The main theme throughout The Bonesetter's Daughter is the importance of communication in relationships, and how without communication, relationships suffer. Tan shows us this in several different ways, through: Mothers, daughters and spouses. She shows us how concealing our past, feelings and intentions lead to misinterpretations of actions and the weakening of relationships. Tan focuses mainly on mother daughter relationships, and how damaging miscommunication is to both mother and daughter and their relationship.
There are several mothers and daughters, who suffer though their uncommunicative relationships, throughout The Bonesetter's Daughter: Ruth and her mother LuLing's; Ruth and Art's kids; LuLing and Mother; and finally LuLing and Precious Auntie.
The most important and main relationship would have to be between Ruth and her mother, LuLing. LuLing always kept very strict rule over Ruth, and was very critical of everything she did. This wasn't because LuLing didn't trust Ruth or wasn't proud of her, LuLing was just raised where these behaviors meant that the person giving the rules and criticism cared and wanted only the best for the other. Ruth didn't understand this because unlike her mother, none ever explained that to her. Ruth always felt LuLing didn't trust her and didn't approve of anything she did. The fact that Ruth never told her mother that she felt this way mad it so her mother didn't know that her way of showing love was not getting the point across. LuLing also kept secrets about her past, about her mothers identity, how she changed her age, and what she went through in China. Those secrets took away the opportunity for Ruth to relate to her mother or understand her more. It also led Ruth to believe her mother was loosing her mind at an alarming rate, after being diagnosed with brain Dementia, when really LuLing was for the most part only forgetting to keep up with her lies.
LuLing and her relationship with her real mother, Precious Auntie, was also filled with communication faux pas. The biggest issue that precious Auntie kept from LuLing had to be that she was actually her mother, not just a nurse. Not telling LuLing this skewed LuLing's priorities. LuLing didn't know who she was to look up to or who she was suppose to try to impress and live up to that persons expectations of her. If LuLing had known that her Precious Auntie was truly her mother, she would have found that she had all the love and encouragement she needed, instead of trying to get it from Mother.
The theme of, mother daughter relationships can be hard but are always worth it in the end, is portrayed by Amy Tan in this novel. This theme is universal, still relevant today, and will be relevant for forever. Relationships are really important, especially with your mom. “ A mother is best. A mother knows what is inside you”
The author uses different points of view to create tension in the story. The mom acts in a way that neglects the daughters interests. This makes them both feel less connected and leaves the daughter feeling hopeless. In paragraph 9, “‘It’s strange actually. I wasn’t expecting it, but then at the last minute the funding came through.’ She folded her arms across her waist. ‘I’m going to Costa Rica to finish my research.” This made the narrator/daughter angry and flustered with her mom’s actions. She has trouble remaining connected with her parent because they both want different things which leaves on character feeling betrayed. “Opportunity? For me? Or for you?” (34). Both of their actions and responses create tension in this story. Their communication lacks and this results in pressure on both
No matter what actions or words a mother chooses, to a child his or her mother is on the highest pedestal. A mother is very important to a child because of the nourishing and love the child receives from his or her mother but not every child experiences the mother’s love or even having a mother. Bragg’s mother was something out of the ordinary because of all that she did for her children growing up, but no one is perfect in this world. Bragg’s mother’s flaw was always taking back her drunken husband and thinking that he could have changed since the last time he...
Ruth led a life broken in two. Her later life consists of the large family she creates with the two men she marries, and her awkwardness of living between two racial cultures. She kept her earlier life a secret from her children, for she did not wish to revisit her past by explaining her precedent years. Once he uncovered Ruth's earlier life, James could define his identity by the truth of Ruth's pain, through the relations she left behind and then by the experiences James endured within the family she created. As her son, James could not truly understand himself until he uncovered the truth within the halves of his mother's life, thus completing the mold of his own identity.
In Ruth’s narrative she tells of how her family emigrated from Poland when she was a young girl, her abusive father disguised as righteous a Rabbi, her interracial relationships, teen pregnancy, and her eventual marriage to Andrew Dennis McBride, a black man from North Carolina, until he passed away and she remarried Hunter Jordan. What made Ruth so extraordinary was her resilience, strength of character and her freethinking mind. Despite having been raised in an ultraorthodox Jewish family, with a father who molested her, committed adultery, abused her mother, and later disowned her, Ruth was able to develop her own value system. Her ethics not only condemned this behavior, but also went against the societal norm of the 1960’s: racism. After becoming pregnant with her black boyfriend, as a teenager, Ruth confided in her aunt who helped her get an abortion. Following this incident, Ruth realized that she no longer desired to live at home with her family. Spending time away from home enabled Ruth to see how radically different her values and priorities were from those of her
At present Ruth is the most reliable and emotionally stable one in the family and her family depends on her to keep them going. Throughout the play, as Walter and Lena go through their emotional battles, she’s the only one who’s opinions and emotions don’t change. Ruth brings a calm to the household, yet seems to the one always interfering in conversations and telling these two characters fighting and find a solution peacefully. Ruth is the mediator in the family. She doesn’t want to deal with Walter, even though she doesn’t mind speaking up when things are said she doesn’t like. Ruth doesn’t go out of her way to get what she wants. She’s the type of person who makes the best of whatever life hands her, peace and this is when we see her speak up for herself if that's what it takes. “Mama, something is happening between Walter and me. I don’t know what it is- but he needs something-something I can’t give him anymore. He needs this chance, Lena.” (111) This shows her attempt to make others happy, even in hindsight of her own morals and
A second major similarity between the two women is their personality of being non-confrontational. Both women, in a sense, let others “walk over them”. Ruth is dominated by her husband, Walter, for the most part and Stella by her husband, Stanley, and sister Blanche. When situations are tense, both characters try to avoid the confrontational subject or shy away when it is brought up. For example, when Walter adamantly keeps trying to force Ruth into supporting his business ideals at breakfast-which she doesn’t agree with-she tries to change the subject by repeatedly telling Walter to eat his eggs (Hansberry 1.
She connects stories of different multicultural relationships between a man and a woman, and then continues on to compare the women and men from each story to each other. Social class is also mentioned in the story of Ruth and Boaz. Boaz was very wealthy and Ruth was found in his fields taking food for Naomi and herself. Traditionally, an individual that is born into a family of wealthiness is able to take care of their loved one- which is what Boaz does for Ruth after
Analyzing “How to Read Literature like a Professor” is easy, but on the other hand, to analyze “The Bonesetter’s Daughter” is a consuming task. The difficulty doesn’t lie in the grammar or the structure, but in employing the skills employed by Foster’s book. An unskilled reader would assume that Amy Tan’s novel: The Bonesetter’s Daughter, is just another novel written for entertainment purposes. To an untrained reader, there seems to be no author’s intent to use literary devices that would contextualize the deeper meaning that is usually found in fiction, mythology, and folklore. Instead the novel would seem nothing more than entertainment, but for a reader that isn’t just reading but also searching through the text for the literary devices
3. Ruth - Mama is unable to accept the fact that Ruth might find it necessary to have an abortion.
Ruth has an intriguing personality. She is very loving towards her family. She will do all in her power to improve the lifestyle of her family. When it appears that the deal for the house in Clybourne Park will fall through, she promises to dedicate all of her time to make the investment work. “Lena-I’ll work… I’ll work 20 hours a day in all the kitchens in Chicago…I’ll strap my baby on my back if I have to and scrub all the floors and wash all the sheets in America if I have to-but we have to MOVE!” she pleads to her mother-in-law (Hansberry140). Her plan is unrealistic and idealistic, but the well being of her family is more important to her than anything. Ruth is also witty and sarcastic at times. She cracks jokes to lighten the mood of her family when they’re worried. “Well that’s the way the cracker crumbles. Joke. (121)” When Beneatha and Mama are stressing over the neighborhood they are moving into, Ruth makes a witty joke to improve the mood. Ruth supervises the daily routine and well being of her family. She makes sure that everyone does what they are supposed to and stays on track. ...
On March 13, 1933, Joan Ruth Bader was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Celia Amster and Nathan Bader (Salokar & Volcansek, 1996). Ruth had an older sister, Marilyn, but she passed away at the age of six from meningitis; Ruth was one year old at the time. Cecilia, Ruth’s mother, stayed home and took care of Ruth while she grew up. Cecilia made sure that Ruth worked diligently in school and taught her the value of hard work. Cecilia was diagnosed with cancer while Ruth was in high school and the day before her daughter’s graduation she passed away (Salokar & Volcansek, 1996). One of the greatest influences on Ruth’s life was her mother and the values she instilled in her from a young age. Two of the greatest lessons that Ruth learned from her mother was to be independent and to be a lady, and by that she meant not to respond in anger but to remain calm in si...
In “ Two kinds” Amy Tan uses characterization, point of view, imagery and mother’s diction to convey her theme of mother daughter relationships. i learned that i cant always please my parents in everything i do. but i also know that i owe them so much for what they have sacrificed to bring me here so i always listen to there advise and try my best to be a obedient son even though i can be rebellious at times just like
Jamaica Kincaid has taken common advice that daughters are constantly hearing from their mothers and tied them into a series of commands that a mother uses to prevent her daughter from turning into "the slut that she is so bent on becoming" (380). But they are more than commands; the phrases are a mother's way of ensuring that her daughter has the tools that she needs to survive as an adult. The fact that the mother takes the time to train the daughter in the proper ways for a lady to act in their time is indicative of their family love. The fact that there are so many rules and moral principles that are being passed to the daughter indicates that mother and daughter spend a lot of time together.
Ruth is Walter's wife. Her dream is to have a happy family but she also wants to be wealthy.