From those four studies have mentioned, this undergraduate thesis stated on aspects of postmodernism of the social condition as the setting in Bharati
Mukherjee‟s The Management of Grief. In this undergraduate thesis, there are different perspectives from the previous studies.
The first is Katleen Brogan‟s study. It discusses about “American Stories
of Cultural Haunting: Tales of Heirs and Ethnographers.” The second is “Looting American Culture: Bharati Mukherjee‟s Immigrant Narratives”
written by Jennifer Drake. The third is from Lusandiana ‟s study that discusses
the description of the society through Restrepo‟s The Angel of Galilea by
modernism and postmodernism approach. The fourth is Parameswaran‟s
study discussing about the background of The Management of Grief is written by Bharati Mukherjee. In this study, it mentions that culture and event at the
time influence the short story. This undergraduate thesis attempts to show how the aspects of
postmodernism of the social condition are depicted in Bharati Mukherjee‟s
The Management of Grief.
B. Review of Related Theories
This undergraduate thesis has two points to be discussed. They are the depiction of the setting and aspects of postmodernism. Therefore, this
undergraduate thesis needs theories on the two fields to answer and analyze the problem formulation.
1. Theory on Setting
The aspects of postmodernism of the social condition in the short story can be seen by disclosing the setting.
Abrams 1999: 284 argued that The overall setting of a narrative or dramatic work is the general locale,
historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occurs; the setting of a single episode or scene within such a work is the particular
physical location in which it takes place.
In this undergraduate thesis, Abrams theory is used to analyze the setting of the short story in which the action, time, and place mentioned the action
and accident occured. Before depicting the social circumstances of the story, it depicts a single episode or scene in which the accident or activity happen.
After depicts the single scene of story, the conflict of the characters in the story appears. The conflicts and the condition that characters face can be
found through the elements of setting, such as location the accident takes place, time, and the environment in which the characters move and face
various condition in life. However, before analyzing the setting in detail by using general local, historical time, and social circumstances, this
undergraduate thesis depicts the setting by using the theory of setting of V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs in Fiction: An Introduction to Reading and
Writing. It is to divide the settings in the short story easily. Such a view follows the theoretical assumption that “Setting refers to the
natural and artificial scenery or environment in which characters in literature live and move.” 1987: 190.
Roberts and Jacobs divide the term of setting into two types of settings. They are natural setting and manufactured setting. Natural setting is defined
as “Nature, in short, is one of the major forces governing the circumstances of characters who go about facing the conflicts on which the plots of stories
depend.” 1987: 191. On the other hand, manufactured setting is defined as “Manufactured things always reflect the people who make them. A building
or a room tells about the people who built it and live in it, and ultimately about the social and political orders that maintain
the conditions” 1987: 191. To support Robert and Jacobs‟ theory, this undergraduate thesis needs
another theory of setting. The theory of setting is from Harmon. Harmon 2009: 508 said that
The elements making up a setting are: 1 the geographical location, its topography, scenery, and such physical arrangements as the location of the
windows and doors in a room; 2 the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters; 3 the time or period in which the action takes
place, for example, epoch in history or season of the year; and 4 the general environment of the characters, for example, religious, mental,
moral, social, and emotional conditions.
This undergraduate thesis uses Harmon theory to analyze the social condition of the short story through the place and time the action and accident
happened, occupations and daily manner the characters have, and the moral, cultures, religious, and emotional condition the characters have in facing the
grief.
2. Theory on the Aspects of Postmodernism
Lyotard, as a postmodernist, attempts to create a society in which there is a flexibility of narrative knowledge. It is because there is a conflict between
narrative and science in which they have their own thought to solve problem by language. Sarup 1993: 145 mentioned that
Lyotard believes that there is a conflict between narrative and science theoretical knowledge. Narrative is disappearing and there is nothing to
replace it. He seems to want the flexibility of narrative knowledge – in
which the aesthetic, cognitive and moral are interwoven – and yet want
also to retain the individualism which developed with capitalism. It also mentioned that
Lyotard argues that art, morality and science the beautiful, the good and the true have become separated and autonomous. A characteristic of our
times is the fragmentation of language games. Sarup, 1993: 145
From those quotations, it can be seen that there are the notion of postmodernism which are about the ability to deal with time. As Sarup 1993:
146 said that “Two significant features of postmodernism, as described by the American critic Fredric Jameson, are „pastiche‟ and „schizophrenia‟.”
The explanation of „pastiche‟ and „schizophrenia‟ are mentioned by Sarup 1993: 146 that
The practice of pastiche, the imitation of dead styles, can be seen in the „nostalgia film‟. It seems that we are unable to focus on our present. We
have lost our ability to locate ourselves historically. As a society we have become incapable of dealing with time.
Postmodernism has a peculiar notion of time. Jameson explains what he means in terms of Lacan‟s theory of schizophrenia. The originality of
Lacan‟s thought in this area is to have considered schizophrenia as a language disorder. Schizophrenia emerges from the failure of the infant to
enter fully into the realm of speech and language. For Lacan the experience of temporality, human time, past, present, memory, the
persistence of personal identity is an effect of language. It is because language has a past and a future, because the sentence moves in time, that
we can have what seems to us a concrete or lived experience of time. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
By seeing the notion of postmodernism, it draws the attention to three aspects of postmodernist thought. Sarup 1993: 150 said that
Firstly, there is a tendency to reduce all truth-claims to the level of rhetorics, narrative strategies or Foucauldian discourses conceived as
existing solely by virtue of the differences or rivalries between them, so that no single claimant can assert itself at the expense of any other.
Secondly, a related point, there is often an appeal, especially in Lyotard, to the Wittgensteinian
notion of „language games‟ sometimes called „forms of life‟. A belief in heterogeneous language games, each involving a
different set of cognitive, historical or ethico-political criteria, implies that is not possible to decide between rival interpretations.
Thirdly, there is a turn towards the Kantian sublime as a means of devaluing cognitive truth-claims and elevating the notion of the
unpresentable that is to say, intuitions that cannot be „brought under‟
adequate concepts to absolute pride of place in the ethical realm. It is also mentioned by
Lyotard 1984: xxiv that “Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives. This
incredulity is undoubtedly a product of progress in the sciences: but that progress in turn presupposes it.” Hence, there are the differences between
narrative and scientific text. It is clarified by Lucy 1997: 66 that Before raising them, though, I want to clarify what Lyotard thinks the
differences between narrative and scientific texts or knowledge or language games comprise. The basic difference is that narrative language-
games are heterogeneous as opposed to the more restrictive outcome- oriented, rule-governed game of science. Science, because it is dominated
by rules, is end-directed, whereas narrative or more broadly art, because it produces rules only in and as itself, is completely free from having to
legitimate what it „is‟ according to any external criteria. Lyotard also mentioned how the postmodern condition is, in The
Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. As he said, the postmodern condition is marked by cultures. That condition influences the way of
communication and knowledge of each individuals. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
