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“The bones you have are not from dragons,” he said. “They are from our own clan, the ancestor who was crushed by the Monkey’s Jaw. And because we
stole them, he’s cursed us. That’s why nearly everyone in our family has died […] And it doesn’t stop with death […]
“What should we do?” Precious Auntie asked in her dream. “Return the bones. Until they’re reunited with the rest of his body, he’ll
continue to plague us.” 202
This dream becomes a sign for Precious Auntie to obey her father’s request and return all the dragon bones she has to the Monkey’s Jaw. Thus, it is implied that
the essence of the bone itself is to construct the body in order to be completed. Chevalier, Alain, John Buchanan-Brown said that “the bones are symbolizing the
essential element, the essence of creation” 109. Therefore, the meaning of the bones here as the essence of creation becomes stronger.
4.2 The Meaning of the Symbol of Bone in Conveying Chinese Values
In finding the meaning of the symbol of bone in conveying Chinese values, I apply the mythopoeic approach. It is used to discover certain universality recurrent
patterns of human thought which are considered sharing the same universal belief to certain community mind. In general, the patterns include death and rebirth, guilt and
sacrifices, and also primitive rites. The mystical relationship found in a story can be explained using this approach Rohrberger and Woods 11.
Mallon explains that: Symbols have a power beyond words, carrying a multitude of meanings that
speak to the soul, the mind and the emotions. […] Symbols are different from signs. Signs point the way, whereas symbol always stands for something more
than immediate meaning. Symbols represent abstract ideas or concepts that PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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may not easily be put into words. […] The language of the unconscious is the language of symbols. […] Symbols express an inner reality of which we are
often unaware, although humankind has been in touch with his reality since earliest times 10.
In The Bonesetter’s Daughter, it is found that the Chinese word for ‘bone’ is ‘gu’. It is interesting that Precious Auntie’s real name is Gu Liu Xin, and her father is
a ‘bone doctor’, The Famous Bonesetter from the Mouth of Mountain. Thus, this coherence makes a first statement that there must be something with the ‘gu’ or ‘the
bone’ itself. However, Chinese vocabularies are so rich that from the word ‘gu’ it means several meanings: “bone, gorge, old, thigh, blind, grain, merchant, and
character” 398. Whereas in Chinese proverb, there is a saying: ‘It’s in your bones’ which means ‘That’s your character’ 398. This saying has relationship with the
oracle bones, since the oracle bones were used to write the history record of the Shang Dynasty. It means that the Chinese accepts the belief that someone’s history is
written in the bone. Thus, someone’s characters are also written in his bones. ‘Bone’ is also used as remedy, like what Precious Auntie’s father does as a
bonesetter. However, the bone used for remedy is not the common bone from the common animals, but from the dragon bones only. The Chinese people believe that
they are the descendants of the Dragon. Furthermore, the Chinese views dragon as a special creature. In Chinese folklore, dragon is totally unlike the evil fire-breathing
creations of European myth. The Chinese dragon, or lung, is a charismatic creature, the rain bringer, the lord of all the waters, and is now regarded as a symbol of good
fortune. Dragons are also regarded as wise creature, and it was popularly supposed PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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that each one had a ‘pearl of wisdom’ in his mouth. Scholars and sages were known as ‘dragon men’ 29-30. The Dragon is the sacred and divine creature for the
Chinese. The dragon bones are well known to cure anything, from wasting diseases to stupidity 183. As a result, ‘the bone’ signifies its point as ‘the cure’, or a local
knowledge that reflects ‘the Eastern wisdom’. In Chinese belief, there is YIN-YANG concept. According to Millidge, Yin
and Yang are the two interacting forces balance and sustain the Chinese cosmos 20. In its relation with the bone, the dragon bones are the YIN, because the dragon bones
are hidden in the deep dark and cold cave for long time. YIN is the female element and is associated with cold and darkness, the moon and the earth 20. Dragon
represents the male yang element 60, but since its bone was hidden in the cave for a long time, it can be said that the dragon bones are YIN.
While the Western scholars, who discovered the Peking Man is the YANG. It is because they bring ‘the Western knowledge’ such as technology, science, and
advanced tools compared to the Chinese. Still from Chinese Gods and Myth, YANG is the male element, and is associated with light and warmth, the sun and the heavens
20. This combination of ‘the Eastern wisdom’ and ‘the Western knowledge’ becomes the harmonious Yin-Yang. It shows that Amy Tan would like to convey the
message that East and West can be in a harmonious relationship and in a balanced condition like Yin Yang, if they have willingness to learn from each other and accept
the differences. Like Amy Tan herself, a Chinese-American author who feels the mixture of the East and West culture in her life.
40
In its association with the three main characters, I come into the point that the one who becomes the real bonesetter is Ruth. It is because Ruth links ‘the missing
bone’ between her mother LuLing and her grandmother, Gu Liu Xin or known as Precious Auntie in this novel. Ruth tries to collect and trace back the memories of her
mother and her grandmother to know the truth. Moreover, the truth is her existence in her family. Ruth would like to know her own history by understanding her mother’s
history and her grandmother’s history. As the bone becomes the framework of the body, so it does the family. It is as if Ruth is setting all the missing bones and putting
them back in their own rightful place. Her grandmother had a name. Gu Liu Xin. She had existed. She still existed.
Precious Auntie belonged to a family. LuLing belonged to that same family, and Ruth belonged to them both. The family name had been there all along,
like a bone stuck in the crevices of a gorge 399-400. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter is divided into two parts; conclusions and suggestions. The conclusions wrap up all the answers of the formulated problems. The suggestions
consist of two parts, namely the suggestions for further study on The Bonesetter’s Daughter and the ones for the implementation of literature in teaching Intensive
Reading I.
5.1 Conclusions
After analyzing the novel, there are two points that can be concluded. The first conclusion concerns with the first problem that is the presentation of the symbol of
bone in The Bonesetter’s Daughter. The symbol of bone is analyzed in its relationship within the characters, which
are LuLing, Ruth, and Precious Auntie. From analyzing LuLing’s life, there are five significant points why LuLing has a close relationship with ‘the bone’ itself. First,
LuLing is familiar with the bone since she is raised up by Precious Auntie. Second, LuLing lives with Liu clan in the village called Immortal Heart, where there are
several hills, which their names are connected with bone. They are Chicken Bone Hill, Old Cow Hill, and Dragon Bone Hill. Third, Precious Auntie gives LuLing the
oracle bone. The reason why Precious Auntie gives the oracle bone to LuLing is PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
