Ending explained Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng Kylie Lee Baker

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng Ending Explained

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

The Climax: Cora Takes Action

The novel's climax unfolds in Chapter Twenty-Four (chapter 25 in the EPUB reckoning) during the last night of Ghost Month, one year after Delilah's death. Cora Zeng retrieves propane tanks from the church crypt where she earlier performed cleaning penance. On the street, a white man harasses her, grabs her arm, and calls her “bat eater.” Cora shoves him into traffic—he survives—then publicly claims the slur: “That's right! I am a fucking bat eater!”

She descends into the closed East Broadway station, the same station where her sister died, and jumps onto the tracks. There she is joined first by Yuxi He's ghost (the murdered doctor whose bathroom Cora cleaned in Chapter Two), then by hundreds of hungry ghosts—the murdered Asian women from Officer Wang's photographs. Cora leads this spectral procession to Gracie Mansion, the mayor's residence, and sets it on fire with the propane tanks. The arson is both an act of vengeance against systemic failures and a ritual offering to the dead.

Epilogue: One Year Later

Chapter Twenty-Five (chapter 26 in the EPUB) takes place in April 2021. Cora works as a deep cleaner, lives with Auntie Zeng, and grieves Harvey Chen and Yifei Liu. Harvey's body was found days after his death; Yifei's unclaimed corpse was likely buried on Hart Island. Cora saves Yifei's belongings by impersonating her to the landlord.

A leaked USB drive has exposed the police cover-up and the mayor's death, sparking public protests. The public advocate who replaced Mayor Webb promises to reopen cases and puts half the police force on paid leave, but Cora does not hold her breath for justice. A mass shooting at an Atlanta spa targeting Asian women occurs in the background. Cora receives her first COVID-19 vaccine dose and begins to find small pleasures—feeding Auntie Zeng's fish, sitting in the park, visiting the beach.

Cora and Auntie Zeng build an altar for the dead, placing photographs of Officer Wang, Harvey, and Delilah alongside a paper lotus lantern that never stops burning. In a final ritual, Cora peels an orange, splits it in half, draws the blinds, and offers one half to the darkness. A ghostly hand emerges, takes the orange, and gnashes it. Cora takes the other half and eats it herself, reclaiming agency over fear.

Major Character Outcomes

  • Cora Zeng: Survives. She has moved from paralysis to agency, from victim to someone who acts for herself and the dead. She lives with Auntie Zeng and begins to envision a future in terms of things she likes rather than things she hates.

  • Delilah Zeng: Cora's half-sister remains dead. A ghost appearing as Delilah earlier in the novel is revealed by Auntie Zeng to be an impostor—likely another hungry ghost. Cora never reunites with Delilah's true spirit; the novel leaves open whether Delilah's soul found peace.

  • Harvey Chen: Dies in the car crash orchestrated by the serial killer (Batman). His body is found days later.

  • Yifei Liu: Dies in the same crash, crushed against a tree. Her unclaimed corpse is presumed buried on Hart Island, New York's potter's field.

  • Auntie Zeng: Becomes Cora's primary emotional support and spiritual guide. She performs the Ghost Month rituals and helps Cora build the altar.

  • Officer Wang: Already dead before the novel opens. His photographs of murdered Asian women drive Cora's later actions. A secretary gives Cora his photo, which she places on the altar.

Resolved and Unresolved Threads

Resolved:

  • Cora moves from passive grief to active resistance. She reclaims the slur “bat eater” and uses it as a weapon.
  • The mayor's death and the leaked USB force some institutional accountability, though Cora remains skeptical.
  • Cora establishes a new family unit with Auntie Zeng, partially resolving the theme of found family.
  • The final orange ritual shows Cora reclaiming agency over the fear of hungry ghosts.

Unresolved:

  • The serial killer “Batman” (who killed Officer Wang, Zihan Huang, and others) is never caught or named. The text suggests his identity is irrelevant—it is the system that allowed him to exist.
  • Delilah's specific killer—the man who shoved her onto the tracks—is never found. Cora realizes his name is really “bat eater,” a term for systemic anti-Asian hate.
  • Whether the hungry ghosts are real or psychological manifestations is left ambiguous, though the narrative leans toward a supernatural reading.
  • Cora's student loans remain unresolved (she decides to stop attending church where Auntie Lois would help).
  • The broader pandemic and anti-Asian violence continue; the Atlanta spa shooting occurs after the climax.

Theme Resolution

  • Anti-Asian Racism During the Pandemic: Cora's climax directly confronts this. By claiming the slur and burning Gracie Mansion, she rejects the role of passive victim. Yet the epilogue shows that systemic racism persists—the Atlanta shooting, the protests, the police cover-up—underscoring that individual resistance does not end structural violence.

  • Grief and Unresolved Trauma: Cora's grief shifts from immobilizing to motivating. The altar and rituals allow her to channel sorrow into action. The final orange ritual represents a controlled engagement with trauma—she feeds a ghost voluntarily rather than being consumed by fear.

  • Hungry Ghosts and Chinese Spiritual Traditions: The novel embraces the supernatural as real within its world. The hungry ghosts are the forgotten dead—Asian women failed by society. Cora's leadership of the ghosts to Gracie Mansion literalizes the idea that the dead demand justice.

  • Systemic Injustice and Police Cover-Up: Partially resolved by the leaked USB, but Cora's skepticism in the epilogue shows that trust in institutions remains broken.

  • Survival and Found Family: Cora survives not through heroism alone but through the support of Auntie Zeng. The biological family (father in China, Auntie Lois) fails her; she builds a new family with her aunt.

Interpretations of the Ending

The ending is deliberately ambiguous in several respects:

  1. The reality of ghosts: While the narrative presents the hungry ghosts as tangible (they grab Cora, they pull her, they eat oranges), some events could be read as psychological breakdown caused by trauma and COVID isolation. Cora herself questions her sanity throughout the book. The Author's Note, in which Kylie Lee Baker calls the pandemic the true horror, suggests the supernatural may be a metaphor for real violence.

  2. Cora's arson: Burning Gracie Mansion is a crime of protest. The novel neither condemns nor fully endorses it. Cora is not arrested, and the mayor dies in the fire (off-page). The epilogue's mention of protests suggests others viewed her act as justified, but Cora faces no legal consequences, leaving the reader to weigh vigilante justice against systemic failure.

  3. The orange ritual: This final scene is both intimate and eerie. Feeding a ghost from her own hand shows Cora has made peace with the dead—or at least learned to coexist with fear. That she eats the other half herself symbolizes taking back what was taken: sustenance, pleasure, control.

  4. Hopeful or bleak? The epilogue is cautiously hopeful. Cora has found routine, purpose, and a measure of peace. She gets vaccinated. She enjoys small things. But she still carries pepper spray and a rape whistle. The Atlanta shooting happens. The system barely reforms. The novel rejects a simple happy ending in favor of realistic survival.

6 Reader Questions Answered

1. What happens to Delilah's ghost?

A ghost that Cora believes is Delilah appears throughout the novel, leading her in dreams and following her. In Chapter Twenty-One, Auntie Zeng tells Cora over the phone that this ghost is not Delilah—the spirit wearing Delilah's hope bracelet is an impostor. The true fate of Delilah's soul is never shown. Cora lights a lantern for her on the last night of Ghost Month and hopes she can hear, but receives no confirmation.

2. Is the ending hopeful or bleak?

Cautiously hopeful. Cora survives, builds a new life with Auntie Zeng, and begins to imagine a future. She takes agency through the arson and the orange ritual. However, her friends are dead, the serial killer is free, and anti-Asian violence continues (evidenced by the Atlanta spa shooting). The novel ends with Cora eating half an orange in the dark—a small act of defiance, not a triumph.

3. What does the final orange ritual mean?

The ritual is a direct inversion of Cora's earlier fear of hungry ghosts. By offering half an orange to a ghost and eating the other half herself, Cora asserts control over her fear. It echoes the Chinese tradition of making food offerings to the dead, but Cora does it on her own terms, in her own space. The act shows she can share space with the dead without being consumed by them.

4. Does Cora die at the end?

No. The epilogue takes place one year after the climax, and Cora is alive. She receives her first vaccine dose, works as a deep cleaner, and builds an altar. There is no indication of her death. The final scene with the orange is a living act of communion with the dead, not a suicide or death scene.

5. What happens to the serial killer (Batman)?

The serial killer who murdered Officer Wang, Zihan Huang, and other Asian women is never caught or named. Harvey discovers information about him (Chapter Nineteen), but Harvey and Yifei die in a car crash that is implied to be the killer's work. The investigation is covered up. Cora eventually realizes the identity of Delilah's killer is not one man but the system of anti-Asian hatred—hence her final realization that the killer's name is “bat eater.”

6. What is the significance of the title “Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng”?

The title directly reflects the climax, where Cora reclaims the racist slur “bat eater” as a badge of power. “Other Names for Cora Zeng” points to the multiple identities imposed on her by society: bat eater, Chink, quiet Asian girl, sex doll, dangerous communist. By the end, she chooses her own name—a “bat eater” who fights back. The novel argues that being called a monster can be liberating when you own the label.

For deeper exploration of the novel's themes, see our pages on anti-Asian racism during the pandemic, grief and unresolved trauma, and hungry ghosts in Chinese spiritual traditions.