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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The primary texts of the study are poems entitled “I am at War”, “Oh Freedom”, “Grandfather Crocodile”, “Maubere”, and “My Sea of Timor” written by
Xanana Gusmao. The poems were written during the time of struggle and were published by the Timor Leste‟s government in 2005 in honour of Xanana as the
country‟s first president. The poems consist of 14 stanzas: “I am at War” consists of one stanza and nine lines;
“Oh Freedom” has four stanzas and thirty five lines; “Grandfather Crocodile” has three stanzas and thirteen lines; “Maubere” has three
stanzas and nineteen lines; “My Sea of Timor” has three stanzas and seventeen lines.
The poems are about the descriptions of hardship of the Timorese during Suharto‟s military occupation. In “I am at war” and “My Sea of Timor”, Xanana
portrays how the Timorese face the invasion Soeharto‟s Regime, while in “Oh Freedom” and “Maubere”, he exposes the suffering of Timorese from the occupation
and asks his people to unite and struggle for their freedom. Furthermore in “Grandfather Crocodile”, culturally crocodile is believed to be the island of Timor.
People of Timor Leste regard their tradition and customs as something sacred he urges Timorese to protect the motherland and hold on to their culture and traditional
believe in order to determine the future of the nation.
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The Timorese searching for freedom that Xanana reveals is the most significant part of the poems. This is the main purpose of the writer to analyze and
become the answer for the problem formulation. In addition, besides analyzing Timorese searching for freedom as developed in the poems, the writer also explicitly
related to the author‟s commentary on the social realities in Timor Leste which is the
meaning of the poems.
B. Approach of the Study
The poems are analyzed using the postcolonial approach. The writer considered that this approach is suitable because when the postcolonial approach puts
literary works as a product and a reflection of anti colonialism. Postcolonial approach also emerges as a personal and direct reflection of struggle and cultural clashes
between the colonized authors and the colonizers, and their fears, hopes, and dream about the future, as well as their own identity. Literary works can play its role as
documents that record social realities which are artistically portrayed by the authors Bressler, 1999: 266.
C. Method of the Study
The primary texts of the study are the poems written by Xanana Gusmao: “I
am at War ”, “Oh Freedom”, “Grandfather Crocodile”, “Maubere”, and “My Sea of
Timor .” References from library were also used to support this study. The other
references were the books related to the theories, approach, and the criticisms that were used to support the analysis.
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