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CHAPTER 38 From Reading to Writing 525

List examples of ways in which people are stereotyped. You can discuss age, appearance, race, and so on.

What is your view about equality? Should laws protect some members of society

to ensure equal access to work, education, and housing? Why or why not?

Themes: Psychology and Health Gare

FIEADING 7

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The Gatcher of Ghosts Amy Tan

Amy Tan is an American writer. One of her most well-known novels is The Joy Luck C/ub. She has explored themes such as mother-daughter relationshlps and cultural issues. As you read this descriptive story, which appeared in her book The Bonesetter's Daughter, also look for elements of narration and cause and effect.

When we returned home, Mother and Father, as well as our aunts and uncles, were bunched in the courtyard, talking in excited voices. Father was relating how he had met an old Taoist priest at the market, a remarkable and

strange man. As he passed by, the priest had called out to him: "Sir, you look as if a ghost is plaguing your house."

'Why do you say that?" Father asked.

"It's true, isn't it?" the old man insisted. "I feel you've had a lot of bad luck and there's no other reason for it. Am I right?"

"We had a suicide," Father admitted, "a nursemaid whose daughter was

about to be married."

"And bad luck followed."

"A few calamities," Father answered.

The young man standing next to the priest then asked Father if he had heard of the famous Catcher of Ghosts. "No? Well, this is he, the wandering priest

right before you. He's newly arrived in your town, so he's not yet as well known

as he is in places far to the north and south. Do you have relatives in Harbin? No? Well, then! If you had, you'd know who he is." The young man, who claimed to be the priest's acolyte, added, "In that city alone, he is celebrated for having already caught one hundred ghosts in disturbed households. When he was done, the gods told him to start wandering again."

When Father finished telling us how he had met these two men, he added, "This afternoon, the famous Catcher of Ghosts is coming to our house."

A few hours later, the Catcher of Ghosts and his assistant stood in our courtyard. The priest had a white beard, and his long hair was piled like a

messy bird's nest. In one hand he carried a walking stick with a carved end that looked like a flayed dog stretched over a gateway. In the other, he held a short beating stick. Slung over his shoulders was a rope shawl from which hung a

large wooden bell. His robe was not the sand-colored cotton of most wandering

monks I had seen. His was a rich-looking blue silk, but the sleeves were grease- stained, as if he had often reached across the table for more to eat.

Harbin: a large town in northeastern China

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