THE REPRESENTATION OF ARABS-MUSLIM CHARACTERS IN KARL MAY’S TRAVEL NARRATIVE ENTITLED ORIENTAL ODYSSEY I: IN THE SHADOW OF THE PADISHAH THROUGH THE DESERT.

CONTENTS

STATEMENT i

PREFACE ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv

ABSTRACT vi

CONTENTS vii

LIST OF TABLES ix

LIST OF APPENDICES x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1

1.2 Reasons for Choosing the Topic 4

1.3 Scope of the Study 5

1.4 Research Questions 5 1.5 Aims of the Study 5

1.6 Research Method 6

1.7 Research Procedure 7 1.8 Clarification of Main Terms 7 1.9 Organization of the Paper 9

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FOUNDATION 2.1 Literature in a Postcolonial Perspective 10

2.1.1 Characters and Characterization 12

2.2 Postcolonial: General Definition 13

2.3 Postcolonial: Theory and Criticism 14

2.4 Postcolonial: the Key Concepts 19

2.4.1 Representation 19 2.4.2 Binarism 22 2.4.3 Orientalism 23

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD

3.1 Analyzing a Literary Text 27

3.2 Postcolonial Method of Literary Analysis 28

3.3 Technique of Data Collection 30

3.4 Technique of Data Analysis 31

3.5 Subject of the Research 34

3.5.1 About Karl May 34

3.5.1.1 Karl May’s Biography 34

3.5.1.2 Karl May’s Works 36

3.5.2 on Oriental Odyssey I: in the Shadow of the Padishah

Through the Desert 37

3.5.2.1 The Synopsis 37

3.5.2.2 Characters 39

3.5.2.3 Settings 41

3.6 Data Presentation 42

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Characterization 45

4.2 The Representation of Arabs-Muslim Characters 49 4.3 The Representation of European-Christian Characters 59

4.4 Discussion: Postcolonial Literary Analysis 66

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

5.1 Conclusion 74

5.2 Suggestion 76

APPENDICES BIBLIOGRAPHY

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Once it is claimed that “great literature has a timeless and universal significance” (Barry: 2002, p.192). It means by this ‘universalities’ one disregards “cultural, social, regional, and national differences in experience and outlook, preferring instead to judge all literature by a single, supposedly ‘universal’ standard (Barry: 2002, p.192). Because of the arbitrary standard of ‘eurocentrict’ norm and practices which comes from this ‘universal’ literature, post-colonial criticism then comes forward to reject this form of universalism.

One of the significant terms in post-colonial criticism is representation. The term representation indeed “are very broad arenas within which much of the drama of colonialist relations and post-colonial examination and subversion of those relations has taken place” (Ashcroft, Griffiths, Tiffin: 1995, p.85). Below is what Karl Marx says about representation:

They cannot represent themselves; they must be represented. (Karl Marx, the Eighteen Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, on the preface of Said’s Orientalism

(1979))

What can be interpreted from that excerpt is that in literature; the culture, the people, the outlook and its appearance are represented, not represent themselves. From this point, it can be said that in postcolonial literature, how the culture, people and its content sometimes misrepresented based on the colonizer’s point of view. The

2 text of colonized and colonizer becomes the major issues of how this two polar subjects represent themselves and/or represent the other. It can be seen when how the colonizer, in this case, the European texts capture “the non-European subject within European frameworks which read his or her alterity as terror or lack” (Ashcroft,

Griffiths, Tiffin: 1995, p.85 italics added). This misjudge interpretation has given rise to a great range of problems and debates in postcolonial studies.

One of the fundamental resistances of that representation, and also as the seminal work of post-colonial criticism, is the work of Edward Said’s Orientalism. In

this book, Said says that “Orientalism is fundamentally a political doctrine willed over the Orient because the Orient was weaker than the West, which elided the Orient’s difference with its weakness” (Said: 1979, p.204). Said proposes that the term for the East as ‘the orient’ is western’s invention, indicating this ‘orient’ is weak, inferior, and as ‘the other’ within western perfective. This depiction of ‘the orient’ constructs a world of backwardness, irrationality and uncivilized which belongs to ‘the orient’. The Western who creates this depiction, in the other hand, place themselves as the opposite of those characteristics; as progressive, rational, and civilized.

Baldonado (1996), according to Said’s Orientalism, says that this representation “can never be exactly realistic”:

Representations, then, can never be ‘natural’ depictions of the orient. Instead, they are constructed images, images that need to be interrogated for their

ideological content.

(http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Representation.html)

In similar way, Spivak (1990) says that this representation or “speaking the name of” is not a solution. “The idea of the disenfranchised speaking for themselves,

3 or the radical critics speaking for them; this question of representation, self-representation, representing others, is a problem” (Spivak: 1990, p.63). She also says that “constructing the Other simply as an object of knowledge, leaving out the real Others because of the ones who are getting access into public places due to these waves of benevolence and so on” (Spivak: 1990, p.63). By this commentary, Spivak emphasizes that representation, or as she calls as ‘speaking the name of’ is a problem, especially in the term of representing the other in postcolonial studies. She also adds why this kind of representation becomes problem, the construction of the other

positions them just as an object of knowledge, judging this way can marginalize ‘the real other’.

Shohat (1995) in an agreed tone says that the representation in any form should be constantly questioned. She says that “each filmic or academic utterance must be analyzed both only in terms of who represents but also in terms of who is being represented in what purpose, at which historical moment, for which location, using which strategies, and in what tone of address” (Shohat:1995, p.173). What Shohat tries to say that the subaltern or the marginalized groups often do not have the power of the representation. As the impact, they are often in a position of negative capture depending on the behalf of the powerful one. By this reason, the representation then, especially if the marginalized groups or the subaltern are involved, must be questioned.

Form those points above, it can be concluded that the representation, especially in the postcolonial studies, cannot be a mere “likeness”. According to Baldonado (1996), it becomes an ideological tool for reinforcing “systems of inequality and subordination”; it also can sustain “colonialist or neocolonialist

4 projects”. In this case, the representation of ‘the orient’/ ‘the East’ is done by ‘the occident’/the West to maintain their superiority as their ideology and in the contrary, maintain the inferiority as the ideology of their so-called the East as ‘the orient’.

Framing by related studies above, this study attempts to analyze the representation of Arabs-Muslim characters in Karl May’s travel narrative entitled

Oriental Odyssey I: in the Shadow of the Padishah through the Desert. This travel

narrative is interesting because the setting of the stories is in the Middle East, which is written by German writer, Karl May. The character of the story is the German native, Kara Ben Nemsi, who travels around in the Middle East accompanied by his servant, an Arab native, Hajji Halef Omar. To emphasize, through this paper, the researcher will try to uncover how the binary characters, the German—‘the occident’ in the opposite to the Arabs—‘the orient’ are represented in the text.

1.2 Reasons for Choosing the Topic

This study is conducted by these following reasons:

1. Karl Friedrich May, as the author of the book Oriental Odyssey I: in the Shadow of the Padishah through the Desert, is one of the most famous writers

in German. He has written many fiction adventurous books, such as the most popular books of Winnetou and Kara Ben Nemsi. His books also have great

influence upon the world. Among his story fans are Albert Einstein and Adolf Hitler.

2. Karl May’s travel narrative entitled Oriental Odyssey I: in the Shadow of the Padishah through the Desert tells about the middle-east culture, its social

5 life and its people. It is interesting to study the story of Middle East life which is written by the people outside the culture, in this case, in the eye of a European writer, Karl May.

By those reasons, it is interesting to conduct the study of this story book, especially from Postcolonial point of view.

1.3 Scope of the Study

The study will be limited in analyzing the representation of Arabs-Muslim characters in the opposite of European-Christian characters in Karl May’s travel narrative entitled Oriental Odyssey I: in the Shadow of the Padishah through the Desert.

1.4 Research Questions

1. How are Arabs-Muslim characters represented in the text? 2. How are European-Christian characters represented in the text?

3. How do these contrast each other and what can postcolonial criticism do about it?

1.5 Aims of the Study

1. To reveal how Arabs-Muslim characters are represented in the text 2. To reveal how European-Christian characters are represented in the text

6 3. To examine how these contrast each other and what postcolonial criticism can do about it

1.6 Research Method

The study will use qualitative method to analyze the text. There are some advantages with using qualitative method to analyze qualitative data, as Miles & Huberman (1994) notes:

Qualitative data are sexy. They are source of well-grounded, rich descriptions and explanations of processes in identifiable local contexts. With qualitative data one can preserve chronological flow, see precisely which events led to which consequences, and derive fruitful explanations. Then, too, good qualitative data are more likely to lead to serendipitous findings and to new integrations; they help researches to get beyond initial conceptions and to generate revise conceptual frameworks. Finally, the findings from qualitative studies have a quality of “underniability. (Miles & Huberman, p.1)

Miles & Huberman also states that the strength of qualitative data “is that they focus on naturally occurring, ordinary events in natural settings, so that we have a strong

handle on what “real life” is like” (p.10).

Along with using qualitative method, the study also will employ descriptive method. According to Nasir (1988) descriptive method “is a method in investigating the group status of people, an object, a set of condition, a paradigm or a sequence of current events. It is aimed at providing an accurate, factual and systematic description on facts, natures, and relations of researched phenomena” (p.63).

Finally, the method used in this study is postcolonial criticism. By this criticism means to analyze how ‘the orient’ characters are represented in the contrary

7 of how ‘the occident’ characters are represented in the text based on the postcolonial theory.

1.7 Research Procedure

Firstly, the travel narrative will be read thoroughly. Then several major characters of Arabs-Muslim and European-Christian Characters are chosen. A table which consists of columns named textual evidences, encounters, and critical notes is

made. The purpose of making this table is to analyze and give textual evidences which are needed for the research. Therefore, the textual evidences which have been revealed by the analysis of several major characters will be analyzed by postcolonial criticism. Finally, all the data findings are discussed to answer the research questions.

1.8 Clarification of Main Terms

Postcolonial: of, relating to, or being in the time following the establishment of

independence in a colony (The American Heritage Dictionary; second edition). In this study, the term postcolonial related to the period of postcolonial which Karl May’s travel narrative entitled Oriental Odyssey I still exists, that it is assumed the legacy of

colonialism still appears in the novel.

Postcolonialism (postcolonial theory): is a specifically post-modern intellectual

discourse that consists of reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism (Wikipedia.com). In this study, the term postcolonialism related to the

8 theory of the cultural legacy of postcolonialism which may appear in the characters of the text.

Representation: it may connote the act of one person standarding in place of, or

representing another, as when one member of a class of persons brings a legal action on behalf of the class (Encyclopedia Americana; Volume 23). In this study, the term representation means how the Arabs-Muslim and European-Christian characters are represented in the text.

Orientalism: is a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological

distinction made between ‘the orient’ and (most of the time) ‘the occident’ (Edward Said’s Orientalism: 1979). In this study, the term orientalism connects with the later proving that the representation of Arabs-Muslim Characters is a depiction of thought of the writer (in this case, Karl May as Western writer).

The Orient: Western’s depiction, how to define the non-European people (the

Eastern), its outlook, appearance, and places (Edward Said’s Orientalism: 1979). In

this study, the orient is Arabs-Muslim characters.

The Occident: The Western, in the opposite of the Eastern (Edward Said’s Orientalism: 1979). In this study, the occident is European-Christian characters.

9

1.9 Organization of the Paper

This Paper will be organized into five chapters:

Chapter I is Introduction. This chapter contains background, reasons for choosing the topic, scope of the study, research questions, aims of the study, research method, data collection and data analysis, and organization of the paper.

Chapter II is Theoretical Foundation. This chapter will encompass some related theories for the study.

Chapter III is Research Method. This chapter deals with the method of the research, technique of data collection, technique of data analysis, subject of the research, and data presentation

Chapter IV is Discussion. This chapter consists of the discussion of the research’s analysis.

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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FOUNDATION

2.1 Literature in a Postcolonial Perspective

Literature, if one might say, is one product of culture and society. It has various definitions. However, those various definitions can be simplified based on the term ‘literature’ in this research, that is according to Answer.com (2010) literature is the body of written works of a language, period, or culture and also imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value. Therefore, literature has important roles or values to build the civilization of human being.

One of the genres of literary works is novel. According to Murphy (1996) the novel has been the aesthetic object of choice of majority of postcolonial scholars. He proposes three factors why novel’s predominance can be attributed in postcolonial studies; (1) the representational nature of the novel (2) its heteroglossic structure (3) the function of the chronotope in the novel. He also argues that the representational power of the novel, its ability to give voice to a people in the assertion of their identity and their history, is of primary importance to postcolonial writers and scholars.

The term “heteroglossic” according to Guide to Literary Terms Group (2009)

comes from the term “heteroglossia”, the term made up by Russian critic and literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin which refers to the idea that there are several distinct languages within any single (apparently) unified language. These different languages have each different voice and they compete with one another for dominance. A novel which has heteroglossic structure is in which its different voices compete with one

11 another to define the text. So this heteroglossic structure important for postcolonial studies because one of important study in postcolonial literary criticism is to examine the binary opposition in the novel which can be seen from different voices in the text competing with one another for dominance.

According to Dentith (2001) “Chronotope” is a term taken over by Mikhail Bakhtin from 1920s science to describe the manner in which literature represents time and space. In different kinds of writing there are different chronotopes, by which changing historical conceptions of time and space realized. Dentith also argues that specific chronotopes are said to correspond particular genres, or relatively stable ways of speaking, which themselves represent particular worldviews or ideologies. Since chronotope exists in the novel which represents worldviews and ideologies, the novel becomes an important subject matter for postcolonial studies.

Since the novel is a form of fiction story, it is also one form of the texts, which Gandhi (1998) says that texts is more than any other social and political product; it is the most significant instigators and purveyors of colonial power and its double, postcolonial resistance. “Imperial relations may have been established initially by guns, guile and disease, but they were maintained in their interpolative phase largely by textuality” (Lawson & Tiffin 1994, p. 3).

In this case, the travel narrative by Karl May entitled Oriental Odyssey I: in the Shadow of the Padishah through the Desert will be studied and analyzed. Spencer (2005) states that "In narrative writing, an author has a chance to make his or her mark on the world by relating a story that only he or she can tell. Whether it comes from a personal experience or is one that the writer has imagined, the point of a narrative is to bring one's subject to life”. In this study, the travel narrative by Karl

12 May is a fictional one, which is also part of literature. This narrative has the same generic structure with the novel explained above. Thus, this travel narrative also has the possibility of the emergence of colonialism through its representational nature, its heteroglossic structure and its chronotope function.

2.1.1 Characters and Characterization

In the real life, character has close relationship to the human personality because everyone has his own unique character. However, fictional character in literary work cannot be the same as the character of the people in the real life. In literary work, the existence of characters is aimed to represent something or particular individual.

Hawthorn (2001) points out that the character is intended to investigate the human personality or psychology, to tell a story, to show a belief, to contribute a symbolic pattern in a novel, and purely to facilitate a particular plot development. Below is 3 points investigating the character in fiction and its relation to the character in real life proposed by Hawthorn (p.81);

• The construction of characters in the novel depends on its representation and correlation to real life;

• The different perspectives of people about life influence the construction of fictional character;

• Character in a fiction is a symbol of character in real life.

Still in Hawthorn’s speak, a method used to learn the fictional characters is characterizations. It attempts to reveal the changing or the development of characters,

13 providing the significant information about characters, and viewing the process as what the writer is trying to achieve in the presentation of characters. Hawthorn also points out two methods of characterizations (p.93):

• Explanatory, describes a person through the narrator;

• Dramatic, in which the readers are supposed to understand the story by themselves as if witnessing a theatrical performance.

According to Hawthorn’s point of view about characters and characterization, it can be concluded that characters and characterization is a part of representation in the literature, especially fiction story. The characters and characterization then have important role in the fiction story and in this study because of its representational nature from the real life which is embedded in the characters and characterizations in the fiction story.

2.2 Postcolonial: General Definition

The final hour of colonialism has struck, and millions of inhabitants of Africa, Asia and Latin America rise to meet a new life and demand their unrestricted right to self determination. (Che Guevara, speech to the United

Nations, December 11, 1964.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcolonialism)

The quotation of Che Guevara’s speech above is a reflection of challenging colonialism. The term colonialism itself can be defined as “the practice by which a powerful country controls another country or other countries” (A. Lawson, & C. Tiffin: 2000). Thiong’o (1973) writes that the aim of this colonialism is “to get at people’s land and what that land produces”. But, if going back to the excerpt above, and what can be seen in reality in this 21th century, “the final hour of colonialism has

14 struck” indicating the new era of liberty and independence of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

This condition then brings the term ‘postcolonial’ to the front. In a literal sense, postcolonial “is that which has been preceded by colonization” (Bahri: 1996). Meanwhile, according Bahri (1996) who cites the meaning of ‘postcolonial’ from the second college edition of The American Heritage Dictionary, postcolonial is “of,

relating to, or being the time following the establishment of independence of a colony”. But in practice, the term postcolonial can be more loosely. According to Bahri (1996), it sometimes includes countries which have yet to achieve independence, or minority people in First World countries, or even independent colonies which subjugated by “neocolonial” forms through expanding capitalism and globalization. More generically, this term can indicate the position of one against ‘eurocentrism’ and imperialism.

2.3 Postcolonial: Theory and Criticism

The field of Postcolonial studies has become prominence since 1970s. The publishing of Edward Said’s Orientalism (1979) which criticizes ‘the orient’ as

Western’s depiction is claimed as the rising point of this theory in the academic field. The use of this term grows when the book entitled The Empire Writes Back: Theory, Practice, in Post-colonial Literatures (1989) by Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Hellen Tiffin, appears. Since then, the use of postcolonial is widely used in the academic field.

15 In a very general sense, according to Bahri (1996), postcolonial study “is the study of the interactions between European Nations and the societies they colonized in the modern period”. However, it is true that the age of colonialism has ended, and the postcolonial era has been born, but this not without ranges of problem emerging. The world is not fully free from the colonialism. The new form of colonialism— neocolonialism and imperialism subjugates the life of the postcolonial groups, the minorities, the subaltern.

Holden (2008) writes that this new form of colonialism might be very variant, a chain of fake solutions of progression;

Colonial modernity contained inherent contradictions of which colonized elites made strategic use. The new imperialism of the late nineteenth century clothed itself in enlightenment notions of progress, of the potential equality of human beings, and thus presented itself as—at least partially—a project of uplifting and educating “subject races”. Yet colonialism—in its British form, at least—constitively refused to grant equality to those who fulfilled the very criteria it laid down: indeed, most colonial governments exhibited considerable reluctance to accord non-Europeans the status of British subjects. (Holden, p. 47)

By the facts above, it is clear that the colonialism era is never fully ended, but it changes itself into other forms. This fact can arrive to a conclusion that the postcolonial countries or non-western countries still face a great range of colonial problems and identity. The same problems also exist in literature produced by writers from eastern countries or even literature produced by writers from western countries.

This fact also triggers the emergence of postcolonial theory, studies, and criticism. This theory and criticism works through the process of ‘re-reading’, ‘writing back’ and ‘re-examine’ the canonical literature or literature produced by eastern and western countries. One also says that postcolonial literary critics ‘re-examine’ literature with focusing on the social discourse which shaped it.

16 For example, the postcolonial ‘re-reading’ according to Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin (2000) can be done by ‘reading’ and ‘re-reading’ all kind of texts which is inescapably influenced by colonization on literary production. They say that this kind of ‘re-reading’ is a form of deconstructive reading which most usually applied to works from the colonizers (but may be applied to works by the colonized) which demonstrates its underlying assumptions (civilization, justice, aesthetics, sensibility, race) and reveals its (often unwitting) colonialist ideologies and processes.

Postcolonial theory, provides a framework which deconstruct dominant discourse which comes from the West, challenges inherent assumptions, and also critiques the material legacies of colonialism. Bhaba (1994) says that the postcolonial criticism comes from the East/minorities who demand for fair discourse of representation;

The postcolonial perspective—as it is being developed by cultural historians and literary theorists—emerge from the colonial testimony of Third World countries and the discourse of ‘minorities’ within the geopolitical divisions of East and West, North and South. They intervene in those ideological discourses of modernity… often disadvantages histories of nations, races, communities, people. They formulate their critical revisions around issues of cultural difference, social authority and political discrimination in order to reveal the antagonistic and ambivalent moments within the ‘rationalizations’ of modernity. (Bhaba, p.246)

Bhaba’s argument emphasizes that the emergence of postcolonial criticism first comes from the East, a region where the minority is a result of geopolitical divisions of the East and the West. The Eastern people criticize the ideological discourses which disadvantages their histories of nations, races, communities, and people. In this way they formulate their critical revision towards the unfair ideological discourse.

As Ashcroft, Griffiths, Tiffin (2000) speak, Postcolonialism, then, has been employed in most recent accounts and has been concerned to examine the processes

17 and effects of, and reactions to,European colonialism from the sixteenth century up to and including the neo-colonialism of the present day. They also remark that in its development, Postcolonialism is now widely and diversely used to the study and analysis of everything related to the way, form and colonial legacies in both pre- and post-independent nations and communities.

In similar voice Slemon (1994) argues postcolonialism is now used in its various fields, heterogeneous set of subject positions, professional fields, and critical enterprises. To conclude, according to Gandhi (1988), postcolonialism directs its critique against the cultural hegemony of European knowledge in an attempt to reassert the epistemological value and agency of the non-European world.

In this case, some critiques against cultural hegemony of European knowledge also address to the subject of this research, that is Karl May’s works, especially a travel narrative entitled Oriental Odyssey I. Although Karl May’s works are very

popular, as can be seen from the comment by Louanna Alahem, which says that Karl May’s Oriental Odyssey I “is an honest portrayal of this world, with only a slight European smugness, but much less than most of the literature of the day. The Arab Culture is not portrayed as barbaric or savage; rather we are shown its depth and richness…” (2002), her comment is rejected by some other people’s comments, such as what is found by Ganesa (2004).

According to Ganesa (2004) these comments are gained from amazon.com, indokarlmay.com and private communication. The first comment is from someone in Turkey, who says that Karl May has done misjudged description about the Muslim in his Oriental Odyssey story:

18 My respect for Karl May is not diminished when I learned-although his

incredible knowledge of the East World and Islam- that he made mistakes, for example: women in Islam do not have souls. Or as he put the blame of Islam followers into (a mistake) of Islam itself. In the same way the Muslims are sometimes discriminated against by Karl May. I do not worry about this. That is the view of the world by May. This view is also often included fascism, when May shows us that the Armenians or Greeks as human- without ethics. On the other hand the heroes are always represented coming from Germany.1 (Ganesa, p.126)

Another comment comes from Tantri Yuliandini from Indonesia, who says her disappointment of other Karl May’s travel narrative, Winnetou, stating that the

European character (Old Shatterhand) is described as too perfect in the story: I was 13 years old when I first read it, and I love Winnetou and American Indians in general because of it. It’s really a great story. Now, 13 years later, I feel have been deceived. The whole story was good when you were 13 years old. All were there, adventure, suspense, tragedy, and a touch of romance. But that's not realistic. Nothing, and no one is so perfect as Karl May described Old Shatterhand. Greenhorn who came directly from German who never hold a gun, but can shot the right target at the first shot (lucky? Maybe, but it's even worse). Never rode a horse, but at the first time trying could smoothly rode it. Could master Indian expertise in no time at all, who is he, Superman? I see Old Shatterhand as too perfect character, and (I) do not like it. I think Winnetou is more humane, with sadness and the urge for revenge. The story would be better if Old Shatterhand is eliminated.2 (Ganesa, p.128)

1

Translated into English from Bahasa Indonesia: “Hormat saya ke Karl May tidak berkurang ketika saya mengetahui-walaupun pengetahuannya yang luar biasa atas dunia timur dan islam-, bahwa dia membuat kesalahan-kesalahan, misalnya: perempuan dalam Islam tidak punya jiwa. Atau ketika dia menimpakan kesalahan pemeluk agama Islam menjadi (kesalahan) Islam itu sendiri. Dengan cara yang sama orang muslim terkadang didiskriminasikan oleh Karl May. Saya tidak khawatir tentang ini. Itu adalah pandangan May tentang dunia. Pandangan ini sering termasuk juga fasisme, yaitu ketika May menunjukkan kita bahwa orang Armenia atau Yunani sebagai manusia-manusia tanpa etika. Di lain pihak pahlawan-pahlawannya direpresentasikan sebagai berasal dari jerman. “

2

Translated into English from Bahasa Indonesia: “Ketika pertama kali baca, saya 13 tahun, dan mencintai Winnetou serta Indian Amerika secara umum karenanya. Benar-benar cerita yang hebat. Sekarang, 13 tahun kemudian, saya merasa telah dibohongi. Memang cerita keseluruhannya bagus kalau anda berumur 13 tahun. Semua ada di sana, petualangan, ketegangan, tragedi, dan sentuhan roman. Tapi itu tidak realistis. Tidak ada, dan tidak ada orang yang sedemikian sempurnanya sebagaimana Karl May menggambarkan Old Shatterhand. Greenhorn yang datang langsung dari Jerman yang tidak pernah pegang senapan, tapi tepat sasaran pada tembakan pertama (keberuntungan? Mungkin, tapi itu lebih jelek lagi). Belum pernah menunggang kuda, tapi pertama kali coba langsung lancar saja. Bisa menguasai keahlian Indian dalam waktu sekejap, siapa dia, Superman? Saya melihat Old Shatterhand sebagai tokoh terlalu sempurna, dan (saya) tidak suka itu. Saya kira Winnetou lebih manusiawi, dengan kesedihan dan dorongan untuk balas dendamnya. Ceritanya akan lebih baik kalau Old Shatterhand dihilangkan saja.”

19 Ganesa himself, reveal Karl May’s weaknesses in his travel narrative, as can

be seen below:

Almost all techniques of the narration in the Travel Narrative use the narrator style as the "I". It more dense contained, the conflict is more varied, though still not separated from its weakness, that is excessive, both from the affirmation of the good side or bad side, including moral and religious, as well as half narcissist (said some people), because the "I" always win and excel in the end.3 (Ganesa, p.73, italics added)

Those comments show that despite the popularity of Karl May’s works, there are still many things from his description in his stories which should be criticized, especially from postcolonial perspective about how he describes the non-European characters in contrast to European characters.

2.4 Postcolonial: the Key Concepts

Postcolonial criticism has wide-ranging subjects and terms. Therefore, in doing the postcolonial analysis, this study conducts three key concepts of postcolonial criticism as examined below:

2.4.1 Representation

According to Wehmeier & Ashby(2000), the term representation has various meaning, but the first meaning is “the act of presenting sb/sth in a particular way; something that shows or describe something”. In details, Baldonado (1996) explains representation as the act of placing or stating facts in order to influence or affect the

3 _{Translated into English from Bahasa Indonesia: Hampir semua teknik penceritaan dalam Kisah} Perjalanan memakai gaya penceritaan “saya”. Isinya lebih padat, konfliknya lebih bervariasi, meskipun tetap saja tak terlepas dari kelemahannya, yaitu berlebihan, baik dari penegasan sisi baik atau buruk, termasuk moral dan keagamaan, serta setengah narsisis (kata sementara orang), karena “saya” selalu menang dan unggul pada akhirnya.

20 actions of other. To conclude, the term representation has a semiotic meaning; ‘standing for something else’, which implicated in the postcolonial studies.

Postcolonial studies find that in the European texts, the representations of non-european subjects have been described as lack or inferior. “Within the complex relations of colonialism these representations were reprojected to the colonised— through formal education or general colonialist cultural relations—as authoritative pictures of themselves” (Ashcroft, Griffiths, Tiffin: 1995, p.85).

Referring to the term representation, Said (1979) shows his resistance to the Western representation of the East, especially the term ‘orient’ and ‘occident’. He argues that the term for the East as ‘the orient’ is western’s invention, indicating this ‘orient’ is weak, inferior, and as ‘the other’ within western perfective. This depiction of ‘the orient’ constructs a world of backwardness, irrationality and uncivilized which belongs to ‘the orient’. The Western who creates this depiction, in the other hand, place themselves as the opposite of those characteristics; as progressive, rational, and civilized. This depiction then used by the West as the way of dominating the East:

Taking the late eighteen century as a very rougly defined starting point Orientalism can be be discussed and analyzed as the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient—dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it. In short, Orientalism as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient. (Said, p.3)

In the same voice, Spivak (1990) says that this representation or “speaking the name of” is not a solution. “The idea of the disenfranchised speaking for themselves, or the radical critics speaking for them; this question of representation, self-representation, representing others, is a problem” (Spivak: 1990, p.63). By this commentary, Spivak emphasizes that representation, or as she calls as ‘speaking the name of’ is a problem,

21 especially in the term of representing the Other in postcolonial studies. She also adds why this kind of representation becomes problem, the construction of the Other positions them just as an object of knowledge, judging this way can marginalize ‘the real Other’.

Shohat (1995) in similar tone says that the representation in any form should be constantly questioned. She says that “each filmic or academic utterance must be analyzed both only in terms of who represents but also in terms of who is being represented in what purpose, at which historical moment, for which location, using which strategies, and in what tone of address” (Shohat: 1995, p.173). What Shohat tries to say is the subaltern or the marginalized groups often do not have the power of representation. As the impact, they are often in a position of negative capture depending on the behalf of the powerful one. By this reason, the representation then, especially if the marginalized groups or the subaltern are involved, must be questioned.

What can be drawn from the facts above is that representation, especially in the postcolonial studies, cannot be a mere “likeness”. According to Baldonado (1996), it becomes an ideological tool for reinforcing “systems of inequality and subordination”; it also can sustain “colonialist or neocolonialist projects”. In this case, the representation of ‘the orient’/ ‘the East’ is done by ‘the occident’/the West to maintain their superiority as their ideology and in the contrary, maintain the inferiority as the ideology of their so-called the East as ‘the orient’.

22

2.4.2 Binarism

Firstly comes from French Structural Linguist, Ferdinand De Saussure, the term binary opposition, or binarism, has particular sets of meaning in postcolonial theory. According to Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin (2000), binarism means a combination of two things, a pair, ‘two’, duality (OED) (p. 18). The more extreme

form of binarism is binary opposition, like sun/moon, man/woman, life/death, black/white. “Such oppositions, each of which represents a binary system, are very common in the cultural construction of reality” (Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin: 2000, p.18). In fact, this binary system entails a violent hierarchy, demonstrates that one is opposed to the other. Furthermore, it still exists to confirm the dominance of one to another.

In postcolonial studies, “the binary logic of imperialism is a development of that tendency of Western thought in general to see the world in terms of binary oppositions that establish a relation of dominance” (Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin: 2000, p.19). The binary opposition in colonial discourse can be seen as the following:

West : East

Colonizer : Colonized

Center : Margin

Self : Other

Occident : Orient

Superior : Inferior

Civilized : Savages

Rational : Irrational

23

Beautiful : Ugly

Hero : Villain

Human : Bestial

Originally, as Nesbit (2001) argues, the binary system of colonial discourse comes from the colonization era;

Though the colonizing empire may indeed entrench itself in the land which it means to take, the empire must also entrench itself in the minds of people in the minds of the people whom it means to rule. Therefore, the colonizer must present a model of reality which is seemingly absolute and flawless as a replacement for what comes to be considered the old, savagely imperfect modes of thought ascribed to by the natives. (http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/myths.html)

As the result, this binary system, as Gandhi (1998) says, makes the colonized was henceforth to be postulated as the inverse or negative image of the colonizer. However, Nesbit adds that this binary system dehumanizes the natives/colonized not only in the minds of the people of the empire, but in the minds of the natives/colonized as well. To make it simply, the purpose of this binary system is to make the imperialism and all its manifestations mortal and strong.

2.4.3 Orientalism

The orient that appears in Orientalism, then, is a system of representations framed by a whole set of forces that brought the Orient into Western learning, Western Consciousness, and later, Western Empire. If this definition of Orientalism seems more political than not, that is simply because I think Orientalism was itself a product of certain political forces and activities. (Said:, p.202-203)

Edward Said’s Orientalism (1979) has been one of the seminal work of

postcolonial criticism, and has been projected the case of representation as its subject matter. Said proposes the theory of how the East is represented in literature and

24 culture, and also in ideas, history, politics by the West. In his study of how the West constructs a stereotypical image of the East, Said as cited by Yang (1999) argues that, far from simply reflecting what the countries of the near East were, actually like, ‘Orientalism’ is the discourse by which European culture is able to manage and even produce the East politically, sociologically, military, ideologically, scientifically and imaginatively.

In the same voice with Said, Hall (1997) explains that ‘Otherness’ is tightly related to ‘difference’. He proposes two arguments of why ‘difference’ is so compelling as an object of representation. The ‘difference’ is essential to meaning since it is the one which signifies meaning and without it, meaning could not exist. ‘difference’ is needed because meaning can only constructed through a dialogue with the ‘other’. To conclude, the ‘other’ is so fundamental to the constitution of the ‘self’.

Discussing about Said’s prominent work Orientalism, Sered (1996)argues that

Edward Said's evaluation and critique of the set of beliefs known as Orientalism forms an important background for postcolonial studies. He says that Said’s work highlights the inaccuracies of a wide variety of assumptions as it questions various paradigms of thought which are accepted on individual, academic, and political levels. Said’s Orientalism also mainly discusses about the representation of the East as

Western’s depiction which create the binary opposition maintaining the West as dominant and superior.

In his writing, Sered (1996) remarks that the term ‘Orientalism’ firstly exists in 19th century through the Western scholar which is called ‘the Orientalist’. They study the East for the purpose of the colonial conquest. They assume that by having knowledge of the conquered people, the colonial conquest will be truly effective.

25 Said’s critique presents this idea of power. In his book, Said argues that the so-called Orient becomes the studied, the observed, the object; meanwhile Orientalist scholars are the students, the observers, the subject. This presentation of The Orient as object of the study and the Orientalist as the observer indicates The Orient as passive and in the other side the West as active.

Sered (1996) also remarks one of the most significant constructions of Orientalist Schoolar which is the Orient itself. What is considered the Orient is a vast region, through across vast cultures and countries such as Asia and Middle East as well. In this vast areas, as Sered points out, ‘essentializing’ an image of a prototypical Oriental--a biological inferior that is culturally backward, peculiar, and unchanging--to be depicted in dominating and sexual terms. The discourse and visual imagery of Orientalism is bounded by notions of power and superiority which is formulated by the West to facilitate their colonizing mission.

Studying Said’s statement in Orientalism, Sered (1996) then says what Said

argues that Orientalism can be found in current Western depictions of "Arab" cultures. The depictions of "the Arab" as irrational, menacing, untrustworthy, anti-Western, dishonest are the prototypical self-image of the Arabs depicted by the Orientalist scholars. These notions are considered as the main foundations for ideologies and policies developed by the so-called Occident. Below is what Said says about Muslim representation as Western’s depiction of the Orient:

One would find this kind of procedure less objectionable as political propaganda--which is what it is, of course--were it not accompanied by sermons on the objectivity, the fairness, the impartiality of a real historian, the implication always being that Muslims and Arabs cannot be objective but that Orientalists. . .writing about Muslims are, by definition, by training, by the mere fact of their Westernness. This is the culmination of Orientalism as a

26 dogma that not only degrades its subject matter but also blinds its

practitioners. (Said, 1979)

In the quotation above, Said says that Western’s depiction of the Orient, especially the Arab and Muslim world, is a form of political propaganda. This idea of the Orient is made by single position, in this case, by only Western’s point of view. As the result, this idea subjugates the subject matter (the East/the Arab). Moreover, it also blinds the practitioners.

In his discussion, Sered (1996) argues that Said’s project attempts to call into question the underlying assumptions that form the foundation of Orientalist thinking. This is mainly about a rejection of biological generalizations, cultural constructions, and racial as well as religious prejudices. Said’s Orientalism also tries to erase the line which is made between the West and the East.

However, Sered (1996) adds that this Said’s Rejection of Orientalist thinking does not entail a denial of the differences between 'the West' and 'the Orient,' but rather an evaluation of such differences in a more critical and objective fashion. In this case, the Orient cannot be studied only by the Orientalist’s point of view. It is fairer if the people who have been known until now as the Orient give their voice in presenting themselves.

Above all, this study will analyze the emergence of representation on literary texts, concerning about the concept of binary opposition of colonial discourse which reflected on the characters and characterizations in the text.

27

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

3.1 Analyzing a Literary Text

This study means to attempt observing and analyzing a fictional travel narrative. The study is conducted by using qualitative method. Burns and Grove (1993) explain that qualitative approach is conducted due to the following beliefs:

1) There is no single reality

2) Reality based upon perceptions which are different for each person and change over time

3) What we know has meaning only within a given situation or context

Qualitative approach is suitable for this study because it can put pieces together to make a whole, it can be used to analyze the subject of the research since there is no single reality and so many perceptions or interpretations when people analyze the literature.

Along with using qualitative method, the study also will employ descriptive method in the process of analyzing the data. Gay (1987) states that descriptive method is a method of research which involves collecting data in order to test hypothesis or to answer question concerning the current status of the subject of the study. The purpose of descriptive method is to describe or illustrate the fact, characteristic and relationship of research element systematically, factually and accurately. The data presentations gained in this study is described descriptively, means that the data is describe in the form of words.

28 Finally, the method used in this study is postcolonial criticism. By this criticism means to analyze how ‘the orient’ characters are represented in the contrary of how ‘the occident’ characters are represented in the text based on the postcolonial theory.

3.2 Postcolonial Method of Literary Analysis

In analyzing the subject of the research which is the travel narrative entitled Oriental Odyssey I: in the Shadow of the Padishah through the Desert by Karl May, postcolonial literary criticism is used as a tool of analysis.

According to Dobie (2009), postcolonial literary criticism looks not only at the works of postcolonial writers, but also canonical texts. She argues that attitudes toward the “other” are evident in works that may not, on the surface, seem to deal with colonialism at all. Helen Tiffin argues as cited by Dobie (2009) that the real job of postcolonial criticism is to investigate the means by which Europe imposed and maintained.

The way to do so, as Helen Tiffin suggests is to use “canonical counter-discourse” which is a process of examining characters or the basic assumptions of a British canonical text, and unveils (colonialist) assumptions, subverting the text for postcolonialist purposes. In the other words, the real purpose of postcolonial literary criticism is to examine the legacy of colonial ideas in postcolonial and canonical texts. In order to abridge the examining of postcolonial literary criticism, Dobie classifies several basic assumptions and generalizations which are by and large accepted as

29 important to postcolonial theory, such as the term ‘universalism’, which is believed by the European colonizer that their ideals and experiences are universal.

This ‘universalism’ becomes the standard of the non-European people (in the other word, ‘eurocentrism’). The term ‘eurocentrism’ is the standard from European colonizer for what any culture should be. In this case, “the European colonizers assumed the superiority of their own culture and the inferiority of the conquered ones” (Dobie: 2009, p.209). “They thought of themselves as civilized, even advanced, and of the colonists as backward, even savage” (Dobie: 2009, p.209). The term of ‘universalism’ and ‘eurocentrism’ then, is evident in European literature, as well as American and Asian literature.

Dobie (2009) also proposes ‘the practice of othering’, that is by “viewing

those who are different from oneself as inferior beings, divides people and justifies hierarchies” (Dobie: 2009, p.210). She classifies this practice into two terms: (1) ‘demonic other’ is how the dominant culture sees the other as evil; and (2) ‘exotic

other’ is when theother is assumed to have natural beauty.

Guided by those basic assumptions and generalizations, an analysis of the text by postcolonial literary criticism can be done more deeply and more aimed. The next step is to know how to read and analyze the text. According to Dobie (2009), a postcolonial analysis begins with the assumption that examining the relationship between a text and its context. She argues that the postcolonial reader will generally be alert and sensitive to the presence of the following elements that recur in the literature:

a. Presentation of colonialism b. Treatment of Characters

30 c. Validity of the Narrative

d. Expressions of Nativism (Nationalism) e. Recurring Subjects and Themes

f. Context

g. Minor Characters

h. Political Statement and Innuendo i. Similarities

In conclusion, those elements can be used as the first reading to analyze the text from postcolonial perspective.

3.3 Technique of Data Collection

In carrying out the research, several steps taken as mentioned below:

1. Identifying the subject of the research which is a travel narrative entitled

Oriental Odyssey I: in the Shadow of the Padishah through the Desert by

Karl May.

2. Locating the significance of investigating postcolonial theory in the travel narrative.

3. Conducting library and internet research to collect and comprehend references which are related to the study.

4. Formulating research questions about the representation of Arabs-Muslim and European-Christian characters based on postcolonial literary criticism in the text.

31 6. Highlighting the characters of Arabs-Muslim and the characters of

European-Christian which have distinctive characterizations.

7. Making a table which consists of columns named textual evidences, encounters, and critical notes.

8. Finding some textual evidences through the table which are related to the research questions.

9. Analyzing textual evidences by using postcolonial literary criticism.

10.Drawing conclusions and suggestions based on the findings of the research.

3.4 Technique of Data analysis

The data is taken in the form of textual evidences and only related to the representation of Arabs-Muslim and European-Christian characters in the text. The findings then classified and assessed in accordance with the issue of the study. The novel itself would be the main source from which the data can answer the proposed research questions.

Postcolonial Literary Criticism is used as the framework of analyzing the data in this study. The findings which are related to the research questions connected to other sources from which references taken. Several major Arabs-Muslim and European-Christian characters are analyzed to reveal the issue according to the purpose of the research. The analysis of these several major Arabs-Muslim and European-Christian characters aims to gain the valid information about the text and to comprehend what the author wants to extend.

32 The way of analyzing several major Arabs-Muslim and European-Christian characters is by revealing their characterizations and their descriptions based on textual evidences found in the text. Afterwards, the findings in the form of textual evidences are analyzed by using postcolonial literary criticism.

The analyzing of textual evidences will be done, firstly, by examining the presence of some particular elements according to postcolonial literary criticism as proposed by Dobie (2009) which considered presented in the text, as can be seen below:

a. Presentation of Colonialism

It will study how the text reflects attitude regarding the orient and the occident which in this case, the Arabs-Muslim and the European-Christian characters. It also will study how the narrator of the text positions itself, as an observer or a participant in the story’s cultural setting. Finally, it will study what traditions and practices serve to maintain the cultural hierarchy.

b. Treatment of Characters

It will study the portrayals of Arabs-Muslim and European-Christian characters in the text, what the descriptive terms characterize the depiction of each binary characters and what the relationship between them in the narrative.

c. Validity of the Narrative

It will study how political and cultural domination presented explicitly or allegorically in the text. It will try to find the answer if some elements contrary to what actually happened and if the rationalizations believable. This purpose will be done by finding some elements in the text, and by elaborating Karl May’s (as the author of the text) biography.

33 d. Political Statement and Innuendo

It will study if the text makes ideological statements or support a particular course of political, economic, or social action, if it takes up the case for against a particular group of people, in this case, the Arabs and their Islam ideology, and if it criticizes those who represent a specific ideology (Islam).

However, those points above are formulated and resumed in the research questions, which is about analyzing the representation of Arabs-Muslim and European-Christian characters and how do these binary characters contrast each other, and more importantly, how it can be seen from postcolonial criticism’s point of view.

Afterwards, the categorization of the findings based on textual evidences found, will be in the form of contrasting how Arab-Muslim characters and European-Christian characters are represented in the text. It will be done based on the binary opposition of colonial discourse, as can be seen as the following:

West : East

Colonizer : Colonized

Center : Margin

Self : Other

Occident : Orient

Superior : Inferior

Civilized : Savages

Rational : Irrational

Good : Evil

Beautiful : Ugly

34

Human : Bestial

By that way, this study will be able to analyze the data and to answer the research questions.

3.5 Subject of the Research

The subject of this research is a travel narrative entitled Oriental Odyssey I: in the Shadow of the Padishah through the Desert by Karl May. In order to support the

study of the text by postcolonial literary criticism framework, the review of extrinsic and intrinsic elements of the novel is important, which is examined below:

3.5.1 About Karl May 3.5.1.1 Karl May’s Biography

Karl Friedrich May was born in Ernstthal, Germany, in February 25 1842. He was one of the famous German writers. His books had sold thousands copies and had translated into many different languages. May’s books mainly told the narrative set in the American West, Middle East, China, South America and his own native Germany. Beside writing novels, May also wrote poetry, and several plays. He also wrote his autobiography which is important for any study of his life. May also composed music, being highly competent with several musical instruments. Karl May's musical version of "Ave Maria" became very well known to today.

Karl May was born into a poor family and--according to his autobiography— he suffered from visual impairment and rickets shortly after his birth, this diseases due to lack of vitamins A and D. However, he regained his eyesight at the age four/five.

35 Karl May finished a Teacher's College and became a teacher in Waldenburg and Plauen (Saxony). However teaching still made him live poor because at that time teaching was not paid well and held low social prestige. His short career as a teacher ended in 1863 when he was accused by his friend because stealing a pocket watch, which May himself always denied. He permanently lost his license to teach and suffered from a nervous breakdown. In the following years he was accused of the fault while at the same time he was suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder. He was twice jailed for matters which nowadays would not make anyone jailed.

During in the prison May began writing. Although he wrote many novels set in the American West, Middle East, China, South America, actually he had never gone to those regions. He wrote those novels only based on his knowledge gained by reading geographical journals. In 1875 he published his first story, although he remained commercially unsuccessful for a long time. When 'Winnetou I' published in 1892, he then achieved success with his writing and became very popular. Many of his main characters of the books written as first-person accounts by the narrator-protagonist.

In his stories, non-dogmatic Christian feelings and values play an important role, and his heroes are often described as German native. His Native Americans are portrayed as innocent victims of the white, and many of them are presented as heroic characters. This might be because he was inspired by the Romantic ideal of the "noble savage", and by the writings of James Fenimore Cooper.

In his books set in America, May described the character of Winnetou, who was the wise chief of the Apache Tribe, and also Old Shatterhand, the author's alter ego. Another successful series of books were set in the Midlle East, especially in the

36 time of Ottoman Empire. In this series the narrator-protagonist called himself Kara Ben Nemsi, (Karl, son of Germany) and travelled with his local guide and servant Hajji Halef Omar through the Sahara desert and the Near East, experiencing many exciting adventures.

May had many famous admirers such as Albert Einstein, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Mann, Karl Liebknecht, Bertha von Suttner, Adolf Hitler and German author Carl Zuckmayer who named his daughter by the character Winnetou. For a long time, literary critics criticized May's books as trivial.

The Karl May Society (Karl-May-Gesellschaft) was founded in 1969 to study his life and works. May's house in Radebeul near Dresden in Germany changed into a museum devoted to Karl May and his anthropological collection of Native American Indian origin artifacts.

3.5.1.2 Karl May’s Works

Karl May writes many stories mainly about the adventures and heroic events, which set in the American West, Middle East, China, South America and his own native Germany. The most famous books he is written are Winnetou series which set

in American West. These books have Old Shatterhand as its major characters. Other

famous books are the Oriental Cycle (Volume 1-6).

The first volume of Oriental Cycle is chosen as the subject of this research,

that is Giölgeda Padischahnun (Durch Wüste und Harem or Durch die Wüste ) which is translated into English version by Michael M. Michalak into Oriental Odyssey I: in the Shadow of the Padishah through the Desert.

37

3.5.2 on Oriental Odyssey I: in the Shadow of the Padishah through the Desert

3.5.2.1 The Synopsis

This travel narrative is the first series from total eight series of Oriental Odyssey books. This book consists of four episodes: Abu El Nasser (Father of

Victory), Tschikarma (Kidnapping), Abu Seif (Father of the Saber), and the Desert Battle. Each story, although seems to stand by itself, is a continuing story.

Abu El Nasser (Father of Victory)

The story started at the desert when Kara Ben Nemsi, accompanied by his faithful servant Hajji Halef Omar, found horse footprints in the sand, which after been followed, belonged to a corpse, which was killed along with his camel. The corpse was a Frenchman, which Kara Ben Nemsi assumed was killed and robbed by his two companions. Kara Ben Nemsi and Hajji Halef Omar then buried the corpse.

Moved by his strong humanity feelings and a few clues gathered from the corpse, Kara Ben Nemsi and Halef tried to find the murderer. In the middle of their investigation, they met the two people who were suspected as the Frenchman’s murderers. They talked with these two men which ended in the escaping of the two men. The investigation became more difficult because they had to cross the Sahara with its chotts (a kind of salt swamp which behaved like a quicksand) ready to

swallow everyone who tried to cross it. To abridge the journey across the chotts, they asked Halef’s friend, Sadek to be their guide. In the middle of the journey, they faced the two murderers again who bombarded them with shots. Sadek and one of the

38 murderers fell into the chotts and died. Kara Ben Nemsi and Halef then were saved by

Sadek’s son, who brought them to Wekil (Governor), the murderer (Abu El Nasser), was Wekil’s guest. They tried to catch him there, but Abu El Nasser could escape.

‘Tschikarma’ (Kidnapping)

In Tschikarma, Kara Ben Nemsi was called to cure Mamur’s (ruler of an area)

wife who had been long sick. Kara Ben Nemsi then saw something weird and noticed the problem when he checked the wife. He assumed that the wife was not Mamur’s

real wife, she had been kidnapped. His suspicion grown when he met Isla Ben Maflei (Senitza’s fiancé—Senitza is the woman kidnapped by the Mamur).

To save Senitza from the Mamur, Kara Ben Nemsi pretended to be a physician

and tried to rescue her from the Mamur. Kara Ben Nemsi, Halef and Isla Ben Maflei also planned the way to rescue her. Finally they succeed to rescue Senitza, even though the Mamur escaped from punishment.

Abu Seif (Father of the Saber)

Kara Ben Nemsi's adventure continued. In Abu Seif (Father of the Sword), Kara Ben Nemsi and Halef joined the battle between two tribes in Mecca (AteÏbeh and JeheÏen). Kara Ben Nemsi and Halef helped AteÏbeh tribes because Abu Seif, their enemy, was part of JeheÏen tribes. In this occasion Halef married Hanneh, AteÏbeh woman. Meanwhile Kara Ben Nemsi successfully entered Mecca by way of his cunningness, the Muslim sacred town which was banned to non-Muslim at the time. The funny thing was, after successfully entered Mecca, he was titled Hajji by his friends.

39

A Desert Battle

In A Desert Battle, Kara Ben Nemsi met an Englishman, David Lindsay, and

decided to travel with him. In the way of their travel, they met the Sheik form Shamar tribes, who was also Sheik Malek’s friend (from AteÏbeh tribes). Shamar tribes would be attacked by other tribes. Trying to help them, Kara Ben Nemsi acted like a General and gave European war style training and strategic advice to their soldiers. He also arranged the division of war loot from the defeated tribes. He began his adventure again to save Amal el Ghandur (a son of Sheik Mohammed Emin from Shammar tribes), and this time, accompanied again by Halef.

3.5.2.2 Characters

There are several characters in Karl May’s travel narrative entitled Oriental Odyssey I: in the Shadow of the Padishah through the Desert which are divided into major characters and minor characters.

In this case, major characters are the characters involved in all episodes of the story, as the following:

• Kara Ben Nemsi: the center character, narrator-protagonist of the story, German descendant, Middle East traveler, the hero.

• Hajji Halef Omar: an Arab Native, the local guide and the servant of Kara Ben Nemsi.

Besides, there are minor characters which appeared in one or two episodes of the story. However, not all minor characters of the story taken in this list of characters,

40 but only minor characters which considered have more roles in the story, as the following:

In Abu El Nassr (Father of Victory)

• Abu El Nasser: the villain, the murderer and the robber of the Frenchman in the desert which Kara Ben Nemsi and Halef go after.

• The Young Villain: Abu El Nasser’s companion.

• The Wekil: the Governor whom Abu El Nasser taking a cover. • The Wekila: the Wekil’s wife.

• Sadek: Kara Ben Nemsi and Halef’s guide to pass the chott.

• Omar: also a guide, Sadek’s son.

• Arfan Rakedihm: a guide who guides Abu El Nasser and his companion. In ‘Tschikarma’(Kidnapping)

• Abrahim-Mamur: the man who kidnaps Senitza. • Abu Hasan: Kara Ben Nemsi’s bestfriend.

• Isla Ben Maflei: a great merchant from Stambul, Senitza’s fiancé. • Hamsad al Jabara: Isla’s servant

• Senitza: kidnapped girl, Isla’s fiancée. • Sahbet-Bei: the police director of Egypt In Abu Seif (Father of the Sword)

• Muhrad Ibrahim: A Turk, the wergi-bashi (ship officer).

• Abu Seif: the legendary robber and pirate from JeheÏen tribes.

• Martin Albani: A German descendant who becomes Kara Ben Nemsi’s friend and travelling together in Makah.

41 • Sheik Malek: the leader of AteÏbeh tribes.

• (unnamed): Sheik Malek’s daughter, former wife of Abu Seif, Hanneh’s mother.

• Hanneh: Sheik Malek’s granddaughter who becomes Halef’s wife. In the Desert Battle

• David Lindsay: an Englishman, Kara Ben Nemsi’s companion in travelling the desert.

• Sheik Mohammed Emin: the leader of Haddedihn (Shammar) tribes).

• (unnamed) Sheik of Alabeide : leader of Alabeide tribes (Haddedihn tribe’s ally)

• Sheik Zedar Ben Huli: Sheik of Abu Hammed tribes, (Haddedihn tribe’s enemy)

• Eslah el Mahem: the leader of Obe_їde tribes, (Haddedihn tribe’s enemy) • Alexander Kolettis: a Greek, the English interpreters of the Vice-Consul of

Mosul.

Since this study will analyze characters of the story, several characters will be taken to be analyzed out of minor characters which are presented above.

3.5.2.3 Settings

The setting of the story is in the Middle East, across the Sahara Desert, Makah, Turkey and Egypt. According to Michael M. Michalak, the translator of this travel narrative, the setting of this book might set in Ottoman Empire Era, when the glory of this empire begins to lose its power through the world, and the European nations rise to occupy the former areas of Ottoman regime. Michalak argues that this

42 story book is set between 1878 and 1881. Thus, he adds that the Sultan, or the Padishah referred to in this story book must be Abdul Hameed II, also referred to as “the damned” who reign over the empire from 1876 to 1909.

Michalak concludes that Karl May set his epic tale of Oriental odyssey, which is a tale of adventure that embodies the struggle of the people with the regime that rules over them in this very tumultuous times.

After all, those reviews of extrinsic and intrinsic elements of the subject of the research will be used as the background and the elements of the discussion in the next chapter.

3.6 Data Presentation

In this study, several characters of Arabs-Muslim and European-Christian are analyzed to answer the research question. However, not all characters mentioned above analyzed. Several characters are chosen based on the consideration that these characters have distinctive characterization and have roles to form the whole idea of the story, especially in postcolonial perspective. Those characters are mentioned below:

• Kara Ben Nemsi: the center character, narrator-protagonist of the story, German descendant, Middle East traveler, the hero.

• Hajji Halef Omar: an Arab Native, the local guide and the servant of Kara Ben Nemsi.

• The Wekil: the Governor whom Abu El Nasser taking a cover.

43 • Muhrad Ibrahim: A Turk, the wergi-bashi (ship officer).

• Abu Seif: the legendary robber and pirate from JeheÏen tribes.

The data presentation according to the purpose of research will be in the form of table containing textual evidences of each character. Each table presents the data of each character to be examined. The tables will be in the form of appendices. It consists of columns named textual evidences, encounters, and critical notes.

The textual evidences are the evidences gained from the text which is assumed

to be the evidence of presentation of colonialism legacy in the text. The encounters is

the explanation of when, where, in what kind of situation, incidents, events, ideas, or with which other characters the textual evidences occurs. The critical notes are the

notes given by the writer to criticize the textual evidences based on postcolonial approach. The bolding sentences, phrases, or words in the textual evidences are an

emphasizing of the important features to be analyzed. The following is one example of the table:

Kara Ben Nemsi

No Textual Evidences Encounters Critical Notes

1. Unfortunately Halef had one characteristic which made me uneasy at times. He was a devout, almost fanatical Moslem and out of his concern for my eternal soul he had a relentless desire to convert me to Islam. Upon

reflection, I suppressed a smile as I recalled the comical antics that had accompanied his most recent, fruitless attempt.

(P. 3)

This is Kara Ben Nemsi’s (a German

native) comment

towards Halef (an arab native, the servant and guide of Kara Ben Nemsi) when they travels through the gorges and crevasses of Jebel Mountain together.

Kara ben Nemsi beside emphasizing Halef as rude and fanatical muslim, also showing his comical antics attitude toward this attitude. It appears to him that this Halef’s characteristic as foolish.

44 The complete tables of data presentation can be seen in appendices A, B, C, D, E, and F. From the data presentation, it is gained some findings which will be analyzed and discussed in the next chapter.

45

CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Based on the findings which are found on the data presentation, the followings are elaborations of the textual evidences found which will give a clearer picture concerning the representation of Arabs-Muslim characters and the European-Christian characters in Karl May’s travel narrative entitled Oriental Odyssey I: in the Shadow of the Padishah through the Desert.

4.1 Characterization

Since this study focuses on the analysis of the characters in the text, how the text treats the characters will be the main point of the discussion. The characters will be analyzed deeply according to the purpose of the research. The characters which are analyzed in this study are Kara Ben Nemsi, Hajji Halef Omar, Abrahim-Mamur, the Wekil, Munrad Ibrahim (the Turk), and Abu Seif. Based on the data presentation, it is

gained some characterization of each character, which can be seen in the tables below:

Table 4.1

Character Characterization

Kara Ben Nemsi

the West, the occident, the self, superior, the center, the hero, rational, civilized, good, noble, brave, clever, human, high-skilled, advanced, helpful.

Appendix D The Wekil

No Textual Evidences Encounters Critical Notes

1. “What do you want here?” he asked.

The tone in which this question was spoken was not at all to my liking. (p.37)

This is the question from the Wekil when he welcomes Kara Ben Nemsi, Halef and Omar Sadek to his camp.

This excerpt shows the Wekil as a rude and apathetic man.

2. “I have not read who you are.”

“It is written in my passport.”

“That was written with the symbols of the infidel. Where did you get it?” (p.38)

This is the

conversation between the Wekil and Kara Ben Nemsi when he checks Kara’s passport.

This excerpt shows the Wekil as rude and anti-Christian/anti-Western.

3. “Allah iharkilik—God burn you! Then you too are a Christian?”

“Yes.”

“A giaur? And you dare to speak to the Wekil of Kbili! I will give you the bastinado if you do not at once remove yourself from my sight!”

(p.38-39)

This is the

conversation when the Wekil welcomes Kara Ben Nemsi, Halef and Omar Sadek to his camp.

This excerpt shows the Wekil as rude and anti-Christian/anti-Western. More over, this excerpt shows the Wekil as savages and violent by going to do the bastinado (a beating with a stick or club, especially on the soles of the feet).

4. “Have I done something wrong according to your laws, or done something that had insulted you?”

“Yes. A giaur may never take it upon him to appear before me. …”

(p.39)

This is the

conversation when the Wekil welcomes Kara Ben Nemsi, Halef and Omar Sadek to his camp.

This excerpt shows the Wekil as rude and anti-Christian/anti-Western.

5. “Good! Omar Ben sadek, how long have you been in the service of this Nemsi?” “Since yesterday.”

“That is not a long time. I will therefore deal with you mercifully and sentence you to twenty strokes on the soles of your feet.”

This is the question of the Wekil to Omar Sadek.

This excerpt shows the Wekil as rude and savages.

(p.39)

6. “Allah akbar—God is great, but he has regrettably made your brain so small that you cannot remember two names!...”

(p.39)

This is the humiliation sent by Kara Ben Nemsi to the Wekil when he cannot remember Halef’s name.

This excerpt shows the Wekil as brain-dead man or foolish.

7. “You wish to insult me, giaur? I will pronounce your sentence soon enough! No, Halef Omar, you are a hajji and serve this infidel? You deserve double strokes. How long have you been with him?

“Five weeks.” Halef replied. “That comes to sixty stokes on the soles of your feet and afterwards five days without food and water!...” (p.39)

This is the question of the Wekil to Halef.

This excerpt shows the Wekil as rude and violent.

8. “I am no Sihdi; you address me as Jenabin-iz or Hazretin-iz, that is, ‘Your Grace; or ‘Your Excellency’! your crimes as follows: you have firstly misled two of the faithful, for which you will receive fifteen strokes; you have secondly dared to disturb me during my kef (midday rest), that is another twenty strokes; all together that is fifty strokes on the soles of your feet. And since it is my right to collect a wergi—a fee, all your possessions are confiscated and assigned to me.”

(p.39)

This is the Wekil’s answer for Kara Ben Nemsi’s question of his crimes.

This excerpt shows the Wekil as rude, violent, savages and greedy.

9. ….The dependable Wekil therefore forced to support himself through extortion, and since this was a tricky affair when employed against the locals, the

This is the description of the Wekil by Kara Ben Nemsi as the narrator of the story.

This excerpt shows the Wekil as tricky people and lives like a bestial. It shows that he is ignorant and empty-headed.

opportune appearance of a foreigner was entirely to his advantage. He knew nothing about Germany, he knew noting of the meaning of a consulate, he lived among thieving nomads, and he believed me to be without protection and assumed that he could do as he wished without consequence.

(p.40)

10. “He has vowed by the Prophet, and you are a giaur. I do not believe you, but him.”

(p.44) This is the Wekil’s

reply toward Kara Ben Nemsi’s explanation about Abu El Nasser.

This excerpt shows the Wekil as rude and anti-Christian/anti-Western. 11. “A giaur can not accuse one

of the faithful, and the Council of the Oasis could not do anything to my friend because he holds the Bu-Djeruldu and is therefore protected by ‘Giölgeda padischahnün’, he stands ‘In the Shadow of the Padishah’.”

(p.44)

12. “It is written in the language the giaurs; I would defile myself if I read it. Your case will be investigated today; but first you will experience the bastinado: You will receive fifty strokes on the soles of your feet, your servant sixty and your guide twenty. ….” (p.44)

This is the Wekil’s comment toward Kara Ben Nemsi’s argument that he has Bu-Djeruldu.

13. “Then I say to you, that a blood avenger is never a murderer. No judge would ever condemn him; only those to whom the victim was related have the right to pursue him.”

(p.51)

This is the Wekil’s comment toward Kara Ben Nemsi’s argument of judging Abu El Nasser.

This excerpt shows the Wekil as unfair and indifferent.

Appendix E

Wergi-bashi Muhrad Ibrahim (the Turk)

No Textual Evidences Encounters Critical Notes

1. “I do not know.”

That was more than reserved, it was rude. That is why I shook my head and said in a sorrowful tones… (p.116)

This is the first conversation between Kara Ben Nemsi and Muhrad Ibrahim.

This excerpt shows Muhrad Ibrahim as rude, even at the first meeting.

2. “Silence is better than gibbering. You are a gibberer; wergi-bashi Muhrad Ibrahim prefers silence.”

(p.117)

3. “A writer? Oh Jazik—Oh woe, and I thought you a courageous Bedouin! What is a writer? A writer is not a man; a writer is a being who consumes feathers and ink; a writer has no blood, no heart, no courage….”

(p.117)

This is the humiliation spoken by Muhrad Ibrahim towards Kara Ben Nemsi.

This excerpt shows Muhrad Ibrahim as rude and anti-Christian/anti-Western 4. “You? You are a Nemtshe, a

giaur…” (p.118)

5. You are an infidel, and of the giaurs it is written in the Koran: ‘Oh, you

faithful, do not make friends with those that do not belong to your religion.they will not cease to mislead you and wish only your demise!’ how can the Sultan, who is the protector of the faithful, protect an infidel?” (p.118)

6. I laugh in this brave fellow’s face. This was truly

Turkish to demand eighteen misri (about thrity-four Taler) for a short trip and a few sips of

This is Kara Ben Nemsi’s reaction toward Muhrad Ibrahim’s demand of fee for his ship.

This excerpt shows Muhrad Ibrahim as tricky and greedy.

water. (p.120)

Appendix F Abu Seif

No Textual Evidences Encounters Critical Notes

1. The Arab glared at me vindictively, the dervish with contempt.

(p.133)

This is the description of Abu Seif when Kara Ben Nemsi first meets him.

This excerpt shows Abu Seif as savages and dangerous.

2. “I am he. Kneel down before me, giaur!”

(p.135)

This is what Abu Seif says to Kara Ben Nemsi when they meet. An insult toward him.

These excerpts show Abu Seif as rude, savages and anti-Christian/anti-Western. 3. “That does not apply to

you, you are infidel. I order you to kneel and show respect.”

(p.135)

4. “Giaur! Kneel or I will behead you!”

(p.135)

5. “Giaur, you are an infidel and yet you have bested Abu Seif!”

(p.136)

6. “….If you are a believer then I would ask you to be my friend. You are a giaur, yet I neither hate nor despise you…..” (p.142)

This is what Abu Seif says to Kara Ben Nemsi when he locks him in his cabin.

These excerpts show Abu Seif as anti-Christian/anti-Western.