Bone Ng Ona Quotes With Page Numbers
In Bone, Ng commentates on the fragility of an immigrant’s position through the experiences of a Chinese immigrant, Leila. Fractured by time before and after Ona’s suicide; colored in perception by historical discrepancies in identity; torn in position between inside and outside Chinatown; Leila must repair semblances of two lives to save herself from becoming nothing. Moreover, Ng captures the vulnerability of immigrants by employing ambiguous language, multifaceted layers of translation, and applying elusive qualities to constitute an individual fully immersed in American or Chinese culture. On the edge of nothing and otherness, Leila’s expression of her experiences allows her to find her identity within the context of America.
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In Chinese, Leila’s surname, Fu, has the same pronunciation as many other significant characters that would relate to the novel. For example, Fu could represent 父(Fù) father, showing her connection to her biological father with a play on the pronunciation. Fu could also be associated with 付 (Fù) to pay, showing the family had to pay for their bad luck with the loss of Ona. Also, Fu could mean 福 (Fú) good fortune, which is the character used to show luck around the Chinese New Year, the time of Ona’s death. The last Fu, 福 (Fú), is hung upside down around Chinese New Year as well to symbolize the coming of good fortune since the character turned upside down resembles 到 (Dào), arrival. Any of the associations of Fu provide interesting connections to the novel, but Ng leaves the association ambiguous. Ng provides more information in Leila’s description that it sounds like the word for bitter, 苦 (Kǔ). However, the tone marks used in pronouncing kǔ do not match with any known pronunciation of Fu. In fact, every pronunciation of a Chinese character in the novel does not have pinyin tone marks, which help English learners understand which character is spoken about depending on the context. Without tone marks or characters, interpreting the meaning of words in the novel relies solely on the information Ng provides, emphasizing the limitations of language translation. In addition to translating the novel, Leila works as a translator in a school district. Leila describes her job as a bridge between parents and teachers to open up communication. Working with mostly recent immigrants, Leila’s position becomes exceedingly frustrating since the job description on paper does not fully depict the reality. Attempting to capture the hardship for the immigrants, Leila emphasizes how their jobs bleed into one another in a stream of collective worries. The association of jobs
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