mother-daughter relationship that contains a different culture and value is also be explained through the cultural conflicts.
Then, this study is developing Setiawan’s undergraduate thesis since the
writer explains more about the characteristics of the woman character and analyze the character
’s internal and external conflicts to see how Ruth Young reconciles with the society and undergo the cultural conflicts.
The last related study has the same element with this study as both of the studies are talking about the culture. The writer uses that related study to see the
pattern of the Chinese American first and second generation. It also depicts about the Chinese values and American values. Most of all, it has the same approach
which is sociocultural-historical approach. Thus, the related studies help the writer to work on this study. The focus of
this study is the reconciliation of Ruth Young as second generation who was born and raised in the United States. Her mother teaches and gives her Chinese culture
while she grows up with American culture. Because of that, by using the related studies above as the references, this study explains further how Ruth reconciles
and undergoes the cultural conflict.
B. Review of Related Theory
In order to help the writer answer the problem formulation, there are some theories needed in this study. The writer uses five related theories, theory of
character and characterization, theory of conflict, theory of acculturation strategy, theory of relation between literature and society, and review of historical, social
and cultural background. Those theories are used to analyze about the characteristics, conflicts, the way the character chooses to reconcile and also to
find the background of the conflicts in the novel.
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Character is the main aspect in novel and every literature work. M.H. Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Harpham in A Glossary of Literary Terms define two
definitions of character. “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” Abrams and Harpham, 2012: 45. The other definition, Abrams and Harpham describe
Characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional,
and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say –the dialogue-
and by what they do –action Abrams and Harpham, 2012: 46.
Based on two definitions of character by Abrams and Harpham, it can be seen that character exists on the literary works. A work needs character to make
the readers understand the story through the present of the character. Then, Richard Gill in Mastering English Literature states 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 thoughts going on in the head”
Gill, 1995: 127. Thus, from the definition of a character, it can be said that a character is
the interpretation of a being that exists in a literary work. A character can be labeled through the appearance in the story, conversation with other characters,
action that is described by the author, name and thoughts that are given by the author to the reader.
