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Part One: Chapter Three
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Bonesetter’s Daughter, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Secrecy and Misunderstanding
Memory, Culture, and the Past
Storytelling
Women’s Solidarity
Summary
Analysis
It’s the night of the Full Moon Festival, and the Fountain Court restaurant is packed. Ruth picked the restaurant for the family reunion because it’s one of the few places her LuLing actually likes. Today, Ruth is on edge because Miriam, her husband, and their two sons, Andy and Beauregard, will be joining them. Ruth had initially protested when Art broached the subject with her. Still, Art said Miriam was insistent and claimed it was “just a dinner,” which offended Ruth, who had taken great pride in hosting what is essentially Chinese thanksgiving for the first time. Reluctantly, Ruth called the restaurant to adjust the headcount and order more food for four people who don’t even like Chinese food.
The Full Moon Festival (or the Moon Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival) is a holiday celebrated in China to celebrate the end of the harvest. It’s one of Chinese culture’s most important holidays. Hosting the family reunion dinner means a lot to Ruth, yet she quickly acquiesces to Art’s request that Miriam attends, even though she doesn’t want her there. Ruth’s immediate surrender shows how overly accommodating she can be: she’s willing to compromise on the things she cares about in order to please others. In this way, she silences herself by putting others’ needs above her own.
Themes
Art’s parents, Arlene and Marty Kamen, arrive first and exchange polite cheek kisses with Ruth. In the casual restaurant, the Kamens’ fancy clothing stands out. Ruth realizes that Miriam also dresses this way and feels alienated from this side of Art’s life. While the Kamens adore Miriam, they never quite took to Ruth, and Ruth suspects they blame her for Art and Miriam’s failure to reconcile years back. Meanwhile, while Miriam and Art’s children make her forever a part of the Kamens’ lives, Ruth has no such permanent ties. Ruth forces herself to greet Miriam and Stephen warmly when they arrive, though she feels slightly awkward. Ruth’s cousin, Billy, and his second wife, Dawn, arrive next, accompanied by their four children.
Art’s parents greet Ruth kindly but impersonally, emphasizing the fact that Ruth has been unable to establish a close bond with them. Her anxieties about her impermanent place in Art’s life reflect the high value she places on culture and family, but she remains somewhat of an outsider when it comes to Art’s family.
Themes
Sally, a loud and extroverted aeronautical engineer, arrives next. Her husband George, a violinist, and their two boys follow her. George is a nice but passive man who mostly follows Sally’s lead in social situations. Wendy and Joe arrive next, followed by Gideon, who is immaculately dressed and carrying a bouquet of expensive flowers. LuLing, GaoLing, and Uncle Edmund arrive next. As LuLing beams at Ruth from across the restaurant, Ruth feels suddenly sad that their relationship can’t be like this all the time.
Like LuLing's relationship with Precious Auntie, Ruth's relationship with LuLing is primarily characterized by guilt and regret. Seeing LuLing's smiling face from across the restaurant makes Ruth admonish herself for not trying harder to make her mother happy.
Themes
Ruth wishes LuLing, Auntie Gal, and Uncle Edmund a Happy Full Moon. Fia and Dory arrive just as everyone settles down at the table. They hug Art’s parents but not LuLing. Soon, the appetizers arrive. When the plate of seasoned jellyfish, LuLing’s favorite, reaches Art’s children’s side of the table, they mock it loudly, claiming it’s a platter of worms. The other dishes, too, fail to impress them. Ruth had thought the kids would like the glutinous rice cakes, but she was wrong. When Sally’s son, Nicky, knocks over a water glass, LuLing scolds him. Ruth wishes her mother could be more compassionate. She also notices that Art is on his second glass of wine and engaged in a lively discussion with Miriam.
Even though Art’s family members are guests of Ruth’s, they fail to show her the proper respect, as Fia and Dory make fun of the Chinese dishes, ultimately demonstrating an overall lack of tolerance for other cultures and traditions. Ruth has faced similar experiences throughout her life, and though one might assume that such things would make her angry, she seems to have a different way of responding: namely, by accommodating others and overlooking the many ways in which the people around her demonstrate cultural insensitivity and racism.
Themes
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The main dishes arrive, which go over better than the first round of dishes. Auntie Gal tells Ruth that she and LuLing were almost arrested when they went to lunch last week after LuLing incorrectly insisted that they’d already paid their bill. Auntie Gal laughs and tells Ruth that she gave LuLing ginseng root to cure her confusion. Ruth remains silent as Auntie Gal laughs and recounts other recent instances of LuLing’s absentmindedness. Inwardly, she anguishes over her mother’s affliction and tries to make herself believe it’s only depression.
Auntie Gal intends for her story about LuLing forgetting to pay the restaurant bill to be amusing, but Ruth sees it as further confirmation of LuLing’s dementia, though her mother is yet to be officially diagnosed by the doctor. Still, Ruth continues to minimize LuLing’s condition because it’s too difficult for her to accept that her mother will become severely ill before Ruth has had the chance to work on their relationship.
Themes
Later, during dessert, Ruth stands up and speaks about family, traditions, and the past. Even though the gathering has been stressful for Ruth, she knows it’s essential to maintain her ties to her cousins. Next, Ruth presents her gift to LuLing and Auntie Gal: a restored photo of the sisters as girls posing with their mother. When Sally teases LuLing about looking sad in the photo, LuLing calmly replies that she was sad because her mother had just died. Ruth assumes her mother had misheard Sally and reminds her that she’s standing next to her mother in the picture, but LuLing insists that the woman isn’t her mother, and GaoLing isn’t her sister.
LuLing’s probable illness and the threat of losing her seems to have reminded Ruth of the importance of maintaining ties to her extended family. Even though LuLing’s shocking remark about Precious Auntie is true, Ruth doesn’t know this and assumes the claim is yet another example of the confused, erratic behavior LuLing has exhibited as of late. Ruth’s ignorance illustrates how little she knows of her mother’s life.
Themes
Everyone tries to laugh off LuLing’s obvious mistake, but LuLing refuses to drop the subject. Instead, she pulls a photo of Precious Auntie from her wallet and tells Ruth that this is her (LuLing’s) mother. Ruth looks intently at the photo, which was taken before Precious Auntie’s accident had disfigured her face, and before she’d committed suicide when LuLing was 14. Ruth tries to reason with her mother, but LuLing won’t budge: Precious Auntie was her real mother.
LuLing reaffirms the claim she made in the novel’s opening section about Precious Auntie being her mother. Ruth’s unwillingness to believe the claim is reasonable, given the forgetfulness LuLing has suffered lately. There’s an element of tragedy in the fact that LuLing’s decision to speak the truth about her past coincides with the onset of her dementia. She has taken too long to tell the truth, and now her psychological state prevents her from being taken seriously.
Themes
LuLing changes the subject to give Ruth her gift, which turns out to be Hawaiian pearls that Ruth had hastily given LuLing after forgetting her birthday while she and Art were vacationing in Hawaii. The pearls are cheap costume jewelry, but LuLing had believed they were expensive and bragged about them to everyone. Her false pride made Ruth feel ashamed. Ruth’s shame returns when LuLing passes the cheap necklace around the table to show everyone her prized pearls. She winces, suspecting that everyone, especially Miriam and the Kamens, must recognize that the pearls are phony.
The pearls are a visceral, glaring reminder of how readily Ruth deceives LuLing to avoid confrontation and disappointment. Just because lying comes naturally to Ruth doesn’t mean she enjoys it. Her shame weighs on her, reminding her of her persistent failure to be a better daughter to LuLing. LuLing's pride in the junk jewelry and the daughter who gifted it to her compounds Ruth's shame, for it's a glaring reminder of the truth she has kept from LuLing: that neither the pearls nor the daughter who gifted them are as authentic as LuLing believes them to be.
Themes
Art returns the pearls to LuLing after they’ve made their way around the table. LuLing notices Ruth’s pained expression and asks what’s bothering her in Mandarin. Dory accuses them of using “spy talk.” Ruth hesitates before whispering to her mother that she’s bothered by Miriam’s presence at the dinner. LuLing consoles her daughter, telling Ruth not to talk to Art tomorrow and make him buy her a gift as lovely as the pearls. Ruth’s eyes fill with tears as she grips the pearls in her hands.
Dory’s derisive phrase, “spy talk,” demonstrates the lack of respect Dory and Fia have for Ruth, even though she is their (unofficial) stepmother. It also shows Dory’s cultural insensitivity. Still, LuLing’s show of solidarity touches Ruth. She cries because she wishes LuLing could be supportive like this more often. In reality, though, most of what LuLing has offered Ruth over the years has been harsh criticism or silent disappointment.
Themes
