivated by your title because you gave a hint of what you talked about which is ‘ghosts’ and then put a spin on it. One thing that caught my eye first is when you said, “Ghosts usually represent a “spiritual” being that was taught to us at a young age to signify fear. We have knowledge of their presence but have no true experience or interactions with them.” This quote was relate able to my childhood and how people would make up stories about spooky things such as ghosts, for example around a campfire. Also, your questions were well thought out and thought driven. To answer your second question, the power of ghosts and how it affects the narrator, I related to when Kingston states, “When my mother led us out of nightmares and horror movies, I felt loved. I felt safe hearing my name sung with hers and my father’s, my brothers’ and sisters’, her anger at children who hurt themselves surprisingly gone” (76). I relate this to that question because it simply states that the narrator felt ‘safe’ and ‘loved’ because of what her mother would do after she told those ghostly stories. I feel that it is how the mother made them feel afterwards to help in some way with distinction between fake and real life. Overall, I think you did a wonderful job! Just make sure you don’t get confused between this author, Kingston and the author of A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry! 🙂
I think ghosts haunt her entire life and this whole book, and it is most certainly emphasized by being told in the manor of storytelling. This is made known from the first story we ever read by Kingston, “The Unnamed Woman”. Her mother tells these stories of ghosts constantly, and I believe she is trying to protect her daughter from the horrors of the world. But, she is trying to do it through fear, and telling unhappy stories instead of the fairytales where the princess gets the prince and lives happily ever after. It taught Kingston to be strong, but at the same time has made something as small as just walking through her village dreadful. The ghosts in this story are not making it easy for the narrator and are in a way suffocating her just from their presence. We see in the quote “Once upon a time the world was so thick with ghosts, I could hardly breathe; I could hardly walk, limping my way around the White Ghosts and their cars. There were Black Ghosts too, but they were open eyed and full of laughter, more distinct than white ghosts.” (Kingston, 97) Giving these ghosts race, personalities, and a life makes us the audience aware that these Ghosts aren’t just objects, they once had lives and families like people in society do. Now, these Ghosts are just empty and lingering trying to deprive the narrator of what they’ve been deprived of. Deprived of proper knowledge and education, of a prosperous life that they could thrive in. Also, by the end of the story of Shaman, she mentions all of the different ghosts in American society, “Taxi Ghosts, Bus Ghosts, Police Ghosts, Fire Ghosts, Meter Reader Ghosts, Tree Trimming Ghosts, Five-And-Dime Ghosts.” She describes all of these Ghosts by their profession and I believe that is her emphasis on how a lot of Americans never lived a full life, making it just another wasted lingering soul. Overall, I thought your post was great and I look forward to going over it and hearing everyones thoughts!