Method of the Study

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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS

The Secret Life of Bees tells about the life of African American women against racial discrimination in South Carolina. This chapter is divided into three parts which are the answers of the problem formulations questioned in chapter one. The first part analyzes about the characteristics of the Black women characters in novel, Rosaleen Daisy, August Boatwright, June Boatwright, May Boatwright and April Boatwright. The second part discusses the practices of racial discrimination in 1960 as described in novel. The last part discusses the African American women ‟s struggle against racial discrimination through the characters in The Secret Life of Bees.

A. The Characteristics of the African American Women

In this part the writer‟s analysis is about the African American Women characteristics in the novel entitled The Secret Life of Bees is written by Sue Monk Kidd. As explained in Chapter II, character is the important element that makes the story alive. Character is also the object in the novel and without it, the story cannot be made. Abrams and Harpham in their book, A Glossary of Literary Terms-tenth Edition, state that the characters are: The persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as possessing particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it- the dialogue-and from what they do-the action. The grounds in the characters‟ temperament, desires, and moral nature for their speech and actions are called their motivation Abrams and Harpham, 2012: 46. From the quotation above, it is clear that character is the maker of the story and gives the reader information about people in the story from dialogue, action and motivation. It is also the way someone speaks and behaves reflects their character background. There are five characters of Black women in the novel. First is Rosaleen Daise. She is a housekeeper of white people. Another is the family of Boatwright that consist of August, June, May and April. They live in Tiburon and sell Black Madonna honey. The writer tries to examine the personal appearance and the personality of each character. To examine their characteristics, the theory of characterization taken from Murphy‟s book is applied. There are nine ways to study about their characteristics. However, the writer only uses seven ways. Those ways are personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation with other, reaction, and mannerisms.

1. Rosaleen Daise

Rosaleen Daise is a big black woman. “She had a big round face and a body that sloped out from her neck like a pup tent, and she was so black that night seemed to seep from her skin” Kidd, 2002: 2-3. The quotation above indicates that Rosaleen is a black woman who has a big body. Her body is so big in an unproportional way to her head. Her skin is extremely black; none might realize her presence in the night with the absence of light. In the novel, Rosaleen is brave. She gets her bravery when she decides to go to register her name to vote. “This is my practice sheet,” she said. “For the Fourth of July they‟re holding voters „rally at the coloured church. I‟m registering myself to vote” Kidd, 2002: 44. She is black woman with very low literacy rate and she musters her courage to practice writing her name in the practice sheet in order to be eligible to vote. She is not afraid of anything that will come to her later if she becomes a voter. At that time, the chance to vote for coloured people is condemned by White people. White people think that Blacks deserve nothing for freedom in the United States. Then, as explained in the next paragraph she meets three white men and with full of confidence she says that she wants to register her name as a voter of coloured people. After a few blocks we approached the Esso station on the corner of West Market and Park Street, generally recognized as a catchall place for men with too much time on their hands. I noticed that not a single car was getting gas. Three men sat in dinette chairs beside the garage with a piece of plywood balanced on their knees. They were playing cards. “Hit me,” one of them said, and the dealer, who wore a Seed and Feed cap, slapped a card down in front of him. He looked up and saw us, Rosaleen fanning and shuffling, swaying side to side. “Well, look what we got coming here,” he called out. “Where‟re you going, nigger?” Firecrackers made a spatte ring sound in the distance. “Keep walking,” I whispered. “Don‟t pay any attention.” But Rosaleen, who had less sense that I‟d dreamed said in this tone like she was explaining something real hard to a kindergarten student, “I‟m going to register my name so I can vote, that‟s what” Kidd, 2002: 51. The writer sees the way Rosaleen tells the White men that she wants to register her name as the voter of coloured people is the proof that she is a brave woman. The way one of the men called her as a nigger clearly shows that the man disrespected her. Even though Lily advised her to ignore him, Rosaleen explained to them that she was going to register her name. For a black woman to stand up to a white man like Rosaleen does take a huge courage and bravery.