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Revision with unchanged content. Spirituality investigates the womanist theme of spirituality in Amy Tan s novel, The Bonesetter s Daughter. Spirituality unfolds in five linked themes: ghosts, ghostwriting, nature, bones, and memory. Spirituality is composed of four parts. The Introduction proposes spirituality as a womanist way of reading The Bonesetter s Daughter. Chapter one investigates how the spirit of Gu Liu Xin, the Chinese grandmother, plays a critical role in developing the psychological integrity of Ruth Luyi Young, the American-born Chinese granddaughter. The second chapter examines how Gu Liu Xin s ghost helps to guide LuLing Liu Young, Liu Xin s daughter and Ruth s mother, out of the hazardous situation in China, and how Gu s spirit sustains LuLing in times of alienation and hardship in America. The book concludes that spirituality is essential for a subjugated woman character to achieve her personal and political freedom as well as her physical and spiritual wholeness. Spirituality is addressed to students and scholars in the field of women s studies and literature. It is also directed towards general audiences who are interested in gender issues, spirituality, and Asian American women s writing.

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Feminist Studies Ph.D. program at theUniversity of Minnesota.

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