The story “Beccah” is very interesting to me, especially, to many American people who don’t have too much knowledge about the Asian style of “communicating with ghost or spirit”. I wanted to address the first question that you suggested, which is about Akiko’s behavior. Before even starting to comment on this question, I wanted to say it is nearly impossible to answer this question because it involves certain unexplainable or mysterious aspects that I don’t want to judge for.
So, what I think about Akiko? Psychic, crazy, traumatized, or maybe all? I guess she could be categorized into all these descriptions, but in addition to that, I actually think she can be considered as normal sometimes.
Let’s look at her normal side, she actually able to act and think like normal human being. The author said “my mother did well, despite the oil burns on her arms and face” (p.195) , so it seems to me that she used to be a normal, hardworking lady. She is very independent, that she is able to take good care her daughter alone after her husband past away.
Unfortunately, tragedies always happened in an unexpected ways. Akiko started to act weird when the so-called “Spirits”, that the author mentioned, took over her. Beccah said “Then the spirit –Saja the Death Messenger and Induk the Birth Grandmother –descended upon her,…” Their lives started to change after that, and Akiko turns into a stage of “psychic” and “crazy” behavior. Akiko acted as psychic when “she’s sit and watch me do my homework, as if I were the TV, and mumble about how smart I was, so smart that could could I [Beccah] could really be her daughther?...”(p.194) She will do things that normal human wouldn’t like to do and her mind of thinking is very different at this point too. Then sometimes, Akiko acts like crazy when the so-called spirit took her body, which is what Beccah described “a spider‘s line of spittle swung from my mother’s gasping mouth as she swayed from the top of the coffee table.” (p.196) This kind of weird action can definitely defines a person as crazy or at least lunatic. Beccah even nervously said “She’s not crazy” (p.197) when she heard Reno said “Wow, I never seen that before.”(p.197) The reason that Beccah is over reacting is because in her inner mind, she agrees that her mother is a crazy woman, but she doesn’t want to admit to that, so she became panic when Reno said that line.
We never know what went wrong that caused Akiko suddenly changed into a totally new character or characters, psychologically it could probably be explained as a person creating several characteristics to disguise something that he/she doesn’t want to think about or face with, and this could possibly caused by the trauma of losing her husband.
The story could make more sense if we know more about Beccah’s father, since Beccah lost her father when she was five and she barely have memories of her father, so in this story, she describes him as an angel that can saves her mother and herself. However, I was confused why Akiko would want her husband to die? Please feel free to shoot out some assumptions.
I liked your article a lot. I agree Beccah’s mother, Akiko did have her times of normalcy, particularly when she did not have a psychic episode with the spirits. I also wondered why she would want her husband dead so much and I did cover that at one point in my blog.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the husband did not treat her right? Perhaps he abused her or maybe he even cheated on her, causing her to become so angry that she wished for his death? Could it be that possibly he was not a responsible parent and husband who did not provide for his family which caused her to despise him? Maybe it was because of a different traumatic experience that occurred that made her wish for his death so much. Perhaps that traumatic experience could have happened in her childhood and may have actually had nothing to do with him but perhaps he unintentionally reminded her of that experience in some way which caused her to have animosity towards him.
I think the only way we may ever know is if we were to read the whole book as opposed to just one excerpt of the story that we read. Perhaps the book goes further into detail as to why Akiko wanted her husband to die so much. Perhaps it may even go into further detail of Akiko’s character and why she acts the way she does. Maybe the book goes further into detail of Akiko’s past, such as her childhood and possibly even her past with her husband before he perished.
What’s up Chao!
ReplyDeleteI really like your blog post this week, because you show a lot of sympathy for Akiko, and I think that can be hard to do when someone seems hopelessly “crazy.” (I mean, just look at Beccah!) Your opening line paragraph alone shows a really rational and fair outlook on things: “I wanted to say it is nearly impossible to answer this question because it involves certain unexplainable or mysterious aspects that I don’t want to judge for.” Exactly! It’s unfair to call Akiko crazy after only reading 9 pages worth of her life story.
You brought up an interesting idea in Akiko potentially creating these spirits as some sort of psychological defense mechanism. Maybe it’s easier for her to imagine that all of her painful memories are just the workings of spirits beyond her control. Or, you could’ve been getting at the more unsettling thought, that her entire interaction with “spirits” is a persona she made up. On this note, it can be argued that Beccah and Aunt Reno create their own versions of Akiko too: Beccah shapes Akiko’s character as a vulnerable, helpless and self-threatening nuisance, so she keeps her contained in the house, whereas Reno sees her as a business opportunity and exposes her to the world. Poor Akiko.
Finally, on the topic of Akiko’s husband/Beccah’s father, there is definitely a whole lot of mystery there. Beccah’s father seems like a good guy in her dreams, at least until his bright eyes burn her into nothingness. I get the feeling that Akiko’s regret over murdering her husband implies that it was either accidental or a temporary lapse in judgment. I think there are ways that, in retrospect, she could see herself “wishing” him to death, even if they weren’t literal wishes. Who knows!
So maybe after reading one simple chapter of Beccah’s life I shouldn’t decide she is crazy. But it is so hard for me to believe ghosts really exist and Beccah talks to them. I believe ghosts may exist, just not in this world. Maybe in some sort of alternate universe where all of our spirits go, otherwise known as the afterlife. But I don’t believe in people really communicating with the dead, maybe because I wasn’t raised to believe that.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to tell Americans that I communicated with the spirits then they would all think I was crazy. Where I am from to talk or see the dead is what people who are whacked out or in rehab do. To see dead people is something we make fun of in American videos and play around with on Halloween. I’m sure other places think we are jerks for not taking the dead seriously, but it just isn’t part of my world.
Maybe other places see the dead as my family for example sees God. Maybe they pray to the dead and view them as godly and all knowing. But usually the dead to me is associated with negativity. Ghosts aren’t just ghosts they are haunted ghosts. No dead spirits can mean any good where I am from.
So Beccah may not be crazy, but she isn’t like anyone I have ever associated with not being crazy.
China three years ago, there was a 7.8-level earthquake, hundreds of thousands affected by the earthquake. Instant city was destroyed by the earthquake. When rescue units arrived on the scene, they found a mother and son. At that time all the people who saw this scene crying, the mother's body with their thin concrete wall supporting the fallen, and finally died, and the baby was unharmed. Motherhood is so great, in the most critical moment, she even used his own life to prove. So not a mood but a maternal instinct, we should have this instinct, not only moral norms, emotional restraint, but as the heart, as a part of life.
ReplyDeleteIn traditional Chinese culture, filial piety is the most important qualities.At that time, appointment and removal of officials assessing the need for filial piety. There is even a saying parents do not travel to distant lands. This is to prevent accidents when the elderly, children are not around. Although most people do not live together with their parents, but must always go home with their parents call. This is also a way of filial piety.