Method of the Study

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS

As we come to the analysis part, it is better for the writer to give brief introduction regarding the content of it. Here, the answers of the three problems formulation as mentioned in the first chapter will be given. To specify the answers of each question, this analysis part will be divided into three divisions. First division is to answer problem formulation number one that is to describe the main character that is Jamal. The next division will explicate the conflicts the main character owns. The third division is to see the possible messages that can be drawn from the previous analysis.

1. The description of the main character

a. Physical description The novel Scopions employs a young black man of twelve as its main character. His name is Jamal Hicks. This boy lives only with his mother, brother, and sister. He is no longer stay with his father. Mama has left Jevon Hicks, their father, since Jamal and his siblings were still babies. Jamal is the second child in the family after his big brother, Randy. Apart from this, Jamal has interest on art, above all on drawing and painting. He is excited to have some real paints, a real paint brush, and plain white papers. It seems that he is serious with his hobby. Unlike his sister, Sassy, who resembles their father, Jamal tends to resemble their mother. Their mother or Mama, as Jamal and Sassy call her, is described by Jamal as a pretty and strong woman who looks like the African women he has seen in the magazines. Jamal is the same deep brown as she is. In his age of twelve, Jamal is only a little bit shorter than Mama. Another description is that Jamal has wide eyes like Mama and Sassy. b. Personality description The first thing the readers may notice about this main character is his courage. He never steps back in facing those who try to make him feels small inside and weak no matter how old, big, and tough they are. Jamal has a good self defense since he does not want to be underestimated and considered as a weak and coward. Jamal’s courage is clearly depicted when he faces Dwayne. Dwayne is Jamal’s classmate with whom Jamal has quarrel. Unless nobody pays him any attention, he will start a mess on Jamal. There is no day in school when Dwayne does not bother Jamal. He always finds something on Jamal to be insulted and laughed. Jamal, in this case, does not let Dwayne do that to him. Jamal will replies Dwayne’s insults until there will be quarrel between them. The quarrel often continues to be fighting if Dwayne has not been satisfied yet. Jamal, in the other side, is never scared with Dwa yne’s challenge to fight. He realizes that Dwayne is much bigger and tougher than him since Dwayne is two years older than him, however, Jamal does not really care about that. He even does not care PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI whether he will win or lose in fighting. “Even if he lost it didn’t make any difference to Jamal, because you couldn’t get hurt that much in a fight with just fists p. 100.” It is rather about pride, dignity and courage. Jamal needs to proof that he can maintain his pride and dignity, he has power, and he is not a coward. Another proof of Jamal’s courage is his attitude in dealing with the Scorpions who are older, bigger, and tougher than Jamal. They also have had crime records. Jamal figures out that they do not like him to be the next leader of Scorpions therefore they try to mess with him. They try to force Jamal and make him gives up, but Jamal does not step back. He keeps standing on his feet to answer their questions explicitly. The two examples above are able to represent how brave and tough Jamal is. They show how Jamal always has courage in dealing with the harsh and hard condition of his surrounding. His courage enables him to do something no matter what. He is ready to take serious risk. He does not want to let other people underestimate him because of his weakness. It can be seen also here that Jamal does not want to be inferior. Moreover, Jamal does not take after his brother, Randy, in that he has no interest to commit crime basically. He struggles to keep away from any bad things that may bring him into trouble. He will think about Mama before doing something even when he finally decides to join the gang. At home, Jamal and his sister, Sassy, share the house work since Mama has to go to work for a whole day. As a brother, Jamal would like to watch Sassy. He will remind Sassy to do his homework and wake up her if she falls asleep PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI