Method of the Study

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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS

In this chapter, the problems formulated in the earlier chapter are answered. Based on the problem formulation, this chapter is divided into two parts. The first part describes the main character, Mingo, who is a Mexican-American person. The second part reveals the concept of American Dream that is reflected in Mingo. In addition, this chapter contains original quotations from the play that uses broken English as spoken by Mexican-American. As a result, there are some ungrammatical and Spanish-mixed English. They use mixed language. They do not use English like other Anglo-American, but use Spanish English instead. They use this kind of language in everyday life to communicate with other people. For example, it can be seen from the conversation between Pedro and Joaquin below. PEDRO : halo que? Give me one abrazo, I‟m your padre [He hugs him] Tha‟sit – strong like a man. Look, vieja, see how much medals he gots? Valdez, 1989: 995

A. Mingo as the Mexican-American Son

In this part, the researcher writes Mingo‟s presentations in sequences from act one to act five. In the story, he appears in every act although not in every scene. The family consists of 6 people. The father is Pedro. He is described as a lazy and a wino family leader. He contributes nothing important to the family. The mother 24 is Cruz. She is a loving mother to her children. Mingo is the second son in the family. He has an older brother which is a head, Belarmino, a younger sister, Lupe, and a rebellious younger brother who represents a Chicano, Joaquin. Mingo is described as a Mexican-American. This comes in contrary with his family who still tightly holds their Mexican tradition. The American traits in the character of Mingo can be seen from the appearance, the habits in daily life, and the way of thinking . Not only Mingo‟s personality, but his family‟s point of view also shows that Mingo represents Mexican-American. From his appearance, Mingo looks different from other family members. At the beginning of the play, he is said to be just coming back from the war. He wears soldier uniform. Later in his daily life, he is described, in stage direction, wearing American typical suits. MINGO enters dressed in new khaki work clothes, complete with new hat and boots. He carries a clipboard with papers and a money box Valdez, 1989: 1002. PEDRO turns toward MINGO, who is dressed in casual bowling clothes. He also carries a bowling bag Valdez, 1989: 1014. MINGO is dressed in fashionable casual clothing Valdez, 1989: 1021. The way Mingo dresses himself represents the Mexican-American outfits. The clothes and properties that Mingo buys indicate that he is a hardworking person and also, he socializes with Anglo-American people. He can be said as a hardworking person because he finds occupation faster than all of his family members who are still unemployed. Furthermore, he uses his skills to get a better job than any other Mexicans who usually work as low field-workers. His clipboard and money box also 25 show that Mingo is not a low field-workers. The clipboard and money box represent that Mingo is a professional field-worker. As described, Mingo also plays bowling. His clothing shows that he plays bowling before he comes into the house. Bowling is a sport which is usually played by Anglo professional blue-collar worker. It means that Mingo socializes with the Anglo-American. He feels comfortable hanging out with the Anglo-American. This comes in contrast with the other family members who see the Anglo-Americans as superior figures. Food choices usually reflect the lifestyle of a person. In this case, the food eaten by Mingo reflects the food eaten by the Anglo-Americans. Mingo prefers to eat American typical food than eating Mexican food that can be easily obtained in the neighborhood. Talking about Mingo‟s first dinner since he comes back home, all of the family members want to celebrate it by cooking home-made Mexican food for him. On the other hand, he refuses and prefers to eat steak in town. “No thanks. I had steak in town” Valdez, 1989: 996. Meanwhile, steak itself is a common food eaten by the Americans. Steak is considered as a high-priced food. This shows that Mingo does not miss home cooking although he is away from home for a long time. After living in the neighborhood for a while, his habit that makes him into an American is getting serious. He keeps American ‟s typical food in the refrigerator, such as bread, steaks, milk, eggs, orange juice. Like what Lupe mentions in the dialogue, “Besides, there‟s plenty of food there – bread, steaks, milk, eggs, orange