The Interpersonal Conflicts Lack of Socialization

49 where Kai’s defenses become weak because of the presence of his father there. Some incomprehensible gibberish of the house often comes to attack Kai. “We are only to speak English henceforth,” she announced “absolutely no Chinese, in any form. “Kai, that means no singing song in Chinese. Jane, that means that you will say nothing behind my back that I cannot understand. There will be no breaching of this policy ” p. 77. The language problem Kai experiences does not only create troubles between him and his stepmother, but also with Big Willie and the Bashers. It happens when Big Willie asks about his stepmother. “Wow” Said a huge kid who had to be thirty years old. “Who dat lady?” “Stepmama Edna,” I said, in my eccentric accent, and those who heard me laugh. Those who had not heard are also laugh. I thought laughter was good. Wrong Again p. 62. Therefore, Edna tries to make the best solution for Kai. She will teach Kai English, and he will learn. To end this conflict they apply win-lose solution. Stepmother gets what she wants while Kai is accepting that he has to obey his stepmother. As a consequence, he loses his language, Songhai and learns the new one, English. In addition, he speaks in English in daily conversation even he speaks in it hardly. It makes him hesitant when asked by one of the instructors in the Y. His response to the question given indicates that Kai speaks in English and no longer speaks in Songhai. “Do you Speak English?” he asked. I nodded, hesitantly. “I go school,” I said p. 142. 2 Way of life Adjustment Process. Being plunged in the new culture, Kai also faces interpersonal conflict about his own fear when Edna asks him to make friends. Kai has been bullied for 50 several times which give him fear that if he try to make friends with others, they might just bully him. This fear is caused by some aspects. The fear of being bullied is the first aspect and the second aspect is about his physical difference among the other Panhandle kids. In his past life, Kai is not allowed to go outside or play with his friends. Since his mother’s absence, he is forced to go outside by Edna. The change of the way of life Edna treats to him creates the interpersonal conflict between them. Now I didn’t whistle for you. You just went out.” She was staring directly at my terrified face, ignoring the mob. “Go make friends.” Slam slick scared but ignorant, I descended the six stone steps to the street p. 62. He accepts what Edna offers to him because he is afraid that he will get punch. It is hard for Kai to make friends because he often gets bullied by them. He is afraid and anxious with the kids in the street. As a result, he is not comfortable when talking to kids. If he wants to communicate with friends, his fear causes the uncomfortable feeling to occur. Despite his fear and anxiety, he wants to make friends. I was not comfortable talking to kids, particularly boys, and I avoided the older ones like the plague. Now they were on me like raw egg on hair. The group of children smelled my fear and anxiety. They looked like a homogeneous mass of clothes, heads, and arms. They closed in tighter p. 62. Edna tends to use abuses such as hitting Kai regularly when Kai does not do what she says. He often tries to get some luck that will enable him to sneak in the house when Edna forgets to lock the door. Once, as I was fleeing some street bullies, I sprinted past my own door and saw that it had been left ajar. Edna went out no more frequently than my mother, but she must have cracked the door for a look and forgotten to lock it. Feeling the luck of the Irish, I braked hard, jammed inside and 51 latched the door, painting. Edna appeared immediately and forced me outside with paddling hands and helping feet. “I hate you” I cried, as the pack closed in. She hit me so hard with open palm to my face that the herd stopped, incredulous that the pretty blonde had done its work p. 78. In his past life, he is always kept by his mother inside the house and never allowed to go outside. As a result, he becomes uncomfortable in socializing which indicates him as an antisocial child. In his new life, Edna tries to make him become an accepted child in the society, but she does the attempts in incorrect manners. His stepmother forces Kai to go outside by emotional abuse. The emotional abuse is not only done through speeches but also actions. She makes Kai stay out of doors at all times except during school and at dinner time. To end the conflict, Kai takes a win-lose problem solving. Again, Kai does not refuse his stepmother ’ orders. He is going outside even he has to be beaten by Big Willie and the Bashers. It shows how obedient but coward Kai is. He never makes an effort to defend his willingness when contradictory ideas occur. Stepmother Edna said,” No. you belong on your own block, where I can whistle for you. Y ou can’t hear me on Encanto Way.” “No rike me, why make me be here?” I asked. “Of course I don’t dislike you. If you don’t step outside this moment, you are going to be whipped silly ” p. 65. Another interpersonal conflict Kai experiences is dealing with the bullies from Big Willie and the Basher. Big Willie is the biggest and meanest among many bullies Kai has to deal with. He can be called the leader of the Bashers. The Bashers itself is the name of a group who bullies Kai. The different condition that Kai has makes them bully him. Kids who can play a ball but are chicken fighters 52 do not belong to the block. Kids can do neither, do not belong in the world, and are supposed to be banned, killed, or worst. Kai is included as the kid who is in the category of those who are excluded from the block because he knows nothing, playing ball like a goat, having no fighting spirit, having less ability. These conditions creates a conflict between Kai and Big Willie and the Basher. “China Boy,” said Big Willie Mack in his deep and easy slum basso, “I be from First City. Gimme yo’ lunch money, ratface.” “Agrfa,” I moaned He was standing on my chest. I was not large to begin with; now I was flattening out. “Hey, China Boy shiterbrains. You got coins fo’ me, or does I gotta teach you some manners?” p. 1. Having known nothing and been excluded from the block, Kai is often bullied. He has to give his money in order not to be beaten. Big Willie persisted in the belief that because I was a China Boy, I had to be special. And special people, like whites, had to have money, somewhere p. 93. Being bullied several times, Kai loses his confident to be with other kids on the street. Instead of defending, he tends to cry when he gets fist from Big Willie and other bashers. Kai also deals with the interpersonal conflict with the Basher in Panhandle. They often bully him whenever Kai appears. “Catch China Boy” shouted Tyrone Skyes as an antipersonnel grenade disguised as a rubber kickball caromed off my head p. 90. He does not want the kids to call him as “China Boy”. A Chinese is often called “China Boy” by the Bashers. “Name Kai, no china boy,” I said accurately. “I from China which was untrue. I was from Panhandle.”p. 90 53 To solve his conflict with Big Willie and the Basher, he learns boxing in Y.M.CA. After being successful in learning how to box, Kai challenges Big Willie to fight him in order to stop the bullying from Willie and other bullies anymore. One day, after several practicing to hit Big Willie, at 3:10, the time when all kids go down on the street, Kai finds Big Willie. Kai wants to practice what has been taught by his instructors. He starts to think of two-two-one, one fighting strategy that he gets from the Y.M.C.A. He practices all of things that the instructors have told him including saying that Big Willie’s shoes are so ugly. By doing this, it will provoke Willie’s anger because he loves collecting shoes. At last, Kai wins the fight and asks Willie to stop the bullying. “It over, Big Willie,” I tried to say.” No more bully?” I added p. 318. Big Willie accepts all of the things that have been requested including no more bullying on the block, taking udder kids’ clothes and shoes, and taking big about the Fist City. “Da’s cool. No mo’, not today, said Willie p. 318. To end up all problem of being ignorant of the society, Kai successfully attacks Big Willie. Even if his own beliefs about Chinese values are still carried on his mind, he applies the values where he lives now. In this case, it is the best solution that Kai has made. By accepting the way of life about fighting, he can solve the conflicts that always happen continuously during his life in Panhandle. At the end, all the causes of his culture shock toward Big Willie and the Basher can be solved by defeating Big Willie. Based on the manner of interpersonal 54 conflict purposed by Adler and Towne 1990 , the solution to end up Kai’s problem is categorized as a win-lose problem solving. 3 Western Manner Adjustment Process Chinese eat with the joy of abandonment, the relish of a pride of lions. The object of a Chinese meal is eating. The theme of the exercise is free pleasure after a long day’s work. Chinese food is complex artistry in preparation, and simple, unrestrained celebration in eating. People talk, shout, laugh, and enjoy. Kai carries such belief in his mind. A child romp freely with happy little chopstick at dinnertime. This series of table manner s are opposite with Edna’s protocol. The purpose of a meal with Edna was protocol. We learned an elaborate preparatory procedure that made scrubbing for brain surgery seem dilatory. No talking, no grinning. Death to laughers. Food to fascist is somber business. After all, it eventually produces waste matter. Unless no one eats p. 79. Kai thinks that Edna needs to view the first meal in their home. The snuffing, the talking with food in the mouth, the elbows on the table, and the unknown taxonomy of the strange things on people’s plate probably have the same effect on her. Again, Kai does not get what he wants. The marks of childhood endure. Today, when I see silverware improperly aligned, I feel a jab of fright, a small, tender silver of pain, a threat of disorder and possible doom p. 79. To end this conflict Kai obeys what Edna tries to teach him. According to Alder and Towne 1990, this manner of the interpersonal conflict is regarded as a win-lose problem solving in which Edna gets what she wants and Kai gives up the conflict. 55

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS

This chapter presents the closure of the study. It consists of three sections concerning the conclusions, the implications of the study, and the suggestions for future researchers and ELESP lecturers.

A. Conclusions

After analyzing the novel, the researcher concludes that the major character in the novel entitled China Boy, Kai is a round character. It is shown by the character changing in adapting fighting as American way of life. Kai is described as a seven- year-old boy who was born in California and lives in San Francisco, Panhandle. Kai grows up in a various ways of life including China and America. His experience in living between two different cultures changes his way of life. Therefore, it can be said that he takes the assimilation strategy in which he fully participates in the host culture. By applying some of Murphy and Card’s methods of characterization, the researcher describes Kai Ting’s characteristics as untalented, obedient, antisocial, inferior, and weepy and coward before learning in Y.M.C.A. he is also described as adaptable and forgiving kid after learning in Y.M.C.A. He never has bravery to solve his cultural conflicts. Therefore, all of characteristics presented above can be the factors of culture shock experiences. 56 The second concerns with his intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts in dealing with culture shock. Kai Ting experiences culture shock because of different values, beliefs, ways of life, languages, and lack of socialization. The value in China is different from that of in America. Kai does not have deep religious faith since he is a Confucian who worships ancestors. Therefore, he has problems when being plunged in a Christian church. He changes the religion after his stepmother, Edna, sends him to church every Sunday. In addition, the masculinity in Panhandle is meant by fighting. The belief of karma makes Kai find difficulty to accept fighting which is regarded as the measurement of being a man in Panhandle. Therefore Kai Ting has difficulties to adjust himself to such condition as a result of his lack of socialization and being ignorant of American culture, which make his life become worst. In regard to cultural differences, Kai Ting has to face intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts in dealing with culture shock. The first intrapersonal conflict comes from two options whether to stay or leave Panhandle. It can be said that Kai experiences an avoidance-avoidance conflict situation since he is to choose one between two unattractive choices. To end this conflict, Kai chooses to stay in Panhandle with the consequence of being abused and bullied. The second intrapersonal conflict is an approach-avoidance conflict situation, which occurs when the individual has to choose one between two goals by the person’s finding added reason. To end this conflict, Kai finds the reason to choose denying his Chinese belief about fighting. 57 The third intrapersonal conflict is considered as a double approach- avoidance conflict situation. It happens when Kai has to choose to be an American or remain a Chinese. Both choices have their own attractive and unattractive aspects. Therefore to end this conflict, Kai makes a decision to be an American as a way to fix his identity in the place he lives. Despite experiencing intrapersonal conflicts, Kai Ting faces interpersonal conflicts when he deals with other characters. He experiences conflicts that happen between his stepmother and Big Willie and the Basher. In the process of dealing with all interpersonal conflicts, Kai applies a win-lose solution. One of the parties gets what heshe wants. The conflicts that happen between Kai and his stepmother are solved by using a win-lose solution in which Kai accepts what his mother wants him to be. He accepts to speak in English even though he cannot speak it well. The second conflict deals with the way of life. Edna forces Kai to go outside to make friends as a normal child who is playing outside. D ue to Kai’s condition, he does not want to make friends. Whenever he goes outside, he gets bullied. To end this conflict with Edna, he tries to negotiate it but his negotiation is rejected. As a result, he accepts to go outside except during school and dinner. Similarly, to end this conflict he uses a win-lose solution. The other conflicts happen between him and Big Willie, the leader of the street fighters. He hits Kai several times and Kai does not hit him back. As portrayed in his characteristics, he is coward and used to crying whenever Willie gives his fists to him. At the end of the conflict with Big Willie, Kai is able to defeat Willie. He learns boxing until he is successful to acquire the ability to defeat Big Willie.