The supernatural being in the legend of the Komodo society appears in the form of apparition. However, it becomes powerful since the apparition is of the
main characters’ mother and the leader’s wife. The apparition tells human being and the Komodo dragon to not harm each other. In this folktale, the ideology of
dependency comes in terms of the human being obedience. Therefore, the supernatural being in this folktale seems to be more a tool in delivering the first
ideology, i.e. submissiveness to custom. In other words, the ideology that human being might not do any harms to Komodo dragons is strengthened by the
appearance of the supernatural being. The dependency to supernatural being comes in the way that human being
is powerless. The story about the miserable Ina Materia depicts supernatural power and its effect to the main character. The fate of human being depends on what the
supernatural natural does with the power. The main character, Ina Materia, becomes a stone because of her prayer to God.
4.1.2. Topic Analysis
In revealing the general meanings, i.e. the ideologies, of the folktales, the topics are significant. The topics are the extract of the folktales taken out
accordingly to the theory by van Djik 1980. The folktales undergo generalizations and construction. By generalizing the propositions in the folktales into more general
proposition, the actual topic might be revealed. However, in analysing the folktales, the generalization process was done twice due to the nature of the texts, that the raw
microlevel units are sentences as part of the story. After generalizing the proposition, the ideology is extracted by constructing the general meaning as the
conclusive ideology. Those process, then, would eliminate unimportant meanings from the propositions. The analysis can be accessed in Appendix 1.
The topic analysis of the folktales reveals two opposing groups. First, the opposition is between an individual versus the society. The individuals in the
folktales serve as the members of society. All the main characters in the folktales have the role as the ones who break the society’s custom. Second, the opposition is
also between human beings versus supernatural beings or supernatural power. The second opposition was
done by showing the supernatural being’s wonderful power or by showing humans lacking of power.
For the ease of data calling and presentation, the folktales and the macropropositions are tabled and numbered based on their appearance sequence.
Therefore, the folktales are numbered from one to six. The following is the table showing the folktales, their index numbers, and the numbers of macroproposition.
Each folktale might present different numbers of macroproposition from others.
Table 4.8. The Folktales and Their Numbers of Macropropositions No.
Folktales Titles The Number of
Macropropositions
1 The Tears of Empu Mburing
4 2
Siti Fari and Empu Rencak 7
3 The Mesa Itch
9 4
The Pirates of Gili Montong 4
5 The Dragon Princess of Komodo
10 6
The Sad Tale of Ina Materia 5
Total 39
From the analysis, the folktales contain three major topics. The topics are concluded from the macropropositions. The summary of the macropropositions can
be accessed in Appendix 2. Those major macropropositions further support the existence of the ideology of submissiveness to customs and the dependency to
supernatural being. The first topic about powerless human being is supported by nine macropropositions. The second topic about human being’s submissivessness
to custom and powerful customs is supported by 12 macropropositions. The third topic about human being’s dependency to supernatural being is supported by 16
macropropositions. The first topic depicts the powerless human beings. This topic supports both
the ideology of submissiveness to custom and the dependency to supernatural being. The powerless characteristics are shown by the limited skills and knowledge,
the need of others, and the negative characteristics that human posess. This macroproposition appears prominently in all folktales but in Folktale 6. In
Appendix 2, the macropropositions depicting the powerless human being are indexed by 1B, 2A, 3A, 3E, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, and 5B.
The second major propositions presents the topic about individ ual’s
submissiveness to custom and the powerful customs in society. This topic supports the ideology of submissiveness to custom. The topics are depicted in the folktales
by the different customs that societies might have, the customs in society, the roles for individuals in a society, and the obligation for individuals to obey the customs.
Prominently, the topic appears in all folktales but in Folktale 4. In Appendix 2, the macropropositions are indexed by A1, 2B, 2C, 3F, 5A, 5C, 5E, 5G,
6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D. The third topic directly mentions the relation between supernatural being
and human being. Therefore the macropropositions supporting this topics support the ideology of human dependency to supernatural beings. In the folktales, the
topics are depicted by the help of supernatural being for human being, the powerful
existence of supernatural being, the power of supernatural power, and the obedience of human beings toward rules set by supernatural beings. The topic appears
prominently in all folktales but Folktale 4. In Appendix 2, the macropropositions building the topic can be accessed in 1C, 1D, 2D, 2F, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3G,
3H, 3I, 5D, 5F, 5H, 5I, 5J, and 6E.
4.1.2.1. Submissiveness to Customs
Submissivessness to customs as an ideology is supported by two topics. The two topics are the one about powerless human being and the one about
submissiveness to customs. The topics present the opposition between individuals and society members and the society as a group of individuals holding the customs.
The first topic might support the ideology in terms of human beings powerlessness in their skills and characteristics in their living and in struggling keeping their
proper lives. The powerlessness calls them to live communally in a societal group. Consequently, they are obliged to obey the customs in the society. The second topic
might support in terms of human being as society members obedience in conducting the customs. Some exerpts are taken from the folktales and discussed in order to
show the relevance to the ideology. From the first topic, h
uman’s limitation of competence and skills becomes a major proposition in building the ideology. This macroproposition is indexed by
1B, 4A, 4B, and 4C in Appendix 2. The limitation forces individuals as society members to live together as a group. In the society, they need to obey
particular rules and customs, or otherwise, an individual might be secluded and need to struggle for living. In the folktales, this proposition appears by
individual’s
characterization. The following excerpt is taken from Folktale 1 and it is extracted into 1B later on.
Excerpt 1
Puzzled and disappointed, EmpuMburing threw it back into the sea and went home hungry
. But for the next three days, exactly the same things
happened. It didn’t matter how many times he cast his net, each time he caught nothing
but ndekar fruit. A12111 The exceprt highlights the lack of competence and skill, especially in
fishing. The main discourse of the story is about fishing. This might signify that the society is a fishing society. The discourse is shown by the choice of words related
to fishery.
Table 4.9. Lexical Choice in Fishery Discourse in Folktale 1 Discourse
Topic Lexical choice
Fishery a fisherman, catching fish, fellow fishermen, he cast his net, he
drew the net, kakap merah, perahu, piles of fruit, fred fish, crabs, barnacles limpets, vegetables, yams and creamy cheeses, sail
back home, sailed shore, strait teri, teri fish scale, the beach the breakers, the distant shore the fish, the floundering fish, the ikan
teri, the net the ocean, the pile of kakapmerah, the sea, the shore, the wide blue sea, these fleet little fish, to go fishing, went
fishing, ocean
The main character lacks of fishing skill. The narrative event that he caught nothing
shows the lack of skills and competence. In addition, The main character
suffers from hunger and went home hungry since he is unable to catch any fish in
three days. This proposition appears also in other stories.
Excerpt 2
And though they called themselves pirates, not one among them even knew how to raise a sail or chart a course by the stars, so they could not seek out
ships on the open sea. And so the months passed without the pirates even spying a sail and soon their stocks of food and water were running low.
Unable to farm
or even fish that well, the village grew hungrier and
hungrier. A12414
From excerpt 2, the limited human skills and competence is highlighted. The excerpt becomes a macroproposition 4B in Appendix 2. The main characters,
who are the pirates, are unable to sail. Not one among them even knew how to raise
a sail. This narrative fact would be a weakness or a powerlessness for the main characters since sailing seems to be a prominent discourse in the folktale. Some
lexical choices in the folktale shows that sailing is a prominent discourse. Thus, the inability to sail becomes weakness. The following table shows the lexical choice of
sailing discourse.
Table 4.10. Lexical Choice in Sailing Discourse in Folktale 4 Discourse
Topic Lexical choice
Sailing Pirates, the shore, vessel, sailed, row, the hull of the jukung,
passengers and crew, overboard, passing ships, sail, the open sea, row a straight course, weighed, anchor, rowing, the boat.
The lack of skills and competence bring a suffering consequence to the main characters. From the second excerpt, the consequence is similar to the first that the
main characters suffer from hunger. However, suffering might not the only sign of human powerlessness.
