The Pathology of Neurasthenia in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter

Abstract

Amy Tan eloquently highlights the pathology of neurasthenia in The Bonesetter’s daughter, where she presents the three female characters, Precious Auntie, Luling, and Ruth, who rebel against the embodiment of the enlightened ideologies that constantly attempt to oppress their de-enlightened souls and to dismantle the grounds for madness. Precious Auntie expresses the symptoms of neurasthenia through her obsession with ancestral spirits and ghosts, and Luling suffers from her neurasthenic symptoms through the obsession with the spiritual power of her mother. Ruth also reveals neurasthenic reactions to her own multicultural identity, experiencing the traces of depression, nervousness, and anxiety. They all experience the clinical symptoms of neurasthenia, and it should be noted that the revelation of madness plays the role as a replenishing power that can actually heal their psychological wounds and let them move forward to the spiritual world of eternity. Tan alludes to the plurality of the human psyche by presenting such traits as instability, incoherence, and inconsistency in the narrative.