The Bonesetter's Daughter Literary Analysis

In the novel The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan, there are two general contrasting settings: China and America. Not only to these two places differ geographically, but they also differ in customs and heritage. Both settings also contain different meanings for those who call it home. The contrast of these two settings help the book show that its theme of "You must know your past in order to know where you're going" is universal. Both places are seeped in tradition and culture. Tan shows China as an old ladn that is experiencing changes, but is unwilling to adapt. The difficulty of retrieving the Peking Man, the family doggedly selling ink despite its poor quality and sales, and the failure of the Japanese invasion all point to the way that
Yet, when it became time for her to know the truth of her past, she refused to acknowledge it, denying the history from whence she came. This denial turned her life and those around her in a completely different direction. Her family believes that they are "cursed", and the family business is destroyed. The same course of events take place in a new, different setting: America. Ruth makes no effort to learn of her mother's or grandmother's history. Indeed, by disregarding the book that her mother so carefully put together, she is ignoring her history. If the first sentence "These are the thinks I know are true" does not catch Ruth's attention, then what is her mother to do? These carefully developed settings help the book's theme achieve its universality. If a theme can be true in such an exotic and distant place as China, and is also rings true in our daily lives, then the reader will most certainly see it as universal. The oft said "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" comes into play here, as Ruth commits the same mistakes that her mother did. She commits the same mistakes despite having been raised in a completely different manner and area than her mother. This does nothing but reinforce the power of Tan's