The Bonesetter’s Daughter: Part Three: Chapter One Summary & Analysis

Ruth goes out of her way to offer to do something for LuLing that she had previously only done when LuLing asked. Her attitude toward her mother shifts as she begins to see LuLing as a priority rather than a burden. Similarly, rather than disregarding LuLing’s opinions about her relationship, Ruth considers them objectively and comes to see that her mother’s observations have some truth to them.

Living apart from Art helps Ruth understand how unequal their relationship has become over the years. Her desire for acceptance led her to “accommodate” him repeatedly at the expense of her own needs.

Ruth has reversed her priorities since the beginning of the novel. She’s beginning to appreciate the countless sacrifices LuLing has made in comparison to the limited sacrifices Art has made to accommodate her needs.

Dory’s remark shows that Ruth’s earlier anxieties about the girls not needing her were unwarranted. Ruth’s stay at LuLing’s place teaches Art and his daughters that they’ve taken Ruth for granted. On the other hand, Ruth has also become more receptive toward acknowledging the good things in her life and accepting love. She’s more receptive of the girls’ and Art’s love because she believes that she deserves it.

Mr. Tang believes that LuLing’s story will ensure that the woman she was before dementia took hold of her still lives on, even as her condition worsens. Implicit in his theory is the notion that writing has a permanence that outlasts the decaying body and persists across time. LuLing knows this, too, which is why she felt it necessary to commit her story to paper in the first place.

LuLing’s bashfulness reflects her attraction to Mr. Tang, whose career as an intellectual possibly reminds her of her first husband, Kai Jing. LuLing’s positive reaction to Mr. Tang pleases Ruth because it shows that LuLing is still willing to accept love into her life. Her mother has long been miserable and closed off from the world, yet Mr. Tang’s willingness to listen to her story validates her experiences and shows her the value of opening up to others. LuLing’s memory loss is bittersweet. Her dementia is by no means a fortunate development in her life. But the new distance it creates between LuLing and the memories that used to completely control her life and restrict her happiness gives her a new sort of freedom.

At long last, LuLing reads her mother’s story. Unfortunately, like LuLing before her, Ruth reads the story too late to repair her relationship with her mother. Although LuLing is still alive, her illness means she and Ruth won’t really be able to make amends, just as LuLing couldn’t make amends with Precious Auntie by burying her bones. Still, reading the story is a profoundly meaningful experience for Ruth. It enables her to make peace in her own heart and begin letting go of her unresolved resentfulness toward LuLing for the way she treated Ruth in childhood. She also relates to her mother in a way she never has before. When Ruth remarks how LuLing’s desire to bury Precious Auntie’s bones was LuLing’s way of saying, “I’m sorry and I forgive you, too,” she repurposes the apology that she wrote in her journal as a teenager—something she couldn’t bring herself to convey to LuLing in person. She sees herself, her mother, and Precious Auntie as flawed women who share as much trauma and hurt as they do tradition and pride. All though each woman has inflicted harm on another, they are still worthy of forgiveness and closure, and no wrongdoing is wretched enough to sever the familial ties that bind them to each other.

Ruth’s newfound ability to be open with Art prompts Art to respond with a new openness toward Ruth. Oddly, her efforts to accommodate him and not create conflict were part of what created friction in their relationship all along. However, once Ruth is open with Art and begins to assert herself, conflict begins to lessen, and Art recognizes how important Ruth is to him. It was secrecy that drove them apart, just as secrecy drove Ruth and LuLing apart.

The old Ruth might have accepted Art’s overtures of love to accommodate his wishes and make him happy, but the new Ruth prioritizes her own needs and pauses to consider whether she is interested in repairing her relationship with Art. Reading LuLing’s manuscript puts Ruth more in touch with her family and herself.

This letter is another clever instance in which events from Ruth’s life parallel events from LuLing’s. Art’s letter from the “California Department of Public Safety” is a thematic variation on the forged letter from the Japanese Army that GaoLing and Sister Yu delivered to Fu Nan to trick him into believing Japanese soldiers had captured GaoLing. Creating these links shows how Ruth’s life is an extension of LuLing’s: the culmination of inherited traits, traumas, and circumstances.

Mr. Patel’s comment about the orchids moves Ruth because it reminds her of LuLing’s endearing love for her. LuLing’s illness puts Ruth in an incredibly difficult situation. She feels she owes it to LuLing to care for her in her old age, yet LuLing’s condition requires around-the-clock care that Ruth simply cannot provide.

Art's insistence on paying for LuLing's stay reflects his overall development. In paying for LuLing's treatment, he shows that he is willing to absorb Ruth's life into his, taking on her challenges as though they are his.