The Relationship between ‘Bone’ and LuLing Liu Young

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4.1.1 The Relationship between ‘Bone’ and LuLing Liu Young

There are some important findings related to the connection of the symbol of bone and LuLing. 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 because Precious Auntie always tells her a story about her father, the Famous Bonesetter from the Mouth of the Mountain, about the cave where they find the dragon bones, how the bones are divined and can cure any pain, except a grieving heart 3. In 1916, LuLing was born and raised in the Liu clan in Immortal Heart village in the rocky Western Hills south of Peking. This family has the reputation of the famous ink maker for six centuries. Precious Auntie or Bao Bomu is a nursemaid who not only works in the ink maker studio but also takes care of LuLing. In fact, LuLing is daughter of Precious Auntie but she does not know that Precious Auntie is her mother. In her childhood, LuLing thinks that having Precious Auntie is luck. However, as she grows older she realizes that Precious Auntie is only her maid, not her mother. Nevertheless, Precious Auntie loves her so much. She takes care of LuLing and teaches her many things, such as counting, reading, and writing Chinese calligraphy. This strong relationship between Precious Auntie and LuLing creates a new thought for LuLing because she is always told about the story of the bone, the famous bonesetter, the oracle bone, and the myths behind it. It gives the impression that PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 23 Precious Auntie is the source of knowledge for LuLing to learn and know about the bone since her childhood. Second, LuLing lives with Liu clan in the rocky Western Hills south of Peking, in the village called Immortal Heart. Coincidentally, in LuLing’s area, there are several hills, which their names are connected with bone. They are Chicken Bone Hill, Old Cow Hill, and Dragon Bone Hill. In her childhood, LuLing becomes an active child that she usually plays with her sister, GaoLing, and her brothers in the cliff behind their compound. The cliff has an end called the End of the World, for people believe that unwanted babies, suicide maidens, and beggar ghosts exist there 180. The place is full of garbage and once they consider that the place is full of skulls and bones, where all the ghosts wander and haunt them. When the big rains come, the End of the World is filled with the water, but when the rain stops, the floodwater drains fast and the mouths of the caves swallow the dirt and the trees, the bodies and the bone 182. Precious Auntie once explained to me. Now you see why there are so many bones and hills: Chicken Bone Hill, Old Cow Hill, Dragon Bone Hill. Of course it’s just not dragon bones in dragon Bone Hill. Some are from ordinary creatures, bears, elephants, hippopotamus 182. The fact that LuLing lives in the compound where there is a particular story about ‘the bone’ makes it more interesting. It seems that Amy Tan, as an author, wants to create such an atmosphere for LuLing to befriend with ‘the bone’ since in her early life. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 24 Third, Precious Auntie gives LuLing the oracle bone. Before giving it to LuLing, Precious Auntie always tells about the turtle bone. It is said that it has strange characters written up and down there. People think it is not valuable because of the scratches. When the scholars say that it is the oracle bone, people sell for twice as much since it is said that the oracle bone has the gods’ words in it 183. Precious Auntie also tells LuLing about the remedy with dragon bones, her family as the famous bonesetter, and people collect the dragon bones in the Mouth of the Mountain. Hu explain that the discovery of thousands of inscribed bones and tortoise shells, used for divination, has enabled historians to be on fairly firm ground with regard to the Shang dynasty, which lasted around the sixteenth to the eleventh century B.C 12. It is also called dragon bones or oracle bones. In the writer’s opinion, the reason why Precious Auntie gives the oracle bone to LuLing is because she wants to keep her family secret and wishes that LuLing can continue the kin line of The Famous Bonesetter. As LuLing’s real mother, Precious Auntie is somehow worried about the existence of her descendant and desired to pass the knowledge of the bonesetter’s skill and the oracle bone to her only child, LuLing. It looks as if the oracle bone is the heritage of the family of The Famous Bonesetter from the Mouth of the Mountain. Fourth, Precious Auntie introduces the term of ‘the dragon bones’ to LuLing by inviting her to dig the dragon bones in the cave. The inside of the cave looks like the molars of a monkey that can bite someone in two, which is why it is called the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 25 Monkey’s Jaw 185. In the past, the cave was a special place where Precious Auntie and her father were digging together to find the dragon bones for remedy. By asking LuLing to do the same thing, it shows that Precious Auntie wants to pass her secret family heirloom to her own daughter, LuLing, because the knowledge of the bone must be passed through generation to generation. It means that LuLing has a strong connection with the generation of bonesetter and holds the heritage of the dragon bones. However, the situation has changed in 1929. It is LuLing’s fourteenth year, when many Chinese and foreign people come to Dragon Bone Hill at the Mouth of Mountain to dug the quarries and burrow in the caves. They seek for dragon bones. They also search and buy all the old bones from all the medicine shops. Since there is a rumor that the foreigners want to start their own dragon bones factories, the villagers chase them away 201. By those facts above, LuLing’s acknowledgement with dragon bones gives the impression that she still has “duty” to continue her journey on the “bone world”. While the dragon bones itself in the Chinese culture is considered as the sacred bone. It is because the Chinese believe that “dragon” is the most powerful and divine creature. If someone can find its bones mean that he will get great power. 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 26 regarded as a symbol of good fortune. Dragons are also regarded as wise creature 29- 30 and represent the male yang element 60. Fifth, it is when the Western scientists find that the dragon bones are the fossils of Peking Man. It is the time when a big change occurs in the village where LuLing and Precious Auntie live. The initial finding of the teeth which belong to a skullcap of an ancient human soon is announced by the Western scientists. It makes people stop buying dragon bones for they do not want to use anything from the dead 201 because it will cause bad luck. Yet, Precious Auntie still possesses four or five dragon bones plus the oracle bone. She decides to return the bones to the cave for she has a dream about her father who says that the dragon bones belong to their ancestor 202. Shortly, the scientists declare that the bone comes from the Chinese oldest ancestor, aged for one million years ago, and they call it “Peking Man”. This fact leads to the new understanding that the people realize who their ancestor is. Tweddell and Kimball explain about the beginning of the prehistoric time in China. They stated that the earliest inhabitants of China were the Homo erectus ‘Peking Man’ of half a million years ago. Dwelling in a cave on a hillside near modern Peking, they hunted, made tools, and used fire for warmth in the extremely cold winters. Subsequent millennia brought later hunter-gatherers, who developed regional cultures. Some time after 10,000 B.C. the Chinese began to farm 195. While Hu explain that the hominids Peking Man roamed North China millions of years ago. Archaeological evidence shows that the culture of China goes back at least as far as the transitional chalcolitic stage, when bronze tools were being 27 substituted for stone and the people were making pottery, filling land, and domesticating animals. Scholars place this stage in China at somewhere between 2200 and 1700 B.C. 12. However, the Western scientists also persuade the villagers to sell all their dragon bones so that they will have money in return. By this fact, LuLing thinks about the money, since she has some dragon bones from the Monkey’s Jaw. LuLing assumes that if she can sell the dragon bones to the scientists, she will get a million ingots and make Precious Auntie rich and soon the Liu family will respect her 203. LuLing also hears that whoever can submit the dragon bones to the foreigners they will receive a reward. Little Uncle guessed that a person might earn a million coppers for a single piece of dragon bones. And Father said, “[…] A million silver taels are more likely.” By guesses and arguments, the amount grew to be a million gold ingots. […] “Old bones grow new fat” became the saying people had on their lips. And because dragon bones were now worth so much, […] no one could buy them for medicine anymore. […] But what did that matter? They were the descendants of Peking Man. And he was famous 203. Thus, LuLing says to Precious Auntie that if she can sell the dragon bones to the foreigners, they will get a million gold ingots so that they will be rich. Nevertheless, Precious Auntie is angry because she believes that if she sells the dragon bones to the foreigners, a ghost will come and curse her and all her family. Moreover, the ghosts will not rest until all of her family is dead and gone 203. In fact, LuLing still dreams about sneaking around the cave and finding some dragon bones to sell to the foreigners. Since all the villagers dig the cave and try to 28 find the immortal relics, LuLing also wants to do the same things. She even questions to the naming of “Peking Man” for the fossil found. “Why are they calling him Peking Man? The teeth came from the Mouth of Mountain. And now the scientists are saying that skullcap was a woman’s. So it should be called Woman from the Mouth of Mountain.” My aunts and uncles looked at me, and one of them said: “Wisdom from a child’s lips, simply yet true.” 205. LuLing then meets Mr. Chang, a coffin maker, who becomes famous and rich for he sells all the dragon bones to the foreigners. Later, LuLing has a conversation with Mr. Chang about the dragon bones that she hides in the cave. Mr. Chang interrogates LuLing about where exactly the cave is and her relation with Precious Auntie. LuLing says that she cannot take the dragon bones for it will bring a curse on her family for a whole life time if she digs out the dragon bones. However, Precious Auntie scolds LuLing for that. She says about the curse from the ancestor if they do not return the dragon bones to the place where they belong. By giving all the bones to the scientists, the curse will haunt her and all of her family includes LuLing 204. It shows that LuLing wants to sell the tradition to the modernism. She is blinded with the blinking of the Western technology that can produce a lot of money. The selling of tradition and local genius to the Western people means that the action of selling the pride of the country and nationalism. 29

4.1.2 The Relationship between ‘Bone’ and Ruth Luyi Young