THE SOCIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE CHINESE-AMERICANS’ LIFE FOUND IN AMY TAN’S NOVEL THE JOY LUCK CLUB
A THESIS
by MAY ARIANI SUSILO Student Number : 99.80.0111
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME FACULTY OF LETTERS SOEGIJAPRANATA CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY SEMARANG 2004
A THESIS ON
THE SOCIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE CHINESE-AMERICANS’ LIFE FOUND IN AMY TAN’S NOVEL THE JOY LUCK CLUB
by May Ariani Susilo Student Number: 99.80.0111
Approved by,
Dra. Ekawati M. Dukut, M. Hum. Major sponsor
June 12, 2004
Dra. MFY. Liza Dwi Ardhiyanti, M. Hum. Co-sponsor
June 12, 2004
A thesis defended in front of the Board of Examiners on June 12, 2004 and declared acceptable
BOARD OF EXAMINERS Chair person : Dra. Ekawati M. Dukut, M.Hum.
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Secretary
: Dra. MFY. Liza Dwi Ardhiyanti, M.Hum
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Member
: Dra. R.M. Sri Suryaningsih, M.A.
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Semarang, June 12, 2004 Faculty of Letters SoegijapranataCatholic University Dean,
Dra. Cecilia Titik M. M.A 058.1.1996.024
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to praise God the Almighty, Jesus Christ and mother Mary, who have helped me to finish this thesis. I would also like to express my sincerest gratitude to everyone who have helped me in finishing this thesis, they are: 1. Dra.Ekawati M.Dukut M.Hum, as my major sponsor who has guided and given me suggestions and Dra. MFY. Liza Dwi Ardhiyanti M. Hum, my cosponsor who has corrected my thesis carefully and provides great guidance to me patiently. 2. My parents, my brother, Andy, my sister, Ina, my brother in law, Thomas, and also little Vicky who always give me love and support and never forget to pray for me. 3. My best friends, Yuli, Titik, Indra, Nancy, and Sun-tea, who have shared ideas, happiness and sadness. Johan and Kris who have given me motivation when I almost gave up. 4. All lecturers of the English Department, Faculty of Letters, Soegijapranata Catholic University who have helped me to increase my knowledge. 5. For all of my friends in the Faculty of Letters 99 and my KKN friends, Donorojo 3 and 4, who have given me the very best time in my life. I was nothing without you all….I appreciate everybody’s help but unfortunately I cannot mention you one by one. Once more, thank you!
ABSTRACT The Joy Luck Club is a story about Chinese Immigrant in America in 1950’s-1980’s. The mothers’ characters, Su Yuan Woo, An Mei Hsu, Lindo Jong and Ying-ying St. Clair once live in China and immigrate to America, while their daughters, Waverly, Lena, June and Rose, grow and live in American circumstances. The mothers, who are born in China, once experience a hard time. They have a Chinese traditional thinking which makes them sometimes difficult to adapt themselves in the American’s way of life. The daughters are born and grow in America. They have the American’s way of thinking. So, the daughters often have a difficulty in understanding their mothers. This condition makes them see their mothers as old fashioned; even one of them once thinks that her mother is crazy. To analyze the problems which happen in the novel, the sociological and cultural approaches are used. Cultural approach is used to analyze the cultural background of the Chinese that become the basic problem of the story. Some problems that rise up are generation gap and adaptation to the environment that will be discussed using the sociological approach. The first problem, the generation gap is caused by the different view and concept between mothers and daughters. It becomes worse with the lack of communication between them. This condition makes them difficult to understand each other. The second problem is the native’s rejection to the immigrant. Some natives cannot receive the immigrant’s coming. Even though they do not reject the immigrants clearly, their actions such as mocking the immigrants or not receiving the interracial marriage, show how they see and feel about the immigrants.
ABSTRACT The Joy Luck Club is a story about Chinese Immigrant in America in 1950’s -1980’s. The mothers’ characters, Su Yuan Woo, An Mei Hsu, Lindo Jong and Ying-ying St. Clair once live in China and immigrate to America, while their daughters, Waverly, Lena, June and Rose, grow and live in American circumstances. The mothers, who are born in China, once experience a hard time. They have a Chinese traditional thinking which makes them sometimes difficult to adapt themselves in the American’s way of life. The daughters are born and grow in America. They have the American’s way of thinking. So, the daughters often have a difficulty in understanding their mothers. This condition makes them see their mothers as old fashioned; even one of them once thinks that her mother is crazy. To analyze the problems which happen in the novel, the sociological and cultural approaches are used. Cultural approach is used to analyze the cultural background of the Chinese that become the basic problem of the story. Some problems that rise up are generation gap and adaptation to the environment that will be discussed using the sociological approach. The first problem, the generation gap is caused by the different view and concept between mothers and daughters. It becomes worse with the lack of communication between them. This condition makes them difficult to understand each other. The second problem is the native’s rejection to the immigrant. Some natives cannot receive the immigrant’s coming. Even though they do not reject the immigrants clearly, their actions such as mocking the immigrants or not receiving the interracial marriage, show how they see and feel about the immigrants.
ABSTRAK The Joy Luck Club adalah sebuah cerita tentang imigran Cina di Amerika pada tahun 1950 sampai dengan tahun1980 an. Karakter para ibu, Su Yuan Woo, An Mei Hsu, Lindo Jong dan Ying-ying St. Clair pernah tinggal di Cina dan pindah ke Amerika, sementara putri-putri mereka, Waverly, Lena, June dan Rose tumbuh dan hidup dalam lingkungan Amerika. Para ibu yang lahir di Cina pernah mengalami saat yang sulit. Mereka mempunyai cara berpikir tradisional Cina. Hal ini membuat mereka kadang-kadang mendapat kesulitan dalam menyesuaikan diri dengan cara hidup Amerika. Sementara putri-putri mereka lahir dan tumbuh di Amerika. Mereka memiliki pola berpikir Amerika. Anak-anak perempuan tersebut sering mendapat kesulitan dalam memahami ibu mereka. Hal ini membuat mereka memandang ibu sebagai sosok yang kuno, bahkan ada diantara mereka yang berpikir bahwa ibunya gila. Untuk menganalisa permasalahan- permasalahan yang terjadi di dalam novel digunakan pendekatan sosial dan budaya. Pendekatan budaya digunakan untuk menganalisa latar belakang budaya Cina yang menjadi permasalahan dasar dalam cerita ini. Beberapa masalah yang muncul kemudian seperti jurang antar generasi dan adaptasi terhadap lingkungan yang akan dibahas dengan menggunakan pendekatan sosial. Masalah pertama yang muncul adalah jurang antar generasi. Perbedaan cara pandang dan konsep menjadi semakin buruk dengan kurangnya komunikasi antara para ibu dan putri mereka. Kondisi ini menyebabkan mereka sulit untuk memahami satu sama lain. Permasalahan kedua adalah penolakan penduduk asli terhadap para imigran. Beberapa penduduk asli tidak dapat menerima kedatangan para imigran tersebut. Walaupun mereka tidak menunjukkan penolakan mereka terhadap kaum imigran secara jelas, tapi tindakan mereka seperti menghina atau menolak pernikahan campur antara imigran dan penduduk asli menunjukkan bagaimana pandangan dan perasaan mereka terhadap para imigran.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES OF TITLE…………………………………………………………… i PAGES OF APPROVAL……………………………………………….……. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………………………………………..………….. v TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………….……. vi ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………….. viii ABSTRAK……………………………………………………………………. ix CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study……………………….…………………………. 1 1.2 Scope of the Study…………………………….…………………………... 6 1.3 Problem Formulation…………………………….………………………... 6 1.4 Objectives of the Study…………………………….……………………… 6 1.5 Significance of the Study…………………………….……………………. 7 1.6 Definitions of Terms………………………………….…………………… 7 CHAPTER II. LITERARY REVIEW……………………………….………... 9 CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY…………………….………. 16 CHAPTER IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 4.1 Chinese American and their Difficulties in 1950’s -1980’s……….…… …. 20 4.1.1 Internal Problems………………………………………..…………... 21 4.1.1.1 Cultural Conflict……………………………………………… 21 4.1.1.2 Generation Gap………………………………………….……. 34 4.1.2 External Problems……………………………………………………. 36
4.2 The Actions of the Chinese American to Overcome their Problems…..….. 38 4.2.1 The Chinese Immigrants’ way to Overcome the Internal Problems.… 38 4.2.2 The Chinese Immigrants’ way to Overcome the External Problems.... 40 CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION………………………………………………… 42 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………
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APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………. 47
