A STUDY OF EAST INDIAN SOCIETY’S STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE IN TRINIDAD AS DEPICTED IN NAIPUL’S A
A STUDY OF EAST INDIAN SOCIETY’S STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE IN TRINIDAD AS DEPICTED IN NAIPUL’S A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By Alloysius Ditto Christianto
Student Number : 004214108
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2008
A STUDY OF EAST INDIAN SOCIETY’S STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE IN TRINIDAD AS DEPICTED IN NAIPUL’S A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By Alloysius Ditto Christianto
Student Number : 004214108
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2008
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I want to live a long life,
Not just a simple life
But to make my life alive!
This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to: My beloved parents My lovely sister
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Life is not the amount breath you take,
But the moment that takes your breath away
From the movie ‘Hictch’PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini,s aya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma : Nama : ALLOYSIUS DITTO CHRISTIANTO Nomor Mahasiswa : 004214108
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul :
A STUDY OF EAST INDIAN SOCIETY’S STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE IN
TRINIDAD AS DEPICTED IN NAIPUL’S A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWASbeserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal : 1 September 2008 Yang menyatakan (Alloysius Ditto Christianto)
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, I would like to dedicate my very special gratitude and thankfulness to God for His amazing gift of the life.
I would like to thank to Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S. M.Hum, for sharing me her precious time, patience, advice, guidance that helped me to finish this thesis. I would also say thanks to Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M.Hum, for the chance for me to finish this thesis until the deadline, and also to Dra. Th. Eny Anggraeni M.A. for the quick and sharp advice.
I dedicate my thesis to my whole family, my beloved father, Drs. Antonius Juswanto Endrojono and my lovely mother, Theresia Sri Rahayu for your unconditional love. Thank you for all of your support, patience and reminder in my whole life. My sweet little sister, Angela Christi for your cheers and joy. I am very lucky to have you all as my family.
My very best friends, Jodi and Teguh, thank you for your time that we spent together. Let’s have a party at JAKSA 2008 as alumni! My friends in Fakultas Sastra Sadhar, Sunu, Galang, Muji, Sugeng, Budi,
Badu, Greg, Haryo, thank you for your share of time, knowledge, and money! My campus life would not be complete without you guys! My friend in English Letters 2000, thank you for the friendship we had. Thank you for my cousins, Reza, Budi, Donny, Monik, Andik, Ndoeng, Dewa, for great times we spent as we grew up together.
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And the last but the least I would like to say thank you to Dek Danik, for the years we spent together with discussion, quarrel, and love. Thank you for being at my side.
ALLOYSIUS DITTO CHRISTIANTO
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY .....................................................................18 A. Object of the Study....................................................................................18 B. Approach of the Study ..............................................................................19 C. Method of the Study..................................................................................20 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ................................................................................21 A. The Oppression toward East Indian Society .............................................21
B. The Struggle to Survive as a Form of Resistance .....................................37
2. The Colonized .....................................................................................26
c. Seth...........................................................................................24
b. The Tulsis.................................................................................23
a. The Sugar Estate.......................................................................22
1. The Colonizer.......................................................................................21
D. Theoretical Framework .............................................................................17
TITLE PAGE .......................................................................................................i APPROVAL PAGE .............................................................................................ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ........................................................................................iii MOTTO PAGE ....................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................vi TABLE OF CONTENTS.....................................................................................viii ABSTRACT.........................................................................................................ix ABSTRAK ...........................................................................................................x
C. Review on East Indian Society in Trinidad ..............................................15
4. Theory of Postcolonialism .................................................................14
3. Theory of Colonialism .......................................................................13
2. Theory of Setting ...............................................................................11
1. Theory of Characterization ................................................................9
CHAPTER I: INTRODUTION ...........................................................................1 A. Background of the Study...........................................................................1 B. Problem Formulation ................................................................................3 C. Objectives of the Study .............................................................................4 D. Definition of Terms...................................................................................4 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW..........................................................6 A. Review of Related Studies ........................................................................6 B. Review of Related Theories ......................................................................9
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION............................................................................49 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................52 APPENDIX ..........................................................................................................54
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ABSTRACT
ALLOYSIUS DITTO CHRISTIANTO. A Study of East Indian Society’s
Struggle to Survive in Trinidad as Depicted in Naipaul’s A House For Mr.
Biswas. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata
Dharma University, 2008.This study concerns the modern novel of V.S. Naipaul’s A House For Mr.
Biswas . The novel tells about Mr. Biswas as the representation of the East Indian
Society in Trinidad who struggles to survive. The aim of the study is first to find out the kinds of oppression the Indian migrant society suffered from colonialism depicted in the novel, and the second is to find out the Indian migrant society’s attitude struggle to survive on once-colonized country.
In analyzing the problem, the writer conducted a library research. The data were obtained from the novel itself, some review on the novel and other sources related to the novel. The approach used in analyzing the problem is socio-cultural- historical approach will be applied in analyzing this thesis. The theories that used in this thesis are theory of Character and Characterization, theory of Colonialism, and theory of Postcolonialism.
The result of the study shows that 1) There three parts of the novel that can be said as the colonizer. They are the sugar-estate, the Tulsi family, and Seth. The main character of the novel, Mr. Biswas is the colonized. Mr. Biswas suffered unfair treatments from the colonizers. The suffering can be categorized into the suffering in earning money for living, the suffering to make a place called home, the suffering with the relations of the Tulsi family. 2) Mr. Biswas had struggled to survive under the unfair treatments from the colonizers. The struggle of Mr.Biswas can be categorized into the struggle to get a better living, the struggle to get better education, and the struggle to have a proper house of his own.
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ABSTRAK
ALLOYSIUS DITTO CHRISTIANTO. A Study of East Indian Society’s
Struggle to Survive in Trinidad as Depicted in Naipaul’s A House For Mr.
Biswas. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata
Dharma, 2008.Skripsi ini membahas novel berjudul A House For Mr. Biswas karya V. S. Naipaul. Novel tersebut bercerita tentang Mr. Biswas sebagai gambaran masyarakat India di Trinidad yang menderita akibat kolonialisme. Tujuan penulisan skripsi ini adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana derita masyarakat India pendatang di Trinidad dan untuk mengetahui bagaimana perjuangan mereka untuk bertahan hidup di daerah koloni.
Dalam penulisan masalah, penulis menggunakan studi pustaka. Data-data diperoleh dari novel, tinjauan tentang novel tersebut dan dari sumber lain yang berkaitan dengan novel tersebut. Pendekatan yang digunakan adalah pendekatan social-budaya-sejarah. Di samping itu, teori karakter dan karakterisasi, teori kolonialisme dan teori pascakolonial juga digunakan dalam penulisan skripsi ini.
Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa 1) ada tiga unsur dari novel tersebut yang bisa disebut sebagai penindas. Mereka yaitu perkebunan tebu, keluarga Tulsi, dan Seth. Tokoh utama dalam novel ini yaitu Mr. Biswas merupakan golongan tertindas. Penindasan yang diderita dapat digolongkan menjadi penderitaan untuk menyambung hidup, penderitaan untuk mendapatkan tempat tinggal, dan penderitaan karena penindasan oleh keluarga Tulsi. 2) Mr. Biswas berjuang di tengah penderitaan akibat perlakuan tidak adil kaum penindas. Perjuangan Mr. Biswas tersebut dapat dikelompokan menjadi perjuangan untuk mendapatkan hisup yang lebih layak, perjuangan untuk mendapatkan pendidikan yang lebih baik, dan perjuangan untuk mendapatkan tempat tinggal yang sesuai.
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Literary is not simply a work of art that only contains aesthetic elements. It
can be form of historical documents that record social realities which are artistically portrayed by writers or authors in their works. In literature such as novels, the author sometimes reveals his/her opinions and views about something related to the reality in his/her surroundings. Literature springs from the desire of writer to communicate his/her own ideas and feelings about that he/she observes or experience.
Reading a novel may be one of the cheap recreations, but actually we can gain more than just pleasure. Novel as a literature can be read as a work art and can also be learned to gain knowledge. This is a function of literature presented by
The Theory of Literature called dulce et utile by Horace (Wellek and Warren,
1970: 30). With this function, we can read a literature to get knowledge of human experiences, such as a society in once-colonized area. We can read this kind of human experiences in postcolonial literature.
Bohmer states postcolonial literature is generally defined as that which critically or subversively scrutinizes the colonial relationship, rather than simply being the writing which ‘came after’ empire. Postcolonial literature is writing that sets out in one way or another to resist colonialist perspectives. Postcolonial
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2 literature is deeply marked by experiences of cultural exclusion and division under empire (2005: 3).
For centuries Europe had delivered the practice of colonialism. More than two third of the land surface of the globe had been under formal European government. Ania Loomba in Colonialism/Postcolonialism defined colonialism as ‘the conquest and control of other people’ (2000: 2). By these definitions, there was a process of forming a community that might be unfair in through wide range of practices. This situation creates a society that can be distinguished into a contradictive community, in which there are two group of people in opposition one another. One is the colonizer, a group that has domination on another group called colonized people.
That situation also appeared in Trinidad in Caribbean as an English Colony. Many people from different culture, ethnic, and nationality were relocated such as African and Indian. Lived in a colony area, the immigrants suffered exploitation under colonial system. The bad experience of Indian migrant in Trinidad became the background of A House For Mr. Biswas, as the novel will be analyzed in this thesis.
A House For Mr. Biswas is a novel written by Vidiadhar Surajprasad
Naipaul, who was born in 1932 in Chaguanas, close to the Port of Spain on Trinidad, in a family descended from immigrants from the north of India. Born in once-colonized country and influenced much with British culture, ‘Naipul is central to any discussion of assimilation and the duality of postcolonial identity’ (Boehmer, 2005:167). His responses also more pessimistic and ironic as seen in A
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3 House For Mr. Biswas . Unlike many other novels that based on postcolonial society, A House For Mr. Biswas is interesting because the irony and pessimism of postcolonial society were strongly developed in the novel.
This novel is about the life of Indian migrants on Trinidad, an island on Caribbean which was an English Colony. The story of the novel took time before the independence and after the independence. What interesting in the novel is on the way the author shows the experience of Indian migrants. The author describes how they struggle to survive with variety of job, try to get education at the island even going abroad, try to recall their culture. The author shows that the immigrant society is dependent to western domination. It is likely that the author is pessimistic with the future of Indian migrant society in formerly-colonized country.
In this thesis, the writer wants to elaborate the issues about the life of Indian migrants society on Trinidad during and after colonialism as the topic of the discussion. The writer wants to bring up the problem about the life experience on colonized area. Since the life experience of the society on the novel is concerning postcolonial issues, it is also interesting to analyse the society’s attitude on their way to struggle to survive in colonized area.
B. Problem Formulation
Related to the topics of the research that the writer tries to develop, the questions are formulated as follows:
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1. What kinds of oppression does the East Indian Society suffer from colonialism depicted in the novel?
2. How does the East Indian Society struggle to survive under colonialism as a form of resistance?
C. Objectives of the Study
To find out the notion of this research in which it has been provided two directions in the problem formulation. The aim of the study is to find out the answer of the problems that are given in the problem formulation. The answer of the problems has to have goals to make a valuable contribution to the study of literature. Therefore, the writer needs to state the objectives in this term precisely and clearly. The first objective is to find out the kinds of oppression the Indian migrant society suffered from colonialism depicted in the novel. The second objective is to find out the Indian migrant society’s attitude struggle to survive on once-colonized country.
D. Definition of Terms
It is difficult to proceed further without recognizing special terms that are commonly used in this research. Therefore, in this part the writer provides a particular definition to avoid misunderstanding on analyzing this research. This definition will also give the limitation in analyzing this thesis. Here is the definition of a word stated in the title and the problem formulations.
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1. East Indian Society
According to Encyclopedia of World Cultures, the East Indian Society are the descendants of indentured laborers who were brought to the islands in the West Indies, including Trinidad from the South Asian subcontinent during the second half of the nineteenth century. The European used “East Indian” to call this society to distinguish them from Native Americans (1995:104).
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CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW In this chapter, the writer provides some criticisms toward the novel and
the author which conveyed in the review on related studies. This part is intended to ensure the originality of this thesis. The writer also presents some applied theories in analyzing this thesis, namely; theory on characterization, theory on setting, theory on colonialism, and postcolonial theory. Finally, the theoretical framework will subscribe the connectivity of those theories and how they work together.
A. Review of Related Studies
In this part, the writer presents some criticism on V. S. Naipaul. Since this thesis is a postcolonial study, the criticisms which taken from books and internet are also focused in postcolonial study.
The British writer, born in Trinidad, V(idiadhar) S(urajprasad) Naipaul was born in 1932 in Chaguanas, close to the Port of Spain on Trinidad, in a family descended from immigrants from the north of India. His grandfather worked in a sugar cane plantation and his father was a journalist and writer. At the age of 18 Naipaul travelled to England where, after studying at University College at Oxford, he was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1953. From then on he continued to live in England but he has also spent a great deal of time
6
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7 travelling in Asia, Africa and America. Apart from a few years in the middle of the 1950s, when he was employed by the BBC as a free-lance journalist, he has devoted himself entirely to his writing. V.S. Naipaul has been awarded a number of literary prizes, among them the Somerset Maugham Award in 1959, the W. H. Smith Award in 1968, the Booker Prize in 1971 and the T.S. Eliot Award for Creative Writing in 1986. He is an honorary doctor of St. Andrew's College and Columbia University and of the Universities of Cambridge, London and Oxford.
In 1990 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
Naipaul's works consist mainly of novels and short stories, but also include some that are documentary. He is too a very high degree cosmopolitan writer, a fact that he himself considers to stem from his lack of roots: he is unhappy about the cultural and spiritual poverty of Trinidad, he feels alienated from India, and in England he is incapable of relating to and identifying with the traditional values of what was once a colonial power.
(http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2001/bio-bibl.html) Homi Bhabha as noted by Bill Ashcroft and friends in the Empires Writes
Back reminds ‘the collusion between narrative mode, history, and realist mimetic
readings of text.’ (1991: 34) By taking A House for Mr. Biswas from V. S.Naipul, it ia explained that: Bhabha demonstrates the danger of the way in which readings of post- colonial works as socially and historically mimetic foster their reabsorption into an English tradition, domesticating their radicalism by ignoring the important colonial disruptions to the ‘English’ surface of the text. (1991:34)
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8 Other critic, Elleke Boehmer compares V. S. Naipaul with another writer of colonized experience, the Indian R. K. Narayan. Boehmer said that compare to Narayan, V. S. Naipaul’s works respond more ‘pessimistic and ironic’. Boehmer adds ‘as a writer enamoured of British culture, and scornful of formerly colonized societies, Naipaul is central to any discussion of assimilation and the duality of postcolonial identity’ (2005:167).
There are also three undergraduate theses in Sanata Dhrama University which are analyzed one of Naipaul’s work, A Bend in the River. Irrene Amelia’s thesis entitled Naipaul’s Criticism toward African Postcolonial Society in A Bend
in the River analyzed this novel as the author critics of African future which is
pessimistic. The other thesis entitled The Significance of Plot in Illuminating the
Conflict of Cultural Identity Crisis in Naipaul’s A Bend in the River written by
Fitri Handayani concluded from the novel that there were crisis of cultural identity in post-colonial Congo. While Dedi Irwansyah in his The Influence of Post-
colonial Society on the Development of Salim as seen in the Plot of V. S.
Naipaul’s A Bend in the River also found a pessimistic tone from the character
Salim in post-colonial country.Naipul’s works mostly tell the story about some society and/ or some culture in a colonized or formerly-colonized area. This make the writer interested to investigate the novel A House for Mr. Biswas, the novel in which Naipul used his own life background in Trinidad as the center of the story. In reading the novel as postcolonial literature, the writer will try to find the experience of the East
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9 Indian Society in Trinidad during colonialism and their struggle to survive under oppression through some main characters in the novel.
B. Review of Related Theories
In doing this study, there are several theories needed to support the accuracy of the analysis. A work of literature is developed by some significant intrinsic elements. In the analysis, the writer tries to examine the characters who are involved as the colonizer or the colonized people. Therefore, the theory of character will be helpful in analyzing this problem.
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
It is stated in Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, that a character may be defined as a person that appears in the story. Mostly, the character is recognized by their human personalities. If the story seems true and life, it is found that its character act in a reasonably consistent manner and that the author has provided them with motivation: sufficient reason to act like they do (Kennedy and Gioia, 1999: 6061).
M. H. Abrams in his A Glossary of Literary Terms defines the term character as the definition below: The person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expresses in what they say-the dialogue-and by what they do-the action. (1993:23)
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10 Abrams also says that characters’ motivation can be seen in their temperament, desires, and moral nature for their speech and actions (1993:23). In the book
Thinking and Writing about Literature , Edgar V. Robert shares the same
perspective about the definition of characters: Character in literature is an extended verbal representation of a human being, specifically the inner self that determines thought, speech, and behavior through dialogue, action, and commentary, literature captures some of the interactions interesting by portraying characters who are caring about, rooting for, and even loving, although there are also characters at whom you may laugh or whom you may dislike or even hate (1989: 54).
In conclusion, we would be able to analysis the position and motivation of the characters in the novel through their dialogues and actions.
According to Baldick in his book The Concise Oxford Dictionary of
Literary Terms , character is different from characterization. Characterization is
the way which a character is presented. Therefore, character is the result, while characterization is the process (1991:83). Holman and Harmon defined characterization as the creation of imaginary persons. The characters are created imaginatively, but they have to be seen real, therefore they exist for the reader or audiences as lifelike (1986: 45).
There are at least four ways to recognize the characters (Pickering, 1986: 1023). First is through the detail description from the author: age, gender, clothes, physical appearance, etc. the second is through dialogue among characters, the third is through action done by the characters and the fourth is through diction used by the characters that might produce assumption to indentify the characters.
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11 There are also four fundamental methods of characterization: (1) the explicit presentation by the author of the character though direct exposition, either in an introductory block or more often piecemeal throughout the work, illustrated by action; (2) the presentation of the character in action, with little or no explicit comment by the author, in the expectation that reader can deduce the attributes of the actor from the actions, and (3) the representation from within a character, without comment by the author of the impact of actions and emotions on the character’s inner self. Regardless of the method by which a character is presented, the author may concentrate on a dominant trait to the exclusion of the other aspects of personality, or the author may attempt to present a fully rounded creation. (4) The last is what the author says about them as observer. Usually, what the author says about the characters can be accepted as accurate. The author assumes the role of a reader or critic and any opinions may be either right or wrong (Roberts and Jacobs, 1987: 147-148).
2. Theory of Setting
Setting is a part of the complex perspective on people and action that is offered to a reader; it helps to set the tone and the mood and it helps to realize both the character and the plot of a literary work (Beaty and Hunter, 1989: 11). Setting is always important to the way a piece of literature affects us and thus, it is an important element to consider in reading.
There are four elements that help to create a setting in a story, namely (1) the real geographical location that includes the topography and scenery; the
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12 setting may also be the indoor location like the physical arrangements of the furniture or the position of windows and door of a room; (2) the character’s occupation and daily attitudes or activities of living; (3) the time or ere in which the actions happens, for examples: the year, the season or it might be an epoch in history, etc; (4) the general environment through which the characters act or move; which may include the characters’ religious background, .mental or emotional condition, as well as the social and moral conditions (1986: 465).
Setting is used to enrich the meaning of a story. In limited sense, setting refers to the general locale and historical time ‘(Abrams, 1993:175); it is when and where the actions occurs. In a large sense, setting refers to the ‘social circumstances in which its action occurs.’ It takes the social condition or total environment in which the character live.
According to Nurgiantoro (1995: 225), there are three basic elements of setting in a novel, which has some relationship with each other, they are:
1. Place The setting of place refers to the place when actions of the novel occurs. It can refer to the actual place or the name of the place created by author. To make the setting convincingly to the readers, the accuracy in description and coherence with the other element of the novel must be obtained.
2. Time The setting of time shows when the story happened, for examples the year, month, date, morning, afternoon, evening, night or rainy days.
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13 According to Ganette as quoted by Nurgiantoro the setting of time has two meanings, it refers to the time when the author wrote the story or the time of the story itself.
3. Society The society of the novel refers to the people in the novel, including the social behavior, and it can be habits, traditions, beliefs, and moral value of the people in the novel. It also refers to the social status of the characters in the novel for examples: lower class, middle class, and upper class (1995 :227-234). The relationship between the place, time, and society is that the description of the setting of place must be attached to the description of the society of the novel at a certain time. Those three elements of setting must form a solid unit, in which the events of the story happen,
3. Theory of Colonialism
Ania Loomba defines colonialism as ‘the conquest and control other’s people land.’ Using their domination, the colonizer tried to forming a community in their colony by unforming or re-forming the original community (2000:2). Loomba adds that colonialism help the birth of European capitalism as quoted follows,
The essential point is that although European Colonialism involved a variety of techniques and patterns of dominating, penetrating deep into some societies and involving a comparatively superficial contract with others, all of them produced the economic imbalance that was necessary for the growth of European capitalism and industry (2000:4).
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14 The nature of colonialism on Loomba’s argumentation is colonialism as an economic and political structure of cross-cultural domination. Stephen Slemon in
The Scramble for Post-Colonialism as a part of The Postcolonial Studies Reader
said that colonialism is ‘a form of political, economic, and discursive oppression’ (2002:52). Selmon also defines that kinds of colonialism are much influenced by the cultural location, native condition, and territories.
Furthermore, Bohmer emphasizes that ‘colonialism involves the consolidation of the imperial power, and is manifested in the settlement of territory, the exploitation or development of resources, and the attempt to govern the indigenous inhabitants of occupied lands, often by force’(2005:2). In conclusion, colonialism can refer to any practice of domination or oppression, from cultural to economic control over other societies or territories. This theory will be useful to find the domination of colonizer in A House for Mr. Biswas.
4. Theory of Postcolonialism
Since this analysis is a postcolonial study, the theory of postcolonialism is much needed so that the writer will always know the position and scope of study.
Loomba suggests us to think postcolonialism ‘as the contestation of colonial domination and the legacies of colonialism rather than just as coming after colonialism and signifying its demise’ (2000:12). Leela Gandhi also gives comments about postcoloniality and postcolonialism as follow,
If postcoloniality can be described as a condition troubled by the consequences of a self-willed historical amnesia, then the theoretical value
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15 of postcolonialism inheres, in part, in its ability to elaborate the forgotten memories of this condition (1998:7-8). In other words, postcolonial theory is a theory of remembering and recalling the colonial past. Peter Barry in his Beginning Theory, An Introduction to Literary
and Cultural Theory , concluded from Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth
‘if the first step towards a postcolonial perspective is to the reclaim one’s past, then the second step is to begin to erode the colonialist ideology by which that past had been devalued’ (2002:193).
Further, Barry gives four area of concern of postcolonial approach which is first an awareness of the representations of the non-European as exotic or immoral ‘Other’, the term that used to mention the non-European, second is the language itself, and third is hybridity identity, and the last is cross-cultural interactions (2002:194-196). He also provides three stages to see a postcolonial literature. The first phase is Adopt; there is an acceptance of European model without rejection. The second phase called Adapt; in this phase diversity, hybridity, and difference become central. At the last phase, Adept, there is a declaration of cultural independence without Europeans norms (2002:196).
C. Review on East Indian Society in Trinidad
Since the novel focuses on East Indian society in Trinidad, the writer
th
highlights the social phenomenon of this society in Trinidad in the middle of 20 century, to find out the experience of the society during colonialism. This background was taken from one article of Encyclopedia of World Cultured entitled East Indian in Trinidad by Morton Klass.
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16 As mentioned earlier East Indian people in Trinidad are descendents of the indentured laborer who were brought from India. Those immigrants spoke a number of Indic languages, and a few spoke Tamil, a Dravidian language. English then was commonly used by the middle of twentieth century. Sanskrit also continues to be used in Hindu religious services (1995:104).
The majority of East Indian lived in rural communities in the sugar- growing regions of the central and southern Trinidad. Their lives in Trinidad were much affected by some major events. During the World War II, many rural East Indian found, for the first time, sources if income other than work in the cane fields. This was because the USA built military base in Trinidad. This meant dollar came to Trinidad, along with new perspectives on social relationship, new dimensions of social, familial, political, and religious stress. In addition, the population of East Indian who now were Trinidad-born, some attracted to West Indian, even European, values and interest, but others sought to hold on to elements of their Indian tradition (1995:104).
th
At the mid 20 century, the most desired economic activity was rice cultivation. Most rural East Indians worked on the sugar estates. Those who became “drivers” (gang foreman) became men of power and influence in their home communities. Education was prized, but few had access it. Christian- sponsored school educated a small percentage of East Indian, and those who became doctors, lawyers, and schoolteachers were held in great respect. In most East Indian communities, a few enterprising women (and an occasional man) opened “parlors” (small grocery stores), usually under their house (1995:105).
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17 Nevertheless, the majority of East Indian maintained some degree of caste identification over generations, and this sense of affiliation affected marriage and association patterns. For many of the higher-ranked castes, the patrilineal joint family (i.e., married brothers and their families sharing the same household) was the ideal social unit; others preferred the nuclear-family household. But then by the twentieth century the last pattern became the predominant pattern among Indo- Trinidadians. Although some families encouraged education for sons and even daughters, for most East Indian children before the oil boom, adolescence meant early marriage for girls and an introduction to cane cutting or other employments for boys (1995:106).
D. Theoretical Framework
The theory that is needed by the writer is the theory of colonialism along with the theory of characters and characterization. These theories were combined to analyze the first problem formulation. The writer will be able to find the colonizer and the colonized and also the experience of colonized under the colonizer. The theory of colonialism will also help the writer to know colonial impact on the society in the novel.
Furthermore, the theory of postcolonialism gives us a perspective on reading postcolonial literature. This theory will help the writer to see the recovery of the character from the oppressed to stand against it. The theory also helps the writer to examine the actions and attitudes of the colonized people to preserve their own that cannot be interfered by the colonizer.
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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study A House for Mr. Biswas was written between 1957 and 1960 and a year
later was published for the first time. The writer uses the edition published by Vintage Books, which was printed in 2001.
A House for Mr. Biswas has totally 564 pages and divided into 4 parts. The
first part in Prologue, the second part is Part One with 6 chapters which are Pastoral, Before the Tulsis, The Tulsis, The Chase, Green Vale, and A Departure, the third part is Part Two which is consist of ‘Amazing Scene’, The New Régime, The Shorthills Adventure, Among the Readers and Learners, The Void, The Revolution, and The House, and the last part is Epilogue.
In brief, A House for Mr. Biswas is about Mohun Biswas, an East Indian in Trinidad who done almost everything for having a house. He was born in a village; lived with wealthy relatives; worked as a sign painter, married into a conservative; well-to-do Hindu family; held series of jobs; and wandered from home to home. The story takes place over a period of almost fifty years-the lifetime of Mohun Biswas- during the first half of twentieth century. The journey of Mohun Biswas’s life introduced us the attitude and action of East Indian society in Trinidad during a transition period before independence.
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19 B. Approach of the Study Literature in general does contain much of facts dealing with customs, beliefs or events of the past that the readers do not know. It can be said that for an understanding of the meaning of literature can come only from a study of literature itself. A literary approach is needed in order to analyze a literary work so that a good analysis can be produced. Rohrberger said in the book Reading and Writing about Literature, that approach gives a significant influence and best guide to the appreciation of a particular work of literature. An approach has its proper insight to give, and part of the task of the critic and the reader of literature is to find the approach or approaches that will best lead to a just appreciation of a particular work (1971: 15).
Socio-cultural-historical approach will be applied in analyzing this thesis along with postcolonial approach. The writer will apply the socio-cultural- historical approach since this thesis sees a literary work from its relation with social, culture, history of a certain time and place. Rohrberger and Woods state:
Critics whose major interest is the socio-cultural-historical approach insists that the only way to locate the real work in reference to the civilization that produced it. They define the civilization as the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people and point out that Literature takes these attitudes and actions as its subject matter (1972: 9-10).
Through attitudes and actions, we can identify some cultural aspects of certain living in particular time and place. This approach will be helpful to reevaluate the relationship between the past and the present.
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20 C. Method of the Study The writer used library research in analyzing the work which the research done based on book research. The writer took V. S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr.
Biswas as the primary source of this study. Some important books were also taken
as the secondary sources. The Beginning Theory from Peter Barry, The Empires
Writes Back from Bill Ashcroft and friends and The Postcolonial Studies Reader
edited by Bill Ashcroft and friends became the important secondary sources of the approach applying in this research.
The writer applied the library research step by step in order to analyze the thesis. In the first step, the writer read the novel to find out how the story told and made problem formulation to be answered. After get an understanding about the story, the writer then tried to find the theory that appropriate with the topic in doing this thesis. In this second step, data about postcolonial theory and its applications were collected from some books and also from internet. Then finally after the primary data and secondary data were collected, the writer tried to answer the problem formulations with all data that had been collected.
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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS This chapter will answer the questions mentioned in the chapter I. In order
to make a good arrangement; this analysis is divided into two parts. The focus of the first part is to identify the kinds of oppression that the East Indian Society suffered through the character of Mr. Biswas. The result of the analysis will be the answer of the first problem. Then, the second part is focused on the way of the East Indian Society struggle to survive under the condition in Trinidad.
A. The Oppression toward East Indian Society
In discussion about oppression means trying to find out group of people that are opposite each other. Oppression is not only talking about the oppressed people but also discussed about the oppressor. In the first problem formulation, the writer would like to analyze the social condition and oppression of colonizers toward the colonized which are reflected through the character seen in the novel. From the characters, including colonizers and colonized, it will be acknowledge the sufferings caused by colonialism.
1. The Colonizer
The novel is set in Trinidad, Caribbean. Throughout the novel, the story talked about the Indian community which was the descendent of Indian migrant.
The writer in this part tried to recognize the colonizers. From the story it could be drawn that the sugar-estate could represent the colonizer. From the character the writer put the Tulsi family’s attitudes, thought, and treatments to the others as the attitudes that represent colonizers.
In the novel, the sugar-estate or sugar plantation was the representation of authority and power. The owner of the sugar-estate had the power to bring peoples from other part of the earth to work on their land. The first generation of Indian society in Trinidad came to Trinidad mostly as the labors of the sugar-estate. Mr.
Biswas’s grandfather was one example.
Bipti’s father, futile with asthma, propped himself up on his string bed…Fate had brought him from India to the sugar-estate, aged him quickly and left him to die in a crumbling mud hut in the swampland (p.15). Not only had the first generation worked at the sugar-estate. Usually it came also to the second generation. Because of lack of education and skill, work at the sugar-estate became a choice, though they earned very small mount of money. Mr. Biswas’s father was the example of this situation.
Every Saturday he lined up with other labourers outside the estate office to collect his pay. The overseer sat at a little table, on which his khaki cork rested, wasteful of space, but a symbol of wealth (p.20).