Voicing By Silence:an Interpretation Of The Silence Theme In The Bonesetter’s Daughter

Amy Tan has become a household name since the publication of her first novel The Joy Luck Club in1989, after which she published The Kitchen God’s Wife in1991. The Hundred Secret Senses in1995, The Bonesetter s Daughter in2001, The Opposite of Fate in2003and Saving Fish from Drowning in2005. The Bonesetter s Daughter is regarded as Tan’s most personal novel due to the similarities between her real life experiences and the stories of the characters in the novel. Therefore, it has drawn great attention from readers and critics at home and abroad since its first appearance.In the critical circle, the theme of silence in literary works has attracted increasing attention. The Bonesetter s Daughter, while unfolding the story on the basis of mother-daughter relationship, is permeated with signs of silence. So this thesis intends to interpret its silence theme in light of Spivak’s subaltern theory and Foucaul’s study of power and discourse. The thesis consists of five parts. Part One briefly introduces Amy Tan, her literary works and The Bonesetter’s Daughter. Part Two summarizes the previous studies about Amy Tan and her works both at home and abroad and introduces briefly Spivak’s subaltern theory and Foucault’s study of power and discourse.Part Three begins with the illustration of silence of the three female characters in different circumstances, then by applying Foucault’s theory of power and discourse, it probes into the causes for the three women’s silence and analyzes how they become silent and docile bodies under the domestication of patriarchal norms, the "gaze" of sexual and racial discrimination, the reinforcement of the stereotypes of Chinese-American women and the conflict between Chinese cultural heritage and American education. Part Four, by combining Foucault’s views about power and discourse with Spivak’s subaltern theory, points out the necessity of silence-breaking on the analysis of the destructiveness of silence and the importance of voicing by silence on the basis of the resistant force and productivity of silence. Part Five is the conclusion, reemphasizing the significance of voicing by silence and the practical meaning of the novel.