Narration And Recovery:on The Trauma Narrative In Bone

Bone tells a story about the Leong family, living in Chinatown, San Francisco: Mah, Leon and their three daughters (Leila, Ona and Nina). The novel begins with the second daughter-Ona’s death. Tracing back of this traumatic event, Bone brings a bigger picture about traumas to its readers. Leon’s miserable life on the Angel Island and Confession Program; Mah’s bitter life about her abandonment by her ex-husband and her betrayal to Leon; Nina’s estrangement with the family members and her leaving for New York; Ona’s suicide due to her failed relationship with Osvaldo and the conflicts with her parents. Under the impact of Ona’s death and the historical trauma, the whole family is crumbling. Exhausted, the narrator Leila tries her best to take care of the family and pursue her own happiness. Bone is book full of traumas, and it is a reflection of the whole Chinese Americans’ survival situation:their bitterness and confusion. It is a thought-provoking novel with high-standard literary value and social worth.According to Herman’s summary, for people who survived from various traumas, their recovery process should go through three stages and each stage focuses on different aspects. In the first stage, ailments of the traumatic patients should be diagnosed, and the sense of safety should also be established. Usually, the method of memorizing one’s past or dreams is used. In the second stage, the privies need to understand the traumatic events, in order to deconstruct them or mourn for their loss. After the second stage of mourning the traumatic loss, the privies have accepted the fact and been aware of their situation. Therefore, the third stage comes naturally as their need for a new life. The third stage emphasizes on the patients’ reconnection with the world and their reconstruction of life. Fae Myenne Ng’s Bone is a traumatic novel. It is written not only for representing the traumatic experience of Chinese Americans, like the Loengs, but also for seeking a solution. My thesis aims to analyze Fae Myenne Ng’s Bone and following Herman’s three stages of recovery from trauma, it would be divided into three parts. In other words, my thesis is led by three questions about "what the trauma is,""how to narrate it" and "how to recover from it". Therefore this thesis studies the narrative themes of Bone in Chapter2, the narrative techniques of Bone in Chapter3and the recovery strategies of Bone in Chapter4. Borrowing the title of Freud’s paper "Remembering, repeating and working-through", the titles of the three major chapters in my thesis are "Remembering Trauma and Its Narrative Themes","Repeating Trauma and Its Narrative Features" and "Working Through Trauma and Its Strategies". To be specific, in Chapter2my thesis would focus on the traumas that exist in Bone:family relation trauma and racial trauma. In Chapter3, it studies the narrative techniques in Bone:nonlinear narrative and dual narrative. In Chapter4, my thesis discussed recovery strategies in Bone:poetic transcendence and cultural hybridity.