identity, especially for Americans, as this country is the home of immigrants from all parts of the world. Several hundred years of living and
working on this land created generations of Americans with mixed ethnic and racial backgrounds. Relatively flexible social structures permitted
social mobility of people of different nationalities and classes. Unfortunately, because of cultural ignorance and prejudice,
misunderstanding and antagonism among Americans still exist. Not a typical for Chinese Americans, Lin was challenged when she identified
herself as an Ohioan when she was asked if she were a Chinese. She reaffirmed her American identity by telling the audience that she was born
in the United States and had established herself as an American artist Song, 2002: 386.
By giving Lin as an example, Song clearly showed that although a Chinese- American was born in America Ohio in this case and stated himherself as
“American” or Ohioan in this case, people will still ask if she were a Chinese. This is because the prejudice and misunderstanding among Americans about
Chinese people still exist. An “American” is considered a White person, so Chinese who are not White colored, as American categorized them cannot
identified themselves as “fully American.” Even though they were born in America, speak only English and cannot speak Mandarin, Americans will still
recognize them as Chinese, regardless the Chinese’s explanation and self- introduction as American. This problem made a simple question like “Where do
you come from?” cause a big problem for second-generation Chinese-Americans. It is because they cannot say that they are Chinese, as they were born in America,
but cannot say that they are Americans, as Americans will stubbornly tell them that they are Chinese and not Americans.
The writer’s fourth related study is from Arif Dirlik’s “Chinese History and the Question of Orientalism”. This study’s purpose is to give a brief view to
the reader about post-colonialism and the background to why the European people
who later immigrated to America thought other races as inferior or –borrowing Said’s word- “Other”.
The emergence of Eurocentrism also coincided historically with the establishment of Euro-American domination and colonialization of the
world. Eurocentrism served the cause of colonialism by representing the world outside of Europe as empty, at least culturally speaking, or
backward, defined in terms of lack, and hence in need of European intervention. Europe had everything to give to the world; what it received
in return were images of its own past - and the rightful material returns from its civilizing activity Dirlik, 1996:111.
Dirlik’s writing showed that the reason why Europeans thought that other races are inferior was because of Eurocentrism. It is the time when Europe
invaded many countries in order to “civilize” them. They thought the world outside Europe as “empty” and “backward” so it need to be civilized by
Europeans. Back then, it was normal to think that way because Europeans thought that non-European people were exotic, sensual, low-cultured, uneducated, and
immoral. They did even not consider non-Europeans as “people” or “persons” but choose to think that non-Europeans are not individual human beings but only
“anonymous masses” Barry, 2002:193-194. This past-point of view carries on to the present as the descendants of the Europeans who migrated to America and
later became American citizens, refuse to acknowledge non-White people as American.
These related studies have been very helpful to the writer by giving many insights and a new point of view for this research. The writer’s research has a
similar topic as Emeilya Kumala Sari’s “The Responses of Chinese Immigrant Women in America in the Mid 20
th
Century toward the Demand of the Society in Lisa See’s Shanghai Girls” due to its similarities to the writer’s research about the
hardship Chinese immigrants faced in America. Jing Yi Song’s “Fighting for Chinese Identity” also explores identity. The writer’s research shares similar
characteristics with Dan Caldwell “The Negroization of the Chinese Stereotype in California” in the talking about stereotype. Finally, Arif Dirlik’s “Chinese History
and the Question of Orientalism” also uses post-colonial theory. Despite of those similarities, however, the writer’s research provides something new.
What makes this research different from other similar research is its current reference and its diffrent point of view toward personal identity of the
immigrants. For the current references, the novel was published in 2010 and has 21
st
century urban American life and China as its setting, different from the other Chinese research that usually focused on the life of Chinese immigrants in the 19
th
or 20
th
centuries. This research also deals with the modern Western point of view toward Chinese, so it will be different from previous research. This research will
show how in the 21
st
century, stereotypes towards Chinese still exist, making Chinese Americans confused about their identity.
For its different point of view toward personal identity regarding of the second-generation Chinese-America, this novel explicitly stated that every race in
America is immigrant. Therefore there should be no race can claim superior or “more American” toward the others. This novel gave example and potrait of how
a race in American White-American forgot about the fact and anyone in American is immigrant, and constanly treated Chinese-American as a stranger and
immigrant through stereotypes and prejudices.
B. Review of Related Theories
Related to the objectives of this study, the writer will refer several theories in order to answer the problem formulations. The first theory is about character
and characterization; the second is the relationship between literature and society; and the last is Post-Colonial Studies on Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Identity,
which consisted of Stereotypes and Prejudices theory and Identity theory.
1. Theory of Character Characterization
In order to know how the character reacts with the stereotypes to find her identity, the theory of character and characterization should be used to see Kay as
the character in the story and how the writer, Deanna Fei, characterized her. According to Abrams’ Glossary of Literary Terms, there are two definitions of
characters 1. The character is the name of a literary genre; it is a short, and usually
witty, sketch in prose of a distinctive type of person. 2. Characters are the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work,
who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what
the persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it—the dialogue—and from what they do—the action.Abrams,1999: 32-33
Abrams’ two definitions concluded that a character is some kind of person or figure in a literary work that the author creates to represent a real-world person
and serve as the main tool of the action, conflict, and plot. Character, Abrams says, is usually filled with certain personality, moral value, and intelligence. In
short, characters are like the representation of people in real life. Just like in the real world there are many kinds of person, in literary works there are many kinds
of characters. Therefore, seeing the character in the real world, can help the reader to relate to his own life.
Another definition of character can be seen from Richard Gill’s Mastering English Literature noted that
“a character is someone in a literary work who has some sort of identity it needn’t be a strong one, an identity which is made up by appearance,
conversation, action, name and possibly thought going on in the head” Gill, 1995 : 127.
Gill strengthens Abrams’ arguments by giving additional information about characters. Gill notes that a character needs an identity although “it does not need
to be a strong one.” This means that every character, whether main or secondary, must have an identity, despite how weak it is. Their identity, as Gill said, can be
judged by several means. It can be the appearances e.g., how they dress, conversation between them and another character, their actions in the story, and
finally, their thoughts in their own head. Taken from Abrams and Gill’s definitions, a character is a figure in literary works that represents people in the
real world and must have an identity despite how weak it is. Apart from theory of character, there is also a theory about
characterization i.e. how a character is introduced by the author. On characterization, Abrams 1999 : 33-34 states
A broad distinction is frequently made between alternative methods for characterizing i.e., establishing the distinctive characters of the persons
in a narrative: showing and telling. In showing also called the dramatic method, the author simply presents the characters talking and acting and
leaves the reader to infer the motives and dispositions that lie behind what they say and do. The author may show not only external speech and
actions, but also a characters inner thoughts, feelings, and responsiveness to events; for a highly developed mode of such inner showing, see stream
of consciousness. In telling, the author intervenes authoritatively in order
to describe, and often to evaluate, the motives and dispositional qualities of the characters.
Similar to character theory, Gill also has his own definition of characterization. For Gill, characterization is the way in which a character is
created Gill, 1995: 127. Gill seems to give a simpler definition than Abrams, but the point is same. Characterization is the way the author presents the nature of
the characters in the literary work. There are various ways of how the author presents and explains the character to the reader. Abrams has noted his two ways:
telling and showing, while M.J. Murphy notes nine ways in his book Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry and The English
Novel for Overseas Students. According to Murphy Murphy, 1972: 161-173, the
ways are summarized as follows:
1. Personal description
“The author gives a description of a persons appearance such as the face,
skin, eyes, build and clothes.” In this kind of characterization, the author
is usually portrayed as the narrator who gives insight to the reader the personal description of the characters.
2. Character as seen by another
“The author can describe the character through the eyes and opinions of the other characters.” As stated by Murphy, the author describes certain
character through the eyes, opinion, or thought of the other characters.”
3. Speech
“The insight is given to us by the author into the character, one of the people in the book through what the person says. The reader can get some
clues about the character through speech, conversation and opinion.” With indirect characterization, the author gives information about a character
through the speech or opinion of the other character toward himher.
4. Past life
“The reader can learn something about a persons past life from the clues given by the author. The author gives a clue to events that have helped to
shape a persons character by direct comment, persons thoughts, the conversation or the medium of another person.” This method is usually
used in the stories that provide flashbacks about a character’s past life. Knowing the character’s past can help the reader understand the nature of
the character in the present.
5. Conversation of others
“The author can also give clues to a persons character through the conversation of other people and the things they say about the character.”
This happens usually when the characters are talking or gossiping about a certain character. The conversation gives insight into how the character
really is.
6. Reaction
“The description of how the character reacts to various situations and events.” Usually, the author presents some conflict or problems that a
character needs to solve. In seeing how heshe reacts to that problem or conflict, the readers can see what kind of character it is.
7. Direct comments
“The reader gets the description or comment on a persons character directly.” Simple, the author directly gives the readers insight about the
characters through direct comments from the narrator or the other characters.
8. Thought
“The knowledge of what a person is thinking about is given by the author directly to the reader.” This is usually used in the kind of story where the
narrator knows all the characters’ thought. Providing the characters’ thought to the reader, the author gives the reader the nature of the
characters that heshe creates.
9. Mannerism
“The description of a persons mannerism, habits, or idiosyncrasies is given by the author.” A part of indirect characterization, the author
describes a character’s habitual actions or shows how heshe treats other people. By seeing those things, the readers can judge what kind of
characters heshe is.
