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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study is a novel entitled A Thread of Sky, written by Deanna Fei and published by Penguin Books in 2010. This book consists of four
parts: Prologue, Part One - The Astronomers, Part Two - The Constellations, and Part Three - The Stars. The structure of this book is unique, there are six
characters in this book and each of them will tell the story in a first-person perspective in each chapter for each part. Therefore, at first the reader may be
confused because at the start of each chapter the “I” character will not refer to the same person. Fortunately, a narrator will help the reader to identify who the “I”
character in that chapter is by giving information about her in the beginning of the chapter, and sometimes in the middle with a third-person perspective. That is why
this novel is still readable and easy to understand. This novel became New York Times Editor’s Choice and had accepted
praises from ChicagoTribune.com, New York Times, Mostly Fiction, Booklist, and several other authors. They mostly claimed that this book is a really fine debut by
Fei because she could describe the life of a Chinese immigrant very well. Some other authors also said that with this novel, Fei would soon claim Amy Tan’s
“territory” and throne in the world of Chinese-American novels. This novel generally talks about Irene Shen who wanted to reunite her
fracture family, after the death of her husband, by setting a trip together to the
mainland of China. This was not an easy task because she needed to bring together three different generations of her family. Her formidable eighty-year-old
mother Lin Yunlan an ex-revolutionary, who moved to America to avoid war, her distant poet sister Susan like Irene, who followed her mother immigrating to
America but later lived in Hongkong with her husband, and her three Chinese- American independent daughters, Nora, Kay, and Sophie. All of them bring big
and small secrets that can actually tear the family apart and the reunion to their origin will determine their family’s fate. This book will provide interesting
conflicts of how Irene tries to unite the five women connected to her through differences in point of view, way of life, and background.
B. Approach of the Study
To analyze the novel and answer the problem formulations, the writer uses the post-colonial approach. Based on the topic the writer intends to write, these
approaches are the most suitable approaches to answer the problem formulation. These approaches will help the writer to find the stereotypes that Kay needs to
face as a Chinese-American and how those stereotypes made her aware about her racial identity.
According to Barry, postcolonial criticism is an approach that deals about colonization and its effect to colonized people. Therefore, post-colonial approach
is suitable to see the problem of racial stereotypes in this research because race and culture difference, in fact, are the issues that postcolonial critics’ attention are
drawn to Barry 2002: 192-193. The writer will use postcolonial approach to see how the Western Society, represented by Americans, has certain stereotypes
toward Chinese people in America. This approach will also help the writer to find the reaction of the Chinese-Americans toward the stereotypes to find their racial
identity due to the existence of the theory of identity in post-colonial approach.
C. Method of the Study
In order to analyze the topic of this undergraduate thesis, the writer uses library research as the method of the study. This means that the writer shall
consult books, journals, theses and other written sources, both printed and electronic to support this research.
The primary data to analyze is the novel by Deanna Fei entitled A Thread of Sky. The secondary sources of data are books, journals and theses. Some
important sources are Racial and Ethnic Relations by Joe Feagin, Race Relation by Harry H.L. Kitano, Society in the Novel by Elizabeth Langland, and Theory of
Literature by Rene Wellek and Austin Warren. In the form of journals, there are “The Negroization of the Chinese Stereotype in California” by Dan Caldwell, and
Fighting for Chinese American Identity by Jing Yi Song. There were some steps to do the analysis. First, the writer read the novel in
detail and thoroughly focused on how Kay being portrayed in the novel, what stereotypes that Kay, as a Chinese-American need to face. The writer also focused
on how Kay reacted to those stereotypes, relating to her character, in order to
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