The Description of the Tribal Tradition and Female Circumcision

Our Leader, like Nelson Mandela and Jomo Kenyatta and others before them, had been forced into exile and eventually captured and jailed by the white regime Walker, 2011: 64. Since the Westerners are superior than the native people, African liberators are jailed to prevent any rebellion. In the novel, “Our Leader” does not has any real name. The tribal people keep calling him, “Our Leader”, “because the white regime made it a crime to say his name aloud ” Walker, 2011: 69. They will get a punishment if they break the rule of not saying his name out loud. Then, the tribal people do honor him because he fights the white regime to achieve the freedom of African people. Additionally, Adam sees that “Our Leader” is reputed as Christ in the village. Adam said that “he seemed like Christ to the villagers except for one thing: his acceptance of violence as a means to the end of African oppression ” Walker, 2011: 69. “Our Leader” allows violence to achieve the freedom of Africa no matter it takes. Because of his contributions on achieving freedom of Africa, Olinkans are respect him. Even “Our Leader” becomes the role model in the village. Every single word from him becomes a mandatory. His speech influences the tribal people. Related to the female circumcision tradition, From prison Our Leader said we must keep ourselves clean and pure as we had been since time immemorial- by cutting out unclean parts of our bodies. Everyone knew that if a woman was not circumcised her unclean parts would grow so long they‟d soon touch her thigh; she‟d become masculine and arouse herself. No man could enter her because her own erection would be in his way Walker, 2011: 67. In Olinka tribe, it is believed that the woman genital will grow enlarged. This also affects the sexual desire of women. They can do masturbate to achieve their sexual pleasure. In some places, people have a belief that every child has naturally both sexes, so that people have to ensure which one sex a child has by removing one of the attributes . For a woman, clitoris is believed as a minuscule penis.Hence it must be removed from her body. When the condition of both sexes is maintained, the person would not need other to achieve sexual pleasure. Moreover, the leader states “that we must return to the purity of our own culture and traditions ” Walker, 2011: 65. It is related to the white regime that ever comes to Olinka. He does not want the Westerners or the outsiders change the tradition of Olinka. He also emphasizes “that we must not neglect our ancient customs ,” means they have to cherish their tradition especially female circumcision Walker, 2011: 65.The feeling of being a nationalist brings the tribal people cherishes the tradition as their honor to the leader and their nation. Another reason to maintain the female circumcision tradition is “to be accepted as a real woman by the Olinka people ” Walker, 2011: 67. It means there is no other way to be a real woman in the eye of the Olinka tribe. It is such an obligatory towards women to undergo female circumcision. The female circumcision is not only clean the woma n‟s genital, but also as the preparatory stage before a woman is married. It is avirginity sign of a woman. Then, it will be proven by width of cut after the female circumcision or can be considered as the opening to the vagina introitus is infibulated. When the width of cut is small, it means she is still virgin. Hence, the female circumcision can make a woman in Africa as a completely woman. Completely African. Completely Olinka Walker, 2011: 38. Because of the tradition comes from Olinka, it is seen as a sign of being Olinka. Besides, Our Leader, our Jesus Christ, said we must keep all our old ways and that no Olinka man-- in this he echoed the great liberator Kenyatta-- would even think of marrying a woman who was not circumcised Walker, 2011: 68. Because of the belief that a woman has an unclean part of her body, so that it affects her life; someone would marry her only if she is circumcised. It can be portrayed in M‟Lissa‟s statement that “if Dura is not bathed, she said, no one will marry her ”Walker, 2011: 141. This implies that there is someone, later, will marry her after she done the female circumcision. Tashi also affirms it that “without it no man would marry me” Walker, 2011: 127. It is ashame for a man to take an uncircumcised woman as a wife. The general use of female circumcision tradition is maintaining the virginity of a woman by decreasing women‟s desire for sexual pleasure.The act of decreasing the women‟s sexual pleasure is also used to improve their spouse‟s sexual pleasure. Therefore, the men are dominant in their relationship. For the uncircumcised woman, she can get sexual pleasure on her own which is taboo in Olinka. If she is circumcised, the only way to get sexual pleasure is just by doing intercourse with a man. It gives more feeling towards men, because the pleasure is based on the width of the cut. Besides, the cut shows the virginity sign of a woman. It will affect the sexual satisfaction of the spouse. Many women who has married and her genital width cut is large, she wants to be re-sewn so that her width cut will small again.The tighter the cut is, the more sexual pleasure of the spouse has. A proper woman must be cut and sewn to fit only her husband, whose pleasure depends on an opening it might take months, even years, to enlarge. Men love and enjoy the struggle, you said Walker, 2011: 121. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Although this tradition is such an obligatory in the tribe, it has its own effects. The effects are not only for one who undergoes the female circumcision, but also the uncircumcised women. For the uncircumcised women, they can get mocked by the tribal people. The uncircumcised woman would be thought as a monster. It can be seen in Tashi‟s perspective, “certainly to all my friends whos been circumcised, my uncircumcised vagina was thought to be a monstrosity” Walker, 2011: 67. The other effect is they are rejected by the tribal people. Even the uncircumcised women “would sometimes actually run from us,...” which shows that they prefer to go away from the tribe Walker, 2011: 67. This is happened because the tribal people do not accept their existence in the village. They realize the risk and make their own decision to live away from the village. Since they want to resist, they should be living separate from the tribe. They are called as “mad”, because they reject the female circumcision and choose to be a rebellion. They mainly live in the bush, as seen in the following quotation, in the village when I was a girl the mad were kept out in the bush. They lived alone in smelly, ramshackle huts, their filthy clothes in tatters. Their matted hair covering their backs like moss Walker, 2011: 115. Women would get some punishment for not undergoing female circumcision. The punishment are for example society rejection, negative stigmatize, unable to marry, and psychological trauma. Even some places give death punishment for the uncircumcised woman, it can be seen from the statement in the novel that “there are villages where an un- circumcised woman is not permitted to live ” Walker, 2011: 127. Since they only give shame and fear to the tribal people, the tribal people do not let them to live. The other effect is pain. The pain that makes Tashi even do an abortion to avoid the pain of being cut open, as she is not ready for childbirth, ”but I knew I could not bear being held down and cut open ” Walker, 2011: 121. Her baby is supposed to be a girl, but she aborts her. It can be seen from her statement, “for the daughter I was forced to abort ” Walker, 2011: 121. Then, she is pregnant with Benny, her second pregnancy. In the process of giving birth, the obstetrician broke two instruments trying to make an opening large enough for Bennys head. Then he used a scalpel. Then a pair of scissors used ordinarily to sever cartilage from bone Walker, 2011: 34. Since the hole is small, it is not enough to pass the baby. In order to help the baby, the doctor needs some things to cut the genital wider. The baby can get a bad head shape . It can be seen at Benny‟s head, “his head was yellow and blue and badly mishapen ” Walker, 2011: 34. Related to the pain, there are many people in prison, in which Tashi is being jailed, who have AIDS. They are placed on the second floor of the prison in which “had been turned over to a mounting number of AIDS victims” Walker, 2011: 51. They are not be brought to the hospital because it is “being small, was swamped ” Walker, 2011: 51.Due to the fact that a tsunga or the circumciser uses unsterilized tools to do the female circumcision, it can cause HIV which, later, brings the infection that leads to AIDS. In the novel, Tashi is convinced that the little girls who are dying, and the women too, are infected by the unwashed, unsterilized sharp stones, tin tops, bits of glass, rusty razors and grungy knives used by the tsunga. Who might mutilate twenty children without cleaning her instrument Walker, 2011: 138. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI The unsterilized equipments bring bacteria from one person to other person. Furthermore, the traditional cure always used some ingredients which are unsterilized and possibility harm the person.There is no scientific proof that the ingredients they used really can cure the wound. Then, this is not only because the unsterilized equipments, but also because the intercourse early after one undergoes the female circumcision. In this act of intercourse, the woman gets forced by the man so that the opening cut will enlarged through time. As the effect of the forcing, “infections and open sores are commonplace ” Walker, 2011: 138. The African government does not expose the truth about AIDS to the public. They believe that “they had no such thing as AIDS existed in the country” Walker, 2011: 51. The existence of AIDS has been spread to the civilization, “though there was no official speculation about what might have caused it printed in the news ” Walker, 2011: 52. The government does not take them as the national epidemic. The government idea to not expose about AIDS publicly is similar with a taboo in Olinka in which people cannot say out loud about the female circumcision. It seems that the government takes the traditional idea to not give the information about AIDS publicly. For the tribal people, they are afraidif the outsiders could change their culture or tradition. In Tashi‟s perspective, the outsiders “want to change us, I said, so that we are like you” being like the outsiders “ Walker, 2011: 14. Then, the most harmful effect of female circumcision is death. In the novel, Dura is dead because of undergoing female circumcision. Dura is the older sister of Tashi. She is bleeding until her dead. It can be seen from the Tashi‟s statement that “shes bled and bled and bled and there was death” Walker, 2011: 47. Although it can cause death, still the tribal people maintain the tradition of female circumcision. The tradition of female circumcision is arranged by a Tsunga or a circumciser. Her role as a tsunga is a hereditar y occupation, “like the priests” Walker, 2011: 119. In her family, “the women were tsungas” Walker, 2011: 119.The job as a tsunga “is such an honor.” Walker, 2011: 119 The Olinka people respect her because she has done the important part in the tribe. Moreover, “her source of income” is only by regulating female circumcision Dorkenoo O.B.E, et al, 2001: 23. It can be seen in the novel that “it is the way we fill our bellies ” Walker, 2011: 119. Tsunga is also a midwife and a healer, “I knew that, among the Olinka, she was a prized midwife and healer,...”Walker, 2011: 37. She is a midwife, it can be seen “that she had in fact delivered me into the world,...” Walker, 2011: 84.Then, she is a healer, the healer has a job to re- sew the woman‟s vagina, “even today, after giving birth, they come back to the tsunga to be resewn, tighter than before” Walker, 2011: 121. In Olinka, if the hole of the woman‟s vagina is wide, it needs to be re- sewn tighter to give the spouse sexual pleasure “because if it is loose h e won‟t receive enough pleasure” Walker, 2011: 121. The spouse can get the sexual pleasure depends “on an opening it might takes month, even years, to enlarge ” Walker, 2011: 121. M‟Lissa is a stubborn person who does not let the tradition down. It can be seen in a quotation, “...,though to those Christianized ones who also turned to Western medicine, she was shunned ” Walker, 2011: 37. Although she has shunned by the tribal people who convert to Christianity, she still regulates the female circumcision ion tradition to the remains. It shows that her position as “a pri zed midwife and healer” only works for the members of Olinka who still remain their originality. She maintains her own way of healing. It implies that she does not want to be changed by the foreigners. She also makes the female circumcision as a tradition which every person born with and the remaining tradition the tribal people should honor to. Related to Tashi before she undergoes the female circumcision, she “was never trusted, considered a potential traitor, even” because she has such close relation to Adam Walker, 2011: 67.The tribal people see that Tashi would disobey her own tribe if she has close relation to the missionary. Since Adam is a foreigner and he comes from America, the tribal people are not feeling safe. Although he has black skin, the tribal people still does not trust him. It can be seen that “she could not imagine a black person that was not Olinkan” Walker, 2011: 141. Not only she can forget her originality as an Olinkan, but also she gives the tribal information to the outsiders. The tribal people do not want to be changed even be colonized again. Also they want to follow their leader to “return to the purity of our own culture and traditions” Walker, 2011: 65. He also emphasizes PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI “that we must not neglect our ancient customs” Walker, 2011: 65. When someone has close relation towards the foreigner, they believe that their perspective will be influenced by the foreigner‟s perspective. From “the general environment of the character,” religion can be the element of setting Harmon, 2003: 470. As far as the researcher knows, Olinka people do not have a religion. They welcome the missionaries to come to their place. As Adam and his family has black skin, it makes they share the sameness with the tribal people. By the time, some Olinka people convert to Christianity. Even though there are white missionaries before, but it seems that people are not influenced by them in terms of religion. The Olinka people are welcome the foreigners, which can be shown when they tell Tashi and her mothe r “to put on a good face and make the foreigners welcome ” Walker, 2011: 9. They can get information and learn about Christianity from them. Even so, they learn about the English language. In the Christian perspective, the practice of female circumcision is a barbaric act, “for they called the “bath”, barbaric” Walker, 2011: 141. They believe that it just makes the women suffer. The white missionary once asks the Olinka leader to stop the female genital tradition, so that the Olinka leader makes the female circumcision tradition hiatus for some time. From this thing, it can be seen that the female circumcision is irrelevant with the Christian value because the missionary think that the tradition is a barbaric act. Regarding Tashi‟s mother named Catherine, who is in tribe named Nafa, she supports the tradition of female circumcision Walker, 2011: 84. In the process of PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI circumcision, there are four women, at least, to hold the child who is going to be circumcised. They help the tsunga to steady the child while tsunga is circumcising the child. It can be seen from M‟Lissa‟s statement when she talks to Tashi,” of course she took the outer lips, because four strong eagle-eyed women held me down ” Walker, 2011: 120. Also, the mother or other women as the relative of a child who undergoes the female circumcision, helps the tsunga to hold the child down. Nafa helps tsunga in Dura‟s circumcision process, it can be seen from M‟Lissa‟s perspective, ”your mother helped me hold your sister down” Walker, 2011: 141. Catherine herself has experienced the female circumcision. Because this tradition is hereditary, she is obedient and followed the female circumcision tradition. Her obedient action is seen when taking Dura to undergo female circumcision. However, the fact that the female circumcision takes Dura‟s life brings sorrow to Catherine. In Adam‟s point of view, the female circumcision is a tradition which gives its followers suffering. Even the tribal people “do not want to hear what their children suffer ” Walker, 2011: 91. They still cherish the female genital tradition even though the risk of it is death. The tradition is like something born with the tribal people so that they cannot change or even lose it. Moreover, “they‟ve made the telling of the suffering itself taboo ” Walker, 2011: 91. As explained before about a taboo to expose the female circumcision. The female circumcision is a symbol of being an African. It can be seen in M‟Lissa‟s point of view when Tashi comes to her deciding to undergo female circumcision. Now, MLissa said, with a grimace of justification, it was the grownup daughter who had come to her, wanting the operation because she recognized it as the only remaining definitive stamp of Olinka tradition Walker, 2011: 37- 38. From M‟Lissa statement, it shows that Tashi sees the female circumcision tradition is a symbol of being an African. Because the idea of female circumcision tradition is so strong, Tashi decide to undergo female circumcision. Moreover, there are four types of circumcision. The first type is a condition when clitoris and prepuce or the flesh above the clitoris is cut off. The second type is a condition when clitoris, prepuce and labia minora is excised. The third type is a condition when clitoris, inner and outer lips of vagina is cut off and sewn together leaving a small hole; it can be called as infibulation. The last type is other kinds of harmful practices toward female genital such as cutting, piercing and pricking. In M‟Lissa and Tashi case - the representative of the Olinka tribe tradition as a whole, the circumcision is the type 3 – Infibulation. It is the appropriate ones towards the circumcision in the Olinka tribe. It can be seen that “it was done in such a way that there was now room for pee and menstrual blood more easily to pass” Walker, 2011: 36. It means that before she gave birth, she did not have enough room for a pee and menstrual blood to pass which means it refers to her vaginawhich is sewn and leaved a little hole. The other circumcised women,” after all, none of them had vaginal lips; none of them had a clitoris; they had no idea what these things looked like ” Walker, 2011: 67. They have been circumcised in their early age so that they do not remember even do not know what their genitals look like. As far as Tashi concerns about female circumcision, In my reading I had discovered there were at least three forms of circumcision. Some cultures demanded excision of only the clitoris, others insisted on a thorough scraping away of the entire genital area Walker, 2011: 66. There are three common forms of circumcision which is different in each society. According to Tashi‟s knowledge, the variation is “always different, I would think, I said, exhaling breath, because women are all different ” Walker, 2011: 66. From here, it can be concluded that the female circumcision variation depends on the woman self, whether she needs to get the type one or other types. It depends on woman‟s condition, since each physical woman is different.

B. How Tashi Experiences Identity Crisis as Revealed through the Female

Circumcision on and the Tribal Tradition There is a question, “Who am I, Tashi, renamed in America “Evelyn,” Johnson?” Walker, 2011: 21 This question shows Tashi‟s confusion towards her identity. She is confused to decide where she belongs to. Like Erikson has stated about “identity crisis”, unfortunate childhood memory of someone can make someone experience identity crisis Hjelle and Ziegler, 1981:127. In the novel, witnessing Dura ‟s initiation is Tashi‟s unfortunate childhood memory. This terrible memory damages the character building of Tashi. She remembers the memory very clear; she can recall it every time. The fact that Dura is dead makes she believes to not undergo the female circumcision. She becomes a traumatized person and she is afraid of blood, especially her own blood. It can be seen “...,while we were playing, she pricked her finger on a thorn or scraped her knee and glimpsed the sight of her own blood, she fell into panic ...”Walker, 2011: 5.Since her terrible memory is related to blood, the thing that can scare her off is blood. It is also added by Olivia, she states that Tashi “forgot why the sight of her own blood terrified her” Walker, 2011: 5.Automatically, she is afraid of things related to her unfortunate childhood memory without she ever realized it. She hates the tradition of female circumcis ion. She always judges M‟Lissa just wants to kill Dura, as stated by Tashi, “though you might have killed me just as you killed Dura ” Walker, 2011: 5. It is one of the reasons why she does not undergo the tradition in her puberty. Moreover, the requirement of the tradition is held by early shortly after birth, or at the age of five or six, but certainly by the onset of puberty, ten or eleven Walker, 2011: 37. From that requirement, it can tell before one achieves her puberty, she has to do the tradition. Even it is better if they undergo it in their early age so that it makes easier for Tsunga to circumcise their genitals. Talking about puberty, it is thought that puberty is one of the crucial times of one ‟s life. Puberty is the state when someone has physicality changes such as menstruation for a woman. It is seen as a gate to the adolescence. Meanwhile, in general, adolescence is is the crucial time which consists of character building and physical development. The character building means that PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI people‟ childhood identification help them to form identity to their way of adulthood. It makes identity can be changed so quickly because identity is always change and not fixed. When someone has an unfortunate childhood memory, it will destruct the development of someone‟s mentality and cognitive skill. Thus, Tashi sees the tribal tradition as something that should be obeyed. On the other hand, she sees it as a media to kill women. As time goes by, Tashi experiences identity crisis as she is weighing the option of undergoing the female circumcision. She has a traumatic memory which makesher afraid to d o it. On the other hand, she remembers „Our Leader‟ speech. The speech emphasizes that the Olinkans must preserve the Olinkan tradition. Moreover, female circumcision is seen as the stamp of an Olinkan woman. According to the perspective of M‟Lissa, Now, MLissa said, with a grimace of justification, it was the grownup daughter who had come to her, wanting the operation because she recognized it as the only remaining definitive stamp of Olinka tradition 2011: 37- 38. The female circumcision still exists in Olinka. It becomes the sign of an Olinkan women. Adam notes that “at first she merely spoke about the strange compulsion she sometimes experienced of wanting to mutilate herself ” Walker, 2011: 30.Tashi wants to mutilate herself subconsciously. Her subconscious mind makes her do the same thing as what she saw in her childhood or it can be called as post- traumatic syndrome disorder. Without she ever realizes it, the desire to be circumcised is growing by the time. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Her doubt over the female circumcision is also influenced by the missionaries. The missionaries come from America. The missionaries come to Olinka in the name of enlightenment for Olinka people. They colonize Olinka in a subtle way. Although Africa has been colonized before, the Westerners still has interest in it. In the story, the colonizer who is called „white‟ does not literally refer to Europe or America. As long as the researcher knows, Africa has been colonized by the Europeans. Although Tashi does not experience colonialism directly, she realizes and knows the suffering of her people because she is grown up with storytelling of colonization in her society. Besides, it is seen when people in Olinka really preserve their tradition. It is used not only to honor the successors but also to oppose the Westerners. When the Westerners come to the village, they want to change even erase the tradition in the village. To prevent it, the native people really preserve their tradition by still using its way and maintaining the traditionbe exist. Since Tashi meets American missionaries, America becomes the representation of the Western country. In African history long time ago, America is a place for African slavery. African people are brought to America as slaves. It means that America is also the colonizer country, even though they do not directly colonize Africa‟s land.As a result, the meeting of American culture and African culture form a condition of hybridity. Thus, Tashi is hybrid because she meets another culture; American culture. She also makes close relation towards the missionaries and communicates with them. America is a society which has cultural diversity. Since many immigrants come to the U.S with different background of cultures and places, the American people are open to the surrounding. They can easily accept people from other place. This makes them open to the new identity which people are brought to America. This makes them easy to be friend with new people. Thus, as American missionaries, they can be so easily make a contact with Olinka people in the novel. Adam, as the representation of the American culture, sees that the tribal scar marking is a shameful tradition , “in America, he would grow ashamed of her because of the scars on her face” Walker, 2011: 39. He thinks that it only harms the originality of one‟s face. Although, before his wedding day, ”Adam had these same Olinka tribal markings carved into his own cheeks” Walker, 2011: 39. He obeys the tradition because he wants to take Tashi as his bride. Then, his action of having the Olinka scar marking on his cheek shows he imitates the Olinka tradition. Every woman and man in the village should have “the Olinka tribal markings” in their cheek Walker, 2011: 65. The reason behind the scar marking is to show their pride and to honor their leader because “Our leader had these same markings, and was obviously proud of them” Walker, 2011: 65. “Our Leader” is the role model in the village, so that the native people imitate him. Second, science influences the Americans way of thinking. It means everything in this world should have a reason. Then, people show the acceptable proof or explanation of it, as what Adam has believed that there is no correlation between an action of love making and the crops. T he greatest taboo is “making PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI