NEGOTIATING IDENTITY IN THE NOVEL OF EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU
An Undergraduate Thesis Submitted to Faculty of Adab and Humanities In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Strata One (S1)
By Jeannita Kirana NIM. 1113026000065
ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF ADAB AND HUMANITIES STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH JAKARTA 2018
ABSTRACT
Jeannita Kirana, Negotiating Identity in the Novel of Everything I Never Told You. An undergraduate thesis: English Letters Department, Faculty of Adab and Humanities, State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, 2018.
The aim of this research is to reveal that the efforts of James to perform his identity as a truly American are inseparable from domination strategy and negotiation strategy. The research uses qualitative method with descriptive analysis. It is supported by identity concept of Stuart Hall particularly on domination strategy and negotiation strategy. James dominates and negotiates his identity in order be a totally American. He prefers to consider himself as an American since there is a tough history of Chinese in that country. Chinese Americans who are in the minority group tend to face higher levels of social discrimination and lack of belonging. Therefore, James does domination strategy by denying his family background, adopting American culture, marrying with American woman, speaking fluent English, becoming a professor of the most iconic American subject which is Cowboy, and forcing his children to act like Americans. In addition, he also does some negotiation strategy by having an affair with Chinese girl and eating Chinese food. He craves for the sense of belonging since his physical appearance does not support.
Keywords: Novel Analysis, Identity, Domination Strategy, Negotiation Strategy, Immigrant, Chinese American.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious and Most Merciful.
First of all, the writer wants to express gratitude to God the Almighty who gives her healthiness and His love so that the writer can finish this thesis. Surely, without Allah SWT blessings, it would be impossible to have the opportunity to finish the paper. May the peace and blessing of Allah SWT be upon our beloved
Prophet Muhammad SAW, his families, companions, and all of his followers.
This thesis presented as a partial fulfillment of the requirement for Strata One
Degree in English Letters Department of Adab and Humanities Faculty at State
Islamic University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. Next, the writer would like to say thanks to her family, especially her beloved parents, Mr. Gandang Suryana and Mrs. Widyaningsih who support her mentally and financially to do the study in campus and finish her thesis.
The writer would like to gives appreciation and huge gratitude to her advisor,
Ms. Ida Rosida, M.Hum. for her great patients and times in guiding the writer to finish this thesis. Without her contributions, advices and suggestions the thesis could not be completed.
The writer also would like to present her trustworthy gratitude to these following people:
1. Prof. Dr. Sukron Kamil, M.Ag., the Dean of Adab and Humanities Faculty.
2. Drs. Saefudin, M.Pd., the Head of English Letters Department.
3. Elve Oktafiyani, M.Hum., the Secretary of English Letters Department.
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4. Elve Oktafiyani, M.Hum., and Maria Ulfa, M.A., M.Hum., as the examiners
of this thesis.
5. All the lecturers of English Letters Department who have shared their
valuable knowledge and taught the writer during her study in UIN Syarif
Hidayatullah Jakarta.
6. All the writer’s friends in English Letters Department, Institut, Senior High
School Baes, and all the best friends in “Dunia Event” who gives her support
and prayer to finish the thesis.
7. All the people who help the writer to finish this thesis that cannot be
mentioned one by one.
May Allah SWT blesses and gives the greatest award for them all.
Jakarta, March 28h 2018
Jeannita Kirana
vi TABLE OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT ...... i
APPROVEMENT ...... ii
LEGALIZATION ...... iii
DECLARATION ...... iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... v
TABLE OF CONTENT ...... vii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ...... 1
A. Background of the Study ...... 1
B. Focus of the Study ...... 4
C. Research Question ...... 5
D. The Significance of the Research ...... 5
E. The Research Methodology ...... 5
1. The Objective of the Research ...... 6
2. The Method of Study ...... 6
3. Data Analysis ...... 6
4. Research Instrument ...... 6
5. The Unit Analysis ...... 7
6. Time and Place ...... 7
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...... 8
A. Previous Research ...... 8
B. Character and Characterization ...... 12
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C. Identity Concept of Stuart Hall ...... 13
CHAPTER III RESEARCH FINDINGS ...... 17
A. Character Analysis ...... 17
B. Domination Strategy...... 25
C. Negotiation Strategy ...... 37
CHAPTER IV CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ...... 41
A. Conclusions ...... 41
B. Suggestions ...... 42
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 43
viii CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Chinese migration to the United States of America (USA) begins since the late 1800s. Based on U.S. Census Bureau 2012, Chinese is the largest Asian ethnic group in the country. The population itself saw rapid increase from 237.000 people in 1960 to four million people in 2010 (Lee and Zhou 10). This immigrants population includes foreign-born (first generation) and U.S-born (second generation). On the one hand, Chinese identity of the second generation who were born and raised in the USA can be recognised by their physical characteristics.
Although, from their own experiences this Chinese identity that cling into them somehow is not an advantage. Chinese Americans stated that people expect them to be an expert in Chinese culture just because they looked Chinese. But in fact,
American upbringing makes many Chinese Americans often lack of Chinese cultural competency such as language (Maruyama, Weber, and Stronza 8).
According to Lew and Wong (2005) report in the book entitles Seductions of place: Geographical Perspectives on Globalization and Touristed Lanscapes,
Chinese that live abroad often question their identity and values. It happens because of their physical appearance and culture illustrated minority in the country of settlement (Maruyama, Weber, and Stronza 3). Moreover, being minority as Asian
Americans life in the USA is pretty harsh and challenging. They burdened by a lot of prejudices, big differences of culture and social, and received unfavorable
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treatment. However, if they become more similar to the majority culture, it will be easier for them to make a living in the country (Matas 304).
This Chinese identity issue appears in some novels, one of them is Everything
I Never Told You by Celeste Ng1. It is her first novel to be published and won several achievements, they are New York Times Notable Book of 2014, the winner of the
Massachusetts Book Award, Amazon Best Book of 2014, the ALA’s Alex Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, the Medici Book Club Prize, and named as best book of the year by over a dozen publications. Not only that,
Everything I Never Told You novel was a finalist for several awards, including the
Ohioana Award, the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award, and the VCU
Cabell First Novelist Award (About Celeste).
Everything I Never Told You novel sets James Lee as a Chinese descent man who was born and lived in America. His parents come to California as Chinese immigrants. At six years old, James and his family move to Iowa because James’ father gets a new job in a small boarding school in Iowa. Not only that, the school offers a job in the kitchen for James’s mother, also there is a special policy that allows children of the employees to enter the school for free if they pass the entrance test. Then, James pass the test and starts his days in American school. Usually, he gets mistreat by his American fellow students because of his cultural background
1 Celeste Ng is a Chinese-American writer. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,United States of America (USA). Her parents moved from Hong Kong, China to USA in the late 60’s. She grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Ohio.Celeste attended Harvard University and later she got her degree on Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from the Univesity of Michigan. Most of Celeste’s works discuss about herself and her friends’ experiences of racism. Celeste wrote a lot of short stories and essays. Her works have been published in New York Times, One Story, The Guardian, TriQuarterly, Five Chapters, Gulf Coast, the Bellevue Literary Review, The Millions, The Huffington Post and other platforms.
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as a Chinese descent. He is ashamed of his typical Chinese appearance because the kid in his class bully him. He feels lonely and goes through different phases of his life with a desperate attempt to change his background in order to fit in his society.
So many changes happen to James identity after he gets into school and being a bullied object by his friends. He decides not to speak Chinese anymore, never mention his family in front of others, and set himself a curriculum of studying
American culture.
Furthermore, James becomes a professor of The Cowboy in American Culture in Harvard University, where he met and fall in love with Marilyn Walker, an
American young woman that happened to be his student. James feels he belongs in
America whenever he is with Marilyn. Not so long after being a lover and knowing that Marilyn is pregnant, James marries her. At that time, interracial marriages are not allowed in many states. Also, Marilyn’s mother does not approve the marriage of her daughter. From the marriage, James and Marilyn have three Asian-American children. They are Nathan, Lydia, and Hannah. However, James and his family go through the hard times. One day in May 3rd 1977, Lydia is missing and soon the cops find her death body in the lake near the house. The investigation conducted by the cops proof that it is a suicide. After Lydia’s funeral, James becomes sad and depressed. While James and his family are in sorrow because of Lydia’s death, he is cheating on Marilyn. He sleeps with his Chinese assistant named Louisa. For
James, the only place where he can stop thinking about his grief and his problem with the family is on Louisa’s bed.
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Several months later, Marilyn finds out about the affair of James and Louisa.
She has a great fight with James and sends him out of the house. Feeling disrespectful, James goes out and drives miles away from Ohio. On the way to nowhere, James realizes that he is wrong after all and drives back to home. When
James arrives at home, he tries to make up with Marilyn. James promises to keep his honesty and stick to the family. Then, she understands and forgives him. All his life, James wants to deny everything that closely relates him to his cultural background and changes his identity. James never speaks Chinese anymore, never mentions his family background, be a professor of American lesson, marries an
American girl and forces his Chinese-American children to fit in their surrounding in order to be like an American. The fact that James appearance is not like an
American at all encourages him to forges new identity and negotiates his Chinese identity with American culture. He makes effort, but still his Chinese physical appearance does not support him. He could never escape from the fact that he is only a Chinese man who was born in American soil.
Based on the explanation above, the writer would like to reveal the identity of James Lee character as Chinese American particularly on domination strategy and negotiation strategy. The writer will use the identity concept by Stuart Hall as he discussed these two points in his theory.
B. Focus of the Study
In this research, the writer analyzes the novel Everything I Never Told You because it brings up an issue about identity. The character, James Lee, in this novel
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is a Chinese descent man that live and born in the United States and face conflicts related to identity.
C. Research Question
According to background of study and focus of the research that has been described above, the questions for this research is:
1. How does the novel Everything I Never Told You describe James Lee
character?
2. How does James Lee strategies in performing his identity as Chinese
American in the novel Everything I Never Told You?
D. The Significance of the Research
The research is one of the regulations to finishing undergraduate study of
English Literature, Faculty of Humanities of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic
University. The writer hopes that this thesis will be useful to anybody who wants to do the similar study.
E. The Research Methodology
This research methodology includes some important aspects, such as the objective of the research, the method of study, data analysis, research instrument, unit analysis, and time and place.
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1. The Objective of the Research
The followings are the aims of the research to discover how James Lee character as Chinese American is described in Everything I Never Told You novel.
It also to reveal domination strategy and negotiation strategy of James Lee in
Everything I Never Told You novel through identity concept of Stuart Hall.
2. The Method of Study
The method of this research is descriptive qualitative method. The research uses descriptive analysis because it is the characteristic of qualitative. It means the data that has been collected is in the form of words and pictures not numbers
(Sugiyono 9). The writer analysis the unit of analysis by using every reference to the study. The writer also tries to answer the research questions by analyzing the novel and quoting some texts to support the arguments.
3. Data Analysis
The collected data is analyzed using the related theories or approaches, such as identity theory by Stuart Hall. The writer uses the theory to reveal domination strategy and negotiation strategy that the character in the novel dealt with.
4. Research Instrument
The instrument used here is the writer herself as the subject of the study by reading Everything I Never Told You novel very carefully and deeply. So that the writer can understand the story, identifying the character from the novel, and making notes in order to help the writer in analyzing the data.
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5. The Unit Analysis
The unit that will be analyzed in this research is the novel Everything I Never
Told You, written by Celeste Ng, published by The Penguin Group in the year 2014 in New York.
6. Time and Place
This research is accomplished in academic year of 2017/2018 at eighth semester in State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Previous Research
The writer found three researches related to discussion of the novel and analysis of identity concept. There is one previous research that examines the same novel and two other relates to writer’s research theory. The first previous research entitles A Brief Analysis of Marginalization in Everything I Never Told You which is conducted by Chen Yan-Qiong at Leshan Normal University in 2017. Second previous research is a journal entitles The Identity Construction of Najwa As A
Jordanian Muslim Woman in The Novel Willow Trees Don’t Weep which is conducted by Ida Rosida and Molalita in 2016 at State Islamic University Syarif
Hidayatullah Jakarta. The third previous research is Negosiasi Irie Jones di Tengah
Keberagaman Masyarakat London Pasca Perang Dunia II dalam Novel White
Teeth Karya Zadie Smith which is conducted by Ervin Suryaningsih in 2012 at
University of Indonesia.
The first research is managed by Chen Yan-Qiong at Leshan Normal
University, China in August 2017. The title of the journal is A Brief Analysis of
Marginalization in Everything I Never Told You. This journal uses qualitative method with descriptive analysis. It focuses on how the story exposing marginal condition which happens to the characters because of ethnical identity, gender, and sexual orientation. Here, the journal uses marginal man, marginalization and marginal culture theory which derive by Georg Simmel. The result of the journal
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explains that the setting of story is marked with strong marginal culture and each characters is marginal man who are experiencing marginal condition in family, social life, and also in themselves. The term marginal man means someone whose position between two cultures and societies which are never mix together.
Meanwhile, marginalization can be found in marginal man’s emotion and mentality as someone feels insecurity, contradictory feeling, extreme self-consciousness and long-term nervousness Then, those marginal man and marginalization concept illustrate in marginal culture. James is considered as marginal man because he feels different and outcast from his surroundings since he is a Chinese American. Not only him, his wife, Marilyn also a marginal man because she enters medical school which is dominated by men.
On the other hand, the efforts of James and Marilyn to stop being marginal man are reflected on their three children. They pressure them with their own desire.
James wants his child to be popular and has many friends. Meanwhile, Marilyn wants her child to study science and be a doctor in the future. They only give pressure to their favorite one, Lydia, since she has both Chinese and American look.
Her eyes are slit but they are blue and she has black hair like most of Chinese. At the end, the pressure cause Lydia’s death. Not only that, their other children, Nath and Hannah are marginalized by their parents in their family because the parents most likely to give attention to Lydia. Then, Lees neighbor, Jack and his mother named Janet Woolf feel marginalized too in some aspects. Jack is a gay who has hidden love with Nath and Janet is a single mother who is being gossiped by the
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neighborhood. The research shows that there are marginalization issues in race, occupation, gender, marriage condition and sex orientation in the novel.
The second previous research is a journal entitles The Identity Construction of Najwa As A Jordanian Muslim Woman in The Novel Willow Trees Don’t Weep.
In their journal, Rosida and Molalita explains the identity construction of a
Jordanian muslim woman called Najwa. She lives in a strong patriarchal culture.
The research uses qualitative method with descriptive analysis. Also, Rosida and
Molalita use identity concept by Stuart Hall and patriarchal culture concept to support their research. The result of this research shows that there are identity negotiation and articulation process in the effort of Najwa when she is searching her father to several countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and England. Najwa tries to change her appearance and behavior when visiting to another country because she wants to feel accepted by the society. Finally, she articulates herself as a non-believer since she is a muslim but does not practice the rituals of worship in
Islam. This research emphasizes, the identity constructions of Najwa include the negotiation and articulation process that is influenced by both self and the environment.
The third previous research by Ervin Suryaningsih entitles Negosiasi Irie
Jones Di Tengah Keberagaman Masyarakat London Pasca Perang Dunia II Dalam
Novel White Teeth Karya Zadie Smith at University of Indonesia in 2012 focuses on how main character named Irie Jones in the White Teeth novel negotiates her identity while she stays in London. The writer uses identity theory by Stuart Hall, multicultural feminist perspectives, gender, and nation theories to support the
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thesis. The result of this thesis explains that Irie faces various differences and being positioned as stranger by people. Therefore, she negotiates her past and present in order to show her identity in heterogeneous London society.
By the descriptions above, the three previous research has similarity to the writer thesis. They are use identity concept to analyze the data. Rosida, Molalita and Ervin use identity concept from Stuart Hall to explain immigrants’ strategy.
The researches show that the main characters constructs their identity by using negotiation strategy. Not only that, in the journal of Ida and Molalita, there is also articulation process as the main character changes her physical appearance and habits in the new environment. This is similar to what happens with James Lee character in Everything I Never Told You Novel. He tries to negotiates his Chinese identity with American culture in order to feel belong in his surroundings.
Moreover, although Chen Yan-Qiong analyzes the same novel but the thesis uses different theories which are marginal man, marginalization and marginal culture.
Those three previous researches finally help the writer to understand the concepts of identity. It shows that identity is not static and always in process of becoming.
Not only that, they also give broaden knowledge about identity theory which derives by Stuart Hall.
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B. Character and Characterization
Character is one of the essential aspects in literary works such as novel, drama, short story, and poems. Robert DiYanni explicates that character is imaginary people that writers create. Frequently, readers of literary works consider the characters in the story they read are alive. It represents that the fictional characters are written well by the author. A well written characters even stay on readers’ memory as the story end. Moreover, readers acknowledge that characters have some sort of life like human being. When readers admit that the characters have the equal reality and life like human, they will start to live in the story and characters too. The readers may come to the point which their own life are affected by the characters in the story (DiYanni 54).
Furthermore, the approach of characters in literary works have the same concern when someone wants to approach people. There are several ways for approaching characters; knowing how we are to take them, for what we are to make of them, and seeing how they may reflect our own experience. Not only that, we must observe their actions, listen to what they say, how they say it, notice how they relate to other characters, and how other characters respond to them, especially to what they say about each other. Meanwhile, if we want to analyze the characters’ relationship we have to relate one act, one speech, one physical detail to another until we understand the character (54).
In addition, to make inferences about characters, we look for connections, for links and clues to their function and significance in the story. The character itself lives in literary works may be categorized as major or minor and static or dynamic
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(54). Usually the status of a character as a major or a minor is very clear. The major character is sometimes called a protagonist whose conflict with an antagonist may spark the story's conflict. Supporting the major character are one or more secondary or minor characters whose function is partly to illuminate the major characters.
Minor characters are often static, they remain the same from the beginning to the end. On the other hand, dynamic characters exhibit some kind of change the attitude and behavior as the story developed (55).
There are some methods of DiYanni to reveal character in a literary works, they are narrative summary without judgement, narrative description with implied or explicit judgement, surface details of dress and physical appearance, characters’ actions or what they do, character’s speech or what they say and how they say it, and characters’ consciousness or what they think and feel (56). Meanwhile,
DiYanni also explains that characterization is the means by which writers present and reveal characters. It also can be interpreted as the effort of the author to bring the readers into the story and catch the personalities of the characters (55).
C. Identity Concept of Stuart Hall
Identity constitutes characteristic, social relation, role, and social group that determines who the person is (Oyserman et al. 69). It distinguishes us from other people and plays an important role in our life.
"Though they seem to invoke an origin in a historical past with which they continue to correspond, actually identities are about questions of using the resources of history, language, and culture in the process of becoming rather than being: not 'who we are' or 'where we came from', so much as what we might become, how we have been represented and how that bears on how we might represent ourselves" (Hall and Gay 4).
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Identity represents ourselves through history, language, and culture. Not only that, the way a person chooses to show what he or she really like can be seen from identity. Meanwhile, people might change their identity because each human experiences the struggle to solve identity problem regarding differences in the world we live in. They are, nationality, ethnicity, community, social class, and gender (Rosida and Molalita 13-14). Hall argues that identity has become a matter of "becoming as well as being". Rather than being fixed, identity is instead fluid, constantly subject to the continuous play of history, power, and discourse.
“Far from being eternally fixed in some essentialist past (identities) are subject to the continuous ‘play’ of history, culture, and power. Far from being grounded in a mere ‘recovery’ of the past, which is waiting to be found, and which when found, will secure our sense of ourselves into eternity, identities are the names we give to the different ways we are positioned by, and position ourselves within, the narratives of the past” (Hall 225).
From text above, Hall asserts that identity is not something rigid with fixed characteristics that do not change over time. Identity is something that is constantly being created within the framework of history and culture, something which is positioned at a place and time, based on the context. The searching of identity of a person is always associated with how the person is positioning and being positioned. In addition, it illustrates identity processes as a positioning at the moments which occurred in the past and that represent in many ways. In addition, identity is an ever changing process of positioning ourselves and being positioned by other people.
So that, it is not impossible if there is someone who changes his or her identity in order to feel belong in certain ethnicity, religion, or even gender. Identity builds on the connection of individual, people, and environment “identity is formed in the
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“interaction” between self and society” (Hall 597). In other words, our identity is influenced by our social context. Identity is an aspect that never stops its forming and is not only exist but also something that continuously becoming. It is not a firm thing with a stable characteristic, but it changes from time to time. Identity is clearly stated by Hall as a flexible thing. So that, individual can go through identity transform along with his life (Hall and Gay 4).
Furthermore, the case of immigrants can be analyzed by negotiation strategies concept. Living in a new country not only affects cultural behaviors but also calls one’s identity into question. “Most studies of immigrant identity approach the question from the standpoint of ethnicity, asking whether immigrants identify more with their country of origin or with their host nation” (Killian and Johnson 60).
Immigrants force to live in the original culture and the new one. The clash between those two cultures trigger identity problems. Therefore, a person needs strategy to confront with such circumstances. According to Hall in his book there are several strategies to solve identity problems;
The first hypothetical position is that of the dominant-hegemonic position. When the viewer takes the connoted meaning [...] we might say that the viewer is operating inside the dominant code. [...] The second position we would identify is that of the negotiated code or position. [...] Decoding within the negotiated version contains a mixture of adaptive and oppositional elements. [...] Finally, it is possible for a viewer perfectly to understand both the literal and the connotative inflection given by a discourse but to decode the message in a globally contrary way. [...] He/she is operating with what we must call an oppositional code. One of the most significant political moments [...] is the point when events which are normally signified and decoded in a negotiated way begin to be given an oppositional reading (Hall et. al. 101- 103).
Hall enlightened three social positioning of audiences since they interpret the meaning of media texts. Those positions become strategies to solve identity
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problem. The strategies include domination, negotiation, and opposition (Chandler
192). Domination strategy determines to approve one of the cultures as his or her identity and leave the original culture. Then, negotiation strategy means a person tries to adapt between the original culture and new culture. He or she does not accept the new culture as a whole but he or she also does not leave the original culture as well. Third, opposition strategy means a person claimed to reject the new culture and keep the original culture as his or her identity.
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH FINDINGS
In this chapter, the writer obtains and analyzes the research data to answer research questions about character and characterization theory by Robert DiYanni and also identity concept of Stuart Hall. This research focuses on characteristics of
James Lee and the identity issue specifically on domination strategy and negotiation strategy of James as Chinese American in Everything I Never Told You novel by
Celeste Ng. This research is divided into three discussions; first is how James Lee as Chinese American is portrayed in Everything I Never Told You novel, the second is how James dominates his identity, and the third is how James negotiates his identity.
A. Character Analysis
Everything I Never Told You is a novel about a Chinese American man named
James Lee. His parents are Chinese illegal immigrants that settled in the United
States of America. Since James and his Chinese family live in American majority environment, they appear as different ones. Character analysis in this chapter will discuss about James’ personality traits. While living in America, James shows several characteristics they are, Asian American appearance, smart, prejudice, outcast, discriminated, and hard worker person.
In this chapter, the researcher uses Robert DiYanni’s method to analyze
James Lee characteristics. The method of characterization is narrative description.
Therefore, the researcher examines the dialogues and look for the evidences to
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analyze the characteristics of James in Everything I Never Told You novel by
Celeste Ng.
First, the novel shows the characteristic of James Lee as Chinese American man. As a Chinese descent he has typical Chinese appearance that cling to him. It can be seen in the text below.
The man setting his papers on the lectern was youngish and thin, but that was as close as he came to what they all had pictured. An Oriental, she thought. She had never seen one in person before. He was dressed like an undertaker: black suit, black tie knotted tight, shirt so white it glowed. His hair was slicked back and parted in a perfect pale line, but one wisp stood straight up in back, like an Indian chief’s feather. […] This was their professor? This little man, five foot nine at most and not even American, was going to teach them about cowboys? (Ng 31-32).
The text illustrates James as a Chinese American. He looks very young and thin. He is not tall like American, his height only five foot nine. In quotation above,
James is described like a person who is taking care of the funeral when he teaches his students in the class. His appearance is very formal, James put on white shirt with black blazer and black tie. Then, his hair is parted in perfect line and slicked back. He looks a lot like Asian in common. There are physical appearance stereotypes of the Asian such as short, slanted eyes, overbite, thick-rimmed eyeglasses, and yellow skin color (Lee and Thai 242-243).
The second characteristic of James is smart. It means he is an educated person or someone with a lot of knowledge. This knowledge may come from education or experience. In Merriam Webster Dictionary, smart defines as knowledgeable and mentally alert or bright. In the novel, James is described as a smart person and his hobby is reading. It can be seen when he can pass the entrance test to be a student in Lloyd Academy. As it shows in the evidence below.
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James, though, had known all the answer. He had read every newspaper he could get his hands on; he had read all the books his father had bought, a nickel a bag, at library book sales. One hundred sixty feet, he wrote. 1492. Automobile. The circle. He finished the test and set the pencil in the slot at the top of the desk. […] "You’re the first Oriental boy to attend Lloyd,” his father reminded him. “Set a good example” (Ng 42-43).
The text above explains that James likes to read every books and newspaper from everywhere. With the knowledge he has, he passes the entrance test to be a student in Lloyd Academy. He can answer all of the question easily and correctly.
Then, he gets the scholarship and has no tuition to pay. Not only that, his father also tells him that he is the only one Asian student in Lloyd, since they are the only
Chinese live in the neighborhood. Other quotation also shows James is a smart person. He works as a professor in Harvard university.
A line of smudgy typing teeters slightly uphill: Serbia was one of the most powerful of the Baltic nations. He crosses out Baltic, writes Balkan, turns the page. Archduke France Ferdinand was assassinated by members of Black Ann. Franz, he thinks. Black Hand. Had these students ever opened their books? He pictures himself at the front of the lecture hall, pointer in hand, the map of Europe unfurled behind him. It’s an intro class, “America and the World Wars”; he doesn’t expect depth of knowledge or critical insight. Just a basic understanding of the facts, and one student who can spell Czechoslovakia correctly (Ng 7-8).
The text above illustrates that James works as a professor of American
History class in Harvard University. He is very disappointed with his students because most of them do not understand enough about history and do not like to read books like him. “A smart person comes up with more efficient ways of doing things and the benefit from this accrues not only to that person, but also to many other people who can enjoy the person’s ideas and technological innovations”
(Gans et.al 615).
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The other characteristic of James is prejudice. It reveals through James’s personality. Prejudice means when someone has an emotional reaction to another individual or group of individuals based on preconceived ideas about the individual or group. Usually this emotional reaction tends to be negative. This kind of characteristic of James is illustrated when James has a fight with his wife, Marilyn.
James feels that even though he already makes effort to be a true American, still his wife herself is considered him as someone different from the surrounding.
“I am disappointed.” Marilyn’s head snaps up. “I thought you were different.” What she means is: I thought you were better than other men. I thought you wanted better than that. But James, still thinking of Marilyn’s mother, hears something else. You got tired of different, didn’t you?” he says. “I’m too different. Your mother knew it right away. You think it’s such a good thing, standing out. But look at you. Just look at you (Ng 242).
From the quotation above, James describes as a prejudice person. It can be known when James and his wife has a fight. They quarrel after Marilyn knows that
James has an affair with his assistant named Louisa. James perspective about
Marilyn’s word creates prejudice. The definitions of being different from both
Marilyn and James are not same. What Marilyn means as “different” is she thinks that James’ better than any other men. Meanwhile, James thinks that “different” is something that relates to his race background as a Chinese. So, in this situation
James interprets “different” as something which has a negative meaning.
Not only that, other quotation also describes James as a prejudice person. He has a prejudice that if he needs help from Americans, they will not help him seriously. One day, Marilyn disappears but James does not come to the police to ask for help.
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He had already begun to suspect that they were not much interested in helping him, and deep inside, where his old fears lay coiled, he thought he understood their reasoning: it had only been a matter of time before a wife like Marilyn left a husband like him (Ng 140).
The quotation above tells that James is a prejudice person. When Marilyn leaves the house and her small family, James never report it to the police.
He believes that the police will not take any serious action to get him to find
Marilyn. So, it will be just a waste of time. Not only that, James assumes the police thinks that it is so natural if an American wife leaves non-American husband.
The next characteristic of James is an outcast. It means that someone is ostracized or refused by the society (Al-Hiba and Tengse 84). This characterization shows through his feeling as a Chinese descent man who was born and raised in
America but does not belong to anywhere. All his life, he feels uncomfortable living in the United States which is the people are very different from him.
Coming to her made him feel perfectly welcomed, perfectly at home, as he had never in his life felt before. He had never felt he belonged here, even though he’d been born on American soil, even though he had never set foot anywhere else (Ng 40).
The text above explains that James always feels like an outcast. He was born and raised in America but he feels so lonely and not belong to anywhere. He pretends to be American but still people consider him as a Chinese. The other outcast characteristic happens when James is in his school, Lloyd. James is the only
Chinese who studies there. He feels very uncomfortable to be in American majority environment. It can be seen in the following text below.
In every class, every day that first week, the other students studied him: where had he come from, this boy? He had a bookbag, a Lloyd uniform. Yet he didn’t live at the school like the rest of them; he looked like no one they’d ever seen (Ng 43).
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The text describes the characteristic of James as an outcast. Everytime he goes to school, he feels like everyone watches and curious about him because he is a
Chinese descent who lives in America. Even though he already changes his appearance to be like an American student so no one notices him, he still feels very different from the others student. “People who feel like an “other” will feel different and separated from the essential aspects of a group. And if they do not experience belonging in a group, they may consequently be excluded. People who are different may take on the status of outsider or outcast. They are not truly embraced as part of the team, and they are excluded from opportunities” (Moscon and Pollack 2).
Then, James is also described as a bullied person. Bullied is when a person goes through redundant, monotonous, destructive, and power based behavior by another person. Bullying itself include verbal and physical assaults, insulting behavior, threats, jokes or language, facial expressions, mockery and criticizing
(Jan and Husain 43). The bullying act against James shows that become an Asian is unfavorable in America at that time. Bullying illustrates in the novel as one of
James’ friend teases his Chinese physical appearance in the classroom.
That first morning, James slid into his seat and the girl next to him asked, “What’s wrong with your eyes?” It wasn’t until he heard the horror in the teacher’s voice—“Shirley Byron!”—that he realized he was supposed to be embarrassed; the next time it happened, he had learned his lesson and turned red right away (Ng 43).
The quotation above tells, when James starts his first day of the school, his classmate named Shirley Byron explicitly mocks him. She asks James about his eyes shape and the teacher immediately rebukes her. Another quotation also describes bullying against James. It happens when James is in the P.E class or sport
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class at Lloyd. His friends tease him by hiding his clothes so he comes late to the class.
Even after almost thirty years, he still remembered P.E. class at Lloyd, how once he’d gotten tangled up in his shirt and emerged to find his pants missing from the bench. Everyone else had already dressed and was stuffing gym uniforms into lockers and lacing shoes. He had tiptoed back into the gym, hiding his bare thighs and calves behind his knapsack, looking for Mr. Childs, the P.E. teacher. By then the bell had rung and the locker room had emptied. After ten minutes of searching, mortified at being in his undershorts in front of Mr. Childs, his pants were revealed under a sink, legs tied around the U- bend, dust bunnies caught in the cuffs. “Probably just got mixed up in someone else’s things,” Mr. Childs had said. “Hurry along to class now, Lee. You’re tardy.” James had known it was no accident (Ng 91).
The text explains that James cannot find his pants when he wants to change his uniform into P.E clothes. It is so hard to look for the pants so he comes late to the class. His teacher even said that he is lazy and it is just a made up excuse for him to not come to the class. Meanwhile, James knows his American friends hide his pants intentionally. In the school, James never has a close friend. It is like everyone knows he will never fit in. In addition, a research found that children who are bullied may develop psychological problem such as separation, loneliness, anxiety, social phobia, depression, suicidal ideation, fear of going to school, and low self-esteem (Abdulsalam, Al Daihani, and Francis 2).
Then, James characteristic is hard worker. It means a person who puts a lot of effort into a work to achieve his or her life goals (Asumeng and Assan 23). In the novel, James has a goal to become an American. He behaves like an American and does American tradition in his daily life. It can be seen from how James treats his children especially Lydia. James wants Lydia to become a popular girl and accepted by the society since she has American physical appearance, the blue eyes.
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Every time you look at this, she heard her father say, just remember what really matters. Being sociable. Being popular. Blending in. You don’t feel like smiling? Then what? Force yourself to smile […] James liked to buy Lydia dresses off the mannequin; he was sure it meant everyone was wearing them. The latest thing, right? Every girl needs a dress for a special occasion (Ng 260-264).
The quotation above expresses how James really wants Lydia to become a popular and sociable girl with a lot of friends. For James, having many friends is very important and an effective way to be accepted by American society. Lydia is her parents’ favorite child because he has both Chinese and American physical appearance at the same time. In the text above, James buy a necklace for Lydia, but actually she does not want it. She only pretends to fancy everything his father gives to her. Meanwhile, James always buys every latest trend of stuffs for Lydia. He hopes after buying all of those stuff for Lydia, she will be a fashionable girl and have more friends. James believes that Lydia will fit in American society since she has blue eyes which is one of typical American facial appearance. Actually, it is very hard for Lydia to fit in the society because her Chinese physical appearance does not support, people still see her as a Chinese
Furthermore, other quotation also explains James is a hard worker. He does not give up easily to chase his dream to be a professor of American history. He gets his Ph.D. degree and apply for jobs everywhere.
James was finishing his Ph.D. and waiting, still, to see if he would be taken on in the history department. There was an opening and he had applied, and Professor Carlson, the department head, had hinted he was by far the most accomplished in his class. Now and then, he would interview for positions elsewhere—in New Haven, in Providence—just in case (Ng 50).
The text above informs that James is a hard worker. He is just finished his study to gain Ph.D. degree. He takes American History as his subject and soon
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hopes to be a professor at Harvard University. While he waits for the jobs at
Harvard, he also applied for jobs in several places including New Haven and
Providence in America.
Based on the analysis above the researcher found that James Lee is depicted as a Chinese descent man who wants to fit in the American society and environment by cover up his identity. His characteristics that the researcher found are Asian
American, smart, outcast, prejudice, discriminated, and hard worker. Then, the characters of James are categorized as dynamic because he performs some changes in appearances and behaviors. Those characteristics of James displayed in the novel lead to domination strategy and negotiation strategy which will be analyzed more detail by researcher in the next sub chapter.
B. Domination Strategy
In this subchapter, the writer focuses on domination strategy of James to perform his identity as Chinese descent man who was born and raised in America.
According to Hall, identity is a construction that able to change and adjust based on the circumstances (Hall 222). Hall stated, the changing of identity relay on culture and social context where we live in. The fluidity of identity may lead to domination strategy. This strategy means a person tends to approve one of the cultures as his or her identity and leave the original culture (Hall et. al. 102). In order to become a truly American, James makes several attempts to achieve it by domination strategy.
First, James applies domination strategy when he denies his family background by never telling about his family to anyone else. He is afraid that
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anyone will mock or even make a joke about his family background just because his parents are Chinese immigrants and they are not a rich family. In America there is anti-Chinese sentiment because they consider as a threat to the society.
Americans views Asian as a threat to the society and call them the yellow peril. The term means because based on immigrant history, Americans believe Asian will take jobs from them. They do not treat Chinese well (Peterson and Bush 708). During the Gold Rush period in America, Chinese immigrants come to California to look for work opportunities. Then, they are welcomed in America as cheap laborers who later work on railroad construction (Austin and Shen 727). After the Gold Rush and railroad construction are completed, Chinese immigrants perceives as competitors for jobs opportunities and become the target of discrimination by white people in
America. They are afraid that Chinese will show up as superior since they are good workers (Wellborn 49). Therefore, James does not want anyone consider him as a part of Chinese immigrant and never mention about his family because he believes people will discriminate him. “Some people may choose racial violence as a means to let out their frustration over their lack of success in life in comparison with members of racial and ethnic minority groups” (Lee et al. 277).
“At Lloyd, everyone seemed to be descended from a pilgrim or a senator or a Rockefeller, but when they did family tree projects in class, he pretended to forget the assignment rather than draw his own complicated diagram. Don’t ask any questions, he prayed silently as the teacher marked a small red zero beside his name” (Ng 44).
The quotation above expresses that James denies his family background. At six years old, James attends a small boarding school named Lloyd Academy in Iowa for free after passing the entrance test. He is the only Asian that comes into that
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school. Meanwhile, his parents work there too, his father is a custodian and his mother is a lunch lady. When the teacher asks James to make a family tree, he pretends to forget not to do the task. Indeed, James finds embarrassed and does not want to tell the story about his family. He is ashamed about his family because his parents only work in menial jobs. Another quotation also shows that James is ashamed about his family background.
In his own schooldays, he’d been embarrassed to ask classmates to his house, afraid that they’d recognize his mother from the lunch line, or his father from mopping the hallway. They hadn’t had a yard, anyway (Ng 89).
The text above explains James does not want his friends to meet his own parents since they work in the school as custodian and lunch lady. Also, James never asks his friends to come over to his house. At that time in America, there are a lot of discrimination of Chinese immigrants who are in low social strata. Chinese as minority group members in America are discriminated against, have lower status, and less power than majority group members (Lee 5). On the other hand, those immigrants merely receive small salary from their jobs. So that, some children feel ashamed of their immigrant parents and their parents culture. They decide to build distance from it (qtd. Foner and Dreby 549). Similar to their parents, Asian
American children also face racism and discrimination in their social life.
Immigrants from other continents especially those whose physical features made them look different from American mainstream society, frequently discriminates by the dominating ethnicity. They consider in low social status in America and they are given work that is less paid (Matas 294).
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The second domination strategy of James is adopted American cultures. In order to strengthen his identity as an American, James follows American culture.
He learns about American cultures and habits by reading books and from his own experiences.
He set himself a curriculum of studying American culture—listening to the radio, reading comics, saving his pocket money for double features, learning the rules of the new board games—in case anyone ever said, Hey, didya hear Red Skelton yesterday? or Wanna play Monopoly? though no one ever did (Ng 44).
The text above describes that James decides to learn American cultures since he wants to feel belong in the society and become an American wholly. The text explains James study American culture as a preparation if anyone asks him about such American things like Red Skelton (a popular American variety show in from
1951 to 1971) or Monopoly (an American board game). Meanwhile, it is a common pattern that children of immigrants are more willing to adopt features of the culture of receiving country (Peltola 23). But in this case, it becomes very crucial for James to adopt American culture because he has mission that people must see him exactly like an American not a Chinese. Furthermore, instead of celebrating Chinese tradition, James celebrates American traditions such as Christmas and
Thanksgiving. The text below shows James celebrates Thanksgiving with his family.
“Instead, in James’s tiny kitchen, she roasted a chicken, cubed potatoes, peeled yams into a casserole dish the size of a steno pad: Thanksgiving dinner in miniature. James who had never cooked himself a meal, who subsisted on burgers from Charlie’s Kitchen and English muffins from the Hayes- Bickford, watched in awe (Ng 47).
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The quotation above explains that James and his family feasts Thanksgiving in their home which is an American tradition. Each year thanksgiving is held on fourth Thursday of November. It is an American way of celebrating harvest feast by eating dinner together as they give thanks for all the food they have (Bodden 6).
Commonly Christian celebrate Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, most Chinese people worship their ancestors. Their religion used to be a blend between Daoism,
Buddhism, Confucianism and “folk religion” (Boer 29). So, that is a negotiation strategy of James in order to strengthen his identity as an American. Another quotation tells James celebrates Christmas too which is one of American tradition.
“Lydia?” Everyone else had been busy, unwrapping gifts: across the room, Nath fed a roll of film into a new camera; a ruby pendant on a gold chain gleamed against her mother’s robe. In front of her, her father held out a package, small and compact and sharp-edged, like a jewel box “From me. I picked it out myself.” He beamed. Usually James left the Christmas shopping to Marilyn, allowing her to sign each tag Love, Mom and Dad. But he had picked this gift out himself, and he could not wait to bestow it.
The text above imparts James and his family do a typical custom at Christmas time that is exchanging gifts. Moreover, James picks the gifts by himself. He disassociates himself from Chinese tradition and does American tradition in order to feel belong and not discriminated by the majority environment. In addition, immigrants believe studying and adopting new culture is essential for daily living in the host country with the hope of not experiencing humiliated treatments by
Americans (Xia et. al 55). But, although Asian Americans have living their life as the white do, they are still not totally white, so they still receive racial discrimination.
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The third domination strategy that James applied is married with native
American. James feels the need to blend in the society by marrying American woman because he does not belong in anywhere. At the time of teaching at Harvard,
James meets Marilyn Walker, an American young woman who comes from
Virginia, and suddenly he fell in love with her.
Hers had been just one of the pale, pretty faces, indistinguishable from the next, and though he would never fully realize it, this was the first reason he came to love her: because she had blended in so perfectly, because she had seemed so completely and utterly at home” (Ng 36-37).
From the text above it can be concluded that James likes Marilyn because her appearance is like American in common. Her skin is white pale and her face is beautiful. That way, if he marries Marilyn he would welcome by the society.
Because this whole time, he is very uncomfortable to live in America. It illustrates in the evidence below.
“Every time he opened his arms and she crawled into them, felt like a miracle. Coming to her made him perfectly welcomed, perfectly at home, as he had never in his life before” (Ng 38).
The quotation above shows that before James meets Marilyn, he always feels like an outsider in the place where he was born and raise, that is America. Then, when he meets Marilyn, an American woman, who loves him for who he is and unconditionally, it was like “if America herself was taking him in. It was too much luck” (Ng 45). After a while, they find out that Marilyn is pregnant. So, they decide to get marry as soon as possible. Based on a research, intermarriage can be a way for immigrants to obtain the host country customs, language skills, to acquire contacts and connections. So, it will improve their job prospects and increase the
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economic rate (He and Eade 404). On the other hand, the interracial marriage does not allow in the country that time.
“Marilyn realized, suddenly, what her mother was imagining. It was 1958; in Virginia, in half the country, their wedding would break the law. Even in Boston, she sometimes saw disapproval in the eyes of the passersby” (Ng 51).
The quotation above explains, anti-intermarriage laws were still widely practiced and enforced in the majority of the states in the South and the West of the
United States in that era. According to anti-intermarriage law in America in 1880 section 60 to 69 marriages between whites and Mongolians are illegal and void
(Ling 53). These laws force until 1967 and use to prohibit racial mixing, to ensure the superiority and purity of the white race, to maintain the hierarchy of slave or free during the centuries of slavery, and to regulate property transmission. Such anti interracial marriage laws predated the United States of America and continued to regulate relationships, race, and property transmission for a long time—less than forty years ago many states still had laws that banned the marriage of a white person to a person of another race. Many of these laws were in place for decades, or even centuries, while other states had more recently passed their laws during the twentieth century (Cannady 1).
Not only that, another obstacle also comes from Marilyn’s mother, Doris. She objects the wedding because he assumes that James marry her daughter only to be a legal resident by having a green card or a permanent resident card that allows immigrant to live and work permanently in America. Indeed, one way to be able to apply for green card is to marry an American citizen (Asllani 1). Meanwhile
American has prejudice towards Asian. Marriage between members of different
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races, however, is less common because of strong social norms against it. American sees Asian as minority group who has lower social status than Whites (Lee 22).
"You're sure," she said, "that he does not just want a green card?" [..] Think about your children, "she said. "Where will you live? You will not fit in anywhere. You'll be sorry for the rest of your life […] "Oh, my mother just thinks I should marry someone more like me." (Ng 53).
Through the above quotes it can be seen that Doris thinks the marriage of different races will only lead to a misery life. For her, James wants to take advantage from the marriage so he can have a legal status resident in America (Beeson 3). But actually Doris does not know James is automatically considered as a citizen of
America since he was born and raised in the country (Lee 6). In addition, interracial married couples do report experiencing various challenges throughout their marriage in terms of fitting into the society. According to Hibbler, these couples indicate that they do not feel like they fully belong to either culture (138).
Sometimes, they do not get along with their own families due to interracial marriage. Also, married couples from different backgrounds, bring different expectations of roles to the family. It is conceivable that interracial couples may have even more struggles because they have different class views due to different cultural perspectives (Kawano 17).
The next domination strategy of James is speaking only in English. James is a Chinese descent man who is also a second generation immigrant. He was born and raised in America. Even though James is a Chinese descent, he prefers to speak with English rather than Chinese language. When he is in the fifth grade of elementary school, James stops speaking Chinese with his parents. He does not want a Chinese accent to be carried away as he speaks English. Then, James does
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not want to speak in Chinese because “the minority language is devalued and treated with low, inferior status by the society” (Wu 2387). Other than that, he is scared by speaking Chinese language, people will see him as less American. It can be seen in the evidence below.
“In the fifth grade, he had stopped speaking Chinese to his parents, afraid of tinting his English with an accent; long before that, he had stopped speaking to his parents at school at all” (Ng 45).
In the text above, James does not seem to be proud of using Chinese language.
Starting from the fifth grade, James does not speak Chinese language anymore especially when he is in Lloyd. In the school, he distanced himself from his parents so that he does not need to meet and talk to them. He speaks English in order to be like everyone else around him. James believes if he can speak English he will become socially adapted. “The acquisition of host-country language has been found to be strongly and positively associated with immigrants’ labor market achievements, economic success, social integration, political participation and life satisfaction” (qtd. in Gorodzeisky et.al. 715). Meanwhile, James has an excellent
English proficiency. It can be proven when Marilyn hear James’ speech in front of the class.
“The image of the cowboy,” he said, “has existed longer than we might imagine.” There was no trace of an accent in his voice, and she slowly let out her breath. Where had he come from, she wondered. He sounded nothing like what she’d been told Chinamen sounded like: so solly, no washee. Had he grown up in America? (Ng 32).
The quotation above describes that when James speaks in English he sounds like native American. Therefore, Marilyn wonders if James already stays in
America for a long time since he was a kid. Here, James articulates himself as an
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American by speaking a perfect English without Chinese accent. Some people believes that if you are living in the United States then you should become an
American and assimilate into the culture by learning to speak the English language first. “Many immigrants face the decision-making process of whether to speaking only English or speaking their heritage language. If those minority language groups want to be accepted and live in the U.S., they have no choice but to learn English because Americans will not learn each of their languages” (Wu 2387).
Then he also does domination strategy by being a professor of American
History lesson. The domination strategy of James lead him to identify himself as a totally American. He is proud to be a professor of American history and teaches
American student. He wants to prove that even though he is an Asian he capable of doing American things and works on behalf of American. After graduates from college James decides to become a professor at Harvard, the most prestigious university in the world. Some students are both surprised and confused, because the professor who teaches them about American culture is a Chinese instead of a native
American.
“Now she realized that she-that everyone-had expected someone in a sand- colored blazer, someone with a slight drawl and a Southern pedigree […] She could see him through her classmates' eyes, and she knew what they were thinking. This was their professor? This little man, five foot nine at most and not even American, was going to teach them about cowboys” (Ng 31-32).
The text above is a description from one of James’ student, Marilyn, about her first meeting with James. Marilyn knows what is in her friend mind. They underestimate James as an incompatible to teach them the most iconic symbol of
America, Cowboy, just because he looks like a typical Chinese man. The text also
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explains that James is far from the student’s expectation. The student in James’ class do not expect someone like him which is a Chinese to teach them, who are
American. One of his student, Marilyn assumes her lecturer will be more like a gentleman style with sand-colored blazer and a southern descent. But, James is definitely an average oriental man. As a lecturer, James is not appreciated by his students. When he starts to begin his lesson, the student even left the class one by one.
James spends his life yearning to be an American. He never belongs to anywhere. For him, it is really important to fit in. James feels the sense of pride when he said to people that he is a lecturer of American history. Despite his look does not characterize him as an American.
“Once, a receptionist at the provost’s office thought he was a visiting diplomat from Japan and asked him about his flight from Tokyo. He enjoys the surprise on people’s faces when he tells them he’s a professor of American history. “Well, I am American,” he says when people blink, a barb of defensiveness in his tone” (Ng 9).
Based on the text above, James is very excited to tell people around him or whom he just met that he is a lecturer of American History. James is certain that he is an American even though people doubt him because his appearance shows
Chinese characteristics. “For some Asian American students, career choice considerations include more than personal interests or even familial expectations.
Instead, complex racialized immigrant experiences shaped the social contexts within which Asian Americans can make career choices” (Poon 510).
The last domination strategy of James is forced the children to act like
Americans. James considers himself as an American so that he wants all aspects in
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his life to be just like American. He treats his children like an American. He wants them to adjust to their surrounding without any struggles. So, he wishes his children to be famous among Americans.
“She slid her finger under the wrapping paper, and a squat gold and black book fell into her lap. How to Win Friends and Influence People. A bright band of yellow slashed the cover in two. Fundamental Techniques in Handling People. Six Ways of Making People Like You. At the top, in deep red letters: The More You Get Out of This Book, the More You'll Get Out of Life! James beamed. "I thought you could use this," he said. "It's supposed to-well, help you win friends. Be popular. "His fingers grazed the title on the cover […] "I just thought it would be helpful," he said. "Though you probably know everything about that already." He pinched her cheek. "How to win friends. I wish- "He stopped, swallowing the words back down: I wish I had had it when I was your age. Perhaps, he thought, everything would have been different; if he'd known how to handle people, how he likes to have fit in Lloyd, he'd have charmed Marilyn's mother, they'd have hired him at Harvard. He'd have gotten more out of life” (Ng 147).
The text shows that James gives one of his child, Lydia, a book full of advice about how to win friends. Since Lydia has one of American characteristics which is blue eyes, he placed a great hope on her that she would later become a popular girl who has a lot of friends. He wishes her friends do not see Lydia as a Chinese girl. When Christmas comes, instead of giving necklace as Lydia has hoped, James buy a psychology book containing socializing tips and making friends with other people. She definitely hates it but she pretends to like whatever her father gives to her. Meanwhile, Lydia never has a real friend in the school. It is because Asian
Americans are considered as undesirable and unassimilable aliens even if they already try hard to accommodate to American ways (Zhou and Ocampo 113).
So it can be understood, that James does several efforts to dominates his identity as an American. Those domination strategies are displayed in the novel as
James denies his family background, adopts American culture, marries with
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American woman, speaks English fluently, becomes a professor of the most iconic
American subject which is Cowboy and forces his children to act like a true
Americans who are popular and have many friends. The way James dominates his identity shows he wants to hide his Chinese identity so much. It also describes the feeling of embarrassment to be a Chinese who lives in American environment. In addition, James needs to hide his identity because he has experiences of discrimination towards Asian American. The next sub chapter will discuss about negotiation strategy of James since he is a Chinese descent man.
C. Negotiation Strategy
This research also analyzes about how James negotiates his identity as
Chinese descent man who lives in America. Even though James wants to be a truly
American he cannot deny his longing for Chinese cultures. Negotiation strategy itself means a person adapts between original and new cultures. He or she does not accept the new culture wholly but also does not leave the original culture as well
(Hall et. al. 102). This strategy appears because of the clash between the original culture which we bring from our ancestors and the new culture in the place we live.
James reveal his identity as a Chinese descent by doing some negotiation strategies.
First, James does negotiation strategy by having an affair with Chinese girl named Louisa Chen. That girl is his assistant in Harvard University since he works as professor of American history lesson. One day, after James knows that his child,
Lydia, commits a suicide James becomes sad and depressed. Then, he goes to
Louisa’s apartment and sleeps with her. James wants all aspects in his life to be just
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like American, but this time instead of having an affair with whites he chooses
Chinese girl. It can be seen from the evidence below.
Everything about her is different: the flex of her limbs, the texture of her skin. Even her taste is different, slightly tangy, like citrus, as he touches his tongue to hers. When she kneels over him to undo the buttons of his shirt, her hair curtains her face. James closes his eyes then, lets out a long, shuddering sigh. Afterward he falls asleep with Louisa still atop him (Ng 71)
The text above tells that James is sleeping with his own assistant, Louisa. It happens soon after Lydia’s funeral. James’s affair with Chinese girl shows his longing of Chinese culture while he makes effort to be totally American. The word
“different” in text above means after all this time James tries to be an American, he finally knows how it feels like to be a Chinese by being with Louisa. Immigrant throughout their life may longing for something, someone, or some place from their homeland. They remain wedded to past memories and seek for their original culture by relating themselves to the cultures (Andersson 110).
Another quotation also illustrates that James tries to negotiates his identity with Chinese culture by eating Chinese food. While he is in Louisa’s apartment, she serves him Chinese food called char siu bau. It is a steamed barbecue pork bun that usually eaten by Chinese (Cai 99).
“You need to eat something,” Louisa says. She steps into the kitchen and returns with a small Tupperware. “Here.” Gently, she pries open the lid and nudges the box toward him. Inside lie three snow-colored buns, tops ruffled like peony heads ready to blossom, revealing a glint of deep tawny red within. The sweet scent of roast pork wafts up to his nose. “I made them yesterday,” Louisa says. She pauses. “You know what these are?”His mother had made these, long ago, in their tiny cinder-colored apartment. She had roasted the pork and crimped the dough and arranged the buns in the bamboo steamer she’d brought all the way from China. His father’s favorite. Char siu bau. Louisa beams, and only then does James realize he has spoken aloud. He has not said a word in Chinese in forty years, but he is amazed at how his tongue still curls around their familiar shape (Ng 204).
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The text above expresses that James eats Chinese food in Louisa’s apartment.
It also shows that it has been 40 years since James speaks English without even say a word in Chinese. But, it does not mean he totally forget how to speak in Chinese language. The text shows that even he tries to forget his own culture, it will still stick to him no matter what. When James mentions one kind of typical Chinese food, char siu bau, he surprises that he recites the name of food which is using
Chinese language, correctly.
James Lee character as Chinese American in Everything I Never Told You novel shows a process to perform his identity. His identity is largely influenced by
American culture and society. Furthermore, the writer finds there are domination strategy and negotiation strategy which are cannot be separated when James trying to perform his identity. James does domination strategy by denying his family background, adopting American culture, marrying American woman, speaking fluent English and becoming a professor of the most iconic American subject which is Cowboy. Not only that, he also forces his children to be act like a true Americans who are popular and have many friends. James also does some negotiation strategy by having an affair with Chinese girl and eating Chinese food. He makes efforts to prove that he belongs in America, but still his Chinese physical appearance does not support him. No matter how hard he tries to be looked white outside, he is still physically yellow even though white inside. “Although they (Asian Americans) may feel, think, and act American, they are routinely treated as though they are foreigners and do not belong in America to the same degree as other Americans”
(Cheryan and Monin 717). James’ root culture never allows him to deviate from his
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origin and his original culture. There are American influences to some extent on
James character who try to negotiate his identity, but racial discrimination and physical appearance create obstacle from him to become totally American.
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions
The aim of this research is to reveal the domination strategy and negotiation strategy of James Lee’s identity as a Chinese American in Everything I Never Told
You novel by Celeste Ng. The writer finds that American cultures and society have the major impact on James Lee identity as a Chinese descent man who was born and raised on American soil. Meanwhile, the domination strategy and negotiation strategy reveal through the actions of James as he tries to be accepted by his environment. Although James makes some efforts to change his identity to be totally American, his physical appearance and the discrimination make it impossible. On the other hand, James who wishes to become an American also longing for his original culture as a Chinese.
The analysis of this research depicted James as a Chinese American man who wants to be like an American. He experiencing bad treatments from the society since he is Chinese physically. The writer in this research uses the concept of identity by Stuart Hall which is relevant because Hall asserts that identity is not something rigid with fixed characteristics that do not change over time. Identity is something that is constantly being created within the framework of history and culture, something which is positioned at a place and time, based on the context.
So, identity of a person can be influenced by the social condition including the society and cultures where he or she lives.
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In James case, he does domination strategy in order be a totally American. He prefers to consider himself as an American since there is a tough history of Chinese in that country. Chinese Americans who are in the minority group tend to face higher levels of social discrimination and lack of belonging. Therefore, James does domination strategy by denying his family background, adopting American culture, marrying American woman, speaking fluent English, becoming a professor of the most iconic American subject which is Cowboy, and forcing his children to act like
Americans. In addition, he also does some negotiation strategy by having an affair with Chinese girl and eating Chinese food.
In conclusion, the efforts of James to perform his identity as a truly American are inseparable from domination strategy and negotiation strategy. In order to be like an American and fit in the society, he changes his appearances and behaviors by following the American cultures. He craves for the sense of belonging since his physical appearance does not support. Thus, it can be said that without domination strategy and negotiation strategy, James could not reach his identity as an American.
B. Suggestions
The writer hopes this research can be useful for the readers especially they are who want to do a similar research about identity that focuses on domination strategy and negotiation strategy which happens to the character. Furthermore, those who are interested in analyzing the same novel could use another theory such as the representation of cultural identity.
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