Sydney Smith
Throughout the memoir The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston, we frequently hear Kingston and Kingston’s mother refer to different people and characters as ghosts. Afterall, this memoir is about a ‘Girlhood Among Ghosts’. Throughout the memoir, Kingston never specifically tells us as readers who the ghosts are. In the final chapter, A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe, Kingston alludes to the ghosts as people who are not Chinese or who do not understand Chinese culture, making Kingston and her family feel like outcasts in America.
During the final chapter, Kingston alludes to the ghosts as being different from her while talking about some of her classmates. Kingston writes, “I liked the Negro students (Black Ghosts)” (Kingston, 166). This shows us that Kingston is refers to ghosts as people based off of the color of their skin color. Kingston and her mother also allude to the ghosts as people who are not Chinese by separating and comparing themselves to the ghosts. In the final chapter after talking about her Hawaiian teacher, Kingston writes, “My mother says that we, like the ghosts, have no memories” (Kingston, 167). By distinguishing that Kingston and her family are separate from the ghosts, this could imply that the ghosts are not Chinese like Kingston and her family. Kingston also reveals to us in the final chapter that she didn’t go to school with many other Chinese children. She refers to her classmates as ghosts too as she writes about a time when she was playing basketball. She says, “Suddenly it would occur to me that I hadn’t memorized which ghosts were on my team and which were on the other” (Kingston, 173). This further implies to us that since we know not many of Kingston’s classmates are Chinese, we can assume that the ghosts Kingston refers to in this memory, are not Chinese. Kingston’s mother even refers to people as half ghosts when describing who won’t marry Kingston. She says, “Even the fool half ghosts won’t have her” (Kingston, 192). We can infer from Kingston’s mother referring to people as half ghosts, that the ghosts could only be part Chinese or not fully understanding of Chinese culture since Kingston’s mother only wanted her to marry someone who was Chinese. Kingston’s mother even thinks of her own children as ghost-like since they were not born in China and do not practice all of the traditions and customs many Chinese follow. Kingston says, “They would not tell us children because we had been born amongst ghosts, were taught by ghosts, and were ourselves ghost-like. They called us a kind of ghost” (Kingston 183). Kingston’s mother referring to her own children as ghost-like suggests to us that the ghosts are people who are not Chinese or who don’t fully understand the Chinese traditions/culture.
In addition to the fact that Kingston alludes to the ghosts she refers to as not being Chinese or of Chinese understanding culture, we can see that Kingston and her family feel like outcasts in America by the ghosts. Kingston’s mother says, “Things are different here in the ghost country” (Kingston, 164). This alludes to the fact that Kingston’s mother feels as though they live in a country surrounded by people (ghosts) who aren’t Chinese or of Chinese understanding culture. Kingston refers to another story about feeling like an outcast when talking about the “Druggist Ghosts” who didn’t understand what Kingston was saying while she talked to them (Kingston, 171). Kingston writes, “But I knew they did not understand. They thought we were beggars without a home who lived in back of the laundry. They felt sorry for us” (Kingston 171). Kingston and her family constantly ran into communication barriers during her childhood which caused her and her family to feel even more like outcasts while living in America. Kingston even talks about how she felt the need to be silent because of how she talks. She says, “I knew the silence had to do with being a Chinese girl” (Kingston 166). Furthermore, Kingston grew up having to keep secrets from the “ghosts”, making her feel even more like an outcast. While in school, Kingston talks about how, “There were secrets never to be said in front of the ghosts, immigration secrets that could get us sent back to China” (Kingston, 183). We can see that Kingston feels even more like an outcast because of the different secrets she had to keep from others about her cultural background and life.
Discussion Questions:
- Do you think that the ghosts Kingston refers to could represent something other than non-Chinese or people of non-Chinese understanding culture?
- Do you think that by Kingston being silent, this was her way of assimilating into American culture more?
Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior. Vintage International, 1976.
Hi Sydney, great post! I really like how you analyzed the ghosts that were prevalent throughout the entire book. These ghosts are an important symbol. Kingston is haunted by these ghosts throughout her life. Regarding your first question, I believe that these ghosts represent non-Chinese people. There was an overwhelming amount of these ghosts in America such as taxi ghosts, White ghosts and Black ghosts. Kingston “hid directly under the windows, pressed against the baseboard until the ghost, calling us in the ghost language so that we’d almost answer to stop its voice, gave up” (98). Kingston grows up terrified of these ghosts. She constantly felt that they were surrounding her and feared them. I believe that these different types of ghosts represent non-Chinese people who she was taught to be afraid of. Kingston’s family was afraid of these ghosts because their culture and traditions were foreign to them.
Hi, Sydney I enjoyed reading your blog post! I liked how you focused on the topic of ghosts throughout the story and what that means to Kingston. Throughout the book we constantly see Kingston mention ghosts and we can tell by her language that she feels like an outcast among these ghosts. Touching on your first question I do believe that Kingston views “ghosts” as anyone who is not Chinese. Kingston as well as her family feel surrounded and trapped by these ghosts as they are everywhere in her day-to-day life. Her and the family are intimidated and frightened by the ghosts. One example of this we see is when Moon Orchid becomes suddenly afraid because of something that has happened. Kingston says, “Moon Orchid said that she had overheard Mexican Ghosts plotting on her life.” (155) Instead of simply saying “Mexicans were plotting on her life” she adds this label of ghosts after them, implying that they are different from her in some way. She even goes as far to label different occupations as ghosts. “We were regularly visited by the Mail Ghost, Meter Reader Ghost, Garbage Ghost.” (98) Anyone that is not like her gets the label of a ghost when she talks about them. She is fearful of these ghosts and how they are not similar to her and the rest of the family.
Hello there Sydney, great job on your post. I really liked the portion of your article where you talked about how the ghosts of this chapter are called this based on the skin color of those mentioned. In answer to your second question on whether Kingston being silent is her assimilating to American culture, I believe that she was not silent for that reason, instead it was caused by her struggle of assimilation. One example of this fact is conveyed by Kingston when she talks about how, “When I went to kindergarten and had to speak English for the first time, I became silent” (165). Kingston relates that because of her struggles with speaking English, she decided to be silent instead, projecting the contrasting theory that when Kingston had language issues, rather than talking more to better assimilate, she stayed quiet and in turn slowed her progression of change.
Hi Sidney, I found your response to not only be well written but opened my eyes to an entirely new perspective of Kingston’s literature. The title of the novel insinuates that throughout her childhood she felt that she was misunderstood. Growing up as a Chinese American, she struggles with identity among a sea of people who are not familiar with her culture and its traditions. To answer your first question, I think that the title coincides with the idea that because of her family’s troubled history she tries to find her way through the stories she is told about her home country and relatives. I agree with the your idea that ghosts are people not from the Asian community. I think the ghosts can additionally be referred to her growing up in a world where her voice isn’t heard or encouraged due to living in an environment where her culture isn’t seen. As readers, we can interpret that the Kingston family felt like outcasts and everyone around them were ‘ghosts’. In the last chapter, Kingston mentions multiple references to the ‘ghosts’ as the outsiders. Her mother states, “Things are different here in the ghost country.” This clearly demonstrates your perspective of the ghosts being the people outside of their Chinese-American community. Kingston, and I imagine others, felt unseen and unheard in a country where they are not originally from.
Hi Sydney! I really liked your blog post. I like that you talked about the ghosts and to answer your first question, I think that the ghosts are non-Chinese. The reason I think this is because like you said, Kingston didn’t go to school with many other Chinese students or students that had the same cultural background as she did. I also liked the quotes you used to show us your point of view of the ghosts. I think the reason why Kingston wrote about ghosts throughout the entire book was because she may be haunted by them, she may not necessarily be haunted by them but she can feel their presence. The ghosts kind of shaped Kingston into who she is to some degree as well. Kingston has an experience with a ghost called “the Garbage Ghost” and after they run away from this ghost, Kingston goes to her mother who says “Now we know… the White ghosts can hear Chinese” (98). This quote shows that Kingston’s mother thinks that ghosts are non-Chinese and I think that this thought carries on to Kingston too.
Work Cited:
Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior. Vintage International, 1976.
Hi Sydney! I really liked your post and the way you presented the ghosts in this story because they are a big symbol. With your first question, I certainly think that the ghosts could represent people of non-Chinese as the ghosts could represent fear and the unknown. On page 98 the quote, “It seemed as if ghosts could not see or hear very well.” shows that these ghosts wander without really knowing the environment around them. Regarding your second question, I do believe that Kingston being silent is her way of assimilating into American culture.
Hi Sydney! I loved your post and how you explained everything in detail! I was looking at the discussion questions you wrote and the second question really stuck out to me. I do believe that by Kingston being silent, that was her way of assimilating to the American culture. Kingston writes about her finding out that her mother cut the frenum on her tongue which was supposed to keep her from getting tongue-tied. According to Kingston, you have two frena in in your mouth and her mother had cut one. This trick did not work for Kingston because she continued to have a hard time speaking English and just became silent so that she wouldn’t embarrass herself. Kingston says, “a dumbness– a shame– still cracks my voice in two, even when I want to say ‘hello’ casually, or ask an easy question in front of the check-out counter, or ask directions of a bus driver” (Kingston 165). This shows she is trying to assimilate to the American culture by being silent and listening so she won’t mess up. Kingston listens to others around her and becomes tongue-tied even at the moment of saying an English word or phrase she knows that she learned. Kingston continues to assimilate with the American culture by being silent throughout the rest of the story of “A Song For a Barbarian Reed Pipe.”