IDENTITY CRISIS OF MIXED RACE PEOPLE AS THE RESULT OF INFERIOR MINDSET AS SEEN
IN LO-ARNA IN HYLLUS MARIS AND SONIA BORG’S WOMEN OF THE SUN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requitments for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
AGUS RIDHO EPENDI Student Number: 034214073
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2012
A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
IDENTITY CRISIS OF MIXED-RACE PEOPLE AS THE RESULT OF INFERIOR MINDSET AS SEEN IN LO-ARNA IN HYLLUS MARIS AND SONIA BORG’S
WOMEN OF THE SUN
By
Agus Ridho Ependi
Student Number : 034214073
Approved by
Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M. Hum. February 15, 2012 Advisor
Tatang Iskarna, S.S., M.Hum. February 15, 2012 Co-Advisor
A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
Identity Crisis of Mixed-Race People as the Result of Inferior Mindset as Seen in Lo-Arna in Hyllus Maris and Sonia Borg’s Women of the Sun
By
Agus Ridho Ependi Student Number: 034214073
Defended before the Board of Examiners On February 20, 2012
And Declared Acceptable
BOARD OF EXAMINERS
Name Signature
Chariman : Dr, F.X. Siswadi. M.A _____________
Secretary : Tatang Iskarna. S.S., M.Hum _____________
Member : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M.Hum _____________
Member : Tatang Iskarna. S.S., M.Hum _____________
Member : Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum _____________
Yogyakarta, February 29, 2012 Faculty of Letters Sanata Dharma University
Dean
Dr. F.X. Siswadi .M.A
EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL AT ITS TIME
This undergraduate thesis is dedicated
To my parents,
Love you Dad and Mom
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all I would like to thank to God for everything You’ve blessed me
in my life. All the good things and hard things are Your bless so that I can get
through everything so well.
I believe that in my work in finishing this thesis I gain so many hands to
help me through. I would like to thank to my thesis advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M. Hum., who has given me the chance to finish this thesis. I would like to thank to my co-advisor Tatang Iskarna, S.S., M.Hum., who gives me a very nice suggestion in completing my thesis.
I would like to say thanks to my friends: The Gamezone brotherhood
(Dalijo, Topeng, Becak, Jembut Hunter, Bawok, Gareng, Ucok, Cimot,
Andre,Haba, Pak Mije, MasKas), and also the other member of The Gamezone
brotherhood who is now not in Jogja (Aya, Poci, Adit). Special thanks go to
Dalijo who helps me so much in my life, another brother from different parents.
Lastly, to my parents, Dad, Mom, my brother and sister, thank you so
much for the support. You are everything in my life.
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawan ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Agus Ridho Ependi Nomor Mahasiswa : 034214073
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
IDENTITY CRISIS OF MIXED-RACE PEOPLE AS THE RESULT OF INFERIOR MINDSET AS SEEN IN LO-ARNA IN HYLLUS MARIS AND SONIA BORG’S
WOMEN OF THE SUN
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk 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 memberi royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 29 FEBRUARI 2012
Yang menyatakan,
Agus Ridho Ependi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN ... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... viii
CHAPTER II : THEORETICAL REVIEW ... 5
A. Review of Related Studies ... 5
A. How does the character of Lo-Arna and her father shown in the story? ... 21
B. How are inferiority and superiority reflected through the character of Lo-Arna and her father? ... 34
C. How does identity crisis appear in the character of Lo-Arna? ... 44
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION ... 51
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 56
APPENDIX ... 58
ABSTRACT
AGUS RIDHO EPENDI (2011). Identity Crisis of Mixed-race people as the Result of Inferior mindset as seen in Lo-Arna in Hyllus Maris and Sonia Borg’s Women of the Sun. Yogyakarta. Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
This thesis is focussing on a novel entitled Women of the Sun, written by Hyllus Maris and Sonia Borg. This novel talks about native people of Australia before and during the colonialization. This novel talks about five main women characters: Towradgi, Alinta, Maydina, Nerida, and Lo-Arna who experience the effect of colonialism, and their fight against it. The writer is focussing on the character of Lo-Arna who has an identity crisis after she finds out her true identity being borne as mixed-race.
The aims of this study are : first, to describe the character of Lo-Arna and her father, Doug Cutler; secondly, to explain how the character of Lo-Arna as the representation of Aborigine people and her father Doug Cutler as the representation of White people; thirdly, to explain how identity crisis may appear in the character of Lo-Arna.
The method which is used in this study is library research, since all the data that are required are acquired from references available in the library. The writer is also using postcolonialism approach to arrange the analysis. This approach helps the writer to find the reason why the identity crisis appears.
The result of the study shows that the character of Lo-Arna has an identity crisis since the Aborigine people are colonized by White people so that she cannot take the fact that she inherit the blood of the Aborigine people, a colonized people.
x
ABSTRAK
AGUS RIDHO EPENDI (2011). Identity Crisis of Mixed-race People as the Result of Inferior Mindset as seen in Lo-Arna in Hyllus Maris and Sonia Borg’s Women of the Sun.Yogyakarata: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian ini difokuskan pada sebuah novel yg berjudul Women of the Sun, yg ditulis oleh Hyllus Maris dan Sonia Borg. Novel ini mengangkat masalah tentang masyarakat asli Australia sebelum dan selama kolonialisme. Novel ini menceritakan tentang lima karakter utama wanita: Towradgi, Alinta, Maydina, Nerida, dan Lo-Arna yang mengalami efek dr kolonialisme, dan perjuangan mereka untuk melawan penjajah. Penulis memfokuskan pada karakter Lo-Arna yang mengalami krisis identistas setelah mengetahui identitas dirinya sebagai seorang terlahir dengan keturunan ganda.
Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah: pertama, untuk menjelaskan penokohan Lo-Arna dah ayahnya Doug Cutler: kedua, untuk menjelaskan bagaimana karakter Lo-Arna sebagai representasi kaum Aborigine dan ayahnya, Doug Cutler sebagai representasi kaum kulit putih: dan ketiga untuk menjelaskan bagaimana krisis identitas dapat muncul dalam diri Lo-Arna.
Metode yg digunakan untuk penelitian ini adalah metode penelitian pustaka, karena semua data yg di butuhkan di peroleh dari referensi-referensi yg tersedia di perpustakaan. Penulis juga menerapkan pendekatan pascakolonialisme dalam menyusun analisis. Pendekatan ini memungkinkan penulis untuk menemukan alasan mengapa terjadi krisis identitas pada karakter Lo-Arna.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A.Background of the Study
There are many inequalities in this world. We can see inequality in
gender, economic status, or level of civilization. Inequality in the level of
civilizations to be something that is common in the era of White expansion.
Since the White people have better education and technology, they consider
their civilization higher than other civilization such as Aborigine. Since
Aborigine civilization is lower than the White’s, therefore it should be
civilized.
As Edward Said says in his Orientalism: “ The oriental is the masterpiece, the adjacent of Europe and the place of Europe’s greatest, richest,
and oldest colonies (Said, 1978:87)”. In this case, the Europe’s colonies are
always oppressed by the Europeran who introduces their value and the
domination of Europe. In other words European colonialism in the sense of
their interest for cultural oppresion and economic controll. The Orient are the
object for the Europe to represent their views. Said says :
Orientals can be discussed and analyzed as the corporate institution for dealing with the orient-dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it : in short, Orientalism is a Western style for dominating, restucturing, and having authority over the orient (Said,1978:88).
In this discourse Said uses the terms of the west and the east to
represent the opressor and the oppressed. But what we find in Women of the Sun obviously doesnot talk about the west and the east, it represents the idea of
the Whites and the Aborigines. The terms could be different, but they describe
the same level of the oppressor and the oppressed.
Based on the way of the White people treating the Aborigine, the writer
intends tomake a research on the novel “Women of the sun” by Hyllus Maris and Sonia Borg. “Women of the Sun” is a novel that tells about the condition of Australia in the era of White colonialization. This novel tells about five
Aborigine women who fight for their clan and their own way against the White
people who try to take their land and their ringht. Their struggle is very
isnteresting to be discussed since they have their own way, their own strength,
despite of their lower status in education and technology against the White
people. The White people has already got better technology than the Aborigine.
The Aborigines use arrows, spears and other weapons which are completely no
match against the White people who already uses rifles, cannons and other
gunpowders wapons. The Aborigines are absolutely defeated in the battle and
has no choice but accepting the fact that they must surrender and live as the
colonized people.
After being so long living as the colonized people, slowly the Aborigine
people’s way of thinking changed as well. They slowly take the fact that their
civilization is lower than the Whie and they start to accept it. They think that
the White civilization is the best and they should imitate the civilization if they
want to have a better civilization.
As the result, everything should be White oriented. Being like the
seen in the story of Lo-Arna, a mixed race girl whose dream is blown away just
because she find out that she is not purely White.
The topic of this study is how the White’s domination affects the
mindset of the Aborigine people. There are five stories in the novel but writer
will focus on the last story, the Lo-Arna story which reflects the effects of the
White domination to the way of thinking or the mindset of the Aborigine
people as the dominated people.
B.Problem Formulations
In oreder to reveal the effects of the White people’s domination to the
mindset of the Aborigine people, the writer intends to answer the following
questions:
1. How are the character of Lo-Arna and her father described in the story?
2. How are inferiority and superiority reflected through the character of
Lo-Arna and her father?
3. How does identity crisis appear in the character of Lo-Arna?
C.Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study of the study are :
- Firstly how the character of Lo-Arna and her father are shown in the
story.
- The second objective is the character of Lo-Arna represent
inferiority and the character of her father represent superiority in the
- The third objective is how the identity crisis appears in the character
of Lo-Arna.
D.Definition of Terms
In order to avoid misunderstanding on certain terms, the writer would
like to define some terms mentioned in the title of the undergraduate thesis and
in the proble formilation.
1. Mindset. Mindset is a set of attitudes or views formed by earlier events
(1995:740).
2. Inferiority. The state of being low or lower in rank, social position,
importance, quality, etc (1995:609).
3. Domination. Domination is to have controll or power over or a very strong
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
This chapter will introduce some criticisms, theories and information to
support the analysis. This chapter consists of three parts, the first part is the
Review on Related Studies. This part will introduce the criticism on Hyllus Maris
and Sonia Borgs’s especially about Women of the Sun. The second part is the Theroretical Review which provides the theories that will be used in analyzing the
work. The last part is the Theoretical Framework which tells the readers how the
theories are used.
A.Review of Related Studies
The first review is from an undergraduate thesis by Fransiska Oka
Budianti entitled “Representation of Historical Relationship between the
Aborigines and the White Indvaders in Maris and Borg’s Women of the Sun”. this thesis explains the relationship betweeen the Aborigines and the Whites
were not easy one. Budianti states in her thesis: the relationship between them
weas not good one, because the Aborigine people always got bad treatmenst
from the White since the beginning og the story untill the end.
As the result of the bad treatments from the White to the Aborigines a
gap appears between them. The White are the superior and the Aborigine are
the inferior one. The Aborigine people consider the White to have everything
they always wanted to be such as being educated people, honorable people and
wealthy. The White people are considered to have more chances in everything
such as in education. On the other the Aborigine has no chance at all they are
considered to be slave since the very beginning.
The second study is more on the writer of the novel Hyllus Maris and
Sonia Borg. Hyllus Maris was born in Shepparton, Victoria. Into Yorta Yorta
Tribe, the original inhabitant of the Murray river area and traditional owner of
that region. As a child, she participated in the walk out from a Government
Mission, the event that inspires the third story of the book, Nerida, the
watertlily. A sociologist and prominent activist in Aboriginal Community
Development. She was the founder of the Worawa Collage, Frankston, the first
Aboriginal school in Victoria, and has initiated several other Aboriginal
organizations. Hyllus Maris has written many poems and short stories and is
researching a book on Aboriginal history in Victoria. Sonia Borg was born in
Vienna, Austria, and studied dramatic art in Germany after the Second World
War. In 1951 she moved to India and later she joined Shakespearean
International a theater company that toured throughtout Asia. Arriving in
Australia in 1961 she joined Crowford Productions as a drama couch, then
became casting director and eventually a script editor and associate producer.
Now a freelance script writer, she has a number of single plays for the
Australian Broadcasting Commission to her credit, and has also work on the
series Rush,Power without Glory, and I can Jump Puddles. More recently she has adapeted for screen Colin Thiele’s books Stormboy and Bluefin, and Frank
The thesis ties to give another perspective about the effects of
colonialization. This thesis will discuss the effects of colonializations on the
way of thinking or midset of Aborigine people and or mixed race people.
Identity crisis appears in the mind of mixed race people as the result of the
White domination that happen in the era of White expansion. White people
doctrinized Aborigine people that they are inferior and the White people are
superior.
As the result, mixed race people are not accepted both as superior and
the inferior. Mixed race people feels they do not belong to both White and
Aborigine. They are not noble as White people as the superior and they are not
inferior either since they are not purely Aborigine.
B.Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
In his book; A Glossary of Literary Terms, M.H. Abram defines character as the definition below:
“as the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work who is interpreted by the readers as being endowed with a moral and disposition quality that are expressed in the way they say (through dialogue), and what they do (through actions)” (1981 : 20).
From the definiton above, the writer may conclude that the characters’
moral and natural qualities are seen through their speech and action. Edgar
V. Robert in Thinking and Writing about Literature shares the same opinion about the definition of characters:
speech, and behavior. Through dialogue, action, and commentary, literature captures some of the interactions interesting by portraying characters who are worth 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).
Major characters are usually the major figures in a story. They have
many realistic traits and are relatively fully develeoped by the author. For
this reason they are often given the names hero or heroine. Because many
major characters are anything but heroic, it is probably best to use the more
descriptive term, protagonist. The protagonist is central to the action, moves
against an antagonist, and usually exhibits the human attributes we expect of
rounded characters. They demonstrate their capacity to change or to grow
(Roberts and Jacobs, 1987 : 5).
According to Baldick in his book The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, character is different from characterization. Characterization is the way in which a character is represented. Therefore,
character is the result, while characterization is the process (1991 : 83). His
defineiton also supported by Roger and Henke in Reading the Novel : An Introduction to the Techniques of Interpreting Fiction. He stated that the characterization is central to the fictional experience. The principle objective
if the creation of characters in novels is to enable readers to understand and
a. What the characters themselves say (and think, if the author expresses
their thoughts).
b. What the characters do.
c. What other characters say about them.
d. What the author say about them, speaking as storyteller or observer.
2. Theory of Postcolonialism and Postcolonialist
As stated by Ascroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin in their book entitled Key Concepts in Post-Colonial Studies, postcolonialism deals with the effects of colonialization on culture and societies. From the late 1970s the term has
been used by literary critics to discuss the various cultural effects of
colonialization (1998 : 186).
The book of Elleke Boehmer, Colonial and Post-Colonial Literature, gives the definition of colonialism. Colonialism are related to the combination of colonial power, the settlement of territory, the exploitation
or development of resources, and the attempt to rule the native people of an
island. Colonial literature, which is usually assumed to be literature
reflecting a colonial culture, concerns with colonial expansion and it is also
based on the theories concerning the superiority of European culture and the
rightness of Empire (1995 : 2-3).
In order to understand colonialism and the relation between the
colonizer and colonized, Edward Said through Orientalism explains that the
Orient (colonized) is an intergral part of European material civilization and
political theoriests, economists, and imperial administrators, have accepted
the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for
elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions, and political accounts
concerning the Orient, its people, customs, mind, destiny, and so on
(Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin 1995 : 87-88). Edward Said talks about
Orientalism deploying a variety of strategies whose common factor is they
guarantee a position of superiority for the Westerner over the Orient.
The word postcolonial cannot be used in any single sense. It is a
variety of perspective by people who were not all oppressed in the same
way or to the same extent. For example the politics of decolonialization on
parts of Latin America or Australia or South Africa where white settlers
formed their own independent nations is different from the dynamics of
those societies where indigenous populations overthrew their European
masters (Loomba, 1998 : 7-9).
The term ‘postcolonial’ addresses all aspects of the colonial process
from the beginning of colonial contact untill after-independent. The
development of new elites within independent societies; the development of
internal divisions based on racial, linguistic or religious discriminations; the
continuing unequal treatment of indigenous people in settler/invaders
societis – all these testify to the fact that postcolonialism is continuing the
process of resistance and reconstruction. Postcolonial theory involves
discussion about experience of various kinds: migration, slavery,
Postcolonial studies are based in the ‘historical fact’ of European
colonialism and its diverse effects (Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin, 1995 : 2).
It is appropriate to use this theory since Women of the Sun is stories about the effects of British colonialism to Aborigine people. The experience of
migration, slavery, suppresion, resistance, representation, difference, race,
gender, and place that major characters faced.
Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffith, and Helen Tiffin in The Empire
Writes Back describe the idea of the emerges of postcolonial literary theory: The idea of ‘postcolonial literary theory’ emerges from the inability of European theory to deal adequately with the complexities and varied cultural provenance of post-colonial writing (1989 : 11).
Ania Loomba in her book Colonialis/Postcolonialism describes concepts that many writings on postcolonialism emphasised; concepts like
‘hybridity’ and fragmentation and diversity. They describe ‘the postcolonial
condition’. Or ‘the postcolonial subject’ or the postcolonail woman’ (1998 :
15). Moreover, ‘postcolonial’ refers to specific group of (opressed or
dissenting) people (or individual within them) (1998 : 17); intellectuals and
activists who fought against colonial rule, and their successors who now
engage with itscontinuing legacy, challenged and revised dominant
definition of race, culture, language, and class in the process of making their
voice heard (1998 :20). It can be concluded that postcolonialist is the
intellectuals who fought against colonial rules, and their successirs who now
engage with its continuing legacy, challenged and revised dominant
Postcolonialist struggles has takes many forms such as literatures, by
war, and by awarness of locality, rebellion. According to Frantz Fanon on
Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader : the progress of national conciousness among the people modifies and gives precision to the
literary utterances of native intellectual. The crystalization of the national
consiousness will both disrupt literary styles and themes. This may be
properly called a literature of combat, in the sense that it calls on the whole
people to fight for their existence as a nation. It is a loterature combat,
because it moulds the national consiousness, giving it form and contours
and flinging open before ot new and boundless horzons; it is a literature of
combat because it assumes responsibility, and because it is the will to liberty
expressed in terms of time and space (1994 : 47). According to Patrick
Williams and Laura Chrisman in Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader: beginning in 1947, the formal dissolution of colonial empires and the granting of independence to previously colonised countries
followed various campaign of anti-colonial resistence, usually with an
explicity nationalist basis. These took forms ranging from legal and
diplomatic manoevres – opposing colonisers on their ideological high grund
of principles and procedures – to wars of independence, as in Kenya and
Algeria in the 1950s – opposing the colonisers in what many would regards
as the real ground of colonialism: military power (1994 : 3).
national liberation struggles shows that generally these struggles are
preceded by an increase in expression of cultural personality of the
dominated people, as a means of negating the oppressor culture (1994 : 56).
Cultural resistance may take on new forms (political, economic, armed) in
order fully contest foreign domination (1994 : 53). The value of culture as
an element of resistance to foreign domination lies in the fact that culture is
vigorous manifestation on the ideological or idealist plane of the physical
and historical reality of the society that is dominated or to be dominated
(1995 : 54). Thus it is understood that imperalist domination, by denying the
historical development of dominated people, necessarily also denies their
cultural development. It is also understood why imperialist domination, like
all other foreign domination, for its own security, reaquires cultural
oppresion and the attempt at direct or indirect liquidation of the essential
elements of the culture of the dominated people (1994 : 55). A people who
free themselves from foreign domination will be free culturally only if they
return to the paths of their own culture (1994 : 56). According to Franz
Fanon: National existence comes from national consiousness oas expression
of culture (1994 : 51). We may consider the national liberation movement as
the organized political expression of the culture of the people who are
undertaking the struggle (1994 : 56).
The conceptualisation of ‘race’, ethnicity and ethnic identity is a
major concern both within and alongside post-colonial theory. It is perhaps
‘half-caste/hybrid’ respectively, were eugenic concepts which hold a strong
theoretical and cultural currency within dominant Western intellectual
production, throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Patric
Williams and Laura Chrisman, 1994 : 17).
In many respects, discussion of ethnicity is always also by
implication a discussion of gender and sexuality. Women, as the biological
‘carriers’ of the ‘race’, occupy a primary compex role in representations of
ethnicity (Patrick Wiliiams and Laura Chrisman, 1994 : 17).
According to Frantz Fanon in his book the Wretche of the Earth, the land is the most essential value for a colonized people because the land will
give them bread and above all the land will bring them dignity.
For a colonized people the most essential value, because the most
concrete, is first and foremost the land: the land which will bring them bread
and, above all, dignity (1963 :34).
C.Theoretical Framework
This thesis will focus on the aspect of inferior mindset found in Hyllus
Maris and Sonia Borg’s Women of the Sun. In this thesis there are some theories that will be used in the analysis. Those theories are the theoriy on
Character and Characterization. By using and appying the theory on the
analysis the writer will try to answer the Problem Formulation.
Theory on Character and Characterization will be used to answer the
first and the second question of the Problem Formulation. Theory on Character
father. The same theory will be used to reveal the character of Lo-Arna as the
representation of inferiority and her father as the superior.
The theory of conflict by Stanton is needed to find out the conflict that
appear in the story which makes a change in the main character life. As Stanton
states, one of the important elements in the story in conflict. As we can see in
the novel the conflict in the novel especially in the Lo-Arna story in very
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A.Object of the Study
The story which is discussed in this thesis is taken from Hyllus Maris
and Sonia Borg’s work entitled Women of the Sun. This novel was written by Hyllus Maris and Sonia Borg. Hyllus Maris was born on Echuca Victoria as an
Aborigine into the Yorta Yorta Tribes, an arean near Murray River which is
known as the Aborigines area, while Sonia Borg was born in Vienna Austria.
Hyllus Maris was the co-founder of the National Council of Aboriginal and
island Women. Her grandmother on Cummeragunja Victoria taught her the
Aboriginal culture. She was also known by her dedication to the right of the
Aborigine people. Sonia Borg was born in Vienna Austria. Later she moved to
India and joined with Shakespearean Theater. In 1962 she attended to
Crowford Production as drama coach in Australia. In 1970s, Hyllus Maris and
Sonia Borg collaborated working together on nover Women of the Sun.
This nover was first published in 1985 by Penguin Books Australia Ltd.
This primary object of the thesis consists of five chapters and 175 pages. Every
chapters of this novel presents different character in which they have same
background as Aborigine of half blood of Aborigine. The first chapet is About
character name Towradgi. In this chapter tells how Towradgi gets a view about
the invasion from another nation. The second chapter tells about Alinta in the
beginning of colonialization. The third is about Maydina under colonialization.
The forth and the fifth are about Nerida and Lo-Arna after colonialization.
Women of the Sun was first designed for a series of television. However the spirit to bring the story to public never dies. The story then also presented
as a novel. This novel is originated from the historical relationship between
Whites and Aborigines in Australia. The story has won several awards from
United Nation Peace Prize, Australian Writer’s Guild Award, the Australia
Society Television Awards and the Canadian Banff Television Festival.
B.Approach of the Study
The writer chooses the sociocultural-historical approach. According to
Rorhberger and Wood, the point of this approach is seeing a literary work from
its relation with the social history of a certain time and place. Critics whose
major interest in the sociocultural-historical insist that the only way to locate
the real world is in reference to the civilization that produce it. They define
civilization as the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people and point
out the literature takes this attitudes and actions as its subject matter
(1971:9-10).
According to Guerin in his book, A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, Sociocultural-hustorical approach is an approach that studies a literary work from its social milieu and literary work (1979: 272). It means that
this approach is applied to see a literary work as a reflection of/and
commentaries on something in certain society. There is an interaction betweeen
social milieu and literary work.
Sociocultural-historical approach is an approach that has something to
certain civilization in certain time and place. In analyzing the novel, the writer
sees that it is important to see the condition of civilization to see the effect of
the condition to the character.
C.Method of the Study
The method of the study which is used in this study is library research.
The writer refereed to some books on English literature to collect the
information in the process of analyzing and answering the problems.
To interpret the novel, some steps were taken. The first step is reading
the main novel Women of the Sun especially the last chapter which is the main topic in the thesis. Rereading the novel for many times is really help me to
finding out the topic for this thesis. In order to develop the topic, the problem
formulatio was made.
The second step was reading the secondary sources and collecting some
references that is needed to solve the problem of this thesis and clasifying the
data that have been collected.
The third step was to analyzing the novel. In this part, the writer tries to
identify the main character of Lo-Arna, the changes that was happen to her
before she knew her true identity and after she found out her true identity. The
changes happened to her has changed her way of thinking about everything
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This chapter will provide the answers for the three problem formulations.
The first analysisi discusses the characterization of Lo-Arna and her father, Doug
Cutler. The characterization of Lo-Arna will be divided into two chapters, the first
chapter will discuss about Lo-Arna before she realizes her true identity as the
mixed-race girl and the second chapter will discuss about Lo-Arna after she find
out the truth that she is a mixed-raced girl. In this first analysis will also talk about
Lo-Arna’s father, Doug Cutler, as the representation of White people. The second
analysis will discuss about the inferiority and superiority reflected through the
character of Lo-Arna as the inferior and her father, Doug Cutler, as the superior.
The last analysis will discuss about the identity crisis that appear in the character
of Lo-Arna.
The story of Women of the Sun is presented into five parts. This thesis will be focussing on the last last story, the story of Lo-Arna the Beautiful. Lo-Arna is a mixed-race girl whose father is a White and her mother is an Aborigine. She
believes that she is an adopted child, and does not that her father is her real father,
her biological father. She is told that she is a French-Polynesian girl instead of
mixed-race girl.
Although her father always tries to hide her true identity, Lo-Arna’s
appearance is completely different from other White people and also Aborigine
people. Once she was told by a stranger that she is an Aborigine but she ignores it
since she is told that she is a French-Polynesian. Strangely, she often sees a vision
of an old woman, whose appearance is like an Aborigine elders, but still she
ignores it and think that the woman is an old Polynesian woman rather than
Aborigine woman.
She studied her reflection. Ever since Sunday afternoon, off and on, she had done the sam: she had studied her appearance critically, anxiously, and with puzzlement. She could still hear the woman’s voice : ‘I’ve seen you before somewher, haven’t I?You’re Aboriginal. Aren’t you?’ Why would anyone think that?Not that she believed for a moment there was any truth in it, but the idea that someone could suspect it worried her. She knew little about Aborigines. A picture sprang to mind of some of them seated in the river-beds around Alice Springs, covered in flies, of children with many dogs. Now and then her father talked of their drinking problems. On the whole they were a group one seldom talked about, although from discussions at uni, she knew they struggled for land rights (1985 : 150).
Although Lo-Arna is always told that she is not an Aborigine but her
appearance cannot hide her true identity. What she knows about Aborigine is just
as far as her father told her or what she learns in the university. Her father told her
that she is a French-Polynesian, and that what she believes in mid.
She picked up her towel and went confidently downstairs: she was a French-Polynesian, and she was an idiot to be upset by a stupid incident like that (1985 : 150).
Although she believes she is a French-Polynesian she often sees an vision
of an old woman whose face is like an Aborigine elder.
The conflict begins when she finds out her true identity that she is an
Aborigine. She cannot accept the truth that she is a part of Aborigine people. She
feels that everything ends for her.
Lo-Arna did not go to uni. She stayed at home, unable to find the will, the energy, to do anything constuctive. Her future, once so bright, so full of possibilities and challenges, now stretched out in front of her like a wasteland under a grey sky. She vaguely considered leaving home, but even that seemed pointless: she would never be able to escape from her own self (1985 : 161).
The changes that she felt makes her feel so dirty. She hates herself,
abandon her own existance, she wants to be clean as she was before, but she
realizes that it cannot be that way. She must accept what she was.
She did not resist when he put her into his car. She sat in it like a zombie when he drove her home. Back at the house she did not take any notice of Joy and her father as she walked past them up to her room. There she lay on her bed, starring at the ceiling, till the sin was up. Then she had a shower. She scrubbed herself till she was red and sore, and still she felt unclean(1985 : 161).
A. How are the Character of Lo-Arna and her Father Shown in the Story?
1. Characterization of Lo-Arna before She Finds out the Truth that She
is a Mixed-race Girl
Lo-Arna’s character has a change in the story. The first part is
when she lives as Ann Cutler, daughter of Doug Cutler, a wealthy White
officer. She believes she is an adopted child. She never knows who her
biological father is. She is told that she is a French-Polynesian,
Lo-Arna is Doug Cutler’s daughter, a White officer who takes care
of the housing for the Aborigine people. As the White officer he is a
Lo-Arna was in her room on the first floor of the split-level home in the street lined with liquidambar trees. She believed she was Ann Cutler (1985 : 150).
As the daughter of White officer she is well educated, a rare
oportunity for the Aborigine people at that time to get education.
She had just got home from university, and thought it would be nice to have a quick dip in the pool in the back of the garden. She put on her swimsuit and was just about to leave the room when she caught sight of herself in the mirror (1985 : 150).
She has a confusion about herself when she sees her own reflection
in the mirror. She is different from common White fellow and once she
was told that she is an Aborigine. She was confused when someone thinks
that she is someone else who is Aborigine, how could anyone say that she
is an Aborigine if she has no common similarity to the Aborigine.
She studied her reflection. Ever since Sunday afternoon, off and on, she had done the some: she studied her appearance critically, anxiously, and with puzzlement. She could still hear the woman’s voice:’I’ve seen you before somewhere, haven’t I?You’re Aboriginal, aren’t you?’ Why would anyone think of that? Not that she believed for a moment there was any truth in it, but the idea that someone could suspect it worried her. She knew little about Aborigines. A picture sprang to mind of some of them seated in the river-beds around Alice Springs, covered in flies, of children with mangy dogs. Now and then her father talked of their drinking problems. On the whole they were a group seldom talked about, although from discussions at uni, she knew they struggled for land rights (1985 : 150).
She ignores her similarity with the Aborigine people by comparing
her appearance to Aborigine people common appearance. She studies
every single of her appearance to them, and she comes to a conclusion that
Her reflection looked back at her: slim. a smooth fair skin with golden-brown tinge to it. Her eyes were large and dark and showed very little white, her lips were full but delicate, her wavy hair was black. She picked up a hand-mirror and looked at her profile. No, there was no sign of heavy brows, a broad fleshy nose, of the looks she associated with the blacks. She was relieved. The woman must have tried to be friendly. Wanted to ingratiate herself, perhaps. Or perhaps wanted to upset her :her father had said she was a trouble-maker (1985 : 150).
She is an easy going girl. She likes to join party and hang out with
her friends. When one of her friends invites her to join a party she really
loves to join and dress up at her best.
Lo-Arna was coming home from a party at Nick Rowley’s place. He was a fellow student, a friend at uni. It had been a fancy-dress do: ‘Come as what you’d like to be’. What a thing to ask; it meant revealing something of yourself you’d really want to eep a secret = that is, if you took it seriously. Joy had suggested she dress up in a sarong and go as a Polynesian, but that, after all, was what she was
anyway. She had decided she’d go as something that was too ludicrous to be taken as a hint of her real dreams. She went as Barbarella, in a crazy, scanty space costume (1985 : 156).
From the definition in the story, we can see thah Lo-Arna is a
wealthy girl, well-educated, and easy going girl. Although it seems very
sweet for Aborigine girl like her, but the truth about herself is still hidden.
A confusion about herself often appears in her mind. She often sees a
vision of a woman with dark face and cloudy hair that often bother her
mind and wondering who that woman is.
She always thinks that the woman is a Polynesian woman, woman
of her ancestor, or perhaps her grandmother. As a girl from a wealthy
family, Lo-Arna’s life seeems so beautiful and anyone at that time will
challenge, with her education she can reach everything she ever dreamt
about.
At that time, the White people will always have better chance in
everything. As the superior civilization everything is open for White
people, especially in education. White people have better acces to be
educated rather than the Aborigine, as the result White people are have
more opportunities in their career and better life.
2. Characterization of Lo-Arna after She Finds out the Truth that She is A
Mixed-race Girl
The character of Lo-Arna has a changes after she finds out her true
identity that she is an Aborigine. Once her life so bright and full of
opportunities, then it changes to a truth that she is a part of Aborigine
people. She feels so down and cannot take the truth that she is an
Aborigine. Her life ends for her.
Lo-Arna feels she is betrayed by those who close to her, her own
father. She cannot believe that her father is her biological father. She
cannot believe that her father hide the truth about her, it was very shocking
to know the truth from her father.
Then she was driving, her father’s words echoing inside her head: ‘Aboriginal.Alice Wilson, and she’s Aboriginal …’ He – her father! Her real father! She felt betrayed by everyone (1985 : 157).
After knowing the truth about herself she tries to runaway from it.
She feels so scared, insecure and rage at the same time. She brings all her
where is she heading at. She wants to run from everything, as far as she
could and as fast as she could.
She was going along the freeway. There was hardly any traffic on the road, and she went very fast. She didn’t care. Behind her was another car. She felt as if it was after her, so she went faster still. Inside her there was so much rage, so much confusion – she thought she could not bear it; that something would snap in her brain and that would be the end (1985 : 158).
Strangely, in her lost, she can figure out the vision of a woman that
she often see when she is about to sleep. She can see now that the woman
is Aborigine. The figure of the woman makes her calm and show her a
way to her consiousness and calm her mind so that she can think straight
again.
Through the mist she saw the glow of a small fire. Gradually she could make out a woman sitting next to it. She was dressed in black. The face turned to look at her. It was the woman of her memory with white hair, dark eyes. Lo-Arna could see now she was Aboriginal.
Lo-Arna shut her eyes, as if to blot out the sight. When she opened them, the woman and the fire had both vanished.
Strangely, the mystery calmed her, and she was able to think again. One thing was certain: she was not going home. She could not face her father (1985 : 158).
She becomes senseless and cannot understand anything. She
cannot think or understand what other person say. She doesn’t want to talk
or hear, she just want to be nothing, think nothing.
After that she still didn’t answer any questions. She couldn’t see anything any sense in talking. All she wanted was to do nothing, be nothing, think nothing (1985 : 159).
The truth makes her ignorant, even to her own existence. She hate
Aborigine. She hates being mixed-race. She hates herself. She hates being
a part of people that she considered as lower class.
As he talked and talked, Lo-Arna felt resentment building up inside her – a deep, futile resentment against life, against fate that had made her Aboriginal. She felt herself raging against herself and knew at the same time that it was no use. She was what she was. Every single cell of her, each particle of blood. Her brain, her mind. She felt contaminated by some dreadful disease that permeated her whole being (1985 : 159).
After she hates herself she became emotional, full of anger, even
cannot controll her own emotion.
She raised her voice. ‘I’m not going home!’ She sounded like a stubborn, desperate child. ‘I’m staying here!’(1985 : 160).
She becomes more and more uncontrolled so that she hits her
friend’s face.
She leapt to hear feet and hit him across the face. He stared, and slowly rubbed his cheek (1985 : 160).
Her confession about her true identity has lead her to a condition
where she really cannot accept everything, even herself. Everthing about
her is ugly, even anyone says that it is not that bad but she still thinks that
everything is ugly.
‘I don’t see what you’re so upset about,’ he said quietly, truthfully, when she had calmed herself a little.
‘It’s all so ugly, ugly, ugly… ‘ Lo-Arna could still hear Joy’s words ringing in her ears (1985 : 160).
Even when someone can take what she really was, she cannot
accept her own existence. She feels that she is lower, unacceptable, and
‘You know I don’t. ‘He stroke her hair. ‘I don’t care what you are… Polynesian princess, Madame Galactica, a wog, a chink, a boong, a bloody ocker…’
She gave him a bitter smile. ‘That’s big of you,’ she said. ‘To you I am acceptable… but not to me.’ (1985 : 161).
The truth that she found out make her feel that everything ends for
her. Her future, her life and everything she has ends in an instant.
Lo-Arna did not go to uni. She stayed home, unable to find the will, the energy, to do anything constructive. Her future, once so bright, so full of possibilities and challenges, now streched out in front of her like a wasteland under a grey sky. She vaguely considered leaving home, but even that seemed pointless: she would never be able to escape from her own self (1985 : 161).
The changes that Lo-Arna feels in her life after she finds out the
truth that she is an Aborigine really shocks her. Her life once so bright, so
full of opportunity and challenges, should be changed into life which more
like a wasteland in a grey sky. She feels her life is worthless. She doesnot
valueable to anyone, even to herself. She is ignorant to herself, desperate,
emotional,ashamed about herself, and has no trust to anyone.
She feels herself as a sin, a mistake, a thing that should not exist, a
thing which is not accepted for everyone, she is a curse, a disease. She
wants to wash away everything that connect her to Aborigine, her
appearance, her skin, but she knows that she cannot do that. She is what
she was, a mixed-race girl, not a White and not Aborigine either. She is
not a White girl which she ever lived before as the Ann Cutler, a rich girl
with great education and also beautiful appearance. She is not an
is an Aborigine since she knows that Aborigine is lower class as her father
always tells her.
3. Characterization of Doug Cutler in the Story of Lo-Arna the Beautiful
Doug Cutler is Lo-Arna’s father. He is an officer who takes care of
housing for the Aborigine people. He is a very important person for the
Aborigine since he has a key position to help the Aborigine people to get
better housing.
The others in the car were keyed up, singing and chattering. They knew that Doug Cutler was guest of honour at annual dinner of the Ethnic Soccer Association. The function was being held in one of the eastern suburbs. The houses were all very big and new, on large blocks. There was a huge shopping complex with palm trees in front of it; it had a bright orange dome that looked as if it were made of plastic. There were traffic lights and many lanes and signs and arrows everywhere. A large billboard pictured a man sitting on a horse looking satisfied over the caption: ‘This is Marlboro Country’(1985 : 146).
As an important officer, he is very respected by the Aborigine
people. As a White officer he is a wealthy person, his appearance shows
that he is a rich man. Although he is aging he still look firm in the way he
looks.
He is a smart person, it can be seen from the way he handle the
people when facing the media and controlling his emotion when facing
Alice Wilson, an Aborigine woman who has a connection with him in the
past.
Alice had moved slightly forward, and Cutler brieflt caught sight of her as he tried to put one of the hecklers in his place. There was no sign of recognition. But his eyes were drawn back to her, as if they were playing tricks on him. When it struck him that it was really her, she could see him reel as he was assailed by all the implications. He turned back to Val, collected himself, and managed to sound brisk and efficient: ‘Well, get these papers to me Monday morning, and I’ll see what I can do… ‘ (1985 : 148).
As a smart officer he is also an on time person. When making an
appointment with the Aborigine he wants the appointment to be on time.
Val was very smug. ‘We’ll get them to you before that,’ she said. ‘We want an appointment Monday morning to discuss them with you.’
‘Yes, well, ten o’clock. On the dot.’
‘Don’t worry. We’ll be there…’(1985 : 148).
As a White officer she really cares about privacy, it can be seen
when he needs to talk Alice. He makes an special appointmen in a certain
place so that they can talk on private .
Next day, after Alice had been down by the river with the children, there was a telegram for her. Jimmy handed it to her; he had opened it. It said: ‘Meet me at the Royal Oaks 8.30 tonight. Need to discuss things with you.Doug Cutler.’ (1985 : 152).
Although he asks for privacy to meet Alice in the place that he has
arranged but in fact he is a very busy person. In the place that he promised
to Alice he also meet other people and take car of his works. It shows that
The waitress saw her and came to find out what she wanted. She was a friendly soul. When she went back to tell Cutler he had a visitor, she left the door ajar, and Alice could see him sitting there with two men from local Council. So it wasn’t just her he’d come to visit. She wondered if he’d come to talk to them about the shanty site, or whether he was here for some personal reason: she remembered that he’d once bought some land here in the area – very beautiful, with a creek running through it, and good trees. It had been quite cheap, and they had thought then that one day they’d retire here… (1985 : 153).
Doug Cutler’s past life has a connection with Alice Wilson. They
have a special relationship. In the past when Doug Cutler is no one, in
other word when he is not an officer yet they are couple. It can be seen at
the beginning of the story when Val pearce meet Alice to ask her help to
meet Doug Cutler.
Val could already see their batlle won. ‘Just imagine what he’ll think when he claps eyes on you! Be a reminder what he did when he was still a little fish…’ (1985 : 145).
Doug Cutler is just a normal person when they have relationship.
By the time they meet again he tries to cover their relationship and tries to
talk about something else, especially about the housing for Aborigine
people.
‘Small world, eh?’ he said, after he had fortified himself. ‘Please do sit down,’ he said again.
She ignored the invitation.
‘Oh, by the way,’ he assumed his jovial official tone, ‘I’m confident we’ll be able to do something about better housing soon for you people here… might involve some shifting, though.’ (1985 : 154).
He was really shocked when Alice ask him about their relationship
in the past, especially about their daughter.
He froze and stared into his glass, as if he thought the question would go away if he didn’t respond to it (1985 : 154).
The thing is getting worse when it is finally found out that the man
who send the welfare workers to take Lo-Arna from her mother is her own
father.
She found out it hard to speak, almost choking in the rage that threatened to overpower her. ‘You stole her from me! – You!’ she spat the word. Her eyes were burnin in her face. ‘It was you! How could you? How could you duo this to anyone?’
Her voice had risen and she was close to breaking down as she remembered the despair, the frustation, worry, all the anger she had felt. She remembered the impassive expression on the faces of all the clerks and social workers she had questionerd and pleaded with. ‘I looked for her for years! No one would tell me anything! I thought that she had died! (1985 : 154)
Then he shows his character as a father who loves his daughter. He
tries to show that what he has done in the past in his way to show his love
to his daughter.
He stared into his glass, and she felt could not get through to him. ‘Didn’t you ever think of me? Didn’t you think that I loved my daughter?’ (1985 : 154)
His action of showing his love to his daughter is more like an
action to cover what his action in the past. In fact he separates his daughter
from her biological mother and he tries to cover it by saying that he loves
his daughter. He insists that in his situation at the past he cannot give his
daughter anything. He thinks that it was better to separate his daughter
from her biological mother since most of White people do if they have
daughter from Aborigine girl.
‘Well, at least I didn’t shirk my responsibilities – which most of the blokes would have done.’ He sounded like injured party. ‘I didn’t want a child!’ (1985 : 155).
He thinks that when he is no one, with no good job and wealth, he
would just dump his daughter to a worse situation. Now with his position
as the officer who takes care of the housing for the Aborigine people he
can give good home, good education and even better future. He thinks it
will be better that way rather than his daugter stay with her mother who is
Aborigine and has nothing to offer.
‘Look, Alice,’ he tried to sound calm and reasonable, ‘what’s past is past, we cannot change what happened.’
‘No,’ she thought. ‘you can never give me back those years I could have had with my daughter…’
‘Anyway, we’ve given her a proper home, a good educatuin. What did you have to offer?’ (1985 : 155).
Afterall he tries to be responsible to Alice by giving her some
money. He hopes that the money can help Alice and makes her forget
about her daughter.
‘There’s not much here’ – he sounded apologetic – ‘just about three hundred dollars, but I can let you have more…’
‘What’s the money for? I don’t want your money!’ (1985 : 155)
He tries to be honest to Alice about the current situation that Alice
and her daughter has nothing in common. Lo-Arna is more like White girl
rather than Aborigine girl. He explain the truth just in case to avoid any
disapointment that may appear if Alice force him to help her meet her
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ he said carefully. ‘Look, she’s leading a good life; Joy and I have brought her up… Why upset the girl? You’ve got nothing in common, you and her.’
‘Haven’t we?’
There was a pause. Outside the rain was still coming down and drumming against the window. People were brawling in the bar. ‘I’m her mother.’
‘Look, Alice …’ he tried to sound calm, reasonable. ‘You’d both disapointed. She’s not like you expect. She’s like a white girl. She’s not really Aboriginal.’ (1985 : 155-156)
Doug Cutler is a typical of White officer at that time. Although at
his past time he is nobody with no career but he can make a changes in his
life and make his life better. When he is no body he has a relationship with
Alice Wilson untill they have a daughter. He loves his daughter but the
way he shows his love is by taking her for her biological mother. He
considers his action is right on his opinion since he can give proper home
and education.
He is a White officer who takes care of housing for the Aborigine
people, he has an important position that makes him live in wealth, well
educated and be honored by the Aborigine people. He is a very busy
person, responsible, and on time. Although in fact he is not that clean and
perfect since his history in the past. He takes her daughter from her
biological mother by force. He hid his daughter true identity, he tries give
money to Alice as a compensate, and furthermore, when Alice needs to see
her daughter, he gives an opinion or explanation that Alice has nothing in
common with her daughter. He says that her daughter is more like White
B. How are inferiority and superiority reflected through the character of Lo-Arna and her father?
1. Inferiority can be seen through the character of Lo-Arna, a mixed-race girl,
who once ever live as Ann Cutler, daughter of Doug Cutler a White officer
who has a wealthy life and a very good job.
Lo-Arna is a mixed-race girl whose father is Doug Cutler, an
honorable White officer, and her mother is Alice Wilson, an Aborigine
woman who has a relationship with Doug Cutler in the past. As a White
officer’s daughter’s, Lo-Arna lives with her father and separated from her
biological mother.
She is taken from her mother by force when he is a child.
What if Doug Cutler asked about Lo-Arna? She didn’t think he would – he wouldn’t want to remember that he was the father of her baby – but what if he did?She’d have to tell him that Lo-Arna had been taken away by welfare workers as a neglected child. And he would think she had been a bad mother! (1985 : 146)
As he is taken from her mother when she is a child, she has no
information about who her real parents are. She is just an adopted child.
As a mixed-race girl she has no right to ask to his White parent about who
her really parents are.
It shows that Lo-Arna has completely no information about herself.
She is told what she only needs to know. Has no acces to know herself,
who she really is, who are her parents, and every details about her.
It shows that being an Aborigine everything is limited for her,
including to find the reality about her own identity. If she insists to ask or
finding any information about herself, her parents keep trying to hide it
from her by refusing any discussion on her adoption and tell her that she is
a part of Cutler family and that’s only thing that matter.
Her family always keep the truth for her. No matter how hard she
tries to find out the truth her parents will just tell her what she needs to
know. She may not ask any further about her identity. She will just be told
that she is Ann Cutler, an adopted child. The reality about her real parents
are still kept in her father’s mind and she has no right to ask about it. The
right to know has been limited since she is just and adopted child, an
Aborigine adopted child.
As a White officer’s daughter she is always proud of herself. She
always thinks that she is a White as her father. She is always proud of
herself, her appearance, her opportunity, her life. All education, all
knowledge that she acquires always lead her to see the Aborigine as the
lower class. What on Lo-Arna’s mind is that being White is much better
than being an Aborigine.
Everything changes when she finds out the truth. The truth that she
biological father is Doug Cutler, a man who takes care of her since she
was a child, some one who told her that she is an adopted child.
‘Met?’She was bitter.’Met?... I’ve lived in his house for eighteen years! Oh, he makes me sick! That hypocrite! That ‘Mr Clean’! That nice charming proper gentleman! He never told me! Never …’ (1985 : 161)
The reallity she finds out makes her wondering who her mother is.
Then the answer is her mother is not Joy Cutler, but Alice Wilson instead.
She looked at Joy, who buried her face in her hands. Who then was her mother?
Her father continued rapidly: ‘Your mother’s a woman called Alice Wilson. And she’s Aboriginal.’ (1985 : 157)
Everything that she is ever proud about, her appearance, her life
and everything has change to a shame. Once she ever proud about her
appearance, her brown skin, which makes her really proud and thinks that
she is a French Polynesian girl, but after she found out that she is an
Aborigine, all the proud has change to shame, even she curses herself for
being born.
She gave him a bitter smile. ‘That’s big of you.’ She said. ‘To you I am acceptable… but not to me.’
She did not resist when he put her into his car. She sat in like as zombie when he drove her hom. Back at the house she did not take any notice of Joy and her father as she walked past them up to her room. There she lay on bed, starring at the ceiling, till the sun was up. Then she had a shower. She scrubbed herself till she was red and sore, and still she felt unclean (1985 : 161).
Her action of scrubbing her own skin shows that she hates being
colorured. She doesn’t want to be coloured, she wants to stay as White
person. She wants her identity as Ann Cutler, not as Lo-Arna. Being White
used to know as French Polynesian skin and she is so proud of it, now she
really hates her skin color. Her skin color is like a curse for her now.
She feels that her existence is not worth. She feels that her father
just have a pity on her. She thinks that her father only take care of her
because she is a reminder of her mother. A reminder of his old love to
someone that ever has a relationship with him. She is not worth as a child
but as a thing as a reminder of her father memory.
She noticed with bitter satisfaction how the events had upset her father’s cosy, comfortable life. He looked worn and tense. At the same time it added to her sense of worthlessness to see how anxious he was to hide ‘the indiscretion’ he had committed twenty years ago. And she could not work out why he had adopted her : she must have been a constant reminder of her mother. Perhaps he felt guilt, and pity. Lo-Arna hated pity. She found out it hard now to believe that he had ever loved her. If he had, would he not stand up for what he’d done?Instead he was on the run. He said he was sick of his job, the rat-race. He wanted to retire, buy himself a small farm, and live on the land (1985 : 162).
She thinks that she is not a daughter to her father. She is just a tool
for her father. Her father raises her only to remind her father of memory
about her mother in the past. She doesn’t believe that her father really love
her.
Lo-Arna’s feeling is getting worse since she finds out the truth
about herself. She feels unworthed, she has no where to belong. She
cannot stay as a White or as Ann Cuttler since she knows that her mother
is an Aborigine. On the other side, she still cannot meet her mother and be
an Aborigine since she was taught that Aborigine is lower class. She
Being an Aborigine is a curse, a lower class which she considered as sin.
She always thinks about her future, it’s so bright, full of opportunity and
challenge, but now it’s gone. Everything ends for her. She was once thinks
life is so beautiful as a White but as an Aborigine she feels everything has
ended before her eyes.
Although she hated her life but what can she do when everything
has been revealed for her through her own father lips. She wants to escape
but she cannot escape from herself. No matter how far she can run but the
truth is that she is an Aborigine. It is her fate. She cannot run from it and
she must face it although it’s too hard for her.
Lo-Arna did not go to uni. She stayed at home, unable to find the will, the energy, to do anything constructive. Her future, once so bright, so full of possibilitis and challenges, now strecthed out in front of her like a wasteland under a grey sky. She vaguely considered leaving home, but even that seemed pointless: she would never be able to escape from her own self (1985 : 162).
Her inferior feeling is so strong since she knows that she is an
Aborigine. Although her friend convinces her that it doesn’t matter
whether she is an Aborigine or a White. She cannot face the fact that she is
a part of lower class. It doesn’t matter whether she is accepted or not to the
White but her inferior feeling has blackened her eyes so that she cannot
accept the condition that she face.
‘I’m a boong. A bloody Abo.’ The words seemed to float in the air.
Even when she is reassured by his friend that it doesn’t matter
whether she in an Aborigine she still cannot accept it. She just hate being
an Aborigine, she hates being herself, a mixed-race person which has no
place in both White and Aborigine.
‘You know I don’t.’ He stroke her hair. ‘ I don’t care what you are … Polynesian princess, Madame Galactica, a wog, a chink, a boong , a bloody ocker…’
She gave him a bitter smile. ‘That’s big of you,’ she said. ‘To you I am acceptable .. but not to me.’ (1985 : 161)
A sense of denial toward herself has proved that Lo-Arna’s feeling
of inferior is so strong. She cannot take any truth about herself which
connected to the Aborigine. She used to live as a White person. A superior
class which she consider be best in everything. Life as a White a perfect
life. Life as an Aborigine is a curse. Her feeling of inferior grows since she
was taught that Aborigine people are lower class, even they can own their
own land. They must struggle for housing, for their right, for education.
She cannot live as an Aborigine, so that makes her feels that Aborigine
blood which runs in her veins is a curse.
A feeling of shame to admit the truth that she is an Aborigine is
very strong. She cannot even meet her mother, her biological mother,
although her mother is stands before her eyes
