The problem of this novel firstly served by the vision of Old Major, the oldest boar and can be considered the leader among the animals, who sees the inequality between the animal and the human. He questions “what is the nature of this life of our?” (Orwell, 1945, p. 3) which signs the awareness of the animals about the life. After the awareness of the unfairness comes into being, the animals then realize their fate which is forced to work hard but at the end they are slaughtered. Because of that, the animals, particularly Old Major, blamed Mr. Jones, the human character and their farmer, for his treatment toward the animals. Thus, the animal named the human as their enemy. In this occasion, the animal creates a distinction of classes, which are the animal and the human. The animal feels they are the working class because they always work hard to serve human needs. This consciousness becomes the fuel of the rebellion of the animal.

The distinction of their classes also can be viewed by who produce more often. The animal, of course, feels they have produced milk, eggs, and their breeds. However, according to Old Major, “[m]an is the only creature that consumes without producing” (Orwell, 1945, p. 4) and have set the animal to work for them. It refers to the leisure class which produces less and consumes more. Their life actually depends on the work result of the working class. According to Old Major’s dream, all the animals can do is to rebel to the human to gain the equality. However, the rebellion is just planned by the “more intelligent animals on the farm” (Orwell, 1945, p. 8), which are the pig and the dog. The pig, specifically, becomes the animal’s think tank to create the strategy to blow down the domination of human because they are more intelligence than other proved by their ability to speak, read and write.

Mr. Jones who has means of production in order to extract the animal’s maximum potential makes the animal alienated. Hence, the consciousness of this alienation makes the animal looks forward to equality between human and animal. However, since it is impossible to “turn” human into animal, the animal states that “[w]hatever goes upon two legs is an enemy” (Orwell, 1945, p. 6), and at last, they prevail to kick Mr. Jones and his men out of his own farm. After the successful uprising, the Manor farm is owned by the animal and the animal can get their liberty. Also, the animal changes their farm name into “Animal Farm”

Furthermore, after the animal gets their own sovereignty, they manage the farm by themselves, without human’s aid. The pigs, who have more intelligence than any other animals, become the prominent leaders among them. It is all because their capability to manage other animals, especially their rhetorical ability. Because the inequality in their intelligence, some animals have to work harder, and some other animals do not. Therefore although they prevail to be equal (because they are all same as animal), the different intellectual level creates another social class gap. The pigs become their manager while the other animals such as horse, sheep, and cow become the pigs’ worker.

The knowledge which is possessed by the pigs, however, has a power. Because of that, the other animals believe of what the pigs are said. Williams argues that:

But the ‘ideology’ then hovers between ‘a system of beliefs of a certain class’ and ‘a system of illusory beliefs – false ideas or false consciousness – which can be contrasted with true or scientific knowledge. … This separation, however, is very much easier to carry out in theory than in practice. (Williams, 1977, p. 66)

Since the pigs have the power of knowledge, they can control the animal’s ideology. They create “a system of illusory beliefs” among other animal so that they believe that their life is better than before the uprising. Actually, they work harder under the pigs’ management. The pigs, who now become the upper class, maintain the status quo by making very much propaganda through the mouth of Squealer, the small fat pig. Squealer is characterized as a small pig who smart in negotiating, debating, and creating beautiful rhetoric so that the other animal always believe in what he said. His position is like the representative of the pigs, so other animals know the information of what the pigs are doing from his squeals.

Even more, the pigs actually know that the animal except the pigs are stupid by stating “[i]t was almost unbelievable, said Squealer, that animal couldn’t be so stupid” (Orwell, 1945, p. 78). The pigs, in the Napoleon regime, as the one who have more intelligence did not hold any education program to educate other animals, while they just build school for their children. So, it sustains the stupidity of the working class and the domination of the leisure class. Because they do not know anything but working, the notion “all animals are equal” is a mere propaganda to gain the support from the working class.

To spread the propaganda (to establish the status quo), the pigs use several forms of media. The first media is the “Beast of England” anthem. Firstly, the anthem is introduced by Old Major to gain the unity of the animals. The anthem contains messages that the animal shall unite to overthrown the domination of human, and every animal have to work hard to get it. However, after the pigs ruling, the song is banned to be sung.

‘It is no longer needed, comrade,” said Squealer stiffly. ‘Beast of England was the song of the Rebellion. But the Rebellion is now completed. The execution of the traitors this afternoon was the final act. The enemy both external and internal has been defeated. In Beast of England we expressed our longing for a better society in days to come. But the society has now been established. (Orwell, 1945, p. 56)

In this quotation, Squealer forbids the animals to sing ‘Beast of England’ because the pigs think that the perfect condition of the farm has been established, although other animals do not think so. The song is banned because the pigs worry whether the animals will do the same rebellion toward the pigs. So, the pigs need to prevent any kind of action that can ignite other rebellions.

Because Squealer always said that the existing condition is better, it makes the animals, especially Boxer the horse, works harder by saying “I will work harder” all the times. The illusory belief becomes stronger by the divine statement of Moses the crow that there will be Sugarcandy Mountain, a place where the animals “shall rest for ever from [their] labours” (Orwell, 1945, p. 73). However, the pigs reject Moses’ statement, because, I think, it can creates the imagination whether the animals can rest from their labor. Of course, if the animals get rest from their labor, the pigs will get no food and have to work. It will distract the pigs’ position as the dominant class.

Also, the execution of the traitors creates a psychological effect to the animals. They become frightened to speak of what they had seen on the reality. The existence of the dogs around the pigs also creates fear. When someone protested about Napoleon’s decision, “they were promptly silenced by a tremendous growling from the dogs” (Orwell, 1945, p. 40). Although they realize that they see the injustice done by the pigs, they “lacked the words to express them” (Orwell, 1945, p. 55). So, all they can do is “remain faithful, work hard, carry out the orders that were given to [them], and accept the leadership of Napoleon [the pig leader]” (Orwell, 1945, p. 55).

The Seven Commandments which enacted when Old Major is still alive also bond the animals into false consciousness. The later commandments are amended without informing other animals. Instead of making the animals united, the pigs use the commandments to strengthen their position as a dominant class. Of course other animals do not understand about it, because they can barely read these commandments. However, when Muriel noticed the amendments of the commandments, he does not understand what the meaning of the altered commandments is, because the pigs use manipulated language so that they just can read but nothing can they understand. For example, when Muriel realizes that the Fifth Commandment which sounds “No animal shall drink alcohol” is expanded into “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess”, he can just read it without knowing the meaning. In fact, it is a way done by the pigs to legitimate the alcohol drinking for their own sake.

As the representative of the pig, Squealer always makes propaganda to glorify the Napoleon’s regime. He always uses the maxims “Napoleon is always right” or reminds other animal to work harder like Boxer does. Also, he uses the statistic to ensure the other animal that there are many improvements after Mr. Jones’ departure. Again, it makes a false consciousness toward their existing condition, because if the existing condition is compared with the condition before Mr. Jones’ left, they work harder and paid lessen. However, Squealer prevails to design a notion that the condition will be better if they (the working animals) work harder, even Boxer, when he realizes that there is something wrong with their farm, innocently he states that “[t]he solution, as I see it, is to work harder” (Orwell, 1945, p. 54).

However, when the animals realize there is something wrong with the farm, nobody dares to speak. It can be happened because of the propaganda which Squealer sent to them; so that it creates a false consciousness among them therefore they think that everything is alright. Also, it might be because the animals get a trauma to realize that there are two classes among them, which are human and animal, although actually, the two classes are still existed in another form, which now are the pigs and the other working animals. The working animals do not want to be a subordinate class anymore, so they always think that there is no class distinction among them. The class issues become taboo to be spoken, because they believe that the life is getting better without human.

The death of Snowball who carries humanity issue by Napoleon’s hoof symbolizes that Napoleon kills the humanity. In the Battle of Windmill, Snowball, who is the former friends of Napoleon, turns to be the leader of human force. He brings the message that he supports the “humanity”. Snowball was killed by the Napoleon’s hoof, as the same as the humanity which had been lost from the working class animals. The working class animals have been alienated by Napoleon and friends. They become robot and forget what the aims of rebellion: to live happily without terror from anyone.

Although this novel contains a ton of political issue, it still can be considered as a children’s literature, because, as Hunt says following Sutherland: “[t]he books thus express their authors’ personal ideologies (whether consciously or unconsciously, openly or indirectly)” (1992, p. 18). The book cannot be separated from Orwell’s political view which sees that the totalitarianism is not the answer of capitalism which emerged by the Industrial Revolution in England. The class abolishment is merely a false consciousness because, however, there is always a leisure class and the working class even in the totalitarian governmental system. Orwell states that he wrote this book in full of his consciousness, as to depict the political condition on that day (Orwell, 1946).

To conclude, the novel depicted the lower class’ struggle to get the equality. Firstly the lower class is the animal, while the upper class is the human. After the human’s defeat, the social class is happened again among the animals because of their differentiation of intellectual level. However, the pig, who has more intellectual capacity, maintains the status quo because it is a privilege for them, so that they don’t have to work because there are other animals that fulfill their needs. The false consciousness of being equal actually alienated the working class, but they cannot do anything because of their lower intellectual capacity. The dominant class designs propaganda in kinds of media, particularly spreading issue and terror. Also, the status quo is maintained by maintain the working class’s stupidity.

Works Cited

Hunt, P. (Ed.). (1992). Literature for children. London: Routledge.

Orwell, G. (1945). Animal Farm. Henemann Educational Publishers.

Orwell, G. (1946). Why I Write – Essay by George Orwell. Retrieved December 10, 2011, from George Orwell Web Source: http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/essays/why-i-write.htm

Williams, R. (1977). Marxism and literature. New York: Oxford University Press.

The narration builds the character of Santosh as an innocent man who estranged by his new circumstance. Santosh, who formerly an employee worked in Bombay, has to accompany his employer to live in Washington. Moreover, Santosh looks very excited when he heard about that invitation. However, Santosh’s excitement tends to his arrogance, because he expresses his excitement by saying that “[i]t pleased me that he was jealous” (Naipaul, 2002, p. 17) to his friend. His arrogance comes into being because there is a notion in his former place that lives in Washington will economically be better. It can be proved in his statement on the very first paragraph which says “[m]any people, both [in Washington] and in India, will feel that I have done well” (Naipaul, 2002, p. 15). But, on the last statement of the said paragraph, he seems rejecting that notion, because he put the word “but” at the end of the paragraph.

Besides his excitement regarding his migration, he found that live with different culture is hard. In the journey to Washington, people on his plane looked him as a strange person.

When we settled down I looked around for people like myself, but I could see no one among the Indians or the foreigners who look like a domestic. Worse, they were all dressed as though they were going to a wedding and, brother, I soon saw it wasn’t they who were conspicuous. (Naipaul, 2002, p. 18)

Santosh’s innocence in dressing leads the attention of people around him, because he only wears his domestic wear. Furthermore, Santsosh also feels the other passenger’s dress looked awful, because he thought that their dressing is like the formal dress which people usually wear to go to wedding. We can see that Santosh as the only one who wears domestic suit feels alienated because the different way of dressing.

Not only by dressing, but also by his lack of knowledge about foreign exchange. He cannot differ or calculate the rate of U.S. Dollar and Rupee, so that we he have to buy something, he always miscalculated and bring the anger of his employer. In addition, it leads to the treatment of the stewardess who not giving him smiles while the other passengers are got. The innocence about the foreign exchange also happened when he was in Washington. He was given an advance payment by his employer. But on the same day, he spent all of his money, which should be for nine days, because he forgot the currency is different with India’s currency.

The cultural difference between Santosh and his surrounding in Washington makes him uncomfortable. Usually, he can walk with bare foot in Bombay and got no problem with that. Different with the condition in Washington, he cannot even get a service for a cup of tea. These treatments make Santosh want to go home to Bombay. In addition, when he saw “many people who looked like my own people” (Naipaul, 2002, p. 24), it doesn’t make him more comfortable. In fact, it disturbs him because these people are actually different with him in the way of pronunciation and accent, although they had the same appearance with Santosh.

Nevertheless, in his early days in Washington, this place is depicted as a place where everything is irrational, because the culture is different with his culture. In addition, his meeting with a lot of hubshi bothers him, because in India, there are few hubshi he can find and “it is indecent and wrong for a man of our blood to embrace the hubshi woman” (Naipaul, 2002, p. 29). So, he thinks that he should not settle with the hubshi, because it is a shame for him to live among them. But, his meeting with a hubshi girl becomes his turning point. As he went to supermarket, he met a hubshi girl who seemed interested with Santosh. Furthermore, he got English lesson by her and their relationship became closer. This event makes Santosh realizes of his existence after he feels alienated by his surrounding before. Since then, he took so much care of his physical appearance. The physical appearance of Santosh and his employer is also very important in this plural country, because, as his employer said, he and Santosh became the representative of their country. So, when they wear clothes improperly, it can harm the image of their nation (pars pro toto).

When Santosh realized that there is someone interested with him, he suddenly “became obsessed with [his] appearance” (Naipaul, 2002, p. 29). He always observed his face in the bathroom mirror. And finally he became conscious of himself, whereas in Bombay, he scarcely looked in the mirror. This event, however, shows that Santosh is started to fit into Washington culture. In addition, he started to learn English both from hubshi girl and the television. The television becomes an important media to introduce American culture to him, because beside English, he also learned American culture. The television makes Santosh compares himself with the television artist by questioning that “are you as handsome as that man?” (Naipaul, 2002, p. 30), so that he need to look himself into the mirror.

The event when he looked in the mirror becomes important. As Lacan argues:

We have only to understand the mirror stage as an identification, in the full sense that analysis gives to the term: namely, the transformation that takes place in the subject when he assumes an image-whose predestination to this phase-effect is sufficiently indicated by the use, in analytic theory, of the ancient term imago. (2004, p. 991)

As he identifies himself, he realizes that there is a transformation in him. Firstly, he realizes his existence indicated by his increased obsession with his appearance. Secondly, before he put more concerns in his appearance, he is innocent like a baby in Lacan’s hypotheses. After he sees his reflection in the mirror, he then realizes that there is another Santosh. The reflection one represents Santosh who is still pure and has not contaminated with American culture, while the Self is the contaminated one, because the real one is started to follow the lifestyle of the American and no longer pure from the view of culture. It can be seen when Santosh memorized his experience in the airplane and in the café, he felt that he is embarrassing, because he wore rough, dirty clothes and bare feet, whereas in that time, he thought that there is nothing wrong with his appearance.

I was glad I had a place to hide. I had thought of myself as prisoner. Now I was glad I had so little of Washington to cope with: the apartment, my cupboard, the television set, my employer, the walk to the supermarket, the hubshi women. And one day I found I no longer knew whether I wanted to go back to Bombay. Up there, in the apartment, I no longer knew what I wanted to do. (Naipaul, 2002, p. 30)

However, after Santosh realizes and changes his appearance, his perspective about Washington is totally changed. While he always thought that he is like in the prison, he now became comfortable with his life in Washington and no longer wanted to go home, and this is very different with Santosh before he realizes his appearance. By this changing, he feels like he has prevailed to get into the society of Washington. He is no longer the alien from India, because he has been equal with others from the points of lifestyle, language and culture. This consciousness also makes him confidence toward his slavish identity. He realizes that his life won’t be spent forever to serve his employer. He had been changed from the object of his employer to the subject of his employer, because he can decide what will he does to his employer.

But in Santosh’s narrative, the American culture is represented as destructive, especially the emergence of hubshi in the surrounding. He often imagined the hubshi woman “as Kali, goddess of death and destruction” (Naipaul, 2002, p. 33). Along with his relationship with the hubshi woman, he gets a moral decadence. He had been raped by the hubshi woman. The rape symbolizes the shift of his identity, because his identity “is raped” by the American culture as he acquaints the hubshi woman. The physical size of Santosh and hubshi woman also symbolizes the cultural power between them. Santosh who has a smaller body cannot handle the power of the hubshi women who has a larger body. So, Santosh is failed to defend his body and culture of his own. Then, he becomes dirty viewed by the body aspect and the cultural aspect. His body contains the hubshi woman’s smell which he cannot remove it from his body, although he had worked hard until his skin is hurting. It is as the same as the American culture which has been attached to his mind and he cannot detach it although he knows it will be destructive.

This feeling is also felt by the employer. The employer questions “what are we doing in this place? Why do we have to come here?” (Naipaul, 2002, p. 34) after he saw the Washington burning which is done by the hubshi. However, Santosh desires the entire city is burned down. He was disappointed when the burning is going to stop. It signifies that the two Indians see the same vision: American culture is a dystopia. It let them to the destruction at the end. They don’t want to be the part of it, but in the contrary, they cannot get rid of it. The employer has his importance in Washington: his job, while Santosh has to accompany his employee. However, Santosh’s reason is slightly different. Not only he must accompany his employer as a part of his job, but also he has no money to go back to Bombay. But the two of them have a similar reason: economical reason. Therefore, the two immigrants “sacrifice” their identity, culture, even their safety to fulfill the economical needs.

When I adjusted to my imprisonment I had wanted only to get away from Washington and to return to Bombay. But then I had become confused. I had looked in the mirror and seen myself, and I knew it wasn’t possible for me to return to Bombay to the sort of job I had had and the life I had lived. I couldn’t easily become part of someone else’s presence again. … . I didn’t want them to return. (Naipaul, 2002, p. 36)

The place where formerly he thinks is prison now he cannot leave it. In this quotation, we can see the confusion of Santosh’s identity. In one part, he wanted to go back to Bombay, but in another part, he thought that it is impossible to go back to his former life. The latter statement is happened because he thinks that live in Bombay is worse than live in his current location. He is now culturally a part of Washington society. It can be proved by his cynicism toward his hometown, Bombay. He doesn’t want to live there because now he thinks he has lied in the higher culture at present, where the people dress properly. Also, in this quotation, his individualism comes into being. He wants to be separated from the shadow of his employer. Therefore, he ran away from his employer. It shows that after his changing, he thinks that he has the same social class with his employer. He now realizes of his freedom and can decide his own fate, whether he wants to continue living with his employer or not.

In a sense, the Indian culture is portrayed lower than the American culture, so that Santosh is reluctant to go back to his former culture. Like when Santosh overheard the conversation between his employer and an American in a dinner, the Amercian committed an illegal transaction of Indian holy sculpture. But easily, the American got away from the Indian law by giving two dollars. But as Indians, they cannot fight with that insulting act. Hence, Santosh chose to pretend not to understand about that problem. They become weak if they face the American. It can be caused by their position which is not in their hometown, so that they have a little political power. Besides, as a host of the meeting, the employer has to be professional regarding to his job, although actually, he was offended.

When he saw himself in the mirror, it is a process of identity identification called self-categorization or identification (Stets & Burke, 2000). Santosh builds his identity through deciding to where the society he belongs. In this case, after Santosh saw the reflection of him in the mirror, he decides to bond himself into the Washington society, because now he has the same identity with them, viewed by his way of dressing and his language. Also, he builds his identity by comparing one identity to another. As Stets & Burke reason:

Through a social comparison process, persons who are similar to the self are categorized with the self and are labeled the in-group; persons who differ from the self are categorized as the out-group. In early work, social identity included the emotional, evaluative, and other psychological correlates of in-group classification. (2000, p. 225)

As he met with Priya, he redefines his identity, because formerly he thinks that an Indian should not be identified himself as Washington society. However, the appearing of Priya makes him believe that identity can be changed. Then he chooses to be in the same group with Priiya, which is an Indian emigrant who now live and work in Washington. Thus, he felt safer with Priya, because he met someone who the identity is fit with what the ideal identity he wants.

Santosh also redefines the out-group, which is the Bombay society. He no longer identifies himself a person who lives and works in Bombay, because firstly, he now lives in Washington and secondly, his culture is no longer the same with Bombay people. The different cultures can be seen from the way he dresses, his perspective toward his relationship with his employer, and much more. When Priya talked about Bombay, Santosh felt that he “was a stranger in those places” (Naipaul, 2002, p. 43). Finally, he alienates himself with his hometown, because the culture has been changed in him.

However, the process of reidentification is not so easy for Santosh, because in earlier times, he knows that his new identity would bring him into a self-destruction. In Washington, as he looked upon Priya’s restaurant, Santosh thought that identity is merely a means to boost Priya’s business regarding Priya’s treatment toward the Mexican workers who had been made up as Indians with their turban. Furthermore, Priya at the end of the story suggests Santosh marry the hubshi woman to maintain the Santosh’s citizenship identity as an American citizen by using the green card. However, I think it the legalization of Santosh is just Priya’s trick to defend Santosh to work in his restaurant. Here again we can see the identity can be bought by the economical needs.

The marriage itself didn’t bring happiness to Santosh. In a contrary, he felt estrange by the strange smell of hubshi’s house. He then stated that he “have closed my mind and heart to the English language, to newspaper and radio and television, to the pictures of hubshi runners and boxers and musician on the wall” (Naipaul, 2002, p. 52). However, his tone when he spoke that statement is full of desperation. He unwillingly has to accept the fate that now he lived with hubshi which formerly he hated it. He just gave it up and accepted the identity transition, because he doesn’t want to repeat it anymore. Thus, it shows that how deep the pain he had for he has leaved the identity which he supposed to wear. Whereas, he formerly lives happily with his friends and his family in India.

The perspective of each culture toward religion is very different. While Santosh honors the sculpture which placed in his employer’s apartment, the hubshi didn’t care at all with that, even more, she discredits the sculpture by committing rape in front of the sculpture. Because Santosh identity is changing, he becomes similar with the American, especially the hubshi woman and Priya. He stated that he want to be like Priya who has a live with no further surprises. It shows his desperation regarding his dreary life. Furthermore, he doesn’t put any sculpture in his and his wife’s house to pray. Also, he becomes greedy and self-centered. It can be proved when he started to urge for more salary to Priya, because he had worked professionally.

I was once part of the flow, never thinking of myself as presence. All that my freedom has brought me is the knowledge that I have a face and have a body, that I must feed this body and clothe this body for a certain number of years. Then it will be over. (Naipaul, 2002, p. 52)

Now, Santosh lives without any hope. He just let it flow, and doesn’t hope for a better live in the next stage of life. He just thought about something that physically can be sensed, like money, outfit, and his body which to be fed. Different with the former Santosh who always relates what he sees to his religion, for example, the hubshi woman with God Kali, and the forbidden to acquaint the hubshi because of the religion.

At last, Santosh is never sure about his identity whether it is a good decision or bad decision. Because of his decision to be an American citizen, he has to marry a girl whom he never loves. In addition, the former identity rejects the appearing of the hubshi, so it leaves a heavy confusion in Santosh. Santosh thinks that “[he] was good-looking; [he] had lost my looks; [he] was a free man; [he] had lost [his] freedom” (Naipaul, 2002, p. 43). Although he declares that he is now an American, he cannot removes his former identity. By changing his appearance into more “good-looking” one, he then felt he had lost the supposedly appearance. So, he is not sure enough about his transition to become an American. Also, when he thought that he was a free man, he didn’t think so completely. In one side, he became free because he can decide to whom he would prefer to work. However, he still cannot distinguish his habit to call his employer a sahib, so unconsciously, he called Priya as his sahib.

In conclusion, the conflicts of identity in the character named Santosh is appeared by several things, that is the cultural image of America, the effect of Santosh surrounding which creates a cultural shock, and the economic factor. The second reason makes him uncomfortable, so he decides to adapt to his new environment. However, although he thinks that the new culture he got will bring him into destruction, he still wants to wear his new identity, because as he looks in the mirror, the older identity become worse. In fact, he cannot detach from his former identity which until the end of the story it still haunts him. At last, it creates a confusion of identity toward him that he cannot decides which is the better one, or, which is actually fit with him.

Works Cited

Lacan, J. (2004). The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience. In H. Adams, & L. Searle, Critical Theory Since Plato (3rd Edition ed., p. 991). Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing.

Naipaul, V. S. (2002). In a Free State. London: Picador.

Stets, J. E., & Burke, P. J. (2000). Identity Theory and Social Identity Theory. Social Psychology Quarterly , pp. 224-237.

Colours of laces

Not rainbow, just laces.

Daily path

Solitude.

Pilgrim's simulation

Between Safa and Marwa.

The first example of the strangeness is when Tuan Petoro met his djongos (male servant) when he carried in Tuan Petoro’s luggage and called him batman. In fact, the servant just wore a “dark blue uniform with orange trimming, black velvet kupiah and bare feet” (p. 128). Tuan Petoro called him batman because of his ability to work under dark environment. I assume Tuan Petoro thought that his servant had a magical ability so that he didn’t need any lights. Also, the appearance of his servant was unusual for Tuan Petoro, because he wore black velvet kupiah and bare feet, which, I think, Tuan Petoro scarcely saw that and then Tuan Petoro imagined that his servant is like a bat. In addition, the Dutch’s way of dressing was totally different with the batman, at least in the way of wearing footwear, because I assume that the Dutch should wear footwear wherever they are, especially in outdoor. Note that although actually Tuan Petoro acquainted the batman formerly (because actually he was Tuan Petoro’s servant in Watan Soppeng), the first impression when Tuan Petoro looked at him was his similarity with batman.

Also, when Tuan Petoro discussed about the organization of Gowa with Tuan Anwar, Tuan Petoro’s counselor, it was portrayed that “the organization of Gowa was a mess” (p. 131). Then, it was described that it was all because the government applied the clergies as the top persons in the government. As Said states, the Western defined themselves by defining the orientals, like their laziness, irrationality, and so on (1978). The depiction of the unorganized native archipelago people was came into being in this story. However, by stating that the Gowa government was unorganized, the Dutch felt that they must eliminate it. So, here we can see that how the political power of Dutch affects the local government so that it can reform the governmental structure of the existing government. Besides, the option to choose the clergies as the lawmaker signs that the society was still bounded by the divine law. As we know, the European has left the concept that the religion is the basis of law since Enlightenment era, because it creates suppression by the clergies in the name of God. That means there is a gap of thinking between the native and the Dutch. The natives are left behind the European in the viewpoint of governmental constitution.

On the contrary, the Dutch were depicted as the protagonist. In the story, it is mentioned that “[t]he slaves had been freed by the Dutch government …” (p. 126). The Gowa nobilities still committed slavery in their princedom, but the Dutch government abolished it. Nevertheless, the slaves kept living with their masters because the master had a great power. So, the Dutch, or the European in general, divided the property in the world into something like theirs and ours. Like in the Treaty of Tordesillas, the European can judge unilaterally whether the new discovered land is owned by Spain or Portugal. The cultural arrogance of the European leads them to govern their colonized land, like the Archipelago in this context.

In addition, the amok events which happened occasionally create a strangeness image of Archipelago people. Although this habit harms many people’s life, Archipelago people particularly Makassar people still commit it consciously or unconsciously, because sometimes the person who runs amok acts like possessed person, so he doesn’t realize that he has kill someone. Moreover, amok becomes tradition among Makassar people. When one is killed, the family of the victim usually revenges it. It is also interesting to see the native’s perspective, Tuan Anwar, regarding the death. Tuan Anwar said that there was no point to fear the death, since sooner or later, everyone will face it. Different with Tuan Petoro, he was trembling and cannot sleep after he saw the amok incident. It could be happened because Tuan Petoro thought that people should not kill each other, as Bible said. But here in the Indies he saw something very contrast with his culture, so the strange feeling came up in the mind of Tuan Petoro, indicated by his question considering the death penalty which he asked to Tuan Anwar.

Moreover, the strange imagery of the Archipelago people comes in the naming of a baby, like the person in the court when there was held trials for some cases. The court was interrupted because someone had announced that his wife was just given birth to a daughter. Then, the father named his daughter Base Kantoro, “because she was almost born in this office” (p.152). It is a ridiculous reason to name a baby with a name “Kantor” or “Office” in English because the baby just nearly born in the office. It can be said that the native doesn’t think about the aesthetic part when giving a name or the concept of the aesthetic is quite different with the major people.

Another example is came up when Karaeng Manudju gave his ten-year-old son as a gift for Tuan Petoro when he prevailed to cure Karaeng Manudju’s mother. Suddenly Tuan Petoro was confused by the gift, because he unexpectedly became father. Desperately, he didn’t know what he was going to do, and at last, Tuan Petoro gave the kid to Abdulkadir, his young assistant, so he didn’t need to take care of him. The problem is the exchange of Karaeng Manudju’s mother medication and the kid is clearly not equal, because I think, it is hardly to measure the price of the kid for Tuan Petoro. However, Tuan Petoro could not say anything but thanks and accepted the gift, although in the end the kid ran away and expected to come back home to Karaeng Manudju. Regarding the runaway, Tuan Petoro did nothing, because he thought that the kid should back to his parents, not to be owned by him, because he had no family relationship with the kid.

The most visible instance of the native peculiarity is their belief (or fear) about the metaphysical things. The metaphysical things include ghost, setan, the sacred waringin tree and the evening before Friday. People, as Tuan Petoro said in the story, are easily scared. Like when Tuan Petoro, Tuan Anwar and other natives found strange sound from the leaked engine and the old waringin tree, the natives perceived it as a cry sound from a ghost. However, Tuan Anwar, who had worked for years with Tuan Petoros, was the person who realized that the people are exaggerated with those things. That means, Tuan Anwar had become more realistic in viewing the phenomena. In contrary with the native (except Tuan Anwar), “Tuan Petoro wondered if his old wish would be fulfilled and if he would finally see a ghost” (p. 153). In this part, we can see that the the way of thinking of Tuan Anwar had started to follow the Tuan Petoro’s that is more logical than other natives.

The belief of the myths, the society who governed by the clergies, or the perspective toward the death become the devices to represent the image of the Archipelago people. The distinction of the Western and the Eastern becomes clear from the view of mythical belief. The law of the society is constituted by mythology. Since the orientals were really publicized in the European world especially through literary works (Said: 1978), it creates stereotypes that the orientals is illogical and irrational on how they govern and create the law for the society. Also, it seemingly becomes a must when people want to be well-educated, they have to study in Europe, or the familiar Kartini’s case. It creates an image the European nations are the centre of knowledge. It means that there is a desire of the Archipelago people to shift the mindset from the mythical-based thinking to empirical-based thinking to get a better life. For example, the son of Tuan Anwar, Musa, who studied in Leyden. At last, Musa’s fate gradually changed after he studied in Leyden from a boy who lived in rural area to a prominent person in the country which later became well-known Indonesia.

The education gap also affects to the dependency of the natives to the Dutch. Although the natives had a leader (e.g. the karaengs in the princedom level), they were still governed by the Dutch. I assume it is all because the Dutch mastered many disciplines of knowledge, such as social science, medicine, economy, military and the fundamental one, education. In this short story, it is told that the best education came from the Dutch school, for instance, the Karaeng Manudju’s son which was promised to get education in Dutch school as well as the son of Tuan Anwar. The natives thought that by studying in Dutch school, it can raise their class to be in the same level with Dutch.

However, the distinction of the Western and the Eastern here is not about whom the good or the evil is, but who makes more sense. In this story, the Dutch is not always acting as the protagonist, like the abolisher or something. The Dutch also depicted as the corrupter, like in the characterization of the cashclerk Kelwyk. The depiction of Javanese, which is said that they are more progressive, also signs the shift of the conservative tradition to more modern tradition. The struggle against the Dutch also came from the Javanese by the Indonesian Communist Party (Partai Komunis Indonesia) initiative. This shift leads the native people to get their independence.

To conclude, the differentiation between the Eastern and the Western cultures makes cultural shock, particularly it comes from the Dutch side as the colonizer of Archipelago. The Dutch saw the habit which is normal for the native seemed strange and irrational. This image creates many conflicts, for instance, the dependency of the native, and the greatest impact is the viewpoint of the Dutch to the native Archipelago people in general. As the literature depicts this stereotype, the perspective commonly disseminates to the Europeans.

Works Cited

Friedericy, J. H. Two Tales of the East Indies.
Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.

Tanda. Menulis adalah tentang tanda. Bagaimana tanda-tanda itu dibuat sehingga dimengerti oleh orang lain adalah proses menulis itu sendiri. Dalam tulisan, tanda-tanda tersebut terangkai dalam bentuk aksara. Menyenangkan sekali mempelajari cara kerja aksara, dari mulai bentuk, ukuran, bersirip atau tidaknya dapat menunjukkan makna yang lain.

Makna. Sialnya, makna yang terkandung dalam tulisan tidak pernah ajeg. Mengapa tidak semua orang diberikan suatu konsep yang sama untuk berbahasa? Bahasa sendiri merupakan produk gagal, karena tidak pernah dapat menyampaikan makna dengan konsep yang ada di kepala masing-masing orang.

Konsep. Apa yang ada di dalam otak kita, semua adalah konsep. Konsep tersebut selalu saja kita coba utarakan dengan bahasa, walaupun kita telah tahu bahwa bahasa selalu gagal untuk menyampaikan konsep yang kita ingin utarakan. Untuk menyampaikan suatu konsep, seseorang dapat menyampaikannya melalui buku. Satu buku pun kadang tidak cukup, sehingga seseorang harus membuat beberapa volume buku untuk menyampaikan suatu konsep yang akhirnya terwakili oleh satu kata atau frasa. Begitu rumitnya sistem komunikasi manusia, hingga kita mengenal kata “rumit”, “ribet”, “tidak mengerti”, dan sebagainya.

Aksara-aksara yang kita kenal, yang memberikan tanda/membedakan makna antara suatu konsep dengan konsep yang lain menunjukkan seberapa jauh pemikiran kita, seberapa terkekangnya pemikiran. Yang pasti, kekekangan itu pasti, karena kita berbahasa. Bahasa adalah pengekang, pengekang konsep, pengekang pemikiran. Semakin kaya bahasa kita, maka konsep yang kita miliki akan semakin banyak, dan semakin longgar kekangan bahasa terhadap pemikiran kita.

Dan saya terkekang.

The first example is the grandfather who is a vicar which is depicted as womanizer by the author. As Sage finds the diary of her grandfather, she realizes the moral decadence of her grandfather by his surreptitious relationship with many women. This behavior can be considered as transgression, because he has already a wife and there cannot be accepted to have more than one relationship in his monogamy culture. His transgression also makes Sage fully hates with his grandfather. On the first chapter of this autobiography, she presents her grandfather as “[t]he ‘old devil’, my grandfather, …” (Sage, 2000: 7). Of course the characterization of her grandfather doesn’t reflect the proper church image. The way she hates her grandfather is also showed when her mother expresses Sage’s similarities with her grandfather and then she argues that she had bad blood of her grandfather.

Furthermore, in Sage’s perspective, she states that “[t]he magic of the Church no longer impressed us” (Sage, 2000: 197) after she comes to the communion which she claims as her last communion she will visit. It can be happened because in the confirmation classes, she cannot confirm her belief in God. However, Mr. Hopkins, probably her religion teacher, seemed that her behavior cannot be accepted and will shame both Mr. Hopkins and the parents. Then she expresses her dislike to the church by stating “[t]he Church’s job was more like exorcism, turning the incubus into a husband and provider after the [marriage] event” (Sage, 2000: 197). The incubus, I assume, is a metaphor for her grandfather, because as I told before, she dislike her grandfather’s promiscuity which is like devil-provoked deeds.

The Sage’s background which is close to church circumstance also makes a different perspective on how she perceived her pregnancy. Instead of feeling guilty, she actually feels furious. It is all happened because her family expects that she will commit suicide, whereas she hates when her family thinks on that way because she never feels guilty and despair because of her pregnancy.

On the other hand if we were bold enough to go to a magistrate for permission we’d probably get it, because I was pregnant and we weren’t – they weren’t – respectable or well-off enough for their objection to count. And the case would be in the Whitchurch Herald [italic by the author].” (Sage, 2000: 197)

In this quotation, we can see that the church instead becomes a barrier for the marriage between Lorna and Vic. It is described that they are underage, so the church cannot grant their permission to marry. Moreover, the marriage will make them no longer legally in the guardianship of their parents, and the church sees that they are not ready enough for it.

Works Cited

Sage, L. (2000). Bad Blood. London: Fourth Estate.

In short story entitled A Rose for Emily, Faulkner depicts the main character, Miss Emily, has the same or even more powerful than man. It can be argued by presenting Emily’s rejection to pay the tax and the killing of Homer Barron. In a sense, the shocking ending which the corpse of Homer Barron is found gives information that although Emily is a woman, her desire to make an intimacy relationship with Homer Barron can lead her into madness by violating and having sex with his corpse.

However, in Weldon’s Down in the Clinical Disco, the author draws woman as depressive person due to her abortion and her marriage fallacy. Furthermore, the odd behavior is also able to be seen when she intentionally tries to set the office on fire and denials it easily by saying that is just impulse and her husband just make her work late. It is also interesting to see that the main character tries to act like normal woman. That means she realizes that she is considered as crazy and struggle to restrain weeping tears just to prove that she is normal.

Nevertheless, Flanagan’s When I’m Bad shows the narrative expression of a girl child regarding to her bad environment. In her narrative, we can find a lot of dirty words which is not supposed to be said by a child (e.g. fuck, cunt, and shit). This could be happen because she memorizes the fighting between her Mom and Dad and gets bad treatment by her friend. It is also triggering madness actions committed by her, like banging her head to the side of the swimming pool and shutting his cat’s tail in the fridge door.

From this three works, we can see the fallacy of ordinary life that “should be” gone through the characters can be a severe problem and lead women to madness. As the rebound, there are some actions can be committed, like violating (herself or others), mocking, etc. However, there are some ways the characters do to hide her madness, like by denial or perceiving it as an ordinary behavior.

Works Cited

Barry, P. (2002). Beginning Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

The character named X in Gould’s X: A Fabulous Child’s Story shows that although his/her sex is undetermined, the culture or the circumstance maintains his/her disorder gender, because the circumstance contains “full of rules for boys and girls, and there were no rules for Xes” (Gould, p. 12). It creates discrimination for him/her, because the circumstance cannot decide whether it is a male or female and the circumstance just provide public service (e.g. bathroom) just boys and girl, so that he/she needs to use the principal’s bathroom “because it wasn’t mark anything except BATHROOM” (Gould, p. 12).

Furthermore, the inconvenient feeling of being female of Brite’s Enough Rope main character also shows that there is a distinction between sex and gender. Different with the former case, here the main character builds the transformation of her gender by herself by stating that “I’ve [the main character] considered myself a gay man that happens to have been born in a female body” (Brite, p. 18). Her preference to be considered as male is quite enigmatic, because although she wants to be recognized as male, she indeed having sex with male, not with a woman. So, the character’s desire to love man is normal, but the psychological desire which makes her want to be a male is abnormal.

The role of gender in human relationship is also displayed in the relationship between Nat and Sammy in Joyce’s Pinkland. Even though physically they are never met for six months, Sammy feels like having emotional ties with Nat. But the freedom to choose what sex is the player on the Pinkland (the electronic mating game) shows that the sex of the player is not so important.

To conclude, the consciousness of gender and sex in human being creates a separation between it. Thus, it is affecting to the social law and habit, like the presence of notion that the boy is great in athletics, although at the real life, the girl can get better scores on it. Also, it makes the emerging of the neutral disturb the society. Like in the first work, when there is a neutral child, the parents of other children try to rid the children from it.

Works Cited

Brite, P. Enough Rope.
Gould, L. X: A Fabulous Child’s Story.
Moi, T. (1898). The Feminist Reader. New York: Basil Blackwell.