In summary, the major concern of Postcolonialism is to highlight the struggle that occurs when one culture is dominated by another and that what all
postcolonialist critics emphatically state is that European colonialism did occur, and that the conquerors not only dominated the physical land but also the
hegemony or ideology of colonized people Bressler,1999:266-267. As Ania Loomba points out in her book ColonialismPostcolonialism, postcolonialism
should be flexibly thought as “the contestation of colonial domination and the legacies o
f colonialism” ? Loomba, 2000:12.
C. Theoretical Framework
This study provides some theories to answer the problem formulation stated in the previous chapter, chapter I.
The first is Theory of character is to know deeper about the character, how they look like and how they face the problems, which is in the story. It is to
answer the first problem of this research and to describe the character of the book Is it possible?
The second theory is the theory of modernity, helps to know how the character reveals the modernity. This theory related to the postcolonial theory,
which helps us to see the social relationship within the society of the character and the identity of the characters.
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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study in this thesis Is it possible? by Henry Ole Kulet, a Kenyan novelist. Is it possible? is an adventure novel consisting of 156 pages
and being divided into 12 chapters. This novel was published in 1971 by Longhorn Publishers LTD Nairobi, Kenya.
The setting of the story takes place in the Maasailand, where the Maasai people live in their traditional way, far away from modern life. He uses several
people who have different personalities to show the condition. The whole content is to describe different reactions towards modern life in the Maasai society.
This novel is among the most famous works in African literature, though it may not have won any awards but it is being studied in Universities and schools
in Tanzania. The author Henry Ole Kulet weaves his autobiography and vivid narrative to create a story about life in the Maasailand. The story affirms and at
the same time contests the possibility of combining Maasai culture with Western education.
The story begins with a conversation between father and son under a big tree. Lerionka as the son and Kariankei as the father, they are talking about the
future of their family. That Lerionka is to be the next head of his family according to the Maasai custom a father should talk to his son because Kariankei is getting
old. There conversation was interrupted by Ole Saidimu a friend of Kariankei,
Lerionka was sent away to attend the cattles. An askari, a messager of the white people came to his village one day, with a message straight from the government
that young boys must be sent to school. Kariankei does not like the idea of sending his only son away. Two worlds clash, modern and tradition way of life.
One dominating and the other resisting from the ways of life.
B. Approach of the study
In this study the writer will use the Postcolonialism approach. The writer believes this is the suitable approach to the problems.
The Postcolonialism approach is defined as an approach that concerns itself particularly with literature that represents and concentrates on writings from
colonized cultures, place and societies that were once dominated by outside of the white, male European cultural, political and philosophical tradition Bressler,
1999: 265. Furthermore, Bressler expound that “postcolonial literature and theory
investigate what happens when two cultures clash and when one of them with its accompanying ideology empowers and deen itself superior to the other
” Bressler, 1999: 265. The writer will use the Postcolonial Approach because the approach
enables the writer to deal the analysis from perspectives; to construct the coming across upon the novel’s particular characterization as part of a resistance toward
the oppresser that is assessed by the Kenyan author Henry Ole Kulet toward the Western literary mainstream. By using the Approach, the writer’s state of mind
would be solely directed towards the effect brought by colonization.
