Configuration of agency in constructing nationalism in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s children and Mangun Wijaya’s The Weaverbirds: a postcolonial study.

(1)

&+5,67,1$ /$9,$1, 7,1$0%81$1

<RJ\DNDUWD 'HSDUWPHQW RI (QJOLVK /HWWHUV )DFXOW\ RI /HWWHUV 6DQDWD 'KDUPD 8QLYHUVLW\

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

7KHPDLQSRLQWSXUVXHGLQWKLVDQDO\VLVLVKRZDQDJHQF\LVSHUIRUPHGDQG PDQLIHVWHG LQ WZR SRVWFRORQLDO WH[WV E\ ,QGRQHVLDQ ZULWHU DQG ,QGLDQ ZULWHU HVSHFLDOO\LQWKHFRQWH[WVVXFKDVWKH7KLUG:RUOG$FRUROODU\TXHVWLRQUDLVHGLV KRZ WKH VXUYLYHG DJHQW DWWHPSW DQG HVWDEOLVKDQ LGHQWLW\ LQ VXFK FLUFXPVWDQFHV /DVWO\ ZKDW LV WKH UROH LI DQ\ RI WKRVH DJHQWV LQ WKHLU QDWLRQDOLVP LQ WKH SUHVXPHGDQGIRUHJRLQJUHODWLRQVRILGHQWLW\

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nV OLPLWDWLRQV DQG ZHDNQHVVHV 1HYHUWKHOHVV WKH PDQLIHVWDWLRQ RI EHKDYLRU RU WKH DZDUHQHVV WR FRQILJXUH DJHQF\ LQGLFDWHV DQ LGHQWLFDO FRQFHSW WKDW ZLWKRXW DFWLRQ WKHUH ZLOO QHYHU EH FKDQJHV ZLWKLQ RXU VHOI RU IRU WKH SHRSOH DURXQG XV HYHQ DIWHU WKH FRORQLDOLVPKDVORQJJRQH

x ABSTRACT

&+5,67,1$ /$9,$1, 7,1$0%81$1. Configuration of Agency in Constructing Nationalism in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and Mangun Wijaya’s The Weaverbirds: a Postcolonial Study. <RJ\DNDUWD 'HSDUWPHQW RI (QJOLVK /HWWHUV )DFXOW\ RI /HWWHUV 6DQDWD 'KDUPD 8QLYHUVLW\

(2)

&+5,67,1$ /$9,$1, 7,1$0%81$1

<RJ\DNDUWD-XUXVDQ 6DVWUD,QJJULV)DNXOWDV6DVWUD8QLYHUVLWDV6DQDWD'KDUPD

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

7XMXDQ XWDPD \DQJ LQJLQ GLFDSDL GDODP SHQHOLWLDQ LQL DGDODK EDJDLPDQD DJHQVLGLPDQLIHVWDVLNDQGDQGLNHMDZDQWDKNDQGLGDODPGXDWHNVSRVNRORQLDOROHK SHQXOLV ,QGRQHVLD GDQ ,QGLD WHUXWDPD GDODP NRQWHNV 'XQLD .HWLJD 3HUWDQ\DDQ VHODQMXWQ\D \DQJ GLDMXNDQ DGDODK EDJDLPDQD DJHQ \DQJ EHUWDKDQ PHQFRED GDQ PHPEDQJXQVHEXDKLGHQWLWDVGDODPVLWXDVLVHPDFDPLWX7HUDNKLUDSDNDKSHUDQ DJHQ MLND DGD GDODP KDO QDVLRQDOLVPH VHKXEXQJDQ GHQJDQ LGHQWLWDV \DQJ GLGDSDWNDQVHEHOXPQ\D

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

xi ABSTRAK

&+5,67,1$ /$9,$1, 7,1$0%81$1. Configuration of Agency in Constructing Nationalism in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and Mangun Wijaya’s The Weaverbirds: a Postcolonial Study. <RJ\DNDUWD-XUXVDQ 6DVWUD,QJJULV)DNXOWDV6DVWUD8QLYHUVLWDV6DQDWD'KDUPD

(3)

CONFIGURATION OF AGENCY IN CONSTRUCTING

NATIONALISM IN SALMAN RUSHDIE’S MIDNIGHT’S

CHILDREN AND MANGUN WIJAYA’S THE WEAVERBIRDS:

A POSTCOLONIAL STUDY

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

CHRISTINA LAVIANI TINAMBUNAN

Student Number: 084214123

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

(4)

i

CONFIGURATION OF AGENCY IN CONSTRUCTING

NATIONALISM IN

SALMAN RUSHDIE’S

MIDNIGHT’S

CHILDREN AND

MANGUN WIJAYA’S

THE WEAVERBIRDS:

A POSTCOLONIAL STUDY

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

CHRISTINA LAVIANI TINAMBUNAN Student Number: 084214123

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

(5)

(6)

(7)

vi

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certify that this undergraduate thesis contains no material which has been

previously submitted for the award of any other degree at any university, and that,

to the best of my knowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material

previously written by any other person except where due reference is made in the

text of the undergraduate thesis.

Yogyakarta, July 31, 2015

(8)

K

K n o w l e d g e s p e a k s , b u t w i s d o m l i s t e n s .

(9)

This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to:

R

R e v . D r . R e n e e H o u s e & R e v . D r . R i c h a r d R u c h_, who teach me how to love

and

(10)

vii

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertandatangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : Christina Laviani Tinambunan

Nomor Mahasiswa : 084214123

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

CONFIGURATION OF AGENCY IN CONSTRUCTING NATIONALISM IN SALMAN RUSHDIE’S MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN AND MANGUN WIJAYA’S THE WEAVERBIRDS: A POSTCOLONIAL STUDY

Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (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 royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta,

Pada tanggal: 31 Juli 2015

Yang menyatakan,

(11)

viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to point out the guidance that I received from my

thesis advisor Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. who had at all times given me

the advices I needed, but even more I wish to thank him for the spirit of friendly

cooperation precisely when I had only a very limited time. I am grateful to my

co-advisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum., who helped me make my way

through the intricacies of comparative analysis through her deliberation in my

work. I wish here to thank Anna Fitriati, S.Pd., M.Hum. whose forbearance and

‘push’ made me believe that I can finish my thesis. I gratefully acknowledge

Linda Valentina Budiman, S.S., M.Hum. whose encouragement, motivation, not

mentioning her academic advice and assistance over the years, were enough

incentives or antidotes for me to finish my undergraduate program and this thesis.

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my father, Marsius

Tinambunan, S.Th., B.c.hm, M.Hum., and my mother, Dewi A. L. Pangaribuan,

M.Mus., M.A. for their constant support and faith, their tolerance and resilience

during my long work of thesis. To Abram Widi Wibawa, S.S., I owe the greatest

debt, for his fortitude and his unfailing cheerfulness while I doing and re-doing

the most laborious of the tasks needed to make ready this thesis.

This thesis would not have been realized without Gustin Lawis, S.S. who

made a number of useful suggestions and took great concern to always cheer me

up for my improvements. Finally and fondly, countless friends in Sanata Dharma

English Letters Study Program who have made my English study a pleasure.

(12)

(13)

&+5,67,1$ /$9,$1, 7,1$0%81$1

<RJ\DNDUWD 'HSDUWPHQW RI (QJOLVK /HWWHUV )DFXOW\ RI /HWWHUV 6DQDWD 'KDUPD 8QLYHUVLW\

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nV OLPLWDWLRQV DQG ZHDNQHVVHV 1HYHUWKHOHVV WKH PDQLIHVWDWLRQ RI EHKDYLRU RU WKH DZDUHQHVV WR FRQILJXUH DJHQF\ LQGLFDWHV DQ LGHQWLFDO FRQFHSW WKDW ZLWKRXW DFWLRQ WKHUH ZLOO QHYHU EH FKDQJHV ZLWKLQ RXU VHOI RU IRU WKH SHRSOH DURXQG XV HYHQ DIWHU WKH FRORQLDOLVPKDVORQJJRQH

x

ABSTRACT

&+5,67,1$ /$9,$1, 7,1$0%81$1. Configuration of Agency in Constructing Nationalism in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and Mangun Wijaya’s The Weaverbirds_{: a Postcolonial Study.}<RJ\DNDUWD 'HSDUWPHQW RI (QJOLVK /HWWHUV )DFXOW\ RI /HWWHUV 6DQDWD 'KDUPD 8QLYHUVLW\

(14)

&+5,67,1$ /$9,$1, 7,1$0%81$1

<RJ\DNDUWD-XUXVDQ 6DVWUD,QJJULV)DNXOWDV6DVWUD8QLYHUVLWDV6DQDWD'KDUPD

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

xi

ABSTRAK

&+5,67,1$ /$9,$1, 7,1$0%81$1. Configuration of Agency in Constructing Nationalism in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and

Mangun Wijaya’s The Weaverbirds_{: a Postcolonial Study.}<RJ\DNDUWD-XUXVDQ 6DVWUD,QJJULV)DNXOWDV6DVWUD8QLYHUVLWDV6DQDWD'KDUPD

(15)

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Identity has been famously arguable within our nation recently. This idea

apparently would not be articulated if some problems with Malaysia were not

aroused and irritated Indonesian’s pride or well known used by the reporters in

Television News as “National Identity”. It has emerged at the core issues of social

and political division, protest, and transformation across the country as a

controversy. People are questioning about this issue in many ways and bring it to

social instruments such as movies, songs, news, etc. As a result, then, the unclear

concept of identity provides a space for new research and critical analysis, which,

in the end, opens up questions of race, ethnicity and culture.

Regarding the idea of identity, every human being (in relation to having

his/her own personal identity) has a consciousness of who they are in connection

to the larger community—the nation—. Each nation, province, island, state and an

individual has its own unique mixing of history, culture, language and tradition.

Within these differentiations and consciousness, every individual acknowledge

their bond to the nationalism in line with an ambiguous and shifting nature of

expressions.

In the attempt to explore the concept of nationalism, an individual or a

nation should perceive and embrace the idea of struggle and resistance to

(16)

Struggle and resistance explain the uniqueness of identity shared and experienced

individually by members of the colonized society. It is thus by reading colonial

literatures one can perceive obtainable representative cases to be examined since

it provides raw field of study regarding issues of identity and cultural struggle, as

once said by Elleke Boehmer; the literatures of empire and of the making of

postcolonial nations are subjects which could sustain hundreds of individual

studies (Boehmer, 2005:8). The observation of struggle and resistance from

literatures produced by postcolonial authors and poets informs that there are too

many different circumstances which become such a basic in each postcolonial

society, or in every piece of literature produced by postcolonial writers.

Nationalism, in accordance with struggle and resistance, arises as the

collective goal for the colonized society as well as the desire for an individual in

colonized society. Aschroft and his friends briefly stated, it is especially in Third

World fiction after the Second World War that the fictional uses of ‗nation‘ and

‗nationalism‘ are most pronounced. The ‗nation‘ is precisely what Foucault has

called a ‗discursive formation‘—not simply an allegory or imaginative vision, but

a gestative political structure which the Third World artist is consciously building

or suffering the lack of. ‗Uses‘ here should be understood both in a personal,

craftsmanlike sense, where nationalism is a trope for such things as ‗belonging‘,

‗bordering‘, and ‗commitment‘. But it should also be understood as the

institutional uses of fiction in nationalist movements themselves. At the present

(17)

Accordingly, in this thesis two literary texts are compared in order to

determine the similarities and differences of the struggle for identity between two

different colonized countries. If two residents of the same country may live in

completely different geographical climates and have very few of the same

characteristics with each other, then two residents in two different countries will

definitely dissimilar one another. This notion guides the idea to find out how two

colonial subjects from the Third World countries (Midnight’s Children for India and The Weaver Birds for Indonesia) facing the British and Dutch empire and

interpreting what nationalism might be for a postcolonial subject.

Midnight’s Children, an Indian masterpiece written by Salman Rushdie in 1980, presenting Saleem Sinai as the main character in the story who strives

during his life for his identity. Teto or Setadewa or Raden Mas Sinyo, the major

role in The Weaver Birds or Burung-Burung Manyar, is portrayed as a figure who

meets ambiguity problems about who and how he defines himself, once his

country has achieved its independence. Both of these inhabitants of a colonial

territories or formerly colonized countries, emerge with self-awareness. With this

self-awareness comes self-expression.

In such a case, only by exploring the idea of agency can this phenomenon

of self-expression be understood. Agency deals with how an individual can

produce statements, either words or behaviors, toward the situation around. Since

the colonial empire transforms an individual/people and its area, it also transforms

the knowledge, belief, idea, power, class, race and gender that triggers reactions

(18)

Hence, the illustration of the permanent difficulties of postcolonial

subject's attempt to formulate a new personal identity and nationalism make

Midnight’s Children which was written by Salman Rushdie and The Weaver Bird

by Mangun Wijaya a good start for research. As the quality of life and historical

circumstances is unlike from town to town, neighborhood to neighborhood,

family to family, and, ultimately, from individual to individual, those two novels

are the precise representation to see how two postcolonial authors convey their

respective messages about the colonial condition to the rest of the world.

B. Problem Formulation

1. How are the colonial and postcolonial situation depicted from the settings

and characters in the novels?

2. What are the forms of resistance against colonial control portrayed through

the settings and characters in both novels?

3. How are the configurations of agency in constructing individual identity

and nationalism reflected from the forms of resistances?

C. Objectives of the Study

The aim of this research is to compare how the main characters resist and

struggle toward the colonizers in ideological and cultural issues for the

establishment of identities and nationalism. With two novels from India and

(19)

Firstly, through settings and characters in the story, the writer tries to find out how

the intrinsic elements showing the colonial-postcolonial context. Secondly, after

finding the idea of colonial-postcolonial circumstances, the writer tries to

determine the form of resistance performed by the main characters. Third,

following the identification, the writer tries to indicate the contributions of the

main characters in the process of defining the identities of themselves and forming

nationalism of their state.

D. Definition of Term

This part presents the definition and explanation of some important terms

used in this thesis:

Configuration

―Configuration is the arrangement of the parts of something, shape, or layout.‖

(Longman, 2000:289)

Agency

Referring to Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin, Agency, refers to ―The ability to act

or perform an action. In contemporary theory, it hinges on the question of whether

individuals can freely and autonomously initiate action, or whether the things they

do in some sense determined by the ways in which their identity has been

(20)

refers to the ability of postcolonial subjects to initiate action in engaging or

resisting imperial power― (1998: 8).

Configuration of Agency

Configuration of Agency related to the context of this research is form of

manifestation in the ability to act or perform an action by the individual or

characters in resisting the imperial power inside the novels. In other words,

Configuration of Agency is the arrangement or the shape of whether individuals

can freely and autonomously initiate action, or whether the things they do in some

(21)

7 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

In the book Masterworks of Asian Literature in Comparative Perspective

(Columbia Project on Asia in the Core Curriculum), Robin Jared Lewis wrote 11

pages of his Indian text research about Midnight’s Children. Within his simplified

analysis using narrative point of view he argues, “Saleem’s life story is meant to

illuminate the central Indian question of identity, of the relationship between the

individual and the larger whole, be it the family, the faith, or the nation” (Miller,

1994:179). By stating it, Lewis convinced since the earliest pages that there is a

connection between the public affairs and Saleem’s private life’s. Lewis

compared it together with another book such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One

Hundred Years of Solitude and Gunter Grass’s The Tin Drum.

To make it clearer in seeing the context through his glasses, Lewis recites

that Saleem’s private life is absorbed by the public affairs and so does the public

affairs becomes the part of Saleem’s life. Lewis quotes Saleem’s sentences and

put his explanation:

“To understand just one life, you have to swallow the world” is Saleem

(22)

In other words, Lewis argues that to understand Saleem, we must also

understand his world. To understand his whole world means we have to

understand the story of India-the story about a country and all of its political and

cultural conditions- which has been told in his (Saleem) long narratives story

since 1915 – 1977, 62 years before until after its Indepence.

From the understanding of Saleem‘s world, India in particular, the picture of

struggle and resistance will be easier to capture, so does the issue concerning

identity and nationalism. Lewis asserts that within pages which are depicting

Saleem‘s journey of efforts, there were described the author‘s yearning which is

ringing through the lines. That by those statements also illustrates the portrayals

of India‘s desire, hope, and dream about their collective nationalism.

The notion of ―unity in diversity,‖ that metaphysical and political mystery

which is today an unofficial motto of the Indian state, lies at the heart of

Rushdie‘s troubled vision of his homeland. Just as Saleem‘s narrative

struggles to fashion a coherent whole out of the shards of his personal history, Rushdie tries to make sense out of the seemingly senseless

juggernaut of India‘s recent history, thereby expressing what he calls ―the

national longing for form‖ (Miller, 1994:181).

In Midnight’s Children, Saleem‘s life and the life of India as a nation goes along the same stream. They are paralyzed, though each of them sail their own

boat in the voyage. For that reason the historical events plays as the background

for the individuals or character‘s life narrated in the story. Lewis posits, that

therefore the idea of identity for the characters inside the novel ties with the

history bitter sweetness grapple, that are ‗transmissioned‘, in achieving identity:

(23)

hope and pain that are the legacy of a people who are, in Rushdie‘s words,

―handcuffed to history‖ (Miller, 1994:181).

Saleem thus becomes an authentic representative of India. He is India. In

addition, they infiltrate one another and that is why the writer examines them, the

one in the context of the other. This was also stated by Richard Allen and Harish

Trivedi:

As has been seen, Midnight’s Children has been read at least in the West as

being not only a novel but also a ‗history lesson‘. Nor can such a reading be

called a willful misreading, for the hero Saleem claims on the very first page

that he was born ‗mysteriously handcuffed to history‘ (p.9) at the precise moment that India attained freedom. This is the governing trope of the novel and is kept out throughout with a device whereby the novelist cuts back to

Saleem‘s life to show what was happening to him whenever a historical event

of national significance occurred (2000: 160).

The issue of identity regarding to The Weaverbird is also mentioned

briefly by Prof. Dr. Nyoman Kutha Ratna, SU:

Keinginan untuk menyamakan diri dengan identitas imperium, merupakan hakikat universal, keinginan-keinginan manusia dalam rangka memenuhi hasrat untuk bersaing. Tetapi, perlu disadari bahwa kondisi kolonial melahirkan dorongan psikologis demikian kuat sebagai akibat depresi yang telah diderita selama berabad-abad sehingga orang-orang mengorbankan apa saja demi tercapainya suatu cita-cita. Penjajahan Belanda dengan berbagai implikasinya telah membawa banyak masalah seperti itu (2008:342-345).

The desire to be equal with the identity of the imperial, is the universal nature, humans desires in order to satisfy the desire to compete. However, it is should be recognized that the colonial circumstance bears such a strong psychological boost as a result of depression which has been suffered by them over the centuries so that the people sacrificed everything in order to attain a dream. Dutch colonialism with its various implications brought a lot of problems like that.

He remarks that there is an encounter of identity as an idea with the

(24)

colonization of Dutch in Indonesia for centuries eventually leads Teto/Setadewa

and Saleem Sinai to search his identity.

This study, in accordance to the discourse of Midnight’s Children and The Weaverbird will not just point out the notion of identity and nationalism struggle

in the same way as researches mentioned above but also compares the

resemblances and dissimilarities of how Britain colonial-postcolonial behavior in

India and Dutch in Indonesia determined the subjective conceptions of

nationalism of the community. Focusing on two literary texts and consider

especially the ways in which these works represent and dialogue with the

historical national contexts from which they emerge expected to give a new

contribution in this field of study.

B. Review of Related Theories

Some theories are needed to support the analysis in answering the three

problems stated in the problem formulation. They are:

1. Comparative Literature

Susan Bassnett stated that the growth of national consciousness and

awareness of the need to move beyond the colonial legacy has led significantly to

the development of comparative literature in many parts of the world, even as the

subject enters a period of crisis and decay in the West. The way in which

comparative literature is used, in places such as China, Brazil, India or many

(25)

traditions and imported (or imposed) traditions, throwing open the whole vexed

problem of the canon. What is being studied is the way in which national culture

has been affected by importation, and the focus is that national culture (1993:2).

Susan Basssnett further postulates regardless of whether named

individuals can be credited with having introduced the term into their own

languages, it is clear that some concept of ‗comparative literature‘ which involved

a consideration of more than one literature was in circulation in Europe in the

early years of the nineteenth century. The term seems to have derived from a

methodological process applicable to the sciences, in which comparing (or

contrasting) served as a means of confirming a hypotheses (1993:2).

Nonetheless, as many colonized nations that engaged in a struggle for

independence were also engaged in a struggle for identity, for a national culture

and for a past, the need to establish history became crucial. One of the

extraordinary methods of the search to ‗discover‘ and ‗establish‘ history as a focal

point for individual identity and nationalism formation is by comparing one nation

to another. On this account, Susan Bassnett stated the very basic idea about

Comparative Literature in the very first paragraph:

(26)

2. Character and Characterization

According to Abrams and Harpham, characters are the persons represented

in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as possessing

particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the

persons say and their distinctive way of saying it-the dialogue-and from what they do-the action (2012: 46). Therefore, using the theory of character and characterization, we can examine what role and personalities he/she plays as an

individual in the story.

M.J. Murphy gives several principles to help academics in identifying

character and characterization in a novel, those principles are; personal

description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation of others,

reactions, directs comment, thought, and mannerism.

Identifying through personal description means that we can understand

one‘s character and characterization simply owing to the fact that the author can

describe a person‘s appearance and clothes (Murphy, 1972:161). Meanwhile

character as seen by anotheris instead of describing a character directly the author

can describe him through the eyes and opinions of another. The reader gets, as it

were, a reflected image (Murphy, 1972:162).Byspeech means that the author can

give us an insight into the character of one of the persons in the book through

what that person says. Whenever a person speaks, whenever he is in conversation

with another, whenever he puts forward an opinion, he is giving us some clue to

his character (Murphy, 1972:164). Through past life is by letting the reader learn

(27)

have helped to shape a person‘s character. This can be done by direct comment by

the author, through the person‘s thoughts, through his conversation or through the

medium of another person (Murphy, 1972:166).

By means ofconversationof others indicates that the author can also give

us clues to a person‘s character through the conversations of other people and the

things they say about him. People do talk about other people and the things they

say often give as a clue to the character of the person spoken about (Murphy,

1972:167). Using reactions the author can also give us a clue to a person‘s

character by letting us know how that person reacts to various situations and

events (Murphy, 1972:168).

By way of direct comment refer to that the author can describe or

comment on a person‘s character directly (Murphy, 1972:170). Via thoughts the

author can give us direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. In this

respect he is able to do what we cannot do in real life. He can tell us what

different people are thinking. In the novel we accept this. The reader then is in a

privileged position; he has, as it were, a secret listening device plugged in to the

inmost thoughts of a person in a novel (Murphy, 1972:171). Lastly, by

mannerisms, the author can describe a person‘s mannerisms, habits or

idiosyncrasies which may also tell us something about his character (Murphy,

(28)

3. Setting

Theory of setting is necessary to be comprehended in ‗discovering‘ and

‗establishing‘ the past in order to understand the history. By employing the theory

of Setting, one can scrutinize how the historical conditions lead to a certain

condition of a society with which it engages in the story.

The overall setting of a narrative or dramatic work is the general locale,

historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occurs; the setting of

a single episode or scene within the work is the particular physical location in

which it takes place (Abrams and Harpham, 2012:363). In line with Abrams and

Harpham, M.J. Murphy argues that, the setting of the novel is the background

against which the characters live out their lives. The setting can be concerned with

the place in which the characters live and also the time in which they live. These

have a great effect upon the personalities, actions, and way of thinking of the

characters (Murphy, 1972:141).

Consequently, M.J. Murphy provides explanations of three important

fundamental aspects of setting, namely; Time, which he divided into four classifications as; present time (A writer may choose to write a book about his

own time, about the things that happening around him) (Murphy, 1972:143), Past

Time (A writer may choose to go backwards in time, to write about historical

events, to attempt to illuminate the past to his readers) (Murphy, 1972:143), future

time (A writer may in his imagination take his readers into the future) (Murphy,

1972:144), and no specific time (A writer may choose to give his readers no

(29)

or any time. They are something like the old fairy stories; they happen ‗once upon

a time‘) (Murphy, 1972:144).

The second one is Place, which is divided into; familiar place (A writer

may choose to set his story in a place which he considers is familiar to most of his

readers, either from experience or by close acquaintance) (Murphy, 1972:145),

unfamiliar place (A writer may choose to set his novel in a place that is likely to

be fairly unfamiliar to many of the readers of his own nation) (Murphy,

1972:145), and imaginary place (A writer may choose to set his book in an

entirely imaginary place which is not familiar to anyone at all) (Murphy,

1972:146).

Lastly is Atmosphere, the general feeling that is conveyed to the reader. The word ‗atmosphere‘ is used in the same way as it would be used in everyday

speech (Murphy, 1972:145).

4. Agency

Homi K. Bhabha argues that agency is the activity of the contingent.

These contingencies are often the grounds of historical necessity for elaborating

empowering strategies of emancipation, staging other social antagonism.

Contingency as the signifying time of counter-hegemonic strategies is not a

celebration of ‗lack‘ or ‗excess‘ or a self-perpetuating series of negative

ontologies. Such ‗indeterminism‘ is the mark of conflictual yet productive space

in which the arbitrariness of the sign of cultural signification emerges within the

(30)

explains that in the case of contingent, the contingency of the subject as agent is

articulated in a double dimension; a dramatic action. It is the kinetic tension that

holds this double determination together and apart within discourse (Bhabha,

1994: 267). Additionally, Bhabha elucidates:

The signified is distanced; the resulting time lag opens up the space between the lexical and the grammatical, between enunciation and enounced, in between the anchoring of signifiers. Then, suddenly, this in between spatial dimension, this distancing, converts itself into the

temporality of the ‗throw‘ that iteratively (re) turns the subject as a moment of conclusion and control: a historically or contextually specific subject (1994:267).

However, to easily understand the difference between subjectivity and

agency, a professor of English in Oxford Brookes University, Rob Pope,

expressed in words his notion in his study guide entitled The English Studies

Book:

The basic difference is that talking about people as ‗subjects‘ and ‗agents‘, ‗identities‘ and ‗roles‘ tends to emphasize the social and historical

constructedness of their relations and the political power (or

powerlessness) those relations entail. Talk of ‗authors‘ and ‗characters‘, ‗individuals‘ and ‗persons‘, however, tends to emphasize their uniqueness

and/or their universality. This is why the former terms are often found in politically self-conscious critical discourses such as those of MARXISM, FEMINISM and POSTCOLONIALISM (usually in harness with notions of ideology and power); whereas the latter are often found in more overtly liberal or humanist critical discourses such as those of NEW CRITICISM and Leavisism (usually in harness with notions of truth and human nature) (1998:241).

Furthermore, he argues, that subjects are perhaps thereby cast in the roles

of victims, those who are ‗done to‘ rather than those who themselves ‗do‘. For

this reason some people prefer the term *participant, which refers to anyone who

(31)

the term agent because it implies a degree of activity and independence, even if

the agent is partly acting on behalf of someone or something else. Moreover, there

is a strong tradition in philosophical discourse of agency meaning ‗the power to

do‘, ‗the force that causes effects‘. (The word derives from the Latin verb agere

‗to act, to make happen‘; hence English ‗agitate‘, employment and advertising

agencies, and secret agents) (Pope, 1998:241).

Rob Pope further remarks that a handy compromise is to recognize subject

and agent as the passive and active dimensions of the same process. That is, each

of us is potentially a subject/agent (a subject and an agent, simultaneously or by

turns). We are subjects in so far as we are ‗thrown under‘ things – politically

oppressed or psychologically repressed. But at the same time we are also agents,

capable of ‗doing things‘ and ‗making things happen‘, politically and

psychologically active in our own remaking (Pope, 1998:241).

5. Identity

According to Fanon, man freed from the springboard embodying the

resistance of others and digging into his flesh in order to find self-meaning

(Fanon, 1952, xiii). Bhabha believes that it comes, from the tradition of the

oppressed, the language of a revolutionary awareness that, as Walter Benjamin

suggests, ‗the state of emergency in which we live is not the exception but the

rule. We must attain to a concept of history that is in keeping with this insight.

And the state of emergency is always a state of emergence (Bhabha, 1994:59).

(32)

being in the least embarrassed by it, as Sartre says of the anti-Semitic

consciousness—turns on the idea of man as his alienated image; not Self and

Other but the otherness of the Self inscribed in the perverse palimpsest of colonial

identity (Bhabha, 1994:62-63).

Nonetheless, Bhabha postulates that the social virtues of historical

rationality, cultural cohesion, the autonomy of individual consciousness assume

an immediate, Utopian identity with the subjects on whom they confer a civil

status. The civil state is the ultimate expression of the innate ethical and rational

bent of the human mind; the social instinct is the progressive destiny of human

nature, the necessary transtition from Nature to Culture. The direct access from

individual interests to social authority is objectified in the representative structure

of a General Will—Law or Culture—where Psyche and Society mirror each other,

transparently translating their difference, without loss, into a historical totality

(Bhabha, 1994: 61-62).

Eventually, Bhabha posits that this is allowing a perspective of depth

through which the authenticity of identity comes to be reflected in the glassy

metaphoric of the mirror and its mimetic or realist narratives (Bhabha, 1994: 68).

This verticality is significant for the light it sheds on that dimension of depth that

provides the language of identity with its sense of reality—a measure of the ‗me‘,

which emerges from an acknowledgement of my inwardness, the depth of my

(33)

through which we can commonly articulate our self-consciousness (Bhabha,

1994: 69).

6. Nationalism

As argued by Fanon, history teaches us clearly that the battle against

colonialism does not run straight away along the lines of nationalism. We shall

see that such retrograde steps with all the weaknesses and serious dangers that

they entail are the historical result of the incapacity of the national middle-class to

rationalize popular action, that is to say their incapacity to see into the reasons for

that action. The psychology of the national bourgeoisie is that of the businessman,

not that of a captain of industry; and it is only too true that the greed of the settlers

and the system of embargoes set up by colonialism have hardly left them any

other choice. Privileges multiply and corruption triumphs, while morality declines

(Fanon, 1963: 121-138).

For a nation that is just coming out of colonialism, the promise of

nationalism ties with the idea of social consciousness. Through his book, Frantz

Fanon articulates his objective in the matter of the demands for national

responsibility:

(34)

unawareness ought to be ever present in the muscles and the intelligences of men and women. On the level of underdeveloped humanity there is a kind of collective effort, a sort of common destiny (1966, 161-162).

Fanon points out, a government which calls itself a national government

ought to take responsibility for the totality of the nation; and in an underdeveloped

country the young people represent one of the most important sectors. The level

of consciousness of young people must be raised; they need enlightenment

(Fanon, 1963: 160). People must know where they are going, and why. The less

there is of confusion and duality of powers, the more the party will play its part of

guide and the more surely it will constitute for the people a decisive guarantee.

The more the people understand, the more watchful they become, and the more

they come to realize that finally everything depends on them and their salvation

lies in their own cohesion, in the true understanding of their interests, and in

knowing who their enemies are. (Fanon, 1963: 148-154).

What it means is to try, relentlessly and passionately, to teach the masses

that everything depends on them; that if we stagnate it is their responsibility, and

that if we go forward it is due to them too, that there is no such thing as a

demiurge, that there is no famous man who will take the responsibility for

everything, but that the demiurge is the people themselves and the magic hands

are finally only the hands of the people. To educate the masses politically is to

make the totality of the nation a reality to each citizen (Fanon, 1963: 157-159).

Therefore, Fanon argues that the national government, if it wants to be

national, ought to govern by the people and for the people, for the outcasts and by

(35)

popular will; and the national government, before concerning itself about

international prestige, ought first to give back their dignity to all citizens, fill their

minds and feast their eyes with human things, and create a prospect that is human

because conscious and sovereign men dwell therein (Fanon, 1963:163).

C. Theoretical Framework

Comparing two novels from India and Indonesia, the issue about

configuration of agency in constructing nationalism will be observed using

comparative literature theory. Since this research aim to compare how two authors

convey their messages about the colonial-postcolonial circumstances, comparative

theory is used to scrutinize the similarities and differences in both novels.

Postcolonial approach provides important lenses to comprehend the topic

of this study from a critical angle. In addition, the approach is used as a research

frame, which was structured for the use of soliciting the perspective, viewpoint

and perceptions of the whole body design of this research. It is thus necessary for

this research to apply Postcolonial approach in discussing the research topic.

Several postcolonial thinkers that influential to this study are Frantz Fanon, Homi

K. Babha, Elleke Boehmer and Edward Said.

Theory of Setting will help to understand the mapping of time and history

context as the background of the emergence of response and reactions. As a

consequence of two different presentations of colonial system, theory of Setting

articulates the occurrences of events, time and space‘s existence in each of the

(36)

figures/characters in responding toward the circumstances represented in the

story. Together, the theory of Setting and Character will explain the changes

happened in both countries, which was the point of departure of struggles and

resistances.

In their continuous struggles against the dominant power of nation

building, development, and repression, the main characters in both novels give

very different set of meanings in defending their beliefs ideologically and

culturally. At this point, theory of Agency is the fundamental theory to justify the

arrangement of resistance conducted by the main characters in their contributions

along the process of defining their identities as well as forming nationalism of

their state. Therefore, theory of Identity is crucial to give grounds for how the

formation of identity determined in the context of culture, knowledge, and power.

Lastly, the theory of Nationalism will help to determine construction or

reconstruction of the collective identities and whether the figures in both novels

challenged the existing nationalism form, defended those forms that existed at that

(37)

23 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

A. Objects of the Study

The books examined in this thesis are Midnight’s Children by Salman

Rushdie and The Weaverbirds by Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya.

As the first book to examine, this project using a novel written by Salman

Rushdie entitled Midnight’s Children. Published in United States of America by

Random House Trade Paperback in 2006, this 25th Anniversary Edition novel has

533 pages, which is the very same of the first publication in 1981.

Claimed as one of world's greatest writers, Salman Rushdie received the

Booker Prize (one of very prestigious literature award held annually for the best

novel, written in English language for all authors in the world, as long as their

work is written in English and published in UK) in 1981, the English Speaking

Union Literary Award, and the James Tait Prize for Midnight’s Children.

Afterward, he earned the Booker Prize award again owing to the fact that

Midnight’s Children was declared as the best Booker-winning novel from the first

twenty-five years of the competition in 1993 and in forty years of the competition

(40th anniversary of the award) in 2008. Midnight’s Children, in that case, got a

title as “Best of the Booker.”

Nevertheless, he gained worldwide fame for his 1988 novel, The Satanic

Verses and the controversy that followed its publication. Muslim religious clerics

(38)

cruel, judgmental portrayal of Islam and for its rude treatment of the Prophet

Mohammed. The novel was banned in India and made the theocratic Iranian

government released a fatwa -a religious decision- for his death in 1989. As a

consequence, Salman Rushdie was hidden in Britain and received protection from

British government.

Later in 2003, the novel was adapted for the stage play by the Royal

Shakespeare Company and in 2012 Midnight’s Children was adapted into film by British-Canadian film. Indian National Congress leaders came against the movie

claimed that the film giving former Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, and

some other leaders a negative image after the premiere show on December 10,

2012 at the 17th International Film Festival of Kerala, India. Nonetheless, the film

was nominated for best picture and won several awards.

Up until this time, Salman Rushdie has written 10 fictions novel including

Midnight’s Children, 15 nonfictions and essays, an anthology (as a co-editor), 2 plays, and a screenplay. He was given numerous awards abroad including

Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) and Kurt Tucholsky Prize

(Sweden).

The second novel used in this thesis is The Weaverbird, written by Yusuf

Bilyarta Mangunwijaya. Published by The Lontar Foundation Jakarta in 1991,

The Weaverbird is a translation of Indonesian masterpiece entitled Burung-burung

Manyar that was issued in 1981 by Djambatan, Jakarta. The Weaverbirds, which

consists of 316 pages, translated by Thomas M. Hunter, who has been involved in

(39)

The Weaverbird, or Burung-Burung Manyar in its original title, received

South East Asia Write Award (an annual award for poets and writers within

Southeast Asian countries) from the Queen Sirikit of Thailand in 1983 and won

Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1996. Within more than 60 years of its publication,

this novel has been translated into three foreign languages: Japanese, Dutch, and

English.

Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya who is habitually called Romo Mangun or

Father Mangun was famous for his life dedication as a priest that help those who

were poor, oppressed and marginalized. In 1992, as a statement of his humanity

and his commitment as an architect, Romo Mangun built several houses for the

slum dwellers by the riverbank Code River, Yogyakarta, Indonesia whose at that

time were in conflict with the local government. He did not stop at the physical

development but continued to assist the people to develop a better life quality.

As a writer, Romo Mangun also produced works that were famous

worldwide. He has written nearly 11 novels and occasional non-fiction work,

which has included 22 critical works, 4 anthologies of essays and a large number

of short stories. Furthermore, he has contributed articles and essays for numerous

magazines and newspapers, including Kompas and Indonesia Raya. He also has

won several awards abroad for his dedication to Indonesian Architecture,

including Aga Khan Award for Architecture (Uzbekistan) and The Ruth and Ralph

Erskine Fellowship (Scandinavia), Golden Windmill Award (Radio Nederland).

Recently, Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya awarded the Bintang Budaya Parama

(40)

Yudhoyono for his contribution toward Indonesian‘s culture in November 11,

2010 -a day after the Indonesia‘s National Heroes Day-.

B. Approach of the Study

In examining the novel, postcolonial approach is applied. By

implementing this approach, one should be acknowledged that this approach deals

with both historical continuity and change of colonial institutions as well as many

other things, substantially, it has to lead the reader to a better understanding of the

colonial system. According to Peter Barry there are four characteristics of

postcolonial criticism, which are:(1) An awareness of representations of the

non-European as exotic or immoral ‗Other‘ (Barry, 2009: 187) (2) Language (Barry,

2009: 188), (3) The emphasis on identity as doubled, or hybrid, or unstable

(Barry, 2009: 188), (4) The stress on ‗cross cultural‘ interactions (Barry, 2009:

189).

Bhabha posits that postcolonial perspectives emerge from the colonial

testimony of Third World countries and the discourses of 'minorities' within the

geopolitical divisions of East and West, North and South. They intervene in those

ideological discourses of modernity that attempt to give hegemonic 'normality' to

the uneven development and the differential, often disadvantaged, histories of

nations, races, communities, peoples (Babha, 1994:245-246).

According to Boehmer, rather than simply being the writing which ‗came

after‘ empire, postcolonial literature is generally defined as that which critically or

(41)

way or another to resist colonialist perspectives. As well as a change in power,

decolonization demanded—and still demands––symbolic overhaul, a reshaping of

dominant meanings. Postcolonial literature forms part of that process of overhaul.

To give expression to colonized experience, postcolonial writers sought to

undercut thematically and formally the discourses which supported colonization–

–the myths of power, the race classifications, the imagery of subordination.

Postcolonial writing, therefore, is deeply marked by experiences of cultural

exclusion and division under empire. Especially in its early stages it is also often a

nationalist writing. Building on this, postcoloniality can be defined as that

condition in which colonized peoples seek to take their place, forcibly or

otherwise, as historical agents in an increasingly globalized world (Boehmer,

2005:3).

The approach is chosen to analyze Midnight’s Children and The

Weaverbird to scrutinize and reveal the process of configuration of resistances

and reactions of the main characters exposed by the authors in both novels. Since

the focus of the analysis will be on describing how the role of agency in

constructing individual identity and nationalism, post-colonial approach provides

the right track to see the context appropriately.

C. Method of the Study

This thesis is a library research. The primary data used in this thesis are

(42)

Weaverbirs. The secondary data included here are: the books of theories,

historical data, and other studies related to the works.

After determining Midnight’s Children and The Weaverbirds as the primary data, first the writer structured the focus of the study and the problem

formulation. The problem formulation was designed as a framework to help

guiding the focus of the study as they support one another.

Second, the collecting of supporting data was conducted from various

sources. They were books dealing with colonialism and postcolonialism. Several

postcolonial thinkers that influential are Frantz Fanon, Homi K. Babha, Elleke

Boehmer and Edward Said. The gathering of the data provides more supporting

facts to the thesis and richer details concerning the topic. Data such as historical

background and social condition during the time mentioned in the novels is

significant.

Third, critical analysis was done to answer the questions formulated in the

problem formulation by using postcolonial approach, theory of character, setting,

agency, identity, nationalism and comparative literature.

Lastly, the conclusion was drawn based on the analysis, showing that the

(43)

29 CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This part is the answer of problems formulated in the first chapter. There

are three parts in this analysis, namely: The Portrayal of Colonial-Postcolonial as

regards to the first problem formulation, The Form of Resistance Against Colonial

Control with respect to problem formulation number two, and Configuration of

Agency in Constructing Nationalism concerning problem formulation number

three.

A. The Portrayal of Colonial-Postcolonial Situation

Within the difficulties and problems associated with identity, one ought to

recognize the place or location of culture as part of distinctive categories in order

to comprehend the situation where an individual or a subject is placed or arranged.

The physical surroundings in narrative or human environments is absorbed into

character or in other word, human characters are shaped by the places they

occupy. Thus, Bhabha argues:

What is theoretically innovative, and politically crucial is the need to think beyond narratives of originary and initial subjectivities and to focus on those moments or processes that are produced in the articulation of cultural differences (Bhabha, 1994:2).

Consequently, the creation and telling of history established from the

combination and mixing of complex elements in order to build a setting, for

instance: where, when, and the atmosphere of a postcolonial scene. The

(44)

fiction has been a little interest regarding postcolonial novel‘s setting to the ways

in which setting provides facts, evidence about a narrator, or its role in giving the

feeling of being true or real. Postcolonial discourses does address the question of

place owing to the fact of how the postcolonial writer drawing the empty space of

colonialism through his or her writing and naming it into places and also how he

or she present a colonization with the usage of the language as it is said by Elleke

Boehmer:

To assume control over a territory or a nation was not only to exert political or economic power; it was also to have imaginative command. The belief here is that colonialist and postcolonial literatures did not simply articulate colonial or nationalist preoccupations; they also contributed to the making, definition, and clarification of those same preoccupations (Boehmer, 2005:5).

Through the examination of The Weaverbirds and Midnight’s Children,

there are many elementsto perceive what kind of character they possessed and to

comprehend the relationship between the main characters in both stories with the

world around them.

1. The Weaverbirds

Born as a minority, Setadewa or Teto is a mixture between two separate

races or culture—hybrid—. His father, Brajabasuki, a lieutenant for the Royal

Dutch Army that graduated from Breda Military Academy in Netherlands, was

born as Javanese royal family (Wijaya, 1991:9). Her mother, Marice, an

Indo-European who was born in Utrecht, Netherlands is very happy to be inside the

Javanese palace and talented to read primbon—Javanese old divining manuals—