The influence of a western catholic priest to a traditional chinese woman`s personality development as seen in Pearl S. Buck`s pavilion of women - USD Repository
THE INFLUENCE OF A WESTERN CATHOLIC PRIEST TO A TRADITIONAL CHINESE WOMAN’S PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AS SEEN
IN PEARL S. BUCK’S PAVILION OF WOMEN A Thesis Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
Sarjana Pendidikan Degree to Obtain the in English Language Education By DEVI Student Number: 031214050 ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA A Sarjana Pendidikan Thesis on
THE INFLUENCE OF A WESTERN CATHOLIC PRIEST
TO A TRADITIONAL CHINESE WOMAN’S
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AS SEEN
IN PEARL S. BUCK’S PAVILION OF WOMEN
Prepared and Presented by DEVI
Student Number: 031214050 Approved by:
Date V. Triprihatmini, S.Pd., M.Hum., M.A.
17 July, 2008 Major Sponsor
THE INFLUENCE OF A WESTERN CATHOLIC PRIEST
TO A TRADITIONAL CHINESE WOMAN’S
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AS SEEN
IN PEARL S. BUCK’S PAVILION OF WOMEN
By DEVI
Student Number: 031214050 Defended Before the Board of Examiners on 25 July, 2008 and Declared Acceptable
Board of Examiners
Chair Person : A. Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A. ................................Secretary : Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. ................................ Member : V. Triprihatmini, S.Pd., M.Hum., M.A. ................................ Member : Christina Kristiyani, S.Pd., M.Pd. ................................ Member : G. Punto Aji, S.Pd., M.Hum. ................................
Yogyakarta, 25 July, 2008 Faculty of Teachers Training and Education
Sanata Dharma University Dean Drs. Tarsisius Sarkim, M.Ed., Ph.D.
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that the thesis, which I wrote, does not contain the works or part of the works of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, 25 July, 2008 The Writer
Devi 031214050 LIFE IS ALL ABOUT CHOICES… WHAT YOU SOW IS WHAT YOU REAP!!! (Galatians 6: 7) SO, IT IS YOUR CHOICE
WHETHER TO HAVE GOOD OR BAD HARVEST…! Dedicated with love and gratitude to: Mommy, Daddy, My Sister, My Brothers, My Beloved (Eko), My Best Friend (Titik), and those who have taught me about life and love.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Jesus Christ, the Greatest God, who has given me blessing, strength, and mercy in my life, especially during the completion of this thesis. His never ending love has become my power and hope to never give up no matter whatever happens in my life. He knows the best for me and makes everything beautiful right on time for me.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to V. Triprihatmini, S.Pd., M.Hum., M.A. as my major sponsor for her willingness to spend her time to read and correct my thesis. I am really grateful for her time, patience, advices, and encouragement from the beginning until the end of my thesis accomplishment.
I would like to thank other PBI lecturers for their best courses in improving my knowledge and skills. I also would like to express my great appreciation to the staff of PBI secretariat and the library staff of Sanata Dharma University for helping me in dealing with the administration matters and supporting me in completing the supporting data for my thesis.
For my family, there is no word that can fully express my gratitude. I thank and love them very much. I thank my Mom and Dad, Yenny and Amua, for their amazing prayers, love, and great support to me so that I could finish my study. I also thank my sister, Kristin, and my brothers, Rendy Wijaya and Yohanes Syasmiko, for their love. I thank them for being such wonderful people in my life. They are the best family I have. I love them so much.
My special love goes to my beloved, Suluh Eko Prabowo. I thank him so much for his prayers, love, patience, understanding, and encouragement to me so that I can be a better person. He loves me the way I am. I thank him for giving so many colors in my life. I really love him without any doubt.
The last but not the least, I would like to thank Titik and Helen, as well as my other friends that I cannot mention one by one who have been my best friends in good and bad times, and everybody who has filled my life and heart with warm love and taught me about the learning of life and being a good person. They have been wonderful friends for me. I thank them for their prayers, advices, times, and understanding to me, especially when problems come to my life. I appreciate them so much.
Devi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................... i APPROVAL PAGE .......................................................................................... ii STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ................................................. iv DEDICATION PAGE ....................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................. viii LIST OF APPENDICES ................................................................................... xi ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... xii
ABSTRAK .......................................................................................................... xiii
CHAPTER I.INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study.................................................................. 1
B. Problem Formulation ...................................................................... 3
C. Objectives of the Study ................................................................... 4
D. Benefit of the Study ........................................................................ 4
E. Definition of Terms ......................................................................... 5
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Review of Related Theories ............................................................ 7
1. Theory of Character .................................................................. 7
2. Theory of Characterization ....................................................... 9
3. Theory of Critical Approach ..................................................... 13
4. Theory of Personality and Personality Development ................ 13
B. Review of Traditional Chinese Culture ........................................... 16
1. Male and Female Position in the Society .................................. 17
2. Marriage .................................................................................... 17
3. Family ....................................................................................... 18
4. Concubine ................................................................................. 18
C. Criticism and Review of Related Studies ........................................ 19
D. Theoretical Framework ................................................................... 21
CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study .......................................................................... 23 B. Approach of the Study .................................................................... 24 C. Method of the Study ........................................................................ 25 CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS A. Madame Wu’s Personality under the Influence of Chinese Culture before Meeting Priest Andre .............................................. 27
1. Conservative .............................................................................. 28
2. Strict .......................................................................................... 33
B. Priest Andre and His Teaching ....................................................... 34
1. Love and Mercy ........................................................................ 34
2. Forgiveness ............................................................................... 37
3. Sincerity .................................................................................... 37
4. Fear No One, But God .............................................................. 38
C. Madame Wu’s Personality Development under the Influence of Priest Andre ..................................................................................... 39
1. Loving and Sincere ................................................................... 41
2. Tolerant and Understanding ...................................................... 43
3. Open Minded ............................................................................. 47
4. Forgiving ................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusion ...................................................................................... 52 B. Suggestions ..................................................................................... 54
1. Suggestions for Future Researchers .......................................... 54
Using a Part of Chapter I of Pavilion of Women (pages 33-44) to the Third Semester Students of English Language Education Study Program ......................................................... 55
REFERENCES .................................................................................................. 59
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX Page
A. Summary of Pavilion of Women (1946) ....................................................... 61
B. Biography of Pearl S. Buck .......................................................................... 69
C. The Works of Pearl S. Buck ......................................................................... 73
D. Lesson Plan and Worksheet of Extensive Reading I .................................... 77
ABSTRACT
Devi. (2008). The Influence of a Western Catholic Priest to a Traditional
Chinese Woman’s Personality Development as Seen in Pearl S. Buck’s
Pavilion of Women. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program,
Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and
Education, Sanata Dharma University.This study focuses on a novel entitled Pavilion of Women (1946) by Pearl
S. Buck. The novel is interesting since it talks about a traditional Chinese
woman’s personality, named Madame Wu, who changes under the influence of a
Western Catholic priest, so that it gives the readers different point of view of a
traditional Chinese woman’s personality. The novel describes the real condition of
Chinese people life in 1940s with many Chinese traditions and customs to follow.
There three objectives of this study. They are to find out how Madame
Wu’s personality is described related to Chinese culture in the 1940s, what the influences of the Western Catholic priest are, and how Madame Wu’s personality develops under the influence of the Western Catholic priest.
A library study method is applied in this study. The novel Pavilion of
Women (1946) is used as the primary source of this study, while books related to
the theory of character and characterization, critical approach, personality development, and Chinese culture are used as the secondary sources. Psychological approach and socio cultural-historical approach are used to answer the formulated problems since the study is concerned with someone’s personality development and a condition of a culture in one place which gives influence to the pesonality of the person living there.
The study results in several findings. The first analysis discovers Madame Wu’s personality related to Chinese culture in the 1940s. Madame Wu is described as a conservative and strict woman who does not care about other people’s feeling under the influence of Chinese culture at that time. What the Western Catholic priest and his teaching represent must be found to answer the third question that is formulated. The second analysis discovers that the Western Catholic priest and his teaching represent Christianity teachings, namely love, mercy, forgiveness, sincerity, and fear no one but God. The last analysis discovers Madame Wu’s personality development under the influence of the Western Catholic priest. Madame Wu becomes a woman who is sincere, loving, tolerant, understanding, open minded, and forgiving since she met Priest Andre.
There are some suggestions for future researchers and for English teachers. The first suggestion is concerned with the need for future researchers on the same novel. The second suggestion is proposed in accordance with teaching Extensive Reading I using a part of Chapter I of Pavilion of Women (pages 33-44) to the Third Semester Students of English Language Education Study Program.
ABSTRAK
Devi. (2008). The Influence of a Western Catholic Priest to a Traditional
Chinese Woman’s Personality Development as Seen in Pearl S. Buck’s
Pavilion of Women. Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Pendidikan Bahasa
dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.Skripsi ini fokus pada sebuah novel yang berjudul Pavilion of Women
(1946) karya Pearl S. Buck. Novel ini menarik karena menceritakan tentang
kepribadian seorang wanita Cina yang masih sangat tradisional yang bernama
Madame Wu, yang berubah karena pengaruh seorang pastor Katolik yang berasal
dari Barat. Hal ini memberikan pandangan berbeda terhadap kepribadian seorang
wanita Cina yang masih sangat tradisional. Novel ini menggambarkan kehidupan
nyata orang Cina pada tahun 1940an yang memiliki banyak tradisi dan kebiasaan
yang harus dipatuhi.Ada tiga tujuan dari studi ini. Tujuan tersebut adalah untuk menemukan
bagaimana kepribadian Madame Wu digambarkan sehubungan dengan budaya
Cina pada tahun 1940an, mewakili apa pendeta Kristiani yang berasal dari Barat
dan ajarannya, dan bagaimana kepribadian Madame Wu berkembang di bawah
pengaruh seorang pendeta Kristiani yang berasal dari Barat itu.A library study method is applied in this study. The novel Pavilion of
Women (1946) is used as the primary source of this study, while books related to
the theory of character and characterization, critical approach, personality development, and Chinese culture are used as the secondary sources. Psychological approach and socio cultural-historical approach are used to answer the formulated problems since the study is concerned with someone’s personality development and a condition of a culture in one place which gives influence to the pesonality of the person living there
Metode penelitian perpustakaan digunakan dalam studi ini. Novel Pavilion
of Women (1946) digunakan sebagai sumber utama studi ini, sementara itu buku-
buku yang berkaitan dengan teori tokoh dan penokohan, pendekatan kritis, perkembangan kepribadian, dan budaya orang Cina digunakan sebagai sumber tambahan. Pendekatan psikologi dan sosial budaya dan sejarah digunakan untuk menjawab masalah yang telah diformulasikan karena studi ini berkenaan dengan perkembangan kepribadian seseorang dan kondisi budaya sebuah tempat yang memberikan pengaruh bagi kepribadian orang yang tinggal di tempat itu.
Studi ini menemukan beberapa hal. Analisa pertama menemukan kepribadian Madame Wu berkenaan dengan budaya Cina pada tahun 1940an. Madame Wu digambarkan sebagai seorang wanita yang kolot, keras kepala, dan tidak peduli akan perasaan orang lain. Mewakili apa pendeta Katolik yang berasal dari Barat dan ajarannya tersebut harus ditemukan untuk dapat menjawab pertanyaan ketiga. Analisa kedua menemukan bahwa pendeta Katolik yang berasal dari Barat dan ajarannya tersebut mwakili ajaran-ajaran Katolik, yaitu kasih, belas kasihan, pengampunan, ketulusan hati, dan tidak takut pada apapun Madame Wu di bawah pengaruh seorang pendeta Kristiani yang berasal dari Barat. Madame Wu menjadi seorang wanita yang tulus, penuh kasih, bersikap toleran, pengertian, berpikiran terbuka, dan pemaaf sejak dia mengenal Pendeta Katolik yang Berasal dari Barat itu.
Ada beberapa saran bagi peneliti di masa mendatang dan bagi pengajar Bahasa Inggris. Saran pertama berkenaan dengan kebutuhan peneliti di masa mendatang yang menggunakan novel yang sama. Saran kedua berkenaan dengan pengajaran Extensive Reading I dengan menggunakan bagian dari Bab I dari
Pavilion of Women (halaman 33-44) pada mahasiswa semester 3 jurusan
Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris.CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter consists of five sections. The first is the background of the
study, which covers the reasons of choosing the novel and the topic. The second concerns with problem formulation, which gives general description of the problems that will be analyzed in this study. The third talks about the objectives of the study to answer the problems stated in the problem formulation. The fourth describes the benefits of the study, and the last is about the terms used in this study.
A. Background of the Study
Everybody is unique. Each person has his/her own character, behaviour, and temperament. We can recognize someone’s uniqueness in real life from his/her outward appearance, by the way he/she dresses, walks, looks, gestures, and so on (Murphy, 1972:161).
As time goes in people’s life, many things will happen. Those things may give influence to their characteristics. People change during their lifetime.
Actually, they are still the same individuals, but their personalities may change. They may change their personalities consciously or unconsciously. The changes may lead them to be better or worse people. It depends on each individual and how he/she deals with many kinds of situation in daily life.
There are two main factors that cause a character’s personality development, namely the internal and external factors. The internal factors are the factors which come from the person himself, such as the individual’s physique and the individual’s mental or psychology. The individual’s physique may be the person’s age and health condition. Whereas the individual’s psychology is the situation in which a person deals with the reality. They can be hopelessness, failure, desolation, loneliness, etc.
The external factors are the factors coming from outside the person, such as other characters, social rules, and the society. The influence from other characters encompasses their treatment and behaviour toward the character. Whereas the social rules encompasses social habits and traditions, and the society factors encompasses the status of the character in the society and how the society behaves toward the characters.
Novel as a form of literary art is able to show someone’s personality development because a novel reflects ideals that readers see in people’s daily lives. According to Laar and Schoonderwoerd (1963:163), a novel is a work of art in some respects resembling the world we live in, but with an individuality of its own. Based on www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/novels/history/define.htm, a novel is also an imaginary work in prose of a considerable length, which presents as real certain characters living in a given environment and describes their attitudes, fate, and adventures (Lubbock, 2006).
Based on the explanation above, the study focuses on personality development and entitled: The Influence of a Western Catholic Priest to a
3 Traditional Chinese Woman’s Personality Development as seen in Pearl S. Buck’s Pavilion of Women.
The writer chooses to analyze the influence of Priest Andre to Madame Wu’s personality development as seen in Pearl S. Buck’s Pavilion of Women (1946) because the writer wants to show the readers how a Western Catholic Priest can change the personality of a traditional Chinese woman who has many traditions and customs to follow. Considering Christianity in China in the 1940s was considered as a sign of westernization as stated by Enoch Wan (1991) in his article, Christianity in the Eye of Traditional Chinese, and westerners were considered as strangers, it is interesting to see how a Western Catholic priest influences a traditional Chinese woman’s personality development in such a unique way, opening her mind, heart, and changing the way she thinks and behaves. The writer chooses Madame Wu as the object of the study because she is the main character in the novel having a unique characteristic, which is truly different from other characters in the novel, and her personality changes extremely from the beginning of the story to the end of the story.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the background, the problems of this study are formulated as follows:
1. How is Madame Wu’s personality described related to Chinese culture in 1940s?
2. What are the influences of the Western Catholic Priest?
3. How does Madame Wu’s personality develop under the influence of the Western Catholic Priest?
C. Objectives of the Study
This study is conducted to find out the answers to the questions that are formulated in the problem formulation. Therefore the objectives of this literary study are:
1. To find out how Madame Wu’s personality is described related to Chinese culture in the 1940s.
2. To find out what the influences of the Western Catholic Priest are.
3. To find out how Madame Wu’s personality develops under the influence of the Western Catholic Priest.
D. Benefit of the Study
This study is expected to give some benefits for the readers. The first is for everyone who is interested in literary works. They can understand how a character is described in a novel. It leads into an understanding of the ideas in process of the main character’s personality development in the novel. Furthermore, it is expected that they do not only obtain the understanding of the characterization but also they can obtain an understanding of a better life. The understanding of a better life is expected to be able to help them to reflect their lives. Therefore, the study of the literary work is also the study of human life since a novel tells about a story of someone’s life which may teach us a lot of meaningful things. They can use a novel not only for pleasure but also for a reflection of life to add their knowledge about humans’ lives and their complex problems, as well as the knowledge of Chinese culture in 1940s.
The second is for students studying English. Hopefully, this study can be useful for Sanata Dharma University students, especially who are in English Education Study Program, by providing their students a material for their reading class. For the students who are going to do the study of literary works hopefully this study can give them some inspiration, information, and references which may be useful for their study of literary works.
E. Definition of Terms
In analyzing this novel, there are some terms that have to be clarified in order to provide an accurate analysis and a clearer explanation to answer the formulated problems. These terms are:
1. Influence According to The New Oxford American Dictionary (2005: 865), influence is the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself.
2. Western Christian Priest According to The New Oxford American Dictionary (2005: 1908),
Western means living in or originating from West, in particular Europe or the U.S. Priest is defined as someone authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion especially as a mediatory agent between humans and God. So,
Western Christian priest is someone coming from the West who is authorized to perform sacred rites of Christian, becoming agent between human and God.
3. Traditional Chinese Enoch Wan (1991) in his article, Christianity in the Eye of Traditional
Chinese , defines traditional Chinese as non-Christian Chinese with strong Chinese cultural orientation and ethnic pride.
4. Personality Personality is defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, motivations, and behaviours in various situations (Ryckman, 2004: 13).
5. Personality Development According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2001: 370), development means the gradual growth of something. Here, it refers to one of the main character’s personality development. Personality development is defined as a stage in growth of a constantly changing and evoking process within an individual (Hurlock, 1976: 7).
In this study, the influence of a Western Christian priest to a traditional Chinese woman’s personality development means the result of the effect of a Christian priest coming from the West to the characteristic development of a non- Christian Chinese woman with strong Chinese cultural orientation and ethnic pride. The result may be the changes in behaviours, attitudes, and way of thinking.
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This chapter consists of four sections. They are review of related theories,
review of traditional Chinese culture, criticism and review of related studies, and theoretical framework. The review of related theories covers theory of character, theory of characterization, theory of critical approach, theory of psychology, and theory of personality and personality development. Review of traditional Chinese culture discusses about male and female position in the society, marriage, family, and concubine. Criticism and review of related studies contains some critics or opinions about the novel and the author, as well as some studies that had been done related to the same novel. And the last, theoretical framework will discuss about the resume of the theories related to the literary works and also the theory that will be used in analyzing the novel.
A. Review of Related Theories
This part discusses the theoretical grounds underlying the study. It consists of the theories of literature, namely theory of character, theory of characterization, theory of critical approach, theory of personality and personality development, and Review of Traditional Chinese culture.
1. Theory of Character
a. Meaning
In a novel, the author is free to create and present his/her fictional might face. Characters are very important in literary works. Laar and Schoonderwoerd (1963: 166) say that characters in a novel should be interesting and they should do interesting things. Without characters, the story will not develop. According to Abrams (1993: 22), characters are “the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say–the dialogue–and by what they do–the action.” There is a relationship between the presentation of a character as well as his/her personal traits and what the readers get from his/her presentation. The characters in a novel are, or pretend to be, human beings (Forster, 1974: 30). It means that the readers must accept the characters as real people.
b. Types of Character
According to Perrine (1974: 71), characters are classified into two types, static and dynamic characters. A static character means that the character does not undergo a change and will have the same characteristics at the end of the story as he was at the beginning. Although he faces many problems in his life, static character will not come to the development of the character. On the other hand, a dynamic character can change in the story and there is a development of the character.
A dynamic character is also called a developing character. The character will change in certain conditions and it can be developed under some possibilities. The character may change in his personality or in his outlook. The changed characters may turn into better or worse characters. The change depends on the influences that interfere the characters of the literary works.
Forster (1974: 46-48) also divides characters into two types. He calls it flat and round characters. Flat characters do not change throughout the story.
There are two advantages of flat characters. First, flat characters are easily recognized by readers’ emotional eyes, not by the visual eyes. Second advantage is that the flat characters are easily remembered by the readers because they remain in readers’ minds as unalterable for the reason they were not changed by circumstances. They moved through circumstances.
On the other hand, round characters are characters performed tragically for any length of time and can move the readers to any feelings, except humour and appropriateness, because the characters develop through the story (Forster, 1974: 51).
Abrams (1981: 20) says that a flat character is a character whose role and action are not surprising as we see in the round character. His characteristic and attitude are flat and monotonous and they reflect only on one character. In contrast, a round character is complex because the characteristic of the individual is expressed deeply and his life is focused clearly by the author.
2. Theory of Characterization
a. Meaning
The way an author conveys to the readers what sort of people he writes significant things in a novel. The way to create imaginary persons so that they exist for the readers as life like is called characterization (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 81). Characterization can be also defined as a method in which a character is created (Gill, 1995: 127).
b. Ways to Characterize
According to Barnet, Breman, and Bruton (1988: 712), there are some ways to describe a character. The first way is what the character says. We can notice from the words that the character says to know the character. From his words, we can also detect the way he thinks so that we can understand the characteristics of the character. Whatever the character says will help the readers to interpret his character.
The second way is what the character does. The readers can learn the attitudes or behaviour of a character and may guess how actually the author creates the character by analyzing what the character does.
The third way is what other characters say about the character. A character has an interaction with other characters in a story. Another character also has conversation with other characters at times. They share their opinions and give comments about the character. The opinions and comments may reflect the characteristic of the character.
The last way is what other characters do. The other characters may cause the character to do something that makes the character show his characteristics. The participation of other characters may help the readers to understand what kind the character he is.
Murphy (1972: 161-173) also proposes some methods that can be used by the author to make the readers understand the characters and make the characters alive for the readers.
1. Personal description The author describes a character by using the character’s appearance and clothes. They may be skin colour, hair, eyes, nose, hands, and other parts of the character’s body, as well as how he wears the clothes or what kind of clothes he wears.
2. Character as seen by others Describing the character through the eyes and opinions of other characters is the second way used by the author to describe a character. Others can express their views, attitudes, opinions, and comments to the character they discussed.
3. Speech The author will make some conversations in his literary work for a character, although the character has to talk to his self. Whatever a person speaks, whenever he is in a conversation with another, and any opinions he puts forward, he is giving us clues to his characters.
4. Past life In this method, the author creates some events in the past life of the character. The author gives the readers clues to understand the character more from what had happen in the past by letting the readers learn about the past life of the character.
12
5. Conversation of others The author creates conversations of other characters in which they talk about the character to help the readers to understand the character more.
6. Reactions How the character reacts to some situations and events will be a clue to a character’s characteristics.
7. Direct comment To describe a character the author can give some comments on the character directly.
8. Thought The author can also give the readers direct knowledge of what a character is thinking about. In this way, the readers are in a privileged position. They have a secret listening device plugged into the inmost thought of a character in a novel.
9. Mannerism This last way is describing a character by telling the readers about the character’s mannerism and habits.
The methods of characterization above are used by the author to make the readers aware of the characters of the people he writes in his novel. By using one or some of the methods, the author carries the readers along by the story so that they will think that the characters created are the same as real people.
3. Theory of Critical Approach
In analyzing a literary work, an approach is needed to lead the researcher to understand the literary work better. According to Rohrberger and Woods (1971: 6-15), there are five types of critical approach that can be implemented in analyzing a work of literature. They are formalist approach which analyses the aesthetic values of a novel from the harmonious involvement of all parts of the novel; biographical approach which focuses on the author’s personality, life, and development; sociocultural – historical approach focusing on the civilization or history in which the literary works are produced to lead us to criticism of the people’s life in society at the time the literary object was being written; mythopoeic approach emphasizing on the universal patterns of human thoughts, such as myths and folk rites; and psychological approach which emphasizes on human psychology and believes that human’s creativity, thought, behaviour, and other psychological aspects give influence to the literary object.
4. Theory of Personality and Personality Development
a. Theory of Personality Theory of personality is one of attempts to explain human behaviours.
Psychology cannot be separated from personality. Benedetty (1997: 180) says that the psychological traits are the most essential category in terms of characterization. Psychology refers to the inner working of the minds, such as emotions, attitudes, motivations, and desires. Psychological traits always precede the actions of characters. Personality is very important in many areas of psychology, and many methods have been developed to measure someone’s personality accurately. The personality analysts also try to provide concepts to identify some factors that influence the development of personality and everyday behaviours of an individual.
According to Kalish (1973: 52), personality is dynamic organization of characteristic attributes which lead to behaviour and distinguishing one individual from other individuals. It refers to the total individual and includes needs, motives, methods of adjusting, temperament qualities, self-concepts, role behaviours, attitudes, values, and abilities. Human’s personality can be influenced by many factors, including by his environment (Allport, 1970: 48).
Environment may be the culture, customs, and traditions around him.
Pervin and John (1997: 4) say that personality represents some characteristics of a person that account for consistent patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving.
b. Components of Personality
According to Pervin and John (1997: 5), there are four components of personality, namely structure, process, growth and development, and psychopathology and behaviour change.
Structure refers to more stable and enduring aspects of personality. The structural concepts are response, habit, trait, and type. They are popular in efforts to conceptualize what people are like. The concept of trait refers to the consistency of individual response to a variety of situations and approximates the kind of concept the layman uses to describe people. One way to understand about traits is to consider how we describe ourselves (ibid, 5). On the other hand, the concept of type refers to the clustering of many different traits. People are generally described as belonging to a specific type, although they can have many traits to varying degrees (ibid, 6). While process refers to the process aspects of human behaviour.
Growth and development relates to the growth and development of human’s behaviour. There are two determinants in this component, genetic and environmental determinants. Genetic factors play a main role in determining personality. They are generally more important in characteristics, such as intelligence and temperament, and less important in regard to values, ideals, and beliefs. Environmental determinants are culture, social class, family, and peers (ibid, 9). They are influenced by individual’s experiences as a result of membership in a particular culture. The members of a culture will have certain personality characteristics in common because each culture has its own patterns of learned behaviours, rituals, and beliefs (ibid, 10). Social class influences how individuals see themselves and how they perceive members of other social classes. It also influences the ways people define situations and how they respond to them (ibid, 11). Family is one of the most important environmental factors because the home is the person’s primary environment from the time he was born until the time he dies. An individual does not only have experiences at home, but also outside the home. The interaction outside the home with his peers also influences his behaviour and provides new experiences (ibid, 14).
c. Theory of Personality Development
Hurlock (1976: 7) defines personality as a stage in growth of a constantly changing and evoking process within an individual. People change throughout their lifetime. Someone’s personality develops and changes under some influences. They may be genetic factors, family, friends, and society or culture around the individual (Pervin and John, 1997: 9-14).
Family and environment have a very important role in forming one’s personality (Hurlock, 1976: 234-235). Family is the closest one to every individual because he has been at home since the first time he was born and he grows in the home. Environment also gives significant impact to the individual because an individual lives not only at home, but also outside the home (Pervin and John, 1997: 14). During his growth, he is surrounded by the members of the family and educated by them, as well as surrounded by people outside the home living in the same pattern of environment. Those form his personality and personality development since an individual changes through his lifetime.
B. Review of Traditional Chinese Culture
Chinese is known as the largest world’s population which has complex cultural forms and pattern. According to Damen (1987: 367), culture learned and shared human patterns for living, form day to day living patterns. These patterns
17 related to behaviour and the products of human action which may be inherited, passed on from generation to generation (Parson, 1949: 8). China is known as a state that is rich of cultural forms and patterns, which form the way they think and behave toward each other that are inherited from generation to generation. Here the writer provides some patterns of Chinese culture that are unique and may be contrary to and different from most cultures of other states.
1. Male and Female Position in the Society
For traditional Chinese, women lacked equality with men. Women were considered less important than man (Chang, 1960: 6). Even in a family, sons were more expected to be born than daughters. Age, generation, and sex were the dominant influences on behaviour in interpersonal relationships. The age principle was also modified by the sex of the individuals. Women were subordinate to men under most circumstances (ibid, 161).
2. Marriage
Chinese people seldom considered love in marriage. Love matches replaced family-arranged marriage (ibid, 7). For Chinese family, husband-wife relationship was less reciprocal than father-son relationship. A wife had to submit to her husband as long as he lived. A wife’s position in her husband’s family was more secure when she bore sons, because the sons’ birth insured the continuity of her husband’s family. Traditional Chinese marriage was not the free union of two young adults to establish a new household. Chinese people did not get married for love but love match done by their parents (ibid, 160).
3. Family
Family life is extremely important to Chinese culture as Chinese lived in large family units. The family was responsible for its individual members because in China the government did not deal with individuals but with family heads. If a person committed an offense against society or the state, the head of his family might be punished for a crime if the guilty individual could not be arrested.
The most important relationship was the relationship between a father and son. After infancy, a mother’s authority over sons was less than his father’s. But, the relationship between a mother and son had a special importance because a wife’s status depended on her sons’ birth and a mother was responsible for choosing a wife for her son.
Male and female in a family were not so close because there is separation of male and female. Therefore, a mother had a closer relationship with a daughter than a son, and a father had a closer relationship with a son than a daughter, as well as brother-brother and sister-sister relationship were closer than brother-sister relationship (ibid, 157- 160).
4. Concubine
Since sons were very important for Chinese, a husband might marry secondary wives or concubines in order that they bore sons to insure the continuity of the husband’s descendants. Even the China imperial law permitted men to have secondary wives and concubines. The reason for concubine is not only for male descendants, but sometimes also for sexual desire. Men had stronger and longer desire than women. Therefore, some men would take a concubine for his sexual desire.
The wife had authority over any concubines and it was easier to divorce a concubine, who was socially inferior to the wife. A man could not divorce a wife and place a concubine in her stead, but after the death of his wife a man might raise one of his concubines to the status of a wife. A concubine’s children had equal legal status with any children of the first wife (ibid, 170).
C. Criticism and Review of Related Studies
Pearl S. Buck’s Pavilion of Women (1946) is an interesting novel, which tells about Madame Wu, an amazing woman - brilliant, beautiful, full of contradictions and authority, a woman who took a surprising decision to retire from a marriage life and select a concubine for her husband upsetting her extended household. As an author of many novels, Buck and one of her novel,
Pavilion of Women (1946) still get some criticisms from the readers, both
positively and negatively. Erica Bauermeister writes: ‘Pavilion of Women is Miss Buck at her best, the dedicated storyteller.
Beneath the deceptive simplicity of the narrative flows the clear, swift tide of human life--the small commonplaces of daily living, the clashes of personality, and the episodes mean and magnificent.’
(http://www.amazon.com/Pavilion-Women-Oriental-
Novels-Pearl/dp/1559210249)From http://www.buy.com/prod/Pavilion_of_Women in San Francisco chronicle, the writer finds another criticism said by Mary McGory that with one of the essential problems of being, the struggle of the human spirit to free itself.