What is the importance of the ghost motif in the short story collection, Where the Wild Ladies Are?

In each of the stories collected in Where the Wild Ladies Are, the author uses the characters' encounters with, or experiences as ghosts to explore the relationship between reality and surreality. No matter to whom the ghosts appear, the unexpected spectral visits consistently jar the characters out of their malaise and despair. The author, therefore, suggests that a relationship with the imaginary, fantastic, or supernatural world, has the power to open the individual to the magic and wonder of being alive. In "Smartening Up," for example, the unnamed first person narrator has been living in a state of discontentment ever since her boyfriend broke up with her. Convinced her hairy body is to blame for their relationship's failure, she begins dreaming "only of total hairlessness" (28). The goal quickly becomes an obsession which grants her no real happiness. It is not until her dead aunt shows up at her apartment and confronts her for trying to "become beautiful" in order to seek "revenge" on her ex, that the narrator begins questioning her unhappiness (14). The visiting ghosts in "Peony Lanterns," similarly challenge Shinzaburō to examine his own despair. Ever since losing his sales job, the narrator says he has "morphed into a big gray sloth" (37). Instead of pursuing alternate career opportunities, he spends every day lounging around in a tracksuit watching television. Though his encounter with the ghosts initially irritates him, Yoneko and Tsuyuko ultimately encourage Shinzaburō to make peace with the "reason-defying events" in his life (51). By the end of the narrative, Shinzaburō is no longer depicted in a horizontal position on the couch. Like many of his fellow characters in the collection, the ghosts have inspired a shift in his self-consciousness and perception of the world.

In "Quite a Catch," Shigemi-chan's newfound relationship with the ghost Hina-chan allows her to believe once again in the possibility of love. In "Where the Wild Ladies Are," Shigeru's work at Mr. Tei's incense company gradually jostles him out of his perpetually "vacant state of mind" (110). Mr. Tei's visit to the first person narrator in "Loved One," also instills her with an unfamiliar sense of hope. Once she learns she might be reunited with her deceased cat, Tortie, she is reawakened to the possibility of being pleasantly surprised by life. In each narrative, the tangible world blurs with the afterlife. Once the characters realize that their banal-seeming lives abut a supernatural realm, they become more curious, energetic, and engaged.