Yin And Yang Character Analysis

Balancing the Yin and the Yang: Expedition towards Harmony in

The Bonesetters Daughter by Amy Tan

Asians began immigrating to the United States in 1849. The immigrants from Asia and America of Asian descent have been writing in America since the 19th century. But, Asian American literature as a branch of writing came into being only in the early 1970s. Since then, the field of Asian American literature and of Asian American literary criticism has grown rapidly. The Chinese immigrated to America in order to escape the turmoil of war fought against Japan. The Chinese Americans contribute to a major population among the emigrant settlers in America.

The Chinese American novels widened their thematic scope in the 1960s with the Vietnam

The first is opposition. The yin and the yang are opposites relative to each other. The second concept is interdependency. One cannot exist without the other for each contains the essence of the other. We will always have yin within yang and yang within yang. The third concept is the idea of transforming and interchangeable. So yin turns into yang and yang turns into yin and this cycle repeats itself over and over. Night becomes day, and day becomes night. Summer turns into winter and winter turns into summer. Yin and Yang is the concept of duality forming a whole. The dynamic character of Yin and Yang is illustrated by the ancient Chinese symbol T’ai-chi T’u which is called the ‘diagram of supreme ultimate’. These equal parts balance and complement each other as opposites in the world and the universe naturally balance and complement one another. Balance is different from harmony. Balance is the first step towards harmony and harmony is the ever changing state of balance. When two elements are in harmony their energies are not just equally proportional but they are blended together in a seeming whole. To be in harmony we must balance the yin and yang energy in the body and in our lifestyle.

The Bonesetter's Daughter captures the lives of three generations of women: Gu Liu Xin called as Precious Auntie the Chinese grandmother, LuLing the immigrant Chinese mother, Ruth the American born Chinese daughter. It is a haunting story of the mother-daughter relationship, memories of past, cultural complexity, secrets , revelations , reconciliation, strengths and weaknesses of human spirit and psyche and the significance of the memory lane and secrets passed on from one generation to