ADAH AS THE REPRESENTATION OF THE STRUGGLE AGAINST GENDER AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AS SEEN IN BUCHI EMECHETA’S SECOND CLASS CITIZEN
ADAH AS THE REPRESENTATION OF THE STRUGGLE
AGAINST GENDER AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AS
SEEN IN BUCHI EMECHETA’S SECOND CLASS CITIZEN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letter
By
TEGUH PRIAMBODO
Student Number: 014214047
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009
Life is too short to worry (anonymous)
This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to My parents And my beloved Ayang
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to my Lord for His kindness through every moment of my life. He always gives me the patience and guidance to face everything. Thank you for sending me an angel who has helped and loved me unconditionally.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum. for her help, guidance and patience in revising this thesis from the beginning to the end. I also would like to thank my co-advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarko. M.Hum., for advising this thesis. In addition, the writer thanks all of the lecturers in Sanata Dharma University who have given me something beyond knowledge that I ever had during my education.
My special and greatest gratitude goes to my family and my honey, the most important people in my life. I thank them for their prayers and supports. I dedicate this thesis only for them. I also would like to thank Endra who has given a lot of advices to my thesis.
Teguh Priambodo
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ………………………………………………………………… i APPROVAL PAGE ………………………………………………………… ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE……………………………………………………….. iii MOTTO PAGE ……………………………………………………………… iv DEDIC
Theoretical Framework……………………………………………… 22
C. The Main Character‟s Struggles against Racism and Gender Discrimination …………………………………………. 45
The Main Character‟s Experiences of Gender Discrimination……………………………………………………40
1. The Main Character‟s Experiences of Racism………………….. 35 2.
…………………………………………………... 29 A. The Characteristics of the Black Woman Character……………….. 29 B. The Main Character‟s Experiences of Racism and Gender Discrimination…………………………………………. 35
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS
………………………………………… 24 A. Object of the Study ………………………………………………… 24 B. Approach of the Study ……………………………………………... 25 C. Method of the Study ……………………………………………….. 27
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
Review on Gender Discrimination in British Society in 1960s …..….………………………………………………... 20 D.
ATION PAGE ………………………………………………………. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………….. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………….. vii ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………. ix ABSTRAK ……………………………………………………………………. x
1. Review on Racism in British Society in 1960s ……………….. 16 2.
Theory of Character and Characterization ……………………. 9 2. Theory of Racism……………………………………………….. 12 3. Theory of Gender……………………………………………….. 14 C. Review on Racism and Gender Discrimination in British Society in 1960s ……………………………………………………………. 16
………………………………… 7 A. Review of Related Studies …………………………………………. 7 B. Review of Related Theories ………………………………….…….. 9 1.
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW
Definition of Terms…………………………………………………. 5
………………………………………….... 1 A. Background of the Study …………………………………………... 1 B. Problem Formulation ……………………………………………… 4 C. Objectives of the Study……………………………………………… 4 D.
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1. The Struggles against Racism …………………………………... 45
2. The Struggles against Gender Discrimination ………………….. 47
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION
……………………………………………… 53
BIBLIOGRAPHY
……………………………………………………………..55
APPENDIX
………………………………………………………………….... 57
ABSTRACT Teguh Priambodo. Adah as the Representation of the Struggle of Gende r and
Racial Discrimination as Seen in Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen.
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009.
The writer analyzes Buchi Emecheta‟s novel, entitled Second Class
Citizen . This novel describes Adah as a representation of the victim of racism and
gender discrimination. It describes how Adah has to live with the pressure from the family and her environment.
The writer disscusses three main problems in this novel. The first is to understand the characteristic of the main character. The second is to explain the racism and gender discrimination that are experienced by the main character. The third is to explain about the struggles that are done by the main character
The writer uses Sociocultural- historical approach in this thesis. The writer applies library research as the method of this study. This thesis applies the theory of characterization in discussing the main character of the novel. Theory of racism and gender are used in discussing the second and third ques tion of the problem formulation. Theory of Racism and gender discrimination which is happenned in England in 1960‟ is used to give additional information about the life of black women who immigrate to England in 1960‟.
The main character, Adah, is the rep resentation of the victim of racism and gender discrimination. She has experienced the gender discrimination since her birth. Adah is ignored by her family. It is caused by the tradition at that time that appreciates the presence of son in a family. She realizes that her life would not be better if she stays in her native country, thus she decides to move to England with her husband, Francis. In England, she finds that life is much harder. The white people differentiate her because of her skin color. Moreo ver, Francis gives more problems to Adah by becoming lazy and abusive. Francis does not want to work and uses Adah to fulfill the family needs and his. All of those things make Adah become a stronger woman. She dares to struggle against everything. She rea lizes that she and her children are worth to accept much better things in their life and she does everything for that, including with her decision by leaving her husband and raising all her children by herself.
ABSTRAK Teguh Priambodo. Adah as the Representation of the Struggle of Gende r and
Racial Discrimination as Seen in Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen.
Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009.
Penulis menganalisa novel Buchi Emecheta yang berjudul Second Class
Citizen . Novel ini menggambarkan Adah, sebagai sebuah representasi seorang
korban dari diskriminasi jender dan rasis. Dalam novel ini digambarkan bagaimana Adah hidup dalam tekanan baik dari keluarga ataupun dari lingkungannya.
Penulis akan membahas tiga masalah yang terdapat dalam novel ini. Pertama adalah mencoba untuk memahami karateristik tokoh utama dalam novel ini. Kedua adalah menjelaskan tentang perlakuan-perlakuan yang bersifat diskriminasi jender maupun rasis yang dialami o leh tokoh utama dalm novel ini. Yang terakhir adalah menjelaskan tentang perlawanan tokoh utama dalam novel ini terhadap perlakuan-perlakuan yang bersifat diskriminasi jender dan rasis.
Penulis menggunakan pendekatan sejarah dan sosial budaya. Penulis menggunakan metode penelitian kepustakaan sebagai metode yang digunakan dalam studi ini. Skripsi ini menerapkan teori karakterisasi dalam membahas karakter tokoh utama dalam novel ini. Teori tentang rasis dan jender digunakan dalam membahas pertanyaan kedua dan ketiga. Teori tentang tindakan diskriminasi jender dan rasis yang terjadi di Inggris pada tahun 1960an digunakan untuk memberi informasi tambahan kehidupan para wanita yang berimigrasi ke Inggris pada tahun 1960an.
Adah si tokoh utama, adalah sebuah rep resentasi dari korban perlakuan yang bersifat diskriminasi jender dan rasis. Diskriminasi jender sudah dia alami semenjak dia lahir. Dalam keluarganya, Adah tidak pernah di anggap sebagai layak nya seorang anak dalam keluarga. Hal ini disebabkan karena tradisi pada waktu tersebut lebih menghargai kehadiran seorang anak laki- laki dalam sebuah keluarga Merasa bahwa dirinya tidak akan menjadi lebih baik, Adah memutuskan untuk pergi ke Inggris untuk tinggal bersama suaminya, Francis. Disana Adah menemukan fakta bahwa apa yang telah diimpikannya selama ini salah. Hidupnya menjadi lebih sulit di banding di negara asalnya. Bukan hanya dari Francis, lingkungannya juga memberi masalah yang tak kalah pelik nya. Lingkungan mayoritas yang terdiri dari orang kulit putih menolak Adah dikarenakan warna kulitnya. Hal tersebut menjadi lebih sulit dimana Francis juga bersikap acuh dan malas terhadap Adah dan keluarganya. Francis tidak mau bekerja dan selalu memanfaatkan Adah untuk memenuhi kebutuhan dirinya dan keluarganya. Semua hal tersebut menjadikannya wanita yang lebih kuat. Dia berani melawan semua hal yang merugikannya. Dia sadar bahwa hidupnya pantas untuk mendapat lebih, dan dia melakukan segalanya untuk itu. Termasuk dengan keputusan terbesar dalam meninggalkan suaminya dan membesarkan anak-anaknya seorang diri.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study For centuries to be a woman has become a topic that will never have an
end to be discussed. A woman since the first human to be born in t he world has become much more a controversy of what its status should do or should not do.
People use many medias to state their opinion about gender. One of media which is used by people to express their opinion about gender issue is literature.
By reading a literature, people may know about the matter of life. Human life is one of many aspects that literature can describe in its content. Literature can describe the portrait of human life. By reading a literature people can understand other people‟s problems of life, so that people can learn how to handle the problem if they have to face the same difficulty. Edgar V. Robert and Henry E. Jacobs (1987: 2) in An Introduction to Reading and Writing state that
Literature helps us to grow both personality and intellectuality. It provides an objective base for our knowledge and understanding. It enables us to recognize human dreams and struggles in different societies that we would never otherwise get to know. It helps us to develop mature sensibility and compassion for the condition of all living thing.
The writer is interested to discuss the struggle of the young black woman. This issue is considered to be interesting because the writer believes that in reality this issue is experienced by many black women in this world. In our society, women always positioned as inferior to men. It means that women have no
2 strong position in their life. Women are given the role by society that has to be followed at all cost. It is stated in the quotation follows.
The traditionalist looks at the many ways in which women differ from men and concludes that there differences reflect some basic intrinsic difference that for transcend reproductive capacities. The traditionalist notes that historically women have always had less power, less influence, and fewer resources than men and assume this must accord with some natural order (Freeman, 1984: xiii).
The quotation above indicates the meaning of being a woman in this world. Society for many centuries has tried to find many ways to differentiate about being man and woman. This way of thinking makes women until now is still considered having lower position than men, and it is supported by society that also believe that women‟s roles in this world are given as natural order. In conclusion, women are born with that kind of “privilege”.
Being a woman has already given a major controversy to many women, but it can become more complicated if there are additional problems that follow the gender issue. One of the examples is racial issue. It is experienced by most of black women.
Being a black woman means that she has to face double trouble. First, being women have given them a lower social status than man, and second, for being a black means that they also have to face a racial issue. It happens because being black people means becoming inferior for to white people. The whites believe that black people are uncivilized people and the whites always try to ignore the black people‟s presence in the society.
Being a black woman means that a black woman is the inferior to the black people and white people. The novel entitled Second Class Citizen describes
3 the life of a young black woman named Adah who has to experience racial and gender discrimination in her life. The novel which was written by Buchi Emecheta shows the struggle of the black woman against the difficulties of being a black and a woman. Adah is a Nigerian. There, she feels that her status as woman does not make her dream come true in the future. In the novel, she is described as a young black woman who always discriminated by the society.
There she feels that her status as a black woman always gives her disadvantages. According to her, she cannot reach her dream if she just stay in her native country and accept all the rules that she has to follow. Because of that reason, she decides to move to England, because she believes that England is a land of opportunity. As the opposite of what she expects, her life becomes worse. She finds that pursuing dreams in England is much harder. The society refuses her to live among them because she is black.
Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta is about the struggle of Adah
(the main character) and her survival, not only for herself but also her dreams, while growing into a woman, moving from a high class position in her native Nigeria to a lower class in a predominantly white European society. She struggles with motherhood and with being a wife and supporting her entire family along with being her own independent person. Part of her struggle also deals with the issues of race and being black in the face of English racism.
(http://www.wmich.edu/dialogues/texts/secondclasscitizen.html) The novel Second Class Citizen gives the value of the struggle of a black woman who has lived in the white society. The novel describes on how the
4 main character of the story struggles to survive. She realizes that the rules among the white society do not bring any advantages to the black people. She dares to make some actions against those rules, though the consequence is not easy to accept for her. But she believes that every people is born with the same right. This reason makes her struggles to get a better life. It is very encouraging to see that a black woman is able to survive from difficult situation.
This novel is an evidence of racism and gender discrimination that happen in our history of life. The writer thinks that it is important to discuss these issues. Racism and gender discriminations that still exist in the society always become the interesting topic to be discussed. It becomes more interesting to see a black woman who dares to break the rules that positioning her as a second class citizen among the white society.
B. Problem Formulation
1. How is the main character characterized in the novel?
2. How does the main character experience racism and gender discrimination?
3. How does the main character struggle against racism and gender discrimination depicted in the novel?
C. Objectives of the Study
In order to answer the questions, the writer does the research that aims to answer those three questions. The first aim is to reveal the characterization of the main character of the novel. It will describe about her physical appearance,
5 way of thinking, and behaviors. Second, the writer will reveal the racism and gender discrimination that experienced by the main character. The writer will not only describe the gender discrimination that is done by the husband of the main character, but also the racial discrimination that is done by the white society.
Finally, the writer will reveal the struggle and effort of the main character toward the racial and gender discrimination.
D. Definition of Terms
In order to understand the study, there are some terms that need to be explained clearly.
1. Discrimination
Encyclopedia Americana states that discrimination is the negative
behavior directed toward some group. Discrimination, as the term is used here, is behavior that is unfair to a group target. Discrimination can be practiced by an individual or an institution. In most instances, discrimination is directed against a relatively powerless group by members of a powerful dominant group. (1995: 545a).
2. Gende r Gender is socially and culturally constructed and not assigned at birth.
The labels of feminine and masculine may be understood as gender term that can not be assigned at birth, but must be inferred based on the individual‟s behavior (Arliss, 1991: 8). It means that gender is constructed by the society and not created with the birth of someone. The society has the conception that if the
6 person is considered male he should behave masculine, and if the person is considered a woman she should behave feminine.
3. Racism
In the Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory, racism is a process of racialization whereby social relation between people are structured by the signification of human biological and cultural characteristics in such a way as to define and construct differentiated social collectivities. Such groups are assuming to have a natural unchanging origin and status. They are seen as being inherently different and causing negative consequences for other groups and as possessing certain evaluated characteristics are stereotype, they are likely to be distorted and misleading (Paine, 1997: 450).
4. Struggle
In the Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture, struggle means to make great effort especially when trying to dea l with difficult problem or situation (Summers, 1992: 156). It means that usually someone does some actions when he or she is faced with difficulty in order to solve the problem
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta is mostly known as
feminist novel. It gives the description on how a black woman deals with the racism and gender discrimination that she is experienced.
Emecheta‟s second book Second Class Citizen (1974) describes the life of Adah, a woman from Nigeria who has immigrated to England with her husband, Francis. Francis is a dreadful husband who is lazy and selfish, and considerably less intelligent than the woman. She struggles in her marriage, both financially and sexually, and gains the will to leave her husband only after he burns the manuscript she has been writing. After she leaves him, she discovers the depth of her own intelligent and character
The main character of Second Class Citizen is a woman named Adah who is born in Nigeria and belonged to the Ibo tribe. While growing into a woman, she moves from a high class position in her native Nigeria to a very poor class in a predominantly white European society (http://www.wmich.edu/dialogues/text/secondclasscitizen.html).
Second Class Citizen describes Adah, a woman from the Ibo tribe, who moves to England to live with her Nigerian student husband.
8 She soon discovers that life for a young Nigerian woman living in London in the 1960s is grim. Rejected by British society and thwarted by her husband, who expects her to be subservient to him, she is forced to face up to life as a second class citizen (http://people.africadatabase.org/en/profile/2442.html).
In Emecheta's second novel, Second Class Citizen, characterized Adah as the person who has the initiative and determination to get what she wants. Adah is also encumbered because of gender discrimination that is the foundation of her marriage. Her husband, Francis, treats her as property. Adah is forced to support the family and take care of the children. In the meanwhile, Francis goes to school, studies, and continuously fails exams. Adah is in constant battle to try to preserve her womanhood, and when she finally leaves Francis she experiences a strong sense of relief. After leaving Francis, Adah has moments of loneliness and despair but in the end she comes out triumphant because of her willpower
The writer will use those criticisms to analyze deeper about the story of Adah in Second Class Citizen. Those criticisms show that the novel gives the real description on life of most black women who live during that time. Moreover, the facts will be used by the writer to discuss the more details on how the main character experiences the discriminations and how she struggles‟ against it.
9
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
In order to gain full understanding of the study, the writer believes that it is important to explain about the character of the novel.
It is very useful to understand on the discrimination that she faces and how she struggle against it. In addition, to understand how the society affects her behaviors is also important to be explained. Therefore, the writer will describe the meaning of character and characterization.
Charact er is “the person in a dramatic or narrative work, endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say
- – the dialogue – and what by they do – the action” (Abrams, 1981: 20).
Characterization is central to the fictional experience. The principal objective of the creation of characters in novel is to enable us to understand and to experience people (Henkle, 1997: 86). Characterization is the way the author builds the complete description on the characters.
The book Writing about Literature states that characters have particular personalities and physical attributes that distinguish them from other characters. The process by which author builds the character is called characterization (Rohrberger and wood, 1971: 20).
Murphy (1972: 161-173) explains clearly how the author can convey readers through the character and personalities of people.
10 According to him, there are several ways in which the author attempts to make the character alive for the readers.
a. Personal Description
To describe his character, the author explains to the readers about the physical appearance of the characters. The description is often related to the psychological condition. The personality itself can be reflected from the external appearance. From the appearance, it is shown whether the character is strong or weak, tall or short, fat or thin, curly or blonde.
b. Character as Seen by Another
Instead of describing character directly, the author can describe him or her through the eyes and opinions of another. The other will give explanation about what the character is like. Someone tries to tell a character from his or her own point of view, what they think about the certain character. It can be a significant factor to build up the understanding on the character.
c. Speech
Speech is a manifestation of character. The author can give the readers an insight into the character of one person through what that person says. Whenever a person speaks, whenever he or she is in conversation with another, whenever he or she puts forward an opinion, he gives the readers some clues to his character. Frequently, from his or her speech the readers know the motivation and attitude toward life.
11
d. Past Life
By learning something ab out the person‟s past life, the author can give the readers a clue to events that have helped to shape a person character. The character‟s past life is always closely connected to the present life. It can be traced and learnt to help the readers to figure out his motive of action of the present life.
e. Conversation of Others
The author can also give a clue to person‟s character through the conversations of other people and the things they say about them.
The reader need to pay attention to the conversation of other characters. It is useful to go through speech by speech to determine exactly what is meant or implied by each of them.
f. Reaction
The author also mentions the personality of a character by letting the readers know that person reacts to various events or situation. The character shows his or her personality from his or her action. The action concerns to his or her motives and thought.
g. Direct Comme nt
The characterization in this way is done by giving the readers a straight forward description or comment on the character. It helps the readers to find out information about the character easily. Sometimes, the description is provided at the beginning of the story when they have not been quite familiar with the personality as the
12 writer intends to, which also mean that the personality of misinterpretation can be decrease.
h. Thought
The author can give the readers direct knowledge of what person is thinking about. In this respect he or she is able to do what we cannot do in real life. He or she can tell them what different people are thinking.
i. Manne ris m
The author can describe a person‟s mannerism, habits, or idiosyncrasies which may also tell us something about his or her character.
2. Theory of Racis m
Racism is the important part that is discussed because it is a general issue that still becomes controversy. There are several theories about racism that discuss the meaning and the cause of racism.
Race is a member of groups which are differe ntiated because of both physical characteristics and cultural differences. These cultural differences include differences in technology, customs, habits, and value (Frazier, 1957: 31).
The idea of racism is also stated by Francis E. Merril and H. Wentworth Eldredge (1952: 231). It is stated in their book entitled
Cultural and Society: An Introduction to Sociology . According to them,
13 racism comes from attitudes that have risen for the physical differences and it has separated some groups of human being.
Racism is thus reformulated as entailing a process of racialization whereby social relations between people are structured by the signification of human biological and cultural characteristics in such a way as to define and construct differentiated social collectivities.
Such groups are assumed to have a natural, unchanging origin and status. They are seen as being inherently different and causing negative consequences for other groups or as possessing certain evaluated characteristics (Paine, 1997: 450).
Little in The Race Question in Modern Science (1956: 223) states that the concept of races are seized upon and elaborated into a whole new basis for inter group antagonism which is called racism. Racism is a set of popular beliefs which includes the following elements a. The differences between groups
- – differences in body and mind – are all due to hereditary biology, and nothing can change them.
b. The second part of this theory is that habits, attitudes, beliefs, behavior, and all the things people learned are determined for them before they were born.
c. All differences between a minority group and majority group are thought to be sign inferiority.
14 Racism is a belief in the innate inferiority of some races. The word “racism” is often applied in other, very different, sense to wholly different situation. To some, racism is every adverse judgment about any aspects of the behavior or performance of any racial or ethnic group. To others, racism is only adverse judgments on the behavior or performance of selected list of racial or ethnic group (Sowel, 1994:154)
Based on the theory above, it can be concluded that racism refers to an idea that differentiate some groups of people from others based on their physical characteristics, intellectuality, or culture. The conclusion is believed to the reality of superior race and inferior race.
And it results on how the superior race becomes more powerful than the inferior race.
3. Theory of Gender
Most people still got confused to differentiate between sex and gender. Stoller in David Gloves and Cora Kaplan‟s book (2000: 10) states that
Gender identity starts with the knowledge and awareness, whether conscious or unconscious, that one belongs to one sex and not the other, though as one develops, gender identity becomes much more complicated, so that for example; one may sense himself as not only a male but a masculine man or an effeminate man or even as a man who fantasies being a woman. The term „gender‟ is used to signal the complexities of those
„tremendous areas of behavior, feelings, thoughts and fantasies that are
15 related to the sexes and yet do not have primarily biological connotations‟ (Gloves and Kaplan, 2000: xx). It means that gender is merely related to the behaviors of male and female, and not the differentiation that is based on the sex. For instance, female is more described as the person who responsible for the business inside the house, such as taking care of the children, cooking; while male is more described as the person who is responsible as the chief of family. The concept of cultural process of exclusion, suggests that women‟s inferior social status is a cultural phenomenon, not a biological condition. Gender is defined in terms „maleness‟ and „femaleness‟ (Madsen, 2000: 16). This argument is also supported by Zamora (1996: 52). She states that what constitutes a female experience is not biological gender or a specific female psyche but the limitation felt by women as the result of the cultural constitution of gender.
Women are defined as „other‟ or they are ignored, rendered, invisible and silent, if they do not fit the patriarchal scheme. Outside the dominant definitions of male dominated culture, women exist only as insane, inarticulate or irrelevant (Madsen, 2000: 18). Being a woman in patriarchal society means that accepting the fact that they will not be considered as a whole integrity. Women are considered as the second class citizen, and their presence only be considered as the minor role of the patriarchal society.
16 Gender is a social construct design to limit the range of life choices available to humankind for the suitable operation of social institution. The position of women as the “other” and “inferior” as well as the imposition of compulsory heterosexuality resultant from this ideology of gender, are responsible for that “negative socialization” which all women share (Birch, 1994: 5-6).
C. Review on Racism and Gende r Discrimination in British Society
in 1960’s1. Review on Racism in British Society in 1960’s
The expression of “colored “in Britain is related to any person not of European origin, it is not only Africa but also Arabs, Indians, Chinese and North Africa. It means that when English people spea k about „color problem‟ they may have in mind any type of race or ethnic who have darker color skin than them (Little, 1956: 193).
The fact shows that in British society; nearly all of the colored people in the United Kingdom possess British nationality when they were born in a British colony or in Britain. It means that they are entitled to the same rights and privileges as any other British society.
There are absolutely no legal regulations where colored people shall live or what kind of employment they may or may not take. This does not mean that there is no racial and color discrimination or that the relations between white and colored people are entirely amicable. Some
17 employers refuse to work together with the color man; others complain th at the color worker does not „stick‟ at the job (Little, 1956: 195-196).
The other discrimination that is faced by the colored people is the problem of house and accommodation. The fact clearly shows that there are some special clauses in the leases of houses and flats in excluding a colored person, and quite often a colored family will have to pay a higher rent than a white family. It happened because the house owners are afraid that the presence of the colored people will cause a lowering of assessment in that area, and they are afraid that there will be depreciation in the value of their property. The tenants in that area are afraid that their peace will be disturbed. The antipathy is even stronger when white has to share the same house with the colored. The effect of this situation is that there are only a few colored families who lived in the some part of the town because of the difficulty of finding rooms everywhere. This kind of situation is certainly widespread, particularly in London. Thus, it is estimated that many of boarding houses refuse a color lodger even of „good class‟ (Little, 1956: 198- 199).
The attitude of racial discrimination that happened in Britain is caused by the lack of sanction or support by the law. By refusing to accommodate colored person when rooms are available the innkeeper commits a legal offence. The fact that racial discrimination exist in Britain without any backing from the law means that colored
18 prejudice has developed as part of the heritage of British society (Little, 1956: 200).
In the reality the toleration of racial discrimination tends to be idealistic rather than realistic. It means that though many English people sympathize with the colored man, the toleration to the racial discrimination is just an abstract (Little, 1956: 203).
The British people have the fairly general feeling that colored people are inferior because their pigmentation and the physical characteristics. For the English people, a darker skin makes a person socially less acceptable. It means that there is a tendency for black to be eschewed by the white society because there is a social stigma about black. In the other words, blacks experience color discrimination even educated people and it has been formed by the society. It will be an embarrassment if whites introduce black people to their neighbors. It is considered the same as bringing the milkman to the house. There is a belief that having a colored guest will get one‟s house a „bad name‟ because „color‟ has the same socially inferior connotation. The ordinary colored people who experience a lot of bitterness are not always expressed on the surface. Those who were born in the country naturally feel that they have the same rights as any other citizen but in the reality they are threate ned as „foreigners‟. This situation makes the black people decide not to have the relationship with the white. They are very
19 wary in the relationship with white, they are so afraid of humiliation that can be done by them (Little, 1956: 203-205).
The public authorities in the Britain also have no responsibility on the disabilities which the colored people suffer, not as something impersonal but rather as a piece of discrimination. It means that color discrimination is not limited; it can happen not only in the society but also in any kind of social institutions (Little, 1956: 205).
From the explanation above it can be concluded that the racial discrimination in British society exist since a long time ago. The British society has their own opinion that black is always related to something bad. The discrimination toward the colored people has been culturally constructed in the British society.
2. Review on Gender Discrimination in British Society in 1960s
Black women who live in Britain experience gender discrimination since they step their feet in that country. The cold welcoming makes they realize that Britain does not always become a land of heaven for every people who comes there.
England was seen as the Promised Land simply because prospect in the Caribbean were so limited. (Bryan, 1985: 22). England is seen as the promise land by most black people because they have fewer opportunities in their home land. “Come to
England” is words that always come up in every black people at that
20 time. They feel the promises of wealthy life in England are enough to encourage them to come.
Although some black women came to Britain to join husband who had come on ahead of them, many more came independently as recruits, or simply to seek employment. (Bryan, 1985: 25).
Most black people come to England as recruits and they come independently. Although, some women come to join their husband that already come first to England. With no formal government efforts to assist those who come to settle, they rely on friends and relatives for support and accommodation, and on their own resources to help them through the early traumas of adapting to unfamiliar environment
However, as woman we also bore the responsibility of caring the home and family. (Bryan, 1985: 28). Most black women who come in the fifties and early sixties feel pretty bore with the condition. After all day work at the factory, they still have to work again at home as the housewife. And this condition that they cannot against with. Most women who come at that time are young woman who begin a new family. Life in England is expensive and so is the contraceptive. It makes the pregnancy become the event that cannot be avoided or delayed.
The experience of black women workers in Britain can be seen as a long catalogue of hardship suffered in menial, low-grade jobs….. (Bryan, 1985: 33-34).
Despite the relegation to the lowest grades, and their bitter struggles outside the workplace to support their families, they have always been able to find the energy and motivation to resist. From the
21 late 1960s onwards, they begin collectively to oppose the exploitation they confronted in their places of work. Since then, they have openly defied employers who have sought to deny them their basic rights as workers. They have been labeled „trouble-makers‟ in their struggles for a better deal. Yet they have shown that black women are not prepared to accept poor wages, bad condition, racism, and sex discrimination in their workplace without a fight