A Study Of The Bonesetter’s Daughter From The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

Amy Tan is an influential Chinese American female writer,most famous for her first novel The Joy Luck Club published in 1989.Her fourth novel The Bonesetter’s Daughter has also attracted extensive attention in literature circles.As Amy Tan’s most affecting autobiographical novel,this novel is worth researching as it successfully reflects the mother-daughter relationship of Chinese immigrants in the U.S.To date Chinese and American scholars have studied The Bonesetter’s Daughter from different perspectives,including memory,theme,identity,culture,the mother-daughter relationship,postcolonial feminism,narrative,etc.But there have been very few studies approaching the novel from the perspective of ethical literary criticism.In recent years,explorations in ethical issues on this novel have increased,but most of them focus on the study of ethics and ethical identity,but the discussion of topics has certain limitations.Under the guidance of ethical literary criticism,this thesis is intended to make a qualitative,descriptive,and explanatory analysis based on the source text with respect to:(1)three different ethical environments that the three heroines lived in,(2)different ethical dilemmas that they confronted,and(3)the ethical values reflected by their different experiences.This thesis consists of six parts.The first part mainly introduces the author and her works,and studies on The Bonesetter’s Daughter in China and the world at large.The second part explores ethical literary criticism,including its origination,development,definition and main terms of ethical literary criticism.The third part focuses on the different ethical environments of the three heroines in The Bonesetter’s Daughter,i.e.the traditional ethical environment in China for Precious Auntie,the complicated ethical environment in China for Luling,and the Western ethical environment in America for Ruth.The fourth part analyzes the ethical dilemmas faced by the three heroines.The fifth part explains the ethical value embodied in The Bonesetter’s Daughter,mainly from the following three aspects: family ethics,social ethics and environmental ethics.The sixth part of the thesis summarizes the research findings and points out the limitations of the research.This study attempts to study literature from the perspective of ethical literary criticism,experimenting on a new way of Chinese American literature study and providing reference to the application of Chinese ethical literary criticism to literature.At the same time,research on the ethical values embodied in The Bonesetter’s Daughter gives full play to the educational function of literary works by guiding people to realize ethical values,creates a harmonious ethical environment and atmosphere,and makes relatively reasonable ethical selections in face of ethical dilemmas.