AMA: We will begin. How many rooms in our house in Amoy? DI-GOU: Eighteen. How many bedrooms?
AMA: Ten. What year was it built? DI-GOU: 1893. What year was the nineteenth room added?
AMA: 1923 DI-GOU: On whose instruction?
AMA: See-goh-poh. DI-GOU: What year did See-goh-poh die?
AMA: 1945. What desease? DI-GOU: Malaria. How many teeth was she missing?
AMA: Three. Act 2, p. 226.
When his sisters are angry to him because they think Digou does not speak the truth about See-goh-poh, he still explains to them with a gentle way. He
does not let his temper interfere the atmosphere and make it worse. Digou’s controlled character is revealed when he tries to tell the truth to his sisters. He
knows that they will not listen to his explanation but he still speaks to them in the right way in hope that they will accept the fact.
DI-GOU: You forced her to invent the stories. AMA: We demand nothing
DI-GOU: You expected Expected her to convert all Amoy AMA: She did
DI-GOU: Expected many miracles. AMA: She did She was a great-
DI-GOU: Expected her not to have a baby. AMA: She had no husband. She had no baby.This is demon talk. Demon
talk and lie. DI-GOU: She turned away from God.
AMA: We will never believe this Act 2, p. 226.
2. Obedient
Man is usually described as a central power who always leads the situation. However, in this play, Ama and Popo control everything. Digou obeys
his sisters, even when they are arguing, he expressess his words in the right way.
When Ama leads the Family Devotion, he follows her instruction athough he does not like it. He loves his sisters so much so that he does not fight altough he knows
he has right and strength to do it. DI-GOU: Chester, you are in America. If you deny those who share your
blood, what do you have in things country? AMA: [
From offstage
] All right? Ready? CHESTER: Your face is changing, Di-gou. Before you know it, you’ll be
praying and speaking in tounges. AMA: We begin Family Devotions [
AMA flips a switch. A neon cross is lit up
] JENNY: [To CHESTER] Looks like a disco.
[
Everyone is seated except DI-GOU. The rest of the family waits for him. He walks over and sits down. AMA bows down to pray. Everyone bows except
CHESTER and DI-GOU, but since all other eyes are closed, no one notices their noncompliance. AMA begins to pray.]
Act 1, p. 213.
3. Honest
Digou has the quality of being honest. He does not like to tell a lie. He says what he knows and what he knows is true. It is not only shown in every
single word that he says in their conversation, it is also shown in his tongue language. When Digou speaks in tongue, he does not know what he says. Chester
then interprets it for the other family members. In the interpretation, Chester tells all about Digou’s experience with See-goh-poh starting from his evangelism tour
when he was eight years old. It is told that Di-gou and See-goh-poh were traveling through the summer
heat to a small village in Fukien. He was sleeping in the straw next to See-goh- poh when he heard a sound which is like a human sound. It is exactly a cry in his
sleep. Digou then looked up and saw a fire and See-goh-poh was naked and screamed at that time. She screamed with legs spread so far apart.
Digou tells his sisters about the fact of See-goh-poh, So far that a mouth opens up. A mouth between her legs. A mouth that is throwing up blood, spitting
out blood. More and more blood” Act 2, p. 224-225. It depicts a situation in which See-goh-poh give a birth to a baby. He even tells the detail of the story
when See-goh-poh hits the blood baby to hear the baby cries until the baby sucks her breast. Digou tells the truth because he wants to open his sisters’s eyes in
order to make them realize that during all this time they have been lied to themselves because See-goh-poh is not like they think. See-goh-poh was not in
the mission trip when Digou accompanies her, she hides her pregnancy instead so that no one knows she has a baby out of marriage. At the end, he tells them about
See-goh-poh’s request before death. DI-GOU: In her last moment, See-goh-poh wanted to be buried in Chinese
soil, not Christian soil. You don’t know. You were in the Philippines. [
Pause
] I come to bring you back to China. Come, sisters. To the soil you’ve forsaken with ways born of
memories, of stories that never happened. Come, sisters. The stories written on your face are the ones you must believe.
[
AMA rises from her chair
.] AMA: We will never believe this [
She collapses back into her chair, close her eyes
] Act 2, p. 226-227
For all this thirty two years, Digou keeps silent because he never meet them during the time. When he visits them for the first time, he should keep silent
about the truth. He should not ruin the situation and make his sisters upset in the first day of their meeting. However, he cannot deny that he knows the truth and he
is not able to act like he does know anything about see-goh-poh. He knows the
