A Lesson in Mother-Daughter Dynamics: The Bonesetter's Daughter

Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter is a touching, powerful novel. However, it does not have the impact of Tan’s most famous novel The Joy Luck Club. I am not sure Tan will ever be able to recreate the magic of her first novel, but she is an enjoyable read nevertheless.

The Bonesetter’s Daughter is the story of three generations of women – two mothers and two daughters. Like Tan’s previous works, this novel explores the complex nature of the mother-daughter relationship within the context of the contrast between the Chinese and American cultures. More specifically, it is the story of Ruth Young, her mother LuLing, and LuLing’s mother.

Ruth is typical Tan. She is American-born, doesn’t quite “get” her mother or her mother’s culture, and has relationship issues stemming from her inability to speak up for herself. She is in a long-term relationship with a divorced father of two, but feels insecure and taken for granted. In addition, her relationship with her mother is strained and has never truly evolved past the conflicts and tensions of adolescence.

LuLing, also typical Tan, never really became Americanized. Her spoken English is poor, and her cultural expectations are all Chinese. On the surface, it is LuLing’s Chinese mannerisms and beliefs that cause the rift between her and Ruth. However, I believe that the tensions between Ruth and her mother can be found in almost any mother-daughter pair in any culture.

As a child, Ruth resents her mother for being different from other mothers. She hates her mother’s accent, her mother’s dependence on her to translate for her, and her mother’s superstitions and fears. Most of all, she resents the ghost of her mother’s nursemaid Precious Auntie.

Like many Chinese children of her generation, LuLing was raised in a household with servants. One of the servants, Precious Auntie, was seriously scarred in a mysterious fire and has lost the ability to speak. Precious Auntie essentially raised LuLing. As a child, LuLing adored her, and they were very close. However, as LuLing grew older, she began to wonder why her mother treated her so coolly, and she began to struggle to earn her mother’s affection. In part, it was her desire for her mother’s approval that created the conflict between LuLing and Precious Auntie. However, in part, the conflict was caused by the normal stresses of adolescence that make a young girl struggle to break free.

Teenage girls do not break the bonds of childhood easily.

LuLing’s and Precious Auntie’s break was especially painful. Precious Auntie felt LuLing slipping away, and poured out her love for the girl in an autobiographical manuscript. In her anger, LuLing ignored the manuscript that would change her life. In addition to ignoring it, LuLing lied to Precious Auntie, claiming that she had read it. Therefore, when LuLing continued to treat Precious Auntie cruelly, Precious Auntie believed that she did so even knowing the secret that the manuscript disclosed – Precious Auntie was LuLing’s mother.

Motivated by her love for LuLing and by her overwhelming grief at LuLing’s rejection, Precious Auntie took her own life. It was only after her death that LuLing finally read the autobiography and learned Precious Auntie’s secret.

LuLing spent the next forty years convinced that Precious Auntie’s ghost haunted her and that her life was cursed. In her shame, she never told Ruth her mother’s story. Ruth grew up in the shadow of the “ghost” and both feared and resented it.

As an adult, Ruth’s relationship with LuLing is tense. Ruth does not understand her mother, and they cannot find common ground. LuLing has made an attempt to communicate with her daughter in the form of her own autobiographical manuscript. However, like her mother before her, Ruth does not read the manuscript when it is given to her. The situation comes to a head when Ruth learns that LuLing is suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Faced with her mother’s mortality, Ruth finally reads her mother’s manuscript, and it changes her life.

While reading The Bonesetter’s Daughter, I could not help but compare it to Tan’s other works. Tan has been working through mother-daughter issues in each of her novels, as well as dealing with her Chinese heritage. My initial reaction was mixed. The story was a bit slow getting started, and it seemed that Tan was starting to fall into a formula. However, even as I studied the formula in my mind, the story began to capture me. Yes, there are a lot of the same elements of the Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God’s Wife in this novel. However, LuLing’s story is unique and captivating. I am glad that I stuck with this book and gave it a chance.

I am currently the mother of a young teenage daughter, and I went through my own adolescent struggles with my mother. Perhaps that is why I can identify so strongly with this novel. I only hope that my daughter discovers me sooner than Ruth found her mother.