Precious Auntie Dialectical Journal

Passage 1:
“I didn’t think she was ugly, not the way others in our family did. “Ai-ya, seeing her, even a demon would leap out of his skin,” I once heard Mother remark. When I was small, I liked to trace my fingers around Precious Auntie’s mouth. It was a puzzle. Half was bumpy, half was smooth and melted closed. The inside of her right cheek was stiff as leather, the left was moist and soft. Where the gums had burned, the teeth had fallen out. And her tongue was like a parched root…” (Tan 3).

Journal Entry 1:
(Evaluate) Tan begins LuLing’s story by elaborating on LuLing’s relationship with Precious Auntie. Tan uses such affectionate diction to describe the feelings LuLing has for her; LuLing is the only person whom appreciates Precious Auntie, even though she does not think she is a blood relative of Precious Auntie. Tan uses an unkind simile directed towards Precious Auntie’s looks, to

assert her displeasure of Precious Auntie’s job as LuLing’s caretaker. But as a child, LuLing was enamored by Precious Auntie’s scars because of the important story that they told. Although LuLing and Precious Auntie could not hold a direct conversation, they were able to speak to each other through their actions, which spoke louder than the truth that was to be told. LuLing learned the importance of storytelling from her Precious Auntie, whom wrote journals to convey her feelings, and also learned how arduous life can be from her. LuLing develops these elements of storytelling and difficulty of life to convey the relationship between mother and daughter in The Bonesetter’s Daughter. Tan uses the simile comparing the right cheek to the left to demonstrate the destruction that has pervaded into her life throughout her story and to point out that all of these flaws are a significant part of her story. Tan employs similes and honorable diction to show that although people are imperfect, we must learn to forget their physical flaws and instead love the person in their entirety.

Passage 2:
“In an odd way, she now thought, her mother was the one who had taught her to become a book doctor. Ruth had to make life better by revising it” (Tan 47). Ruth spends her entire life teaching her mom English and American life, but LuLing has taught her how to tell stories and about her important history, which always annoyed her because Ruth was like any other American.

Journal Entry 2:
(Reflect) The Bonesetter’s Daughter focuses on the relationship between mothers and daughters, which is a universally understood topic. Ruth learns from her mother that her heritage is important, but fails to hear most of it. Ruth is not concerned about her mother’s story, because she does not have the time to translate her mother’s writings into English. Ruth neglects to understand that her mother’s story is the only object of importance to her, because her daughter is too busy to spend time with her. Instead, Ruth makes a career out of writing other peoples’ stories, while ignoring her own story. Tan implores that we need to focus on telling stories of our greatness, instead of other peoples’ achievements. Ruth is unaware that her mother has a great story to be told, full of hardships, love and culture, like most mothers around the world. Society influences the way in which we look at our stories, Ruth ignores her mother’s story because of her American upbringing. Children ignore their parents, because they believe that their parents are too traditional, and they are the new liberal voices of the world. She wanted to live the American Dream, not her mother’s traditional Chinese way. These cultural ties create tension between the characters, which pulls Ruth away from her mother, because of lack of understanding each other’s motives. Tan aims for readers to have a greater appreciation for our mothers, because they influence us into living better lives than they already have, complete with their own story.

Passage 3:
“Fia, Dory, why aren’t you eating?” Ruth said
“I’m full,” Dory Answered. “We stopped at Burger King in the Presidio and ate a bunch of fries before we came home.”
“You shouldn’t let them eat those things!” LuLing scolded, continuing in Mandarin. “Tell them you don’t allow this anymore.”
“Girls, I wish you wouldn’t ruin your appetites with junk food.” (Tan 69)

Journal Entry 3:
(Connection to Foster) Foster discusses the significance of sharing meals together (he refers to this as communion), which is an act of “sharing and peace” (Foster 8).

Foster conveys that it is a very intimate act, and that you only invite people that enjoy your company. Fia and Dory are very rude at dinner, getting into a fight with LuLing later in the meal. They ate at Burger King, because they did not want to be in the company of LuLing at the table, which offends Ruth after she cooked a nice dinner. Fia and Dory deny their acceptance and love for Ruth, by deliberately eating elsewhere. Although Fia and Dory are not her children, she takes care of them and wishes that they would respect her, but they are teenagers that do not want to have another mother figure in their lives. Ruth does not feel comfortable scolding the girls, but she must after LuLing tells her to scold them. This dinner scene conveys a lack of familial bond, since Ruth feels like an outsider in Art’s family. The dinner lacks communion and shows a lack of connectivity between Ruth, LuLing, Art and the

girls.

Passage 4:
“Death was not necessarily a portal to the blank bliss of absolute nothingness. It was a deep dive into the unknown. And that contained all sorts of bad possibilities. It was the unknown that made her decide that no matter how terrible and unsolvable her life seemed, she would never willingly kill herself” (Tan 115).

Journal Entry 4:
(Predict) Ruth’s philosophy on death is very telling, she is afraid of dying and experiencing something negative. Ruth will not be able to make difficult decisions or take leaps of faith without wondering what the consequences are. She will not be able to marry Art or own part of their home, although she already pays for all of the maintenance. Ruth lets herself be manipulated into doing everything, and getting nothing in return. She denies herself respect, because she does what everyone else tells her to do. Ultimately, she is afraid of taking chances, because she never wants to fail. She could never kill herself, because that would take too much courage and strength. Although she has experienced many negative things, she could not commit suicide because she is much too foolish. She knows what she feels, but would be unable to act upon her thoughts, because she knows that death might be worse than living. Ruth will never be able to grow, unless she learns to push the boundaries and do what she actually wants. Tan allows her character to think these scary thoughts, but would never act upon them, because of what happened to Precious Auntie during her suicide and suicide attempt.

Passage 5:
“The old biddies used to warn him that it was dangerous that I was so boldly happy, instead of shy and cowering around strangers. And why didn’t he bind my feet, they asked. My father was used to seeing pain of the worst kinds. But with me, he was helpless. He couldn’t bear to see me cry” (Tan 171).

Journal Entry 5:
(Question) After reading this novel, I wonder why Chinese tradition binds women to a life of unhappiness, pain, and subservience. If women were not required to behave in this manner, their country would be even more powerful, because they would have double the resources. These traditional societies would yield so much more success and money, which has always been incredibly important to China. Instead of investing in manufacturing cheap products, China should invest in their future, because women and China have so much to gain through this investment. In the United States, women are seen as an asset, because they have the leadership skills and resiliency to lead a company. Precious Auntie’s father wants her daughter to have a future at his bonesetting practice, but she wishes to marry Baby Uncle, but her hope of a greater life as a working woman are nullified after Chang’s attack. After her father’s death, Precious Auntie has extremely limited options, and attempts to kill herself because of these painful events. Why should Precious Auntie no longer have the capabilities to run her father’s business after his demise? She is more than capable to continue this business, but she would no longer have credibility as a bonesetter. This part of the Chinese tradition makes me feel terribly for Precious Auntie, and for the rest of the women in China, because they have so much to gain, but do not have the opportunity.

Passage 6:
“I searched for her until dusk. By then, my eyes were swollen with dust and tears. I never found her. And as I climbed back up, I was a girl who had lost part of herself in the End of the World” (Tan 223).

Journal Entry 6:
(Connect) I can connect to this passage, because I was bullied in a private school for six years, and when I got out, I was never the same person I had previously been. I had also lost part of myself, mainly my happiness. After being tormented by the other students from ages seven to thirteen, I had an entirely different demeanor. I had been very happy and sociable as a child, and after, all I wanted to do was sit in my bed, curled up with a book for hours on end. LuLing had not been able to recover from the loss of her Precious Auntie, even at her old age. That event left a permanent mark on her, just like experiencing bulling had on me. I do not think the effects will last as long as they did for LuLing, but I will always remember what it was like to be verbally harassed by other students, never feeling accepted as a young child. I empathize with LuLing, because she will never be able to be the same, and she felt guilty for upsetting her Precious Auntie to the point of suicide. I do not feel guilty, but I feel like most of my childhood was taken away because of being bullied.

Passage 7:
‘“He kissed my eyes, one at a time. “This is beauty, and this is beauty, and you are beauty, and love is beauty and we are beauty. We are divine, unchanged by time.” He said this until I promised I believed him, until I agreed it was enough”’ (Tan 275).

Journal Entry:
(Reflect) Beauty is a universally debated topic, and it seems as though beauty is left up to perception. Tan is stating that LuLing does not believe that she is beautiful and that she does not see their relationship as beautiful or divine; she cannot comprehend these facts until he repeats it multiple times. Kai Jing is trying to persuade her that their bond will last forever and that what they have is something that their relationship and love for each other will never cease. This passage can relate to how most women feel at some point in their relationships: insecure. Insecurities pull people apart in most cases, because they never go away, even if the partner tries to persuade them that they are deserving of their love. This all has to do with their perceptions of themselves, because nobody can change the way somebody thinks and feels about themselves. Tan implores that if you do not believe somebody else’s words, you will not believe in yourself or your words and ideas. Perceptions need to change throughout the entire world, because they cripple people into believing that they are not worthy enough, when they most certainly are.
Passage 8:
“Parts of her mother’s story saddened her. Why did she feel she could never tell Ruth that Precious Auntie was her mother? Did she fear that her own daughter would be ashamed that LuLing was illegitimate? Ruth would have assured her that there was no shame, that it was practically fashionable these days to be born a love child.” (Tan 322).

Journal Entry 8:
(Clarify) I always thought that Ruth would accept that her mother was a love child, but I was not sure if she would accept whatever her mother’s story was, because Ruth had always misunderstood her mother and her intentions. I think that it would have been better if Ruth had had the story translated before this point, because it would have caused her to have a deeper love for her mother and all that she endured. Ruth is a modern woman, she would always accept that her mother was born in a non-traditional manner, but I thought that she was scared at what she would find in the story. Like LuLing, Ruth is afraid of things ending badly, but you cannot always be scared of the results, because they can also be positive. I was very glad when Ruth finally had the papers translated, because the outcome of this helped her relationship with her mother. But, I have thought about LuLing telling Ruth her story when she was a child or a young adult, and I feel like that would have been the best option for them to have a strong, loving relationship. I recognize that that would not have happened, because LuLing could not have said that to Ruth, and that is what made this novel great. Tan slowly unraveled the lives of Precious Auntie, LuLing, and Ruth to convey the relationships that they have fostered through love and hardship.