The symbol of Bone in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter - USD Repository

THE SYMBOL OF BONE

  

IN AMY TAN’S THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

  

By

Indri Widiyanti

Student Number: 031214054

  

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2009

  

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work

or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the

references, as a scientific paper should.

  

Yogyakarta, October 10, 2009

The Writer,

Indri Widiyanti

031214054

  

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Indri Widiyanti Nomor Mahasiswa : 031214054

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan

Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

THE SYMBOL OF BONE

  

IN AMY TAN’S THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER

Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan

kepada Perpustakaan Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam

bentuk media lain,mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan

secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk

kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan

royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

  Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal: 10 Oktober 2009 Yang menyatakan, Indri Widiyanti

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to thank Allah SWT for the endless blessing and love in my life.

  My highest gratitude is addressed to my sponsor, Henny Herawati, S.Pd., M.Hum

  ., for her guidance, suggestion, kindness, support and patience during my thesis writing process. Without her, I could never finish my thesis.

  To all lecturers in PBI, I thank them for their teachings, support, and helps

during my days in Sanata Dharma University. I also thank PBI secretariat staffs,

Mbak Tari and Mbak Dani for always helping me and answering my too-many- questions.

  My great honour goes to my beloved Mom (Ibu Susmirah) for being my

greatest mom in the world. “Ibu, thanks for always supporting and forgiving me.

  

“I’m blessed to have her as my mother”, my Dad (Bapak Kaswin) for

understanding and supporting me. “Thanks for always being my wisdom dad”. I

also thank my brother (dik Galih) and my sister (dik Widya) for their support.

  I would like to thank my cute best friends, Pipin & Lidya (thanks for

being my very best friends and for always supporting me), Petra, Datu, Upik,

Putri, Ignash, Priska, Meysa, Vanie, Liza, Devi, and all class B students (thanks

for being my wonderful friends in PBI). To All the 2003 students, I thank them

for the beautiful friendship and the wonderful times we shared.

  I also thank Yosef Skano Dayan, for being my angel in this world, and for

always understanding me, for sharing laughter in my happy and bad days. In

  

addition, to all JOGJAVANESIA crew, I thank them for their help, support and

their understanding when I often come home late.

  To the people I cannot mention one by one, I thank them for coloring my life. God bless us.

  Indri Widiyanti

  

For Mama

Finally I did it When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you’re trudging seem all up hill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sight,

  When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest, if you must-but…

DON’T YOU QUIT

.

  (Unknown) I dedicated this thesis to the persons who make my life worth living MY WONDERFUL MOM AND DAD

  

MY BELOVED BROTHER AND SISTER

MY AMAZING ANGEL MY CARING FRIENDS

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

  PAGE OF TITLE …………………………………………………….………..… i

  PAGES OF APPROVAL .……………………………………………… ………ii

  STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ………………….……………..iv

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………………...v

  DEDICATION PAGE …… ……………………………..………….….............vii

  TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………….............ix

  ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………….….................xii

  ABSTRAK ………………………………………………………….…………....xiv

  CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

  

1.1 Background of the Study …………………………………….……………1

  

1.2 Problem Formulation ……………………………………….......................5

  

1.3 Objectives of the Study…………………………………….…...................5

  

1.4 Benefits of the Study……………………………………............................5

  

1.5 Definition of Terms…………………………………………....…………..6

  CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL REVIEW

  

2.1 Theories of Literature………………………………………………………….9

  

2.2 Review on Chinese Mythology: Bone and Peking Man..................................10

  2.2.1 The Chinese Mythology……………………………...…..…………….11

  2.2.2 The Symbol of Bone…………………...………..……………..............12

  2.2.3 Peking Man……………………………………………..……………...13

  

2.3 Theoretical Framework………………………………………………………14

  CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

  

3.1 Object of the Study…………………………….……………….……………15

  

3.2 Approach..…………………………….…………….…..................................17

  

3.3 Method of the Study ………………………………….……….……………..17

  CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS

  

4.1 The Symbol of Bone Presented in The Bonesetter's Daughter………………20

  4.1.1 The Relationship between ‘Bone’ and LuLing Liu Young…………….22

  4.1.2 The Relationship between ‘Bone’ and Ruth Luyi Young…...................29

  4.1.3 The Relationship between ‘Bone’ and Precious Auntie……..………....32

  

4.2 The Meanings of the Symbol of Bone in Conveying Chinese Values.............37

  CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

  

5.1 Conclusions ……………………………………………………………. …...41

  

5.2 Suggestions ………………………………………………………………….45

  5.2.1 Suggestions for the Further Study on The Bonesetter’s Daughter……..45

  5.2.2 Suggestion for Teaching Intensive Reading II through Literature……..45

REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………48

  APPENDICES Appendix 1

Lesson Plan and Material of Teaching Intensive Reading II …………..……......50

Appendix 2

Summary of The Bonesetter’s Daughter…………………………………………57

Appendix 3

Biography of Amy Tan……………………………………….………………….60

  

ABSTRACT

Widiyanti, Indri. 2009. The Symbol of Bone in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s

Daughter.

  Yogyakarta: Faculty of Teacher’s Training and Education, Department

of Language and Arts Education, English Language Education Study Program,

Sanata Dharma University.

  This thesis discusses The Bonesetter’s Daughter, a novel written by Amy

Tan. The reason of writing this thesis comes from my curiosity to know about the

symbol of bone and how this symbol manifests its meaning in conveying Chinese

values. There are two problems that become the focus of this thesis: (1) How the

symbol of bone is presented in the novel and (2) How the symbol of bone

manifests its meanings in conveying Chinese values. Based on those problems,

this study aims to identify ‘bone’ as symbol and to reveal the meanings of symbol

of bone in conveying Chinese values in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter.

  The method of the study is library research. The Mythological Criticism is

used for the analysis of the data. The primary data of this thesis was the novel,

The Bonesetter’s Daughter. Meanwhile, the secondary data used to answer the

problems above were taken from several supporting references and also from

internet sources. When necessary, quotations and statements from certain experts

were also cited to clarify some important ideas.

  Based on the result of the analysis, 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, and which their

names are connected with bone (Chicken Bone Hill, Old Cow Hill, and Dragon

Bone Hill). Third, Precious Auntie gives LuLing the oracle bone. Fourth, Precious

Auntie introduces the term ‘the dragon bones’ to LuLing by inviting her to dig the

dragon bones in the cave. Fifth, it is when the Western scientists find that the

dragon bones are the fossils of Peking Man.

  In Ruth’s character, the symbol of bone is connected with her when she is

six-year-old, she broke her arm. Here, “the bone” connects Ruth with her mother’s

past life and her own grandmother whom she never know before, Precious Auntie.

It is significant for Ruth because she weaves the missing link between her mother,

LuLing and her grandmother, Precious Auntie. By her “broken bones”, Ruth gains

her own strength and rearranges the missing puzzle between her mother and her

grandmother. Thus, “the bones” become the sign for Ruth to rearrange the

“missing bones” in her ‘”family body” since bone is the framework of the body.

  In Precious Auntie’s character, the symbol of bone has three focuses. First,

for nine hundred years, Precious Auntie’s family has been bonesetters. Second,

Precious Auntie possesses a dragon bone that later she gives it to LuLing as a

remembrance of her past life and an heirloom for the future. Third, since Precious

  

Auntie’s father is a bone doctor, she is taught to be a bonesetter also. Even though

there is no woman bonesetter, but Precious Auntie is interested to learn more

about the bone setting and the bone.

  In its association with the three main characters, it is concluded 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, Precious Auntie.

  The second conclusion concerns with the manifestation of the symbol of

bone in conveying Chinese values. The Chinese word for ‘bone’ is ‘gu’.

Furthermore, ‘gu’ has several meanings: “bone, gorge, old, thigh, blind, grain,

merchant, and character”. ‘The bone’ also appears in Chinese proverb: ‘It’s in

your bones’ which means ‘that’s your character’. 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 and character are written in the bone. In addition, it is interesting that

Precious Auntie’s real name is Gu Liu Xin since ‘gu’ means ‘bone’ and ‘liu xin’

means ‘remain true’. Besides, her father is a ‘bone doctor’. It makes a stronger

connection with the Chinese word of ‘bone’. Moreover, only the dragon bones

which can be used as remedy. The Chinese people believe that they are the

descendants of the Dragon. The Dragon is the sacred and divine creature for the

Chinese. 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. In its relation with the

bone, the dragon bones are the YIN, the feminine element, because the dragon

bones are hidden in the deep dark and cold cave for long time, while the Western

scholars, who discover the Peking Man are the YANG, the masculine element. It

is because they bring ‘the Western knowledge’ such as technology, science, and

advanced tools compared to the Chinese. These combinations of ‘the Eastern

wisdom’ and ‘the Western knowledge’ become 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.

  Besides the suggestion for possible future researchers on The Bonesetter’s

Daughter, this thesis also proposes material to teach English by using an excerpt

of the novel in teaching Intensive Reading II.

  

ABSTRAK

Widiyanti, Indri. 2009. The Symbol of Bone in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s

Daughter

  . Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris. Jurusan

Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas

Sanata Dharma.

  Skripsi ini membahas The Bonesetter’s Daughter, sebuah novel karya

Amy Tan. Alasan penulisan skripsi ini bermula dari keingintahuan saya untuk

memahami tentang simbol tulang dan bagaimana simbol ini dapat menguraikan

nilai-nilai luhur Cina yang tersirat dalam novel tersebut. Dua permasalahan yang

menjadi dasar dari penulisan skripsi ini yaitu: (1) Bagaimanakah simbol tulang

digambarkan dalam novel ini dan (2) Bagaimanakah simbol tulang ini dapat

menguraikan nilai-nilai luhur Cina. Berdasarkan permasalahan tersebut, studi ini

bertujuan untuk mennggambarkan arti dari simbol tulang dan menganalisa makna

apa yang ingin disampaikan melalui simbol tulang ini dalam nilai-nilai luhur Cina.

  Untuk mancapai tujuan studi ini, metode yang saya gunakan adalah studi

pustaka. Untuk menganalisa data yang ada digunakan pendekatan teori mitologi.

Data utama dari skripsi ini diambil dari novel The Bonesetter Daughter. Data

penunjang yang digunakan untuk menjawab permasalahan di atas diambil dari

beberapa referensi yang mendukung dan juga sumber dari internet. Jika perlu,

kutipan dan pernyataan dari beberapa ahli juga disertakan untuk memperjelas

beberapa gagasan yang penting.

  Berdasarkan hasil analisa, ada dua hal yang disimpulkan. Kesimpulan

yang pertama berhubungan dengan permasalahan pertama yaitu penggambaran

dari simbol ’tulang’ dalam The Bonesetter’s Daughter. Penggambaran simbol

’tulang’ ini kemudian dianalisa dalam hubungannya dengan masing-masing

karakter, yaitu LuLing, Ruth dan Precious Auntie.

  Dari hasil analisa terhadap kehidupan LuLing, ditemukan lima poin

penting mengapa LuLing mempunyai hubungan yang sangat dekat dengan

’tulang’. Pertama, LuLing sangat familiar dengan ’tulang’ semenjak ia dibesarkan

oleh Precious Auntie. Kedua, masa kecil LuLing yang tinggal dengan klan Liu di

sebuah desa bernama ’Hati yang Kekal’. Di desa itu terdapat banyak bukit yang

namanya berkaitan dengan tulang-tulang binatang. Ketiga, Precious Auntie

memberikan ’tulang ramalan’. Keempat, Precious Auntie mengenalkan LuLing

tentang ’tulang naga’ dengan cara mengajaknya ke gua-gua untuk menggali

’tulang naga’. Kelima, adalah ketika ilmuwan-ilmuwan dari Barat datang ke desa

LuLing dan mengumumkan bahwa ’tulang naga’ sebenarnya adalah fosil-fosil

dari Manusia Peking.

  Sedangkan analisa terhadap hubungan antara karakter Ruth dengan simbol

’tulang’ adalah ketika Ruth berumur enam tahun, dia mengalami patah tulang dan

LuLing percaya bahwa Ruth bisa berkomunikasi dengan roh Precious Auntie. Di

sini ’tulang’ menjadi penghubung antara Ruth dengan kehidupan masa lampau

ibunya dan neneknya, Precious Auntie, yang tak pernah ia kenal.

  Dalam hal menganalisa kehidupan Precious Auntie, ada tiga hal penting

yang berhubungan dengan simbol ’tulang’. Pertama, selama 900 tahun keluarga

Precious Auntie telah menjadi tabib penyembuh tulang. Kedua, Precious Auntie

mempunyai sebuah tulang naga. Ketiga, ayah Precious Auntie adalah seorang

tabib tulang yang mengajari Precious Auntie bagaimana caranya menjadi seorang

tabib penyembuh tulang.

  Setelah ditelisik di antara ketiga karakter utama tersebut di atas, dapat

disimpulkan bahwa yang menjadi ’sang tabib penyembuh tulang’ itu adalah

Ruth

  , karena Ruth lah yang berusaha untuk menyatukan ’tulang-tulang sejarah yang hilang’ di antara dirinya, ibunya, LuLing, dan neneknya, Precious Auntie.

  Kesimpulan kedua mempunyai fokus tentang simbol tulang yang dapat

menguraikan nilai-nilai luhur Cina. Kosa kata bahasa Cina untuk ”tulang” adalah

”gu”. Dalam Bahasa Cina sendiri, kata ”gu” memiliki beberapa makna yaitu:

tulang, jurang, tua, paha, buta, butir padi, saudagar dan karakter. ” Tulang” juga

terlihat dalam pepatah Cina ” ada di dalam tulangmu” yang berarti ” itulah

karaktermu”. Istilah ini memiliki hubungan dengan tulang peramal, karena tulang

peramal digunakan untuk untuk menuliskan rekaman sejarah dari Dinasti Shang.

Hal ini berarti bahwa bangsa Cina percaya jika sejarah dan karakter seseorang

tertulis di dalam tulangnya. Yang menarik, nama asli Precious Auntie adalah Gu

Liu Xin. ‘Gu’ berarti ‘tulang’, dan ‘Liu Xin’ berarti ‘senantiasa benar’. Apalagi,

ayah Precious Auntie adalah seorang ‘dokter tulang’. Hal ini menambah semakin

kuatnya makna pada ‘tulang’ itu sendiri. Kemudian yang dapat digunakan sebagai

obat hanyalah tulang naga. Orang-orang Cina percaya bahwa mereka adalah

keturunan dari Naga, karena Naga dipercaya sebagai makhluk yang sakral dan

hebat bagi bangsa Cina. Dapat disimpulkan bahwa ”tulang” bisa diberi makna

sebagai ”obat”, yang bersumber pada pengetahuan lokal yang mencerminkan

”kebijaksanaan budaya timur”.

  Bangsa Cina mempercayai konsep YIN-YANG. Dalam hubungannya

dengan tulang, tulang naga adalah sebagai YIN, elemen feminin, karena tulang

naga tersembunyi di dalam gua yang dalam, dingin, dan dalam waktu yang lama,

sedangkan sarjana-sarjana Barat yang menemukan fosil Manusia Peking adalah

YANG, sang elemen maskulin. Hal ini dikarenakan mereka membawa : ”ilmu

pengetahuan barat” seperti teknologi, pengetahuan dan peralatan canggih

dibandingkan dengan Cina. Kombinasi dari ” kebijaksanaan budaya timur” dan ”

pengetahuan budaya barat” menjadi YIN-YANG yang harmonis. Hal ini

memperlihatkan bahwa Amy Tan ingin menyampaikan pesan bahwa Timur dan

Barat dapat mempunyai hubungan yang harmonis dan dalam kondisi yang

seimbang seperti YIN-YANG, jika mereka memiliki keinginan untuk belajar satu

sama lain dan menghargai perbedaan.

  Akhirnya, disamping saran-saran untuk para peneliti berikutnya, skripsi

ini menawarkan materi untuk mengajar bahasa Inggris dengan menggunakan

cuplikan dari novel The Bonesetter’s Daughter dalam pengajaran Intensive

Reading II.

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This first chapter consists of five parts. The first part is Background of the Study, which explains the reasons for choosing Amy Tan’s novel, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, and everything that is related to this study. The second one, Problem Formulation, states the problems to be analyzed in this study. In the third part, Objectives of the Study, the purpose of the study is presented. The fourth part

  identifies the advantages of this study in the Benefits of the Study. Finally, in order to avoid misunderstanding and misinterpretation on using the key words in this study, Definition of Terms is presented in the fifth part.

1.1 Background of the Study

  We live in a society with hundreds of culture surrounding us. It is the way the culture embraces us and puts the values on us. While in this earth we have millions of diversities in culture, it is always interesting to choose one of them and analyze it to learn more about something new.

  Edgar and Sedgwick state that ‘culture’ is not easily defined, not least because it can have different meanings in different contexts. Culture is the complex everyday world we all encounter and through which we all move. Culture begins at the point at which humans surpass whatever is simply given in their natural inheritance. The

  2 element of a culture. As such, the two most important or general elements of culture may be the ability of human beings to construct and to build, and the ability to use language (101-102).

  One of the exciting cultures to be noticed is Chinese culture. Hu explained that from the viewpoint of world history, the most significant event since World War

  II may well be the emergence of the China mainland of a dynamic, aggressive, and totalitarian government controlling the largest sector of the world’s population (1).

  Furthermore, Hu also clarified that the Chinese people are extraordinarily conscious of their history. They love to read and retell the past, which is like a mirror reflecting the present. Like other people, the Chinese possess a body of folklore concerning the creation of the world and the origin of their nation, but they have neither dignified their myths into a cult nor claimed divine descent as a chosen people. Their mythology begins with P’an Ku, the creator who was followed by a succession of mythical figures and semi divine beings from whom men learned and rudiments of civilization (2-3).

  Therefore, many literature works, such as novels, poems, and plays are written to tell the prosperous stories and myths. One of the literary works that the writer is interested in is The Bonesetter’s Daughter written by Amy Tan in 2001.

  In this novel, Amy Tan does not only tell about the Chinese culture and myths but also the relation with the Western culture. Being a Chinese who was raised in American way of life has inspired her to write novels about the culture clash which

  3 occurs between Chinese and American, and later becomes the source of conflicts between the characters in her novels.

  Padmanugraha said that Amy Tan, born in 1952, is one of the most notable figures in ethnic literature. With her first novel The Joy Luck Club, published in 1989, she is so prominent that she becomes “a household name”, besides receiving awards and being translated into several languages including Chinese (274).

  The writer has chosen The Bonesetter’s Daughter to analyze in this study because it contains symbols in myths and superstitions. Having finished reading the novel, the writer can feel the sense of darkness in the novel that carries many Chinese superstitions. For example, the Chinese belief that shooting stars are “melting ghost bodies” and it is a bad luck to see them (10), the fog is really the steam from fighting dragons, one water, the other fire (12), and “long hair look like suicide maiden” (23).

  The Bonesetter’s Daughter tells about the mother-daughter relationship named LuLing Young and Ruth who have different background of cultures. LuLing Young, who has judged to have dementia by the doctor, keeps her memory of her childhood and her longing for the real mother by writing down all of her stories in Chinese, while Ruth, a ghostwriter who has unmarried relationship with Art, finds that her mother is hiding her past from her. Soon, when she finds the pieces of LuLing’s writing in her drawer, she wants to reveal her mother’s memories. Her action of revealing her mother’s memories raises problems and conflicts in her life. It influences her relationship with her mother, her boyfriend, her colleagues at work,

  4 The Bonesetter’s Daughter is divided into two major stories. The first is about Ruth, a Chinese-American woman living in San Francisco. It tells about Ruth’s everyday life, her thoughts and childhood memories, her love story with Art, and her job as a ghostwriter. She worries that her elderly mother, LuLing, is gradually becoming increasingly demented. LuLing seems increasingly forgetful, and makes bizarre comments about her family and her own past. The second major story is about LuLing herself, as written for Ruth. Several years earlier, LuLing had written her life story in Chinese. It also reveals the existence of Precious Auntie.

  Precious Auntie or Bao Bomu is considered as a nursemaid in the LuLing’s family, but she loves LuLing very much. There are not many people in LuLing’s clan like her for she had an accident with fire which makes her unable to talk like normal people.

  Her half face was bumpy while the other half was smooth and melted closed. The inside of her right cheek was stiff as leather and the left was moist and soft. Where the gums had burned, the teeth had fallen out. And her tongue was like a parched root. She could not taste the pleasures of life: salty and bitter, sour and sharp, spicy, sweet, and fat. She often told LuLing about her father, the Famous Bonesetter from the Mouth of Mountain, about the cave where they found the dragon bones, how the bones were divine and could cure any pain, except a grieving heart (3).

  As a result, Ruth yearns to weave her memories with her mother’s memories and Precious Auntie’s memories who is truly her grandmother. She would like to know about her family history and recognize her forgotten grandmother. Thus, she arranges to have the document translated and learns the truth about her mother's life

  5 in China. Ruth wants to recollect the puzzles of her mother’s memories to find her own origin.

  Amy Tan uses ‘bone’ as the main symbol in the novel. Regarding this thought, the writer intends to conduct a study to analyze the symbol of bone found in this novel, its meaning, its representation in life, and its relation with the author’s intention to convey particular messages to the readers.

  1.2 Problem Formulation

  Based on the explanation of the background, the problems are formulated as follows:

  1. How is the symbol of bone presented in The Bonesetter’s Daughter?

  2. How does the symbol of bone manifest its meaning in conveying Chinese values?

  1.3 Objectives of the Study

  This study has two objectives. The first is aimed to discover the symbol of bone presented in The Bonesetter’s Daughter. The second aim is to propose the manifestation of the meaning of symbol bone in conveying Chinese values.

  1.4 Benefits of the Study

  The study of literary work has several advantages. For the writer, this study is an attempt to look deeper in understanding the life and its values. Related to the

  6 world of literature, this study is also expected to enrich the literary exploration on the works of Amy Tan in particular, and other Asian American authors in general.

  However, this study can also be addressed to the readers, who are mostly the students of English Language Education Study Program and English Letters Study Program. They can access the knowledge of the symbol used in Amy Tan’s novel, The Bonesetter’s Daughter that leads to the semiotics study for those who want to conduct an advance study on symbols and signifiers.

  Concerning the readers, this study can be beneficial as well as one of the references in conducting further research on the same novel.

1.5 Definition of Terms

  In analyzing this novel, it is necessary for the writer to highlight certain terms to provide an accurate analysis and a clearer explanation in answering the problems formulated. As the title is “The Symbol of Bone in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter” the writer will define the term of ‘symbol’.

  According to Abrams, a symbol in the broadest sense is anything which signifies something; in this sense all words are symbols. In discussing literature, however, the term symbol is applied only to a word or phrase that signifies an object or event which in its turn signifies something, or has a range of reference, beyond itself. Some symbols are “conventional” or “public”: thus “the Cross”, “the Red, White, and Blue”, and “the Good Shepherd” are terms that refer to symbolic objects of which the further significance is determinate within a particular culture (206).

  7 While Mallon state 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 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).

  Yet, Rohrberger and Woods explain that symbols are not things invented by an author to confuse the reader, not strange objects with far-fetched meanings arbitrarily attached to them; but they are, in literature as in life, a vital part of our experience. A cross in a building says that it is some way connected to Christianity.

  This call as “public”, “common”, or “conventional” symbols. Just as their meanings are understood in life, so are literary symbols. This use of the symbol in literature does not offer many difficulties, even for the untrained reader. But occasionally authors use symbols in a more complex way. The symbol, by definition, stands for something beyond itself and often for many things. The only way to tell what symbolic identification the author wishes to make is by reference to the author’s use of his symbol within his text (15-16).

  However, Edgar & Sedgwick notify that symbol is a word with a variety of meanings. Usually, the word ‘symbol’ is taken as referring to a sign or action of some

  8 of norms and conventions. A symbol therefore communicates a meaning because it stands for something else, although there is no necessary connection between it and what it stands for (394). g É áàxtÄ |wxtá yÜÉÅ ÑxÜáÉÇ |á ÑÄtz|tÜ|áÅ?

  àÉ áàxtÄ |wxtá yÜÉÅ ÅtÇç |á ÜxáxtÜv{ @TÇÉÇçÅÉâá@

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This chapter contains the description of the literature that is related to this

  study. This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part is Review of Related Theories, which consists of the theory of literature critical approach. The second part contains a review of Chinese mythology, a general knowledge on the symbol of Bone and a review on Peking Man, continued with Theoretical Framework on the last part.

2.1 Theories of Literature

  The theory used in this study is taken from the fields of Literature, which is Critical Approaches to Literature to assist the writer to analyze the manifestation of the meaning of symbol bone in conveying Chinese values.

  According to Rohrberger and Woods, there are five kind critical approaches to the literature. They are the formalist approach, the biographical approach, the sociocultural-historical approach, the mythopoeic approach, and psychological approach (3). The formalist approach concentrates on the importance to apprehend the total integrity of the literary work, so this kind of approach points out how the meaning of literary works is delivered from the structure itself (6-7).

  The biographical approach states that the necessity for an appreciation of the ideas, life background and personality of the author to dig the understanding of the literary objects. It can be said that this approach uses the biography of the author as

  10 analyze the literary work based on the civilization around the author when he made the story. So, in this approach the attitudes and actions at a specific group of people become the subject matter (9).

  The mythopoeic approach 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 (11).

  The last approach is the psychological approach which involves the effort to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent patterns – that is psychology. This approach uses the theory of human psychology as the references to analyze the characters in a story. It asserts that each character’s behavior could be referred to the psychology of human beings. Through this approach, the character’s thought and behavior can be analyzed more deeply (13-14).

  The mythopoeic approach will be used to analyze The Bonesetter's Daughter.

2.2 Reviews on Chinese Mythology: Bone and Peking Man

  This section has five parts, which discuss about the Chinese mythology, the meaning of the symbol of bone, a review on Oracle Bone, which is considered as ‘dragon bone’, and a review on Peking Man.

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2.2.1 The Chinese Mythology

  Millidge state that the Chinese people have never demanded a clear separation of the worlds of myth and reality. Indeed, they are so closely bound up that it is hard to say where one begins and the other ends. Historical figures are made into gods and myths are recounted as history (7).

  The myths have intertwined itself in the Chinese culture that the tendency of linking the fact and fantasy is big. It also indicates the power and importance of ‘mythology’ in the Chinese tradition. There is a good example of fact which happened on the days of China revolutionary:

  Chairman Mao, in the heyday of the Cultural Revolution (1968-1978), was often seen as the all-powerful god responsible for all good things that happened. When an airline hostess could offer the explanation that ‘there is no need to wear safety belt, because Mao, the Great Helmsman is in charge’, the feeling is conveyed the superhuman characters with fantastic powers, like those that inhabited the ancient texts (7).

  In addition, 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. Dragon is also regarded as wise creature, and it was popularly supposed that each one had a ‘pearl of wisdom’ in his mouth. Scholars and sages were known as ‘dragon men’ (29-30). Dragons represent the male yang element (60).

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2.2.2 The Symbol of Bone

  Chevalier, Alain, John Buchanan-Brown state that the symbolism of bones follows two main lines of development. In the first place the bones are the framework of the body and its essential and relatively permanent element. Second, bones contain marrow, as the shell contains the almond. In the first instance, bones are the symbol of resoluteness, strength and virtue (St. Martin). In this context it is worth quoting the ‘bone of my bones’ of Genesis 2:23. Bones are essential and somehow primordial element of the being (109).