Book Review : The Bonesetter's Daughter By Amy Tan

In many families, the relationship between a mother and her daughter is the closest relationship in the family. The bond a mother and daughter have can be similar to bonds between anyone else in the family, a mother’s and daughter’s relationship is different than anyone else’s in many ways.

In “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan an American writer, shares her experience growing up with the family where no one speaks perfect English, and how it affected her education and her life. As the second generation of Chinese immigrants, Tan faces more problems than her peers do. Her mother, who speaks limited English needs Tan to be her “Translator” to communicate with the native English speakers. Tan states, “I was ashamed of her English” (2). Her mother is like a burden to her, at least in Tan’s early years. But the cultural conflict she becomes the theme of her writing and it is under this situation she wrote many novels and essays including “Mother Tongue.”

Mother Tongue is a story that describes how Amy Tan’s mother was treated unfairly because of her “broken English”. As the second generation of Chinese immigrants, Tan faces more problems than her peers do. Her mom, who speaks “limited” English, needs Tan to be her “translator” in order to communicate with the native English speakers. Tan has felt ashamed of her mother “broken” language at first. She then contemplates her background affected her life and her study. However, she changes her thought at the end since she realizes things behind language might be more valuable than language itself sometimes. Through the various different literary devices and rhetorical strategies such as the ethos, pathos, and logos appeals, as well as a

There was only one good thing that Ruth took away from her father; She needed to be strict with her children about their education, but still loving at the same time. This parenting style became a part of Ruth, and shaped her identity of how to act as a mother and a member of society. Tateh was a terrible and hypocritical father, but he did help shape Ruth’s identity by showing her all of his flaws.

In her short story "Two Kinds," Amy Tan utilizes the daughter's point of view to share a mother's attempts to control her daughter's hopes and dreams, providing a further understanding of how their relationship sours. The daughter has grown into a young woman and is telling the story of her coming of age in a family that had emigrated from China. In particular, she tells that her mother's attempted parental guidance was dominated by foolish hopes and dreams. This double perspective allows both the naivety of a young girl trying to identify herself and the hindsight and judgment of a mature woman.

Her unforeseen actions are due to the rest care tradition, which has progressively worsened her mental state and caused her to overlook her role as a caring wife in desperation to escape the imprisonment of the tradition. As witnessed from the two short stories, conflicts arise amidst families due to the events of old traditions, establishing a divide between family members that is difficult to overcome once constructed.

In the novel A Daughter of Han by Ida Pruitt, the readers are taken through a journey of one woman through her life’s highs and lows. Through the eyes of Ning Lao T'ai-t'ai, readers can truly understand the life of a working woman during this time period. Although life may not have been easy at times, Ning Lao shows the determination and passion she had for her family and for their lives to be better. The life of a working woman is never an easy life but adding in the social rules and opium addiction that effected each part of Ning Lao’s life made it much more difficult.

As an adult, Tan understands that her mother’s English is the language of intimacy. She now understands that her “mother’s expressive command belies how much she actually understands” Her mother reads “The Wall street Journal” and converses with their stockbroker on matters Tan doesn’t comprehend. It becomes evident that her initial

Chapter one titled, “No Name Woman”, is an example of the narrator referring to her mother’s talk-stories and a prominent illustration of incorporating the past into the present. This talk- story is culturally based to express information about the past. In “No Name Women”, the narrator explains that her mother, Brave Orchid, would use the stories to give lessons on life that would stick with her children. She represents a bridge figure with one foot in the past, her Chinese culture that she relays on to the family and one foot in the present, her assimilation to American life. The bridge that Brave Orchid acts as brings together the two cultures and allows her to incorporate the family’s Chinese history into their present

LuLing’s relationship with her mother, Precious Auntie, affects the way she acts towards her daughter, Ruth. Once Ruth discovers the hidden history of her mother, LuLing, she is able to uncover the mother-daughter relationships between her and LuLing as well as LuLing and Precious Auntie.

Driss Chraibi's Mother Comes of Age is an exceptional novel about an Arab woman seeking knowledge of the world. Despite the main character's age, the novel can be described as a bildungsrowan because of her personal growth. This woman develops and matures from a secluded, uneducated woman to an informed activist, proving she is capable of anything.

The Bone Bridge, by Trina Davies, is centered around the lives of seven characters as they go through the trials and tribulations of the aftermath of the Bosnian War. The Bosnian War took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the late 1990’s, stemming from the breakup of Yugoslavia (“Bosnian Genocide”). During the Bosnian War, the Army of the Republika Srpska executed a genocide of non-Serbs residing in areas dominated by Bosnian Serbs (Toal and Dahlman 6). The conflicts dominating this play are ones of the past vs. present and good vs. evil. Each character plays a different role within these conflicts ranging from victims to bystanders to leaders. The Bone Bridge illustrates how a person in power cannot put anything into a population that

Mothers and daughters are complicated. Although this statement holds truth, it is also true to say that there is nothing more inspirational, special, or unique than the relationship and bond formed between a mother and her daughter. In a brief summary, a mother-daughter relationship can be defined as a complexed and complicated love-hate relationship, in which a mother and her daughter are the best of friends one day and then the worst of enemies the next day. However, there are more days like the second than the first. During these times of disagreement, a mother-daughter relationship is faced with conflict and tension.

In the first place, mother-daughter relations between Chinese mothers and ABC daughters are not easy ones in Tan's novels. They are always problematic. Mothers want to bring up

As I observed Ruth in the play I couldn’t help but to feel connected to her in so many ways. I could sense her emotion and the stress of making sure everyone and everything was taken care of. Her marriage to Walter was lacking connection she desperately wanted and needed. She was never put first by herself or anyone else in her family. She was tired and worn out but she never gave up she pushed herself so far she didn’t even realize she was pregnant. I view her as a great women with strong qualities and beliefs. She stood by her husband no matter what type of situation he got himself in to and some may call that weak but I call it strong.