Discussion on The Protagonist's Social and Inner Conflicts in Jack Seward's 'Macneils of Tokyo'.
ABSTRACT
Dalam Tugas Akhir ini, penulis ingin membahas sebuah novel yang berjudul
Macneil of Tokyo, karya dari Jack Seward, seorang penulis pria dari Amerika. Saya
menggunakan pendekatan intrinsik dalam pembahasan konflik-konflik yang dialami
oleh tokoh utama novel tersebut.
Jack Seward dalam novel Macneils of Tokyo menunjukan bagaimana
kehidupan seorang pria Amerika yang lahir di Jepang dan menghabiskan sebagian
besar hidupnya di Jepang, sehingga dia merasa sebagai bagian dari Jepang. Dalam
perjalanan hidupnya dia mengalami situasi perang dunia kedua dimana Amerika yang
merupakan negara kebangsaannya, berperang dengan Jepang, tempat dimana dia
dibesarkan. Ketika dia memutuskan untuk menjadi tentara Amerika, maka timbullah
konflik-konflik dalam dirinya dan pada akhirnya dia dapat menyelesaikan konflikkonfliknya dengan baik.
Setelah membaca novel ini dengan seksama maka saya berkesimpulan bahwa
sebaiknya dalam memutuskan sesuatu kita harus memikirkan dahulu apa yang terbaik
bagi masa depan kita, selain itu kita tidak boleh menilai orang lain berdasarkan suku
bangsa, dan kita juga harus menghargai orang lain dengan tidak memanfaatkan
mereka hanya untuk memenuhi kepentingan pribadi.
iii
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE .............................................................................................
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................
ii
ABSTRACT ..........................................................................................
iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study........................................................ ..
Statement of the Problem .........................................................
Purpose of the Study.................................................................
Method of Research..................................................................
Organization of the Thesis .......................................................
1
3
3
3
4
CHAPTER TWO: DISCUSSION ON THE PROTAGONIST’S
SOCIAL AND INNER CONFLICTS IN
JACK SEWARD’S MACNEILS OF TOKYO ...................
5
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION ................................................
14
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................
17
APPENDICES:
Synopsis of Jack Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo........................
Biography of Jack Seward........................................................
18
19
iv
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
APPENDICES
SYNOPSIS OF JACK SEWARD’S MACNEILS OF TOKYO
The story happens during The Second World War in Japan, concerning the
Macneils family who live and run a business in Japan. When the war happens, the
Macneils family try to save their properties out from Japan.
The eldest child of this family is Bill Macneils. He is an American who was
born and spends his lifetime in Japan when the Second World War happens. After his
mother’s death, his father gets married to a Japanese woman. He has one step sister,
Sarah Macneils, and one step brother, Shipton Macneils. When The Second World
War happens, Bill makes a decision to join the Allied army. The decision to join the
Allied army makes Bill suffer from so many social conflicts and inner conflicts.
When Bill Macneil has a duty to lead the team of translator and interpreter,
most of them are Japanese-American. Bill suffers from a social conflict with a
Colonel of the Allied army, because the Colonel does not respect Bill’s team by
assuming that all members of Bill’s team are enemies because most of them have
Japanese faces. Bill was angry with the Colonel’s opinion, so he threatens the
Colonel that his team will not help the Colonel’s work. Finally the Colonel respects
Bill’s team by calling them American and the Colonel wants Bill’s team to do a duty
18
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
When Bill meets the President of the United States, the president gives him a
duty to investigate Japan’s atom bomb program . This duty also makes Bill suffer
from a dilemma that he must involve his stepsister to accomplish his duty. That
means, he brings his stepsister into a dangerous situation. Finally, Bill has succeeded
to investigate the Japanese weapon by using his stepsister to gain information about
Japan’s atom bomb program.
The war ends on 2 September 1945 when Japan surrenders after America has
bombed Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Finally, Bill Macneils comes back to Japan, he
continues the family’s business and he gets married to Helma Graff and lives in
Tokyo for four years.
BIOGRAPHY OF JACK SEWARD
For 55 years, Jack Seward lived in Japan as an army officer and CIA agent
during the occupation and has specialized in Japan and its language. He was married
to a Japanese woman, Aiko Morimoto. He is the author of forty four fiction and
nonfiction books. Among of them are The Diplomat, The Darned Nuisances, The
Eurasian Virgin, and The Cave of the Chinese Skeleton. Most of his books about
Japan include textbooks, novels, travel guides, and cultural commentaries. Several are
written in Japanese, and one is a best-seller, of which the title is Hara-kiri. This is a
story about Japanese ritual suicide.
In 1986 the Emperor of Japan awarded Jack Seward the Order of the Sacred
Treasure for a lifetime because of his contributions to Japanese-American friendship
and understanding. Now he lives in his native Houston, Texas with his wife. He
19
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
teaches Japanese culture and language in the United States although he still spends
considerable time in Japan to write regularly for magazines and journals in Japan.
From his marriage, Seward has two sons, Bill Seward and John Seward. Both have
recently graduated from the University of Texas.
20
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
I have decided to analyze novel for my thesis because in novel, I can obtain
detailed information and description about the events, characters, and conflicts.
According to Murphy “novel is the most widely practiced and most widely read form
of literature in the world today” (1972: 127) and according to Shaw, novel is “an
account of life which involves conflict, plot, characters, action, setting, and theme”
(1972: 257).
Particularly, I would like to discuss a novel about war in my thesis. I find
out that literature partakes in depicting wars. From a lot of novels about war, I choose
one of them entitled Macneils of Tokyo. It is a novel concerned with the Second
World War in which ‘Germany was
the aggressor….., by Italy,
and
Japan……together they formed the major Axis nations, the war against Japan was
fought over two-third of the world’s surface, with America and her allies taking part
in
vast
air,
land,
and
sea
battles’
(http://www.euronet.nl/users/wilfried/ww2/ww2.htm). The fact that this particular
novel tells about an American man who lived in Japan during the Second World War
1
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
makes me interested in analyzing the novel. It is because the protagonist experiences
conflicts to live in foreign country. Living in a foreign country, the protagonist
automatically deals with Diaspora, which is ‘to refer to any people or ethnic
population forced or induced to leave their traditional ethnic homelands, being
dispersed throughout other parts of the world, and the ensuing developments in their
dispersal and culture’ ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora). Moreover, it is satisfying for
me to read Jack Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo as ‘Readers of Jack Seward' s previous
books will not be disappointed in this rousing adventurous historical and often erotic
romance’ (http://japan.vacationbookreview.com/japan_68.html).
Among the contemporary period writers who produce war novels, I am of
the opinion that Jack Seward is a writer who can describe about the Second World
War well because ‘He lived in Japan as an army officer and CIA agent during the
occupation’(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801000922?v=glance&n=283155).
His works and contributions to Japanese-American friendship and mutual
understanding get positive reaction from the Japanese government so that ‘The
Emperor of Japan awarded Jack Seward the Order of the Sacred Treasure, for a
lifetime of contribution to Japanese-American friendship’ (Seward, 2000: -).
I find out that the most significant aspect in the novel is the conflict as
according to Shaw, ‘…conflict is the opposition of persons or forces upon which the
action depends in drama and fiction. Dramatic conflict is the struggle, which grows
out of the interplay of opposing forces (ideas, interest, wills) in a plot; conflict may
be the material from which a plot is constructed’ (Shaw, 1972:91). There are three
types of conflicts; elemental or physical conflicts which is a struggle between man
2
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
and the physical world, social conflict which is a struggle between man and man,
inner or psychological conflict which is a struggle between desires within a person.
(Shaw, 1972:92).
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
In order to analyze the novel, I state the problems as follows:
1. What are the inner and social conflicts in Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo?
2. What causes the conflicts?
3. How are the conflicts resolved?
4. How do Diasporic issues help to develop conflicts?
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
My purposes of studying and analyzing the novel are:
1. To show the inner and social conflicts in Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo.
2. To show the causes of the conflicts.
3. To show how the conflicts are resolved.
4. To show how the conflicts are developed through the Diasporic issues.
METHOD OF RESEARCH
In writing this thesis, I use library research. First of all, I begin by reading
Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo. I also read some books which are relevant to the topic
being discussed. Then I gather some information from the internet to support my
3
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
analysis. Finally, I use the data that I collect for analysis from which I can draw the
conclusion.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
Beginning with the Preface, the Table of Contents, and the Abstract, I divide
my thesis into three chapters. In the first chapter, I present the Introduction,
consisting of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the Purpose
of the Study, the Method of Research and the Organization of the Thesis. In the
second chapter, I present the analysis of the protagonist’s social and inner conflicts in
Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo. Afterwards, I conclude my analysis in the third chapter.
The thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices, consisting of the
biography of the author and the summary of Macneils of Tokyo.
4
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
Having discussed the social and inner conflicts in Seward’s Macneils of
Tokyo, I find some interesting aspects of someone’s life in the novel. I discover that
the social and inner conflicts revealed in this novel deal with Diasporic problems that
are likely to happen in our daily life anywhere and anytime. At this point, we must be
aware that our life is always full of conflicts arising out of different perceptions,
different ways of thinking, and different cultures.
In Macneils of Tokyo, Jack Seward as the author has succeeded in revealing
several conflicts in this novel. I notice that the conflicts can be seen in the title which
is Macneils of Tokyo, and the title wants to show us about an American who lives in
Tokyo during the Second World War, which happens between the Allied and Japan
that makes his daily life full of conflicts.
I see that war itself is a conflict. There are two sides that Bill Macneil has to
face as an American soldier, who has to attack the enemy, Japan, the country in
which he grows up. In this novel, Bill Macneil faces social conflicts with the
Japanese, with his fellow American soldiers and his family.
14
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
The first Diasporic issue is about the meaning of being an American. This
issue happens in the social conflict between Bill Macneil and his father; while, Bill’s
father has different perception about the meaning of being an American from Bill’s.
The second Diasporic issue is about Patriotism. This issue happens in the
social conflict between Bill Macneil and his Commander, specifically when the
Commander has doubts about Bill’s loyalty to America because Bill Macneil was
born in Japan.
Another Diasporic issue about Patriotism also happens in the social conflict
between Bill Macneil and Colonel Sam Neuhoff, while Colonel Sam Neuhoff
assumes that an American soldier must be white people. Diasporic issue about the
Patriotism also happens in the inner conflict when Bill Macneil must assure the
interviewer that he will dedicate himself to America since the interviewer hesitate
over Bill Macneil’s loyalty. It is because Bill Macneil has spent his life and grown up
in Japan, the country of his enemy.
The third Diasporic issue is about familial interaction. This issue happens in
the social conflict between Bill Macneil and his stepsister Sarah Macneil, particularly
when Bill Macneil as an American does not want to do something against the Eastern
culture. It is because he feels that he is a part of the Eastern culture.
After reading this novel, I am aware that the social and inner conflicts that
Bill Macneil experiences can happen in our daily life. As well, I figure out that the
Diasporic issue is realistic for people that live in foreign country and people who are
of the other cultural descent. When applied to my life, I experience similar kinds of
conflicts. My naturally born culture is Chinese but I live in Indonesia, which forces
15
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
me to adjust the Indonesian culture. This adjustment leads me to experience social
and inner conflicts.
I also find that the important point in Macneils of Tokyo is family. Family is
one of the most important things because without family we are nothing.
Furthermore, we must respect other people if we want to earn their respects.
Moreover, we must be tolerant of other people by not troubling them with our
problems so that we can maintain a harmonious relationship with them. On the
whole, because this novel gives me some valuable lessons, I arrive at the conclusion
that Jack Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo is worth reading and analyzing.
16
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
Kenney, William. How to Analyze Fiction. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc, 1966
Murphy, M. J. Understanding Unseens. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1972.
Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York : McGraw. Hill, inc, 1972
Online Personal Sites
Book Description, November 25th.2005
(http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=9&id=226564).
(http://japan.vacationbookreview.com/japan_68.html)
Author’s Biography, March 13th.2006
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804832366/102-10527271000922?v=glance&n=283155).
Primary Text
Seward, Jack. Macneils of Tokyo.(Boston: Tuttle Publishing; 2000).
17
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
Dalam Tugas Akhir ini, penulis ingin membahas sebuah novel yang berjudul
Macneil of Tokyo, karya dari Jack Seward, seorang penulis pria dari Amerika. Saya
menggunakan pendekatan intrinsik dalam pembahasan konflik-konflik yang dialami
oleh tokoh utama novel tersebut.
Jack Seward dalam novel Macneils of Tokyo menunjukan bagaimana
kehidupan seorang pria Amerika yang lahir di Jepang dan menghabiskan sebagian
besar hidupnya di Jepang, sehingga dia merasa sebagai bagian dari Jepang. Dalam
perjalanan hidupnya dia mengalami situasi perang dunia kedua dimana Amerika yang
merupakan negara kebangsaannya, berperang dengan Jepang, tempat dimana dia
dibesarkan. Ketika dia memutuskan untuk menjadi tentara Amerika, maka timbullah
konflik-konflik dalam dirinya dan pada akhirnya dia dapat menyelesaikan konflikkonfliknya dengan baik.
Setelah membaca novel ini dengan seksama maka saya berkesimpulan bahwa
sebaiknya dalam memutuskan sesuatu kita harus memikirkan dahulu apa yang terbaik
bagi masa depan kita, selain itu kita tidak boleh menilai orang lain berdasarkan suku
bangsa, dan kita juga harus menghargai orang lain dengan tidak memanfaatkan
mereka hanya untuk memenuhi kepentingan pribadi.
iii
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE .............................................................................................
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................
ii
ABSTRACT ..........................................................................................
iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study........................................................ ..
Statement of the Problem .........................................................
Purpose of the Study.................................................................
Method of Research..................................................................
Organization of the Thesis .......................................................
1
3
3
3
4
CHAPTER TWO: DISCUSSION ON THE PROTAGONIST’S
SOCIAL AND INNER CONFLICTS IN
JACK SEWARD’S MACNEILS OF TOKYO ...................
5
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION ................................................
14
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................
17
APPENDICES:
Synopsis of Jack Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo........................
Biography of Jack Seward........................................................
18
19
iv
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
APPENDICES
SYNOPSIS OF JACK SEWARD’S MACNEILS OF TOKYO
The story happens during The Second World War in Japan, concerning the
Macneils family who live and run a business in Japan. When the war happens, the
Macneils family try to save their properties out from Japan.
The eldest child of this family is Bill Macneils. He is an American who was
born and spends his lifetime in Japan when the Second World War happens. After his
mother’s death, his father gets married to a Japanese woman. He has one step sister,
Sarah Macneils, and one step brother, Shipton Macneils. When The Second World
War happens, Bill makes a decision to join the Allied army. The decision to join the
Allied army makes Bill suffer from so many social conflicts and inner conflicts.
When Bill Macneil has a duty to lead the team of translator and interpreter,
most of them are Japanese-American. Bill suffers from a social conflict with a
Colonel of the Allied army, because the Colonel does not respect Bill’s team by
assuming that all members of Bill’s team are enemies because most of them have
Japanese faces. Bill was angry with the Colonel’s opinion, so he threatens the
Colonel that his team will not help the Colonel’s work. Finally the Colonel respects
Bill’s team by calling them American and the Colonel wants Bill’s team to do a duty
18
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
When Bill meets the President of the United States, the president gives him a
duty to investigate Japan’s atom bomb program . This duty also makes Bill suffer
from a dilemma that he must involve his stepsister to accomplish his duty. That
means, he brings his stepsister into a dangerous situation. Finally, Bill has succeeded
to investigate the Japanese weapon by using his stepsister to gain information about
Japan’s atom bomb program.
The war ends on 2 September 1945 when Japan surrenders after America has
bombed Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Finally, Bill Macneils comes back to Japan, he
continues the family’s business and he gets married to Helma Graff and lives in
Tokyo for four years.
BIOGRAPHY OF JACK SEWARD
For 55 years, Jack Seward lived in Japan as an army officer and CIA agent
during the occupation and has specialized in Japan and its language. He was married
to a Japanese woman, Aiko Morimoto. He is the author of forty four fiction and
nonfiction books. Among of them are The Diplomat, The Darned Nuisances, The
Eurasian Virgin, and The Cave of the Chinese Skeleton. Most of his books about
Japan include textbooks, novels, travel guides, and cultural commentaries. Several are
written in Japanese, and one is a best-seller, of which the title is Hara-kiri. This is a
story about Japanese ritual suicide.
In 1986 the Emperor of Japan awarded Jack Seward the Order of the Sacred
Treasure for a lifetime because of his contributions to Japanese-American friendship
and understanding. Now he lives in his native Houston, Texas with his wife. He
19
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
teaches Japanese culture and language in the United States although he still spends
considerable time in Japan to write regularly for magazines and journals in Japan.
From his marriage, Seward has two sons, Bill Seward and John Seward. Both have
recently graduated from the University of Texas.
20
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
I have decided to analyze novel for my thesis because in novel, I can obtain
detailed information and description about the events, characters, and conflicts.
According to Murphy “novel is the most widely practiced and most widely read form
of literature in the world today” (1972: 127) and according to Shaw, novel is “an
account of life which involves conflict, plot, characters, action, setting, and theme”
(1972: 257).
Particularly, I would like to discuss a novel about war in my thesis. I find
out that literature partakes in depicting wars. From a lot of novels about war, I choose
one of them entitled Macneils of Tokyo. It is a novel concerned with the Second
World War in which ‘Germany was
the aggressor….., by Italy,
and
Japan……together they formed the major Axis nations, the war against Japan was
fought over two-third of the world’s surface, with America and her allies taking part
in
vast
air,
land,
and
sea
battles’
(http://www.euronet.nl/users/wilfried/ww2/ww2.htm). The fact that this particular
novel tells about an American man who lived in Japan during the Second World War
1
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
makes me interested in analyzing the novel. It is because the protagonist experiences
conflicts to live in foreign country. Living in a foreign country, the protagonist
automatically deals with Diaspora, which is ‘to refer to any people or ethnic
population forced or induced to leave their traditional ethnic homelands, being
dispersed throughout other parts of the world, and the ensuing developments in their
dispersal and culture’ ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora). Moreover, it is satisfying for
me to read Jack Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo as ‘Readers of Jack Seward' s previous
books will not be disappointed in this rousing adventurous historical and often erotic
romance’ (http://japan.vacationbookreview.com/japan_68.html).
Among the contemporary period writers who produce war novels, I am of
the opinion that Jack Seward is a writer who can describe about the Second World
War well because ‘He lived in Japan as an army officer and CIA agent during the
occupation’(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801000922?v=glance&n=283155).
His works and contributions to Japanese-American friendship and mutual
understanding get positive reaction from the Japanese government so that ‘The
Emperor of Japan awarded Jack Seward the Order of the Sacred Treasure, for a
lifetime of contribution to Japanese-American friendship’ (Seward, 2000: -).
I find out that the most significant aspect in the novel is the conflict as
according to Shaw, ‘…conflict is the opposition of persons or forces upon which the
action depends in drama and fiction. Dramatic conflict is the struggle, which grows
out of the interplay of opposing forces (ideas, interest, wills) in a plot; conflict may
be the material from which a plot is constructed’ (Shaw, 1972:91). There are three
types of conflicts; elemental or physical conflicts which is a struggle between man
2
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
and the physical world, social conflict which is a struggle between man and man,
inner or psychological conflict which is a struggle between desires within a person.
(Shaw, 1972:92).
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
In order to analyze the novel, I state the problems as follows:
1. What are the inner and social conflicts in Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo?
2. What causes the conflicts?
3. How are the conflicts resolved?
4. How do Diasporic issues help to develop conflicts?
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
My purposes of studying and analyzing the novel are:
1. To show the inner and social conflicts in Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo.
2. To show the causes of the conflicts.
3. To show how the conflicts are resolved.
4. To show how the conflicts are developed through the Diasporic issues.
METHOD OF RESEARCH
In writing this thesis, I use library research. First of all, I begin by reading
Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo. I also read some books which are relevant to the topic
being discussed. Then I gather some information from the internet to support my
3
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
analysis. Finally, I use the data that I collect for analysis from which I can draw the
conclusion.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
Beginning with the Preface, the Table of Contents, and the Abstract, I divide
my thesis into three chapters. In the first chapter, I present the Introduction,
consisting of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the Purpose
of the Study, the Method of Research and the Organization of the Thesis. In the
second chapter, I present the analysis of the protagonist’s social and inner conflicts in
Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo. Afterwards, I conclude my analysis in the third chapter.
The thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices, consisting of the
biography of the author and the summary of Macneils of Tokyo.
4
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
Having discussed the social and inner conflicts in Seward’s Macneils of
Tokyo, I find some interesting aspects of someone’s life in the novel. I discover that
the social and inner conflicts revealed in this novel deal with Diasporic problems that
are likely to happen in our daily life anywhere and anytime. At this point, we must be
aware that our life is always full of conflicts arising out of different perceptions,
different ways of thinking, and different cultures.
In Macneils of Tokyo, Jack Seward as the author has succeeded in revealing
several conflicts in this novel. I notice that the conflicts can be seen in the title which
is Macneils of Tokyo, and the title wants to show us about an American who lives in
Tokyo during the Second World War, which happens between the Allied and Japan
that makes his daily life full of conflicts.
I see that war itself is a conflict. There are two sides that Bill Macneil has to
face as an American soldier, who has to attack the enemy, Japan, the country in
which he grows up. In this novel, Bill Macneil faces social conflicts with the
Japanese, with his fellow American soldiers and his family.
14
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
The first Diasporic issue is about the meaning of being an American. This
issue happens in the social conflict between Bill Macneil and his father; while, Bill’s
father has different perception about the meaning of being an American from Bill’s.
The second Diasporic issue is about Patriotism. This issue happens in the
social conflict between Bill Macneil and his Commander, specifically when the
Commander has doubts about Bill’s loyalty to America because Bill Macneil was
born in Japan.
Another Diasporic issue about Patriotism also happens in the social conflict
between Bill Macneil and Colonel Sam Neuhoff, while Colonel Sam Neuhoff
assumes that an American soldier must be white people. Diasporic issue about the
Patriotism also happens in the inner conflict when Bill Macneil must assure the
interviewer that he will dedicate himself to America since the interviewer hesitate
over Bill Macneil’s loyalty. It is because Bill Macneil has spent his life and grown up
in Japan, the country of his enemy.
The third Diasporic issue is about familial interaction. This issue happens in
the social conflict between Bill Macneil and his stepsister Sarah Macneil, particularly
when Bill Macneil as an American does not want to do something against the Eastern
culture. It is because he feels that he is a part of the Eastern culture.
After reading this novel, I am aware that the social and inner conflicts that
Bill Macneil experiences can happen in our daily life. As well, I figure out that the
Diasporic issue is realistic for people that live in foreign country and people who are
of the other cultural descent. When applied to my life, I experience similar kinds of
conflicts. My naturally born culture is Chinese but I live in Indonesia, which forces
15
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
me to adjust the Indonesian culture. This adjustment leads me to experience social
and inner conflicts.
I also find that the important point in Macneils of Tokyo is family. Family is
one of the most important things because without family we are nothing.
Furthermore, we must respect other people if we want to earn their respects.
Moreover, we must be tolerant of other people by not troubling them with our
problems so that we can maintain a harmonious relationship with them. On the
whole, because this novel gives me some valuable lessons, I arrive at the conclusion
that Jack Seward’s Macneils of Tokyo is worth reading and analyzing.
16
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha
BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
Kenney, William. How to Analyze Fiction. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc, 1966
Murphy, M. J. Understanding Unseens. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1972.
Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York : McGraw. Hill, inc, 1972
Online Personal Sites
Book Description, November 25th.2005
(http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=9&id=226564).
(http://japan.vacationbookreview.com/japan_68.html)
Author’s Biography, March 13th.2006
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804832366/102-10527271000922?v=glance&n=283155).
Primary Text
Seward, Jack. Macneils of Tokyo.(Boston: Tuttle Publishing; 2000).
17
U ni ver s i t as K r i s t en Mar anat ha