Background of the Study

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Almost all people feel that reading can give them pleasure. It is an absolutely fascinating experience. They will be completely challenged to have more and more knowledge through such activity. Then, it must be said that the activity will lead him to the best understanding, as Jones 1960:1 states in his book that literature is one of the ways people can experience the whole world through their imagination. The real world in which we live is fully colourized by various imaginative experiences. Such experiences are owned by people whose works are creating beautiful imaginative creations. One of them is the writer of literary works. Good writers definitely produce good literary works and the good ones usually cover the norms, facts, and various emotions. Wellek says that literature exists in a social context, as belongs to the culture, in a residence 1956:1. Hudson 1965:10 also says: “Literature is a vital record what men have seen in life, what they have experienced of it, what they have thought and felt about those, aspect of it which have the most immediate and in enduring interest for all of us. It is thus fundamentally an expression of life through the medium of language.” Mostly, literature is firstly stated to be concerned with experiences. It is inevitably said that literature is nothing but the pictures gained from the lives of human being. The experiences are retold through words in form of books, magazines, newspapers, etc. So does the novel of Firoozeh Dumas entitled Funny in Farsi. The real experiences of her life are retold through her 2003 novel as she writes in the subtitle of it; A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America. Memoir is: “Unlike autobiography, which moves in a dutiful line from birth to fame, memoir narrows the lens, focusing on a time in the writer’s life that was unusually vivid, such as childhood or adolescence or that was framed by war or travel or public service or some other special circumtance.” Zinsser, 1998:15 It must be the experience of someone got from his real life. It can be absolutely said that Funny in Farsi is the experience of Firoozeh Dumas. In other words, the story of the novel is a a real experience. What makes the novel interesting to be observed is the behaviour of the characters. Their thoughts is also exciting to be found out what happened to them. It seems that they had mind-sets saying that United States of America was a place where they belonged to. Whereas, their physical appearances were so far from what to be called American. Everything in their life would be better in any aspect rather than living in their birth country, Iran. Interestingly, the theory about dependency complex was found in Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Mask when it was felt that it was exciting to research what happened to The Jayazeris in the novel Funny in Farsi. In The So-called Dependency Complex of Colonized People chapter, what the people suffering dependency complex have in mind and the causes of dependency complex are explained. It is fascinating to know the causes and the characteristics of the dependency complex sufferer. Based on the interest to the behaviors and thoughts of the characters and the theory that describes dependency complex, it was finally decided to study the dependency complex in the novel entitled Funny in Farsi written by Firoozeh Dumas as the description of the characterization of the Jayazeris. Tyson 2006:12 says that the purpose of the psychoanalysis is to help people resolve their psychological problems. Figuring out people ’s psychological problems is one of the interests as the background to do this research. The interest in this aspect can be made real through this research. It is the reason in choosing psychoanalysis. Moreover, it is a personal passion. Being interested in psychology makes an excitement in analysing people in many kinds. In this case, they are the Jayazeris which are the characters of Funny In Farsi. It is just similar with the object of the focus of postcolonial criticism. That is various people, as Tyson 2006:417 states: “However, the tendency of postcolonial criticism to focus on global issues, on comparisons and contrasts among various peoples, means that it is up to the individual members of specific populations to develop their own body of criticism on the history, traditions, and interpretation on their own literat ure.” This is the reason in choosing postcolonial literature analysis.

1.2 Research Topic