Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: The Complicated Relationships of the Characters in Only a Girl: A Post-colonialism Criticism
Rahmawati 1
The Complicated Relationships of the Characters in Only a Girl:
A Post-colonialism Criticism
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Nanda Putri Rahmawati
112010007
ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2014
Rahmawati 2
Rahmawati 3
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in
any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any
university. To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material
previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is
made in the text.
Copyright@ 2014. Nanda Putri Rahmawati and Danielle Donelson-Sims, M.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means
without the permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English
Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian
University, Salatiga.
Nanda Putri Rahmawati:
iii
Rahmawati 4
Rahmawati 5
The Complicated Relationships of the Characters in Only a Girl:
A Post-colonialism Criticism
Nanda Putri Rahmawati
“….POSTCOLONIALISM, invites you through a slightly larger door into the next
stage of history, after which you emerge, fully erect, into the brightly lit and noisy
HYBRID STATE.”
(Frantz Fanon)
Abstract
This paper analyzes Only a Girl, written by Lian Gouw, and draws on Postcolonial theory through the lens of one of the most important Post-colonial
thinkers, Homi K. Bhabha. Post-colonial criticism examines the relationship
between the subject and the marginalized. Using Homi K. Bhabha‘s works about
mimicry and ambivalence, this paper is going to explore how the Chinese
characters survive in Indonesia at that time. Homi K. Bhabha, in his theory of
mimicry, examines how the marginalized mimic the subject. In Only a Girl, the
Chinese family, as the inferior, tries to adopt the Dutch tongue and culture, which
the marginalized consider as the superior ones. But on the other side, there is also
ambivalence, or a love-hate feeling that the Chinese characters experience.
Applying the theory to the novel will make readers think not only about mimicry
and ambivalence as it exists in the novel, but also how and why those actions
happened in the past and perhaps continue to happen.
Keywords: ‗Mimicry‘, ‗Ambivalence‘, ‗Colonized‘, ‗Colonizer‘, ‗Only a Girl‘.
The Complicated Relationships of the Characters in Only a Girl:
A Post-colonialism Criticism
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Nanda Putri Rahmawati
112010007
ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2014
Rahmawati 2
Rahmawati 3
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in
any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any
university. To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material
previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is
made in the text.
Copyright@ 2014. Nanda Putri Rahmawati and Danielle Donelson-Sims, M.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means
without the permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English
Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian
University, Salatiga.
Nanda Putri Rahmawati:
iii
Rahmawati 4
Rahmawati 5
The Complicated Relationships of the Characters in Only a Girl:
A Post-colonialism Criticism
Nanda Putri Rahmawati
“….POSTCOLONIALISM, invites you through a slightly larger door into the next
stage of history, after which you emerge, fully erect, into the brightly lit and noisy
HYBRID STATE.”
(Frantz Fanon)
Abstract
This paper analyzes Only a Girl, written by Lian Gouw, and draws on Postcolonial theory through the lens of one of the most important Post-colonial
thinkers, Homi K. Bhabha. Post-colonial criticism examines the relationship
between the subject and the marginalized. Using Homi K. Bhabha‘s works about
mimicry and ambivalence, this paper is going to explore how the Chinese
characters survive in Indonesia at that time. Homi K. Bhabha, in his theory of
mimicry, examines how the marginalized mimic the subject. In Only a Girl, the
Chinese family, as the inferior, tries to adopt the Dutch tongue and culture, which
the marginalized consider as the superior ones. But on the other side, there is also
ambivalence, or a love-hate feeling that the Chinese characters experience.
Applying the theory to the novel will make readers think not only about mimicry
and ambivalence as it exists in the novel, but also how and why those actions
happened in the past and perhaps continue to happen.
Keywords: ‗Mimicry‘, ‗Ambivalence‘, ‗Colonized‘, ‗Colonizer‘, ‗Only a Girl‘.