ABSTRACT
Devi. (2008). The Influence of a Western Catholic Priest to a Traditional Chinese Woman’s Personality Development as Seen in Pearl S. Buck’s Pavilion of Women. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
This study focuses on a novel entitled Pavilion of Women(1946) by Pearl S. Buck. The novel is interesting since it talks about a traditional Chinese woman’s personality, named Madame Wu, who changes under the influence of a Western Catholic priest, so that it gives the readers different point of view of a traditional Chinese woman’s personality. The novel describes the real condition of Chinese people life in 1940s with many Chinese traditions and customs to follow.
There three objectives of this study. They are to find out how Madame Wu’s personality is described related to Chinese culture in the 1940s, what the influences of the Western Catholic priest are, and how Madame Wu’s personality develops under the influence of the Western Catholic priest.
A library study method is applied in this study. The novel Pavilion of Women (1946) is used as the primary source of this study, while books related to the theory of character and characterization, critical approach, personality development, and Chinese culture are used as the secondary sources. Psychological approach and socio cultural-historical approach are used to answer the formulated problems since the study is concerned with someone’s personality development and a condition of a culture in one place which gives influence to the pesonality of the person living there.
The study results in several findings. The first analysis discovers Madame Wu’s personality related to Chinese culture in the 1940s. Madame Wu is described as a conservative and strict woman who does not care about other people’s feeling under the influence of Chinese culture at that time. What the Western Catholic priest and his teaching represent must be found to answer the third question that is formulated. The second analysis discovers that the Western Catholic priest and his teaching represent Christianity teachings, namely love, mercy, forgiveness, sincerity, and fear no one but God. The last analysis discovers Madame Wu’s personality development under the influence of the Western Catholic priest. Madame Wu becomes a woman who is sincere, loving, tolerant, understanding, open minded, and forgiving since she met Priest Andre.
There are some suggestions for future researchers and for English teachers. The first suggestion is concerned with the need for future researchers on the same novel. The second suggestion is proposed in accordance with teaching Extensive Reading I using a part of Chapter I of Pavilion of Women (pages 33-44) to the Third Semester Students of English Language Education Study Program.
ABSTRAK
Devi. (2008). The Influence of a Western Catholic Priest to a Traditional Chinese Woman’s Personality Development as Seen in Pearl S. Buck’s Pavilion of Women. Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Skripsi ini fokus pada sebuah novel yang berjudul Pavilion of Women (1946) karya Pearl S. Buck. Novel ini menarik karena menceritakan tentang kepribadian seorang wanita Cina yang masih sangat tradisional yang bernama Madame Wu, yang berubah karena pengaruh seorang pastor Katolik yang berasal dari Barat. Hal ini memberikan pandangan berbeda terhadap kepribadian seorang wanita Cina yang masih sangat tradisional. Novel ini menggambarkan kehidupan nyata orang Cina pada tahun 1940an yang memiliki banyak tradisi dan kebiasaan yang harus dipatuhi.
Ada tiga tujuan dari studi ini. Tujuan tersebut adalah untuk menemukan bagaimana kepribadian Madame Wu digambarkan sehubungan dengan budaya Cina pada tahun 1940an, mewakili apa pendeta Kristiani yang berasal dari Barat dan ajarannya, dan bagaimana kepribadian Madame Wu berkembang di bawah pengaruh seorang pendeta Kristiani yang berasal dari Barat itu.
A library study method is applied in this study. The novel Pavilion of Women (1946) is used as the primary source of this study, while books related to the theory of character and characterization, critical approach, personality development, and Chinese culture are used as the secondary sources. Psychological approach and socio cultural-historical approach are used to answer the formulated problems since the study is concerned with someone’s personality development and a condition of a culture in one place which gives influence to the pesonality of the person living there
Metode penelitian perpustakaan digunakan dalam studi ini. NovelPavilion of Women (1946) digunakan sebagai sumber utama studi ini, sementara itu buku-buku yang berkaitan dengan teori tokoh dan penokohan, pendekatan kritis, perkembangan kepribadian, dan budaya orang Cina digunakan sebagai sumber tambahan. Pendekatan psikologi dan sosial budaya dan sejarah digunakan untuk menjawab masalah yang telah diformulasikan karena studi ini berkenaan dengan perkembangan kepribadian seseorang dan kondisi budaya sebuah tempat yang memberikan pengaruh bagi kepribadian orang yang tinggal di tempat itu.
Studi ini menemukan beberapa hal. Analisa pertama menemukan kepribadian Madame Wu berkenaan dengan budaya Cina pada tahun 1940an. Madame Wu digambarkan sebagai seorang wanita yang kolot, keras kepala, dan tidak peduli akan perasaan orang lain. Mewakili apa pendeta Katolik yang berasal dari Barat dan ajarannya tersebut harus ditemukan untuk dapat menjawab pertanyaan ketiga. Analisa kedua menemukan bahwa pendeta Katolik yang berasal dari Barat dan ajarannya tersebut mwakili ajaran-ajaran Katolik, yaitu kasih, belas kasihan, pengampunan, ketulusan hati, dan tidak takut pada apapun kecuali pada Tuhan. Analisa terakhir menemukan perkembangan kepribadian
Madame Wu di bawah pengaruh seorang pendeta Kristiani yang berasal dari Barat. Madame Wu menjadi seorang wanita yang tulus, penuh kasih, bersikap toleran, pengertian, berpikiran terbuka, dan pemaaf sejak dia mengenal Pendeta Katolik yang Berasal dari Barat itu.
Ada beberapa saran bagi peneliti di masa mendatang dan bagi pengajar Bahasa Inggris. Saran pertama berkenaan dengan kebutuhan peneliti di masa mendatang yang menggunakan novel yang sama. Saran kedua berkenaan dengan pengajaran Extensive Reading I dengan menggunakan bagian dari Bab I dari
Pavilion of Women (halaman 33-44) pada mahasiswa semester 3 jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris.
THE INFLUENCE OF A WESTERN CATHOLIC PRIEST
TO A TRADITIONAL CHINESE WOMAN’S
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AS SEEN
IN PEARL S. BUCK’S
PAVILION OF WOMEN
A Thesis
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain theSarjana PendidikanDegree
in English Language Education
By DEVI
Student Number: 031214050
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
2008
ASarjana PendidikanThesis on
THE INFLUENCE OF A WESTERN CATHOLIC PRIEST
TO A TRADITIONAL CHINESE WOMAN’S
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AS SEEN
IN PEARL S. BUCK’S
PAVILION OF WOMEN
Prepared and Presented by DEVI
Student Number: 031214050
Approved by:
THE INFLUENCE OF A WESTERN CATHOLIC PRIEST
TO A TRADITIONAL CHINESE WOMAN’S
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AS SEEN
IN PEARL S. BUCK’S
PAVILION OF WOMEN
By DEVI
Student Number: 031214050
Defended Before the Board of Examiners on 25 July, 2008
and Declared Acceptable
Board of Examiners
Chair Person : A. Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A. ... Secretary : Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. ... Member : V. Triprihatmini, S.Pd., M.Hum., M.A. ... Member : Christina Kristiyani, S.Pd., M.Pd. ... Member : G. Punto Aji, S.Pd., M.Hum. ...
Yogyakarta, 25 July, 2008 Faculty of Teachers Training and Education Sanata Dharma University Dean
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that the thesis, which I wrote, does not contain the works or part of the works of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, 25 July, 2008 The Writer
LIFE IS ALL ABOUT CHOICES…
WHAT YOU SOW IS WHAT YOU
REAP!!! (Galatians 6: 7)
SO, IT IS YOUR CHOICE
WHETHER TO HAVE GOOD OR
BAD HARVEST…!
Dedicated with love and gratitude to:
Mommy, Daddy, My Sister, My Brothers,
My Beloved (Eko), My Best Friend (Titik),
and those who have taught me about life and love.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude toJesus Christ, the Greatest God, who has given me blessing, strength, and mercy in my life, especially during the completion of this thesis. His never ending love has become my power and hope to never give up no matter whatever happens in my life. He knows the best for me and makes everything beautiful right on time for me.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to V. Triprihatmini, S.Pd., M.Hum., M.A. as my major sponsor for her willingness to spend her time to read and correct my thesis. I am really grateful for her time, patience, advices, and encouragement from the beginning until the end of my thesis accomplishment.
I would like to thank other PBI lecturers for their best courses in improving my knowledge and skills. I also would like to express my great appreciation to the staff of PBI secretariat and the library staff of Sanata Dharma University for helping me in dealing with the administration matters and supporting me in completing the supporting data for my thesis.
For my family, there is no word that can fully express my gratitude. I thank and love them very much. I thank my Mom and Dad, Yenny and Amua, for their amazing prayers, love, and great support to me so that I could finish my study. I also thank my sister, Kristin, and my brothers, Rendy Wijaya and Yohanes Syasmiko, for their love. I thank them for being such wonderful people in my life. They are the best family I have. I love them so much.
My special love goes to my beloved, Suluh Eko Prabowo. I thank him so much for his prayers, love, patience, understanding, and encouragement to me so that I can be a better person. He loves me the way I am. I thank him for giving so many colors in my life. I really love him without any doubt.
The last but not the least, I would like to thank Titik and Helen, as well as my other friends that I cannot mention one by one who have been my best friends in good and bad times, and everybody who has filled my life and heart with warm love and taught me about the learning of life and being a good person. They have been wonderful friends for me. I thank them for their prayers, advices, times, and understanding to me, especially when problems come to my life. I appreciate them so much.
Devi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE ... i
APPROVAL PAGE ... ii
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ... iv
DEDICATION PAGE ... v A. Background of the Study... 1
B. Problem Formulation ... 3
C. Objectives of the Study ... 4
D. Benefit of the Study ... 4
E. Definition of Terms ... 5
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Review of Related Theories ... 7
1. Theory of Character ... 7
2. Theory of Characterization ... 9
3. Theory of Critical Approach ... 13
4. Theory of Personality and Personality Development ... 13
B. Review of Traditional Chinese Culture ... 16
1. Male and Female Position in the Society ... 17
2. Marriage ... 17
3. Family ... 18
4. Concubine ... 18
C. Criticism and Review of Related Studies ... 19
D. Theoretical Framework ... 21
CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study ... 23
B. Approach of the Study ... 24
C. Method of the Study ... 25
CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS A. Madame Wu’s Personality under the Influence of Chinese Culture before Meeting Priest Andre ... 27
1. Conservative ... 28
2. Strict ... 33
B. Priest Andre and His Teaching ... 34
1. Love and Mercy ... 34
2. Forgiveness ... 37
3. Sincerity ... 37
4. Fear No One, But God ... 38
C. Madame Wu’s Personality Development under the Influence of Priest Andre ... 39
1. Loving and Sincere ... 41
2. Tolerant and Understanding ... 43
3. Open Minded ... 47
4. Forgiving ... 49
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusion ... 52
B. Suggestions ... 54
1. Suggestions for Future Researchers ... 54 2. Suggestion for English Teachers to Teach Extensive Reading I
Using a Part of Chapter I ofPavilion of Women(pages 33-44) to the Third Semester Students of English Language
Education Study Program ... 55
REFERENCES ... 59
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX Page
A. Summary ofPavilion of Women(1946) ... 61
B. Biography of Pearl S. Buck ... 69
C. The Works of Pearl S. Buck ... 73
D. Lesson Plan and Worksheet of Extensive Reading I ... 77
ABSTRACT
Devi. (2008). The Influence of a Western Catholic Priest to a Traditional Chinese Woman’s Personality Development as Seen in Pearl S. Buck’s Pavilion of Women. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
This study focuses on a novel entitled Pavilion of Women(1946) by Pearl S. Buck. The novel is interesting since it talks about a traditional Chinese woman’s personality, named Madame Wu, who changes under the influence of a Western Catholic priest, so that it gives the readers different point of view of a traditional Chinese woman’s personality. The novel describes the real condition of Chinese people life in 1940s with many Chinese traditions and customs to follow.
There three objectives of this study. They are to find out how Madame Wu’s personality is described related to Chinese culture in the 1940s, what the influences of the Western Catholic priest are, and how Madame Wu’s personality develops under the influence of the Western Catholic priest.
A library study method is applied in this study. The novel Pavilion of Women (1946) is used as the primary source of this study, while books related to the theory of character and characterization, critical approach, personality development, and Chinese culture are used as the secondary sources. Psychological approach and socio cultural-historical approach are used to answer the formulated problems since the study is concerned with someone’s personality development and a condition of a culture in one place which gives influence to the pesonality of the person living there.
The study results in several findings. The first analysis discovers Madame Wu’s personality related to Chinese culture in the 1940s. Madame Wu is described as a conservative and strict woman who does not care about other people’s feeling under the influence of Chinese culture at that time. What the Western Catholic priest and his teaching represent must be found to answer the third question that is formulated. The second analysis discovers that the Western Catholic priest and his teaching represent Christianity teachings, namely love, mercy, forgiveness, sincerity, and fear no one but God. The last analysis discovers Madame Wu’s personality development under the influence of the Western Catholic priest. Madame Wu becomes a woman who is sincere, loving, tolerant, understanding, open minded, and forgiving since she met Priest Andre.
There are some suggestions for future researchers and for English teachers. The first suggestion is concerned with the need for future researchers on the same novel. The second suggestion is proposed in accordance with teaching Extensive Reading I using a part of Chapter I of Pavilion of Women (pages 33-44) to the Third Semester Students of English Language Education Study Program.
ABSTRAK
Devi. (2008). The Influence of a Western Catholic Priest to a Traditional Chinese Woman’s Personality Development as Seen in Pearl S. Buck’s Pavilion of Women. Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Skripsi ini fokus pada sebuah novel yang berjudul Pavilion of Women (1946) karya Pearl S. Buck. Novel ini menarik karena menceritakan tentang kepribadian seorang wanita Cina yang masih sangat tradisional yang bernama Madame Wu, yang berubah karena pengaruh seorang pastor Katolik yang berasal dari Barat. Hal ini memberikan pandangan berbeda terhadap kepribadian seorang wanita Cina yang masih sangat tradisional. Novel ini menggambarkan kehidupan nyata orang Cina pada tahun 1940an yang memiliki banyak tradisi dan kebiasaan yang harus dipatuhi.
Ada tiga tujuan dari studi ini. Tujuan tersebut adalah untuk menemukan bagaimana kepribadian Madame Wu digambarkan sehubungan dengan budaya Cina pada tahun 1940an, mewakili apa pendeta Kristiani yang berasal dari Barat dan ajarannya, dan bagaimana kepribadian Madame Wu berkembang di bawah pengaruh seorang pendeta Kristiani yang berasal dari Barat itu.
A library study method is applied in this study. The novel Pavilion of Women (1946) is used as the primary source of this study, while books related to the theory of character and characterization, critical approach, personality development, and Chinese culture are used as the secondary sources. Psychological approach and socio cultural-historical approach are used to answer the formulated problems since the study is concerned with someone’s personality development and a condition of a culture in one place which gives influence to the pesonality of the person living there
Metode penelitian perpustakaan digunakan dalam studi ini. NovelPavilion of Women (1946) digunakan sebagai sumber utama studi ini, sementara itu buku-buku yang berkaitan dengan teori tokoh dan penokohan, pendekatan kritis, perkembangan kepribadian, dan budaya orang Cina digunakan sebagai sumber tambahan. Pendekatan psikologi dan sosial budaya dan sejarah digunakan untuk menjawab masalah yang telah diformulasikan karena studi ini berkenaan dengan perkembangan kepribadian seseorang dan kondisi budaya sebuah tempat yang memberikan pengaruh bagi kepribadian orang yang tinggal di tempat itu.
Studi ini menemukan beberapa hal. Analisa pertama menemukan kepribadian Madame Wu berkenaan dengan budaya Cina pada tahun 1940an. Madame Wu digambarkan sebagai seorang wanita yang kolot, keras kepala, dan tidak peduli akan perasaan orang lain. Mewakili apa pendeta Katolik yang berasal dari Barat dan ajarannya tersebut harus ditemukan untuk dapat menjawab pertanyaan ketiga. Analisa kedua menemukan bahwa pendeta Katolik yang berasal dari Barat dan ajarannya tersebut mwakili ajaran-ajaran Katolik, yaitu kasih, belas kasihan, pengampunan, ketulusan hati, dan tidak takut pada apapun kecuali pada Tuhan. Analisa terakhir menemukan perkembangan kepribadian
Madame Wu di bawah pengaruh seorang pendeta Kristiani yang berasal dari Barat. Madame Wu menjadi seorang wanita yang tulus, penuh kasih, bersikap toleran, pengertian, berpikiran terbuka, dan pemaaf sejak dia mengenal Pendeta Katolik yang Berasal dari Barat itu.
Ada beberapa saran bagi peneliti di masa mendatang dan bagi pengajar Bahasa Inggris. Saran pertama berkenaan dengan kebutuhan peneliti di masa mendatang yang menggunakan novel yang sama. Saran kedua berkenaan dengan pengajaran Extensive Reading I dengan menggunakan bagian dari Bab I dari
Pavilion of Women (halaman 33-44) pada mahasiswa semester 3 jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of five sections. The first is the background of the study, which covers the reasons of choosing the novel and the topic. The second concerns with problem formulation, which gives general description of the problems that will be analyzed in this study. The third talks about the objectives of the study to answer the problems stated in the problem formulation. The fourth describes the benefits of the study, and the last is about the terms used in this study.
A. Background of the Study
Everybody is unique. Each person has his/her own character, behaviour, and temperament. We can recognize someone’s uniqueness in real life from his/her outward appearance, by the way he/she dresses, walks, looks, gestures, and so on (Murphy, 1972:161).
As time goes in people’s life, many things will happen. Those things may give influence to their characteristics. People change during their lifetime. Actually, they are still the same individuals, but their personalities may change. They may change their personalities consciously or unconsciously. The changes may lead them to be better or worse people. It depends on each individual and how he/she deals with many kinds of situation in daily life.
There are two main factors that cause a character’s personality development, namely the internal and external factors. The internal factors are the factors which come from the person himself, such as the individual’s physique and the individual’s mental or psychology. The individual’s physique may be the person’s age and health condition. Whereas the individual’s psychology is the situation in which a person deals with the reality. They can be hopelessness, failure, desolation, loneliness, etc.
The external factors are the factors coming from outside the person, such as other characters, social rules, and the society. The influence from other characters encompasses their treatment and behaviour toward the character. Whereas the social rules encompasses social habits and traditions, and the society factors encompasses the status of the character in the society and how the society behaves toward the characters.
Novel as a form of literary art is able to show someone’s personality development because a novel reflects ideals that readers see in people’s daily lives. According to Laar and Schoonderwoerd (1963:163), a novel is a work of art in some respects resembling the world we live in, but with an individuality of its own. Based on www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/novels/history/define.htm, a novel is also an imaginary work in prose of a considerable length, which presents as real certain characters living in a given environment and describes their attitudes, fate, and adventures (Lubbock, 2006).
Traditional Chinese Woman’s Personality Development as seen in Pearl S. Buck’s
Pavilion of Women.
The writer chooses to analyze the influence of Priest Andre to Madame Wu’s personality development as seen in Pearl S. Buck’s Pavilion of Women
(1946) because the writer wants to show the readers how a Western Catholic Priest can change the personality of a traditional Chinese woman who has many traditions and customs to follow. Considering Christianity in China in the 1940s was considered as a sign of westernization as stated by Enoch Wan (1991) in his article, Christianity in the Eye of Traditional Chinese, and westerners were considered as strangers, it is interesting to see how a Western Catholic priest influences a traditional Chinese woman’s personality development in such a unique way, opening her mind, heart, and changing the way she thinks and behaves. The writer chooses Madame Wu as the object of the study because she is the main character in the novel having a unique characteristic, which is truly different from other characters in the novel, and her personality changes extremely from the beginning of the story to the end of the story.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the background, the problems of this study are formulated as follows:
1. How is Madame Wu’s personality described related to Chinese culture in 1940s?
3. How does Madame Wu’s personality develop under the influence of the Western Catholic Priest?
C. Objectives of the Study
This study is conducted to find out the answers to the questions that are formulated in the problem formulation. Therefore the objectives of this literary study are:
1. To find out how Madame Wu’s personality is described related to Chinese culture in the 1940s.
2. To find out what the influences of the Western Catholic Priest are.
3. To find out how Madame Wu’s personality develops under the influence of the Western Catholic Priest.
D. Benefit of the Study
novel not only for pleasure but also for a reflection of life to add their knowledge about humans’ lives and their complex problems, as well as the knowledge of Chinese culture in 1940s.
The second is for students studying English. Hopefully, this study can be useful for Sanata Dharma University students, especially who are in English Education Study Program, by providing their students a material for their reading class. For the students who are going to do the study of literary works hopefully this study can give them some inspiration, information, and references which may be useful for their study of literary works.
E. Definition of Terms
In analyzing this novel, there are some terms that have to be clarified in order to provide an accurate analysis and a clearer explanation to answer the formulated problems. These terms are:
1. Influence
According toThe New Oxford American Dictionary(2005: 865), influence is the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself.
2. Western Christian Priest
Western Christian priest is someone coming from the West who is authorized to perform sacred rites of Christian, becoming agent between human and God. 3. Traditional Chinese
Enoch Wan (1991) in his article, Christianity in the Eye of Traditional Chinese, defines traditional Chinese as non-Christian Chinese with strong Chinese cultural orientation and ethnic pride.
4. Personality
Personality is defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, motivations, and behaviours in various situations (Ryckman, 2004: 13).
5. Personality Development
According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2001: 370), development means the gradual growth of something. Here, it refers to one of the main character’s personality development. Personality development is defined as a stage in growth of a constantly changing and evoking process within an individual (Hurlock, 1976: 7).
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter consists of four sections. They are review of related theories, review of traditional Chinese culture, criticism and review of related studies, and theoretical framework. The review of related theories covers theory of character, theory of characterization, theory of critical approach, theory of psychology, and theory of personality and personality development. Review of traditional Chinese culture discusses about male and female position in the society, marriage, family, and concubine. Criticism and review of related studies contains some critics or opinions about the novel and the author, as well as some studies that had been done related to the same novel. And the last, theoretical framework will discuss about the resume of the theories related to the literary works and also the theory that will be used in analyzing the novel.
A. Review of Related Theories
This part discusses the theoretical grounds underlying the study. It consists of the theories of literature, namely theory of character, theory of characterization, theory of critical approach, theory of personality and personality development, and Review of Traditional Chinese culture.
1. Theory of Character
a. Meaning
In a novel, the author is free to create and present his/her fictional characters, whatever they look like, their personalities, and what problem they
might face. Characters are very important in literary works. Laar and Schoonderwoerd (1963: 166) say that characters in a novel should be interesting and they should do interesting things. Without characters, the story will not develop. According to Abrams (1993: 22), characters are “the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say–the dialogue–and by what they do–the action.” There is a relationship between the presentation of a character as well as his/her personal traits and what the readers get from his/her presentation. The characters in a novel are, or pretend to be, human beings (Forster, 1974: 30). It means that the readers must accept the characters as real people.
b. Types of Character
According to Perrine (1974: 71), characters are classified into two types, static and dynamic characters. A static character means that the character does not undergo a change and will have the same characteristics at the end of the story as he was at the beginning. Although he faces many problems in his life, static character will not come to the development of the character. On the other hand, a dynamic character can change in the story and there is a development of the character.
The changed characters may turn into better or worse characters. The change depends on the influences that interfere the characters of the literary works.
Forster (1974: 46-48) also divides characters into two types. He calls it flat and round characters. Flat characters do not change throughout the story. There are two advantages of flat characters. First, flat characters are easily recognized by readers’ emotional eyes, not by the visual eyes. Second advantage is that the flat characters are easily remembered by the readers because they remain in readers’ minds as unalterable for the reason they were not changed by circumstances. They moved through circumstances.
On the other hand, round characters are characters performed tragically for any length of time and can move the readers to any feelings, except humour and appropriateness, because the characters develop through the story (Forster, 1974: 51).
Abrams (1981: 20) says that a flat character is a character whose role and action are not surprising as we see in the round character. His characteristic and attitude are flat and monotonous and they reflect only on one character. In contrast, a round character is complex because the characteristic of the individual is expressed deeply and his life is focused clearly by the author.
2. Theory of Characterization
a. Meaning
significant things in a novel. The way to create imaginary persons so that they exist for the readers as life like is called characterization (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 81). Characterization can be also defined as a method in which a character is created (Gill, 1995: 127).
b. Ways to Characterize
According to Barnet, Breman, and Bruton (1988: 712), there are some ways to describe a character. The first way is what the character says. We can notice from the words that the character says to know the character. From his words, we can also detect the way he thinks so that we can understand the characteristics of the character. Whatever the character says will help the readers to interpret his character.
The second way is what the character does. The readers can learn the attitudes or behaviour of a character and may guess how actually the author creates the character by analyzing what the character does.
The third way is what other characters say about the character. A character has an interaction with other characters in a story. Another character also has conversation with other characters at times. They share their opinions and give comments about the character. The opinions and comments may reflect the characteristic of the character.
Murphy (1972: 161-173) also proposes some methods that can be used by the author to make the readers understand the characters and make the characters alive for the readers.
1. Personal description
The author describes a character by using the character’s appearance and clothes. They may be skin colour, hair, eyes, nose, hands, and other parts of the character’s body, as well as how he wears the clothes or what kind of clothes he wears.
2. Character as seen by others
Describing the character through the eyes and opinions of other characters is the second way used by the author to describe a character. Others can express their views, attitudes, opinions, and comments to the character they discussed.
3. Speech
The author will make some conversations in his literary work for a character, although the character has to talk to his self. Whatever a person speaks, whenever he is in a conversation with another, and any opinions he puts forward, he is giving us clues to his characters.
4. Past life
5. Conversation of others
The author creates conversations of other characters in which they talk about the character to help the readers to understand the character more. 6. Reactions
How the character reacts to some situations and events will be a clue to a character’s characteristics.
7. Direct comment
To describe a character the author can give some comments on the character directly.
8. Thought
The author can also give the readers direct knowledge of what a character is thinking about. In this way, the readers are in a privileged position. They have a secret listening device plugged into the inmost thought of a character in a novel.
9. Mannerism
This last way is describing a character by telling the readers about the character’s mannerism and habits.
3. Theory of Critical Approach
In analyzing a literary work, an approach is needed to lead the researcher to understand the literary work better. According to Rohrberger and Woods (1971: 6-15), there are five types of critical approach that can be implemented in analyzing a work of literature. They are formalist approach which analyses the aesthetic values of a novel from the harmonious involvement of all parts of the novel; biographical approach which focuses on the author’s personality, life, and development; sociocultural – historical approach focusing on the civilization or history in which the literary works are produced to lead us to criticism of the people’s life in society at the time the literary object was being written; mythopoeic approach emphasizing on the universal patterns of human thoughts, such as myths and folk rites; and psychological approach which emphasizes on human psychology and believes that human’s creativity, thought, behaviour, and other psychological aspects give influence to the literary object.
4. Theory of Personality and Personality Development
a. Theory of Personality
precede the actions of characters. Personality is very important in many areas of psychology, and many methods have been developed to measure someone’s personality accurately. The personality analysts also try to provide concepts to identify some factors that influence the development of personality and everyday behaviours of an individual.
According to Kalish (1973: 52), personality is dynamic organization of characteristic attributes which lead to behaviour and distinguishing one individual from other individuals. It refers to the total individual and includes needs, motives, methods of adjusting, temperament qualities, self-concepts, role behaviours, attitudes, values, and abilities. Human’s personality can be influenced by many factors, including by his environment (Allport, 1970: 48). Environment may be the culture, customs, and traditions around him.
Pervin and John (1997: 4) say that personality represents some characteristics of a person that account for consistent patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving.
b. Components of Personality
According to Pervin and John (1997: 5), there are four components of personality, namely structure, process, growth and development, and psychopathology and behaviour change.
consistency of individual response to a variety of situations and approximates the kind of concept the layman uses to describe people. One way to understand about traits is to consider how we describe ourselves (ibid, 5). On the other hand, the concept of type refers to the clustering of many different traits. People are generally described as belonging to a specific type, although they can have many traits to varying degrees (ibid, 6). While process refers to the process aspects of human behaviour.
interaction outside the home with his peers also influences his behaviour and provides new experiences (ibid, 14).
c. Theory of Personality Development
Hurlock (1976: 7) defines personality as a stage in growth of a constantly changing and evoking process within an individual. People change throughout their lifetime. Someone’s personality develops and changes under some influences. They may be genetic factors, family, friends, and society or culture around the individual (Pervin and John, 1997: 9-14).
Family and environment have a very important role in forming one’s personality (Hurlock, 1976: 234-235). Family is the closest one to every individual because he has been at home since the first time he was born and he grows in the home. Environment also gives significant impact to the individual because an individual lives not only at home, but also outside the home (Pervin and John, 1997: 14). During his growth, he is surrounded by the members of the family and educated by them, as well as surrounded by people outside the home living in the same pattern of environment. Those form his personality and personality development since an individual changes through his lifetime.
B. Review of Traditional Chinese Culture
related to behaviour and the products of human action which may be inherited, passed on from generation to generation (Parson, 1949: 8). China is known as a state that is rich of cultural forms and patterns, which form the way they think and behave toward each other that are inherited from generation to generation. Here the writer provides some patterns of Chinese culture that are unique and may be contrary to and different from most cultures of other states.
1. Male and Female Position in the Society
For traditional Chinese, women lacked equality with men. Women were considered less important than man (Chang, 1960: 6). Even in a family, sons were more expected to be born than daughters. Age, generation, and sex were the dominant influences on behaviour in interpersonal relationships. The age principle was also modified by the sex of the individuals. Women were subordinate to men under most circumstances (ibid, 161).
2. Marriage
3. Family
Family life is extremely important to Chinese culture as Chinese lived in large family units. The family was responsible for its individual members because in China the government did not deal with individuals but with family heads. If a person committed an offense against society or the state, the head of his family might be punished for a crime if the guilty individual could not be arrested.
The most important relationship was the relationship between a father and son. After infancy, a mother’s authority over sons was less than his father’s. But, the relationship between a mother and son had a special importance because a wife’s status depended on her sons’ birth and a mother was responsible for choosing a wife for her son.
Male and female in a family were not so close because there is separation of male and female. Therefore, a mother had a closer relationship with a daughter than a son, and a father had a closer relationship with a son than a daughter, as well as brother-brother and sister-sister relationship were closer than brother-sister relationship (ibid, 157- 160).
4. Concubine
desire. Men had stronger and longer desire than women. Therefore, some men would take a concubine for his sexual desire.
The wife had authority over any concubines and it was easier to divorce a concubine, who was socially inferior to the wife. A man could not divorce a wife and place a concubine in her stead, but after the death of his wife a man might raise one of his concubines to the status of a wife. A concubine’s children had equal legal status with any children of the first wife (ibid, 170).
C. Criticism and Review of Related Studies
Pearl S. Buck’s Pavilion of Women (1946) is an interesting novel, which tells about Madame Wu, an amazing woman - brilliant, beautiful, full of contradictions and authority, a woman who took a surprising decision to retire from a marriage life and select a concubine for her husband upsetting her extended household. As an author of many novels, Buck and one of her novel,
Pavilion of Women (1946) still get some criticisms from the readers, both positively and negatively. Erica Bauermeister writes:
‘Pavilion of Women is Miss Buck at her best, the dedicated storyteller. Beneath the deceptive simplicity of the narrative flows the clear, swift tide of human life--the small commonplaces of daily living, the clashes of personality, and the episodes mean and magnificent.’
( http://www.amazon.com/Pavilion-Women-Oriental-Novels-Pearl/dp/1559210249)
From http://www.buy.com/prod/Pavilion_of_Women in San
Francisco chronicle, the writer finds another criticism said by Mary McGory that
with one of the essential problems of being, the struggle of the human spirit to free itself.
Besides the novel, Buck also gets some criticisms. Phyllis Bentley says: ‘An attempt is made to present China from within, as the Chinese see it. . . In the same way, Mrs. Buck aims to present the Chinese customs as familiar, natural, and correct, because so would her characters regard them. [These customs] are all copiously illustrated, but always presented, as it were, unselfconsciously, as part of the natural process of living; never by the slightest word or turn of phrase does Mrs. Buck call attention to the difference of these customs from the Western’s.’
(http://www.wvwc.edu/lib/wv_authors/authors/a_buck.ht m)
There are also other criticisms which were much less impressed with Buck's depictions of China. One of them is a criticism written in American Winners of the Nobel Literary Prize by Dody Weston Thompson which says:
‘Moving in a vivid world of Chinese custom, in a spiritual landscape seen always understandingly through Chinese eyes, Pearl Buck's main characters of that period were nevertheless so "universal," so recognizable anywhere, as to seem only incidentally "Chinese." One gets no real sense in these novels of an ethos that was in actuality profoundly different from the West. Nowhere, for example, is it shown what constitutes a Taoist, Buddhist, or Confucian, their distinctions and similarities, or their considerable distances from Western thought.’
(http://www.wvwc.edu/lib/wv_authors/authors/a_buck.ht m)
In fact, the use of the criticisms is to improve the work later. The positive comments can be developed later; while the negative comments are used to improve the mistake, so later the author is able to write better work.
There have been two studies done related to Pavilion of Women (1946). First is analysis of the change of personality of the protagonist and the value of Pearl S. Buck’s Pavilion of Women(1992) written by Liana Kurniawati. Second is
Buck’s Pavilion of Women(2008) by Prima Putri Nardiantari. Both studies are the theses of the students of Sanata Dharma University major in English Language Education Study Program. They are different from this study. The first study analyzes the change of the protagonist’s personality and the value of the novel, while the second study analyzes the motivation of Madame Wu in choosing a concubine for her husband. This study analyzes Madame Wu’s personality development under the influence of Western Catholic Priest. This study also analyzes Madame Wu’s personality at the beginning of the novel under the influence of traditional Chinese culture and what the Western Catholic Priest and his teachings represent.
D. Theoretical Framework
To analyze the influence of the Western Catholic priest to Madame Wu’s personality development, several theories are employed. The theory of character and the theory of characterization suggested by Murphy (1972: 161-173) are used to answer the second and third questions in the problem formulation, namely how Madame Wu’s personality is described in the novel and how is Madame Wu’s personality in the beginning and in the end of the novel.
Madame Wu’s personality development, as stated in the first question in the problem formulation.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter is divided into three sections. The first section is the object of the study. The object of the study reveals about the object of the study and the aims of discussing the literary work. The second section is the approach of the study. It will discuss about the approach used in analyzing the novel. The last section is the method of the study. In the method of the study, the steps of analyzing the novel and how the approach was applied to answer the questions formulated in the problem formulation are described.
A. Object of the Study
The literary work that will be analyzed in this study is Pearl S. Buck’s
Pavilion of Women. It has 419 pages and is divided into 15 chapters. Pavilion of Women was first published in 1946. It tells the readers about Madame Wu’s life. Madame Wu’s life reflects the Chinese people’s life at that time. She was a very rich and smart woman. She had six sons and one daughter, but unfortunately, her two sons and the only daughter passed away. She really obeyed Chinese culture at that time, considering Chinese has a very complicated and unique culture. When she was 40 years old, she decided to take another girl to be her husband’s concubine. All members of her family disagreed with her decision, but since she was a very smart and wise woman she knew how to make them agree with her decision. At that time there were also many foreigners coming to China. One day,
Madame Wu knew a foreign priest, named Andre. Andre was her third son’s teacher. He taught her son about many things, including about life. Madame Wu was interested in his teaching, and then she decided to learn with the priest. Madame Wu liked to learn many things from Andre, she admired him. Priest Andre taught her not only knowledge, but also love, forgiveness, and humans’ relationship. She became a more open-minded and tolerant person, even she often ignored some rules in Chinese culture. Her life was totally changed. Her relationship with the members of her family and other people was also recovered since she changed.
In this novel, the readers can see how Madame Wu’s personality changes from the beginning of the story until the end of the story, and how the Western Catholic Priest influences Madame Wu’s personality development as a traditional Chinese woman.
B. Approach of the Study
C. Method of the Study
In this study, the writer used library study method because this study focused on analyzing a novel which did not need field research. Using library study method, the writer had to read many books related to the topic of the study. The primary source of this study was Pearl S. Buck’s Pavilion of Women(1946). While books related to the theory of character and characterization, theory of personality and personality development, theory of critical approach, and Chinese culture were the secondary sources. There were some steps taken to conduct the library study method in order to answer the problems formulated in Chapter I.
First, the writer read the novel,Pavilion of Women (1946) for many times to understand the content of the novel deeply since the novel was the primary source of this study. Here, the author, the setting of time and place of the story, and the plot were studied thoroughly. The characters and the events in each part of the story, especially the main character were also examined clearly and deeply. Getting a better understanding about the novel helped the writer to find and choose what topic that interested the writer. Then, the writer chose the personality development as the topic and focused on the main character’s personality development. After deciding the topic, the writer formulated the problems to be discussed further.
Third, the writer described the main character’s personality at the beginning of the story in details and analyzed the development of the main character’s personality at the end of the story. To analyze the main character’s personality development and how the main character’s personality was described in this story more easily, the writer read the novel repeatedly until deep understanding of the main character’s personality was obtained fully.
The fourth procedure was analyzing what the Priest and his teaching represent and how the Western Catholic Priest influenced the main character’s personality development.
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter is the analysis of the problems of the study. It consists of three sections. The first section is about Madame Wu’s personality under the influence of Chinese culture before she met Priest Andre. The second section discusses about Priest Andre representing Christianity teaching and Western point of view. The last is about Madame Wu’s personality development under the influence of Priest Andre.
A. Madame Wu’s Personality Under the Influence of Chinese Culture Before
Meeting Priest Andre
This part discusses about the personality of one of the characters in
Pavilion of Women(1946) under the influence of Chinese culture before she met a Western Catholic priest, named Priest Andre. Abrams (1993:22) says that a character is a person presented in a dramatic or narrative work interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what he/she says and does. On the contrary, Forster (1974:30) describes a character as someone pretending to be a human being. Here the character discussed is Madame Wu, the major character. In line with the description of a character proposed by Abrams and Forster, Madame Wu is not a real person presented in the narrative work, who is endowed with moral,
dispositional, and emotional qualities expressed in what she says and does, so are other characters in the novel.
The analysis will use some of the nine ways to make a character understandable presented by Murphy (1972: 161-173). There are nine ways that are used by the author to describe his or her characters. In Pavilion of Women
(1946), Pearl S. Buck uses six of the nine ways proposed by Murphy to describe Madame Wu’s personality, namely character as seen by others, speech, reactions, direct comment, thought, and mannerism.
1. Conservative
Madame Wu lived in Chinese culture environment, it formed her personality much. Chinese is very unique; it has many traditions and customs to follow. Chinese people in 1900’s were very conservative. There were rules that ruled the relationship of members in a family. A son could not meet his mother anytime he wanted when he was getting the age of seven (Chang, 1960: 160). Madame Wu also did not permit her sons to meet her without sending a servant to tell her their coming.
‘”You will return at once to your own court,” Madame Wu said in the same cold voice. “It was intrusion for you to come here without sending a servant first to find if it was convenient for me…”
…. She had steadfastly followed that one which separated male from female at an early age. In this house her sons had been separated from all women at the age of seven.’ (p. 95-96)
Besides that, a mother and her son had a special importance because a woman’s status depended upon her producing a male offspring and a mother had a responsibility to choose a wife for her son. For Chinese people, age, generation, and sex were the dominant influences on behavior in interpersonal relationships (Ibid, 160-161).
Family was one of the most fundamental social groups in any society and it played an important role in traditional (Ibid, 157). Enoch Wan in his article, Jesus Christ for the Chinese: a Contextual Reflection(2005), says that the life goal of Chinese individual is to live with and strive for, not personally but for the whole family. Taking good care of reputation is not just a personal concern, but family. The members of the family were responsible to take good care of the family reputation (Chang, 1960: 157-158). All members of the family had to live under the authority of the head of the family. A wife also had to submit to her husband as long as he lived. Women were subordinate to men under most circumstances (Ibid, 160-161).
love each other, but because they were matched. Madame Wu also did her duties as a wife responsibly. Although Madame Wu did not love her husband, she did her duties very well, especially in satisfying her husband sexual desire. It can be proven by the condition of her house.
‘…. In this friendship she knew humbly that she took the second place. It was not only that she was not beautiful, but in her own mind she did nothing so well as Madame Wu. Thus with all her efforts her house, though as large and handsome as this one, was seldom clean and never ordered. …. When she came here she felt this, although living in her house she did not see it….’ (p.12)
From Madame Kang’s opinion which is considered as another character’s opinion, we can see how well Madame Wu managed her house. Everything was well organized and clean. Not only from the way she managed her house, but also the way she was responsible for her duties.
‘”Heaven,” Madame Wu murmured, “as if I had not enough without this!”
But she was dutiful above all else, and she hastened and Ying hastened, and in a few minutes she went into the court next hers where Old Lady lay high on her pillows….’ (p. 179)
When Madame Wu heard about the Old Lady’s condition, she did her duty quickly, and then went to the Old Lady’s room and helped her, although actually she felt tired of everything in that house that was wholly depended on her. Her reaction to what happened to the Old Lady proves that she is a responsible person.
‘…. That is, she was neither cold nor ardent. She was pleasant, she was tender. She saw to it that nothing was lacking, but that nothing was over and above….’ (p. 39)
The way she satisfied her husband shows that Madame Wu actually did not feel satisfied, but she preferred to do her best to satisfy her husband. She did not love him, but she still did her duty responsibly.
As mentioned before, Chinese people seldom got married because of love. It formed Madame Wu to be someone who did not care about someone’s feeling. At the age of forty-year-old she decided to choose a concubine for her husband. Although most Chinese marriages were monogamous, under the imperial law men were permitted secondary wives or concubines (Ibid, 170). Madame Wu could decide to choose a concubine for her husband because she did not love her husband. She got married with him because she was matched by her parents. She realized that at that age she could not satisfy her husband as well as when she was younger, while her husband’s sexual desire was still high at his age. Therefore, she chose a concubine. She bought a concubine as if she had bought pork in the market. She did not think about the woman’s feeling.
‘…. She must young, yet not younger than the daughters-in-law, for that would bring trouble into the house. The proper age would be twenty-two. She must not be too well-educated, for Madame Wu had learning. She must not be modern, for a modern young woman would not be satisfied to be a concubine and in a short time she would be pushing Madame Wu out of the way and demanding Mr. Wu’s whole time and heart, and this would be shameful in the house before the sons…. Pleasantly pretty would be enough….’ (p. 47)
would choose. She chose a woman who was beautiful, but not as beautiful as her, and not smart and not modern. A concubine had legal rights, but these were inferior to those of the first wife. Madame Wu realized it. She treated the concubine very well as a second wife had to be treated.
What Madame Wu did is because she was bounded to Chinese traditions and customs, but it does not show what was really inside herself. Madame Wu did all her duties in the house not because of love, but because of it was a must. Actually she wanted to be free from her duties, so she tried to do all her duties very well in order that everything in that house worked well and appropriately, and choose a concubine for her husband in order that she did not need to satisfy him sexually anymore. She hoped by doing her duties well, she could be free as soon as possible. It had been long time she hoped to be free from her duties and to be a mistress of herself and her own time only. For she did not do her duties because of love, she considered her duties as a burden.
‘For her to choose a woman to take her place was one thing. To have him choose a woman was quite another. She marveled at the tangle that life could make between a man and a woman. She had thought herself free of him because she did not love him….’ (p. 270)
Chinese culture forms Madame Wu to be a conservative woman who obeyed Chinese traditions and customs, but ignored others’ feeling, even her own feeling.
2. Strict
Madame Wu is someone who always wanted what she wanted to be done. She never let other people not to obey her words.
‘”… Please, my son, return to your place. I require of you only to obey your mother in this as you have in all things. You have been the best of Priests…”’ (p. 21)
When her eldest son met her to tell his disagreement for her decision to choose a concubine, Madame Wu did not let her son to change her decision. She demanded her son to always obey her and accept her decision. For he was the eldest son, he had to give good examples to his younger brothers and what he said would give impacts to his younger brothers.
‘”Fengmo, why have you come here to ask me?” Madame Wu said severely. “It is not your affair.”
“Mother, it is,” he said passionately. “Mother, how do you think it is for me? My friends will laugh at me and tease me–”
“… As for your father, the younger generation does not decide for the elder.”’ (p. 95)
reached forty years old, they became strong reasons for her to keep holding her decision with an intention to be free from her duty as a wife of Mr. Wu and to be free from her house.
From the explanations above, we can see how Chinese culture forms Madame Wu’s personality. She did not become herself the way she was. She preferred to follow and do what was demanded by the environment where she lived. In the next section we will discuss about Priest Andre and his teaching that influence Madame Wu’s personality through the novel, which will be described later on in the other section.
B. Priest Andre and His Teaching
InPavilion of Women(1946) there is a Priest, named Andre. He is the one important to and influencing Madame Wu much. In the next section, we will see how he can influence Madame Wu. Priest Andre and his teaching will be discussed further in this section. Priest Andre is both a Westerner and a Christian living in a community of traditional Chinese with many customs and traditions. What he did represents who he was.
1. Love and Mercy
Priest Andre shared his affection and attention to many people, especially to weak and poor people, no matter what religion and who they were.
We can see Priest Andre’s kindness, he picked anyone needing help. They were neither his family nor his friends, but for his love he helped them. He did not only pick them, but he also took care of them. He gave them enough food everyday and thought about their future.
‘”There are twenty of us,” the little thin girl said. “I am fifteen years old–at sixteen he provides for us.”
“Provides for you?” Madame Wu repeated.
The old woman had come in now. “At sixteen he finds them homes and good husbands,” she said.’ (p. 277)
There were so many children to be taken care, but it was not a burden for Priest Andre. Even he found them good husbands. They were all girls. At that time women lacked equality with men, sons were wanted much more than daughters (Chang, 1960: 6). Even a wife’s position in her husband’s house would be secure when she could bear sons (Ibid, 160). Priest Andre helped the unwanted ones. He is a Westerner and he did not care about the difference in gender as happened in China. In West, female and male are equal. They can have the same right, the same right to love, to choose a husband/wife, to study, to express their thought, and to determine the way of their life. As a priest, he also did Jesus Christ’s teaching as He said in Bible, in Mark 12: 31, to love other people as we love ourselves. In Christianity, love is the primary law, to love God most and to love other people as we love ourselves.
thought to want to influence Chinese people using Christianity teaching since Christianity was spread most by Westerners to all over the world. Priest Andre’s thought and attitude were formed by his culture as a Westerner and a Catholic priest, appreciating love and applying it in his live. He is a loving man.
‘He answered her, “You have not considered that man is not entirely flesh, and that even such a man as your husband must be in communion with God. You have treated him with contempt.”
“You have considered only the filling of his stomach and the softness of his bed,” Priest Andre said plainly. “And even worse than this, you have bought a young woman as you would buy a pound of pork. But a woman, any woman, is more than that, and of all women you should know it.”’ (p. 264)
can separate them, except the death (Alkitab, Matius 19: 6). For Christian, having secondary wives or concubines is the same as adultery. It means that we must be loyal to our husband/wife, no secondary wives or concubines. 2. Forgiveness
Priest Andre truly applied Christianity teaching in his life. His heart was full of mercy to poor and weak people. Christianity teaching does emphasize love, mercy, and forgiveness to be applied in our live. Priest Andre never got angry and always understood other people’s problems. He is both a very sensitive and intelligence man. He never repaid evil with evil, but love. He did not show that he is a Christian by teaching or preaching about Christianity teaching or Jesus Christ, but he preferred to show it by being a good Christian and doing what is taught in Christianity in his daily life, so other people could see it. As Jesus said that we not only ought to teach others His way and teachings, but also do His words, so other people can see what we do and we become the ‘light’ in the ‘darkness’ (Alkitab, Matius 5: 16). 3. Sincerity
them. Even when Madame Wu asked him to teach her son, he did not want to be paid for what he did. He was glad to teach other people and share his knowledge to others. Never did he complain when teaching. He always did his best in teaching Madame Wu’s son and even teaching Madame Wu and her daughter-in-law in every meeting, although he was not paid. While other people must ask to be paid for whatever they do, and it is seldom someone do good to other people without any intention behind it. But Priest Andre was never oriented to money as many people were, for Jesus also teaches us not be oriented to money, but to doing good things, sharing our love and attention to many people, being a good model for other people.
4. Fear No One, But God
Besides being intelligent, Priest Andre feared no one in his life. On the other hand most people must have fears in their life, either to certain individuals or certain things. Even Madame Wu’s father-in-law, who had also taught Madame Wu many things and was one of intelligent and wise men she ever knews, also had fear.
‘…. He was the only being she had ever met whom she worshipped. Old Gentleman had taught her much. But Old Gentleman had feared many things. Priest Andre feared no one. He feared neither life nor death....’ (p. 277)
condition and problems in their life. Priest Andre worried about nothing. He also did not think about getting as much money as possible. He handed his life over God’s hands.
Being a Christian does not mean we should always teach or preach the teaching of Christianity, but more we should be able to do the teaching in our daily life. Many people can only speak without being able to do what he says, but Priest Andre is different. He could both teach and do what he had taught for a teacher must be a good model for his students and other people. Practicing the teaching is better than just teaching. People will see the teaching from what he does in his daily life.
C. Madame Wu’s Personality Development under the Influence of Priest
Andre
Priest Andre is both a Westerner and a Christian, while Madame Wu is a non-Christian traditional Chinese. According to Enoch Wan (1991) in his article,
Christianity in the Eye of Traditional Chinese, traditional Chinese refers to non-Christian Chinese with strong Chinese cultural orientation and ethnic pride. While Christianity means the belief of individual followers and the institutionalized communities or organizations of faithful people who glorify Jesus Christ as their only Lord. Here we will see how a Western Catholic Priest can influence a traditional Chinese woman’s personality and what she would be under the influence of a Western Catholic priest.
The influence of Christianity to Chinese has been discussed so long by many experts. Here we will analyze it based on what is written by Pearl S. Buck in her literary work, Pavilion of Women (1946). Christianity is considered by many Chinese people as the sign of Westernization. Enoch Wan (1991) describes “Westernization” as the process of Western culture to influence Chinese. It can be seen that there is a rejection showed by the Chinese to both Western culture and Westerners. In the mind of traditional Chinese, Christianity is what is imported and imposed from the West. It means that if Chinese people accept Christianity teaching, they will stand against Chinese culture.
this in teaching Madame Wu so that his teaching can give significant impacts to Madame Wu’s personality.
Madame Wu’s life truly changed since she knew Priest Andre. Her personality developed a lot from day to day since knowing Priest Andre. Madame Wu was an intelligent woman who had never listened to other people’s opinion. What she decided was considered the right one. It means that she was a person who was not easily influenced. There must be something in Priest Andre that made her change that way.
1. Loving and Sincere
Priest Andre had taught Madame Wu that human is not entirely flesh. Realizing that human is not entirely flesh and willing to open her heart made her know, understand, and even experience love that she had never felt before. Since she never listened to other people’s opinion and considered her opinions and decisions as the best ones, it made her become a perfectionist woman. No one had ever satisfied her. Madame Wu liked no one.
‘…. None had been wholly to her taste. Thus her mother she had disliked because of her ignorance and superstitions. Her father she had loved, or would have said she had, but she had disliked him, too, because his heart was far away and she could never come near him. And though Mr. Wu had been a handsome young man when she married him there were secrets of his person which she disliked…’ (p. 297)
found them not as she expected. She realized it when she was in bed thinking about what had happened in her life. Therefore Madame Wu always wished to be free from her duties in that house, because she did everything well not because of her love but because of her responsibility. None knew that secret of her heart, except Priest Andre.
After knowing Priest Andre, Madame Wu became a loving woman. Priest Andre had taught her much about love. He also showed the love through his daily life. He picked many unwanted little girls from the street and took care as well as fed them. Before Priest Andre died, he asked Madame Wu to take care of the little girls. For she had changed, Madame Wu wanted to take care of them.
‘…. Twenty children waited in the court, the young prostitute sat in the entrance hall, and Mr. Wu was more than ever a responsibility. There were the newborn girl and her mother, Ch’iuming, and her own sons and their wives. But she had none of her usual shrinking from human beings. She now realized that for the first time in her life she disliked no one....’ (p. 297)
When thinking alone, while she was preparing herself to do her duties, Madame Wu realized that she did not dislike other people again. Although they gave her a lot of problems to be solved in her life and all of them depended on her much, she hated none of them. She could enjoy her duties and doing them with her heart, with love without any burden.
