e girl. They both have the "same voice [that comes] out, [sounding] like a crippled animal running on broken legs" (169). She sees their voices as "crippled," because of domineering Chinese customs, such like her cut tongue that she considers a restraint. Kingston fears that because of her cut tongue, others will "capture [her] voice for their own" (169), illustrating a sense of lost identity. In this stage of her life, Kingston can't express herself firmly with her family nor in school, leaving her with a feeling of nothingness. Therefore, when she yells at the girl to speak and tells her that "Nobody's going to notice you" (181), Kingston is actually trying to advise her, and also warn herself. Thus, Kingston sees in the Chinese girl all the attributes that she wants to rebel against, but this inadvertently leaves her even more alienated from the Chinese and the "ghosts".
             When Kingston was young, she believed that "Insane people were the ones who couldn't explain themselves" (186). Another character that Kingston mentions in this section is the crazy witch woman called Pee-A-Nah. She describes Pee-A-Nah wearing many layers of shawls and sweaters, with capes flying about her, along with a pointed hat that hid her scraggily hair. Very often she sees Pee-A-Nah in a slough where her mother goes to pick useful
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