《接骨师之女》中的家庭观分析_英语论文

An Analysis of Family Values in The Bonesetter’s Daughter

摘要

《接骨师之女》自问世之时就受到了文学界和读者的关注和好评。和喜福会一样，该书的主题仍然是母女亲情。但是不同于喜福会，接骨师之女将全部笔墨集中于一个家庭中的母女三代，将三代人的情感误解与母女深情娓娓道来。纵观全文，冲突始终都作为一条主线牵引情节的发展，而家庭观则是冲突的深层原因。文章主人公所呈现出的家庭价值观的丰富性和复杂性，也正是本文的研究价值所在。

本文试图以该篇小说中蕴含的家庭观为切入点， 以一个传统中国家庭和一个西方家庭为例，探讨其中所存在的种种家庭伦理现象，包括亲子关系，母女关系，婚姻关系等等，以此探索当今日益多元化的社会不同的家庭观应如何共存的问题。 

首先，本文分析了小说三代女性身上体现的家庭观的传承和变革。小说中的三代女性，宝姨、如灵和如意，他们所代表的家庭观，既受到上一代的影响，也有其独特的时代烙印。无一例外，在家庭的亲子关系中，他们严苛而又无私的爱着孩子，同时又时刻牢记孝道，这是家庭观的传承。但是，在婚姻关系中，三代人分别又有着截然不同的价值追求，体现了家庭观在不同文化背景下的嬗变。

其次，本文具体分析小说中以露丝为代表的东方家庭和以亚特为代表的西方家庭观存在的明显差异。东西方的家庭观差异主要体现在他们在对待子女、婚姻、和父母的不同态度上。小说中的第三代女性，如意在与亚特组成的“跨国婚姻”中，她的许多做法和观念都体现了传统家庭观的烙印。比如永远以家人为先，主动承担赡养老人的责任，追求婚姻的保证。但是亚特则代表了截然不同的西方价值观。即使是家人，他也认为每个家庭成员的权利都要得到平等的保证，不希望受婚姻的束缚，在得知如灵的老年痴呆症，也仅认为这是如意的事情，自己并不需要承担赡养责任。

最后，本文分析造成家庭观殊途的主要原因是文化背景的差异，而家庭教育则是家庭观得以传承的渊源。儒家推崇的“孝悌”思想对中国传统家庭观产生了深远的影响，小说三代女性一脉相承的孝道观和亲子观是最好的印证。然而在西方，截然不同的文化背景造就了截然不同的家庭观，这也解释了为何亚特会在家庭成员的利益分配上寻求绝对公平。世界全球化的进程为不同文化背景的人们创造了交流沟通的机会，跨国婚姻和国际移民屡见不鲜。不同文化背景造就的家庭冲突只会只增不减，本文最后提出相互理解是解决各种家庭冲突的有效途径。

关键词：接骨师之女；家庭观 ；谭恩美；家庭矛盾

Abstract 

Since the publication, the novel, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, has received widespread attention as well as acclaim, which deals explicitly with mother-daughter relationships as her previous masterpiece, The Joy Luck Club. However, unlike The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan unfolds the story throughout emotional experiences of the three women generations belonging to one typical family. Overall, the family conflict is performing as a plot device in the novel, which mainly resulted from family values indeed. The complexity and diversity of family values in Tan’s novel are exactly the value of this thesis.

Based on various family values embodied in the novel, the thesis take a traditional Chinese family and a western family as an example to analyze family relationships including parents-offspring relationship, mother-daughter relationship, marital relationship, so as to answer the question about how to bring diversified family values into coexistence in a multicultural society.

First, the thesis analyzes the continuity and transformation of Chinese family values held by the three women. The family values represented by the three women generations, the precious aunt, LuLing and Ruth, are mutual products shaped by family members and the time. In parents-offspring relationships, there is no exception that they have dedicated all of their love to their children, harsh but selfless, with finial piety in mind, which shows the continuity of family values. However, they have different views of marriage, demonstrating the transformation of family values.

Second, the thesis compares the family value in a western and a Chinese family respectively, which lies in their attitudes towards parents-offspring relationship, marriage and finial piety. Ruth is the third generation in the novel who has been so profoundly affected by Chinese family value that a majority of her daily behavior and thoughts have been deeply formatted by Chinese family value. For example, she gives priority to other family members, shouldering the responsibility of taking care of the old and chasing for a registered marriage. In contrast, Art is a spokesman for the western family value, who believes that the right of each family member should be equality guaranteed and expects a love relation without bondage. When LuLing is diagnosed with dementia, he doesn’t consider it as something that he should take care of.

Last, the thesis concludes that different cultural backgrounds are the major cause of distinctive family values, while the family education leads to the continuity of family values. China has been deeply influenced by Confucianism. In the west, different cultural backgrounds result in different family values, which accounts for Art’s pursuit of absolute fairness. The globalization has created numerous opportunities for people from different culture backgrounds to communicate with each other. Cases of transnational marriage and immigration have been more and more common and the family conflicts will only keep increasing, so the thesis offers a key to family reconciliation-- mutual understanding. 

Key words: The Bonesetter’s Daughter; family value; Amy Tan; family conflict

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 A Brief Introduction to the Novel 1

1.2 Literature Review 1

1.3 Significance of the Study 4

2. The Continuity and Transformation of Chinese Family Values Held by the Three Women 5

2.1 Major Parts of Chinese Family Values that Remain Unchanged 5

2.1.1 Family Responsibility Invariably Existing in Three Generations 5

2.1.2 Finial Consciousness Invariably Existing in Three Generations 6

2.2 Views of Marriage Taking Different Shapes in Three Generations 7

2.2.1 Precious Aunt’s View of Marriage—Departed from the Traditional Practice 7

2.2.2 Luling’s View of Marriage ---Fettered by Backward Social Values and Unrest 7

1.2.3Ruth’s View of Marriage—Extreme Pursuit for Love and Freedom 8

3. The Conflicts between Western and Eastern Family Values 9

3.1 Different Views of Parents-offspring Relationship 9

3.1.1 The Equality in Views of Western Parents-offspring Relationship 9

3.1.2 The Patriarchy in Chinese Views of Parents-Offspring Relationship 9

3.2 Different Views of Marriage 10

3.2.1 The Spirit of Freedom in Western Views of Marriage 10

3.2.2 Responsibility and Material Condition in Chinese Views of Marriage 10

3.3 Different Views of Finial Piety 11

3.3.1 Imprint of Finial Piety in Chinese Family Value 11

3.3.2 Invisible Trace of Finial Piety in Western Family Value 12

4.  Major Causes and Key to Rapport of Distinctive Family Values 13

4.1 Cultural Backgrounds 13

4.2 Family Education 13

4.3 Mutual Understanding 14

5.Conclusion 17

Reference 18