Symbols Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng Kylie Lee Baker

The Bat Symbol: Racism, Death, and Transformation in Bat Eater

Introduction: The Bat as a Loaded Symbol

In Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, the bat moves beyond a literal animal to become a dense, evolving symbol. It first appears as the racist slur “bat eater”—the epithet shouted at Cora and Delilah just before Delilah is pushed onto the subway tracks. Throughout the novel, the bat recurs in crime scenes, dreams, and ritual moments, connecting pandemic-era anti-Asian hatred, unresolved grief, and the possibility of reclaiming power. By tracing where the bat appears and how its meaning shifts, readers can see how Kylie Lee Baker uses this single image to bind together the novel’s core themes of anti-Asian racism, grief, and survival.

Literal Appearances and Recurrence

The bat appears in at least four key scenes, each time tied to the murder or haunting of an Asian woman:

  1. The drain bat (Chapter Two) – While cleaning the apartment of Dr. Yuxi He, Cora pulls a clump of hair from a drain, only to discover it is a bat. The animal is mangled and hidden, suggesting it was deliberately placed. This first discovery triggers Cora’s nausea and memories of Delilah’s death.

  2. The vent bats (Chapter Five) – At the apartment of axe-murder victim Zihan Huang, Cora, Harvey, and Yifei find a vent sealed with plexiglass. Inside are multiple bats, their wings torn so they cannot fly. One escapes and Harvey kills it with a skillet. The trio later holds a makeshift funeral for the bat, naming it “Zubat.”

  3. The bat mural and live bats (Chapter Eleven) – At the hotel crime scene of travel nurse Ai Wu, the killer has painted a bat on the wall in blood and stuffed live bats inside the victim’s body. Harvey nicknames the murderer “Batman.” The bats here are no longer hidden but are displayed as a brutal signature.

  4. Bats as omens (later chapters) – Bats swarm the car before Yifei’s fatal crash (Chapter Twenty-One), and Cora encounters bats in her apartment and in the killer’s trail. Each appearance reinforces the link between the animal and violent death.

How the Bat’s Meaning Changes

The bat’s significance evolves across the novel from an external slur into an internal marker of trauma, then finally into something Cora can confront.

  • Racist epithet and pandemic blame: The opening slur “bat eater” ties the animal directly to the conspiracy theory that Chinese people caused COVID‑19 by eating bats. The novel repeatedly shows how that hateful label follows Asian characters: a white man spits in Cora’s face and tells her to go to China; a reporter dismisses the bat evidence as unremarkable. The bat stands for the racist idea that Asian bodies are contaminated and disposable.

  • Omen of murder: As the serial killer targets Asian women, each crime scene includes a bat. The killer seems to use bats as a calling card, perhaps to mock the victims or to reinforce the slur. The bats are always mutilated—wings torn, trapped, or killed—mirroring the violence done to the women. The bat becomes a symbol of the killer’s sadism and the systemic indifference that allows the murders to continue.

  • Grief and the hungry ghost: For Cora, the bat also connects to her sister Delilah. Delilah’s ghost is described as a broken, hungry figure, and the bat in the drain makes Cora physically ill because it evokes the trauma of Delilah’s death. Later, when Cora sees a girl-shaped silhouette on the tracks, she fears it is Delilah. The bat blurs the line between the racist threat from outside and the haunting grief inside Cora.

  • Reclamation: In the final chapters, Cora marches into the subway and later sets the mayor’s mansion on fire, leading a procession of hungry ghosts. She publicly reclaims the slur “bat eater.” The bat, once a weapon of hatred, becomes a symbol of resistance. Cora does not escape the bat—she accepts that she is called a bat eater and uses that identity to fight back.

Character Connections

  • Cora Zeng: The bat is a trigger for her OCD, germophobia, and guilt. She cannot see a bat without thinking of Delilah or her own helplessness. By the end, she learns to coexist with the bat symbol, even feeding an orange to a ghostly hand—a small act of agency.

  • Delilah Zeng: The slur that kills her is “bat eater.” Her ghost later appears clutching a jade bracelet, but the novel makes clear that the racist label—and its link to the bat—cannot be separated from her death.

  • Harvey Chen: Harvey accidentally kills the vent bat and then insists on a funeral, revealing his own buried trauma (being confined to a basement as a child). The bat funeral becomes a rare moment of vulnerability and connection among the trio.

  • Yifei Liu: Yifei is the one who pushes the group to investigate the bat killings as a serial crime. She confronts the reporter and later leaks evidence. The bat symbol fuels her anger and determination.

  • Auntie Zeng: Auntie Zeng practices Chinese spiritual traditions, including burning joss paper for the dead. She recognizes the hungry ghost and knows that unresolved grief can manifest as a dangerous spirit. Her rituals offer an alternative framework: the bat may be a creature of death, but it can be honored and released.

Theme Connections

  • Anti-Asian Racism During the Pandemic: The bat is the central image of pandemic scapegoating. Every time a bat appears at a crime scene, the novel reminds us that Asian women are being killed because of the racist lie that they brought the virus.

  • Grief and Unresolved Trauma: Cora cannot process Delilah’s death until she acknowledges the bat and what it represents. The bat in the drain, the bat in the vent, the bat mural—all force her to look at the violence she has tried to avoid.

  • Hungry Ghosts and Chinese Spiritual Traditions: The bat is not only a biological animal but also a spirit creature. In Chinese folklore, bats can symbolize good fortune, but here they are twisted into omens of death. The hungry ghosts that Cora leads are, in a sense, the human equivalents of the trapped bats—unnourished, vengeful, and waiting for release.

  • Systemic Injustice and Police Cover‑Up: The police suppress evidence of the bat‑marked murders. Officer Wang’s USB reveals that the captain deprioritized the case. The bat thus becomes a symbol of how the system ignores violence against Asian women.

  • Survival and Found Family: In burying the bat and later working together to expose the killer, Cora, Harvey, and Yifei form a makeshift family. The bat funeral is a small ritual that forges their bond.

Four Study Questions with Answers

1. How does the meaning of the bat shift from the beginning to the end of the novel?

At first, the bat is purely a racist insult—”bat eater”—used by the man who kills Delilah. It then becomes a physical object at crime scenes, mangled and hidden, suggesting violence and fear. By the climax, Cora reclaims the term, shouting it on the street and using it as a rallying cry. The bat transforms from a weapon of hatred into a symbol of defiance and solidarity with other victims.

2. What does the bat funeral in Chapter Five reveal about Harvey’s character?

Harvey insists on burying the bat he killed, even naming it Zubat and saying a few words. This shows his underlying sensitivity and his need to atone for accidental harm. The funeral also uncovers his own childhood trauma (being locked in a basement), making him more than the comic‑relief figure he first appears. His grief over the bat parallels Cora’s unresolved grief for Delilah.

3. Why does the serial killer use bats as a calling card?

The text does not state the killer’s motive explicitly, but the bat imagery suggests he is exploiting pandemic‑era racism. By leaving bats at crime scenes, he reinforces the “bat eater” slur and turns the victims’ deaths into spectacle. The bats are always mutilated, implying that the killer sees Asian women as vermin to be trapped and destroyed. The bats also taunt investigators, daring them to connect the dots.

4. How does Cora’s final act of lighting the paper lantern relate to the bat symbol?

In the last chapter of Ghost Month, Cora releases paper lanterns on the East River. She offers the fire as a gift to the dead, including Delilah. Earlier, bats were associated with fire (the burning of the mayor’s mansion) and with offerings (the orange she feeds to the ghost). By participating in a ritual that sends spirits away, Cora stops running from the bat symbol. She accepts that she is a “bat eater” in the world’s eyes, but she chooses how to honor the dead—not with fear, but with memory and agency.

Conclusion

The bat in Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is never just one thing. It is a slur, a corpse, a ghost, a pet, a warning, and finally a banner. By following the bat through the novel, readers trace the arc of Cora’s journey from trauma to fragile hope. The symbol binds together the systemic racism, the personal loss, and the spiritual traditions that the novel explores. In the end, Cora does not defeat the bat—she learns to live with it, and in doing so, reclaims a part of herself.