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
Ruth holds LuLing’s hand as she walks her back to the hospital parking garage. She tries to wrap her head around her mother’s diagnosis: dementia. Dr. Huey told Ruth that the results of LuLing’s MRI were consistent with Alzheimer’s and that the disease had likely begun to progress years ago. LuLing jokingly asks Ruth if the doctor said she’d die soon. Ruth struggles to explain the diagnosis in a way LuLing will understand. When Ruth cautiously tells her mother the doctor is concerned about her memory, LuLing scoffs, claiming she can remember many things.
LuLing’s dementia diagnosis is bizarre for Ruth to accept because LuLing has spent so many years using her death as a threat to guilt Ruth into behaving. Now that LuLing’s death is a real possibility, Ruth can’t help but feel that she is being punished, even though she knows this reasoning is illogical, more akin to the superstitious foolishness she associates with LuLing’s fear of curses and ghosts.
Themes
This was three months ago. Since then, LuLing has come for dinner at Ruth and Art’s house almost every night. Tonight, LuLing nearly spits out the salmon Ruth prepared, claiming it’s too salty. Dory tells LuLing that Ruth didn’t add any salt to the salmon, but Fia kicks her underneath the table. Since Dr. Huey’s diagnosis, Ruth sees what she’d previously regarded to be her mother’s stubborn personality in an entirely new light and realizes signs of her worsening dementia had been there all along.
Inviting LuLing for dinner more often is Ruth’s way of atoning for her feeling that she has been an inadequate daughter for most of her life. At the same time, LuLing’s diagnosis prompts Ruth to regard her mother’s stubborn behavior more sympathetically.
Themes
Fia asks Art if they can get a new cat, mentioning her friend Alice’s new Himalayan. Art says maybe. Ruth remains silent but feels betrayed: she’d already told him she wasn’t ready to get a new cat so soon after Fu-Fu’s death. Suddenly, LuLing interjects to recall when she drove to Himalaya, which confuses the whole table. It’s clear that simple word association prompted LuLing to tell this story, but Ruth wonders where LuLing’s delusion about driving to Himalaya came from. Finally, she realizes the connection and mentions the documentary about Tibet she and her mother watched last week. LuLing loses her temper, upset by everyone insinuating that she’s crazy.
Art's tepid agreement to get a new cat is another instance in which he disrespects Ruth, who previously expressed her desire not to get a new cat until she's finished mourning Fu-Fu. It's impossible to know whether LuLing's remark about Himalaya contains a kernel of truth or is merely a moment of confusion brought on by her dementia. Ruth's ignorance about her mother's life causes her to overestimate the extent to which LuLing's degenerative disease impacts the truthfulness of what she says. For example, Ruth assumes LuLing's dementia is what prompted her to identify Precious Auntie as her mother at the family reunion dinner, but readers know that LuLing was, in fact, telling the truth.
Themes
After Fia and Dory retreat to their bedroom to do homework and LuLing leaves to use the bathroom, Ruth confronts Art to voice her concerns about LuLing’s worsened condition and her hesitation to leave her alone when they go to Hawaii. Art asks Ruth what she—not they—plan to do about it. Since the Full Moon Festival dinner, it’s become more evident to Ruth how she and Art have failed to become a family, though she knows she can’t blame Art, who had been upfront from the beginning about not wanting to marry again. Art suggests that Ruth hire someone to keep tabs on LuLing while she’s away and call Meals on Wheels to deliver food to her. He continues, suggesting that Ruth begin the meal delivery service right away—not that LuLing isn’t welcome for dinner, of course.
In referring to LuLing as Ruth's problem, Art distances his life from Ruth's. Ruth has made countless efforts to ensure that Art's life fits into her own; after all, Art's two daughters from his previous marriage live with them part-time, and Ruth has become a stepmother to the girls, despite not being married to Art. And yet, Art doesn’t seem willing to take on the burden of Ruth’s challenges. However, Ruth doesn’t seem to have actually confronted Art about this imbalance in their relationship, so it’s possible that he would rectify his insensitivity if she brought it to his attention.
Themes
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LuLing rejects the idea of hiring a housekeeper when Ruth mentions it to her later on, complaining about the cost. Ruth lies, claiming the service is a free training program that gives immigrants work experience. She feels guilty when LuLing immediately accepts this explanation and agrees to the arrangement. However, the housekeeper quits in response to LuLing’s constant complaining. Ruth begins to check on LuLing a few times a week while she desperately tries to find a replacement. She makes excuses about being in town for a work assignment, and LuLing accuses her of putting work before family.
While Ruth recognizes that lying to LuLing has damaged their relationship, LuLing’s dementia now gives Ruth no choice but to lie in order to protect her mother and keep her safe.
Themes
The housekeepers continue to quit. Ruth grows increasingly tired and irritable, and she finally tells Art to go to Hawaii without her. She tries to work in the empty house but feels anxious and unsettled. Gideon calls to tell her that the Internet Spirituality author fired her. Ruth feels relieved, though she knows she should be angry. Gideon expresses concern about her being so careless lately.
Ruth’s decision to tell Art to go to Hawaii without her marks a distinct shift in her priorities: in the beginning, she seemed more concerned about her relationship with Art. Knowing that her time with LuLing is limited, though, she now prioritizes caring for her sick mother. Gideon’s criticism of Ruth’s supposed carelessness confirms what Ruth has long feared: if she fails to accommodate others—even if it means overextending herself and being a pushover—they will reject her.
Themes
Later that evening, when Ruth calls LuLing to remind her that she’ll be picking her up to go to dinner at Fountain Court, LuLing doesn’t answer the phone. After more unanswered phone calls, Ruth drives to her mother’s house, anxiously imagining the worst-case scenarios for LuLing’s silence. When Ruth arrives, LuLing is nowhere in sight. An annoyed Francine explains that LuLing stormed out of the house dressed in pajamas sometime before.
LuLing’s dementia has drastically worsened over the past few months. Ruth has inherited LuLing’s predisposition to worry, and now, her fears are finally warranted.
Themes
Ruth calls the police, but LuLing returns before the officer finishes his report. Ruth spends the night at LuLing’s. She inspects the place more closely and is horrified at the disarray. Ruth calls Art in Hawaii but gets no answer. She calls GaoLing, who refuses to believe the Alzheimer’s diagnosis, insisting that LuLing will get better if she continues to take ginseng. Even though GaoLing downplays the seriousness of LuLing’s condition, Ruth is relieved when she offers to come over and watch LuLing for her.
Cultural differences lead GaoLing to dispute the severity of LuLing’s condition. In Chinese culture (as well as other Asian cultures), ginseng, the root of a plant, is used to treat various illnesses, from memory problems like LuLing’s to diabetes.
Themes
