Seventh and Final Step to Analysis: SYNTHESIS and Reflections

Finally, we have reached the final step of literary research analysis: Synthesis. We have accumulated many important facts that support what we initially noticed in patterns in Water Ghosts.

In the last post, as I found relevant evidence after sifting through hundreds of documents, I took the information a step further by connecting it to a large pattern I noticed in the novel. This “step further” is what I mean by synthesis. It is when you bring all of your ideas together into a pattern that you support using textual and resourceful evidence. As the analyst, if you found enough information to support your argument, synthesis will come easily because the arrival of evidence will spark further questions and thoughts regarding your topic.

Reflections during finding evidence stage:

I found information regarding a Chinese-American woman (Lei Jieqiong) that entered the field of academia during a period when even Chinese-American men were discriminated against. That was very interesting especially after reading Water Ghosts because the most of the Chinese women were in very traditional roles as homemakers. Lei and her other Chinese-American colleagues were a glimpse into the future (present day) where academia is filled with people of many ethnicities and cultures. I myself am an example of that given that I am an Indian-American in field of computer science.

The information about Lei brought up very interesting questions about how she was able to escape the traditional role of a woman in a society, as by the novel, limited women. Also a key theme I came across when reading the analysis of her thesis was that she advocated Americanization but remaining Chinese at heart. She wanted the new generations to keep hold of Chinese culture and values while assimilating into society that was predominantly white. This theme was addressed, but in an opposite way, with Corlissa and Chloe living as white women in a community run by Chinese people. That also brings up questions about assimilation in America during the 1920s when immigration was becoming a national issue.

What I realized after completing this research project was that as I was trying to answer questions about gender roles in Chinese-American communities, more questions arose than answered. That should not be seen as discouragement; personally, the discovery of culture and context for novels and stories we read in class or on our own puts a lot of things in real life in perspective. After completing this project, I have a lot of respect for my parents coming to a foreign land to have a better life and raise a family on the same values their ancestors raised them. At the beginning of this semester, no one would have caught me saying this, but I really enjoyed myself reading this novel and looking deeply into the lives of these characters through the lens of factual history.

As this research endeavor comes to a close, I would like to invite comments from my readers on their personal experiences of discovery in literary research or just reading in general.

Sixth Step to Analysis: What Useful Information I Found

From 1920 Census Data:

After sifting through several pages of documents, I came across a crucial detail that can explain Richard’s change in role. In the early 1900’s there was an increase in Chinese-American population but mainly in the population of Chinese-American men. The ratio between Chinese-American men and women went from 14:1 to 4:1 from 1910 to 1930, which clearly identifies why Richard was living alone for so long. Also this explains the men of Locke’s actions when the two boat women arrived at Corlissa’s home.

From The Identity Formation of American-Born Chinese in the 1930s: A Review of Lei Jieqiong’s (Kit King Louis) Master’s Thesis:

After reading this article, I felt that there were strong connections to make to Sofia’s role as a young-woman growing up in a Chinese-oriented family. Also she was half-Chinese which also is important to how she was growing up as a woman. Lei Jieqiong was a Chinese sociologist in the 1930s during a period when being Chinese was something to be ashamed about. Also Lei was a woman educated at the University of Southern California. This article analyzed her thesis discussing the emotional effects of segregation and discrimination against Chinese-Americans.

The article stated, “Lei observed that Chinese immigrant parents still lived in fear of intense racial hatred of them and remained China-oriented in their identity. “ Also Lei mentioned that second generation Chinese-Americans were more “American” at heart than Chinese. This is a very crucial detail that explains why Sofia was much more independent from her native culture. Instead of being aware that she will be married off to a suitor soon, she roams and is very independent from her parents.

Also another detail about Lei was that she was a teacher of Cantonese Chinese and her students called her “Kit King Louis” which was pronunciation of her name written in English. Because of this Americanization of her name, she gained the trust of the American-born Chinese youth and her being fluent in Cantonese made her trustworthy to the children’s parents. As a reader, we can connect this to Water Ghosts because Fong Man Gum changed his name to Richard Fong which could be associated with assimilating into American culture and disconnecting himself from China, which we would expect as a second generation Chinese-American. Also he disconnected himself by coming to the US as a “paper son,” which was a make-shift adoption allowing young men to come to the United States to work with a non-relative sponsor. He had no family in the United States so it would be expected that Richard take on the role of home-caretaker to provide for himself.

From Conceptualizing Chinese Diasporas, 1842 to 1949:

This article made sense of why Richard married early and “abandoned” her in China to come to the United States to find work. It was very typical that the migrant’s first marriage abroad was “not even considered a real marriage.” It was also suggested that primary wives who remained in China kept their home together and allowed their husband to marry in the US to keep him away from gambling and prostitutes. Richard had not followed what many Chinese men had done in the 1920s and 1930s, which could explain why his wife targeted him as a ghost. He abandoned her and had not sent for her like the other men who came to America for work.

The article also mentioned non-Chinese women marrying Chinese men. They had to integrate into a primarily Chinese society because they were not as well accepted into the rest of society (predominantly white). Also these wives were often regarded as second wives to their primary wives back in China. Corlissa, luckily, was never treated as anything but Howar Lee’s wife. To assimilate better into a society that viewed her as an outcast, she began to adopt Chinese ideals of having sons and was very nonchalant when it regarded her daughter, Sofia. Also to dampen the matter, Corlissa had bright red hair making her a symbol of difference in Locke. That very much explains why she had to struggle to assimilate into Chinese-American society, which plays a large role in her gender role definition. 

Fifth Step to Analysis: Finding Resources using Databases and other Search Engines

Currently, I am a student at George Mason University and as with any college or university, there are many databases available to students to search for research work and documents in a variety of fields including history and science. This is why I am going to give specific directions on using GMU’s InfoGuides but they can still be translated to other library databases available at other resource locations.

With any resource site, there are many databases that contain resources involving American history. Because I am focusing on American history, the databases I want to search through should return resources involving Americans and their lives. Then to narrow down the information, include search criteria that specify immigrants of Chinese descendents. On another note, you can find articles on any topic you can think of because I came across a journal article called “Playing Rough and Tough: Chinese American Women Basketball Players in the 1930s and 1940s.”

Trying to find American Census data:

Opening the InfoGuides gives you a large array of links and a search bar. I think it is best to type into the search bar rather than navigate the entire website. I used search criteria “US Census” and the database returned several links to outside websites that contain information about historical census data. I found a link to “www.census.gov.” That is the official site of the American Census Bureau. I navigated the site to find census documents from 1920. In the next post, I am going to isolate what information I found useful from these extensive documents.

Trying to find first-person resources involving Chinese-Americans:

This was a more difficult task to accomplish. I started by using the library’s main search engine but that did not result in relevant articles until I modified the search criteria. In the last few years, to student advantage, many libraries have transferred many textual resources to PDFs. Helpful resources came to light when I searched for “Chinese American 1920.” I also found some resources about the life of Chinese women by adding the keyword woman to the previous search. Also the best articles for our purpose are not necessarily going to be in the first five links because the database does not have our purpose in mind. It took navigating through several pages of links using the titles, which were much more informative than I imagined, to find sources I had in mind.

Sources I found that can be useful for our purpose included “Cultural Politics and Chiense-Amerian Female Subjectivity: Rethinking Kingston’s Woman Warrior”, “Malthusian Models and Chinese Ralities: The Chinese Demograpic System 1700-2000”, “The Identity Formation of American-Born Chinese in the 1930s” and more.

Fourth Step to Analysis: Narrowing a Question and Thinking About Types of Sources

Based on the comments and responses readers posted on my previous post, I would like to take the time to elaborate more on what I have already said.

A reader posed a very interesting question about whether Richard’s gender role extended into the afterlife and truthfully, we may never know. From his death scene and Ming Wai’s “rebirth,” I can specify many female characteristics to his death. He was in water, which has always been related to females and their natural ability for childbirth, often performed in watery environments. Also he was portrayed as weak and fragile, which is often the description of women during the time period when men were physically and mentally dominating over women. He basically gave up, which was demonstrated when he thought/said “I’d give my breath to you.” The scene’s descriptions were very surreal and calm which added to the feminine qualities of his death. Later, when they placed his body in Corlissa’s home, his mouth was sewn shut, which represents the oppressed voices of women during that time period. The 1920’s were very important to the advancement of women in all fields, especially politics because women gained the right to vote in 1929. But these were the women who could vote (they were US citizens) and Chinese immigrant women could not voice their opinions because of their male dominant culture. I think that is as far as I can take what the novel has given me else I would be speculating about the afterlife.

I think I can further elaborate on what my reason is to analyze gender roles in the novel and put them in a larger perspective by related nonfictional sources. I think Ryan does a great job outlining different transitions a person’s role in the domestic sphere can take. The variety of evolutions is very intriguing and I want to relate each of their transitions to possible explanations in the real world (circa 1920). I will outline how I will find these in the next post using George Mason University’s library resources. 

Third Step to Analysis: Chloe's Gender Role

Chloe:

Richard was the characterized by both roles but there were characters that had clear gender role definition. Chloe was the perfect example of a woman trapped in what society characterizes as a woman. She came few years before the present time in the novel and gave birth to a stillborn child. Her life before Locke was being pampered by Alfred and submissively interacting with him in a sexual manner. Women, especially in that period of time, were foci of sexual desire. People saw them as only fulfilling the desires of men and reproduction. Chloe both had a child, a sign of reproduction, and was a prostitute, the oldest profession involving sexual desire of mainly men. When she met Sofia, her traditional role was being altered. She began to feel for Sofia and adopt her mentality of individuality and free spirit. Women at that time could not break away from the role without affecting the other aspects of her life such as family. She came from a life where she could not escape her “womanly” roles and as the novel ends, she leaves as a single pregnant woman, which is the price she had to pay for not staying within her role.
What else did you notice as a reader?

Third Step to Analysis: Richard's Gender Role

Richard:

Consistently, the novel frames each character with a defined gender role at the beginning but near the end of the novel, these roles drastically change. A distinctive example was Richard. At the beginning of the novel, he was the ultimate male figure who had power over others including many women: Chloe and Poppy. He had the money and home in which he performed both the womanly and manly duties. He cooked, cleaned and cared for the home as a traditional domestic woman would while he also paid the bills and worked as the traditional domestic man. With these details, the reader can ask several questions including what does it suggest that Richard chose to perform all of these duties and not send for his wife eagerly waiting for him back home in China?

A very interesting question about whether Richard’s gender role extended into the afterlife was brought to me and truthfully, we may never know. From his death scene and Ming Wai’s “rebirth,” I can specify many female characteristics to his death. He was in water, which has always been related to females and their natural ability for childbirth, often performed in watery environments. Also he was portrayed as weak and fragile, which is often the description of women during the time period when men were physically and mentally dominating over women. He basically gave up, which was demonstrated when he thought/said “I’d give my breath to you.” The scene’s descriptions were very surreal and calm which added to the feminine qualities of his death. Later, when they placed his body in Corlissa’s home, his mouth was sewn shut, which represents the oppressed voices of women during that time period. The 1920’s were very important to the advancement of women in all fields, especially politics because women gained the right to vote in 1929. But these were the women who could vote (they were US citizens) and Chinese immigrant women could not voice their opinions because of their male dominant culture. I think that is as far as I can take what the novel has given me else I would be speculating about the afterlife.

As a reader, I hope you took the time to view the novel in a wider lens and notice specific instances involving gender roles and the affect of altering preexisting notions either cultural or societal. What did get from the close reading involving gender definition?

Third Step to Analysis: What Did You Get From A Close Reading... Gender Roles

Sofia and Corlissa:

A curious case of an atypical gender role was Sofia. A girl her age in a predominantly Chinese-American family was to groom her identity to seem appealing to prospective husbands, which her mother, Corlissa, was always upset about. She chose another path and was independent. She often snuck out of her home and was adventurous, typically what one would expect a boy or young man might do. Her clear defiance of the rules was very ironic because she was the only daughter of a pastor. Also, her rebellious nature also bothered Corlissa. Being a white woman in a predominantly Chinese immigrant town, she had to fight the stares and assimilate into a different culture. When Sofia was a baby, Corlissa dreamt of killing herself and wishing that Sofia were a son, which was a typical mentality of a Chinese woman during a period when men were seen as more valuable than women. That is one of the reasons why China's current population is over 1 billion. Unlike the other women mentioned above, Corlissa entered motherhood. She took care of her domestic sphere where she raised her daughter and seemingly had a loving family. The dynamic of her domestic sphere was altered when the water women arrived and Corlissa ended up dying.

As a female child of an immigrant, I can see why it was expected that sons and daughters follow certain gender roles to establish equilibrium in society. The novel animates the dissipation of the equilibrium with the onset of the wrath of the waters ghosts characterized by a flood endangering the town of Locke.  

Second Step to Analysis: Focusing the Reading on a Broad Theme

Now that you have an established method of annotation, it’s time to narrow into a specific theme that interests you. There are limitless themes that you can come across in a well-written novel so focusing on an important theme that interests you makes your job easier when you narrow down a question for later.

Broad topics that you will come across in Water Ghosts are identity, gender role shifts, history, hauntings, and more. You will notice as you read the novel that you will start to connect the dots and ask questions like what the author suggests by portraying a character in a certain way. I would recommend very carefully reading the first few chapters of the novel until you notice a strong pattern about which you feel you have a lot to say.

After that point, focus on the theme that interests you and mark specific facts from the novel that support an angle of the specific theme you choose because the novel is going to be your main source. I recommend using a bright color to annotate details and because you decided on your theme after you began the novel, be sure to return to annotate details you missed. Using a bright color helps you grab your attention when you return after finishing the novel for the rest of the literary research process.

After reading a few chapters in the novel, I chose the theme of gender role definition. This is a theme that I thought were very important to the structure of the novel and its true meaning. The beginning passages that I marked involving my theme were focused on defining what certain characters’ roles were in their community and household. Then the remaining annotations usually mark changes to the role that came with the arrival of the boat women. The next three posts are going to include observations involving these two themes focused on certain characters. 

First Step to Analysis: Close Reading

Take it from a computer science major that analyzing literature is difficult, although not impossible. For me, it tends to be a slow but sure process. I start with a close, slow reading of the literature with a pencil (or pen, what utensil you prefer) and I narrate my thoughts with every paragraph. I include my reactions and questions and possible ideas for patterns. The patterns are repetitive or connected details that make sense in the broader sense once the novel is finished.

• The pencil in your hand should become your best friend. I recommend using pencil because you can always erase to keep your comments neat but that my personal preference. Just like I am reflecting on the process of literary analysis, you, the reader, should make your own reflections. I take my pencil very seriously because every time you come back to the novel when trying to analyze the novel, you do not want to reread the novel. Also commenting/summarizing interesting points in the margins of a novel will keep you attentive and engaging. Notice the difference between reading a novel for pleasure and closely engaging every word the author writes to find hidden meaning invisible to the unfocused eye.

• I like to mark very obvious patterns with colored stickies. In the novel, Water Ghosts, I marked all of the pages with references or allusions to ghosts or hauntings so I can easily go back to those pages. I also marked with another color sticky passages that stood out. I noticed changes in point of view and interesting excerpts involving character development that was unexpected. The unexpected information that I learn as I read a piece of literature can be used to form thought-provoking questions and possible patterns. What do you do when doing a close reading of a text? Please include them in the comments.

As you take on the adventure of reading Water Ghosts by Shawna Yang Ryan, pay close attention to details because analyzing should always be on your mind as you read. I personally enjoyed the novel, and I hope you do too.