AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
LUCIA ARUMSIHINGTYAS
Student Number: 064214019
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
i
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
LUCIA ARUMSIHINGTYAS
Student Number: 064214019
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
iii
iv
I
DO THE BEST,GOD
WILL DO THE RESTOur Greatest Glory Is Not In Never Falling,
But Rising In Every Time We Fall.
v
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ZÉw à{x TÄÅ|z{àç
`Éà{xÜ Éy XtÜà{
`ç UxÄÉäxw ctÜxÇàá tÇw UÜÉà{xÜ
vii
every single day of my life. Without Him, I will not possibly come to this far. I also
thank Saint Mary for her prayer.
I would like to show my gratefulness to Sanata Dharma University for being
the best place to study, to Drs. Hirmawan Wijarnaka, M. Hum. for his time and
his patience in guiding me doing this thesis, to Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani M. Hum.
for the advices and suggestion, to all lecturers in English Letters for their willingness
to improve my skill, and to all staff for keeping this campus a comfortable place.
With lots of love, I would thank Papa Fransiskus Sahrowardi, Mama Lucia
Titiek Murwani and my brother Dionisius Giovanni, for being incredible family
and greatest team in my life, for continuously doing their best to support me and for
praying for me. I would like to give my very special thanks to my beloved “Aney”,
Felix Wendi Asto Nugroho, for all of his love, patience, kindness and support all
this time. I thank him for being by my side in every condition and for our precious
relationship. No words can perfectly represent my gratefulness for having them in
my life.
I would also thank my grandmother Agusta Sumiasih in heaven for her prayer
and life spirit. I also thank Mbah Agustinus Mulyadi and Ibu Sri Hartini, Pak Wo
and Mak Wo for being inspiring grandfathers and grandmothers. My thankfulness
also goes to BapakI. E. Suyono and Ibu Antonia Wagirah, OmTotok and family,
Om Ian and family, the big family of Mbah Supardi, my lovely Om ‘Cil and Della,
my big family and my Aney’s big family for always supporting me and praying for
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along this four years. The expression of thankfulness also goes to my “BFI” and
“After 20” friends that I cannot mention one by one: “I will miss you all, guys!” and
to all my friends in English Letters 2006 for our unforgettable moments. I also thank
my friends in “Kost B3”, my friends in Lampung and Yogyakarta, and all relative in
Yogyakarta for their support and care along this time.
Last but not least, my thankfulness also goes to all people who love me and
whom I love that I cannot mention their name one by one. May God bless them.
ix PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS... ix
ABSTRACT... xi
ABSTRAK... xii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION... 1
A. Background of the Study ... 1
B. Problem Formulation ... 4
C. Objectives of the Study ... 4
D. Definition of Terms... 4
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW... 6
A. Review of Related Studies ... 6
B. Review of Related Theories ... 9
1. Theory of Characterization... 9
2. Theory of Beauty... 11
C. Review of Japanese-America’s Ideas of Beauty ... 15
D. Theoretical Framework ... 19
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY... 20
A. Object of the Study... 20
x
xi
Beauty. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
Everybody wants their life to be perfect and perfect life means happy life. Some people are happy by becoming the center of attention, therefore they need to be beautiful. Cynthia Kadohata’s Outside Beauty takes place in America, 1983, and portrays how a woman very needs her beauty in her life. Her beauty is used as a tool and a commodity to attract men. As the result, she has some ideas of beauty, and those ideas reflect the real ideas of beauty in the 1980s American society.
This study concerns the Japanese-American women’s ideas of beauty in the 1980s American society that is reflected in the characters in Outside Beauty. In this study, there are two objectives to guide the analysis. The first is to find the characteristics of Japanese-American women in Outside Beauty. The second is to find similarity of the characters’ ideas of beauty and then to find out how their idea of beauty is influenced by the 1980’s American society when it is related to the real condition at that particular time.
In order to accomplish the objectives, the library research is used since the data and theories are collected from books. The socio-cultural historical approach is applied in this study. The approach is applied because this thesis is going to analyze the attitudes and perspectives of the characters toward beauty from their characterization. It also concerns how the ideas of beauty of the Japanese-American women in the story represent women’s real perspective of beauty in the 1980s American society.
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Beauty. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Setiap orang ingin hidup mereka menjadi sempurna dan hidup yang sempurna berarti hidup yang bahagia. Beberapa orang menjadi bahagia dengan menjadi pusat perhatian, maka mereka harus menjadi cantik. Novel Outside Beauty karya Cynthia Kadohata menceritakan Amerika pada tahun 1983 dan menceritakan betapa seorang perempuan sangat membutuhkan kecantikannya. Kecantikannya digunakan untuk menarik perhatian para pria. Sehingga, ia mempunyai beberapa ide tentang kecantikan dan ide-ide tersebut merefleksikan ide kecantikan yang sesungguhnya dari masyarakan Amerika tahun 1980an.
Studi ini merujuk pada ide-ide kecantikan dari para perempuan Jepang-Amerika di lingkungan masyarakat Jepang-Amerika tahun 1980an yang direfleksikan oleh karakter-karakter Outside Beauty. Pada studi ini, terdapat dua pertanyaan untuk memandu analisis. Yang pertama adalah untuk mengetahui karakteristik dari para perempuan Jepang-Amerika di novel Outside Beauty. Yang kedua adalah untuk mengetahui kesamaan ide-ide kecantikan dari para karakter dan kemudian untuk mengetahui cara ide kecantikan mereka dipengaruhi oleh masyarakan Amerika tahun 1980an saat dihubungkan dengan kondisi sesungguhnya di tahun tersebut.
Agar dapat menyelesaikan permasalahan tersebut, penulis menggunakan metode kepustakaan karena data-data dan teori-teori dikumpulkan dari banyak buku. Pendekatan sosio-kultural historikal diterapkan dalam studi ini. Pendekatan ini diterapkan karena skripsi ini akan menganalisa atitud dan perspektif para karakter terhadap kecantikan dari karakterisasi mereka. Hal ini juga merujuk pada cara ide-ide kecantikan dari para perempuan Jepang-Amerika dalam cerita ini mewakili perspektif kecantikan sesungguhnya dari para perempuan di masyarakat Amerika tahun1980an.
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Everybody wants everything in his or her life to be good. Everything should
be perfect and the perfect life is a happy life. Some people are happy through the
success of their career, some are happy with their religiosity, some are happy
dedicating their life for helping others and some of them are happy through
becoming the center of attention. People in the last category are usually focusing
their life in the perfection of manner and appearance that are included in a pack of
perfect beauty.
Beauty seems to take important part in everyday life and for some people
beauty is very significant to support their life, for example to the artist or movie stars.
It is stated by Dr. Nancy Etcoff as in “The Real Truth About Beauty” commissioned
by Dove.
Beauty is visual; in fact, it is the same visual - the eye popping features and stunning proportions of a few hands picked beauty icons. No wonder many people turned away from beauty. In the 1980’s and 1990’s beauty fell out of academic discourse. Some people waved it away, denying its reality or power (www.drkcv.org/Books/kcv9chap_5.pdf, 2004).
The value of beauty is different in every society and personal view. It is said
by Naomi Wolf, as cited in Body Image, that the judgment of women being beautiful is usually built in the way they view their body image. The image of their body is
determined by male interest and usually based on the cultural prejudice. Therefore,
adornment, expressed sexuality, and time spent grooming their bodies which
confront to male-determined ideal (1999: 190-191).
To judge how and what beauty is, it is started by knowing what the beauty’s
standards or criteria are. The standards can be drawn by the research and studies.
Mostly, beauty has standards that is based on human’s body, related to whiteness,
propagated by the mass media, westernized, following the up-to-date fashion, and
feminized. The beauty’s standards that is commonly used is based on American’s
culture. Those statements will be proven later in Chapter II.
The statement of Brooks and Warren as cited by Lusia Ajeng Ikiningtyas in
her Undergraduate Thesis says that “The reflection of the human life and the conflict
that human has as a part of the society can be seen in the literature. Literature shares
ideas, feelings, and even criticism in what happen in life, yet, the character and
characterization in a work of literature is also influenced by the real life. Literature
gives a picture of life from the author’s point of view” (Ikiningtyas, 2007: 1).
Cynthia Kadohata illustrates the story in Outside Beauty as the reflection of the women social condition in America at that time and the characters in the story
convey some of those standards of beauty.
However, “the American people” here means not only the white people but
also all of the people that live and are born in United States of America. It is included
Asian people who live and are born in America. The Asian is also included the
Japanese people, so the Japanese people living and being born in USA are
Japanese-American. This statement is clearly said by Kitano, as explained in the Definition of
Term, that Japanese-American is “Japanese who have made places for themselves in
The Japanese-American people are also showing the influence of American
beauty from its lifestyle, as it’s quoted by Chiou-Ling Yeh in Pure Beauty: Judging Race in Japanese American Beauty Pageants.
Rebecca Chiyoko King-O'Riain's Pure Beauty has added to the growing scholarship in Asian American studies that pays attention to beauty pageants as an important site, where ethnic culture and nationalism could be articulated.1 King-O'Riain makes an important contribution to the field by using Japanese American beauty pageants as an example to address the anxiety over the definition of race and ethnicity, and especially over Japanese American out-marriage.2 Arguing against the recent move toward "postethnic" or "postrace" studies, King contends that the increasing presence of mixed-race persons intensifies "race work that aims to prop up racial concepts using culture, gender, and community networks as scaffolding." (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=25&did=1590990341&SrchMode=1 &sid=6&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD& TS=1259551215&clientId=78722).
In Cynthia Kadohata’s Outside Beauty, the Japanese-American characters are in a small family consisting of a single fighter mother and her four daughters and
they show ideas of beauty in their own way. However, they believe in similar ideas
of beauty. Those ideas of beauty reflect the real ideas of beauty of
Japanese-American women in the 1980s Japanese-American society. The way Japanese-Japanese-American
characters in this novel hold their ideas of beauty interested the writer and stimulated
the desire to undertake a research on the idea of beauty.
Outside Beauty also inspires people to see the meaning of beauty deeper by the perspective of each character. The writer thinks that Outside Beauty is suitable as the study of the topic because the story is about the difference between inner beauty
and physical appearance, how the characters struggle for their beliefs and how in the
B. Problem Formulation
1. How are Japanese-American women depicted through the characters of Outside Beauty?
2. How is the idea of beauty of 1980’s American society reflected by the characters
in the novel?
C. Objectives of the Study
This study aims to figure out the characteristics of Japanese-American
women in Outside Beauty. After figuring out the characteristics of each character, this study will try to see the similarity of the characters’ idea of beauty. Later, it will
be useful to find out how their idea of beauty is influenced by the 1980’s American
society when it is related to the real condition at that particular time.
D. Definition of Terms
The title of the study is Japanese-American Women’s Ideas of Beauty In the 1980’s American Society as Seen in Cynthia Kadohata’s Outside Beauty. In order to avoid misunderstanding in judging the discussion of this study, the writer gives the
definition of terms that are used in the examination of Cynthia Kadohata’s Outside Beauty. The definition will be about the term “Japanese-American” and “Beauty”.
In Japanese American: The evolution of a Subculture, Kitano said that Japanese-American is “Japanese who have made places for themselves in the
American society” (1976: 11). Therefore, Japanese-Americans are the Japanese
people who live in America and become the citizen of America. Japanese-American
In Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, beauty is described as a combination of qualities that give pleasure to the senses (esp. to the eye or ear) or to
the mind (Hornby, 1995: 92). In the introduction of Beauty In Faith, Science, And Technology, Robert Brungs says that “In humans, it seems, the body is essential for the experience of beauty in ways that are not so apparent for truth and goodness.
Beauty demands an awareness of pleasure – bodily pleasure” (1994: ii). In this study,
beauty that is going to be discussed is beauty in human appearance. Generally,
beauty is the pleasure that is produced by some good qualities in the human
6 A. Review of Related Studies
The story of Outside Beauty depicts love among sisters and also toward their mother as a single-fighter. The mother, Helen Kimura, is very busy on earning bread
and butter by seducing men but the girls understand Helen’s business with the men
and they hold their sisterhood as the primary thing in the world. Cindy Dobrez on
The Booklis Vol. 104 states it as “The four Chicago sisters have primarily raised themselves and are incredibly close” (2008: 67).
Outside Beauty also tells the reader about the power of sisterhood. The girls in this story are still underage, but they show their bravery through traveling to the
other state without their parents. Moreover, this travel moment is the moment of
kidnapping their own youngest sister, but they do it because they love her. This
theme is stated by Cindy Dobrez, also on The Booklis Vol. 104. She said that “Kadohata, author of the Newbery Medal-winner Kira Kira (2004), never fully
develops the theme of beauty that's implied by the title, but Shelby's venture to
Arkansas, where she has some first experiences with outdoor living, is endearing, as
are the relationships among the closely connected sisters” (2008: 67).
Jennifer M Brabander on her comment in The Horn Book Magazine delivers her own point of view toward Outside Beauty. It is said that “When she is critically injured in a car crash, the girls are sent off around the country to live with their
fathers; how they survive the split and how Shelby learns about love is ultimately
She states that Outside Beauty conveys meaning of the bond of sisterhood. The part pointing it directly is when the sisters have to live separated with their respective
fathers. They struggle to keep in touch each other and to be together again.
Deborah Stevenson in Bulletin of the Center for Children's Book notifies that
Outside Beauty tells about family life. She argues the theme of this novel is about the true life of common people. It is about people’s experience in their life. Besides, she
also states that Outside Beauty is an original idea from the author. She confirms that it is unusual to raise a theme about family and through minimalist characters and
modest characteristics. Stevenson says that “This is a story of considerable
originality, and what could be an overwrought problem ends up instead being a
combination poker-faced and understated character and family study” (2008: 487).
Furthermore, Stevenson also comments about the mother’s controversial
attitude in the story. Helen Kimura, the mother, is told to be a widow who likes to
seduce men. She makes relationship with a man, then breaks up, and chases other
man. To avoid her ex-boyfriend’s madness, she runs away and goes to far place for
some time. She gets money from her children’s fathers, for the sake of their children
as she is reasoning.
The book gives the girls’ mother her full magnetic due and sympathizes with the decline of her powers even as her emphasis on man-trapping is subtly questioned; she’s also tacitly given credit for having produced a stellar crop of kids and for having found several pretty decent guys for their fathers (Stevenson, 2008: 487).
In her writing, Stevenson also gives comment that “The various
configurations of girls and dads are by turns comedic and touching, with Shelby’s
geeky dad quietly heroic in his dawning awareness of the importance of the sisterly
contains the relationship between fathers and daughters, too, whether it runs well or
not. In this story, father’s main character is Shelby’s father. He shows his care
toward the relationship among Shelby and her sisters.
Outside Beauty is the only book of Cynthia Kadohata that illustrates the meaning of beauty. Such as in Kira-Kira, Kadohata portrays the family life of Katie, the main character on the story, in 1950’s, the time of the issues of racism, class
differences, and death. It is cleared by the comment of Carol J. Fuhler in Book Links: “In the 1950s in rural Georgia, a close relationship carries Katie's Japanese American
family through racial prejudice, horrendous working conditions in a poultry
processing plant, and the loss of older sister Lynn to lymphoma.” (2009: 45)
Moreover, Hsiu-chuan Lee’s preface on his writing about his interview with
Cynthia Kadohata provides clear evidence of the distinctive theme of Outside Beauty. Kadohata’s earlier novels such as The Floating World, In the Heart of the Valley of Love, and The Glass Mountains are aimed to be read by adult and they contain East cultural issue. None of them talk about the meaning of beauty. The Floating World talks about modern life of Japanese American people. In the Heart of the Valley of Love talks about history of Japanese immigration. The Glass Mountains
talks about the issue of intercultural and inter-species connection.
The idea of beauty as the main discussion is pictured in Outside Beauty,
otherwise Shelby and her sisters show similar perspective of ideal beauty like her
mother, they just show it in their own way. It makes this thesis study different with
others. For example, Mr. Powers in his thesis paper in
http://www.angelfire.com/nc3/mrpowers/new_page_16.htm discussing The Bluest Eye’s idea of beauty. It is stated “the African American community as a society ensnared by its internalization of a "blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned" beauty
ideal. Women of color are judged according to white standards of beauty and
therefore they are always considered ugly.”
After looking at the reviews above, it might be said that the study of this
thesis has different concern with another studies. The others can talk about
sisterhood, family, sister’s bond, mother’s attitude, and black beauty as beauty from
different perspective. Other books by Cynthia Kadohata have also different
perspective. Some talks about Japanese and American culture, others talk about
racism, prejudice, and class differences, and the other talks about future. This thesis
studies the beauty by the perspective of Japanese American women.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Characterization
One most important composition in the story is character. Characters take
very significant role in the story. They can show the meaning, message, plot, etc
through their characterization. Characters also guide the reader on the story flow.
Moreover, characters attract the reader to reading further. According to M. J. Murphy
for Overseas Student, there are nine ways to describe characteristics through the characterization. (1974: 233-234)
a. Personal description.
The author describes the character by giving a person’s appearance. The author
can describe a person’s appearance and clothes such as his build, his skin-color, his
hair or his face.
b. Character as seen by another.
The author describes the character trough the eye and opinions of another.
They will give explanations, comments or opinion about what character is like. Their
opinions can help the reader to understand a character.
c. Speech
The author can give the reader insight into of one of the persons in the book
through what the character says. Whenever a person is speaking, he is giving the
reader some clue to his character.
d. Past life.
The author describes the character by giving a clue to event in a person’s past
life. This can be done by direct comment by the author, though the person’s thought,
through the conversation or through the medium of another person.
e. Conversation of others
The author can give clues to a person’s character through the conversations of
other people and the things they say about him. People talk about other people and
f. Reactions.
The author can also give us a clue to a person’s character by showing how that
person reacts to various situations and events.
g. Direct comment.
The author can be describe or comment on a person’s character directly.
h. Thoughts.
The author can give direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. In
this respect, he is able to do what we cannot do in the real life. He can tell the reader
what different people are thinking. In the novel we accept this. This reader then is in
privileged position; he has, as it were, a secret listening device plugged in to the
inmost thoughts of a person in a novel.
i. Mannerism.
The author can describe a person’s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies which
may also tell us something about his character.
2. Theory of Beauty
There are many understandings about beauty and being beautiful. According
Nancy Baker in The Beauty Trap as cited by Louise Wood her article “Perceptions Of Female Beauty In The 20th Century”, beauty is more concerned with intangible
personal qualities. She says “A truly beautiful woman makes the best of her physical
assets but, more importantly, she also radiates a personal quality which is attractive”
(http://barneygrant.tripod.com/p-erceptions.htm). According to the white, beauty is
about being physically attractive which is shown by woman’s body and attractive
In the introduction of Beauty In Faith, Science, And Technology, Robert Brungs says that “In humans, it seems, the body is essential for the experience of
beauty in ways that are not so apparent for truth and goodness. Beauty demands an
awareness of pleasure – bodily pleasure” (1994: ii). It means beauty is expressed
through human’s body and the body should have some qualities or standards to be
judged as beautiful because it is related to the pleasure. It is not about beauty in
inanimate things, such as paintings and art works. Consequently in this study, the
judgment of being beautiful is seen from the human physical quality.
In Body Image, Sarah Grogan says that in 1980s and 1990s, the trend of slimness became the standard of beautiful body. It is proved by the physical
appearance of the models. They became slimmer and thinner since 1920s, and this
trend became very famous in 1990s (1999: 15). Therefore, the beauty is seen from
the physical appearance of human body.
Some feminist critics propose the standard of beauty spoken by their writings.
Their writings are commonly created to see how the society and culture in a point of
time influence the women perspective toward beauty. Barbara Trepagnier in her
article “The Politics of White and Black Bodies” says “Beauty, propagated in the US
culture by the media, with its assumption of whiteness, implies that black is not
beautiful.” (1994:202). It implies women are considered as beautiful when they have
white standard and the white standard becomes familiar with the help of the mass
media. Mass media spreads up the issue of whiteness because it introduces the
standard of beauty brought by the advertisings that says beautiful is based on their
The quality of being white is following the lifestyle of White people, who are
Western people. Following the lifestyle can be done by following the trend spread up
by the mass media. It means the quality of being beautiful is presented by masss
media. That statement is strengthened by Wendy Chopkins’s argument as cited by
Sarah Grogan in Body Image that “women are oppressed by a “global culture
machine” (made up of the advertising industry, communication media, and the
cosmetic industry) which promotes a narrow, Westernized ideal of beauty to women
all over the world” (1994:54). It indicates the massive influence of western culture
toward the women in the entire world. Because Western culture is the trendsetter of
the world, the cosmetic and fashion are followed by the most people in the world.
The women’s standard of beauty comes from the ideal that is built by the Western
culture.
According to Gordon as cited in Body Image, the advertising is one successful marketing way. When the western culture trend is advertised, it will
appear as the world trend and the standard of people’s lifestyle.
It is often argued that the thin ideal is the outcome of successful marketing by the fashion industry, which has become the standard of cultural beauty in the industrialized affluent societies of the twentieth century (1994:14).
As the fashion, cosmetic and lifestyle move forward, the standard of beauty is
often changed along with them. In the 1930s and 1940s, women were considered
beautiful if they followed the standard of the western culture at that time, which was
having shaped body and formerly, in 1920s, having slim body. It is said that in 1920s
the idealization of slimness is the recent phenomenon that made women began
binding their breast with foundation garments to flatten their breast, used starvation
shapelier figure, breast became fashionable, along with the clothes that emphasized
them. In 1950s this trend continued, when the fashion and the Hollywood film
industry promoted large breast (along with tiny waist and slim legs) (Grogan,
1999:14-15).
Sandra Bart, as cited by Sarah Grogan in Body Image, proposes a surprising
idea of beauty that is feminized. Grogan says that according to Bart, women will feel
better about themselves if they produce an image of feminine beauty that celebrates
diversity.
She suggests a revolutionary aesthetic of the body, which allows an expansion of ideas of beauty and allows body display and play in self-ornamentation. She promotes the release of our capacity to apprehend the beautiful from the narrow limits with which it is currently confined, to produce an aesthetic for the female body controlled by women. She proposes that women should produce a model of feminine beauty that celebrates diversity (Grogan, 1999:56).
Bart argues women should take control of their own aesthetic beauty and not be
limited by the “cultural beauty” or “men-based beauty standard”. Women should not
be trapped in a situation where men decide whether they are beautiful or not by the
fashion industry’s criteria (cultural beauty) or by men’s criteria (men-based beauty
standard). Women should consider that they can be beautiful in their own way.
From the data and explanation of some critics above, it comes to the decision
that the standards of beauty are: first, based on human’s body; second, related to
whiteness; third, propagated by the mass media; fourth, westernized; fifth, following
the up-to-date fashion; sixth, feminized. Beauty is examined from the people’s body
appearance that comes from the ideal of being white. Being white is following the
media spreads up Western trend that is up-to-date. However, the examination can be
based on the way women present their own beauty.
Therefore, the definition of beauty that is going to use in this study is the
pleasure influenced by the appearance of human body and mostly propagated by the
mass media based on Western trend.
C. Review of Japanese-American’s Ideas of Beauty
From the standards of beauty in the previous part, the writer wants to give
some review and quotation as the proof of the 1980s American society’s ideas of
beauty. However, since the standards going to discuss in this thesis are only the first,
fourth, and fifth, the writer will also give some proofs as needed for those standards.
The story takes place in America around 1980’s. At that time, Japanese
economic condition and population increased significantly. Therefore, many
Japanese people came to America. At the first time the Japanese people migrated to
America in 1890s, they still brought Japanese culture and belief (Kitano, 1976:8).
According to Dr. Soetsu Yanagi in his book The Mystery Of Beauty as cited by Bill Merrill in his website, it is said that the concept of beauty for Japanese people refers
to the tea ceremony. The tea ceremony symbolizes the quality of being quiet, calm,
and peaceful. It is the concept of beauty which they have believed for the past several
centuries in Japan (http://www.potters.org /subject103148.htm). However, in the 20th
century America, the concept of beauty was physical attractiveness and this concept
was spread up by the mass media that exaggerated the models who are physically
attractive by using makeup and having skinny body (http://barneygrant.tripod.com/
Since 1970’s, America experienced overpopulation because in the last
decade, there was a “baby boom”, the hikes of baby birth. The “baby boom” became
one of the causes of the music development and the up-to-date music at that time
reflected the spirit of eighties.
During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, rock music began to lose its vitality and appeal, a development which was product of the aging of the “baby boom” generation. Nonetheless, the musical tradition and cultural style of rock-and-roll survived. After 1978, the important new rock music was “New Wave”, a mode which embodied the rock tradition of reputation and rhythm but also stressed- and even exaggerated to the point of absurdity- youth, violence, rebellion, and sexuality (Link, 1983:254-255).
The baby-birth case that explodes in the previous era changes the music style into
New-Wave-Rock music. In reality, this kind of music reveal the characteristics of
eighties era, which are about youth, violence, rebellion, and sexuality. These
characteristics are the up-to-date style of eighties people.
In “A Trip Down Memory Lane”, Lane states that makeup trend in 1980s was
about thick makeup and some famous artists followed the makeup trend to be the
1980s icon stars. Following the makeup trend is one way to be sophisticated.
Makeup of the 80's era can be summed up using the B's: Big, Bold, Bright. The 1980s was a time in my life that I would rather forget. The Three B's are: Big : Eighties makeup was exaggerated and big.
Bold : Color trends were bold. Blue, green, mauve, fuchsia, and orange were among the bold color palette of the 1980s.
Bright : The pallets used in the early eighties were bright, especially for night time makeup (http://www.makeup-artist-world.com/ makeup_80s.htm).
In this era, women emancipation was significantly developed. Women was no
longer become the victim of marriage because of patriarchal system. This statement
The traditional wife-mother role still predominates, even though it is no longer the only one expected of women. Today, they must be both companions and confidants of their husbands, attractive and charming, not merely household drudges (Boyd, 1963: 57).
Sarah Grogan in Body Image says “In affluent Western societies, slenderness is generally associates with happiness, success, youthfulness, and social
acceptability” (1999: 6). It means that according to Western culture, slim body is
preferable for the society. Moreover, it is stated that the ideal body for women is slim
and being fat has negative social consequences and is associated with negative
characteristics (Grogan, 1999: 6).
Another image built by Western culture is that slender body shape is
associated with youth. Western societies value youthful appearance in women. When
men are judged to be physically attractive when they show the sign of ageing,
women are ashamed of having the sign of ageing. It is because the sign of ageing is
linked in public mind as becoming less attractive (Grogan, 1999: 128).
One way to make your body attractive is doing exercises. Grogan says in
Snyder and Kivlin’s study, the result shows that many women is involved in sporting
activities since 1980s and developed significantly in 1990s (1999: 47). It is said by
Furnham and Greaves, as stated in Body Image, that women like to do exercise for weight control, altering body shape, attractiveness, and health (1999: 45). Women do
some exercise such as keep-fit, yoga, dancing, swimming and jogging (1999: 44).
Doing exercises makes slim body, and slim body shows attractive physical
appearance.
In a 1970s cross-cultural research studied by Iwawaki and Lerner as stated in
body types. The Japanese students give negative stereotypes toward slim body
whereas American students give the opposite judgment. It is concluded that Japanese
culture disagreed with the slenderness idealization, but American culture idealized
slenderness and had prejudice against overweight (Grogan, 1999: 20).
Grogan also says that few researches have considered the body trend is
non-Western culture and their work indicates cultural differences influence body
preference of thinness and plumpness. In some cultures, thinness is considered as a
sign of malnutrition, poverty and infectious disease whereas increased weight is
considered as an indication of health, wealth, and prosperity. However, some works
also study the change of body preferences when people move from one cultural
context to another. It is proven by a 1983 study, Asian women emigrated from Kenya
to America had absorbed the British cultural prejudice against overweight rather than
Asian women living in Kenya (1999:19).
Stated in Body Image, April Fallon and Paul Rozin in 1985 did a research of a group of 248 men and 227 women to draw their current figure, their ideal figure, the
figure that they felt would be attractive to the opposite sex and the figure that they
were mostly attracted to. It was found that both men and women made mistake in
guessing the figure that would be attractive to the opposite sex. Therefore the
research came to conclusion that men’s perception serve to keep them satisfied with
their bodies, whereas women’s serve to keep them satisfied (Grogan, 1999:144).
In 1960s the slim body expressed unconventionality, freedom, and
youthfulness and brought a ticket to the “Jet Set” life in Britain. It was also adopted
as the ideal of women of all social classes. Therefore, Miss America winners became
models also became thinner and thinner in 1960s until 1980s. The body slimness as a
standard of beauty became more marked in 1990s. Time magazine argued that the new ideal of beauty was slim and strong in August 1982 (Grogan, 1999:15). From
those proofs, it can be seen that Western culture and trends influence many people,
including the immigrants.
After seeing the historical background of 1980s American society, it can be
concluded that the Japanese-American’s ideas of beauty follow the ideas of beauty of
Western culture. The way to realize ideas of beauty are being slim, physically
attractive, and following the up-to-date fashion, or later in the analysis will be called
sophisticated.
D. Theoretical Framework
To support solving problems of the study, the writer uses the theory of
characterization, the theory of beauty, and the historical reviews of 1980s society
lifestyle. Theory of characterization is used to observe first problem. It will be used
to see how the characters are characterized by some ways. Theory of beauty and
historical reviews of 1980s American society are used to answer the second problem.
Theory of beauty is used to see what beauty is and how beauty is divined. The
reviews of 1980s American society are used to see how the lifestyle of the American
20 A.Object of the Study
The novel titled Outside Beauty. This is a teenager novel written by Cynthia Kadohata. The novel consists of 17 chapters and has 265 pages. It is published in
Great Britain in 2008 by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd. Cynthia Kadohata is the winner
of The Newbery Medal for her novel Kira-Kira. However, the novel is about family love, discrimination, and poverty, and through Outside Beauty she wants to get more achievement because she raises new theme about adult education, which is the
meaning of beauty, to teenagers.
This novel is narrated by Shelby, a girl who has sisters from different father.
It talks about the life of Shelby’s family. The story mainly portrays the lifestyle of
Helen, Shelby’s mother, which has big impact toward her family condition. Helen
earns money from her relationship with her boyfriends. However, she often gets in
trouble in her relationship and when things are going bad or she breaks up with them,
she will run away. When she comes back to Chicago, she will look for new rich man
to approach. She uses her beautiful face as commodity to approach men. Someday
Helen is involved in terrible car crash. Helen has to experience some continuous
surgeries. As the result, her children have to live with their respective fathers. That
moment is very bad moment for her family because they have to live unusual life.
Helen never lives with her beautiful face injured; her children never live with their
fathers and are separated each other. In the end, Helen is cured and they live together
B.Approach of the Study
The approach used in analyzing the work is socio-cultural historical approach
proposed by Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods, Jr. in their book Reading and Writing Bout Literature. According to Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods, Jr., socio-cultural historical approach is an approach that places a work in relation with
the civilization that produced it. The critics say that civilization as the attitudes and
actions of a specific group of people and mention that literature takes these attitudes
and actions as its subject matter (Rohrberger, 1971:9). This implies the researchers
using this criticism will have the interest in phenomena on society. Moreover, she
stated that “it is necessary that the critics investigate the social milieu in which a
work was created and when it necessarily reflects” (Rohrberger, 1971:9). She has
another statement that supports the previous idea. It is that “first, that literature is not
created in vacuum, and second, that literature embodies ideas significant to the
culture that produced it.” (Rohrberger, 1971:9).
The writer chooses this approach because the study focuses on the attitudes
and perspectives of the characters that are influenced by the civilization and the
culture.
C.Method of the Study
The method used in analyzing the work is library research. The main source
of this research is the novel Outside Beauty by Cynthia Kadohata. The supporting sources come from A Glossary of Literary Terms written M. H. Abrams,
written by Mary Rohrberger, Mastering English Literature written by Richard Gill,
Body Image by Sarah Grogan, “The Politics of White and Black Bodies” by Barbara Trepagnier, Beauty In Faith, Science, And Technology by Robert Brungs, Japanese American: The Evolution of a Subculture written by Harry H. L. Kitano, American Civilization: An Introduction to the Social Sciences written by Maurice Boyd and Donald Worchester, and The Real Truth about Beauty: A Global Report written by Nancy Etcoff. Other sources from internet come from Proquest Journal Website such
as the reviews by Chiou-ling Yeh Journal of Asian American Studies, Cindy Dobrez on The Booklist, Jennifer M. Brabander on The Horn Book Magazine, Hsiu-chuan Lee on Melus, Carol J. Fuhler on Book Links, and Deborah Stevenson on Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Book.
There are some steps taken to examine the analysis. Firstly, the writer read
the novel several times to understand the content. After reading it, the writer chose
the meaning of beauty seen from the characters and the historical background as the
main topics to focus on. Later, the writer formulated the problems that were related
to the topic.
Secondly, the writer obtained some useful data related to the topic by library
research. In observing the topic, the writer focused on the characters of Shelby and
Helen Kimura. This step was done with the help of the theory of character by M. J.
Murphy. After the writer knew the characteristics of both main characters, the writer
looked at the historical background to know the situation and society condition when
the story took place. The historical background was used to show the culture and
how the culture at that time influenced the society. The sources of the historical
Civilization: An Introduction to the Social Sciences and Japanese American: The Evolution of a Subculture written by Harry H. L. Kitano.
Thirdly, the writer applied the approach and the related theory on the topic.
After looking through the historical background, the writer tried to relate the
historical background with the characteristics of the main characters. After that, the
writer was going to see how the relation influenced the ideal of beauty of the main
characters.
The next step is the interpretation. The interpretation was the result of the
writer’s objective analysis. The last step is drawing conclusion. The conclusion is
24 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the writer will answer the problem formulation in the first
chapter. Firstly, the writer would explain the description of the Japanese-American
women characters in the novel Outside Beauty. The characters are Helen Kimura and her daughters: Marilyn, Shelby, Lakey, and Maddie.
Secondly, the writer will also draw the similarity of their ideas and explain how
the idea of beauty is reflected by the Japanese-American women characters in the
novel.
A. The Depiction of the Characters
In Outside Beauty, the Japanese-American women are Helen Kimura and her daughters. Helen Kimura has four children from different men.
“My mother had four daughters by four different men.” This is a line I had repeated many times in my life, as explanation (p. 6).
The oldest daughter is Marilyn, the second is Shelby, the third is Lakey and the
youngest is Maddie. Marilyn is half Italian and half Japanese, and she almost looks
like Polynesian. Shelby is full-blooded Japanese. Lakey is half Japanese and half
Chinese. Maddie was half Japanese and half Anglo (p. 7).
In Outside Beauty, the story is based on Shelby’s perspective, as she becomes the narrator of the story. To examine the characteristics of the characters in the novel,
the writer uses the theory of characterization by M. J. Murphy in his book
ways going to use are personal description, characters as seen by another,
conversation of others, reactions, and thought.
1. The Depiction of Helen
First, Helen is an adventurous in relationship with men. She always uses
makeup to impress and attract men. It is shown in Page 41 that the unusual things
happen when Helen and her daughters are running away to Lakey’s father. Helen is
not wearing her best dresses or using thick makeup and it is because she is with her
truly lover. She does not think she has to impress or attract him. He has already loved
her without makeup. “The whole time we stayed with Larry, Mom dressed in jeans
and T-shirt and her makeup was subdued or absent altogether.” (p. 41).
This quotation also supports the statement above. When they are in the way to
California, her mother needs a help from a mechanic. She seduces him and they
spend the night in the mechanic’s office. When her mother disappeared with the
mechanic, the daughters are having a chat. In this conversation, Marilyn is the one
who strengthens the idea that Helen is love adventurer. She tells that their mother is
not only interested in men’s wealth but also interested in the sexual relationship she
has with them.
We continued to lie and stare at the stars. “If Mom likes rich men so much, why did we stop here?” I said.
Marilyn shot me a look and said, “She likes other things, too.” I ignored her look and said, “Like what?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Marilyn said.
“But I want to know,” I said. Sometimes, lately, I felt impatient even with Marilyn. She whispered something to me, and I said, “What’s F-E-X?”
She rolled her eyes and then I got it (p. 30).
When Lakey asks Helen to marry her father, Helen says that she does not want
she is interested only in love adventure. She is not yet ready to settle down with a
man although it is her truly love.
Lakey’s eyes filled with hope. “Are you going to marry him, Mom?”
Our mother kissed her again and spoke gently. “I have bigger fish to fry,” she said (p. 52).
Shelby’s thought is the other proof that Helen is wild love adventurer. Larry,
Lakey’s father, works in managing a deck and fencing company. He likes wild things
and is full of life like Helen, but wild woman like Helen is counted out. Helen is too
wild to catch up, too wild to ask to settle down with him.
I thought, other men love my mother because she’s beautiful, but he loves her because underneath her glitz, she’s just a person full of life, like him. He liked wild things. But our mother couldn’t be contained (p. 55).
The next proof is that when Helen is broken heart, she more often goes out
with men. Before, she goes out because she likes to have adventure with men.
Despite their money, she also gets pleasure from intimate relationship with men,
spesifically it is sexual relatioship. After she experiences pain from Larry’s wedding,
she just goes out to get men’s money.
The joy went out of her man-catching. Before, she used to genuinely enjoy the company of men. She liked their money, yes, but she liked them, too. Now, it was all about money (p. 57).
Second, Helen Kimura is a seductive woman. As she is a love adventurer, she
likes to seduce men by making flirtatious gesture. When Helen and her children are
going to California, their car needs to be repaired. Helen calls a mechanics and tries
to seduce him. Finally, the mechanic agrees to help her, which is shown by the
sentence that Helen says the mechanic will come with help.
she hung up with satisfaction and said, “He’ll be right here with the truck.” (p. 27).
In the way to California, their car runs out of gas. Helen calls Larry and asks
him to bring the gas; she talks gorgeously to Larry until Larry agrees to pick them
up. From the way she talks, it can be seen that she tries to be seductive to Larry. She
seduces men to make them help her. It shows how her seduction is used to get
advantages.
We stepped outside and listened to our mother’s voice quiver as she said into the pay phone, “Larry? It’s Helen. We’ve run out of gas.” I could tell she was concentrating hard on not withering the heat, as though he would be able to tell over the phone if she were less than exquisite. I could almost see her straining as she focused on being gorgeous. For instance, she fanned herself with exactly the right effort, not so hard that the fanning would make her sweat more, but not so softly that she created no breeze. She checked her mirror repeatedly, and every time she looked beautiful (pp. 36-37).
Third, Helen is very confident. She always believes that she is beautiful
woman, and it is also because other people think she is beautiful. Her beauty is
shown by the conversation between Shelby and Maddie, when they are playing
“Why” in the car. At that time, they are in the moment of escaping from Pierre, their
mother’s ex-boyfriend. Maddie asks why they are in the car and Shelby answers it is
because Pierre was threatening their family by pounding his head on the door, he
tries to force Helen to make up their relationship. When Maddie asks “Why” again,
Shelby said it is because their mother is beautiful. Shelby thinks her mother inherits
beautiful genes from their mother’s parents.
“Can we play Why?” asked Maddie. Nobody answered. I tried to make myself as inconspicuous as I could with her sitting right next to me. She did the doe-eyed thing and looked right at me. “Please, Shelby? Pleeeeease?”
Rats. “Okay, one round,” I said. “We are sitting in a car.” “Why?” Maddie asked.
“Because Pierre was pounding on the door.”
“Because their parents had good genes.” “Why?”
“Because that’s the way the, whatever, what the great power of the universe wanted.”
“Why?”
“Nobody knows why. Okay, we’re done.” (pp. 24-25).
Moreover, Shelby has another opinion about the beauty of her mother. In this
quotation, Shelby is staring at her mother and she thinks her mother was perfectly
beautiful and perfect. It is because her mother’s body was slim and slender, and her
mother’s skin is dewy, which is the sign of exotic skin. Helen always keeps her
beauty and does not want to be old. Mirror was her dearest friend to assure she is still
beautiful.
I watched while our mother got dressed. She was not slender not fat. She was perfectly in between. If she weighed five pounds more or less, she wouldn’t have been perfect. Every day she weighed herself, and if she weighed four pounds off, she immediately adjusted her eating. Her skin wasn’t oily and it wasn’t dry. It was dewy. Even skin on her arms and hands and neck seemed dewy. And she did just so much exercising and no more or no less. Every day she looked at herself in the mirror to make sure she was still perfect. When she felt one day that she was starting to look older, she changed the light bulb. She couldn’t stand the thought of getting older. She was perfect now (p. 34).
This quotation is also a proof that Helen is beautiful because men usually
describe her as gorgeous, beautiful woman. According to Shelby, her mother is very
beautiful so that men describe her as gorgeous woman.
describe river. Usually, that was the word people used to describe my mother (pp. 126-127).
This quotation also proves that according to Shelby, men adore her because she
is very beautiful. When Helen is seeing a lawyer, she brings her daughters with her.
As she talks with the lawyer in his room, her daughters are waiting outside.
However, Shelby and her sisters still can look inside. Shelby figures out that the
lawyer, who is distinguished as “proper man” by her mother, is very attracted to her
mother. He tries to impress her mother by the way he is talking.
The lawyer was what my mother called a “proper man.” Proper men were often distinguished by fashionable clothes or hair, but you could recognize them by the way they stiffened when approached by unusual creatures, like my mother (p. 21).
Although Helen is in the specific treatment after surgery as she is injured
because of the car accident, Shelby can still find the part of beauty in Helen. It is
Helen’s smile and her teeth. Helen has beautiful teeth that make her smile is perfect.
I was surprised that our mother looked exactly as she had the day before. But Mack couldn’t be subdued. He air-kissed her. “My ravishing ex, how nice to see you on this beautiful morning.”
She smiled. Anyway, her teeth were still beautiful. She had the most perfect smile of anyone I’d ever seen. Maddie’s smile was more wonderful, but not as perfect (p. 188).
Helen is a beautiful and attractive woman. She believes she can attract men
with her beauty. She is also sure she can use her beauty as commodity to conquer
men. An effort to do it is by being seductive.
As she is very dependent on her beauty for her living, Helen always keeps her
beauty by taking care of her body. She always wears beauty mask before she goes to
sleep to moisture delicate skin around her eyes (p. 17). She also does exercising as
yoga class when she and her daughters are in California to run away from her
ex-boyfriend (p. 41). Her love toward beauty is also shown in the conversation between
her and Shelby in the hospital when she is in the treatment after surgery. Helen does
not want to lose her beauty and she cannot stand the reality that she is injured badly
in the most part of her face. Shelby tries to calm her down by saying that she still can
have fun in case her face is not going to be better. She reacts by opposing Shelby’s
word and saying that she is tired and needs to be alone to change the conversation
topic.
She said, “We had a lot of fun, didn’t we?”
“Mom, when you get better, which you will, we’ll still have fun. You just have to go to a parallel universe. You were in the universe where beauty was the most important thing, and now you can go to the universe where it isn’t.” “Ain’t no such universe,” my mother said. “God, I’m tired.” (pp. 179-180).
Still in hospital moment, Helen does not forget to keep her beauty, especially
as she is in treatment in the hospital she cannot use makeup. She tries every little
thing she can to make herself feel better about her face condition. She even asks the
nurses to make her head position higher in order not to make her face look bloated.
The next day our mother was doing even better. When we arrive, she was ordering two nurses around. “No, no, make the head of the bed higher. The blood is going to my face and making it look bloated. Where’s my water? I need to clean all the drugs out of my system. There’s nothing more aging than drugs.” (p. 196).
Shelby’s thought is also a proof that Helen cares more about her skin treatment
than anything else. When Shelby needs new map in their runaway trip to California,
she thinks it is better to find another way to get the route because Helen will object to
buy “unimportant” thing like a map. Helen will easily spend thirty dollars buying
I quickly deduced that I need a closer view of the area to get us to the address Mom had given me, so I pulled out the phone book I’d just seen in the nightstand drawer and started hunting for a local street map. My mother wouldn’t hesitate to spend thirty dollars on a tiny jar of facial cream, but city maps that would allow us to get around our destination more easily? Out of question (p. 19).
As a mother, Helen is good in teaching her children about anything and often
times about beauty. According to Shelby, her mother is like a queen who tutors her
children. She teaches them about anything. “I watched impatiently. I don’t know
why, but I was impatient with my mother lately. I didn’t tell anyone this because our
mother has always been our undisputed queen. She tutored us about everything
except school” (p. 28). She teaches them manners, how to act and react to a situation.
Shelby says “Our mother liked to say that smart cookies do not betray their emotions.
Marilyn was best at this. I tried hard but failed, bursting into tears. Her face!” (p. 78).
In these sentences, her mother teaches them not to show up their emotion too openly.
Helen also teaches her children about how to keep beauty and how to attract men,
and the knowledge she shares everyday is the new one.
Half or what my head was filled with came from my mother. She taught us new things every day, like how to keep wrinkles from forming at the corners of our mouth, how to let a boy know you were interested without speaking, and how to smile without squishing your eyes. Even someone who thought she was a bad mother had to admit that my sisters and I coming out fine. That was my mother’s doing. Nobody could deny that we were proof that my mother was a good mother. And even if she wasn’t a good mother, which she was, she’d created us since the moment we were born (p. 164).
Helen also teaches their children to maximize their personal appearance.
Therefore, when Shelby meets Sophie, Mack’s sister, who has mustache, she
remembers what her mother says. It is for the reason that she believe maximize
And she always went up and down the back stairs instead of the front, as if she felt she didn’t merit going down the front, as if having a mustache went hand in hand with a lowly opinion of yourself. Personally, I would have shaved the mustache. My mother always told us we had to maximize ourselves (p. 83).
Helen also strengthens to her children that the part of body being the center of
attention of men is face. Then, they have to take care of it. “Our mother had said that
men cared more about your face than any other part of you” (p. 81). She also teaches
them the tricks to make men like them. “My mother said, “Feel what you will in your
heart, Shelby, but catch your men with your guile.”” (p. 37). She also assures the
children that physical perfection is the main thing that is liked from women, in the
point of view of men.
My mother still wanted me to try contacts again because I was getting those little marks on the sides of my nose. She thought that might tip men off to my bad eyes. “Men like perfection in a woman,” she liked to say. “As if they deserve it,” she sometimes added when she was in cynical mood (p. 11).
Since Helen has taught her daughter from the moment they are born, her rules
and shared knowledge are locked in her children’s head. Furthermore, it is even
when Helen is not around with her children. Shelby says “Our mother had taught us
so well that we thought about her rules even when she wasn’t here” (p. 120). At this
time, she and her sisters are kidnapping her youngest sister, Maddie, because her
father wants to take her away. They are in the way to Colorado, at Larry’s cabin. She
is sitting in the passenger seat and thinking about the rules her mother has said while
Marilyn is driving.
Fourth, Helen is a materialistic woman. From her relationship with men, Helen
can also fulfill her desire in collecting jewelry. She usually asks for jewelry, and
especially diamond, as gift from her boyfriend. “Even poor women want to look
all,” she said” (p. 28). Even when she and her boyfriend break up, mostly the men
are angry because they have spent much money to Helen when they are in
relationship. “Every so often when my mother broke up with a boyfriend, he would
fly into a rage and we would have to go on the lam. Oftentimes what the men were
really angry about was how much money they had spent on her. Many of them were
angrier about the money than about being broken up with” (p. 10). Because she can
change boyfriend like change clothes, the former boyfriend are angry because they
feel used by Helen.
Actually Helen truly loves Larry, but she thinks Larry can not fulfill her family
need because he work is not making much money. Also she thinks that Larry can’t
support her glamorous life because she likes jewel and Larry cannot afford it. “I
think Lakey’s father was the only man my mother ever really loved. He was what my
mother called a “manly man,” her favorite kind if not for the fact that, in general,
manly men didn’t make any money” (p. 13).
When Helen and the children run away to Larry, they spend the second night in
a motel with a casino down stairs. As they are ready to rest, her mother is ready to
look for a rich man. However, until she showed up in the early morning she cannot
find the man. She is annoyed then. “My mother showed up at one in the morning and
collapsed in her bed, exhausted. “If there’s one rich man in this whole rinky-dink
town, I’d like to know where he is!” she said, and fell asleep in her pretty dress” (p.
36).
Fifth, Helen is a responsible mother who loves her children therefore she
is actually collecting money and jewelry from her boyfriend because she will use it
to fulfill her family need, as she is not working.
When I was seven, our mother took Marilyn and me to the safe-deposit box where she kept her jewels. Perhaps I remember it as more grand than it was. But to me, it was splendid, and it was all appraised, the occasional phony piece parceled out to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. “Even poor women want to look nice,” said my mother. “A man who gives a woman a fake diamond is not a man at all,” she said. “It all be yours when I die, girls.” (p. 28).
When Shelby and her sisters want to sing some songs in the car, their mother
prohibits them. They do not insist because they realize that their mother almost never
says “No” to them. It is because their mother loves them.
“Let’s sing ‘John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt’ and ‘Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall,” said Lakey.
Our mother said, “No, those song drive me crazy. I can’t bear it. Can’t you girls think of a pretty song to sing?”
When my mother said no, she meant it. She hardly said no, however (p. 24).
As Shelby and her mother curious about legal paper from Mr. Bronson,
Maddie’s father, they are looking for it when their mother goes out. Finally they find
the paper and discover that Mr. Bronson wants the custody of Maddie. Therefore,
their mother often goes out to earn more money to win Maddie. It is a proof that
Helen loves her children.
Marilyn put the pictures away and opened the third drawer. I looked over her shoulder. It was all the legal papers. One folder was labeled HARVEY BRONSON. I pointed. “Check that one.”
Marilyn gingerly pulled out the file, and we fell on it like vultures. He was trying to get custody of Maddie. In his custody suit he claimed our mother was unfit.
“That’s why she needs money so badly now,” Marilyn said. “To pay the lawyer. Look at this attorney bill.” (p. 65).
Jiro, Shelby’s father, also has a statement that strengthens the fact that Helen
loves her children and very responsible for them. “Jiro mumbled, “All your mother
Bronson in the airport. Mr. Bronson tells that Helen never teach her children well,
but Jiro assures Shelby by saying the oppose statement.
As the result of being an adventurer in relationship with men, she has to face
problem from the angry men. Her ways of getting out of the problem are running
away from men and hiding her own feeling by being unfrank to her children.
Sixth, Helen has a habit of running away from her ex-boyfriend and from
problem about men she has caused. Helen loves to have love adventure and she also
like seduce men. If she breaks up with her boyfriend and her boyfriend is mad with
her because she has spent his money, she will run away to avoid his madness. In the
novel, it is told that Helen takes her children run away from Pierre to Larry. Shelby
says “And that’s how I came to be hanging my head out the car window with a sore
eye, the warm air pounding my face as we escaped Pierre and the humid Chicago
summer and drove toward California and Lakey’s father” (p. 5).
That quotation shows that it is not the first time her mother run away from
men. She also does the same when she breaks up with her boyfriend. “Every so often
when my mother broke up with a boyfriend, he would fly into a rage and we would
have to go on the lam (p. 10).” Helen’s way out from her breaking-up problem
always comes into an escape. On the other hand, when she comes back to the town
she still has to face the same problem. She just postpones the problem to blow up. “I
remembered all of the times my mother ran away. From men like Pierre and men like
Mr. Bronson. And others: Johnny, Maxwell, Franklin, and Andrew. Those were all I
could think of off the top of my head. And every single time, when she returned, she
Another quotation says that Shelby feels her mother’s problem revolves around
men and she considers that when they are running away, perhaps they run away from
and toward men. Her mother seems roll around men and then pushes them away.
However, it also seems that her life around men makes her problem is about them.
Maybe Maddie’s father was why we were leaving Chicago, not Pierre. Or
maybe we were running from both. Or maybe we were running to Lakey’s father. Running toward men, running away from them, reeling them in, pushing them away.
For my mother, all of life revolved around men – or rather, all of life revolved
around making men revolve around her (p. 22).
Seventh, Helen is unfrank. It is done when she does not want to show her true
feeling. It is shown by her habit of saying clichés words. She uses to say it when she
does not want to show her feeling or explain the real condition. It is said by Shelby
that “My mother was very fond of clichés. In fact, next to jewelry, clichés were just
about my mother’s favorite thing in the world” (p. 12). For example, when Shelby
asks what kind of problem she talks about with the lawyer, she answers it with
“Curiosity killed the cat” (p. 23). Another example is when Lakey asks her mother
whether she will marry her father, Helen answeres it with “I have bigger fish to fry”
(pp. 52-53). When Shelby asks her mother about Mr. Bronson’s problem, she
answers it with clichés word.
“Mom, what happened with Mr. Bronson?”
