The Bonesetter's Daughter Character Analysis

Set almost 20 years ago, in the middle of 1998 San Francisco, The Bonesetter's Daughter, authored by Amy Tan, follows the tragic, but lovely story of three generations of women in the Liu family. The author paints the picture of a turn-of-the-century Chinese woman, Precious Auntie, her daughter Liu LuLing who lived in the middle of World War II, and further, LuLing's daughter, Ruth, who was raised in a bustling 1970's San Francisco. Throughout the book, the characters share many of the same thoughts and qualities as each other, as well as show stark contrasts. Upon inspecting Precious Auntie and LuLing as a mother-daughter pair, as well as LuLing and Ruth as a mother-daughter pair, the three are found to be dependent upon each other,

That aspect is that of the inter-dependency they had of one another, both physically and emotionally. Physically speaking, Precious Auntie needed LuLing as her voice among the Liu household. Precious Auntie, in the midst of her grief over the loss of her father and fiance attempted suicide by swallowing flames. This attempt failed ultimately, but scarred Precious Auntie's face, tongue and vocal cords so much so that she lost the ability to speak. LuLing grew up with Precious Auntie teaching her, therefore she learned how Precious Auntie talked to LuLing with her hands. LuLing then is placed in the position to speak what Precious Auntie wants to be spoken to the rest of the family. LuLing is the only living relative of Precious Auntie's, so emotionally speaking, Precious Auntie is very much tied to LuLing. She cared for her all throughout her childhood, until LuLing rebelled and went to Peking without her. Ruth and LuLing had very similar experiences, except in a new country and era. Ruth and LuLing had moved to America, living in 1970s San Francisco. LuLing worked as a calligraphy artist to make ends meet, but she was not very good at speaking English. Ruth was oftentimes LuLing's translator, whether they were in the grocery store or working on the calligraphy LuLing had to do. Emotionally, Ruth

That trait was secret keeping. Precious Auntie keeps the truth of her motherhood, how her fiance and father died, and why her face is completely burnt, from LuLing until right before her death. While she believed it was for the best and to protect LuLing, it ended up backfiring on her. LuLing, on the other hand, kept the secret of her husbands, their deaths, and even the stories of her youth from Ruth until Ruth was well into her adult