MARGUERITE’S STRUGGLE AGAINST THE PRACTICES OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AS SEEN IN MAYA ANGELOU’S GATHER TOGETHER IN MY NAME
MARGUERITE’S STRUGGLE AGAINST THE PRACTICES OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AS SEEN IN MAYA
ANGELOU’S GATHER TOGETHER IN MY NAME
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By ANITA AULIYA NURAINI
Student Number: 034214052 ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
MARGUERITE’S STRUGGLES AGAINST THE PRACTICES
OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AS SEEN IN MAYA
ANGELOU’S GATHER TOGETHER IN MY NAME
By ANITA AULIYA NURAINI
Student Number: 034214052 Approved by
Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum. January 8, 2008 Advisor Dewi Widyastuti, S. Pd., M. Hum. January 8 , 2008 Co-Advisor
A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
MARGUERITE’S STRUGGLES AGAINST THE PRACTICES
OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AS SEEN IN MAYA
ANGELOU’S GATHER TOGETHER IN MY NAME
By ANITA AULIYA NURAINI
Student Number: 034214052 Defended before the Board of Examiners
On January 19, 2008 and Declared acceptable BOARD OF EXAMINERS
Name Signature Chairman : Dr. Francis Borgias Alip, M.Pd., M.A. ______________ Secretary : Drs. Himawan Wijanarka, M. Hum. ______________ Member : Maria Ananta Tri S. S.S., M.ed. ______________ Member : Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M. Hum. ______________ Member : Dewi Widyastuti, S. Pd., M. Hum. ______________
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Anita Auliya Nuraini Nomor Mahasiswa : 034214052
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul : Marguerite’s Struggle against the Practices of Racial Discrimination as seen in Maya Angelou’s Gather Together in my Name beserta perangkat yang diperlikan (bila ada). Dengan 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 yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal : 23 February 2008
Yang menyatakan ( Anita Auliya Nuraini )
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to praise my Allah SWT who has given me an ability and helps to solve my difficulties in finishing this thesis. I am sure that without
His blessing I am nothing. I am still amazed that I finally can finish this thesis. Then I want to dedicate this thesis to my parents for their love, supports, and prayers. My father, SUKAMTO, and my mother, PURTYASIH LUWIH NURITO. S.Pd., they are really the best parents in the world. I am so thankful for their never-ending love, care, attention, supports, and understanding. For my mother, sorry it takes a long time to finish this thesis but finally I can keep my promise to graduate soon.
I would like to express my gratitude to Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum. as my sponsor. I believe that I cannot finish this thesis without her helps, attention, and advice. I am so thankful because she had prevented me to do a big mistake at that time and convinced me that I could finish this thesis because it is not difficult like what I think about. I also thank for her patience when she is giving me suggestions. For my co-sponsor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum, I really appreciate her helps in revising my thesis.
For my siblings, Big_Sister (Anggun), my twin brother (Topik) and sister (Yaya), I just want to say that I am so lucky to have them as the part of my life. I am so happy when I go home and find them there. They give me entertainments when my brain is tired with thesis. For my lovely _KOIBITO_ [EKO], I just want to say that we have passed three years together and it is very meaningful for me. I just want to say thank you so much for his support, patience, and understanding. He is always on my side and gives me strength when I was down. Once again I thank him for his computer [^_^].
I am extremely grateful to my wonderful best friends, Wayan, Novie, Sari and Vivin for the every moment we share together. Keep our friendship girls!! Vivin, I thank for lending me the novel for my thesis. Bayang-san, I will never boardinghouse sisters (Monz and Tyas), they are like my own family. I feel like I am in my home when we are together. I will always remember their laughter and supports.
Finally, I want to show my gratitude to the 2003 English students, my lectures, secretariat officers and everybody who have supported me in finishing this hard work. From the deepest of my heart, I want to say thank you so much.
ANITA AULIYA NURAINI TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE i
APPROVAL PAGE ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE iii
MOTTO PAGE iv
DEDICATION PAGE v
SURAT PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ix ABSTRACT x
ABSTRAK xi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1 A.
1 Background of the Study B.
5 Problem Formulation C.
5 Objectives of the Study D.
5 Definition of Terms
CHAPTER II: THEORITICAL REVIEW
7 A. Review of related Studies
7 B. Review of Related theories
9
1. Theory on Character and Characterization
9
2. Theory on Race and Racism
11 C. Review on History of African-American Women in the 1940s
14 D. Theoretical Framework
17 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
19 A. Object of the Study
19 B. Approach of the Study
20 C. Method of the Study
21 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS
23 A. The Characteristics of Marguerite Johnson
23 B. The Practices of Racial Discrimination Experienced by Marguerite
32 C. Marguerite’s Struggles against the Practices of Racial Discrimination
43 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION
55 BIBLIOGRAPHY
59 ABSTRACT ANITA AULIYA NURAINI. Marguerite’s Struggles against the Practices of Racial Discrimination as seen in Maya Angelou’s Gather Together in My Name. Yogyakarta, Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2007.
This thesis examines one of Maya Angelou’s works, Gather Together in
My Name . This is a story about an African-American woman who experiences
racial discrimination. In the story, Angelou wants to tell the readers how an African-American woman struggles against the racial discrimination.
In this research, there are three problems formulated to guide the study. The first problem is to find out the characteristics of the major character named Marguerite A. Johnson; the second problem is to find out the practices of racial discrimination experienced by the major character, and the last problem is to find out the major character’s struggles against the practices of racial discrimination.
In this study, the writer uses Sociocultural-Historical approach to help in answering the problems. Theory on character and characterization, theory on race and racism, and review on history of the African American women are also applied to support the analysis. The writer uses the library research in conducting this study.
In short, the writer concludes that Rita (the main character) is described as a strong, rebellious, optimistic, smart, and independent woman. Rita experiences the practices of racial discrimination since she was a child. She is always insulted by the society and even the member of her own family because of her skin color. She experiences the practices of racial discrimination in some forms: humiliation, prejudice, underestimation, and rejection. She realizes that she can not live in this situation in her entire life. However, she is also a human who has the same right like everyone else. This situation makes her do some struggles. She wants to show to the society and her big family that she also deserves to get a better life. Toward the practices of racial discrimination, Rita shows her struggles in many ways.
ABSTRAK ANITA AULIYA NURAINI. Marguerite’s Struggles against the Practices of Racial Discrimination as seen in Maya Angelou’s Gather Together in My Name. Yogyakarta, Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2007.
Skripsi ini membahas salah satu karya dari Maya Angelou yang berjudul
Gather Together in My Name. Karya sastra ini bercerita tentang seorang wanita
Afrika-Amerika yang mengalami diskriminasi ras. Di dalam cerita, Angelou ingin mengungkapkan bagaimana seorang wanita Afrika-Amerika berjuang melawan diskriminasi ras.
Dalam penelitian ini, ada tiga rumusan masalah yang dibahas dalam studi ini. Masalah yang pertama adalah untuk mencari tahu sifat-sifat dari tokoh utama yang bernama Marguerite A. Johnson, masalah yang kedua adalah untuk mengungkap praktek-praktek diskriminasi ras yang dialami oleh tokoh utama, dan masalah yang terakhir adalah untuk mengungkap bagaimana perjuangan tokoh utama untuk melawan praktek-praktek diskriminasi ras.
Dalam studi ini, penulis menggunakan pendekatan Sosiokultural- Historikal untuk membantu dalam menjawab permasalahan-permasalahan dalam studi ini. Teori tokoh dan penokohan, teori ras dan rasisme, dan informasi tentang sejarah wanita Afrika-Amerika juga diterapkan untuk mendukung analisa. Penulis menggunakan metode penelitian kepustakaan dalam mengerjakan studi ini.
Pendeknya, penulis dapat menyimpulkan bahwa Rita (tokoh utama) digambarkan sebagai seorang yang pemberontak, optimis, pandai, penuh percaya diri, pendendam dan juga mandiri. Rita mengalami praktek-praktek diskriminasi ras sejak dia masih kecil. Dia selalu disakiti oleh masyarakat dan bahkan oleh anggota keluarganya sendiri Karena perbedaan warna kulit. Rita mengalami praktek-praktek diskriminasi ras dalam beberapa bentuk: penghinaan, prasangka, diremehkan, dan penolakan. Rita menyadari bahwa dia tidak bisa hidup dalam situasi yang seperti itu untuk selamanya. Bagaimanapun juga dia juga seorang manusia yang mempunyai hak-hak yang sama seperti orang lain. Hidup dalam situasi yang seperti itu membuat Rita melakukan perlawanan-perlawanan. Dia ingin menunjukkan kepada masyarakat dan juga keluarga besarnya bahwa dia juga pantas untuk mendapatkan kehidupan yang lebih baik. Terhadap praktek- praktek diskriminasi ras, Rita menunjukkan perlawanannya dalam beberapa cara
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study The United States of America is a nation with a multicultural society. In the book The Enduring Vision: A History of the Americana People Volume I, it is
stated that many immigrants landed in the United States of America between 1815 and 1860.
4.2 millions Immigrants arrived between 1840 and 1860; 3 millions of them came in the single decade from 1845 to 1854. This ten-year period witnessed the largest immigration proportionate to the total population (then around 20 million) in American history (Boyer, et al, 1990: 420).
People in the world are created equal, but they are created differently in their physical conditions. The differences include height, weight, skin color, hair color, eye color and many more. Blacks have dark skin, dark and kinky hair, wide mouths, and thick lips while the whites have the opposite characteristics from blacks. Whites have light skin, blonde and straight hair, small mouth, and thin lips.
The different physical characteristics sometimes make some people think that they are better, or even superior from the other groups. Whites think that they are better than blacks or colored people. Blacks are assumed uneducated, uncivilized and rude, and unintelligent. United States of America, which is famous with its heterogeneous citizens, also underestimates blacks in every aspects of life.
The treatment which underestimates the African-Americans because of their skin color is called racism. The African-Americans experience racism since on the beginning of their arrival in America. They became the slaves of the whites.
In the United States, after the European failed to enslave the native Indians and to use indentured workers, the European imported several million Africans as slaves over a period of two centuries the status of Negroes as slaves throughout these periods can explain why negroes often being looked down by the whites (Comas, 1953: 11-13). Slavery caused the African-Americans to experience the practices of racism. The practices of racism in almost all aspects of their life inspire African-
American writers to articulate their experiences in the form of literary work. One of the literary works is a novel entitled Gather Together in My Name.
Gather Together in My Name is written by Maya Angelou. Angelou is
known as one of successful American women writers who mostly deal with racism. She criticizes the racial discrimination experienced by the African- American women, and their suffering over the power of the men. In Gather
Together in My Name , the writer might say that Angelou concerns to influence
young African-American and also encourage them to gain their dreams and to support their own lives, despite the authority of the White people and their prejudice. Gather Together in My Name is published in 1974.
The novel tells about the American society in the 1940s. On December 8, 1941, the United States entered World War II. Many African-American men were sent to the war, so the African-American women entered the workforce to replace
Black men from South who had held no tools more complicated than plows had learned to use lathes and borers and welding guns, and had brought in their quotas of war-making machines. Women who had only known maid’s uniforms and mammy-made dresses donned the awkward men’s pants and steel helmets, and made the ship-fitting sheds hum some buddy (Angelou, 1975: 1).
Women were hired in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) and some of them were the African-American women. The African-American women held the double burdens. In their homes, they had duties to serve their husbands and take care of their children. All the domestic jobs became their responsibility. They also had to be responsible for the finance of their family and the growth of their children. In the work place, African-American women got the discriminative treatments, for example discrimination in the kinds of job. Unlike the white women, the African- American women were difficult to get the same job. The white women got the opportunities to work in some companies as the white collar workers, while the appropriate jobs for the African-Americans women were waitress, cook and servant.
Here, Angelou, through the description of her main character tries to reveal the social circumstance she criticizes. It is said by Maria Lauret in
Liberating Literature: Feminist Fiction in America.
Maya Angelou provides the reader with a living history of the major African-American political and cultural movements of the century, from the tail-end of the Harlem Renaissance through Porgy and Bess to the Civil Rights Movement and Black Nationalism to back to Africa in the 1970s, at the rate of one decade per volume of her autobiographical novels (1994: 118).
Since the story was described in the setting of the 1940s America, Maya toward the way the African-Americans are treated unfairly and the way they defend their lives. One example of the unfair treatment in society is the existence of a social hierarchy in the society based on race and sex. They place white men in the first class, white women are the second class or equal with the African- American men, and the last class is placed by the African-American women (Hooks, 1981: 53). There are some African-American women who realize that the condition should not be like that. People should not be classified and differentiated based on their race and sex because actually people are created equal. Those who do not agree with the condition made an organization to unite their power and idea. Even, some of them become the leaders of the organizations and lead some strikes to get their rights. Unfortunately, there are still African- American women who just accept the social hierarchy and discrimination. They prefer to think that everything happens toward them is natural.
It is interesting to analyze this novel because it is amazing to see how an African-American woman struggles against the practices of racial discrimination in the society. Being human, she is treated unequally and being woman she is subordinated by man. She faces double discrimination in the society. Marguerite, one of the main characters of the novel is a portrait of African-American who lives in such racial discrimination. She is differentiated and discriminated by the society because of her skin color and her heritage as an African-American woman.
The writer wants to reveal the practices of racism toward the African-American women and to show the African-American women’s struggles to be free to reach
B.
Problem Formulation There are three main problems that will be analyzed in this study.
What are the practices of racial discrimination experienced by Marguerite as seen in the novel?
3. How does Marguerite struggle against the practices of racial discrimination she experienced? C.
Objectives of the Study
This thesis aims to explain to the readers about the characteristics of the main character named Marguerite. The next purpose is to show the practices of racial discrimination presented in the novel. It also aims to see how the main character struggles against the practices of discrimination as the reaction toward the oppression that the main character experiences. The writer also hopes that this research will give clear explanation to the reader in understanding the novel especially the racism issue.
D.
Definition of Terms In order to avoid a misunderstanding in the terms, the writer gives the definitions of the related terms.
African-American refers to the Blacks. In Longman Dictionary of
Language and Culture , Black means (of a person) of dark skinned race, especially
Negroes or colored. However, many Blacks people in the United States prefer the term African-American or Afro-American in formal situation (1992: 113).
According to The Encyclopedia Americana 4, Black (Black American) is whether called blacks, Afro-American, or Negroes, American of African descent are defined as a racial group and have been subject to discriminatory treatment because of race. The degree to which individual black has suffered racial oppression in the United States has varied according to urban or rural residence, region, and economic class darken skin, sex, and historical period (1955: 28).
In The International Encyclopedia of Ethics, discrimination means the differential treatment based on physical and social affiliation (Roth, 1995: 156). In this case, discrimination also refers to the practice of treating someone or a particular group in society less fairly than others based on their races.
According to The Americana Heritage Dictionary of the English
rd
Language 3 Edition , struggle is to be strenuously engaged with the problems or
an undertaking to progress with difficulty (1996: 1782). Struggle can be explained as a resistance on something and the certain condition. Furthermore, resistance can be in form of thoughts and acts.
According E. Merill and H. Wentworth Elderge in their book entitled
Culture and Society: An Introduction to Sociology , racism comes from attitudes
that have arisen for the physical differences, and it has separated some groups of human being (1952: 231).
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies The publication of literary works has often aroused people’s interest to give their comment both about the author and the work itself. It is common since people who read the work have different knowledge that influences their thoughts in giving different opinion about what they have just read about. Maya Angelou’s is also one of the literary works that arouses
Gather Together in My Name
comments on the content of the work itself and the way Angelou presents her work.
The first comment comes from Lennox and Birch. Based on the article “Maya Angelou” (b. 1928) Autobiography: The Creation of a Positive Black Female Self”, in the book entitled Black American Women’s Writing, A Quilt of
Many Colour , said that Angelou’s autobiography must be seen as the voices of the
Blacks who survived of oppression (1994: 122).Another interesting criticism on Angelou’s work is the one Guerrin mentions in Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. He states that “Angelou is an excellent example of a Black feminist writer who speaks for and in turn inspires many other women, as having experimented with cultural identities and the continuing process of self-discovery”(1999: 210).
As stated in Liberating literature: Feminist Fiction in America, Maya
(Laurett, 1994: 121). While in the essays Gender, Race, Class and Fiction, Lizbeth has said that Angelou’s autobiography is a Black woman’s writing that teaches you how to resist the oppression (1994: 152).
It can be seen through her literary work, in which Maya Angelou tries to explore her experiences as an African-American woman who lives in society that is dominated by Whites. Marguerite as the main character experiences the racial oppression, and that kind of oppression makes her struggles become hard. She does not only become the economic provider and protector of her son but also for her independence. Angelou wants to tell the people that it is hard to live as an African-American people.
Maitefa Angaza cites Will Halsey’s comment, a poet and literature professor. He says that Maya’s work has resonated with people of all races and backgrounds and is particularly expressive of the black experience. <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HST/is_2_3/ai_72275268/pg_3>
Will Halsey also gives comment on Maya Angelou’s personality. He states that beauty in the flesh, in the word and in the deed, has become Maya Angelou's calling cards. The girl who did not think much of her looks has gone on to become one of the most majestic women we have ever known and we do feel we know her. We love Maya for who she has dared to be, not perfect, but grand! Her example is an invitation to liberation, creative fulfillment and love. And we accept it http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HST/is_2_3/ai_72275268/pg_3>
In this thesis, based on the criticism and articles that have been collected, experiences oppression as an African-American woman. Those experiences develop her awareness to struggle for her life. In depth, the study will concern with Marguerite’s struggles in facing the practices of racism that is found in the novel.
In this novel, the writer tries to discuss story in different side. The writer wants to analyze racism that an African-American woman experienced in the story and the way she struggles against the practices of racism as seen in Maya Angelou’s Gather Together in My Name.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory on Character and Characterization A character is the important factor in a fiction. In the beginning of the story, the author must introduce the characters to the readers. Thus, the readers may have the clear idea about the story and how the story develops. Characters must behave like the actual human being and they are in the human situation.
According to Abrams (1981: 20) in his Glossary of Literary Terms, character is a person presented in dramatic or narrative work, endowed with moral and dispositional qualities, that are expressed in what they say i.e. the dialogue, and what they i.e. the action. The ground in a character’s temperament and moral nature for his speech and action constitutes his motivation.
Henkle (1977: 87) distinguishes characters in two, namely the major or main characters and the minor or secondary characters. The major characters are author or by the other characters). These characters deserve our fullest attention because they perform a key structural function: we build expectation and desires and establish our value upon them. Besides the minor characters are the characters that perform more limited functions, they are less sophisticated, so their responses to experience are less interesting.
M. J Murphy (1988: 30-38) in Understanding Unseen mentions seven ways of showing how the characters are presented to the readers. They are:
1. Personal Description: To describe his characters, the author explains to the readers about the physical appearances of the characters. The description is often related to the psychological condition the personality itself can be reflected from the external appearance, it is shown that the character is strong or weak, tall or short, fat or thin, curly or blond, beautiful or handsome.
2. Characters as Seen by Another: In describing characters directly the authors can describe him through the eyes and opinions of another. The others will give explanation about what a character is like. Someone tries to tell a character from his or her own point of view. What they think about the certain character can be significant factor to build up our understanding on him.
3. Speech: Speech is manifestation of character. The author can give an insight into the character through what that person says. Whenever a person speaks, he is giving us some clues to his character. Frequently, from his speech we know his motivation and attitude towards life.
4. Past Life: By learning a person’s past life, it can give us a clue of events connected to his present life.
5. Conversation of Others: The author can also give a clue to person’s character through the conversations of other people and the things they say about them. To help us get more information to support our judgments on the character, we need to pay attention to the conversation of other characters.
6. Reaction: The author also mentions that personality of a character by letting the readers know the person’s reaction to the various events or situation. The character shows her personality from her action. The action concerns to her motives and thought.
7. Direct Comment: The characterization in this way is done by giving the readers a comment on the character. It helps us to find out information about the character easily. Sometimes, the description is provided at the beginning of the story when we have not been quite familiar with the personality as the writer intends to.
In general, these theories of character and characterizations are used to help the writer in analyzing the major character, in this case is Marguerite.The deep analysis on Marguerite’s characteristics are needed to help in analyzing the other problem.
2. Theory on Race and Racism Benedict argues in the book entitled Race and Racism (1942), quoted in the book entitled Racism by Robert Miles, race is a differentiation of three races, the Caucasian, Mongoloid, and Negroid and can be studied scientifically (1989: 44).
Another idea of race comes from Johnson. Johnson (1986: 353) in his book, Human Arrangements: An Introduction to Sociology, defines race as people who share genetic heritage that result in distinct physical features, such as the color of skin, eyes, and the shape of the nose and eyes.
Thus, because of the differentiations among the races, the term racism emerges. Merrill and Eldredge’s theory of racism is taken from his book entitled Culture and Society: An Introduction to Sociology. They state that racism comes from attitudes which have arisen from the physical differences, and it has separated some groups of human being (1952: 231).
The other theory on racism is stated by Bell Hooks in her book entitled AIN’T A WOMAN, Black Women and Feminism. She argues that the term racism is commonly used to describe the racial discrimination or prejudice toward the Black people by the white people (1981: 119). In other words, racism means the treatment where someone discriminates someone else based on his race. Racism itself includes the act, thought, social habits that are discriminative to the ethnic group that is supposed to be inferior.
Usually racial discrimination appears when people have the racial prejudice toward a certain group of people. Racial prejudice practically results in discrimination toward particular group of people (Rose, 1956: 215). Prejudice is a state of mind but discrimination is actual behavior. Prejudice is racial minority. Racial prejudice consists of prejudicing or having a bad opinion of other people just because they are number of a certain ethnic group.
Discrimination is the act of disqualifying or mistreating people on the basis of their group membership, while exploitation is the act of treating someone unfair and selfish manner for one’s own advantages (Sehaefer, 1986: 228- 230).
In addition, Comas (1956: 28-29) says that color prejudice creates inferiority mental on the Black people. The discriminative attitudes toward the Blacks shape the inferiority that is hereditary given from generation to generation.
Additionally, the form of racial prejudices also can be seen through the stereotype attributed upon the Black, such as their brains are smaller, not smart on arithmetic, have lower intelligence, cannot govern their self, they are like children, emotional, unoriginal, uncreative, and unintellectual, in which these stereotypes create inferiority mental upon the blacks and systematically decrease their roles in politic, economy, and social aspect (Montagu, 1953: 39). There were other stereotypes that were labeled to the African-American women. They were labeled as stubborn, hateful, bitchy, evil, and treacherous women (Hooks, 1981: 85).
Racism can develop the segregation. Segregation is a condition when people from different racial and ethnic groups are separated physically and socially by custom or by law. Segregated societies carefully regulate the types Of contact allowed between the dominant and the minority groups. For example, subordinate group members are not allowed to live where the dominant group live (Light, Keller and Calhoun, 1989: 287-288).
Usually it consists of segregation in residential areas, in education, and other public institutions, in public accommodations, such as railroads, steamship lines, car, bus system, and hospitals. The segregation also happens in church, factory, and employment opportunities, in legal and political status, in private business establishment, and other private commercial and professional services, such as department store, undertaking establishment and doctors’ offices. Even, there is also segregation in graveyard (Frazier, 1957: 281: 282). Shortly, the segregation happens in every aspect of their life.
If racism goes continuously, it will have effects. One of the effects is racism can produce race hatred. Besides, it certainly creates and perpetuates a feeling of distrust between races. Furthermore, the belief of the white superiority influenced the black people who were born before or during Civil War to be lack of confidence in their own race. They thought that what the white people had done toward the black was natural. Yet, the next generation’s opinion about their own race changes gradually, when the education of the black people increases (Locke and Stern, 1946: 544).
C. Review on History of African-American Women in the 1940s The position of black women in society is subordinated, not only caused years, black women were forced to work not only for the domestic job but also outside from their homes even if they do not want to (Giddings, 1984: 141).
Moreover, Giddings (1984:148) explains that the pressure to black women to work made them had two roles in society, in which they have to do her role as workers and at the same time they have to rear their children. The African- American women were forced to work outside their homes to fulfill their financial need. Most of them were working as the servants of the whites without money payment but food and second clothes payment. There were only some factory jobs were opened for women, but most of them were not opened for African-American women (Hine and Thompson, 1999: 214).
As time passed, the African-American women become more economically sufficient, better educated, and more involved in self-improvement efforts, including the flourishing black women’s club movement (Hine and Thompson, 1999: 220). In the church and in the club movement, they were acquiring the skills of organizing, fund-raising, and communication that would be required for effective political action. But just as important, they were beginning to tell the right stories. They wrote plays attacking lynching and made images of racial pride. They sang songs about being strong and refusing to be exploited (Hine and Thompson, 1999: 238).
The great depression of the 1930s was one of the most catastrophic periods in America history. Americans in all walks of life suffered economic hardships, and the African-Americans were particularly hard hit. As their economic status racial discrimination and segregation. But there was a great irony in the situation of the Black Americans at this time. Because of the measures taken by the Roosevelt administration to assist all Americans, some black people were able to break through barriers of prejudice they might never have breached otherwise.
The black artists, from painters, and sculptors to writers and actors, were able to find work in government-sponsored projects (Hine and Thompson, 1999: 241).
A great development was done by the African-American women when some of them successfully became the leaders. In Detroit, there was a Housewives’ League consisted African-American women and it was leaded by an African-American woman named Fannie B. Peck. This league quickly spread to the other cities (Hine and Thompson, 1999: 245-246). Next example was one of CIO (Congress of Industrial Organization) affiliate in St. Louis, the Food Workers’ Industrial Union, was organized by an African-American woman, Connie Smith. There were also African-American women who became the physicians, nurses, doctors, journalists, reporters, columnists, and editors (Hine and Thompson, 1999: 247-248). In art, the African-American woman took a great development too. For example was Billie Holiday. She was a great jazz musician.
She wrote and sang her own song that told about the protest against the race violence and discrimination experienced by the African-Americans. She was severely criticized for singing the song, but she refused to back down (Hine and Thompson, 1999: 260).
On December 8, 1941, the United States entered World War II. The black fight. Within six months, they also entered the army itself (Hine and Thompson, 1999: 263). During Second World War, men had to participate in the war. They left their duties behind to join the war. Women replaced their position. Factories were established to produce the equipment of war. Women took the significant roles at that time. Women replaced the works that men conducted before. The war made the position of the African-American women more significant (Norton, 1982: 834). There were some advances for African-American women in the labor movement. As in World War I, they during World War II entered the factories from which they were ordinarily excluded. In May of 1942, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was created. In 1943, it was incorporated into the U. S.
Army as the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). By the end of the war, more than four thousand African-American women had become WACs (Hine and Thompson, 1999: 263-264).
D. Theoretical Framework In analyzing the problems of the study, which are formulated in Chapter I, the writer focuses on Marguerite’ characters, her experiences of being discriminated and also her struggles against the racial discrimination and oppression. The writer, in answering the problem formulation uses some theories that will give clear analysis.
One of the theories used by the writer is theory on character and characterization which later will be very useful to analyze how the central depth how the African-Americans experience the discrimination based on their race. In general, the history of African-American women can help the writer in answering the third problem formulation that is the major character’s struggle against the practices of discrimination in race. The history on the development of the African-American women is useful to find what kind of struggles done by the African-American woman to fight the discrimination through her acts and thoughts.
In short, the related studies and the theories stated previously are very important and needed to support and help the writer in answering the questions that are formulated in problem formulation.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study This thesis analyzes Gather Together in My Name published by Bantam Books in 1993. The author of the book is Maya Angelou. She has been an actress, an activist, a dancer, a professor, a child victim of rape, a madam, a teenage mother, a restaurateur, a poet, a prophet, a queen. Maya has been mute and she is sung for a living, known poverty and life as a multimillionaire, read aloud in church and read her poetry before heads of state. She has written plays, directed films and conducted an orchestra. She's been nominated for a Tony and an Emmy, won a Grammy and had streets, schools and babies named after her <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HST/is_2_3/ai_72275268/pg_1>
Gather Together in My Name is the second volume of the five series of
Angelou’s novels that was first published in 1974. Like her other novels, in this edition Angelou also employs a woman as the main character, named Marguerite or Rita. Rita is characterized as a young woman who is very optimistic when she wants to pursue something in her life. She is trapped in drug, prostitution, and free sex. She is also unmarried woman with a son. Because of that she has a big responsibility toward her only son. She has to work to fulfill her need and also her son’s. Unfortunately, she does have to face the racial discrimination in work. Racial treatment does not only happen in work but in society surround her even in her own family. She does not only accept that kind of treatment, she shows her reactions against racism through her act and also her thought.
B.
Approach In analyzing this study, the writer uses the Sociocultural-Historical approach. Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods in their book Reading and
Writing about Literature say that:
The Sociocultural-Historical approach is the way to locate the real work in the reference to the civilization that produces it. They define civilization as the attitudes and actions of specific group of people and point out that literature takes these attitudes and actions as its subject matter (1971: 9).
Based on the theory of Sociocultural-Historical approach, the social condition and cultural values of the society have big influence in the people attitudes. These attitudes are expressed in their daily life. The application of the Sociocultural-Historical approach is a way to discuss the novel in the social, cultural and historical context. The purpose of applying this approach in studying the novel is to know further about the social, cultural and historical background that appear in the novel. The racial discrimination against black people closely relates to the social and cultural concepts practiced in the society in the novel. The racial discrimination that appears in the novel, relates to the social history of Africans that were brought to America which then was continued with the enslavement in America. C.
Method of the Study The study analyzes one of Maya Angelou’s works, Gather Together in My
Name . After finding the novel, the writer read it several times to get the deep
understanding of the whole story. Next step was deciding the topic. It was the most important step to be taken because it would determine the next step.
After deciding the topic, this study was done in some steps. First step was doing the library research to find some books, criticisms, essays, theories that were needed. The writer also searched data from internet sites to find reviews and criticism in order to collect the data as much as possible. The data was divided into two. They were primary data that was taken from the novel itself entitle and the second was the secondary data that
Gather Together in My Name
consisted of data on criticism, theory on character and characterization, theory on race and racism, theory on approach and so on.
The theories on character and characterization were taken from Abrams in his Glossary of Literary Terms, M. J Murphy’s Understanding Unseen and Henkle’s Reading the Novel: An Introduction to the Techniques of Interpreting
Fiction . To get the theories on race and racism, the writer used the books entitled
Racism, Human Arrangements: An Introduction to Sociology , Culture and
Society: An Introduction to Sociology, AIN’T A WOMAN, Black Women and
Feminism, and so on. The review on history of the African-American women was
taken from Hine and Thompson’s Shining Thread of Hope: The History of Black Women in America.