Ah Wee's physical difference is marked by their black eyes, described as "damn'dest eyes".
Ah Wee also has a different style of chopping trees, chopping around the base, unlike Dunfer who chops across the tree. This difference in woodsmanship might symbolize unspoken differences in sexual behavior.
The tree stumps, regardless of how they are cut, rot away in the same way. This reveals the superficiality of Whiskey Jo's rationale for homicide and that the core issue lies elsewhere.
Ah Wee's disguise protects the interracial couple as long as their homosocial relations are assumed to be non-erotic.
The introduction of the orthodox bourgeois family brings the threat of homophobic accusations, making the sexual masquerade as dangerous as the exposure of racial transgression.
Ah Wee's sexual identity must be kept secret by Dunfer and Gopher as not to reveal their desires.
It is Ah Wee's race, not sex, that determines their fate, serving as a warning to other Chinese not to "put on ayres as White".
The story secures racial difference by establishing an immutable difference between Ah Wee's Chineseness and Dunfer's and Gopher's Whiteness.
Ah Wee's status as a subordinate object of desire is determined by race, as shown when they are "won" in a poker game.
Ah Wee's race, not sex, is the principal social marker of difference and transgression.
The public value of Ah Wee's life is measured only by Ah Wee's race.
In death, Ah Wee's presence is felt through the supernatural power of the evil eye.
Referring to Mary Douglas, those who represent the danger of pollution are often thought to have magical powers, like casting evil spells.
It is Ah Wee's eyes, which were once eroticized by Dunfer, that become instruments of terror after death.
After Dunfer's scream, the reporter sees the knot-hole in the wall become a human eye, an inscrutable sign of the Oriental body.
"Poor Ah Toy"
"Poor Ah Toy" seems to be a cautionary tale about the disastrous consequences of miscommunication between white mistresses and Chinese servants.
According to historian Glenna Matthews, the “servant problem” was a hot topic for women's magazines between the 1870s and World War I.
She also notes that the mid-19th century saw immigrant servants taking the place of neighborhood farm girls.
Finding a substitute for the Irish "Bridget" meant turning to male Chinese servants for middle-class white families.
The story tells of the relation between a young white middle-class matron, Fanny Siddons, and her Chinese servant, Ah Toy.
Fanny takes over household duties after her sister-in-law dies, and is sent Ah Toy, a young cook and houseboy, after finding the Irish female housekeeper unsuitable.
Ah Toy proves to be an excellent servant, quickly learning and working patiently under Fanny's guidance.
Domestic order is restored, and Ah Toy becomes a member of the household.
When Ah Toy falls ill, Fanny cares for him much like she did for an old Negro slave in her father's home.
Ah Toy is entrusted with the family's care and invited to join them at the hearth in Robert Siddons' absence.
The peace starts breaking apart with Captain Ward's arrival, due to him courting Fanny.
Ah Toy gets jealous of Captain Ward and is dismissed by Fanny for his insolence after he angrily confronts Ward after their engagement.
Ah Toy attempts to kiss Fanny's hand in the kitchen, but Fanny recoils in horror and fires him.
After Ah Toy is dismissed, Fanny hires Gong Wah, who is incompetent. Fanny is distracted and can no longer sustain an interest in managing the household.
Fanny suspects Ah Toy's return due to improvements in the household.
She thinks she hears him singing and feels someone touching her cheeks at night.
Her brother's fruitless search reveals how consumed Fanny has become with her emotional entanglement with Ah Toy.
Gong Wah finds Ah Toy's body in the barn the next morning, with a suicide note stating he cannot bear to be apart from Fanny and wants to be buried on the farm to be with her forever.
His wish is granted, and Fanny visits his grave often after marrying Captain Ward.
"Poor Ah Toy" displays the taboo on interclass and interracial intimacy.
Like Charles Nordhoff, Mary Mote warns female employers against mistaking their kindness for affection and allowing servants into the family's private realm.
The story gives agency to the least socially powerful, Fanny and Ah Toy, while the most powerful, Robert Siddons and Captain Louis Ward, have little agency.
There is nothing equal in the rivalry between Ward and Ah Toy for Fanny, but Ah Toy's actions deeply affect Fanny on a psychological level.
Fanny and Ah Toy are economic orphans of the post-Civil War economy; Fanny is a gentlewoman without prospects, and Ah Toy is a Chinese immigrant displaced from other work.
Both end up in domestic labor, with Ah Toy competing directly with immigrant Irish women.
Fanny's first action is to replace the Irish housekeeper, who felt Miss Siddons was made to be served by “them nasty Chinamen”.
Ah Toy relieves Fanny of domestic work allowing “True Womanhood” from the physical demands of the secular cult of cleanliness, while putting men in domestic roles threatened the gendered division of labor.
Ah Toy's death breaks the reason for his future return to China and he declares his permanent residence in the United States, thus transforming him from sojourner to permanent alien.