Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng

“But not everyone has dreams. Some people just are, the way that trees and rocks and rivers are just there without a reason, the rest of the world moving around them.”

In the opening chapter, Cora thinks this about herself, particularly in comparison to Delilah who has dreams of becoming a model. Cora’s self-perception at the beginning of the book reveals her to be a largely passive character, content with following rather than taking decisive action, as she has no strong feelings or passions about things. This will change gradually but definitively over the course of the book, forming the core part of Cora’s character arc.

“Bat eater. Cora has heard those words a lot the past two months. The end of the world began at a wet market in Wuhan, they say, with a sick bat. Cora has never once eaten a bat, but it has somehow become common knowledge that Chinese people eat bats just to start plagues.”

The term “bat eater” is a racist slur used against Asian people, and Cora hears Delilah’s killer call her this before pushing her in front of the train. Appearing in novel’s title as well, the term is a key motif in the book, underlining the hatred and xenophobia the East Asian community faces during the pandemic. Cora’s reflection offers some insight into the context behind the term, while also foreshadowing the reappearance of the bat motif at the murders Cora will encounter over the next few months. With the term appearing here and the bats appearing at the following crime scenes, Baker signals how the deaths of these young women are undeniably hate crimes, introducing