study postcolonialism is chosen as the approach to reveal the struggle of Alice to resist the discrimination by the whites.
This approach is the most appropriate in this study because the main focus of this study is to reveal Alice‘s resistance. Furthermore, the autobiography that is
used by the writer contains events that contain the issues of racism, exploitation, and other discrimination acts based on race. By using this approach the writer
expects to reveal the struggle of the character in resisting the discrimination that the character went through.
C. Method of the Study
The writer used library research as the method for this study. As the writer used the library research for this study, the writer had collected data from the
literary books, books that contained literary approaches and theories and other books which contained all the information needed for this study. Some
information were also obtained from the online sources. The primary source of this study is of course taken from the text of the
autobiography When the Pelican Laughed by Alice Nannup itself. Whereas, the secondary sources that the writer used are the books about literary criticisms.
Some books used by the writer as the secondary sources are Reading and Writing about Literature, Theory of Literature, Literary Theory, A Handbook to
Literature, and other books which support the completion of the study. To answer the problem formulation of the study, there were some steps
taken by the writer. The first step was the writer applied the close reading by
reading the autobiography over and over again in order to understand the contain of the autobiography.
The second step was that after the writer formulated the problem formulation, the writer conducted library research to collect the data, such as
theories and approach needed to answer the problem formulation. Other than collecting data from the text sources, the writer also collected several data from
the online sources. The theories used by the writers are the theory of character and characterization, theory on relation between the literature and the society, the
review on the background of the Aborigines society, review on the racial discrimination towards the Aborigines, and review on the resistance of the
Aborigines. The next step was the analyzing part. When analyzing the literary work, the writer paid close attention on every detail of the work to identify the
character of Alice as the object of this study. The theory on character by Mary Rohrberger and Samuel Woods in
Reading and Writing about Literature, M. H Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms and characterization in Holman and Harmon in A Handbook to Literature,
and from M. J Murphy in Understanding Unseens, helped the writer analyzed the character of Alice Nannup. The theory on the relation between Literature and the
Society by Rene Wellek and Austin Warren in Theory of Literature helped the writer to see the relation between the autobiography and the society at the time the
autobiography was written. Then the review on the racial discrimination towards the Aborigines from The New Encyclopedia Britanica, and by Ellis Cashmore in
Encyclopedia of Race and Ethnic Studies helped the writer to identify the
practices of the racial discrimination acts that the Aborigines received from the whites, as in this case towards Alice as an Aborigine. Then the review on the
resistance of the Aborigines taken from Unsettling the Empire Resistance Theory for the Second World by Selwyn Cudjoe and Barbara Harlow in The Post-
Colonial Studies Readers by Bill Ashcroft and friends, Eric Selbin in Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance, Amal Ibrahim Madibbo in Minority within Minority, and
Invisible Resistance to Tyranny by Jefferson Mack, was used by the writer in analyzing how Alice Nannup resisted the racial discrimination. The review on the
background of the Aborigines Society was used in helping the writer to understand more about the situation in the past during the white colonization and
how it has impacted the lives of the Aborigines as it is also revealed in Alice Nannup‘s When the Pelican Laughed. After the writer understood the
autobiography well, then the writer decided the problem formulation which is the focus of this study.
After all of the questions in problem formulation is answered, the writer drew conclusions based on the analysis.
