A madwoman from Brave Orchid’s village who was stoned to death because the villagers thought that she was a Japanese spy. During air raids, she wore an elaborate red headdress with mirrors and flailed her arms. The villagers thought that she was signaling the planes to attack. When the woman refused Brave Orchid’s attempt to protect her from the frightened villagers by taking the headdress, the woman refused. They beat her head and face and smashed the mirrors, then buried her along with the rest of the dead.
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The Village Crazy Lady Character Timeline in The Woman Warrior
The timeline below shows where the character The Village Crazy Lady appears in The Woman Warrior. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
3. Shaman
...eat them. She also did not eat them on fasting days. Brave Orchid differed from the village crazy lady because she was a capable exorcist. The crazy lady was not, so she was stoned...
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...of an air raid. The bombings drove some people mad with fear. During the raids, the village crazy lady put on a headdress with small mirrors. She moved her arms in flailing circles and...
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