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.
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
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.
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
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...
3. Ruth - Mama is unable to accept the fact that Ruth might find it necessary to have an abortion.
Over the summer, after taking a break from reading a novel just for entertainment, I sat down to read How to Read Literature like a Professor and it was the exact novel to refresh and supplement my dusty analysis skills. After reading and applying Foster’s novel, How to Read Literature like a Professor, towards The Bonesetter’s Daughter I found a previously elusive and individualized insight towards literature. Although, The Bonesetter’s Daughter is full of cryptic messages and a theme that is universal, I was able to implement an individual perspective on comprehending the novel’s universal literary devices, and coming upon the unique inference that Precious Auntie is the main protagonist of the novel.
...character with qualities of her own as well. During most of the time the play was written and when it was produced, Hansberry herself was in her thirties, as Ruth was. Ruth was the middle ground of the three women, sharing personality traits with both Mama and Beneatha. Hansberry most likely wrote Ruth and Beneatha with traits from her past, in Beneatha, and her present, in Ruth. As far as Mama’s character development source, I say that Hansberry was basing her off her own mother, or even grandmother. The play written was based off an event that actually happened within her life, as noted by the author of “Literature for Composition” on page 1127, and Hansberry drew from that experience to help her develop the story. This is one reason why so many people praised it portraying a true African-American family; she wrote the characters after herself and family members.
With this in mind, the mother, or the narrator of the story describes herself as a big-boned, manly woman with hands so rough from years of physical labor. She is a tough parent, taking the role of both mother and father for her daughters and providing for them. Taking into account that they are a poor family and most of them are uneducated. By her mother’s observation and words she describes Maggie as shy. “Maggie walks chin ...
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
Alice Walker paints the picture of a family that has a young daughter, an older daughter, and a mother. These women are all from the African-American culture. Dee, being the oldest daughter. Maggie, being the younger of the two. And Mama.
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”
Ruth is Walter's wife. Her dream is to have a happy family but she also wants to be wealthy.
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 situations (Reynolds, 2009).... ... middle of paper ... ...
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.