Trauma and the Healing Process in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the different aspects of traumas and investigate the healing process portrayed in Asian American writer Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter. In this novel, the main characters, are three generations of women who experience a series of traumatic events, such as death, oppression, and so on. In addition, they reveal some representative symptoms of trauma, such as disconnection, hyper-arousal, depression, negative attitude towards life, and abnormal interpretative abilities. However, through writing, reconciliation of the mother-daughter relationship, and re-connection with other people, they gradually overcome the destructive and everlasting aftermath of the trauma, healing from their respective traumas to some extent. As Amy Tan’s most autobiographical fiction, The Bonesetter’s Daughter is closely related to the author’s personal and family traumas. Through rewriting her personal and family traumas in her novel, the author Tan cleanses her long concealed traumatic memories from her mind, and can heal from both her personal and family traumas to some degree. Despite the prevailing skeptical attitude towards healing from trauma, Tan reveals her positive stance, showing the possibility of healing from trauma through her literary works. Tan not only provides insightful notions about trauma and healing from trauma, but also sheds light on representation of trauma in Asian American literature.