Chapter summaries Death in the Mouth: Original Horror by People of Color Sloane Leong and Cassie Hart

Chapter 8: The Three Resurrections of my Grandfather by K-Ming Chang

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

Summary

The chapter follows narrator Sinew and her family as they care for her grandfather, who claims to have died and resurrected after torture by a ghost army (Japanese soldiers) in a river called the River Weak-Knee. He names his granddaughters Tendon and Sinew—food names to hide them from gods. After his death from stomach bleeding, his ashes are kept in a J.C. Penney shoebox. He returns as a fly that the sisters try to feed, then briefly appears in human form to speak about choosing death. His third resurrection occurs when his ashes, buried in the yard, are paved over by the landlord; later the concrete transforms into water, and the shoebox floats free.

Key Events

  • Grandfather recounts his first death and resurrection after the ghost army forced water into his stomach, creating a hole; he says all dead bodies turned into turtles until the war ended.
  • He dreams of Sinew before her birth, losing molars, and names his granddaughters Tendon and Sinew.
  • Daily life includes watching What Not to Wear, cutting his hair, and his warning never to open his mouth.
  • Grandfather dies when his stomach fills with blood; mother cannot perform her planned bleeding.
  • Cremation; mother sets up a shrine with oranges and cigarettes.
  • A fly appears; mother says it is the grandfather’s soul and cannot be killed.
  • Tendon and Sinew capture the fly in a jar, try to feed it, but it escapes.
  • Grandfather reappears on the sofa, bald, and tells Sinew she can choose whether to be dead; he says every fly is someone loved.
  • Third resurrection: the family buries the shoebox in the yard, but the landlord paves the yard with concrete.
  • They try to dig at night but cannot find the shoebox; later the concrete becomes water and the shoebox floats up.

Character Development

  • Grandfather: A traumatized survivor who reframes his suffering through myth. He is both a source of comfort (stories, naming) and a burden (his care, his unpredictable body). His three resurrections show a progression from bodily memory to ghostly presence to liberation.
  • Sinew (narrator): Seeks connection to her grandfather through tangible inheritances—his hair, his teeth. She is caught between belief in his stories and her mother’s skepticism.
  • Tendon: More pragmatic and skeptical than Sinew, yet still participates in rituals to help their grandfather.
  • Mother: Carries her own trauma (sleeping in a drawer, drinking from a well with a human head). She tries to protect her children from their grandfather’s stories but also cannot let go of him.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • Resurrection and Memory: The grandfather’s resurrections connect memory to bodily experience. Drowning becomes a way to remember past lives.
  • Naming as Protection: Grandfather names his granddaughters after body parts (Tendon, Sinew) and as food to hide them from gods who might reclaim them.
  • The River Weak-Knee: A mythical river that represents death, memory, and a homeland that no longer exists on maps. It is both a place of drowning and a place of salvation.
  • Flies as Souls: Flies are sacred; swatting one means killing a loved one. The grandfather’s second resurrection as a fly blurs the boundary between living and dead.
  • Concrete vs. Water: The landlord’s paving over the yard symbolizes displacement and the erasure of memory, but the final transformation of concrete into water suggests that grief and spirit cannot be fully contained.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter deepens the collection’s exploration of diaspora, trauma, and intergenerational storytelling. The grandfather’s fantastical resurrections give shape to his survival of war and displacement. By weaving bodily decay, mythological rivers, and the mundane setting of a concrete apartment, the story shows how memory persists even when graves are paved over. K-Ming Chang’s layered narrative bridges the surreal and the domestic, making visible the invisible afterlives of the dead within the lives of the living.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. What does the River Weak-Knee represent in the story?
    The River Weak-Knee is a mythical, un-mapped river that represents both death and rebirth. The grandfather was killed there and resurrected; later it becomes a symbol for the persistence of memory and the possibility of returning home. It also ties the family to a lost homeland.

  2. Why does the grandfather name his granddaughters Tendon and Sinew, and what does this reveal about his worldview?
    He names them after body parts and food (Tendon, Sinew) to disguise them from gods who might take them back to Kunlun. This reveals his belief that being alive is precarious and that hiding one’s true nature is necessary for survival.

  3. What is the significance of the fly as a symbol in the grandfather’s second resurrection?
    The fly is the grandfather’s soul. It cannot be killed, and the story warns that every fly is someone loved. The fly connects the dead to the living—it is fragile yet persistent, fed by the living, and ultimately escapes or transforms into a reappearance of the grandfather.

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