Essay tentang Sastra Minoritas

Oya, sudah lama aku tidak berbagi tentang tugas-tugas anak sastra Inggris. Well, di postingan kali ini aku bakalan sharing salah satu essay di kelas Minority Literature beberapa semester yang lalu. Jadi untuk kelas ini, biasanya tes memang berupa paper. Tapi untuk problem statementnya memang sudah ditentukan dari dosen, tidak seperti paper pada umumnya yang biasanya problem statement kita sendiri yang menentukan. So, ini adalah contoj pertanyaan essay yang diberikan dosen setelah kita selesai membaca novel The Woman Warrior.

Find and explain the example illustration related to Identity Plot by Amy Hungerfold: The character is at odd with the minority group of which he or she is part, as well as with majority group he or she is part” in the novel entitled The Woman Warrior.

Answer:

 In the first chapter of The Woman Warrior I find the story from Maxine’s mother about her aunt in China. In this chapter Maxine indirectly delivers not only the story of her aunt but also the Chinese culture regarded to woman told by her mother. Maxine as the first generation of Chinese in America feels curious about her identity. On the one hand, her mother told her about Chinese culture and story about her aunt but the story happened at China. In fact, Maxine lived in America. On the other hand, she never knows about how china looks like and what Chinese cultures are. She has to find herself in America the place where there are so many immigrants from around the world. She was told stories about Chinese culture but in the real life she lives in the world that Chinese was the minority group and has small chance to develop their own culture.

As a member of minority group, Maxine had to negotiate between her mother’s cultural values. Moreover, as the second generation she should be able to adapt the country’s cultural values. As what she mentioned on her novel

The emigrants confused the gods by diverting their curses, misleading them with crooked streets and false names. They must try to confuse their offspring as well, who, I suppose. Threaten them in similar ways-always trying to get things straight, always trying to name the unspeakable. The Chinese I know hide their names: sojourners take new names when their lives change and guard their real names with silence. (taken from No Name Woman)

Based on that paragraph we can see that Maxine as a Chinese American confused why Chinese had to change their name. However, if we take a red line between changing a name and silence, there is a relation on those two. In this book, Maxine also tells us that in Chinese tradition, people need to keep silence in order to keep their good image. There would be a negative effect if people knew about the bad experience and notorious story of Chinese people in their home country. This is also what made Maxine’s mother asked her not to tell her father that her mother told about her aunt. This is because her father wanted to burry this story and started a new life in America. He was afraid if people knew that story it would give bad impacts to his family.

The other example with the same idea of silence is about Maxine’s friend who always keep silence in her class. Her friend was afraid that people know about her father who is a drinker and gambler. She thought that if people know about her father she would be deported from school. 

Maxine as a Chinese American woman found herself difficult in adapting the culture in America. America which is dominated by White Anglo men, gives a little space for her to develop herself. This is not only because she is a Chinese but also she is a woman. Facing the discrimination toward her society, she also mentioned the story how Chinese has a legendary woman warrior known as FaMulan. But here, I do not concern on that story but more focus on the Maxine life in the Woman Warrior. As she mentioned that it is hard for her to get a good job. Even when she was at school, there is no guarantee of appreciation whether she got good or bad score.

In her place (America) she feels wrong or odd because of how the society treat her. Then she wrote the White Tiger that tells about a woman warrior from China named FaMulan. In this case, she sees that Chinese culture has a woman warrior and woman has power and ability to become a knight. Fa Mulan which is told to show the woman power role in China, is actually the weakness of woman role in China if we really understand the story. Even though FaMulan is a woman warrior, when she became a warrior she acted and pretend that she was a man. She wore a knight armed uniform when she was at the battle. It is indeed she is a strong woman but what people know is that she is a man. If Chinese people also treat woman equal as man, why FaMulan has to pretend to be a man. It shows that even in Chine woman also has less dominant role in the society.

Maxine’s mother who is actually a doctor (Shaman) in China cannot become a doctor when she is in America. Using many herbs to cure people in China does not help in America. People in America were not common with woman who has ability more than man. It made her mother only becomes a housewife after living in America. Those story shows that Maxine even in America still confused about her identity. She only knows Chinese culture from the story of her mother, in the other hand she is uncommon with the society in America which is different with the story of her mother.

In the next example, Maxine shows how her mother gives or in this case “forces” ghost druggist to do what normally Chinese druggist do to their customers by giving candy along with their drugs. It is actually a tradition of Chinese people that shows their hospitality to other people. In this narration Maxine also shows the Chinese tradition towards superstition. As stated in the chapter “A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe”, her mother believes that the druggist who is wrong bringing a sick medicine to her house brings bad curse and it should be change with sweetness which will be get by giving candy. That is what Maxine’s mother reason to ask Maxine to go to the drugstore and ask her to ask candy from the druggist.

Maxine does not believe such a superstition. Actually she has said to her mother that there is no such curse as what she said only because of wrong druggist. She also adds that by asking candy to a druggist in the drugstore makes her become a beggar but her mother still insists her to go to the drugstore. It shows that Maxine herself feels odd with the tradition of her mother which is actually a tradition from her group as Chinese.

Based on above examples, I can conclude that The Woman Warrior is a story which shows the readers how Maxine as I in the novel adapts herself as the first generations of Chinese American who also looks for her identity whether she wants to know her original traditions (China) or the new tradition where she lives as American. In adapting her situation, Maxine does what her mother told to her. However sometimes she has the opposite argument but her mother has stronger reason. She also tried herself so hard to adapt with the society in her environment by learning English as we know that Chinese language is so different from English. Moreover, she tried to speak louder than the other Chinese girl which is well-known as very soft voice. However, the soft voice of Chinese girl is to show what Chinese American feminine is.