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Ghosts can be found in every chapter of The Woman Warrior. They permeate all parts of the book. These ghosts have many different meanings and take many different forms. They can appear as malevolent spirits, such as the ‘Sitting Ghost’ that Brave Orchid encounters in her years at the To Keung School of Midwifery. Kingston writes that “This Sitting Ghost has many wide black mouths. It is dangerous. It is real” (74). Yet there are other ghosts that seem to do no harm, that just exist, such as “Taxi Ghosts, Bus Ghosts, Police Ghosts, Fire Ghosts. Meter Reader Ghosts, Tree Trimming Ghosts, Five-and-Dime Ghosts” (97). Kingston says that “America has been full of machines and ghosts…” (96). These ghosts that are mentioned so many times have both a literal and a metaphorical meaning throughout the story. They represent the confusion Kingston feels about her life, never knowing if the stories that her mother tells her are reality or fiction. She cannot tell what parts of her past are true memories or a ‘ghost’ of a memory, a fiction she created. The ghosts also literally represent people that surround them in their daily lives. To Brave Orchid and her children, the ghosts are the people in America who are not Chinese, who live a life filled with traditions and culture they do not understand. But China is also a ghost story to Kingston. When her mother talks to her about returning to China, Kingston thinks “I am to return to China where I have never been” (76). Though her mother “funnelled China into their ears,” China is a foreign land she has never been to, another story in which she does not know which parts are true and which are fantasy.  Though the ghosts change through the perspective of different characters, they tend to represent things that are unknown. 

In the chapter “At the Western Palace,” Brave Orchid brings her sister, Moon Orchid, to the United States to live with her family. Moon Orchid’s husband has remarried an American woman. Brave Orchid believes that her sister should go to her husband and retake what is rightfully hers. When the estranged husband first sees Moon Orchid and Brave Orchid, he refers to them as “grandmothers” and thinks that “these women had such awful faces” (152). His inability to recognize them separates them from himself. There is a divide between the two worlds these different characters inhabit and that turns them all into ghosts to each other. Kingston writes “Her husband looked like one of the ghosts passing the car windows, and she must look like a ghost from China. They had indeed entered the land of ghosts, and they had become ghosts” (153). America is the land of ghosts, filled with the ‘white ghosts’ that are repeatedly mentioned by both the narrator and her mother. Moon Orchid’s husband has been here so long, and becomes so ingrained in the American way of life that he has become synonymous with these ‘white ghosts.’ China has now become a ghost land to him, similar to how it is for the narrator, and so he sees these two old women as ghosts from a life that once belonged to him but no longer does. This is extremely powerful due to the fact that Brave Orchid has been surrounded by ghosts her whole life, and has worked hard to defeat many of them. She now lives her life in a land full of ghosts that she must deal with daily. Her move to this new place and her inability to accept american customs has led to her becoming a ghost in all the places she has known. She is a ghost floating between worlds, with no real home. She has become something that she learned about, and worked against, her whole life. 

Discussion Questions 

1. What is the importance of having both Moon Orchid and her husband seen as ghosts in “At the Western Palace?” 
2. How do the many ghosts throughout the story affect the lives of the narrator and her relatives? 

We will go over this in class on Wednesday 10/2

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Within the first few pages of the book, the narrator asks “What is Chinese tradition and what is the movies?” (6). Tradition seems to be a very important matter for everyone living in the village and breaking these traditions will have serious repercussions. This can be seen in the very first paragraph with the narrator’s mother sharing a story of the “no name woman” stating “as if she had never been born” (3). After the village finds out about her pregnancy even though her husband left, they raid her house on the night the baby was to be born and is later found dead in the family well along with the baby. The aunt’s real punishment for breaking tradition wasn’t just her house being destroyed by the villagers, but her own family completely and intentionally forgetting about her. Although, the narrator’s mother wasn’t supposed to tell the story of the “no named woman”, she does this to pass down a story from someone who was once apart of the family, even if it is breaking tradition. After learning about this story of her aunt, the narrator goes on to say, “Unless I see her life branching into mine, she gives me no ancestral help.” (8). The narrator starts to recognize the story of her aunt and how she isn’t too different from herself, by defending the no name woman’s identity because it was taken away from her. 

Kingston also emphasizes the importance of identity and having a voice. After being stripped of her identity and her own family shaming her, the “no name woman” no longer had a voice to share. The narrator states, “My aunt must have lived in the same house as my parents and eaten at an outcast table.” (7). The family completely disregards the aunt eating with her own family and makes her sit at another table so she doesn’t feel included. Her identity had been completely destroyed at this point and it was also a tradition for the daughter-in-law to be living with the husband’s parents, not their own. This proves that the family deliberately kept the aunt within their own household and wasn’t allowed to live with her husband’s parents since she broke tradition and doesn’t have a say on what happens with her own life.  

Tradition can be seen throughout the entirety of the first chapter and another heavily focused idea within the village is the role of gender. It was seen as tradition for women in Chinese culture to do as they were told. Kingston states, “Women in the old China did not choose.” (6), as we can see here that women didn’t have a voice since this can be tied back to tradition within their culture. Kingston also states about the male’s role in society, “They both gave orders: she followed. “If you tell your family. I’ll beat you. I’ll kill you. Be here again next week””. (7) The role of gender in this society is completely unjust for the female’s side, as they were often told what to do and have things chosen for them. Although, the “no name woman” had her house ransacked by the village for having a baby with a man other than her husband, she was the only one who faced repercussions for this and the other man faced no consequences. Tradition in this culture is bias and unjust towards females. 

Discussion Questions

Question 1: Did the Aunt kill herself because she didn’t follow tradition?

Question 2: Do you believe that the tradition in this society will stay the same or change? Why or why not?

Work Cited:

Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior. Vintage International, 1976.

By Sophia Chimenti

In her book The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, by Maxine Hong Kingston, she characterizes the traditional Chinese culture as having strict gender rules that oppress women’s ideas and values. This is first seen in the first chapter No Name Woman, where Kingston says, “Women in the old China did not choose” (6).  This portrays right from the start that women had no say and that men were dominant. This subordination of women is prevalent throughout the entire chapter, as the story of Kingston’s no name is built upon this devaluing of women.

As Kingston goes on to tell the story of her no name aunt, it is seen here that in the Chinese culture women are to look a certain way in order to please the men. Kingston says, “Once my aunt found a freckle on her chin… she dug it out with a hot needle and washed it with peroxide” (10). This line goes to show that women had to uphold this standard of perfection at any cost, in order to keep the honor in the family. Kingston then follows this up by speaking about the villagers, and how if your hair was not pulled back or you had a spot that was not supposed to be there, there would be “gossip among the villagers” (10). This idea of women having to look perfect is seen throughout the entire culture, as all of the women are judged by their village as well as their family members.

The idea of judgement also ties into these gender roles seen in the Chinese culture. It is prevalent in this time that the approval of others is dire. For example, Kingston states, “ …She cursed the year, the family, the village, and herself”(10), which goes to show that if it is not accepted by the villagers, the entire family gets disgraced. This is also seen in the anecdote of the no name aunt giving birth, as Kingston speaks about how the village shames her and destroys her home for committing adultery. Kingston shows how judgmental this culture really is to their women when she also speaks of how they slaughter the family’s animals and spray the blood around the house, shaming not just the aunt but the family as well.

This expectancy and idea of gender roles in this book portray how devalued women really are. This perfectionism pushed women away from their families and diminished their self-expression in everyday life, causing many to do unjust things, just like Kingston’s no name aunt.

Discussion Questions: 

Do you feel these gender roles are just? Why or why no?

Though the no name aunt committed adultery, do you feel this punishment was necessary?

Work Cited:

Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior. Vintage International, 1976.

By Kaylee Oliver

    In The Woman Warrior, the “no name woman” mentioned in chapter one is, in a literal sense, the narrator’s aunt who committed suicide. However, Maxine Hong Kingston included this chapter in the novel to speak about the repression of women’s sexuality in traditional societies and the shame that accompanied transcendence of the expectational boundaries. Kingston writes, “The old woman from the next field swept a broom through the air and loosed the spirits-of-the-broom over our heads. ‘Pig.’ ‘Ghost.’ ‘Pig,’ they sobbed and scolded while they ruined our house” (5). In this emotional scene, she describes the way the townspeople addressed an illegitimate child by destroying the livelihood of the family in which it existed. For the reader, this provides an insight into the degree of shame and disrespect that was bestowed upon a woman who had sex outside her marriage, without consideration of her circumstances. Kingston then goes on to create an imaginary life for her forgotten aunt and what may have led to her demise. She proposes rape, a narrative that supports her aunt’s innocence in getting pregnant. This shows that even though the narrator is living in America and has adopted a more modern acceptance of sexual liberation, she still makes excuses to provide a more “acceptable” narrative of what may have happened to her aunt. This shows the long lasting effects of a society in which women were suppressed and less than equal to men, and how the harmful values (such as wives being able to follow their dreams, not be subservient to husbands) carried on through generations. 

    Kingston’s narrator also stresses the importance of vanity in Chinese culture, writing, “She may have been unusually beloved, the precious only daughter, spoiled and mirror gazing because of the affection the family lavished on her” (10). This passage is ironic in itself, knowing that sons were historically valued over daughters and this is suggestive of a daughter as a prized possession, perhaps a nod to the love parents could share with their children beyond gender roles. The narrator discusses how her aunt may have done her hair, how men were attracted to her, and how she may have spent her days, all which became obsolete when she fell pregnant outside of her marriage. This shows that, above all, women were expected to be submissive to the expectations of society that they would not live their own lives, but rather conscious that every move made was for the sake of their family’s reputation. 

    By including this chapter in the novel, Kingston sheds light on an issue that goes beyond all cultural barriers and is present consistently throughout history: inequality of the sexes. While her husband was away, no-name woman was expected to sit home quietly and await his return. Kingston’s representation of a woman driven to desperation by shame for her sexual endeavors, even without explanation, is one that outstands the test of time. The story is relatable to readers even in the twenty first century. This passage about a woman forgotten for her sins and erased from the hearts of her loved ones is intended to evoke empathy and provide a thought path that leads readers to see the errors of society in our past.

Discussion questions: What do you know of women’s roles in Chinese society over the course of history?

How might no name woman’s story be different today?

How does Kingston’s story of no name woman relate to other harmful expectations of women throughout history?

Work Cited:

Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior. Vintage International, 1976.

By this point we all know that an overall theme of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” is dreams, and how important dreams can be. Walter’s dream of owning a liquor store, Beneatha’s dream of being a doctor, dreams of Travis going to college, and even Mama’s dream of a garden. All of these dreams play important roles in the plot of the story but the one that catches my attention most is Beneatha’s dream, or her childhood dream of being a doctor. 

At the beginning of Act III, Beneatha is clearly upset and letting it out to Asagai when he comes to help them pack, she is upset because Walter has chosen to invest the money. We as readers finally get to understand why Beneatha wants to be a doctor, “I wanted to cure. It used to be important to me. I wanted to cure. It used to matter. I used to care. I mean about people and how their bodies hurt…” (133). This quotation shows a lot more depth to her character, and the reason she was so determined to become a doctor, it was her dream as a child and as a child she cared more about people. This moment in the play stuck out to me as one of the sadder moments. It shows that Beneatha is growing up, and losing her childhood ideals, “Children see things very well sometimes” (133). 

Throughout the play, Beneatha has come off very mature, educated, and carried herself as if though she was better than those around her. For example, when she told Mama “…God is just one idea I don’t accept” (51). Beneatha quickly got put in her place after disrespecting Mama and her household, however she was not sorry, and she still had the nerve to say it. The reason she believes this is because she was more educated than the rest of the family, so she does have different opinions. However, all Beneatha’s talk/attitude about being educated and mature is uncovered in the first moments of Act III, she realizes her dream was just that of a child, and she doesn’t really care about the same things as much as she once did. 

Another huge change seen in Beneatha is her attitude about marriage from the beginning of the play to the end. “…I’m not worried about who I’m going to marry yet- if I ever get married…Oh I probably will, but first I’m going to be a doctor…” (50). Beneatha was one of my favourite characters in the play because of this line, she is so focused on her childhood dream that she isn’t worried about getting married until she accomplishes this. However her view on this changes by the end of the play. Eventually Beneatha decides she will become a doctor and move to marry Asagai in Africa, “To go to Africa, Mama- be a doctor in Africa…” (150). The reader gets to see a growth in her character throughout the play, from an immature younger sister with a dream, lots of sass, and a holier than thou attitude, to a mature women, with a goal and a future. 

Discussion Questions:

1. How did Beneatha’s views of herself and things around her change throughout the play?
2. Have your dreams and goals changed from your childhood to now? How and Why?

By Leah

The character of Beneatha is either loved or hated by the audience in A Raisin in the Sun depending on the version of the play. In the written play, Beneatha can be seen by the reader as a strong, mature women who prioritizes her education and strives to become a doctor. Her character in the movie; however, is shown as a child who hasn’t matured and takes everything for granted. We can see these two types of Beneatha’s in the scene with Mama and Ruth and the later scene with Asagai.

Towards the beginning of the play, we have the scene between Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha about marriage and religion. Beneatha states that “[She’s] not worried about who [she’s] going to marry yet-if [she’s] ever get[s] married.” (50). Then she goes into her beliefs about religion and how “It’s all a matter of ideas…” (51) which triggers Mama to the point where she smacks Beneatha across the face. In the written play, she comes across more passionate about how she views her beliefs and she want to explain her beliefs to Mama and Ruth. With Beneatha’s education, she believes that God shouldn’t be “getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effect.” (51). Her education has shown her that humanity has created so many objects throughout time and with that realizes that God hasn’t done anything for anyone. In the movie; however, she appears to be pushy with her actions towards her family. While Beneatha is talking to both women about her beliefs, the camera keeps cutting back to both Ruth’s and Mama’s reactions. At the point where Beneatha explains that “God hasn’t got a thing to do with it.” (50), both women stop their tasks and stare at Beneatha with disbelief. As Beneatha continues talking, Mama gets seriously angry at Beneatha and calls her a child. In the movie, Beneatha thinks she knows everything about life but doesn’t realize what sacrifices Mama had to go through to get Beneatha and Walter to church every Sunday.

Later, in the play, the reader comes across the scene between Beneatha and Asagai. In the written play, Beneatha appears to be passionate about her curiosity for Africa with Asagai. Asagai even explains to Beneatha about their first meeting at their school. At that time, she asks him questions “About Africa” (62) and how she was “looking for her identity” (62). With her schooling she starts to question her own heritage and wonders if Africa is where she belongs instead of America. Even with the stage direction it shows that Beneatha is passionate about her own beliefs and how she isn’t an assimilationist like the rest of her family. On page 63, her stage direction wants the character of Beneatha to be “Wheeling, passionately, [and] sharply.” Even though she may seem passionate on paper, on the big screen she appears to be childish. With the same scene of being called an assimilationist, her tone of voice appears to be whiny instead of sounding like a mature woman. Then when Asagai tries to reference marriage or a relationship to Beneatha, she explodes about how she is “not interested in being someone’s little episode in America…” (64).

Beneatha is educated women who can be interpreted as either mature or childish. She knows a lot the outside world of Chicago through her college with books, but she hasn’t gone out to the real world and implement those teachings like Mama. She hasn’t seen how much her mother has scarified for her to have a better life and career for her and she hasn’t realized that her heritage is really in America with the rest of the Younger family.

Discussion Questions:

1. What other examples are shown throughout the play that makes Beneatha mature or childish?
2. How are Beneatha’s actions similar or different to her actions shown in the movie?

When a reader first meets Walter’s character in the play A Raisin in the Sun, they may be immediately turned off to him. After all, his first few lines suggest that he is self-centered and even a bit rude, especially when he bickers with his wife and asks about the incoming check. However, there is an explanation for his constant pushy behavior. Walter’s negative attitude stems from his dissatisfaction with his life. When he explains that he has “got a boy sleeping in the living room”(34) he implies that time is slipping away from him, and that he wishes their living situation was better, an idea that is repeatedly referred to by many characters in the play. Even Mama feels this way when she describes her dreams back when she and her husband first bought the house, yet none of her dreams ever happened(45). This goes to show that the way Walter feels-that he missed out and that his life is incomplete-is not completely unreasonable.

Early on in the play, when Walter is arguing with Beneatha, he insults her goal of becoming a doctor and tells her that she could “go be a nurse like other women-or just get married and be quiet…”(38). His comment has two meanings. One of them is a bit more obvious: Walter does not believe that Beneatha has what it takes to be a doctor and should not waste her time, and instead she should take the easy way out by becoming a nurse or marrying rich. The other meaning is that regardless of whether or not Beneatha is smart enough to be a doctor, years of school are a hassle, especially because of the family’s financial situation. Walter’s heart could be in the right place when he says this because he wants better for his sister, and maybe taking the easier path could improve the quality of her life. However, at this point in his life, Walter is incapable of expressing his caring emotions the right way because of the years of hard work that have worn him down emotionally.

In addition to the written play drawing a raw and bitter picture of Walter, the movie version of A Raisin in the Sun portrays him this way as well. In the same scene, the line “-or just get married and be quiet” from the book is changed to “-or just get married and shut up” in the movie. This line was most likely changed to make Walter seem a lot more angry with Beneatha. In reality, he is not necessarily angry at Beneatha, but rather he is angry at the situation and taking it out on his sister. Ultimately, this is still wrong, but it helps us understand where Walter’s anger is coming from and that it is somewhat justified, meanwhile in the movie, it simply makes him look mean.

Later on in the play, after Mama tells Walter to take a share of the money for his liquor business, his whole demeanor changes. He tells his son that this business is going to change “our lives”(108) not just his own life. He wants to be able to tell Travis that he can “be whatever is [he] want[s] to be”(108). He does not just want the money for himself. He wants to continue making money so that he can provide a lot more for his family than in the past. There is no denying that Walter spends most of Act I and II either looking for money or acting out because he does not have money. However, once this issue is resolved, he is much happier. His relationship with Ruth also shifts, as is evident when she cheerfully describes her movie date with Walter and how they “was still holding hands” even after the movie was over(112). When Walter and Ruth first got married, they were a lot younger. Years of working long days and raising a child while always worrying about their financial situation wore them out. Having one of these worries lifted off of their shoulders has brought them back to what they probably used to be years ago, implying that Walter was not always the mean and ungrateful character that was shown to us early in the play. 

Discussion Question #1: How is the way Walter is portrayed in the book similar and different to the way he is portrayed in the movie?

Discussion Question #2: What are your values, and how do they compare to Walter’s values in the play?

The United States has become a melting pot of almost every race imaginable, yet prejudices are still present today, as they were in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin In The Sun. In the 1950’s, when this was written, there were many more prejudices being thrown toward the African American race than there are today. There were separate water fountains, separate schools, and even separate bathrooms to discriminate the whites from the African Americans. At some points in time, as seen in Act 2, scene 3 of A Raisin In The Sun, there were even separate communities for the two races. When Mr. Linder comes into the Younger household and tells the family that they would be “happier when they live in their own communities.” (118). Seeing that written on the page is absolutely heartbreaking. The Younger family have been through so many hardships as a collective group, and just when they think they are getting out of the thick of it, a man comes in to tell them that they aren’t welcome in that community. Race seems to be an extremely large portion of this play’s conflicts. Thinking about the time period in which this play was written, there were not equal job opportunities for both black and white people, therefore causing the black population to struggle more and to obtain jobs that not only paid less, but sometimes didn’t even pay at all. The continuous hardships produced by race proved to be a persistent problem throughout the play. 

Hansberry’s play introduced the audience to the problems that were created by racial inequality, with the Younger family being the main victims. However, there can also be a connection made between the description of the furniture and the problems of race that are so blatantly obvious. In the description of the furniture of the house, it’s stated that “…here, a table or chair has been moved to disguise the worn places in the carpet…” (23). According to the description of the furniture, there have been attempts to hide the places of the carpet that nobody wants to see. And it can be equated to the time period in which A Raisin In The Sun was written, because of things like the Jim Crow laws, and the continuation of racial segregation everywhere. The phrase “separate but equal” comes to mind. The black populous is being perceived as equal, meaning that they would have equal protection under the law and they would receive equal opportunities, but that “equality” is just a chair being pushed over a worn place in the rug. Underneath the chair, it is obvious that racial inequality is an extremely large problem being faced by the black population. Hansberry goes on to explain “… but the carpet has fought back by showing it’s weariness, with depressing uniformity, elsewhere on its surface.” (23). While the racial inequality is trying to be covered up with “equal opportunities” and “equal protection” it is still showing up in many other aspects. Some of the aspects that were obvious were the unacceptance of black people in white communities, as explained by Karl Linder by stating “…our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities.” (118). He goes on to exclaim “What do you think you are going to gain by moving into a neighborhood where you just aren’t wanted and where some elements-well-people can get awful worked up when they feel that their whole way of life and everything they’ve ever worked for is threatened.” (119). Obviously there are still many biases based on race being conveyed. In this case, it is being shown through the use of community backgrounds, stating that if they’re African American, they should be with other African Americans, and that they are not welcome in white communities. It’s crazy to think that just by saying these people are equal that it doesn’t have to be acted on. 

Discussion Questions:

1. How else could the Jim Crow laws and segregation affect the Younger family?
2. Do you think Travis understands what is going on around him regarding all of the prejudice that follows the Younger family? How would Travis handle finding out his family are constantly being seen as inferior?

Thanks for reading! This was made by Chris Feustel (:

I am an Early Childhood Education major from East Williston, New York. I love to sing, play the guitar, and work with kids. I was in an english program in high school and really look forward to this class.