Ruth Young as a Ghostwriter

finds that Ruth is being rigorous. The quotation above shows how rigorous Ruth is. She is demanding and difficult. Art sees Ruth as a difficult person because Ruth is so complicated in handling the housework. She shows her stubbornness because she also has so many things to do besides the housework. She thinks that that is Art’s house so he should take care by himself. Yet, she controls herself by being reasonable and then she tries to find the resolution. However, Art sees Ruth as being too difficult and he tells that to Ruth. Another quotation is provided to show the characteristics of Ruth as a rigorous woman. Suddenly Ruth noticed what Fia was wearing – low-slung jeans and a cropped shirt that bared a good six inches of belly. She must have had her jacket zipped up when they had left home. Ruth lowered the car window and called out: ‘Fia, sweetie, come here a second…. Am I wrong, or did your shirt shrink drastically in the last minutes?’ Tan, 2004: 21. The characteristics of the character can be done by seeing the reaction of a character, how the character reacts to situations. The quotation above shows Ruth’s reaction. From the reaction of Ruth when she noticed that Fia’s shirt is showing off her belly, the writer finds out that Ruth is paying attention to the detail. It shows her characteristics as being rigorous. Ruth stared at Fia’s navel. ‘Does your mother know you’re wearing that?’ Fia dropped her mouth in mock shock, her reaction to most things. ‘Uh, she bought it for me, okay?’ ‘Well, I don’t think your dad would approve. I want you to keep your jacket on, even when you’re skating. And Dory, you tell me if she doesn’t’ Tan, 2004: 21. She wants to know whether Fia’s parents know that she is dressing like that or not. After that, Ruth is demanding Fia to dress properly by putting the jacket on when they are skating. ‘As she yanked up the jacket zipper, she said to Dory, loud enough for Ruth to hear: ‘Dad’s right. She loves to make everything sooo difficult ’ Tan, 2004: 21. Fia’s conversation with Dory also emphasizes that Ruth is seen as being difficult, rigorous. Ruth’s former relationship was with a man named Paul. As Paul’s lover, Ruth also shows her characteristics as being rigorous. The way to find that she is a rigorous w oman can be found through Ruth’s speech. ‘I had said he was careless, he said I made simple problems have difficult solutions. I said he never planned, he said I obsessed to the point of killing all spontaneity. I thought he was selfish, he said I worried over him to the point of suffocation, then pitied myself when he didn’t fall all over himself saying thank you. And maybe we were both right and that was why we were wrong for each other Tan, 2004: 29. Ruth herself says that her former boyfriend thinks that she is difficult when solve problems, so obsessed till it can kill the spontaneity, she is so strict and too worried. By looking from her speech, her characteristics as being rigorous can be concluded. Ruth is described as reasonable, perceptive, and rebellious daughter. She shows that she does not believe in superstition and stories about ghosts. She can learn quickly that proves that she is a perceptive daughter. As a second generation, Ruth speaks up against her mother and she proclaims her freedom. Then, as a professional ghostwriter, she is described as a smart, responsible, and busy woman. She shows that she holds the value of being work oriented. Lastly, as a lover, she shows that she is a rigorous woman. From those characteristics, it can be concluded that Ruth has the American values; individualist, task oriented, and seek for freedom.

B. The Cultural Conflicts Experienced by Ruth Young

Each novel must have conflicts to make the story alive. It is similarly stated in Edward J. Gordon’s Types of Literature. Besides Gordon, Frank Madden also states that there are two kinds of conflict. Madden affirms that there are external conflict and internal conflict Madden, 2002: 90. The external and internal conflicts also happen in the major character in The Bonesetter’s Daughter . Ruth has experienced conflicts, especially cultural conflicts. Jonathan H. Turner in Sociology states that “cultural conflict caused by differences in cultural values and beliefs that place people at odds with one another” Turner, 2005: 87. The differences in values and beliefs drag the conflicts to be happened in the novel. As stated in the second chapter, the first generation and second generation of Chinese in the United States are holding different values. Mostly, the second generations are not aware of their ancestors. Min Zhou states that “children of immigrant parentage lack meaningful connections to the sociocultural world from which their parents came” Zhou, 2009: 194. Thus, the lack of history makes the second generations unaware of their ancient history. It also happens to Ruth Young. She is neither aware of her origin as Chinese nor learns about her mother’s history. As a second generation of Chinese, Ruth Young does not know how to read Chinese words. Her mother, LuLing, has given pages written in Chinese to Ruth five or six years before, it was a memoir of LuLing. “Just some old things about my family” Tan, 2004: 12. Instead of reading the memoir directly, Ruth postpones to read it because she cannot read Chinese. She knows that the memoir contains her mother’s story but she is not eager to read it. Ruth even hesitates to ask her mother because she assumes that her mother will be mad at her. She knew from experience what happened whenever she asked her mother to render Chinese characters into English. First LuLing scolded her for not studying Chinese hard enough when she was little Tan, 2004: 13. LuLing as the first generation knows how to speak and read Chinese, but her child does not master Chinese. According to the review on cultural context, Zhou mentions that “in the Chinese cultural context, filial piety dictates parent- child relationship, the norm makes more demands on children ” Zhou, 2009: 194. LuLing as a mother demands her daughter to master Chinese language, so when Ruth shows incapable of reading the words, LuLing will scold and give a punishment. If Ruth showed impatience in listening to any of this, LuLing became outraged, before sputtering an oath that none of this mattered because soon she too would die anyway, by accident, because of bad-luck wishes, or on purpose. And then the silent treatment began, a punishment that lasted for days or weeks, until Ruth broke down first and said she was sorry Tan, 2004: 13. Thus, the quotation implies that Ruth gets a punishment, the silent treatment from her mother because Ruth shows the impatience in listening about Chinese words. Her mother will not talk to her unless she starts to apologize to break down the tense between them. In this context, Ruth attempts to distance herself from her origin as Chinese by being reluctant by showing her impatience and less interest in learning the Chinese toward her mother while her mother teaches her. Ruth as an American does not need to master Chinese because that is not necessary for her. She lives around people who speak English and only her mother who speaks Chinese. However, her mother forces her to learn Chinese