Analysis of The Protagonist's Conflicts in Nadine Gordimer's 'Burger's Daughter'.

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iii Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dalam penulisan Tugas Akhir ini, saya memutuskan untuk menganalisis novel yang berjudul Burger’s Daughter karya Nadine Gordimer yang menceritakan berbagai konflik yang dialami oleh tokoh utama secara menarik.

Dalam novel yang berjudul Burger’s Daughter ini, saya menemukan bahwa tokoh utama bernama Rosa Burger adalah seorang wanita yang berasal dari keluarga ras berkulit putih di Afrika Selatan. Pada saat itu di sana diberlakukan sebuah sistem, yaitu Apartheid, dimana terdapat perbedaan perlakuan ras, yaitu antara ras berkulit putih dan hitam. Rosa menghadapi berbagai konflik pribadi dan juga konflik-konflik sosial. Rosa diperhadapkan dengan kenyataan hidup yang berat terutama setelah kematian kedua orang tuanya yang disebabkan oleh perjuangan mereka untuk memperjuangkan persamaan hak bagi ras berkulit hitam. Selain itu, Rosa juga mengalami konflik dengan orang-orang sesama rasnya karena mereka memiliki perbedaan pola pikir mengenai ras berkulit hitam.

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19 Maranatha Christian University

APPENDICES

Synopsis of Burger’s Daughter

Burger's Daughter is a novel written by Nadine Gordimer. This novel tells of a young white woman, Rosa Burger, who comes from a family in South Africa. Rosa is the only remaining child in the family. Her father, Lionel Burger, is an anti-Apartheid activist and her mother, Cathy Burger, also supports the struggle against Apartheid. Her parents are imprisoned for their anti-Apartheid beliefs and they finally die in prison.

When Rosa’s father is still alive and imprisoned, she indirectly supports him by being engaged to Noel de Witt, one of her father’s colleagues, who fight

together with Rosa’s father in the struggle against Apartheid. Rosa’s aim of this

engagement is to help her father to communicate with Noel de Witt, who is also a prisoner.

After both of Rosa’ parents are gone, not only white people but also black

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20 Maranatha Christian University When Rosa is still in her country, South Africa, one of her friends, Clare Terblanche, asks Rosa to help her to lend her the key to the room where some important documents are kept. Rosa refuses. She thinks it is hard to do and that it will create some trouble for both of them.

Later, Rosa has a quarrel with her father’s friend, Conrad, who is also her boyfriend. Conrad insists she take her responsibility by continuing her parents’

struggle against Apartheid but Rosa does not want to do that.

Rosa also has a black foster brother named Baasie, whom she meets when she is in London. When they meet, Baasie tells Rosa that she has done something wrong by agreeing to have a TV interview about her father. He thinks that Rosa’s

father is not the only one who must receive appreciation but there are a lot of black people in the same struggle who must also get appreciation. Baasie also reminds her about the black people’s suffering which is caused by the white

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21 Maranatha Christian University Biography of Nadine Gordimer

Nadine Gordimer was born in Springs, Witwatersrand, South Africa, on 20th November 1923. Her father, who worked in the gold mines, was a Russian and her mother was a Jew of British descent. Gordimer was married to Reinhold Cassirer in 1954. Her husband was known as a highly respected art dealer who established the South African Sotheby's. They had a son in 1955. Their marriage lasted until Reinhold’s death in 2001. Most of Gordimer’s life apart from a brief period in Zambia in the middle of 1960’s was spent in Witwatersrand, South

Africa.

Gordimer received her education in Witwatersrand, firstly as a scholar at a convent called Our Lady of Mercy, and later she went to college at the University of the Witwatersrand for one year. During that time she began to write essays, short stories, novels and she also became a screenwriter. Her early works were in the tradition of liberal South African whites opposed to Apartheid, while her later works reflected a move toward radical political and literary terms. Her first short story entitled Come Again Tomorrow was published in Johannesburg Magazine, while her first novel entitled The Lying Days was published in 1953. Burger’s Daughter was her seventh novel, which was published in 1979. Her most recent novel was entitled The House Gun (1998). She has written 12 novels, some collections of short stories and essays, which included Apartheid topics.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Apartheid is “racial discrimination which caused segregation between

white people and black people in many aspects of life. Black people are regarded as inferior and it makes black people treated unfairly in society” (“Apartheid”). Apartheid system happened in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s and is presented by Nadine Gordimer in her Burger’s Daughter.

Nadine Gordimer is one of South Africa's prominent writers, who was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991. She has also produced several collections of essays and short stories. I am interested in analyzing Nadine

Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter because I find that certain topics like politics,

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2 Maranatha Christian University In this thesis, I would like to analyze the protagonist's conflicts in

Gordimer’s Burger's Daughter. Conflict is one of the fundamental aspects in this

novel. According to Harry Shaw in his Dictionary of Literary Terms, conflict is

”… the opposition of persons or forces upon which the action depends in drama

and fiction” (Shaw 91-92).

There are three types of conflict, namely social conflict, physical conflict, and inner conflict. According to Shaw, social conflict is “a struggle between man

and man” (Shaw 91). In other words, social conflict occurs because there are two

or more people who have different ideas and opinions about something. Physical

conflict is “a struggle between man and the physical world” (Shaw 91) while

inner conflict is “a struggle between desires within a person” (Shaw 92).

In Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter, most of the conflicts are inner conflicts

and social conflicts; thus, I would like to focus on the analysis of those conflicts in my thesis.

Statement of the Problem

I would like to state the problems as follows:

1. What kind of conflicts can be found in the novel? 2. What are the causes of the conflicts?

3. How are the conflicts resolved?

Purpose of the Study

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3 Maranatha Christian University 1. To identify the conflicts which are found in Nadine Gordimer’s

Burger’s Daughter.

2. To find out the causes of the conflicts. 3. To show how the conflicts are resolved.

Method of Research

I would like to analyze Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter using formalism in order to help me more in understanding the novel.

The type of research used is library research. I begin by reading the

primary text, Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter. Later, I read some books and

search the Internet to find some information to help me in analyzing the novel and writing the thesis, and then finally I come to a conclusion.

Organization of the Thesis

I divide the thesis into three chapters that are preceded by Acknowledgements, Table of Contents and Abstract. Chapter One is the Introduction, which contains the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research and Organization of the

Thesis. Chapter Two contains the analysis of the protagonist’s conflicts in Nadine

Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter. Chapter Three contains the Conclusion of the

analysis. The thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices, which

contain the Synopsis of Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter and the Biography

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

After analyzing the conflicts in the Burger’s Daughter by Nadine Gordimer, I would like to draw some conclusions. As the protagonist, Rosa experiences three inner conflicts and three social conflicts. The conflicts in this novel deal with the Apartheid system in South Africa.

There are three inner conflicts experienced by Rosa. First, Rosa faces the

dillemma whether to continue her father’s struggle against Apartheid or not. The

second inner conflict is about Rosa’s engagement in order to help her father. The

third inner conflict is when Rosa has to decide whether to return to South Africa or not. All of the inner conflicts experienced by Rosa are finally resolved.

Besides inner conflicts, Rosa also experiences social conflicts. There are three social conflicts in this novel. The first social conflict happens between Rosa

and Baasie about different perceptions concerning Rosa’s father in his struggle

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Conrad’s opinion which causes a dispute. All of these social conflicts in this story

are finally resolved.

All the conflicts found in this novel share the same issue, that is about the

struggle against Apartheid and Rosa’s legacy as the daughter of an anti-Apartheid

activist. Being Lionel Burger’s daughter means that Rosa has the obligation to

continue her father’s struggle. Moreover, Rosa must get involved in his affairs.

All her life, Rosa has been living in her father’s shadow and after her father’s

death, his legacy becomes the source of all conflicts in her life.

Based on this novel, I think that Rosa actually inherits the knowledge she needs to continue her father's legacy and the spirit to fight for the rights of the blacks from her parents, especially from her father. She feels responsible as the

Burger’s daughter to continue the struggle against Apartheid, which is her parents'

legacy. But actually deep in her heart, she has her own point of view that every person has the freedom to choose what to do.

Moreover, I have my own opinions on the three social conflicts experienced by Rosa. In the first conflict, Baasie, her black foster brother, thinks that it is not fair if only Lionel who gets appreciation for his fight against Apartheid, because he is white. There are also a lot of black people sacrificing themselves for their own freedom. But Rosa thinks that her father is sincere in helping the blacks to gain their freedom from discrimination. I think Rosa should

understand Baasie’s objection to the interview concerning appreciation of

Lionel’s life, because as a black, Baasie also wants a lot of black freedom fighters

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16 Maranatha Christian University black people also do the same struggle for justice by fighting against Apartheid like several whites, to get equality in all aspects of life, especially for black people in South Africa.

The second social conflict is when Rosa refuses to help Clare Terblanche. Clare asks Rosa to help her by lending her the key to the room where important documents are kept. Because she is the daughter of Rosa's parents' ally, Rosa must help her. But Rosa thinks that if she helps Clare, both she and Clare will be in a lot of trouble. I think that Rosa should be helpful, especially since Clare's parents have a close relationship with Rosa's parents. Although there will be consequences to be faced when Rosa helps Clare in the anti-Apartheid struggle, they can face them together and mutually help each other.

The third conflict is between Rosa and Conrad. Conrad thinks that Rosa has to continue her father's struggle against Apartheid as the responsibility of being a daughter of an anti-Apartheid activist. He thinks that Rosa is irresponsible if she runs away from her responsibility. But Rosa has a different opinion. She thinks that everyone has their freedom to choose their own way of life. I think Rosa should not only think about her personal life but she should also think about the needs of others, especially black people.

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17 Maranatha Christian University language and plot. As for the author, I choose Nadine Gordimer because she lifts the topic of racial discrimination. Especially in this novel, the author shows the

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Text

Gordimer, Nadine. Burger’s Daughter. London: Penguin Books LTD, 1979.

References

Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. London: McGraw-Hill Inc, 1972. The World Book Encyclopedia Volume 21. Chicago: World Book. Inc., 1996.

Grumbach, “Nadine Gordimer” vol.18. Contemporary Literary Criticism. 25 Feb. 2010

<http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/gordimer-nadine-vol-18/doris-grumbach>

Molina, 1995, Online Literary Criticism Collection. 19 Jan. 2010