The Bonesetter’s Daughter

Bones constitute on important part in The Bonesetter’s Daughter.

What is the significance of the book’s title?

“The Bonesetter’s Daughter” in my opinion holds a deeper meaning as a

title. Amy Tan could have called the book “Precious Auntie” or “Liu

Xing Gu” if you directly translate the bonesetter’s daughter. Why did

Amy Tan choose this title? These three words must contain some deeper

meaning and therefore we should not judge the title at face value. The

first thing that we should look at is what these three words are

signifying. They are putting emphasis on the bonesetter by saying that

this book is about His daughter. Tan could have paraphrased the title

into “The Daughter of the Bonesetter” This means that there must be

some importance laid on this bonesetter. The term “daughter of the

famous bonesetter” is only used a few times within the contents. Amy

Tan wanted to accentuate two bits of information. One of those words

is daughter. Since most of the book is mostly feminine based, it

should, naturally, have a more feminine title. Before reading the book

we are told that this story is about a girl or a woman and perhaps her

father. However, we are not told about the bonesetter’s daughter until

page 155. This is telling us something. We thought that the main

character in this book had to be the bonesetter’s daughter. We now

find out that this is perhaps not so and that it will be difficult to

pin point the main character in this book. The main difficulty is

within the fact that this book has no immediate plot. It is more of a

mixture between psychological drama and the autobiography of a woman.

Nobody can summarize the book effectively within one sentence. The

story is far too intricate. This is exact...

... middle of paper ...

...ere used as a way to

speak to the gods and ask them questions whose answers could be read

from the cracks which appeared on the rocks. Bones are a very

important part of the Chinese culture and are used for a holy purpose.

Naturally, this again links to the curse that this family is haunted

by. If bones really hold that much power over people by being able to

communicate with the gods, then if they are misused and disturbed like

the way the Gu family did, they can therefore be able to curse them.

The curse has grown in importance for LuLing ever since she has

realized why it has followed them and what kind of disasters it may

lead to. Precious Auntie is the key link between the bonesetter and

LuLing and Ruth. She is also the one who suffered most from this

curse. This is why she is such an important character. This is why she

forms the title of this book.