Navigating the Maze of Loss: A Deep Dive into Chinese American Cultural Struggles in 'Bone' by Fae Myenne Ng

Chinese American literature is deeply inscribed with 'loss' as a theme. These writings uniquely constitute a set of questions associated with 'loss' as a universal concern specific to gender, culture and historical context of these productions. Fae Myenne Ng in his novel Bone portrays the experience of Chinese American loss regarding culture, place of origin and a family member. It shows the conflict between the old country and the new, the pains and gains of the old and young and the dilutions and cleavages of family traditions. It is a book about what is lost or sacrificed and the painful readjustment. The feeling of being lost is a brought out through the numerous family misfortune as different characters try to find their way out.

It takes place in old Chinatown located in San Francisco, California, and revolves around a family of five: The mother of the family, Mah, is a seamstress and has three daughters: Leila, from a previous marriage, Ona, and Nina who are from her current husband, Leon. Out of the three daughters, Mah seems to have a stronger connection with Leila and also looks to her for guidance. Ona, who Leila describes as “having Mah’s blood and Leon’s Bones,” is thought of as the ‘glue’ that keeps Mah and Leon together, whereas Nina is the most independent one that wants to get away from Chinatown.

Of the Asian American population in the United States, the Chinese constitute the largest percentage and are the fastest growing non-European ethnic people. Chinese families are characterized by their fast-changing society throughout the 20th century, and due to this, they do not fit into a specific mold (S. L. Fong, 1965). The principles of Confucianism are quite rampant in their culture, and it emphasizes on interpersonal relationships. Filial Piety dictates the behavior of children towards parents, younger people towards elders, and relationship between different family members (Pehkoranta, 2014).

Socialization in the traditional Chinese culture is dependent on gender and sibling order. The birth of a boy child is considered a good thing and beneficial to the family name. The lack of boys in the Leong family made it be considered a ‘failed family’ (Ng, 1993 p.22). The goal of socialization is to bring honor to the family name through respecting the elder generation and being obedient to the parents. Girls are expected to be morally upright and to marry well. It can be a cause of frustration, low self-esteem and situations of self-doubt among the Chinese American children, and can be one of the contributing factors as to why Ona committed suicide (Fong, 1996 p.73).

There is a revolving conflict between the immigrants about the social space of China town in San Francisco. The cultural and family tension is seen in Leila narration of the Chinese American experience. The setting of her narrative - Salmon alley, apartments, restaurants, the San Fran Hotel, the square – are described as messy, narrow and old. These setting are at odd with the inhabitants who are used to different environments in China, and they are pressed to leave these places. Their way out is either the physical journey or committing suicide. The three sisters and their parents used different tactics to tackle these difficulties. We can also see there is generation heterogeneity of Chinese American Culture (Su, 2015).

The narration of Leila is based on both the inside and outside perspective of Chinatown space. Leila and her people are in constant movement inside and out bringing about the problem of setting up and transversing cultural boundaries and space. There is resistance to being grounded and hence the continuous movement. Though the culture of Chinatown is dominated by Chinese culture, this is continuously subverted as residents try to embrace the culture of the Americans. For the Leong’s family, Chinatown is seen as a place of loss, dullness, and sadness: Ona’s suicide, family conflicts, and discrimination.

There is a loss of filial relations in most families once they immigrate to America due to the absence of support from the society. The modern culture of America lacks the unique features of Chinese filial piety. The innovative nature of the contemporary society renders elders absolute (Fong, 1996 p.73). Leon feared that he would be forgotten and needed less as he grew older, as he had seen happening to his friends (Ng, 1993 p. 55). The culture disparity between Chinese and American society is also an interfering factor. The American society emphasizes the importance of self-directed, independent child due to the unstable nature of the family. In China, the child is taught to be interdependent to other members of the family and stability in the family is quite significant.

In Bone, we can see the stability of the family is already under threat. Nina, the youngest child, lives in New York. She wanted her independence and to be able to escape her Chinese culture. She wanted detachment from her parents both financially and emotionally and to be able to avoid their problems mostly those arising from the death of her sister.

The three sisters are portrayed to be in ‘between worlds.' Through their facial features portray Asian ethnicity, by birth, choice, and education, they are Americans. The constant use of the word between in the novel depicts the space that links or separates the two worlds. They are forced to reorient their subjectivity through continuous crossing the borders of their cultural space (Chinese America) and their physical dwelling (Chinatown). Their search for a way to not feel lost goes a long way in shaping the sister's identity.

Leina and Ona especially feel like they are caught up in between the two worlds. They have inherited the Chinese cultural heritage in an American context, and hence they can't escape any of the cultures. They are struggling to maintain a balance between detachment and attachment, ideas and reality. Ng keeps connecting the death of Ona and piece back together reasons for the suicide. ‘Maybe being in the middle, Ona felt more struck than either Nina or Me. I think Ona wanted to be equally divided about her loyalties to Mah and Leon’ (Ng, 1993 p.112), ‘Ona felt stuck. In the family, in Chinatown, Ona was the middle girl, and she felt stuck in the middle of all the trouble.’ (Ng, 1993 p.139). The constant use of ‘middle’ is used to emphasize the feelings of Ona. She is entangled in all family situations, she is stuck between her affection to her boyfriend Osvaldo and her allegiance to her parents who disapprove the relationship, and she is in the middle of the Chinese tradition of filial piety and American individualism. We see Ona didn’t have a way out. She had mixed feeling towards home and didn’t feel like she belonged; she was cut out of her social network and didn’t have anyone to turn to when her love for Osvaldo was denied by her parents.

Leila is also in a constant state of conflict between herself, her family and her culture. She is there to help Mah at the sewing shop and after the death of Ona leading to Mah over-dependence on Leila which gave her an uncomfortable power, too much control. She complains ‘I hadn’t had a minute to myself since coming home’ (Ng, 1993 p.18). Leila is caught up between the family duties and obligation, and her only hope is to detach from Mah’s issues.  She is also caught up in between two cultural worlds; Mah place in China town, filled with old world odor, narrow streets, and messy apartments and Mission, her boyfriend's house outside Chinatown, that is full of sunset, champagne, and sex.  Leila ends up marrying Mason without her parent's knowledge due to their difference in cultural values. For Leila marriage is a personal matter while for Mah, marriage is for a lifetime. Their different thinking shows the difference in the two generations.

We can see a generational difference in the pace of assimilation which in turn affects the relationship of the family. Leila holds resentment to her parents as they cannot speak English and hence she has to act as the translator. We also see some parents in Leila’s job do not want to take part in their children education as they are used to the culture in China, where it is the teacher’s responsibility (Ng, 1993 p.16).

Leon and Mah are also consumed by the feeling of loss. They moved to the US full of ambitions, but their lack of language and technique skills expelled them to lower social and economic status (Eder, 2015). They can't identify with the American culture due to discrimination and hence have to find ways to overcome their frustrations.

When Mah first husband left her alone in the US, she didn’t have a way out and hence contemplated suicide. She was saved by Leon and married him for convenience, to be protected from disgrace (Ng, 1993 p34). She has a fear of degradation and humiliation. Ng depicts Mah as an oppressed figure whether in the US or China. She is portrayed as weak and vulnerable.

Leon is also trying to find a way out.  He came to the US using fake documents and got married to Mah. When he finds out about the extramarital love affair Mah had with her boss, he moves back to San Fran to escape the humiliation. He is described to be wandering around Waverly place (Ng, 1993 p.172) as he is incapable of facing his dark side.

All the five protagonists in Bone are in constant search for a way out, for a way to not feel lost and get out of their confinement. They try to bridge the gap caused by migration and locate a place that reflects and defines their cultural identity. This search shows the complexity of immigrants lives. Bones brings about a wide range of perspective on individuals quest for selfhood. It is inclined towards individual’s self-reflection and relentless pursuit for personal emancipation. The novel Bones brings out a sense of agency and survival rather than resignation in the face of consecutive loss.