An Analysis Of The Family Relationships In The Bonesetters Daughter From The Perspective Of Post-colonialism

Amy Tan is an important writer in the Chinese American literature. She is famousfor her long novels, and up to now she has published five novels. The main theme of hernovels is based on the background of family. She takes advantage of her special writingtechniques to describe the vivid and dramatic stories happened in the lives of Chineseimmigration mother and American-born daughter. At the same time, she is good atdescribing all kinds of contradictions occurring between husband and wife in China andAmerica. Her novels embody the unique and strong family ethics, and she gives herown recognition and understanding of east and west cultures, especially for the familycultures.The Bonesetter’s Daughter, her fourth long novel, describes the development ofconflicts among Chinese and American family members. This thesis focuses on theconflicts between Chinese American females and their Chinese and American familiesto analyze the causes of family conflicts happening in the different cultural backgroundsand discuss the methods of reconciling the family relationships to create a harmoniousfamily from the perspective of post-colonialism.The thesis is divided into five parts, including Introduction, Chapter One, ChapterTwo, Chapter Three and Conclusion.Introduction gives a brief introduction to Amy Tan and the main contents of hernovel The Bonesetter’s Daughter, outlines the literature review of this novel, and explains the significance and theoretical basis of the thesis.Chapter One analyzes the conflicts in the family relationships based on “Other” inPost-Colonialism theory. The conflicts lie in two aspects: losing identity and lack ofcommunication.Chapter Two tries to find out the causes of the conflicts occurring in the familyrelationships. There are two causes: one of them is the different family values ofChinese and American, and the other is the low female status in family resulting fromthe patriarchal society and powerful western culture.Chapter Three discusses how to relieve the tense relationships among familymembers to reconstruct self-identity. They break through the barriers of communicationthat leads to mutual understanding.Conclusion summarizes what the thesis has studied. Facing the trend ofglobalization, we found that inter-racial family has become a common socialphenomenon. Therefore, the family members need to recognize themselves further, atthe same time, they need to affirm their own cultures and respect others’ cultures,strengthen communication among them, and in this way a harmonious family can becreated.