Global and postcolonial feminist used the term of oneness to solve the conflict between the term of sisterhood and manyness. Even though there were a
lot of differences in the women‟s dream, “oneness” tied and united women to fight the oppressor, thus the people can be themselves without potential conflict
occured from outside and within the society. I want my daughter to take part in what is taking place in this country. If
she gets married now, she will never particiapte in the change. I don‟t wat her to be like me. I am married to a good man. As you know about 40 of
Cape Verdian men are labourers in Europe, and my husband is in Holland. That house over there that we are building brick by brick right next to this
little cabin is being made with the money he sends home. Every two years
he gets one month‟s vacation, and comes home to meet the baby he mad the last time, and to make a new one. I don‟t want that for my daughter.
I‟ve heard the it is possible to prevent pregnancy by knowing the calender. Please teach our girls how to count the days so that they can control
pregnancies. Tong, 2009: 218
In the issue of reproduction, feminists emphasized that women must have priviledge control over their own body, for example it would be the best decision
if women decided by themselves on how many children they would have without ruining their health and ability to work outside the household. Besides, they also
emphasized that mothers have the right control over their own children, especially daughters to experience the better state of condition than their mother.
In the era of World War, the colonizers had pulled themselves back to their country, bringing lots of benefits that had been exploited from the colonized
countries such as human resourses and natural resources, the abandoned countries rapidly went poor and forced to borrow money and all the supporting financial
stuffs to empower their economy and political support, therefore the notion of patriarchy system and gender oppression that attached within both relationship of
colonized and colonizer meant to be ethically rejectable ideologies and they only mean bussiness.
The relationship between colonized and colonizer is based not on any measure of partnership bur rather than on the latter‟s coercion and violence
in its dealing with the former. This relationship is in fact the secret of unlimited growth in the centers of accumulation. If externalization of all
the costs of industrial production were not possible, if they had to be borne by the industrialized countries themselves, that is if they were
unternalized, and immediate end to unlimited growth would be inevitable. Tong, 2009: 226
As long as there is desire of possession of material goods and human relate it to their own happiness then there will always be a competition which leads this
world into another conflict and once again women will be set against another women in global and against the society in the end.
C. Theoretical Framework
Theory of character and characterization were used to answer the problem formulation number one which explains Suwen‟s characterization on the novel.
Theory of Patriarchy used to answer the problem formulation number two which questioning the
Singapore‟s society decription in the Fistful of Colours. Multicultural, Global and Postcolonial feminism would directly answer the
pro blem formulation number two and three which explain the society‟s condition
and the process of Suwen‟s feminist behaviour and thought development.
The writer used the theory of character and characterization to reveal Suwen‟s character in the novel, this theory would become the basic foundation for
the writer to unveil the psychological process within Suwen‟sself awareness. Throughout this undergraduate thesis, theory of Patriarchy was used to explain the
condition or social construct on how and why this kind of practices occured in Fistful of Colours.
Multicultural femininst was set to deliver the explanation about the social condition or basic social construct and the distribution process of human rights
between men and women in the society depending on race, religion, education. The theory would give us a broader view about the social justice and injustice that
happened in the diversity of race and culture in Singapore such as patriachy and gender oppression.
Global and Postcolonial feminism was used to emphasize the conflict that occured in the pre
– colonialization of British and after the invasion of Japanese imperial army. This theory developed the essence of struggle of the oppressed
which caught in the middle of war and basic social construct – as explained by the
multicultural feminist. Some terms that attached in Ramdas‟ study such as alienation and
escaping were applied on this undergraduate thesis, basically those terms were derived from the radical feminism and the writer used the psychoanalytic
approach to elaborate the psychological effects from the society toward the development
of Suwen‟s
behaviour and
thought.
17
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
Fistful of Colours, a novel by Suchen Christine Lim was published by SNP international, Singapore in 1993 and awarded the inaugural Singapore
literature prize in 1992. The story is built up layer by layer. The present is built on the past and the
present is an indicator of what the future might be. The author is able to bring in the story of the forefathers of Singapore around the turn of the
century, the ordinary people responsible for the shaping of Singapore. Lim, 2003: Cover page
The object of this undergraduate thesis was developed from the layers of various stories and perspectives that have been built by the society of early
Singapore. Besides, the object of the study were also covered through the eyes of young generation, Suwen‟s family and her friend‟s historical background, despite
the perspective of young generations, the writer also would like to take the history boundary of nations builders as the object of the study too since the focus of this
thesis is to analyze the process of influence of society in the Singapore‟s history towards Suwen‟s feminist behaviour and thought. There were the Chinese coolie,
malay writer, and Indian doctor. Fistful of Colourscovered broader issues, from the ethnic diversity, the relationship between art and history, until the pursuit of
personal artistic freedom. A Singapore novel fiction in english had truly attempted to explore the
complexity of Singapore‟s diversity in race and culture, a complicated fight that
