On The Dragon Bones As A Memory Carrier In The Bonesetter’s Daughter

In the present American literary arena, Amy Tan is undoubtedly a representative writer.Until now, she has totally published five novels. Among them, The Bonesetter’s Daughtergains great popularity and enjoys a high compliments from critics since it has been published,and creates a rare miracle in the field of literary press and novels in America since the1990s.Tan’s novel has been translated into many languages and has been published in the world.The Bonesetter’s Daughter tells the story of Ruth, Ruth’s mother and grandmother. Itseems that the memories of three generations women are fragmented, but the memory carrierdragon bone is the storyline. Memory, as an interdisciplinary research theory, refers to notonly the individual’s expression of past activities, feelings and experiences, but also the sumof certain group or society’s whole knowledge. This thesis attempts to explain how femaleindividual memories inter-mix with the national collective memory through the memorycarrier dragon bones, and helps them to reconstruct their identity in the process of recallingthe history and keeping the tradition.This thesis includes three chapters. The first chapter analyzes the significance of thedragon bones for the first generation woman Precious Auntie, namely, the dragon bones asthe carrier of kin memory and cultural memory, carries the bonesetter’s family history andethnic cultural tradition. The dragon bones are regarded as the family heirloom which is boththe guiding drug for patients and the carrier of family tradition. Precious Auntie’s individualmemory about the dragon bones exists in the preservation of family tradition, as well as theChinese thinking determinism. The stolen bones bring the curse for the destiny of PreciousAuntie and her descendants. From the perspective of kin memory and national culture whichis carried by the dragon bones, the individual self-awareness is formed in the collectivememory which embodies the features of collective memory.The second chapter elaborates the significance of dragon bones for Ruling, namely, therecord of individual tragedy and national humiliation. Individual memory is not totallyisolated and self closed, and often formed by means of other member’s recall and in theprocess of rethinking the past. Ruling suffers from the Alzheimer but with the help ofPrecious Auntie’s memoirs, photos and the dragon bones, she can recall the past. This carrier records her individual memory and bonds her memory fragments in the social collectivememory framework, helping her recall her unfortunate life. Meanwhile, the skullcap ofPeking man is related to the anti-Japanese war, and the recalling of this historicalevent integrates the individual tragedy into national humiliation, providing social backgroundand historical context for Ruling’s individual memory.The third chapter proclaims the significance of dragon bones for the third generationwoman, namely, the link of past and present, the bridge for history and reality. The dragonbone has commemoration meaning for her, helping the individual memory last in the spaceand time, and linking the past with future. On the basis of realizing the past, she re-knows thepresent self and matrilineal elder, thereby, establishes her self-identity in the kin memory, asthe descendant of Chinese American who grows up in America. Ruth rethinks the motherculture and immigrant culture by the lead of the dragon bone, and consciously takes thehistorical responsibility of communicating with two cultures.The conclusion part points out that the writer Amy Tan intends to represent the women’sindividual memories in order to reconnect family memory and national memory bydescribing the experience of three generation of women, and tries to clear up the source andprovide support for the Chinese American descendants in re-knowing themselves, keepingfamily tradition, and inheriting national culture.