Nationalism in Mario Vargas Llosa`s life as reflected through the setting and main conflicts in The Storyteller - USD Repository
NATIONALISM IN MARIO VARGAS LLOSA’S LIFE AS REFLECTED THROUGH THE SETTING AND MAIN CONFLICTS IN THE STORYTELLER AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By SAVERIN PUNKAS
Student Number: 084214023
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2013
NATIONALISM IN MARIO VARGAS LLOSA’S LIFE AS REFLECTED THROUGH THE SETTING AND MAIN CONFLICTS IN THE STORYTELLER AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By SAVERIN PUNKAS
Student Number: 084214023
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2013
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ccc ‘Human is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he or she is responsible for everything he or sh e does’ Jean-Paul Sartre
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for You to whom I owe the life,
for Bapak, Ibu, and Mas, who are depicted
to understand me as a characterPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Considering the process I underwent to do this thesis, I must say that I owe much to some people who have contributed their supports in various ways. I address my first gratitude to my advisor, Dr. F. X. Siswadi, M. A., for he is very helpful in terms of not only academic advice but also motivation. His ‗don‘t-get- down- hearted‘ and ‗do-your-best‘ phrases always came along with his advice on my undergraduate thesis. My gratitude also goes to my co-advisor, Harris
Hermansyah S., S.S., M.Hum., for his corrections and notes on my
undergraduate thesis. I also thank Mbak Ninik for her help during my study in English Letters Department and especially during my thesis making.
I admit that in terms of academic learning, I benefit much from everyone in LSR (Lembaga Studi Realino) especially Romo Budi Susanto who has introduced some confusing abstract things that help me learn to see the world not only from my point of view but also from others
‘. In terms of spirituality, I owe much to everyone in YSC (Youth Spirituality Center), SLP (Service Learning Program), and Cana Community. I thank them for the love, the conflicts, and, of course, the learning of life.
My gratitude then goes to my friends in the English Letters Study Program: Sisil, Rania, Lando, Ellysa, Arin, Yeyen, Putrie, Winda, Momon,
Topan, Ajeng, and Acen. I thank them for the togetherness, tears, and laughter
that come along with our study.My undergraduate thesis would not be finished without a long-learning
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sometimes for fighting in ‗cold war‘. I also thank Ari Kristianto for supporting me in his patience and silence.
I understand that I owe much also to many names that I cannot mention one by one. Thus, I deliver my big gratitude for their supports and understanding during my study in Sanata Dharma and especially during my undergraduate thesis making.
Saverin Punkas
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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ABSTRACT
SAVERIN PUNKAS. Nationalism in Mario Vargas Llosa’s Life as Reflected
Through the Setting and Main Conflicts in The Storyteller. Yogyakarta:
Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2012.
The understanding of nationalism always develops. It used to be an abstract thing which could lead people to do violence just to struggle for such a national imagination. Nowadays, some people still extremely express their nationalism while some have already thought that this idea should not be taken too strictly. This study analyses how Mario Vargas Llosa through The Storyteller articulates his understanding nationalism to solve shortsighted imagination.
There are three objectives in this study. The first one is aimed to get the depiction of setting in the story. The second one is to figure out conflicts. The third one is to see how setting and conflicts in The Storyteller articulate Mario Vargas Llosa‘s nationalism.
This undergraduate thesis applied a library research. The main data were collected from a novel entitled The Storyteller written by Mario Vargas Llosa. To support the analysis, some books and references from the internet were borrowed. The intrinsic and extrinsic data then were analyzed through a framework of biographical approach for it dealt with the relation between The Storyteller and Mario Vargas Llosa as its author.
This research resulted in some findings related to Mario Vargas Llosa‘s nationalism. The first one was a national imagination depicted from the setting of place and social condition in Peruvian context. Some places in Peru such as Lima, Quillabamba, Alto Marañón, and Yarinacocha, along with the societies mentioned such as whites, mestizos, and Indians gave a national imagination of Peru.
However, the findings in the setting of time and conflicts precisely seemed to present new understanding of nationalism. The time was not independence era but in the era when Peru underwent economic growth. The conflicts also presented economic gap between the upper class (whites and mestizos) and the lower class (Indians). The way Llosa created some national imagination about Peru along with the ironies about economic gap was his way to criticize shortsighted nationalism. That nationalism could turn to be extreme and made people do many violence. However, a matter of nationalism was only abstract thing that could be imagined by only certain people in his nation. He underlined that many people talked about nationalism while some other people in their nation (such as Indians) were still being marginalized. Meanwhile, Llosa offered his way to understand nationalism by not taking it too extreme. Moreover, through the setting of place inside and outside Peru, he delivered an understanding that nationalism could be felt even by people who were far away from his country.
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Nationalism in Mario Vargas Llosa’s Life as Reflected
Through the Setting and Main Conflicts in The Storyteller. Yogyakarta:
Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2012.Pemahaman terhadap nasionalisme selalu berkembang. Nasionalisme dulu menjadi hal abstrak yang mampu membuat orang-orang melakukan kekerasan hanya untuk memperjuangkan imajinasi nasional mereka tersebut. Di masa kini pun beberapa orang masih secara ekstrem mengekspresikan nasionalisme mereka. Sementara, yang lain telah berpikir bahwa hal ini tidak seharusnya dipikirkan sebagai harga mati. Studi ini menganalisis cara Mario Vargas Llosa mengartikulasikan pemahamannya tentang nasionalisme untuk memberi solusi atas banyaknya imajinasi yang sempit akan hal tersebut.
Ada tiga tujuan dalam kajian ini. Tujuan yang pertama adalah untuk mendapatkan penggambaran mengenai latar dalam cerita. Tujuan yang kedua adalah untuk mengungkap konlik-konflik dalam cerita. Tujuan ketiga adalah untuk melihat bagaimana latar dan konflik-konflik dalam cerita dapat mengartikulasikan nasionalisme Mario Vargas Llosa.
Skripsi ini menerapkan penelitian studi pustaka. Data pokok diperoleh dari novel berjudul The Storyteller karya Mario Vargas Llosa. Beberapa buku dan referensi dari internet juga dipakai untuk menunjang analisis. Bingkai kerja untuk menganalisis data dan referensi dalam studi ini adalah dengan pendekatan biografi karena pendekatan ini menunjang pemahaman tentang hubungan novel The Storyteller dan Mario Vargas Llosa, penulisnya.
Studi ini menghasilkan beberapa temuan tentang nasionalisme Mario Vargas Llosa. Temuan yang pertama adalah tentang imajinasi nasional yang digambarkan melalui latar tempat dan kondisi sosial dalam konteks orang Peru.
Beberapa tempat di Peru seperti Lima, Quillabamba, Alto Marañón, dan Yarinacocha, yang digambarkan bersama kelompok sosial seperti orang kulit putih, mestizo, dan Indian memberikan imajinasi nasional akan Peru. Akan tetapi temuan-temuan di latar waktu dan konflik-konflik justru seakan menawarkan pemahaman baru akan nasionalisme. Latar waktu tidak diletakkan dalam perang kemerdekaan tetapi pada masa pertumbuhan ekonomi di Peru. Konflik-konflik juga menunjukkan kesenjangan ekonomi antara kalangan (orang-orang kulit putih dan mestizo) atas dan bawah (orang-orang Indian). Cara Llosa meletakkan imajinasi nasional tentang Peru bersamaan dengan ironi-ironi kesenjangan ekonomi menjadi caranya untuk mengkritik nasionalisme sempit. Nasionalisme yang demikian bisa menjadi ekstrem dan menuntun orang melakukan kekerasan.
Padahal, nasionalisme hanyalah hal abstrak yang bisa dipahami orang-orang tertentu saja di bangsanya. Dia hendak menggarisbawahi bahwa banyak orang membicarakan tentang nasionalisme sementara beberapa yang lain dalam bangsa mereka justru terpinggirkan. Llosa menawarkan pemahamannya bahwa nasionalisme tidak perlu dianggap terlalu ekstrem. Dia bahkan berpendapat bahwa
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study On April 26, 2012, one of websites named www.foxnews.com posted a
report about a young American rising star, Justin Bieber. The site responded to Justin Bieber‘s comments on Indonesia. According to the site, Bieber mentioned that his new tracks were recorded in some ―random country.‖ He also said, ―I recorded it in a studio. Some little place," Bieber continued. "They didn't know what they were doing
.‖ Apparently, his manager told him that it had been done in Indonesia. His words, for some people, were considered as a mockery to Indonesia.
Many people thought that his comment was somehow irritating. However, Bieber‘s words precisely stimulated a kind of ‗supporting response‘ from one of Indonesian local singers, Syahrini. On an article in hiburan.kompasiana.com, Syahrini‘s response was discussed. Syahrini, on Twitter, surprisingly argued that Justin Bieber‘s saying, no doubt, described how Indonesia was. She criticized the corruption, the governments, and also the Sea Games held in Indonesia in 2011.
Syahrini even let people judge her as a person lacking nationalism but she confidently argued that she had more nationalism than they had.
The article was followed by some comments from the readers. It, then, became a discussion on nationalism. Syahrini might argue that she was a nationalist by admitting the weakness of her own country. One of the readers
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giving comment to that article might also show his or her nationalism by saying, ―He [Justin Bieber] may not say that way to my country because, whether bad or good Indonesia is, this is still my beloved country.‖ Some people uphold the pride of their country or even their nation beyond their own lives. Some others prefer the way of ‗criticizing‘ to manifest their ‗love‘ to their country and nation. Those imply that that the understanding of nationalism has always been changing and perceived differently since its emergence in Europe.
In Benedict Anderson‘s Imagined Community, European continent is believed as the place in which nationalism was first born. Language and print- capitalism are two of some important keys to showing that people began learning about nationalism. In this era, having Biblical texts translated into their mother- tongue was such a revolution to build their pride (1991: 37-40).
The understanding of this term also developed as well as Europeans‘ ‗dynastic expansionism.‘ Their effort to colonize other people in other places later stimulated resistances that apparently brought new understanding of nationalism for the non-Europeans (1991: 45-46). Thus, the understanding of nationalism developed from the pride only among Europeans into the pride of the colonized people revolting for their independence from colonialization. This era offers some figures to notice such as Soekarno and Mahatma Gandhi who was confronting against the European colonialization (Kennedy, 1968: 38-51). Those names were nationalist for their own people. They burned their people‘s spirit to be conscious to the ir ‗nation‘ and revolt against European power.
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Up to now, the meaning of nationalism for every person is still in the process of redefining. As time goes by, circumstances will always influence how people understand nationalism. There is also an understanding that nationalism is not exclusively a matter of pride of one‘s country or nation. Even for someone living outside the place where he or she comes from is not an obstacle to have nationalism. In this case, nationalism is perceived in universal context or cosmopolitanism. In Imagined Communities, Anderson seemed to accommodate this kind of nationalism understanding. Firstly, he placed the understanding of the term nation as the basic step to know how people can realize their nationalism. He then offered h is own definition that a nation is ‗an imagined political community
- – and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign,‘ (1991: 4-6). In his definition he said, ‗It is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion
,‘ (Anderson, 1991: 6).
Through that explanation, it can be concluded that learning to imagine a nation helps people to understand nationalism. Their capability to imagine their nation then enables them to feel the communion although they are separated miles away. Later on, they will manifest their nationalism to make their nation accepted as a political community which is sovereign and different from other communities. As Anderson quoted from Gellner, ‗Nationalism is not the awakening of nations to self-consciousness: it invents nations where they do not exist,‘ (1991: 6). This implies that nationalism built after being able to imagine a
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nation encourages people to figure out the existence of their imagination as a real political community. The emphasis of this understanding of nationalism then lies on the freedom of people to experience their nationalism from wherever and whenever.
To see how the concept of nationalism develops, especially the one in universal context, people can learn not only through the record of history but also through literature. The Storyteller can be one of many considerations to learn about nationalism. This novel seems to present new understanding of nationalism in universal context.
Written by Mario Vargas Llosa, The Storyteller seems to bring nationalism put in the context of Peru, Latin America. With El Hablador as its original version, this novel creates atmosphere of nationalism through its setting and main conflicts. It is interesting to notice that although The Storyteller is considered as a novel of nationalism, its author, Mario Vargas Llosa, during his giving Nobel lecture ever said this.
I despise every form of nationalism, a provincial ideology
- – or rather, religion
- – that is short-sighted, exclusive, that cuts off the intellectual horizon and hides in its bosom ethnic and racist prejudices, for it transforms into a supreme value, a moral and ontological privilege, the fortuitous circumstance of one‘s birthplace (http://www.nobelprize.org, May 24, 2012). Another interesting fact about this novel is that its setting took place in
Peru around 1950s until 1980s. That period was more than a century after the independence of Peru in 1821.
What interested him in life? He himself didn‘t know yet, doubtless. He was finding out gradually during the months and years of ours friendship,
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reaching adulthood, was moving from the spurious peace of General Odría‘s dictatorship to the uncertainties and novelties of the return to democratic rule in 1956, when Saúl and I were third-year students at San Marcos (Llosa, 1991: 12).
That quotation from The Storyteller shows that the narrator told that it happened during General Odría‘s dictatorship in 1956. Peru, under General Manuel A. Odría‘s regime, was still on its ‗sustained capitalist development.‘ Political stability invited many investments to this country. It affected the growth of the economy. However, this condition did not satisfy all Peruvians. Apparently, it caused new gap (http://motherearthtravel.com, May 24, 2012).
The two interesting things stimulate a question of what concept of nationalism the author tried to put in The Storyteller if he, himself, despised some forms of nationalism he had mentioned in his giving Nobel lecture. The fact that this novel takes place in Peru more than a century after its independence also raises the same question. It must have something significant since most of nationalistic novels such as Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal and Rumah Kaca (Glass House) by Pramoedya Ananta Toer were written or, at least, its setting took place during independence war in colonial period (Anderson, 1998: 229-234) & (Anderson, 1991: 184-185). Different from those novels, The Storyteller is depicted in 1950 until 1980, more than a century after Peru‘s independence era. The key to answering the question of what concept of nationalism that has been put in The Storyteller must be found in its author‘s life, Mario Vargas Llosa. Mario Vargas Llosa, himself, is a Peruvian writer. He is also well-known as a politician for his becoming the candidate for president of Peru in 1990. During his
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living in other places far from his hometown like Madrid and Paris. Now, he lives in London (http://www.nobelprize.org, May 24, 2012).
His life in politics and his concerns to social and cultural subjects are the things that decorate his works in literature. Those themes mostly appear in his works as a part of his reflections of personal life and a way for criticizing historical calamities especially the ones related with Latin America (The New
York Times , October 7, 2010).
From the brief description about Mario Vargas Llosa, it is quite clear that some aspects of his life must have influenced the description of certain concept of nationalism in The Storyteller. He must have his own understanding of nationalism. Thus, in this analysis, the writer wants to figure out how the author‘s understanding of nationalism is reflected in The Storyteller through the setting and main conflicts. The topic is chosen since it is eternal and debatable issue and also can be put in the context of Indonesia. Moreover, it can give another perspective of understanding nationalism.
A. Problem Formulation
To analyze how Mario Vargas Llosa‘s nationalism reflected in The Storyteller , three problems are formulated.
1. How is the setting in The Storyteller described? 2.
How are the main conflicts in The Storyteller presented? 3. How do the setting and main conflicts in The Storyteller articulate Mario
Vargas Llosa‘s nationalism?
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B. Objectives of the Study
Considering the purpose of this study that is to figure out nationalism in Mario Vargas Llosa‘s life, the analysis is aimed to identify, first, the setting and main conflicts presented in this novel. Secondly, the findings in setting and main conflicts will be used to identify nati onalism in Mario Vargas Llosa‘s life.
C. Definition of Terms
There is a terms related to the topic of this thesis and the analysis that follow that need to be defined. As the key concept of this study, the definition of this term is worthwhile to clarify any misunderstanding that may arouse. The term is nationalism.
There are a lot of definitions of nationalism. The one used in this topic refers to Benedict Anderson‘s idea that nationalism is the result of certain people‘s capability to imagine which community (nation) they belong to. They might be separated miles away from one to another but they can imagine or they can consider that they belong to the same nation as an imagined community (1991: 5-6). This definition is chosen since it can cover the presentation of the idea of nationalism in The Storyteller.
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CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies Regarding the need to get more information about The Storyteller and the
author, Mario Vargas Llosa, the writer uses some related studies. The significance of these related studies is to provide the writer not only more information about
The Storyteller and Mario Vargas Llosa but also to give other perspectives related
to the topic.Juan E. de Castro in of his journal entitled Mario Vargas Llosa Versus Barbarism discussed that Llosa, according to him, is a neoliberalist whose works deal with rearticulation of the opposition between civilization and barbarism.
Although Llosa, himself, refused to be called a neoliberalist, his works show many new understanding about certain issues. Related to civilization and barbarism, one of the footnotes in Castro‘s journal described Llosa‘s understanding in one of his novels, The Storyteller.
A similar lack of individuality as characteristic of non-Westernized ind igenous communities is found in Vargas Llosa‘s description of the
Amazonian Machiguenga, in The Storyteller (2001b), first published in 1987, one year after the original Spanish edition of The Other Path. The lack of a proper name, replaced by the name Tasurinchi, originally that of their creator deity, shared by all male Machiguenga, represents this nonindividuation. As Kerr (1992, 209n35) notes: ―The name ‗Tasurinchi,‘ which the hablador [storyteller] uses to identify his different interlocutors (i.e. the members of the tribe with whom he has spoken and from whom he learns the stories he tells), functions as a provisional tag for every member of the tribal community, none of whom has a proper name,‖ (Castro, 2010).
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That footnote explains that through The Storyteller, Llosa tried to say that he is against racial discrimination. He put that through the depiction of God in the word Tasurinchi. It implies that different people in different places have their ways of naming God. Besides, he wanted people to respect local tribe like Machiguenga.
Upashana Salam gave another perspective related to the discussion about Llosa‘s The Storyteller. Salam wearing glasses of postmodernism wrote this.
Mario Vargas Llosa‘s El Hablador or The Storyteller presents the postmodern emphasis on diversity quite effectively as the story itself is based on the lifestyle of an indigenous tribe of Amazonian forests. Llosa‘s novel gives an unbiased look into the customs and traditions of the Machiuenga tribes, providing the readers with the myths and legends of the tribes instead of stating an objectives history that could not possibly encompass their various cultures as the tales of the storyteller do. The hablador or the storyteller, thus, becomes a narrative of their history, a source through which their culture is kept alive (2009: 5). Salam revealed postmodernism issue in The Storyteller by looking at how
Llosa put culture, especially the local one, in a position where people will see it as the way it is. It means no matter how illogical a certain culture is, it still should be respected. The rejection of hegemonic power in The Storyteller was used by Salam as the key to reveal the postmodernism issue.
Another study about The Storyteller also came from Benedict Anderson. In The Spectre of Comparisons, he argued that The Storyteller is novel of nationalism. ‗That El Hablador is a nationalist novel is beyond doubt,‘ (1998: 356). He figured it out by focusing on how Llosa put the description of Peru from its society and some conflicts.
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The rest of this long chapter proceeds anonymously in this manner, and in the process the reader begins, as it were, to enter into the cosmology, the history, the terrors, and the everyday lives, of the Machiguenga. At fitful intervals, images of the penetration of their wolrd by the dark external force of ―unfortunate/damned Peru‖ appear: for example, there are references to the terrible time of the ―tree-bleeding‖ (which the reader can read as the brief rubber boom of 1900-
18), and to the ―white fathers,‖ who are evidently missionaries (1998: 341).
This quotation became one of the keys for Anderson to uncover how Llosa defined nationalism. Llosa tried to show the condition of his country whatever it is. He even used the word ―unfortunate/damned Peru‖ to describe his country in
The Storyteller . Thus, nationalism is not only a matter of pride of country or
nation but also realizing that his country also consists of bad facts.The three studies mentioned are helpful to give the writer more information about The Storyteller and Mario Vargas Llosa. However, the most significant thing is that they become the stand point for the writer to put the position of her thesis. Both Castro and Salam spotlighted how Llosa, in The
Storyteller , brought redefinition or rearticulation of certain ideas related to
Peruvian cultures. They used opposing dichotomy, such as civilization and barbarism; and also old and new cultures to explain Llosa‘s concerns put in The
Storyteller
. This thesis also works with the term ―redefinition‖ but the subject is on nationalism. It is different from Castro‘s and Salam‘s on the way that it does not focus on rearticulating two opposing ideas about culture but on how many description about Peruvian cultures, including civilization, barbarism, inspired Llosa‘s redefining nationalism. This thesis is a contribution to Anderson‘s work which tried to analyze The Storyteller as a nationalistic novel. While Anderson
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explained this as a nationalistic novel through the art of storytelling as a way to preserve history and culture of a tribe, the focus of this study is to analyze The
Storyteller
as Llosa‘s way to show as well as to question nationalism itself. Thus, the writer considers the setting and the conflicts in this novel worthwhile for the study.
B. Review of Related Theories 1. Theory of Setting
The use of setting in a literary work is very significant since it brings the readers or the audience‘s mind to imagine the description of where, when, and how a story happens. Roberts and Jacobs in Fiction: An Introduction to Reading
and Writing
said ‗Setting refers to the natural and artificial scenery or environment in which characters in literature live and move, together with the things they use,‘ (1987: 229). What they meant by natural setting is the location that refers to the real condition inspired by nature such as sea and forest. Different from the natural one, artificial setting refers to location or any objects created by human. Despite the difference, both natural and artificial setting are chosen and created with intension to provide stage for a story but also to deliver certain message related to the condition of a character (1987: 229-230).
While Roberts and Jacobs focused on defining setting as an element of places and objects in a story, Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms contributes more description to the theory of setting. Setting is not only a depiction of place in a story, but also depiction of time and historical background.
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The overall setting of a narrative or dramatic work is the general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occurs; the setting of a single episode or scene within such a work is the particular physical location in which it takes place (Abrams, 1999: 284).
In that quotation, Abrams mentioned that setting covers three elements including the one explained by Roberts and Jacobs. He said that setting consists of the depiction of location or place, time, and social circumstance that inspire the story. The additional elements, time and social circumstance, are important to support the explanation about setting of place since it makes the readers or audience of literary work find it easier to imagine certain story.
2. Theory of Plot and Conflict
When talking about conflict in a literary work, it is always connected with a discussion about plot. Two theories about plot from Roberts and Jacobs, and Abrams stated that plot is dealing with what-so-called chronological order of actio ns. Roberts and Jacobs said, ‗A plot is a plan or groundwork of human motivations, with the actions resulting from believable and realistic human responses. In a well-plotted work, nothing is irrelevant; everything is related
,‘ (1987: 98). There are two important things in that quotation. The first one is their mentioning about ‗groundwork of human motivations‘. It indicates that the arrangement of plot is a result of human motivations. From the first until the last sequence, there are human motivations that set logical order. This explains the second important thing that a well-plotted work follows a relevant connection between sequences. They are related.
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Abrams focused his explanation about plot not only on order of actions but also the difference between a plot and a story. He said that Narratologists, accordingly, do not treat a narrative in the traditional way, as a fictional representation of life, but as a systematic formal construction. A primary interest of structural narratologists is in the way that narrative discourse fashions a story
—the mere sequence of events in time—into the organized and meaningful structure of a literary plot (1999: 173). It can be understood that plot is made from several stories that are constructed to build a meaningful narrative. Each story occupies different part in the plot. It can be in the beginning, in the middle, or in the last.
There are many ways to understand construction of plot. One of them is introduced by Gustav Freytag. In Glossary of Literary Terms, Abrams explained about
Freytag‘s design of a plot which is known as Freytag‘s Pyramid. This design divides the order of plot into three levels. The conflicts introduced occupy the first level called rising action. When the development of the conflicts reaches the highest point, it becomes the second level called climax. The climax then will be followed by the third level called falling action. In falling action, a story reaches its conclusion as a result of all conflicts presented (1999: 227).
From the explanation of plot, there is a significant question of how several stories develop into a plot. This answer might be answered by the previous quotation about ‗groundwork of human motivations.‘ In a narrative, human motivations become the sources of plot development.
Human motivations lead certain stories develop into a chronological order. Roberts and Jacobs gave further explanation that the important thing is not how a sequence occurs after another but more about causative issue of how certain thing
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causes another thing happen. In response to that, they said, ‗It is response, interaction, causation, and conflict that make a plot out of a simple series of actions‘ (1987: 98).
In their explanation, Roberts and Jacobs also signified the importance of conflicts as a result of human motivation in developing the organization of stories in a plot. They even said, ‗The most significant element, the essence, of plot is conflict.‘ Conflicts, according to them can happen between two people or between a person with many people. The point is that conflicts require the existence of certain characters. Even when it is only one character, the conflict may arise. When a person is confronting with himself or herself, it can be categorized as conflict. To make the term ‗conflict‘ understandable, Roberts and Jacobs concluded that to notice conflict is to be aware of certain discord of ideas in stories which can develop into a plot (1987: 99).
Harmon and Holman in A Handbook to Literature emphasized that conflicts are not only the presence of two or more opposing ideas but also how the clash between them grow s the story. ‗The struggle that grows out of the interplay of two opposing forces,‘ (2009: 123). As they remarked, Harmon and Holman categorized conflicts into at least five different types depended on what the character faces: ‗(1) a struggle against nature, (2) a struggle against another person, (3) a struggle against society, (4) a struggle for mastery by two elements within the person, (5) a struggle against Fate or destiny,‘ (2009: 123). Harmon and Holman also added their explanation that it could be possible that conflict presents not only a moment when a character fights against ‗someone or something‘ but
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also when he or she faces something abstract such as his or her own motivations. In this case, conflict is categorized as inner conflict (2009: 123).
3. Theory of Nationalism a.
Definition and Description Nationalism , since its emergence in Europe, has been understood,
described, and defined differently by people all over the world. This understanding has kept changing along with the development of human thought and various problems in many parts of the world. Benedict Anderson, in Imagined
Communities , offered a way to understand nationalism. He, firstly, proposed an
understanding that people can understand nationalism if they can understand what a nation is. Anderson himself gave his definition that a nation is an imagined
community .
In an anthropological spirit, then, I propose the following definition of the nation: it is an imagined political community
- – and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign. It is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion (Anderson, 1991: 5-6). Thus, his definition implies that a group of certain people believing that they and certain other people are in a unity, though they may not know each other, is called a nation. He further explained that it is not only a matter of ‗imagining‘ certain people as a unity but also a matter of how they also understand that their community is different from other communities (other nations). Anderson characterized that point with the word limited. It is not about territory. Limited
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means no matter how big the number of the members of certain community; they are still limited to particular characteristics showing that they belong to certain community (nation) (1991: 6-7).
The last thing he identified about the term nation is sovereign. The word
sovereign is to identify that when the members of a community (nation) have
understood that they are limited and tied each other in their group, and then they realize the need for sovereignty. Sovereignty is the key of a nation to show its existence among many other nations in the world. Moreover, it guarantees its freedom from being intervened by other nations (Anderson, 1991: 7).
The three characteristics, of what-so-called a nation, proposed by Anderson imply that a nation is in the minds of its members. It builds comradely relationship among the members. Then it can be understood why certain people feeling that they belong to a certain nation sometimes make irrational acts or even killings because of their nation.
‗Ultimately it is this fraternity that makes it possible, over the past two centuries, for so many millions of people, not so much to kill, as willingly to die for such limited imaginings ,‘ (Anderson, 1991: 7).
The willingness or awareness of certain people for their nation is how to describe nationalism. Such a feeling or spirit, later, manifests many different actions. The actions are usually led by a leader, or to be easier people call him or her a nationalist. As mentioned previously, the names such as Soekarno, Mahatma Gandhi, and José Rizal are considered as nationalists. They brought with them nationalism for their nations. They manifested nationalism in different ways.
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Snyder‘s The Meaning of Nationalism exemplifies another way of how people show their nationalism. He explained how nationalist movements were sometimes irrational and they triggered hatred toward the foreigners among their people. He took a case of Lolito Lebrón, a member of terrorist nationalist party from Puerto Rico, who brutally shot the chamber of the House of Representatives and caused five Congressmen from United Stated bleeding and wounded (1968: 3).
Those examples of nationalism or nationalists‘ manifestation are to give understanding that a deep love to a country or a nation is perceived and carried out differently by some figures.
It is no doubt that nationalism is the impetus for a nation or a country in developing itself or, at least, releases itself from hegemony. Not only is the spirit of nationalism needed but also a figure of leader. This leader or someone called
nationalist stands in the front line of nationalism movement and also burns his or
her people spirit.It is important to notice Anderson‘s point that the thing that stimulates a person‘s willingness to do whatever for his or her nation, or maybe country, is, like mentioned previously, the power of imagining the community. However, again, the deeper questions about how this consciousness is formed in people‘s mind and how it can influence other members in a community rise. To respond that, it seems important to notice at three factors playing roles in the movements.
As proposed by Anderson in Imagined Community, the three factors are cultural roots. By noticing the cultural roots, people can understand the things that
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drive nationalism.
The first one is ‗a particular script-language‘ in religious community. This script somehow unites certain members in a community although they do not know each other. He exemplified the case when a Maguindanao and a Berber meet in Mecca. They might not recognize each other, not even have a talk. But they are connected due to the sacred texts written in classical Arabics. They are Muslims that understand the written language inherited in their sacred texts (1991: 12-19). What he means with this example is that the script with certain language can connect people in a nation so that they imagine who their brothers and sisters are.
The second cultural root is that certain people can understand from which monarch they inherit. They then will show their loyalty to their ancestor. This means that nationalism can emerge fro m people‘s understanding that they are from certain dynasty that bear their brothers and sisters (Anderson, 1991: 19-22).
To explain the third cultural roots, the case of Maguindanao and Berber is borrowed. In the case of Maguindanao and Berber, people in ‗stable‘ circumstance can understand the communion with other members in their community. In other parts of the world, lots of people that are still in ‗under pressure‘ circumstance can also feel their communion. In this case, he explained about the importance of simultaneity of time in the analogy of the word meanwhile. He, first, took an example of Christian people who prepare in this present time for the end of life (in the future) by learning from the past. It is certainly difficult to understand the simultaneity of time in the case of Christian life to answer the understanding about nationalism as he also noticed ‗but it is a conception of such fundamental