Problem Formulation Objectives of the Study

D. Definitions of Terms

1. Issei

Issei is the first-generation Japanese immigrants who came to the USA between 1870 until 1924. They were relatively homogeneous; most were young and had had four years of schooling. Most of them were male and most came from rural Japan. The Issei came primarily from southern Japan, particularly the prefecture of Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Wakayama, and Yamaguchi Kitano, 1985: 239.

2. Postcolonial Feminist

Postcolonial feminist is a person or a group of people who challenges the concept of universalism in feminism. They critique European and North American feminists for ‘universalizing’ the conditions of women, they argues that the distinctions among women out of their race and cultural background should be emphasized as well https:blogs.stockton.edupostcolonialstudiesdigitizing-postcolonial- feminism. 7

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

Since this thesis discusses how the sruggle of Issei widow in Wakako Yamauchi’s play, some reviews on her works are important to see in order to get a better understanding about them and how Yamauchi describes Japanese women immigrant ’s lives in the USA in her works. Shelley R. Terry in the thesis entitled Five Female Characters Driven to Suicide in Plays by 20th-Century Female Playwrights as a Result of Domestic Violence in a Patriarchal Society discusses a female character in Wakako Yamauchi’s And The Soul Shall Dance named Emiko who experiences an arranged marriage. Her relationship with her husband, Oka, is not harmonious and often filled with emotional and physical abuse. A male-dominated Japanese American society, verbal and physical abuse, and societally imposed oppression also drove unwilling Japanese emigrant Emiko to become unbalanced and commit suicide in Wakako Yamauchi ’s And The Soul Shall Dance Terry, 2010: 25 Since Oka has no control over choosing a wife, he decides to physically dominate his wife. Meaning to say, eventhough Oka does not choose to marry Emiko, he can choose to abuse her. Oka’s incapability of controlling his own life and overcoming financial oppression cause him to be abusive. In this play Orientals