THE STRUGGLE OF CHIZUKO SAKATA AS AN ISSEI WIDOW IN WAKAKO YAMAUCHI’S THE MUSIC LESSON
(A POSTCOLONIAL FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE)
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
PRISCA ARMILDA NUGRAHANTI Student Number: 104214030
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2014
ii
THE STRUGGLE OF CHIZUKO SAKATA AS AN ISSEI WIDOW IN WAKAKO YAMAUCHI’S THE MUSIC LESSON
(A POSTCOLONIAL FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE) AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
PRISCA ARMILDA NUGRAHANTI Student Number: 104214030
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
iii
v
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 undergradute thesis.
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Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma Nama : Prisca Armilda Nugrahanti
Nomor Mahasiswa : 104214030
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul
THE STRUGGLE OF CHIZUKO SAKATA AS AN ISSEI WIDOW IN WAKAKO YAMAUCHI’S THE MUSIC LESSON
(A POSTCOLONIAL FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE)
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 kepada saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
vii Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
Amen.
(Our Father)
Ajining diri ana ing lathi.
Ajining raga ana ing busana.
(Javanese Proverb)
You don’t need anybody to tell who you are or what you are. You are what you are.
(John Lennon)
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This thesis is dedicated to
My beloved parents,
My lovely sister,
My lovely brother,
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First of all, I would like to praise the Lord for his blessings upon me and for always with me, without him I am absolutely nothing and I cannot finish this thesis well. My deepest gratitude goes to my thesis advisor, A.B. Sri Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D. for her patience, time, suggestion and guidance from the beginning. I thank her so much for the books and references that she gave me, those were helpful. I thank my co-advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd.,M.Hum., for criticizing and giving advice to this thesis. I also thank Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, for lending me a book and giving me this The Music Lesson playscript that I conducted a study on. I thank all lecturers for their guidance during my college days and also Mbak Ninik who helped me during that time. I realize that without them all, I would be lost and cannot write this thesis.
My special gratitude goes to my parents, my brother, my sister, my nephew, my aunties, my uncles and my cousins for their never ending support and pray, I love them all. I thank Augustina Kresia “Cia” , Theresia Anna, and Sinta Fitriani who have the same thesis advisor with me for the sharing and encouragement, I will be missing those days when we used to support each other during the thesis writing, indeed. The last but not least, my last gratitude goes to my friends who always support me for all this time, whose names I cannot mention in this acknowledgment page.
Prisca Armilda Nugrahanti
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TITLE PAGE ... ii
APPROVAL PAGE ... iii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ... iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ... v
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... vi
MOTTO PAGE ... vii
1. Theory on Character and Characterization ... 11
2. Theory of Postcolonial Feminism ... 13
3. Theory of Hybridity ... 15
4. Theory of Gender Stereotype ... 16
C. Review on Historical Background ... 17
1. Japanese Immigrant in the USA ... 17
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS (RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS) ... 27
A. The description of Chizuko Sakata ... 27
1. Chizuko Sakata as a Breadwinner... 27
2. Chizuko Sakata as a Japanese Woman ... 29
3. Chizuko Sakata as a Mother ... 30
B. The Struggle of Chizuko Sakata as an Issei widow ... 35
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a. Gender roles and gender spheres ... 35
2. The Struggle to Establish Identity ... 38
a. “American” Identity ... 38
b. Hybrid Identity ... 40
c. The Search of Identity ... 42
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 48
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 52
APPENDIX ... 54
xii ABSTRACT
NUGRAHANTI, PRISCA ARMILDA. The Struggle of Chizuko Sakata As An Issei Widow In Wakako Yamauchi’s The Music Lesson (A Postcolonial Feminist Perspective). Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2014.
Wakako Yamauchi’s The Music Lesson tells about the struggle of an issei widow, Chizuko Sakata, to adjust to a very tough life in an isolated area in Imperial Valley, California. During her settlement in the USA, Chizuko has to face discrimination, segregation and prejudice due to her immigrant status. Realizing that she lives in hard circumstances, Chizuko works hard like a man, she strives to support her family alone.
This research focuses on revealing the struggle of Chizuko Sakata as an issei widow perceived through a postcolonial feminist point of view. In this research, there are two questions related to the topic. The first question is how the character and the roles of Chizuko Sakata is described in Wakako Yamauchi’s The Music Lesson and the second question is how the struggle of Chizuko Sakata as an issei widow is seen through postcolonial feminist perspective.
The writer uses the library research method as the primary source. The writer also collects the data from the internet and some theoretical books to support the thesis. The approach that is used in this research is postcolonial feminist approach because this research highlights the struggle of Chizuko Sakata as a woman and issei widow in a foreign land, the USA. Therefore, postcolonial feminist approach is relevant to apply in this research.
xiii ABSTRAK
NUGRAHANTI, PRISCA ARMILDA. The Struggle of Chizuko Sakata As An Issei Widow In Wakako Yamauchi’s The Music Lesson (A Postcolonial Feminist Perspective). Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2014.
The Music Lesson karya Wakako Yamauchi menceritakan tentang perjuangan seorang janda imigran Jepang generasi pertama, Chizuko Sakata, untuk menyesuaikan diri dengan kehidupan yang berat di sebuah wilayah yang terisolir di Imperial Valley, California. Selama hidupnya di Amerika Serikat, Chizuko harus mengalami diskriminasi, pemisahan dan ketidakadilan karena statusnya sebagai seorang imigran. Menyadari bahwa hidupnya sangat sulit, Chizuko bekerja keras dan berjuang untuk menghidupi keluarganya seorang diri.
Penelitian ini difokuskan pada perjuangan Chizuko Sakata sebagai janda imigran Jepang generasi pertama yang dilihat melalui sudut pandang poskolonial feminis. Penelitian ini terdiri dari dua pertanyaan yang berkaitan dengan topik. Pertama, bagaimana karakter dan peranan Chizuko Sakata dalam The Music Lesson dan yang kedua adalah bagaimana perjuangan Chizuko Sakata sebagai seorang janda dan imigran dilihat melalui perspektif poskolonial feminis.
Penulis menggunakan metode studi pustaka sebagai bahan utama. Penulis juga mengumpulkan data-data dari internet dan beberapa buku teori untuk mendukung penelitian. Pendekatan yang digunakan adalah pendekatan poskolonial feminis. Pendekatan ini digunakan karena tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah bagaimana perjuangan Chizuko Sakata sebagai janda imigran Jepang generasi pertama yang dilihat melalui perspektif poskolonial feminis.
Dari hasil analisis, dapat diketahui bahwa karakter Chizuko sebagai pencari nafkah digambarkan sebagai seorang pekerja keras yang mandiri dan memiliki harga diri yang tinggi. Karakter Chizuko sebagai seorang wanita jepang digambarkan sangat tradisional sedangkan sebagai seorang ibu, ia sangat keras hati, melindungi dan perhatian. Perjuangan Chizuko dibagi menjadi dua bidang berdasarkan perspektif poskolonial feminis, yaitu, perjuangan untuk mempertahankan budaya asli yang berkaitan dengan peranan gender dan perjuangan untuk menentukan identitas.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literary works, as we know, always contain ideas, perspectives and representations about certain topic that interest the author to expose. Therefore, through literature we can enrich ourselves with knowledge and gain awareness in respect to issues in particular society or era. Moreover, it is not impossible that a literary work may contain a hidden message that the author wants to tell to the reader. There are many literary works telling about various issues in human lives, one of them concerning women issues. We can learn about women’s roles, positions, hardships, way of
thinking, even unfair treatment and oppression toward them by reading some works.
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lived in isolated area and were limited in their opportunities for any kind of equal status contact due to laws and customs applied there. (Kitano, 1996:239). It is hard for Japanese people to live in the California in 1935. The local government insisted that California was a country for white people and Japanese immigrants could not apply for citizenship due to their racial characteristics, heredity and religion, it applies to all Japanese regardless of the gender.
The policy of California’s government, of course becomes
unfavorable for Issei women because neither in Japan nor the USA, they are always inferior. Women are usually delicate and long-suffering in their dealings with their menfolk, married women have a very little place in social life. In the Japanese society, this kind of stereotype still exists until today because of the huge influence of Confucianism and Samurai based on feudalism, as we know Confucianism was the product of a patriarchal and strongly male-dominated society in China (Reischauer, 1980: 128-129). Ryoko Kato in International Journal of Sociology of the Family, Japanese Women: Subordination or Domination? states that traditional role of Japanese women are seen as helpless and exploited. She also adds that our values, beliefs and assumptions often lead us to see things in a particular way (Kato, 1989:49). The combination of Confucian adage and long Feudal experience restricts women’s freedom and forces them to be fully subordination of men.
Meanwhile, when the Issei women arrived in the USA, they first came as picture brides and unfortunately, everything was not as good as they expected. Taylor Sakamoto in The Triumph and Tragedies of Japanese Women in America: A View Across Four Generations says,
“Kazue Aoki, my maternal great grand-mother, after a month long harsh voyage abroad the Shinyo Maru, she arrived at Angel Island Immigration Station.“I had never seen a prison-like place as Angel Island.. I wondered why I had to be kept in a prison after I’d arrived”.” (Sakamoto, 2007:99).
Sakamoto notes that many Issei women struggled as there were limited to low-paying domestic jobs or farm work with their husband.
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Wakako Yamauchi in The Music Lesson explores the sufferings and hardships of the first-generation issei women just like in her first play entitled And The Soul Shall Dance. Women who lived in 1935 not only had to adjust to their settlement in Imperial Valley, California, but also to an often bitter arranged marriage. Chizuko Sakata is an Issei and the major female character here. She experienced a bitter arranged marriage and sent to the USA as a picture bride. She is a widow and has three children. Chizuko is portrayed as tough and independent. She lives her hard life in California and tries to survive by running a small piece of land to grow crops. Mary Jo Maynes, Ann Walter, Birgitte Soland and Ulrike Strasser in the journal Gender, Kinship, Power: A Comparative and Interdisciplinary History summarize that there is a political slogan namely, “Woman without a man is like fish without bicycle”. The meaning of that slogan is women actually are capable of doing their roles quite well in the absence of men. Women alone can be essential within patrilineal system (Maynes, 1996:8). In Japanese family, father is described as someone who is never at home because he has to work, that is why mother becomes influential because she handles everything related to household and child-rearing.
Based on the background that is already explained above, the writer wants to study and conduct a research which focused on Japanese woman immigrant’s struggle for survival depicted in Yamauchi’s play entitled The Music Lesson. The concern of family daily survival affects the role and attitude of the main female character, Chizuko Sakata in her
adjustment to unfavorable circumstances. Therefore, in this research the writer wants to see her struggle as an immigrant who lacks in any opportunity for surviving in the USA through postcolonial feminist perspective.
B. Problem Formulation
1. How is Chizuko Sakata described in Wakako Yamauchi’s The Music Lesson?
2. How is the struggle of Chizuko Sakata as an Issei widow seen through postcolonial feminist perspective?
C. Objectives of the Study
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D. Definitions of Terms 1. Issei
Issei is the first-generation Japanese immigrants who came to the USA between 1870 until 1924. They were relatively homogeneous; most were young and had had four years of schooling. Most of them were male and most came from rural Japan. The Issei came primarily from southern Japan, particularly the prefecture of Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Wakayama, and Yamaguchi (Kitano, 1985: 239).
2. Postcolonial Feminist
Postcolonial feminist is a person or a group of people who challenges the concept of universalism in feminism. They critique European and North American feminists for ‘universalizing’ the
conditions of women, they argues that the distinctions among women out of their race and cultural background should be emphasized as well (https://blogs.stockton.edu/postcolonialstudies/digitizing-postcolonial-feminism/).
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
Since this thesis discusses how the sruggle of Issei widow in Wakako Yamauchi’s play, some reviews on her works are important to see in order to get a
better understanding about them and how Yamauchi describes Japanese women immigrant’s lives in the USA in her works.
Shelley R. Terry in the thesis entitled Five Female Characters Driven to Suicide in Plays by 20th-Century Female Playwrights as a Result of Domestic
Violence in a Patriarchal Society discusses a female character in Wakako Yamauchi’s And The Soul Shall Dance named Emiko who experiences an
arranged marriage. Her relationship with her husband, Oka, is not harmonious and often filled with emotional and physical abuse.
A male-dominated Japanese American society, verbal and physical abuse, and societally imposed oppression also drove unwilling Japanese emigrant Emiko to become unbalanced and commit suicide in Wakako Yamauchi’s And The Soul Shall Dance (Terry, 2010: 25)
Since Oka has no control over choosing a wife, he decides to physically dominate his wife. Meaning to say, eventhough Oka does not choose to marry Emiko, he can choose to abuse her. Oka’s incapability of controlling his own life and
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are treated very poorly for being a successful farmers, therefore, white people hate them and considered them as the enemy of white dominance.
Emiko, here, is described as depressed, isolated and victimized. The money she saves to go back to Japan has been stolen by her husband. Her dream is already crushed and she changes her strategy. She commits suicide as she is dancing and singing to her favorite song, “And The Soul Shall Dance”, she
chooses death over a life of abuse and servitude at the hands of her husband. Terry explains that Emiko’s death is a form of freedom, a freedom from the oppression
she had experienced back then and finally, her soul is free to sing and dance.
Roberta Uno in says that Wakako Yamauchi based the main character in her play entitled The Music Lesson on a widow she once knew in her neighborhood when she was just a girl. Yamauchi, as cited by Uno, said that she admired this woman back then, that woman worked in a field and always wore her dead husband’s clothes. Yamauchi described her as a woman who looked so
fragile yet she was able to drive truck, ran a piece of land and raised children alone. In The Music Lesson, Yamauchi implicitly comments on the lack of choices for many Issei women and their misery because of the sense of sacrifice and obligation.
Yamauchi also points out the suffering of those women who failed to adjust to their arranged marriages when Chizuko, the main female character, gives responds to her daughter accusation that she never loved her dead husband, says, “How could I love him? I didn’t know him.” Furthermore, Uno states that the
sense of people who are isolated from each other by physical distance, occupied by their burden of labor, challenged by different culture values, gives impression that The Music Lesson is not merely a simple love story, it also presents a chronology and problems of Asian-American seen through women’s perspectives.
Another study about Wakako Yamauchi’s work comes from Valerie Matsumoto in the journal entitled Songs My Mother Taught Me: Stories, Plays, and Memoir, by Wakako Yamauchi, she writes,
Mother-Daughter Relations often form the axis around which Wakako Yamauchi’s stories revolve. Her women—strong willed farmers, awkward adolescent, middle-aged divorcees—struggle to sort through the lessons their mothers tried to instill (Matsumoto, 1994: 8)
In The Music Lesson, an Issei farm widow and her stubborn teenage daughter argues over the attentions of an appealing nomadic worker. Their conflict, as Matsumoto says, reflects the big difference in women’s expectation and
experience. The Issei woman character, Chizuko, described as a mother who always concerns about how she can support her family in order to keep alive. She is influenced by American’s ideals of individualism and personal fullfillment.
Meanwhile Aki, her daughter, gets tired of her mother’s monotonous work and
start demanding more. Yamauchi’s stories often depict the relationship between
mother and daughter, the tie they have, construct a source of their hugest vulnerability and their deepest grounding.
In addition, Yamauchi always inserts art in her men and women characters’ hearts in her works. In And The Soul Shall Dance, for instance, the
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memory to their homeland. For the Nisei teenager, Aki, in The Music Lessson, the violin music she plays symbolizes her yearning of love. In writing her work, Yamauchi tends to emphasize commitments, compassion, love rather than false glamour and glibness. Matsumoto explains that Yamauchi’s capability to explore the relation between immigrants and their American-born children, gives a clear picture of suspenses and delicate negotiations, as well as shared roots that bind them.
In this study, the writer would like to reveal the struggle of Chizuko Sakata as an Issei widow seen through the postcolonial feminist perspective. By analyzing Chizuko Sakata, the writer wants to describe how a Japanese woman immigrant strives for survival and adjustment to isolated life. This thesis, examines how patriarchy emerges within immigrant community and restricts women’s movement. Moreover, the writer also reveals that conditional reason and
experiencescan give influence to the main character and play the important role in constructing attitudes and perspectives about woman being independent.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory on Character and Characterization
Christopher Russel Reaske in How To Analyze Drama argues that in a play, there is no narration or description about the characters since all the characterization is conveyed through dialogue. The combinations of speeches and actions throughout a play, small asides and jokes, the short angry speeches, the length diatribes help our mind understand the characters in a drama as people who might really exist (Reaske, 1966:40). Reaske also says that there are some devices of characterization made by the dramatist to help us analyze the characters in a drama. Some of these devices as follow
a. The Appearance of The Character
In the prologue or in the stage directions the playwrights often give description on the characters’ physical sense. We can learn from the stage directions how they look, how they walk onto the stage and how they dressed up. For short, from their appearances, we can put our first understanding of certain characters in a drama.
b. Asides and Soliloquies
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c. Dialogue between Characters
The language or diction that the characters use when they talk to other characters throughout the drama also gives contributions in revealing their personalities.
d. Hidden Narration
The playwrights always implicitly give a clue about the characters through other characters. It often occurs in a drama when a certain character narrates something about another character.
e. Character in Action
As characters become more engaged in the certain situations, we can gradually learn more about them. When they get involved in the action of the play, they must perform particular acts which later will slowly reveal their motivations in behaving that way.
2. Theory of Postcolonial Feminism
This thesis deals with feminism, therefore, it is important to know about the general idea of feminism which is equality. Jo Freeman in Women: The Feminist Perspective says that either men or women were born free and want to place equally. In front of God, they have the same right in life. The purpose of equality is to avoid the justice of some existing inequality treatment. It means that women should have the same right as men have (Freeman, 1975: 439). Peter Barry in Beginning Theory: An Introduction To Literary And Cultural Theory
states that feminism also has a strong emphasis on ‘constructedness’ of feminity that concern with conditioning and socialisation, and how the images and representations of femininity affect literary works and culture. All these formulations are ways of avoiding the assumption that femininity is universal and unchangeable. According to the feminist criticism in the 1970s, female characters created by male tend to represent stereotypes of actual women and constructed by patriarchy. These women are fictional women who men think women actually are. 1970s was the period when the critical attention on mechanisms of patriarchy took place; it is the cultural stereotypes ‘mind-set’ in men and women which perpetuated sexual inequality (Barry, 2002:122).
Female sexuality does not casually exist from the beginning, but it is constructed by experiences and adjustments to particular situations. For instance, in the nineteenth century fiction, it hardly finds female characters who work for a living unless they are urged by dire necessity. From the example, we learn that women roles in the family can be changed out of the circumstances they live in. Shulamith Firestone as cited by Rosemarie Tong in Feminist Thought argues that women’s sexual passivity comes from emotional, economic and physical
dependence on men, therefore, it is not naturally given (Tong, 2009: 133-134).
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feminist criticism (Barry, 2002: 198). In the other words, postcolonialism can be compared to concept of patriarchy in feminist thought, which is applicable to the extent that it indicates man domination over women. Hans Bertens in The Basics Literary Theory writes,
Postcolonial studies critically analyses the relationship between colonizer and colonized, from the earliest days of exploration and colonization. It examines how these texts construct the colonizer’s (usually masculine) superiority and the colonized’s (usually effeminate) inferiority and in so doing have legitimated colonization. It is especially attentive to postcolonial attitudes—attitudes of resistance—on the part of colonized and seeks to understand the nature of the encounter between colonizer and colonized. (Bertens, 2008: 174-175)
Moreover, Helen Carr as cited by Loomba says that in the language of colonialism, non-Europeans occupy the same symbolic place as women and they are not seen as a part of culture but as a nature. Women are depicted as passive, child-like unsophisticated and as a group of people with no initiative, no intellectual powers and who are outside society. Meanwhile, in the relation with racial discrimination, Loomba also cites that ‘lower races represent the ‘female’
type of human species, and females the ‘lower race’ of gender’ (Loomba, 1998:
159-160).
Postcolonial feminism emerges as the response of a perspective that feminism tends to focus on west women’s experiences. In addition, it also endeavors to make feminism can be applied to all women around the world. In the other words, postcolonial feminism aids to direct feminism from universality to individual experience because each woman has different experience out of their culture, race and nation. Ania Loomba in Colonialism/Postcolonialism also states
that postcoloniality is like patriarchy, it is articulated alongside other economic, social, cultural, and historical factors, therefore, it works quite differently in practice in various parts of the world (Loomba, 1998: 19).
3. Theory of Hybridity
Hybridity is a situation in where individuals or groups belong to more than one culture at once (for instance, that of the colonizer, through colonial school system, and that of the colonized, through local and oral tradition) (Barry, 2002: 199). The hybridity becomes a central in postcolonial theory, as it attempts to stabilize the status quo (Loomba, 1998:173-174). Homi Bhabha, as cited by Loomba, states that hybridity emerges due to the failure of colonial discourse to obtain fixed identity and it more adequately describes the dynamics of the colonial encounter (Loomba, 1998:105). The first-generation Japanese immigrant (Issei) tends to be the traditional ones, meanwhile their American-born children (Nissei) are more American as they interact with white people more often than their parents do. Therefore, culturally, there is a gap between Issei and Nisei. Nisei is mostly hybrid, because they adopt two cultures, a culture of native Japanese and American culture.
Furthermore, the Japanese immigrant in America is a minority group, they have tendency to live in a colony to keep their native culture exist while they also try to assimilate with American culture. Frantz Fanon in The Wretched of the Earth as cited by Peter Barry argues that the first step for ‘colonalised’
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recalling the past in order to get that feel to be accepted and to find a true identity.
4. Theory of Gender Stereotype
Jane Pilcher in Fifty Key Concepts in Gender Studies states that the notion of stereotype was first introduced into social science in 1920s and it was understood as a typical image that comes to mind when talking about particular social group. In the other words, stereotype can be defined as a standarised and often pejorative concept or image held about an individual on the basis of their gender. Pilcher also shares some views about gender stereotype arguing that masculine characters tend to be depicted dominating and have wider range of roles, while feminine characters tend to be stereotyped in domestic settings. Meaning to say, women are seen either as sexual objects, housewives or in jobs that reflect their domestic/caring role. (Pilcher, 2004:167)
Mary Wollstonecraft, as cited by David Glover and Cora Kaplan in Gender,notes that women are shaped, not born: every thing that women see and hear will give impressions, call up emotions, and associate ideas, that bestow a sexual character to mind (Glover, 2000: 10). Based on these views, we can tell that gender stereotype has something to do with socialisation, such as families, education system and media.
It’s been discussed earlier that the practice of colonialism similar to
patriarchy, it oppresses the minority which is usually described as effiminate. In colonial discourse, female bodies are considered as conquered land (Loomba,
1996: 152). A group of Japanese immigrants is seen as inferior in The Music Lesson, they are isolated, controlled and oppressed by white people that is the dominant group there. Blauner, as cited by Kitano in Race Relation, theorizes about domestic colonial perspective which has the same basic concept with the idea of gender stereotype in term of marginalized group. Generally, domestic colonialism is a form of unequal institutionalized contact and resembles a master-servant, paternalistic relationship (Kitano, 1985: 46). In the other words, domestic colonialism is a term to describe the exploitation of minority groups within a wider society which seems to be acceptable and considered normal since prejudice and discrimination are universal and have to be faced by all who are strangers (Kitano, 1985: 48).
C. Review on Historical Background 1. Japanese Immigrant in the USA
The Issei or first-generation Japanese immigrant came to the USA between 1870 and 1924. By 1884, Japan allowed the immigration to the Hawaiian territory and California. They came primarily from southern Japan , particularly the prefectures of Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Wakayama, and Yamaguchi and found jobs in agricultural sectors. Some Issei men returned to Japan in those early days after considering themselves successful and looked for a wife to bring to the US. Men and women were brought together through an exchange of photos, and many young women were called “picture brides”, this practice, of course, made
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Furthermore, the Anti-Japanese demanded the United States government to restrict the immigration, which discouraged the first-generations immigrants. Taylor Sakamoto in The Triumph and Tragedies of Japanese Women in America: A View Across Four Generations says that, in 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt negotiated an agreement with Japan to prohibit any further male laborers from emigrating to Hawaii or the United States; the United States only accepted the members of laborers family who were already in the USA. This was reducing the number of males and picture brides, because that was the only way for Japanese women to legally emigrate to the USA (Sakamoto, 2007: 98). Because of their status as an immigrant, the Issei had to experience prejudice, discrimination and segregation. The majority of the Japanese settled in California had to face prejudice because the state had just passed through a period of a strong feeling against Chinese. The Bureau of Sociological Research Colorado River War Relocation Center in The Japanese Family in America states that The Japanese were accused of lowering the “American Standard of Living” and of
unfair competition of white laborers. In 1920, Japanese could not apply for citizenship due to their racial characteristics and incapability to assimilate to American culture, therefore, they were not qualified as good citizen. In 1924, the US government also prohibited interracial marriage between Japanese and Caucasians and forbidded the Japanese to own land which made their lives in the US even worse (1943: 152-153).
2. The Japanese Immigrant Family in the USA
The Issei lived separated from the American mainstream, they mostly interacted around their family and community. The most surviving Issei in 1940s had actually acquired certain American orientations such as individualism and self-reliance. Most of them already got enough knowledge about America in order to be able to survive, but they left the major task to acculturate to American culture and more focused on their American-born children (Kitano, 1996: 243). The children of The Issei, called The Nissei, were generally born between 1910 and 1940 and by the 1970s were in their middle years. Although they got much influence from their parents, they became more acculturated to America than The Issei did. Sakamoto suggests that the eagerness of Nisei to be American causes them to leave behind their cultural heritage and begin to follow Western way of life with hopes of assimilating into the society they live in. (Sakamoto, 2007:100).
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expects the children will come to think that their selfish deeds suffer the mother. Kato also summarizes that Japanese children will soon regret their wrong doing after realizing that their parents have been suffering because of them and then end up following what their parents say. However, American people tend to think that amae or physical dependency of children to their parents indicates immaturity and negative quality. They assume that individualism is ideal since mature people should be independent as well (Kato, 1989: 52-53).
In addition, The Japanese is a patriarchal society. Hsiao-Chuan Hsia and John H. Scanzoni in Rethinking The Roles of Japanese Women says that, the Japanese were influenced by Confucianism and Buddhism that changed matrilineality system into patrilineality system. Women lost their legal privilleges, for instance, they could not own property and divorce their husbands. Confucianism and Buddhism not only changed the system, but also ascribed an inferior social and religious status for women (Hsia, 1996: 310-311). Chris Kincaid in A Look At Gender Expectations In Japanese Society states that in Japanese society, gender identities are defined by culture more than physical difference between men and women. Women are labelled into child-bearing because men are physically cannot. However, child-rearing roles are a product of a culture. Furthermore, Kincaid also adds a few key ideas about gender that persist within Japanese society, namely:
a. Men should work outside the home. b. Genders should be brought up differently.
c. Women are more suited to household work and child-rearing than men.
d. Full time housewives are valuable to society because of their family raising role.
( http://www.japanpowered.com/japan-culture/a-look-at-gender-expectations-in-japanese-society)
D. Theoretical Framework
The first theory is the theory of character and characterization. The writer uses this theory to answer the research question number one. By using this theory, the writer is able to analyze Chizuko Sakata’s character. It also embodies the context of Chizuko, attitude, role, perspective, and function as a woman, mother, and breadwinner in the play.
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In the end, the writer finds out how postcolonial feminism reflected through main character by analyzing data that already gathered using postcolonial feminism approach, theory of gender stereotype, theory of hybridity and theory of postcolonial feminism.
23 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The work analyzed in this thesis is a play entitled The Music Lesson written by Wakako Yamauchi. Yamauchi was born in Westmoreland, California. This play is taken from Shawn Wong’s Asian American Literature: A Brief
Introduction and Anthology published on 1996 by Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc. Her mother and father both issei (first-generation Japanese immigrant), were farmers in California’s Imperial Valley. Actually, there is not much information related to this play, because it is not as popular as Yamauchi’s
first play, And the Soul Shall Dance. Even though those two plays share the same settings which are dusty and isolated area, it was only And the Soul Shall Dance that won the Los Angeles Critics’ Circle Award for the best new play of 1977.
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Yamauchi also shows how cultural imperatives brought on by American education influences Nisei children (the children of issei) and how their desire to assimilate is depicted throughout the story.
Generally, The Music Lessons tells us about the struggle of an issei widow in the late 30s, Chizuko Sakata and her children. They live under poverty, therefore, they have to work hard in order to survive. Chizuko is a farmer and she runs a piece of land to grow crops in an isolated area. Unfortunately, during their settlement in California, they have to face prejudice, discrimination and segregation. They are limited in their opportunities for any kind of equal status contact due to laws and customs applied there. Issei, for instance, they are not allowed to own land and to vote.
B. Approach of The Study
Since this thesis discusses how the idea of postcolonial feminism is carried by the main character in Wakako Yamauchi’s The Music Lesson, first, it is also important to know the concept of feminist approach in general. Feminist approach is an academic approach to literary study that brings feminist perspective in the context of production and reception to analyze the literary works (Goodman, 1996:XI). Feminist approach sees the literary text from women’s point of view and it concerns with a culture constructed by patriarchal system that aims to silence and marginalize women in the favor of men.
Furthermore, feminism in relation with postcolonial theory, came out as a critique against western feminism which was shaped from the perspective of white
and middle class women. Postcolonial feminism uses women experiences as the main focus, it embodies some factors like ethnicity, class and culture. Since women have different experience, it is somehow not possible to make generalizations regarding to all women. Postcolonial feminist approach attempts to examine the relation between patriarchal culture which women live in and workings of colonialism. In the other words, it concerns on women who lived in colonialized and patriarchal societies as marginalized parties. Postcolonial feminist approach is the most suitable to apply as this thesis conducts a research on a Japanese woman immigrant living in a marginalized ethnic group in Imperial Valley, California. This approach helps the writer find out how the idea of postcolonial feminism perceived through the main female character as a Japanese immigrant.
C. Method of The Study
The writer used a library research to do this analysis. The primary source that was used in this thesis was a play entitled The Music Lessons written by Wakako Yamauchi. The secondary source is some website from the internet, theory books, essays and journals that related to this study as follows: A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature, How to Analyze Drama, The
Beginning Theory: The Introduction To Literary And Cultural Theory, The
Feminist Reader, Feminist Thought,Race Relations, Colonialism/Postcolonialism,
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There were several steps required to work on this study. First, the writer conducted a deeper reading on the play in order to comprehend the story well and find the detail. After reading the play, the writer found something interesting to discuss which was, the struggle of a japanese woman immigrant to adjust to the isolated life in California perceived through postcolonial feminism point of view. In order to do more research on it, the writer used several theories from internet, essays and literary theory books after the writer finished collecting data from the text.
The next step was applying theories and approach that is already presented earlier to answer the problem formulation. The theory of character and characterization and theory of gender stereotype were used to reveal the characteristics of the main character through the dialogue and hidden narration as the object of this study was a play, while the theory of postcolonial feminism was used to reveal the postcolonial perspective seen through the main female character in the play. After the first problem was answered, then the second problem could be answered as well by reflecting the postcolonial feminism concept, theory of gender stereotype and theory of hybridity to the first problem, then, the writer would relate it to the Japanese immigrant historical background. By answering those two problem formulation, the writer could analyze how the characteristics and roles of Chizuko Sakata contributed to reveal her struggle as an Issei widow seen through postcolonial feminist perspective and finally the writer could draw a conclusion based on the analysis on it.
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter aims to analyze how the struggle of Chizuko Sakata as an Issei widow in Wakako Yamauchi’s The Music Lesson is revealed through
postcolonial feminist perspective. First of all, it is important to know how Chizuko is depicted in the play. Chizuko Sakata is chosen since the writer wants to see how a first-generation Japanese woman immigrant who lacks of opportunity attempts to adjust to an isolated agricultural life in California and her struggle to maintain her culture in a foreign land. From the description of Chizuko Sakata, the writer can see the way she strives to overcome the hardships and play her roles in the family. In this part, the writer also discusses how patriarchy dominates the Japanese woman immigrant’s life.
A. The Description of Chizuko Sakata 1. Chizuko Sakata as a Breadwinner
It has been seven years since her husband’s death and Chizuko realizes
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farm. Chizuko is willing to work from dawn to dusk to support her family even without a husband.
NAKAMURA. (looking around and lowering his voice) That women never lets up. Works like a man. Maybe better, eh? (Yamauchi, 1996:411)
NAKAMURA. And the day after he was buried, she’s out there plowing
the field. (Yamauchi, 1996:413)
NAKAMURA. Can you believe it? A woman behind the ass of a horse the day after her man's funeral. It ain't right. So I tell her, "Chizuko-san, you got a right to cry. Take time out to cry." She says no. So I say, "I'll do your plowing. Stay home for a while." And you know what she said? (Yamauchi, 1996:414)
NAKAMURA. She says that's the way she cries, by working. (Yamauchi, 1996:414)
What Nakamura says in his conversation with Kaoru shows us the toughness of Chizuko as a breadwinner. It also proves how she attempts to bear the pain of losing a husband in order to make a living for her family because she knows that everything is no longer the same, she has to go on struggling no matter how hard life will be.
NAKAMURA. Yeah. She got lucky with tomatoes a couple of years ago and paid back all her old man's debts. People never expected to see their money again, but she did it. She paid them back. Now she never borrows-lives close to the belly-stingy, tight. That's the way she stays ahead. Not much ahead, but... (Yamauchi, 1996:413)
Chizuko endeavors to stand on her own feet, since there is nobody she can depend on but herself. She cannot count on her children too much because they have to go to school therefore they cannot help her mother so often. Chizuko makes an effort to pay all the debt even though she does not make much money from farming, it means she does not want to owe anybody. From her attitude, we
can tell that she is not only hard-worker and independent but also a woman who has a high self-esteem.
2. Chizuko Sakata as a Japanese Woman
In The Music Lesson, Chizuko is depicted as a traditional woman and mother. She still perpetuates Japanese culture even though she already immigrates to the USA where civilization has rapidly developed.
KAORU. Ah! I am Kawaguchi.
Kaoru extends a hand and Chizuko reluctantly takes it. It’s not a Japanese custom to shake hands.
CHIZUKO. Kawaguchi-san? (Yamauchi, 1996: 407)
Kaoru has been living in the USA since he was sixteen, therefore, he would have adopted and learnt American behaviors since then. Meanwhile, Chizuko feels awkward and hesitant when Kaoru extends a hand to shake hands with Chizuko. Japanese usually bow to each other when they have guests at home to show respect. However, Non-Japanese people mostly are not familiar with bowing, they more get used to shake hands.
Moreover, throughout the play Chizuko and her daughter, Aki, are often shown to be involved in an argumentation. In contrast to Aki, who is eager to assimilate to the western culture, Chizuko tries to preserve the culture she has strongly held onto since she was born.
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AKI. Yes, you are! You’re trying to control everything. It’s a free country. If we want to talk, what’s wrong with that?
(Yamauchi, 1996:437)
AKI. You’re saying you don’t like it. No one else cares. You’re saying ...
CHIZUKO. Aki-chan It’s not like that. You don’t understand. Kaoru-san is a grown man. should not visit a man’s room until late at night because people will talk this over
as if they have done something in that room. However, Aki insists there is nothing wrong with that, to visit and talk with a man in a shed, she argues that it is alright, it is not important what people will say and how they will look. Meanwhile, from the dialogue, Chizuko assumes that what people will say about them does matter to their life, therefore, as a Japanese people, they should always maintain a good image to prevent other people from spreading a bad talk.
3. Chizuko Sakata as a Mother
The absence of father figure who is in charge of protection in the house makes Chizuko have to take over that role as well. It can be seen when she
decides to extrude Kaoru for harassing her daughter, Aki. Chizuko finds them kissing in the shed and she definitely cannot take it.
KAORU.Chizuko-san, please let me explain. Please…
CHIZUKO.“Please-please-please.” Don’t beg now! Pack your things and
get out! (she pulls shirts and things off the pegs and throws them on bed) (Yamauchi, 1996: 442)
CHIZUKO. You thought you could fool me. You... you violated my trust. You violated my daughter!
KAORU. Vio...? I did nothing. Believe me, I did nothing. AKI. It’s not his fault!
CHIZUKO. I’ll fix you. I’ll get the police KAORU. Be reasonable. Let’s talk this over.
CHIZUKO. I said out! Tonight. Now! (she pulls Aki downstage) (Yamauchi, 1996: 443)
Chizuko refuses to listens to Kaoru’s excuses, she insists on sending him away. In this play, Kaoru’s presence brings disturbance to Chizuko’s family. In The Music
Lesson, Chizuko seems to be interested in Kaoru. Since Aki has fallen for him, she and her mother are often engaged in a quarelling as Chizuko does not like if Aki sees Kaoru until late at night. The restrained atmosphere of politeness to which the family is accustomed then suddenly fades away as Kaoru’s coming, Aki seems no longer to respect Chizuko because she starts arguing what Chizuko tries to tell her. Chizuko is disappointed with Kaoru, that night she loses all her respect toward him. Chizuko used to think that Kaoru will bring some sort of changes and reliefs to her family but it does not turn out as she expected.
KAORU. Believe me. I mean no harm…
CHIZUKO. What did you do to me?
KAORU: I’ve made no pretenses. From the beginning, I told you….
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CHIZUKO. I trusted you, I trusted you.
KAORU. I’m sorry. I didn’t betray that trust. Tonight I… I had too much to drink. I know that’s no ex(cuse) …
CHIZUKO. Get out. Get out! KAORU. I have no money.
CHIZUKO. I’ll give you money! (she starts toward the house dragging Aki with her)
(Yamauchi, 1996: 443-444)
Chizuko being a persistent and protective mother is not only out of a great disappointment with Kaoru but also a responsibility as a mother to protect her daughter, Aki, from anybody who tries to mess up with her. The quarrels between Chizuko and Aki indicate that, in fact, Chizuko mostly shows her concern for her daughter over her sons. That is why when it comes to harass her daughter and disrupt her family, Chizuko persists not to listen to any excuses, she will do anything to keep the family peaceful.
Chizuko spends most of her time to work hard for her family. It seems that throughout the play she is depicted as a work-oriented woman. Even so, a rigorous life does not make her fail to play the role of a good mother, she is a caring and mother, a care-taker who always pays attention and makes sure her children will grow up well. In the act two scene one, Chizuko expresses her worry about Aki going home alone,
CHIZUKO. What’s matter with you, Ichiro? I told you to walk together. You’re the oldest and...
TOMU. She ran away from us, Ma.
ICHIRO. God, she’s a big girl now. I can’t watch her all the time.
Chizuko scolds Ichiro for letting Aki go home alone, she insists that they have to walk together and protect each other in their way home. However, Ichiro thinks that Aki is not a little girl who needs protection from her oldest brother since she is able to keep herself safe. Chizuko, of course, as a mother cannot take it. Her maternal instincts make her worry even over a little and insignificant thing.
CHIZUKO. I hear myself: “Don’t do this; don’t do that. Wear your sweater; study hard ...”I try to say other things: “How smart you are; how pretty you look ...” but my mouth won’t let me. I keep thinking, life is hard. I shouldn’t let them think it would be easy.
KAORU. That’s true.
CHIZUKO. Well, they’re used to me like I am. If I change now, they’d think I went crazy.
KAORU. The important thing is, you’re here. It’s no good without a mother, Chizuko-san. I know.
(Yamauchi, 1996 : 428)
From the dialogue above, it can be learned that the way Chizuko communicates her concern for her children is slightly different. She does not speak like a mother who is described always speaks softly and delicately to her children to convey her love. She prefers to say it in a short and flat way because it is already Chizuko’s intention to teach her children to be a life fighter. She refuses to show her love too much because she does not want to give an impression that she spoils her children.
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CHIZUKO. (pulling Aki away) You know what you are asking for? From town to town ... no roots ... no home ... nothing. Maybe one day, he’ll get tired of you ... throw you out ... leave you in some dirty hotel for another fool woman. Think, Aki. And you’ll come crawling (home) ...
AKI. I’ll never come home! I’ll never come back to you! You’re not a mother. You’re a witch!
CHIZUKO. Witch? Who you calling witch? Someone who sacrificed a life for you?
AKI. You didn’t sacrifice for me.
(Yamauchi, 1996: 444)
CHIZUKO. (in a towering rage) (Annngh) Go then. Go! Go! You’ll find out. And when things get rough, remember tonight!
AKI. I’ll never forget.
CHIZUKO. You think you know all the answers. You think everything’s so simple. You haven’t even tasted pain yet. You’ll find out.
(Yamauchi, 1996 : 445)
Chizuko tries to tell Aki that she already sacrificed everything for Aki. By acting out this way, a mother wants to encourage the guilt feeling of her children, a child should not mistreat her mother who gives birth to her. Chizuko as a traditional mother, she claims how she has been suffering for all this time for her children’s sake with hopes of Aki will feel guilty and follow what her mother
wants her to do. Through Chizuko, we can also perceive how the practice of the threat of abandonment is performed. She gives Aki images what may happen if she leaves home with Kaoru. Chizuko attempts to tell Aki how it feels to be abandoned and not to be cared for. Chizuko convinces her that there will be nobody who loves and cares for her like her mother.
B. The struggle of Chizuko Sakata as an Issei widow
After analyzing the characteristics and the roles of Chizuko Sakata in the play, in this part the writer would like to analyze how her struggle as an Issei widow in California is seen from postcolonial feminist perspective. Moreover, the struggle of Chizuko Sakata is examined in a specific sphere therefore the writer can do a deeper analysis and interpretation based on postcolonial feminist point of view.
1. The Struggle to Maintain the Native Culture a. Gender spheres and gender roles
Even though she has lived in California for years, Chizuko still carries a Japanese culture which is very patriarchal with her. Being raised and educated within such culture, Chizuko surely already gets used to it and it influences how she perceives acceptable roles of men and women. The day when Chizuko meets Kaoru Kawaguchi for the first time becomes a crucial point to prove that Chizuko sees ‘working hard’ as male nature.
CHIZUKO. Well, we never know how it turns out. Sometimes it’s good; sometimes, bad. A lot depends on weather, prices ... things like that. Besides ... (she looks him over shamelessly.) I need a man who can work like a horse.
KAORU. Ma’am, I know how to work. I come from peasant cock.
(Yamauchi, 1996 : 407)
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assumes physical powers to be the basic essence of man. She expects to get a good harvest as the farm work is done by a man, there will be a huge difference among man’s work, woman and children’s work. Chizuko finds it hard and
exhausting for a woman to do plowing alone, therefore she needs a man whom she believes was born as a worker.
CHIZUKO. I’ve been thinking ... ah, wondering how you would feel about ... what you think about staying on ... on this farm, I mean. With us. (she waits; Kaoru is silent) I mean, share profits ... a partnership.
KAORU. I don’t have money, Chizuko-san.
CHIZUKO. (quickly) Oh, you pay nothing. I mean a joint venture. More or less. This farm is too much for a woman alone and I ...
(Yamauchi, 1996 : 427)
She thinks of Kaoru as a man who is physically stronger than woman and expects a better result from the work of a man. She assumes that it will be much easier if there is a man who can help her run the farm. Chizuko expresses how actually she tired of her life, showing that she requires a partner to work, somebody to share and to discuss many things. In addition, eventhough Chizuko Sakata seems to be a tough and independent woman, there is a moment when she really need someone who is reliable during the hard times. In act two scene two, for instance, Chizuko asks Kaoru whether they should irrigate the farm (p. 432), it implies that Chizuko also sees man as a primary decision-maker, she feels like she has to ask for Kaoru’s consideration as if she cannot decide it by herself. From
this finding, it is obvious that Chizuko also perceives ‘decision-maker’ is one of male traits. Moreover, it also depicts her state that is still colonized by patriarchy even though she is now far away from Japan. She does not feel objected about that
and does not even think that she is being oppressed because she might get used to such culture since she was still in Japan.
Furthermore, it is also important to examine how Chizuko treats her sons and daughter in her her to perpetuate her native culture. Chizuko distinguishes the chores between her sons and daughter which shows she admits the labor division that is very patriarchal.
CHIZUKO. (to Kaoru) My boys spent summer here—flooding, plowing, getting ready for planting. It was hot. Hundred ten degrees.
CHIZUKO. (to Ichiro) You and Tomu clean the tool shed. Aki, get blankets and sheets for Kawaguchi-san.
(Yamauchi, 1996: 409)
AKI. Then why do I have to go bed so early?
CHIZUKO. The boys have to go to bed early because they work on Saturday. It’s not fair to them.
(Yamauchi, 1996: 436)
The dialogue above shows that Chizuko is a woman who once lived in a patriarchal society, therefore, her way of thinking is influenced by patriarchal culture as well. She perceives domestic sphere is a proper place for women while the outside world is for men. Chizuko introduces her sons, Ichiro and Tomu to the role of men, it is a man’s nature to be a worker and they supposed to work harder
than woman out of their physical features. Meanwhile, Chizuko habituates Aki to do woman’s chores. She is told to take care household chores, for instance in this
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identity, that being masculine is also culturally constructed which indicates the equality between men and women. Her act depicts a feminist movement regardles of she is aware of it or not because it is not her intention from the beginning to struggle for women’s right. But, in fact, her attitude shows that gender roles are
cultural product which become acceptable habitual acts in society.
2. The Struggle to Establish Identity a. “American” Identity
In The Music Lesson Chizuko Sakata is also depicted as a traditional woman and mother and it is revealed through her role on daily basis when she interacts with her children. First, she does a labor division among her children that men are workers while women are doing household chores. Chizuko seems to play upon their common sense as if such division is the true value of their culture. Second, Chizuko scolds Aki for staying too long in a grown man’s room, she also
express her distaste when Aki starts arguing her. It shows that actually for Chizuko, a woman should always maintain a good image so that people will not spread a bad talk among them and she finds it is inapropriate for a woman to argue or talk too much.
Chizuko has been living in Imperial Valley, California for years, she, of course has assimilated with American culture which causes her to have another identity, an ‘American’ identity. Speaking of Chizuko’s role as a mother, she is not a type of mother who looks like spoiling her children. Instead, the way she talks to them is slightly rigid and flat.
AKI. That’s all you think about: work, work, work! CHIZUKO. (warning) Aki...
AKI. Well. It’s true. You’re always telling me what to do and how to do it. You’re always trying to tell everyone what to do around here.
CHIZUKO. I’m not trying to tell everyone...
AKI. You’re going to drive Kaoru-san away from here—bossing him like you do.
(Yamauchi, 1996: 437)
CHIZUKO. That’s what I mean. You don’t care about anyone but yourself. You don’t care how anyone else feels.
AKI. You mean you? (she turns back) (Yamauchi, 1996: 438)
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independent, tough and even dominating like a man eventhough at first it starts from an urge to survive in California.
b. Hybrid Identity
In The Music Lesson, Chizuko is described as an independent breadwinner to support her family and she seems to struggle against patriarchal premise that a woman should be a housewife and follower. From Chizuko, it is blatant that two culture are overlapping within her. She does a labor division between her daughter and sons based on gender traits that has been set by patriarchy. However, she does not follow that patriarchal rule, she keeps on playing her double role as both a breadwinner and a good mother for her children and she is able to maintain Japanese culture as well.
CHIZUKO. No? No? You think I like this life? You think I like grubbing in dirt and manure (and)...
AKI. That’s the only way you know to live. You don’t want to change your life.
CHIZUKO. You believe that? You believe this is all I want? That I lived with a man I hardly knew, didn’t understand, didn’t respect because (I).. AKI. You didn’t love him! You didn’t love him, did you?
CHIZUKO. How could I love him—I didn’t know him. All the time I was keeping our heads above water ... single-handed! Yes! While he was still alive, until the merciful day he drowned! Growing old before I was ready—dying before I ever lived. (Yamauchi, 1996:445)
The dialogue between Chizuko and Aki implies Chizuko’s refusal to her
arranged marriage back then. She finds it miserable and uncomfortable as she has to marry a man she barely knows and loves. Patriarchal culture that has been
deeply-rooted in Japanese society forces Chizuko to accept what has been destinied for her despite the fact she does not want it. Moreover, from the dialogue above it is obvious that she does not like her ‘new’ role. She used to be a housewife who took care of her family and depended on her husband, but suddenly everything changed, her husband died and she had to take over his job. It proves that Chizuko does not intentionally want to be a breadwinner, it is because her condition forces her to do so.
She assimilates to western culture and way of thinking in order to survive in California since she realizes that she will not be able to make enough money if she is only a housewife. Chizuko’s hybrid identity begins from the dire neccessity, it is not because her desire to be accepted in American society. Chizuko adopts both eastern and western culture yet she is neither ‘native’ japanese nor ‘american’, but she has become a hybrid self. Chizuko’s hybrid identity also
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the field. The quarel involving Chizuko and her daughter, Aki that has been examined earlier, gives an significant point to this discussion. Chizuko’s strong
desire to perpetuate eastern culture which is heavily patriarchal, triggers a fuss between her and Aki who is already westernized. Their conflict also implies the different perspective between two generations, Issei and Nisei.
c. The Search of Identity
The isolation area in which Chizuko has lived for years is kind of metaphor for her, who is isolated in marriage, within the family and obviously from Japan. Chizuko Sakata is a woman who was raised and living in a patriarchal society. Following her husband to the USA, Chizuko, of course, expects a better life and future since the USA seems promising for immigrants. Unfortunately it does not turn out as Chizuko had thought.
CHIZUKO. When I left Japan I never knew it would be like this. The babies came so fast... and me, by myself, no mother no sister—no one—to help. I was so young... never dreamed it would be like this. Never thought my life would be so hard. I don’t know what is to be a... a woman anymore ... to laugh ... to be soft ... to talk nice ... (she can’t look at Kaoru) (Yamauchi, 1997 : 426)
CHIZUKO. I want a change too. But some of us... (glances at her children)we’re not free to do that. Change. (Yamauchi, 1996: 408)
Chizuko Sakata as a Japanese woman immigrant, seems to undergo kind of restriction neither in Japan nor in California. She comes to the USA voluntarily in search of a better life, living a tough life is definitely not what she had dreamt of. In this play, Chizuko attempts to adapt to her all restrained life. Her neighbor, Nakamura, earlier in this play says that working is the way Chizuko cries.
Nakamura also assumes that Chizuko must be crying all the time since she works harder and harder (p. 414).
The night when Chizuko finds Kaoru violates her daughter becomes a turning point in this play. The way Chizuko sees Kaoru is no longer the same. She insists on sending Kaoru away and refuse to listen to his excuses. She did not expect this problem will come along and throw her family into total confusion. Chizuko is very disappointed with Kaoru because at first she had already set a high expectation toward him.
ICHIRO. (counting the money) I knew what was going on. I should have knocked some sense.
CHIZUKO. No. If... no. I was thinking of myself all the time... the farm. It was easier with a man helping. I was thinking... I’m getting old... tired...
(Yamauchi, 1996: 446)
Chizuko used to think that Kaoru would help her ‘escape’ from her hard days. She was happy Kaoru came since she thought that there would be someone whom she could always count on no matter how difficult it is to live in such isolated agricultural area. Chizuko feels like she is not able to continue working alone as she is getting old and tired, therefore, she agreed on employing Kaoru.
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changes, in fact, it brings trouble for her family. Chizuko shows that women also have the same right to own a privilege which culturally belongs to men, to be able to voice their mind, to think and to behave on their own
CHIZUKO. We can’t stay here anymore. It will be too hard for us. ICHIRO. Don’t worry, Ma. We can make it. I’ll quit school and ... TOMU. Ma..
CHIZUKO. You can’t quit school. ICHIRO. Where will we go? The crop...
CHIZUKO. After the harvest. I was thinking... Maybe San Pedro. ICHIRO. Where?
CHIZUKO. Terminal Island. I hear there’re lots of Japanese there. And the canneries. You boys can get part-time work. After school. That way you don’t miss school so much.. like you’ve been doing.
(Yamauchi, 1996: 447)
