The Bonesetter’s Daughter Essay -- English Literature:

Bones constitute on important part in The Bonesetter’s Daughter. What is the significance of the book’s title? â€Å"The Bonesetter’s Daughter† in my opinion holds a deeper meaning as a title. Amy Tan could have called the book â€Å"Precious Auntie† or â€Å"Liu Xing Gu† if you directly translate the bonesetter’s daughter. Why did Amy Tan choose this title? These three words must contain some deeper meaning and therefore we should not judge the title at face value. The first thing that we should look at is what these three words are signifying. They are putting emphasis on the bonesetter by saying that this book is about His daughter. Tan could have paraphrased the title into â€Å"The Daughter of the Bonesetter† This means that there must be some importance laid on this bonesetter. The term â€Å"daughter of the famous bonesetter† is only used a few times within the contents. Amy Tan wanted to accentuate two bits of information. One of those words is daughter. Since most of the book is mostly feminine based, it should, naturally, have a more feminine title. Before reading the book we are told that this story is about a girl or a woman and perhaps her father. However, we are not told about the bonesetter’s daughter until page 155. This is telling us something. We thought that the main character in this book had to be the bonesetter’s daughter. We now find out that this is perhaps not so and that it will be difficult to pin point the main character in this book. The main difficulty is within the fact that this book has no immediate plot. It is more of a mixture between psychological drama and the autobiography of a woman. Nobody can summarize the book effectively within one sentence. The story is far too intricate. This is exact... ...ere used as a way to speak to the gods and ask them questions whose answers could be read from the cracks which appeared on the rocks. Bones are a very important part of the Chinese culture and are used for a holy purpose. Naturally, this again links to the curse that this family is haunted by. If bones really hold that much power over people by being able to communicate with the gods, then if they are misused and disturbed like the way the Gu family did, they can therefore be able to curse them. The curse has grown in importance for LuLing ever since she has realized why it has followed them and what kind of disasters it may lead to. Precious Auntie is the key link between the bonesetter and LuLing and Ruth. She is also the one who suffered most from this curse. This is why she is such an important character. This is why she forms the title of this book.