Criticism and Review of Related Studies

with one of the essential problems of being, the struggle of the human spirit to free itself. Besides the novel, Buck also gets some criticisms. Phyllis Bentley says: ‘An attempt is made to present China from within, as the Chinese see it. . . In the same way, Mrs. Buck aims to present the Chinese customs as familiar, natural, and correct, because so would her characters regard them. [These customs] are all copiously illustrated, but always presented, as it were, unselfconsciously, as part of the natural process of living; never by the slightest word or turn of phrase does Mrs. Buck call attention to the difference of these customs from the Western’s.’ http:www.wvwc.edulibwv_authorsauthorsa_buck.ht m There are also other criticisms which were much less impressed with Bucks depictions of China. One of them is a criticism written in American Winners of the Nobel Literary Prize by Dody Weston Thompson which says: ‘Moving in a vivid world of Chinese custom, in a spiritual landscape seen always understandingly through Chinese eyes, Pearl Bucks main characters of that period were nevertheless so universal, so recognizable anywhere, as to seem only incidentally Chinese. One gets no real sense in these novels of an ethos that was in actuality profoundly different from the West. Nowhere, for example, is it shown what constitutes a Taoist, Buddhist, or Confucian, their distinctions and similarities, or their considerable distances from Western thought.’ http:www.wvwc.edulibwv_authorsauthorsa_buck.ht m In fact, the use of the criticisms is to improve the work later. The positive comments can be developed later; while the negative comments are used to improve the mistake, so later the author is able to write better work. There have been two studies done related to Pavilion of Women 1946. First is analysis of the change of personality of the protagonist and the value of Pearl S. Buck’s Pavilion of Women 1992 written by Liana Kurniawati. Second is Madame Wu’s motivation in choosing a concubine for her husband as seen in 20 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Buck’s Pavilion of Women 2008 by Prima Putri Nardiantari. Both studies are the theses of the students of Sanata Dharma University major in English Language Education Study Program. They are different from this study. The first study analyzes the change of the protagonist’s personality and the value of the novel, while the second study analyzes the motivation of Madame Wu in choosing a concubine for her husband. This study analyzes Madame Wu’s personality development under the influence of Western Catholic Priest. This study also analyzes Madame Wu’s personality at the beginning of the novel under the influence of traditional Chinese culture and what the Western Catholic Priest and his teachings represent.

D. Theoretical Framework

To analyze the influence of the Western Catholic priest to Madame Wu’s personality development, several theories are employed. The theory of character and the theory of characterization suggested by Murphy 1972: 161-173 are used to answer the second and third questions in the problem formulation, namely how Madame Wu’s personality is described in the novel and how is Madame Wu’s personality in the beginning and in the end of the novel. The theory of personality is used to give clearer description about personality, intelligence, and emotion. The theory of personality and personality development is also used to explain how Madame Wu’s personality in the beginning and in the end of the novel and how Priest Andre can influence 21 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Madame Wu’s personality development, as stated in the first question in the problem formulation. The theory of critical approach helps the writer to choose the best approach to analyze the character’s personality and how the character’s personality develops through the story. 22