Background of the Study

2 by themselves. They need other people to share their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, values, and customs. The necessity of living with other individuals demands people to understand their partners. As the smallest form in the society, family has an important role as the first institution which will influence people’s behavior in deve loping relationships. People will associate with the culture of their family then expand to their society. People’s way of understanding something as the value of life or love can be learned mostly through their behavior or attitude. The society and its culture take an important role in contributing the way of how people understand, develop, and behave in their relationship. While reading the novel, the readers may possibly find some aspects which can be found in real life such as believing in superstitio ns and practicing various traditional rituals. The aspect of real life of certain cultures will enrich people’s knowledge about the culture. Essentially, human beings are designed to live in a society; similar to characters in the novel. The characters in the novel belong to a particular society and they will be influenced directly or indirectly by their environment. Welleck and Warren 1962: 96 propose, “literature is an expression of society and is actually determined by or dependent on its social setting, on social change and development”. This statement brings us to the understanding that society and its culture are significant in literary works because one’s behavior, characteristics, beliefs, and thoughts can be formed by one’s cultural background. By understanding one’s culture, there will be great communication which may create harmonious relationships between one and another. 3 Related to the idea above, the writer is interested in exploring Winnie’s and Pearl’s cultural backgrounds as they are the major characters in The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan. Their cultural backgrounds bring a major influence on their mother-daughter relationship. They also prove that some relationships cannot be separated from their surroundings. Later, their differences can teach the readers to accept and respect other cultures. The other reason is that the writer has a deep interest in both Chinese and American cultures presented in the novel. The novel is also expected to enhance the readers’ knowledge about Chinese and American cultures. The Kitchen God’s Wife was first published in 1991 and reprinted in 1992. The story is about Pearl and her mother Winnie who have never got along well. An argument breaks out between Pearl and Winnie at the wedding of their relatives where they finally reveal each others secret. The story that Pearl hears from her mother is a story that she has never heard before. It is a secret that Winnie has kept from Pearl for decades because of the fear of hurting Pearl. Pearl herself has a secret, yet it becomes secondary as Winnies story unfolds.

B. Problem Formulation

Considering the backgrounds of the study above, this study is intended to answer some problems as follows: 1. How are Winnie’s and Pearl’s cultural backgrounds described in the novel? 2. How do the cultural backgrounds of Winnie and Pearl affect their mother and daughter relationship? PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 4

C. Objectives of the Study

This study aims to answer the questions listed in the problem formulation above. Therefore, it attempts: 1. To reveal Winnie’s and Pearl’s cultural backgrounds in Amy Tan’s The Kitchen God’s Wife . 2. To explain both Winnie’s and Pearl’s cultural backgrounds in influencing their mother and daughter relationship.

D. Benefits of the Study

It is expected that the writer as a researcher may get a better understanding of culture as one of the important parts of literature and how someone’s cultural backgrounds may affect his or her relationship with others from this study. The analysis on the characters’ cultural backgrounds in this study may contribute some significant information for further studies on the novel The Kitchen God’s Wife so that in the future they can make some additions or corrections in order to get a better and relevant understanding and interpretation. This study is hoped to help the readers understand the story of The Kitchen God’s Wife. They can take examples from the characters who can probably be the role- models in respecting every culture and valuing their mother and daughter or son relationship. They can also use their understanding of the novel to build a better relationship with others. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI