How Cora Zeng Forges a Found Family and Chooses to Survive

Thematic Claim: Survival Through Improvised Kinship

In Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, survival is never a solitary act. Cora Zeng does not simply endure the pandemic, the murder of her sister Delilah, and the escalating violence against Asian women by withdrawing into herself. Instead, she stumbles into a makeshift family with her co-workers Harvey Chen and Yifei Liu, and later with Auntie Zeng. These relationships become the engine of her will to live and fight. The novel argues that true survival requires finding people who see your humanity even when the world tries to erase it—and that reclaiming agency means choosing to stand beside those people rather than fading into an echo.

Part One: Beginning in Blood—Work Bonds Forged in Horror

Cora’s first steps toward found family occur in the gruesome setting of a crime scene cleanup crew. She works alongside Harvey and Yifei, scraping the remains of Asian women killed in their homes. The bond is initially reluctant—Cora describes them as “designated corpse-finders, not her friends.” Yet the shared experience of witnessing violence forces intimacy. In Chapter Two, when Cora finds a bat lodged in a drain, she panics, and Harvey and Yifei immediately respond with practical care: Yifei opens a biohazard bag, Harvey offers a bag for her to vomit into. They do not question her fear; they accommodate it.

Later, the three perform a mock funeral for a bat Harvey accidentally kills. Harvey insists on burying it with fake flowers and a toast. The absurdity of the ritual—drinking Everclear on abandoned train tracks—becomes a foundation for their solidarity. Harvey puts his arms around both Cora and Yifei, and though Cora stiffens, she does not pull away. This moment marks the first time she allows herself to be physically held by anyone since Delilah’s death. The funeral is not just for a bat; it is a rehearsal for grieving together, a skill they will desperately need.

Part Two: Investigation as a Shared Mission

By Chapter Twelve, Cora, Harvey, and Yifei have moved from passive cleanup to active investigation. Cora realizes that the bats left at crime scenes are not random—they connect the murders. The three begin to research Officer Wang’s shredded case files, mapping out a pattern. This collaborative work transforms Cora’s relationship to Harvey and Yifei. They become her partners in pursuing the truth about Delilah’s death. When Cora confronts a skeptical reporter in a bar, Yifei and Harvey back her up. Harvey claims expertise to bolster her credibility. Yifei feeds Cora dumplings meant for Delilah’s altar, a gesture of care that blurs the line between ritual and daily sustenance.

Cora’s apartment becomes a command center. They tape photographs to the floor, cook rice, argue over theories. In Chapter Eighteen, as they piece together evidence, Cora feels a new kind of pain—a “fever” that makes her feel alive rather than numb. This is agency born from collective purpose. She chooses the door that opens into “starbright fires of hell,” but she does not walk through it alone. Harvey and Yifei choose it with her.

Part Three: Loss and the Reclamation of Home

The car crash in Chapter Twenty-One shatters this fragile family. Harvey is killed earlier; Yifei dies in the crash beside Cora. For a moment, Cora loses her will to move. She curls under the wrecked car, wishing she could bury herself. But then Delilah’s ghost appears and hands Cora her phone—not to call for help, but to keep walking. The memory of Harvey and Yifei does not fade; it becomes a source of strength. Cora realizes that even in death, they remain human to her. “A killer tried to unmake them, but he failed. Harvey and Yifei are still here.”

In Chapter Twenty-Four, Cora acts alone but carries them with her. She reclaims the slur “bat eater,” shoves her harasser into traffic, and leads a ghost army through the subway station where Delilah died. She sets the mayor’s residence on fire—an act of righteous fury that she could only commit because she has learned what it means to fight for others. Afterward, Auntie Zeng takes her to the East River to release paper lanterns. This new elder figure completes the circle: Auntie Zeng offers the ritual care that Cora once received from Yifei, feeding her, housing her, teaching her to pray.

Character and Symbol Connections

The bat symbolizes both the racist slur that targets Asian women and the hidden violence that connects the murders. Cora’s co-workers help her reframe the symbol: Harvey and Yifei treat the dead bat with care, naming it Zubat and burying it with dignity. In doing so, they transform a tool of dehumanization into a token of shared grief.

The jade bracelet breaks in the car crash, linking Cora’s loss of her found family to the destruction of her last tangible connection to Delilah. But she does not mourn it; instead, she focuses on the memory of Yifei feeding her dumplings. The bracelet’s fragility mirrors the vulnerability of kinship formed under siege.

The orange appears in the final chapter when Cora offers half to a ghostly hand and eats the other half herself. This act of sharing with the dead—and with herself—literalizes the survival theme: sustenance is both given and taken. The orange is a small, concrete choice to participate in the world rather than disappear into it.

Complexity and Contradiction

The novel does not romanticize found family. Harvey and Yifei are flawed: Harvey’s childhood trauma surfaces in his video-game coping mechanism; Yifei’s cynicism masks deep care. They argue, tease, and invade each other’s boundaries. Cora acknowledges that she would “never have imagined Harvey in a romantic context after seeing him finger-paint with blood.” Yet these imperfections make the bond real. Found family is not about perfect harmony; it is about showing up despite the mess.

Furthermore, Cora’s survival is not unambiguously triumphant. She loses Harvey and Yifei. She commits arson. The novel ends not with a victory parade but with Cora learning to find “small pleasures” and building an altar. Survival here means continuing to live with grief, not overcoming it. The vaccine shot she receives in Chapter Twenty-Five is a quiet symbol of biological survival, but the emotional survival depends on her ongoing connection to Auntie Zeng and the rituals they share.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the bat funeral scene in Chapter Five establish the foundation of Cora’s found family? The absurd ritual of burying a dead bat with a toast forces Cora, Harvey, and Yifei to participate in a shared act of care. Harvey’s apology to the bat shows his capacity for tenderness; Yifei’s mockery masks her presence; Cora’s willingness to drink and stay marks her first step toward belonging. The moment proves that even in the most macabre circumstances, they can create meaning together.

2. What role does Delilah’s ghost play in Cora’s journey toward reclaiming agency? Delilah appears at critical moments—first leading Cora to the case files, then handing her the phone after the crash. Rather than providing comfort, Delilah pushes Cora to act. Her ghost embodies the unresolved grief that Cora must transform into fuel. In Chapter Twenty-One, Cora’s anger at Delilah for “leaving” becomes the energy she needs to climb out of the wreckage. Delilah’s presence is a catalyst, not a savior.

3. How do the symbols of the bat and the orange represent different stages of survival? The bat initially represents the slur that reduces Cora to a carrier of disease. Through the burial ritual, Harvey and Yifei help Cora reclaim it as an object of shared grief. The orange, in contrast, appears at the end when Cora acts alone. Offering half to a ghost and eating the other half signals her ability to both give and take sustenance—a balance that indicates she has integrated her losses and can nourish herself.

4. In what ways does the novel complicate the idea that survival is purely individual? Cora repeatedly attempts to isolate herself, but each time she is pulled back by Harvey, Yifei, or Auntie Zeng. The investigation succeeds only because the three work together. Even at her lowest moment—curled under the car—she cannot move until Delilah’s ghost intervenes. The novel insists that survival requires connection, even if that connection is painful or imperfect.

5. Why does Cora choose to burn down the mayor’s residence, and how does this act relate to her found family? Cora’s arson is both an act of vengeance and a declaration that she will no longer be silent. She leads the hungry ghosts—other murdered Asian women—through the subway, symbolizing that she fights not only for herself but for a community. The fire is a gift to the dead and a refusal to let their deaths be erased. This act of collective justice is only possible because Harvey and Yifei taught her that she is not alone.