Analysis of Social Conflicts in David Wong Louie's 'The Barbarians Are Coming' Using Sociological Approach.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam penulisan tugas akhir ini, penulis membahas konflik yang dapat ditemukan dalam novel karya David Wong Louie, The Barbarians are Coming. Konflik yang akan dibahas merupakan konflik sosial yang dialami oleh tokoh utama novel tersebut, yaitu seorang keturunan imigran Cina yang lahir dan dibesarkan di Amerika. Pembahasan akan dilakukan dengan menggunakan pendekatan sosiologis.

Setelah membaca dan menganalisis novel tersebut, penulis mendapatkan hal yang menarik tentang perbenturan budaya, yang mengakibatkan sang tokoh memilih untuk merangkul budaya Amerika yang sama sekali berbeda dari budaya aslinya yaitu Cina. Hal ini menyebabkan terjadinya krisis identitas yang dialami tokoh utama. Konflik sosial yang terjadi merupakan contoh dari apa yang dialami seseorang yang hidup dengan dua latar belakang budaya yang berbeda.

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APPENDICES

Synopsis of The Barbarians are Coming

Being the second generation of a Chinese immigrant Sterling Lung does not attracted to the idea of accepting his legacy. He lives with his parents in the first level of their house. As being an American appeals him the most, Sterling is having conflicts not only with his Chinese parents but also with the American society.

Genius, Sterling’s father, wants him to become a doctor but Sterling ruins his father’s dreams by becoming a European chef. He also ruins her mother’s dream of marrying him to a Chinese woman, as he marries his American girlfriend and has a son from their marriage. While in his workplace, he is expected to cook Chinese dish but he does not like to do it. Just like in his workplace, when Sterling’s wife, Bliss, confronts him to act as a Chinese, he does not do his part as one.

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Eventually, Sterling decides to give the same concoction for Moses. They make it together then Moses eats it.

Biography of David Wong Louie

Born in Rockville Center, New York in 1954, David Wong Louie is the second child from four children of Chinese immigrants. His family arrived after the World War II and run a laundry in the suburb. He graduated from Vassar College in 1977 and received B.A and M.F.A. for Creative Writing from the University of Iowa in 1981. He was also awarded a Lannan Writing Fellowship from Lannan Foundation in 2001 and received fellowship the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the Mac Dowell Colony and Yaddo.

Pangs of Love in 1991 was his first short story collection and becomes New York Times Notable Book, won Voice Literary Supplement Favorite, The Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Book Review First Fiction Award and The

Ploughshares First Fiction Book Award in 1991. His first novel The Barbarians

are Coming in 2000 won the Association for Asian American Study Award for

Prose in 2000.

Louie taught at Vassar College where he received his B.A from 1988 to

1992. He was also Associate Professor of English and Asian American Literature

at the University of California in Los Angeles. He now lives with his wife in

Venice, California.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

A person who is having two or more cultural backgrounds tends to face cultural clash because of the differences between the two cultures. Cultural clash itself is a conflict arising from the interaction of people with different cultural values (“Cultural clash”). This kind of conflict will create a situation called ‘identity crisis’. Identity crisis is a period of uncertainty and confusion in which a person’s sense of identity becomes insecure, typically due to a change in their

expected aims or role in society (“Identity crisis”). It is often experienced by

American-born-Chinese immigrants or their descendants in the United States due

the different cultures: the Chinese culture and the American culture.

There are some differences between the Chinese and American cultures.

Chinese people are collectivists; they put higher values on group cooperation,

while the Americans are individualists; they put higher values on self-reliance.

Another difference is Chinese people tend to avoid direct confrontation, open

criticism and controversial topic, in order to maintain their ‘face’. American

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controversial topic. This is due to their emphasis on personal opinions about what

they consider the truth. (“Some General Differences between Chinese and

American Cultures”)

One of the American writers who deal with identity crisis of American-born-Chinese immigrants is David Wong Louie. He is a late 20th century Chinese -American writer who wrote Pangs of Love (1991), a collection of short stories, The Barbarians are Coming (2001) his first novel and A Contemporary Asian American Anthology (1991) in collaboration with Marilyn Chin. His books have won some awards and reviews. His Pangs of Love received the 1991 First Fiction Award from the Los Angeles Times and the Ploughshares First Fiction book award, while his novel The Barbarians are Coming received the Shirley Collier Prize award. Since David Wong Louie deals with the issue about identity crisis in The Barbarians are Coming, I choose this novel to be analyzed in my thesis.

The Barbarians are Coming narrates about a second generation Chinese immigrant who encounters conflicts not only between himself and his parents but also with his surroundings regarding his identity. The protagonist of this novel, Sterling Lung, a 26-year-old American-born Chinese immigrant tries to live like the Americans. He becomes attracted to the freedom that America offers, so that he denies his family traditions and his Chinese background. This novel shows how a second generation Chinese immigrant is affected by his parents who still

hold their Chinese culture as well as by his surrounding culture. The protagonist

faces social conflicts regarding his identity throughout the novel due to those

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Maranatha Christian University In my thesis, I choose to analyze the conflicts in the novel since conflict is the most outstanding literary element in the novel. Conflict is “a clash of actions, ideas, desires or will” (Perrine 44). There are three types of conflicts, which are social conflict: man versus society, inner conflict: man versus himself, and physical conflict: man versus nature (44). The most conflicts that can be found in this novel are social conflicts. Thus, I am going to analyze the social conflicts in David Wong Louie’s The Barbarians are Coming. As the conflicts deal with clash of cultures, I will use sociological approach in analyzing the novel. Sociological criticism examines literature in the cultural, economic, and political context in which it is written or received. “ (Kennedy and Gioia 2036)

Statement of the Problem

The problems I am going to analyze are:

1. What are the social conflicts of the protagonist? 2. What is the cause of each conflict?

3. What is the resolution of each conflict?

Purpose of the Study

Based on the statements of the problem, the purposes of the study are: 1. To show the social conflicts of the protagonist.

2. To show the cause of each conflict. 3. To show the resolution of the conflict.

Method of Research

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Maranatha Christian University order to create an objective and a non-superficial analysis in the process of the research. In the end, I draw some conclusion.

Organization of the Thesis

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

After analyzing the social conflicts in the novel The Barbarians Are Coming in the previous chapter, I would like to draw some conclusion. In my opinion, this book shares the view of cultural clash and the issue of identity crisis experienced by a second generation immigrant. As the protagonist, Sterling Lung, lives between two cultures, Chinese and American, and thus some social conflicts occur due to those different cultures.

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Maranatha Christian University chosen bride, because of their having different perceptions of meaning of ‘moving bed’. These conflicts show that Sterling is experiencing cultural clash. His parents and Yuk represent the Chinese society which emphasizes more on family matters, traditions and beliefs, while Sterling represents the American society which focuses on him as an individual and has a realistic and modern thinking. Sterling’s American way of thinking is due to the fact that he was born and raised in America even though he is of Chinese descent.

The second kind of conflicts is those between Sterling and his American manager and his American wife. The conflict between Sterling and his American manager, Libby Drake, happens when Libby chooses to hire another Chinese cook to cook Chinese food for her. The conflict with his American wife, Bliss Sass, occurs when Bliss challenges him to act as a Chinese, because Sterling does not act as one, even though he is aware of his being Chinese. These conflicts happen because from the beginning Sterling always claims himself as American, but when the Americans deny his being Chinese, he tries to prove as one. Thus, when Sterling says he is Chinese, the other party challenges him to act as one; however, Sterling does not do as expected by Libby and Bliss. Sterling’s reactions in the conflicts above are interesting because they confirm that he experiences identity crisis.

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Maranatha Christian University to make the similar mixture of crackers with Moses and eat it with him. Sterling also confirms Moses that what they have made is Chinese food and Moses accepts it.

From analyzing the social conflicts, I conclude that one who is facing a culture different from their own, must first accept, learn and understand their own original culture before attempting to fit in into another society which has a completely different culture. If one does not do so, one will have to experience cultural clash, between one’s original culture and the culture one is trying to fit in. This cultural clash will lead to one’s being confused of identifying oneself, which results in one having an identity crisis. If one manages to learn and understand their own culture, it will be easier for one to fit in into another culture different from one’s own.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary text:

Louie, David Wong. The Barbarians are Coming. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group. 2000. Print.

References:

Althen, Gary. “American Values and Assumptions”. par. 1. 5. n.d Web. 6 Sep. 2013

Cheryan, Sapna and Benoit Monin. “Where are you really from?”: Asian Americans and Identity Denial. Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes. 718. 2005. Web. 2 Dec. 2013

“Chinese Belief and Superstitions.” Its Fast-Fading Existence Chinese Belief and Superstitions. n.d. Web 19 Oct. 2013

“Cultural clash.” Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford Dictionaries, 2013. Web. 22 May 2013.

“David Wong Louie”. Lannan.com. n.d. Web. 23 May 2013.

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Maranatha Christian University “Identity crisis.” Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford Dictionaries, 2013. Web. 13 Apr.

2013.

Jessica. “Cultural Differences between USA and China.” China Travel Depot. 26 Sep. 2010. Web. 13 Sep. 2013.

Kennedy, X.J and Dana Gioia. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 11th ed. New York: Pearson Longman. 2010. Print. 3 Feb. 2014 Kohls, L. Robert. “The Values American Live By.” Claremont McKenna. n.d.

Web. 19 Oct. 2013

“Overview: The Assessment and Treatment of Asian American Immigrant Families.” Asian American Mental Health Resources A Tribute to Evelyn Lee. n.d. Web. 5 Sep. 2013

Perrine, Laurence. Story and Structure. 4th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974. Print.

Rana, Satish. “Important qualities of a good son or daughter? – Essay”. Publish Your Article. n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2013.