Imagine yourself surrounded by strange, yet terrifying and evil spirits, troubling you in your worst nightmares. The spirits might want something from you. In fact, they might help scare you. Should we take care of it? What do you think they are trying to tell you? In one of the investigations above, note the ironic use of the word "fact" which attempts to obscure the fictional nature of the ghosts. It shows that the meaning of the word “ghost” is equivocal. In other words, the word "ghost" has multiple values, so ghosts can serve in more than one way. The word "ghost" comes from the Old English word "gast", and its synonyms are "soul, spirit [good or bad spirit], existence, breath" and "demon" (etymonline.com). In the book The Woman Warrior, ironically subtitled Memoirs of a Childhood Among Ghosts, the author, Maxine Hong Kingston, uses the word "ghost" as a metaphor to characterize her confusion over discovering a difference between reality and unreality. – the difference that divides her preferred American present and her Chinese past that her mother, Valiant Orchid, filters into her mind through stories that gradually discourage her from crossing established boundaries. The ghosts in the book change depending on the point of view. Anyone whose actions deviate from what is satisfactory in any area is a ghost according to the associates of this society. For the Chinese, like Valiant Orchid, the Americans are ghosts. On the other hand, the Chinese are ghosts according to Chinese Americans (including Kingston, who finds his past fraught alongside frightening Chinese ghosts). For Kingston, however, ghosts aren't always scary; in fact, a few of them get excited... middle of paper ...... Memoirs of a Childhood Among Ghosts. Random House, Inc, 1976. PrintBucci, Diane Todd. “Chinese Americans and the Border Experience on Golden Mountain: The Development of a Chinese-American Identity in The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Childhood Among Ghosts.” Journal of Ethnic Studies 30.1/2 (2007): 1-11. NewsWatch ethnic. Internet. December 12, 2011. .Paman, Alex G. “Asian Ghost Stories.” Yolk, December 31, 2000. Ethnic NewsWatch. Internet. December 14, 2011. .Rector, Monica. “Intercultural understanding: the American ghost”. Semioticon.com. Internet. December 15, 2011. Online etymology dictionary. Internet. December 15. 2011. .