The Black Women's Resistance Against Race and Gender

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ADAH AS THE REPRESENTATION OF THE STRUGGLE AGAINST GENDER AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AS SEEN IN BUCHI EMECHETA’S SECOND CLASS CITIZEN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letter

TEGUH PRIAMBODO

Student Number: 014214047

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009

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Life is too short to worry (anonymous)

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This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to My parents And my beloved Ayang ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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Thanks to my Lord for His kindness through every moment of my life. He always gives me the patience and guidance to face everything. Thank you for sending me an angel who has helped and loved me unconditionally.

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S.,

M.Hum. for her help, guidance and patience in revising this thesis from the beginning to the end. I also would like to thank my co-advisor, Drs. Hirmawan

Wijanarko. M.Hum., for advising this thesis. In addition, the writer thanks all of the lecturers in Sanata Dharma University who have given me something beyond knowledge that I ever had during my education.

My special and greatest gratitude goes to my family and my honey, the most important people in my life. I thank them for their prayers and supports. I dedicate this thesis only for them. I also would like to thank Endra who has given a lot of advices to my thesis.

Teguh Priambodo

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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TITLE PAGE ………………………………………………………………… i APPROVAL PAGE ………………………………………………………… ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE……………………………………………………….. iii MOTTO PAGE ……………………………………………………………… iv DEDICATION PAGE ………………………………………………………. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………….. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………….. vii ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………. ix ABSTRAK ……………………………………………………………………. x

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………….... 1 A. Background of the Study …………………………………………... 1 B. Problem Formulation ……………………………………………… 4 C. Objectives of the Study……………………………………………… 4 D. Definition of Terms…………………………………………………. 5

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ………………………………… 7 A. Review of Related Studies …………………………………………. 7 B. Review of Related Theories ………………………………….…….. 9 1. Theory of Character and Characterization ……………………. 9 2. Theory of Racism……………………………………………….. 12 3. Theory of Gender……………………………………………….. 14 C. Review on Racism and Gender Discrimination in British Society in 1960s ……………………………………………………………. 16 1. Review on Racism in British Society in 1960s ……………….. 16 2. Review on Gender Discrimination in British Society in 1960s …..….………………………………………………... 20 D. Theoretical Framework……………………………………………… 22

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ………………………………………… 24 A. Object of the Study ………………………………………………… 24 B. Approach of the Study ……………………………………………... 25 C. Method of the Study ……………………………………………….. 27

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS…………………………………………………... 29 A. The Characteristics of the Black Woman Character……………….. 29 B. The Main Character‟s Experiences of Racism and Gender Discrimination…………………………………………. 35 1. The Main Character‟s Experiences of Racism………………….. 35 2. The Main Character‟s Experiences of Gender Discrimination……………………………………………………40 C. The Main Character‟s Struggles against Racism and Gender Discrimination …………………………………………. 45 1. The Struggles against Racism …………………………………... 45

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2. The Struggles against Gender Discrimination ………………….. 47

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ……………………………………………… 53

BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………..55

APPENDIX ………………………………………………………………….... 57

ABSTRACT

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Teguh Priambodo. Adah as the Representation of the Struggle of Gender and Racial Discrimination as Seen in Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009.

The writer analyzes Buchi Emecheta‟s novel, entitled Second Class Citizen. This novel describes Adah as a representation of the victim of racism and gender discrimination. It describes how Adah has to live with the pressure from the family and her environment. The writer disscusses three main problems in this novel. The first is to understand the characteristic of the main character. The second is to explain the racism and gender discrimination that are experienced by the main character. The third is to explain about the struggles that are done by the main character The writer uses Sociocultural-historical approach in this thesis. The writer applies library research as the method of this study. This thesis applies the theory of characterization in discussing the main character of the novel. Theory of racism and gender are used in discussing the second and third question of the problem formulation. Theory of Racism and gender discrimination which is happenned in England in 1960‟ is used to give additional information about the life of black women who immigrate to England in 1960‟. The main character, Adah, is the representation of the victim of racism and gender discrimination. She has experienced the gender discrimination since her birth. Adah is ignored by her family. It is caused by the tradition at that time that appreciates the presence of son in a family. She realizes that her life would not be better if she stays in her native country, thus she decides to move to England with her husband, Francis. In England, she finds that life is much harder. The white people differentiate her because of her skin color. Moreover, Francis gives more problems to Adah by becoming lazy and abusive. Francis does not want to work and uses Adah to fulfill the family needs and his. All of those things make Adah become a stronger woman. She dares to struggle against everything. She realizes that she and her children are worth to accept much better things in their life and she does everything for that, including with her decision by leaving her husband and raising all her children by herself.

ABSTRAK

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Teguh Priambodo. Adah as the Representation of the Struggle of Gender and Racial Discrimination as Seen in Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009.

Penulis menganalisa novel Buchi Emecheta yang berjudul Second Class Citizen. Novel ini menggambarkan Adah, sebagai sebuah representasi seorang korban dari diskriminasi jender dan rasis. Dalam novel ini digambarkan bagaimana Adah hidup dalam tekanan baik dari keluarga ataupun dari lingkungannya. Penulis akan membahas tiga masalah yang terdapat dalam novel ini. Pertama adalah mencoba untuk memahami karateristik tokoh utama dalam novel ini. Kedua adalah menjelaskan tentang perlakuan-perlakuan yang bersifat diskriminasi jender maupun rasis yang dialami oleh tokoh utama dalm novel ini. Yang terakhir adalah menjelaskan tentang perlawanan tokoh utama dalam novel ini terhadap perlakuan-perlakuan yang bersifat diskriminasi jender dan rasis. Penulis menggunakan pendekatan sejarah dan sosial budaya. Penulis menggunakan metode penelitian kepustakaan sebagai metode yang digunakan dalam studi ini. Skripsi ini menerapkan teori karakterisasi dalam membahas karakter tokoh utama dalam novel ini. Teori tentang rasis dan jender digunakan dalam membahas pertanyaan kedua dan ketiga. Teori tentang tindakan diskriminasi jender dan rasis yang terjadi di Inggris pada tahun 1960an digunakan untuk memberi informasi tambahan kehidupan para wanita yang berimigrasi ke Inggris pada tahun 1960an. Adah si tokoh utama, adalah sebuah representasi dari korban perlakuan yang bersifat diskriminasi jender dan rasis. Diskriminasi jender sudah dia alami semenjak dia lahir. Dalam keluarganya, Adah tidak pernah di anggap sebagai layak nya seorang anak dalam keluarga. Hal ini disebabkan karena tradisi pada waktu tersebut lebih menghargai kehadiran seorang anak laki-laki dalam sebuah keluarga Merasa bahwa dirinya tidak akan menjadi lebih baik, Adah memutuskan untuk pergi ke Inggris untuk tinggal bersama suaminya, Francis. Disana Adah menemukan fakta bahwa apa yang telah diimpikannya selama ini salah. Hidupnya menjadi lebih sulit di banding di negara asalnya. Bukan hanya dari Francis, lingkungannya juga memberi masalah yang tak kalah pelik nya. Lingkungan mayoritas yang terdiri dari orang kulit putih menolak Adah dikarenakan warna kulitnya. Hal tersebut menjadi lebih sulit dimana Francis juga bersikap acuh dan malas terhadap Adah dan keluarganya. Francis tidak mau bekerja dan selalu memanfaatkan Adah untuk memenuhi kebutuhan dirinya dan keluarganya. Semua hal tersebut menjadikannya wanita yang lebih kuat. Dia berani melawan semua hal yang merugikannya. Dia sadar bahwa hidupnya pantas untuk mendapat lebih, dan dia melakukan segalanya untuk itu. Termasuk dengan keputusan terbesar dalam meninggalkan suaminya dan membesarkan anak-anaknya seorang diri.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

For centuries to be a woman has become a topic that will never have an end to be discussed. A woman since the first human to be born in the world has become much more a controversy of what its status should do or should not do.

People use many medias to state their opinion about gender. One of media which is used by people to express their opinion about gender issue is literature.

By reading a literature, people may know about the matter of life.

Human life is one of many aspects that literature can describe in its content.

Literature can describe the portrait of human life. By reading a literature people can understand other people‟s problems of life, so that people can learn how to handle the problem if they have to face the same difficulty. Edgar V. Robert and

Henry E. Jacobs (1987: 2) in An Introduction to Reading and Writing state that

Literature helps us to grow both personality and intellectuality. It provides an objective base for our knowledge and understanding. It enables us to recognize human dreams and struggles in different societies that we would never otherwise get to know. It helps us to develop mature sensibility and compassion for the condition of all living thing.

The writer is interested to discuss the struggle of the young black woman. This issue is considered to be interesting because the writer believes that in reality this issue is experienced by many black women in this world. In our society, women always positioned as inferior to men. It means that women have no

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strong position in their life. Women are given the role by society that has to be followed at all cost. It is stated in the quotation follows.

The traditionalist looks at the many ways in which women differ from men and concludes that there differences reflect some basic intrinsic difference that for transcend reproductive capacities. The traditionalist notes that historically women have always had less power, less influence, and fewer resources than men and assume this must accord with some natural order (Freeman, 1984: xiii).

The quotation above indicates the meaning of being a woman in this world. Society for many centuries has tried to find many ways to differentiate about being man and woman. This way of thinking makes women until now is still considered having lower position than men, and it is supported by society that also believe that women‟s roles in this world are given as natural order. In conclusion, women are born with that kind of “privilege”.

Being a woman has already given a major controversy to many women, but it can become more complicated if there are additional problems that follow the gender issue. One of the examples is racial issue. It is experienced by most of black women.

Being a black woman means that she has to face double trouble. First, being women have given them a lower social status than man, and second, for being a black means that they also have to face a racial issue. It happens because being black people means becoming inferior for to white people. The whites believe that black people are uncivilized people and the whites always try to ignore the black people‟s presence in the society.

Being a black woman means that a black woman is the inferior to the black people and white people. The novel entitled Second Class Citizen describes

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the life of a young black woman named Adah who has to experience racial and gender discrimination in her life. The novel which was written by Buchi

Emecheta shows the struggle of the black woman against the difficulties of being a black and a woman. Adah is a Nigerian. There, she feels that her status as woman does not make her dream come true in the future. In the novel, she is described as a young black woman who always discriminated by the society.

There she feels that her status as a black woman always gives her disadvantages.

According to her, she cannot reach her dream if she just stay in her native country and accept all the rules that she has to follow. Because of that reason, she decides to move to England, because she believes that England is a land of opportunity.

As the opposite of what she expects, her life becomes worse. She finds that pursuing dreams in England is much harder. The society refuses her to live among them because she is black.

Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta is about the struggle of Adah

(the main character) and her survival, not only for herself but also her dreams, while growing into a woman, moving from a high class position in her native

Nigeria to a lower class in a predominantly white European society. She struggles with motherhood and with being a wife and supporting her entire family along with being her own independent person. Part of her struggle also deals with the issues of race and being black in the face of English racism.

(http://www.wmich.edu/dialogues/texts/secondclasscitizen.html)

The novel Second Class Citizen gives the value of the struggle of a black woman who has lived in the white society. The novel describes on how the

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main character of the story struggles to survive. She realizes that the rules among the white society do not bring any advantages to the black people. She dares to make some actions against those rules, though the consequence is not easy to accept for her. But she believes that every people is born with the same right. This reason makes her struggles to get a better life. It is very encouraging to see that a black woman is able to survive from difficult situation.

This novel is an evidence of racism and gender discrimination that happen in our history of life. The writer thinks that it is important to discuss these issues. Racism and gender discriminations that still exist in the society always become the interesting topic to be discussed. It becomes more interesting to see a black woman who dares to break the rules that positioning her as a second class citizen among the white society.

B. Problem Formulation

1. How is the main character characterized in the novel?

2. How does the main character experience racism and gender discrimination?

3. How does the main character struggle against racism and gender

discrimination depicted in the novel?

C. Objectives of the Study

In order to answer the questions, the writer does the research that aims to answer those three questions. The first aim is to reveal the characterization of the main character of the novel. It will describe about her physical appearance,

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way of thinking, and behaviors. Second, the writer will reveal the racism and gender discrimination that experienced by the main character. The writer will not only describe the gender discrimination that is done by the husband of the main character, but also the racial discrimination that is done by the white society.

Finally, the writer will reveal the struggle and effort of the main character toward the racial and gender discrimination.

D. Definition of Terms

In order to understand the study, there are some terms that need to be explained clearly.

1. Discrimination

Encyclopedia Americana states that discrimination is the negative behavior directed toward some group. Discrimination, as the term is used here, is behavior that is unfair to a group target. Discrimination can be practiced by an individual or an institution. In most instances, discrimination is directed against a relatively powerless group by members of a powerful dominant group. (1995:

545a).

2. Gender

Gender is socially and culturally constructed and not assigned at birth.

The labels of feminine and masculine may be understood as gender term that can not be assigned at birth, but must be inferred based on the individual‟s behavior

(Arliss, 1991: 8). It means that gender is constructed by the society and not created with the birth of someone. The society has the conception that if the

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person is considered male he should behave masculine, and if the person is considered a woman she should behave feminine.

3. Racism

In the Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory, racism is a process of racialization whereby social relation between people are structured by the signification of human biological and cultural characteristics in such a way as to define and construct differentiated social collectivities. Such groups are assuming to have a natural unchanging origin and status. They are seen as being inherently different and causing negative consequences for other groups and as possessing certain evaluated characteristics are stereotype, they are likely to be distorted and misleading (Paine, 1997: 450).

4. Struggle

In the Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture, struggle means to make great effort especially when trying to deal with difficult problem or situation (Summers, 1992: 156). It means that usually someone does some actions when he or she is faced with difficulty in order to solve the problem

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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies

Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta is mostly known as

feminist novel. It gives the description on how a black woman deals

with the racism and gender discrimination that she is experienced.

Emecheta‟s second book Second Class Citizen (1974)

describes the life of Adah, a woman from Nigeria who has immigrated

to England with her husband, Francis. Francis is a dreadful husband

who is lazy and selfish, and considerably less intelligent than the

woman. She struggles in her marriage, both financially and sexually,

and gains the will to leave her husband only after he burns the

manuscript she has been writing. After she leaves him, she discovers

the depth of her own intelligent and character

(http://web.uflib.edu/em/africana/emecheta.htm)

The main character of Second Class Citizen is a woman named

Adah who is born in Nigeria and belonged to the Ibo tribe. While

growing into a woman, she moves from a high class position in her

native Nigeria to a very poor class in a predominantly white European

society (http://www.wmich.edu/dialogues/text/secondclasscitizen.html).

Second Class Citizen describes Adah, a woman from the Ibo

tribe, who moves to England to live with her Nigerian student husband.

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She soon discovers that life for a young Nigerian woman living in

London in the 1960s is grim. Rejected by British society and thwarted

by her husband, who expects her to be subservient to him, she is forced

to face up to life as a second class citizen

(http://people.africadatabase.org/en/profile/2442.html).

In Emecheta's second novel, Second Class Citizen,

characterized Adah as the person who has the initiative and

determination to get what she wants. Adah is also encumbered because

of gender discrimination that is the foundation of her marriage. Her

husband, Francis, treats her as property. Adah is forced to support the

family and take care of the children. In the meanwhile, Francis goes to

school, studies, and continuously fails exams. Adah is in constant battle

to try to preserve her womanhood, and when she finally leaves Francis

she experiences a strong sense of relief. After leaving Francis, Adah has

moments of loneliness and despair but in the end she comes out

triumphant because of her willpower

(http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Emech.html).

The writer will use those criticisms to analyze deeper about

the story of Adah in Second Class Citizen. Those criticisms show that

the novel gives the real description on life of most black women who

live during that time. Moreover, the facts will be used by the writer to

discuss the more details on how the main character experiences the

discriminations and how she struggles‟ against it.

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B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

In order to gain full understanding of the study, the writer

believes that it is important to explain about the character of the novel.

It is very useful to understand on the discrimination that she faces and

how she struggle against it. In addition, to understand how the society

affects her behaviors is also important to be explained. Therefore, the

writer will describe the meaning of character and characterization.

Character is “the person in a dramatic or narrative work,

endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in

what they say – the dialogue – and what by they do – the action”

(Abrams, 1981: 20).

Characterization is central to the fictional experience. The

principal objective of the creation of characters in novel is to enable us

to understand and to experience people (Henkle, 1997: 86).

Characterization is the way the author builds the complete description

on the characters.

The book Writing about Literature states that characters

have particular personalities and physical attributes that distinguish

them from other characters. The process by which author builds the

character is called characterization (Rohrberger and wood, 1971: 20).

Murphy (1972: 161-173) explains clearly how the author can

convey readers through the character and personalities of people.

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According to him, there are several ways in which the author attempts

to make the character alive for the readers.

a. Personal Description

To describe his character, the author explains to the readers

about the physical appearance of the characters. The description is often

related to the psychological condition. The personality itself can be

reflected from the external appearance. From the appearance, it is

shown whether the character is strong or weak, tall or short, fat or thin,

curly or blonde.

b. Character as Seen by Another

Instead of describing character directly, the author can

describe him or her through the eyes and opinions of another. The other

will give explanation about what the character is like. Someone tries to

tell a character from his or her own point of view, what they think about

the certain character. It can be a significant factor to build up the

understanding on the character.

c. Speech

Speech is a manifestation of character. The author can give

the readers an insight into the character of one person through what that

person says. Whenever a person speaks, whenever he or she is in

conversation with another, whenever he or she puts forward an opinion,

he gives the readers some clues to his character. Frequently, from his or

her speech the readers know the motivation and attitude toward life.

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d. Past Life

By learning something about the person‟s past life, the

author can give the readers a clue to events that have helped to shape a

person character. The character‟s past life is always closely connected

to the present life. It can be traced and learnt to help the readers to

figure out his motive of action of the present life.

e. Conversation of Others

The author can also give a clue to person‟s character through

the conversations of other people and the things they say about them.

The reader need to pay attention to the conversation of other characters.

It is useful to go through speech by speech to determine exactly what is

meant or implied by each of them.

f. Reaction

The author also mentions the personality of a character by

letting the readers know that person reacts to various events or

situation. The character shows his or her personality from his or her

action. The action concerns to his or her motives and thought.

g. Direct Comment

The characterization in this way is done by giving the

readers a straight forward description or comment on the character. It

helps the readers to find out information about the character easily.

Sometimes, the description is provided at the beginning of the story

when they have not been quite familiar with the personality as the

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writer intends to, which also mean that the personality of

misinterpretation can be decrease.

h. Thought

The author can give the readers direct knowledge of what

person is thinking about. In this respect he or she is able to do what we

cannot do in real life. He or she can tell them what different people are

thinking.

i. Mannerism

The author can describe a person‟s mannerism, habits, or

idiosyncrasies which may also tell us something about his or her

character.

2. Theory of Racism

Racism is the important part that is discussed because it is a

general issue that still becomes controversy. There are several theories

about racism that discuss the meaning and the cause of racism.

Race is a member of groups which are differentiated because

of both physical characteristics and cultural differences. These cultural

differences include differences in technology, customs, habits, and

value (Frazier, 1957: 31).

The idea of racism is also stated by Francis E. Merril and H.

Wentworth Eldredge (1952: 231). It is stated in their book entitled

Cultural and Society: An Introduction to Sociology. According to them,

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racism comes from attitudes that have risen for the physical differences

and it has separated some groups of human being.

Racism is thus reformulated as entailing a process of

racialization whereby social relations between people are structured by

the signification of human biological and cultural characteristics in such

a way as to define and construct differentiated social collectivities.

Such groups are assumed to have a natural, unchanging origin and

status. They are seen as being inherently different and causing negative

consequences for other groups or as possessing certain evaluated

characteristics (Paine, 1997: 450).

Little in The Race Question in Modern Science (1956: 223)

states that the concept of races are seized upon and elaborated into a

whole new basis for inter group antagonism which is called racism.

Racism is a set of popular beliefs which includes the following

elements

a. The differences between groups – differences in body and mind – are

all due to hereditary biology, and nothing can change them.

b. The second part of this theory is that habits, attitudes, beliefs,

behavior, and all the things people learned are determined for

them before they were born.

c. All differences between a minority group and majority group are

thought to be sign inferiority.

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Racism is a belief in the innate inferiority of some races. The

word “racism” is often applied in other, very different, sense to wholly

different situation. To some, racism is every adverse judgment about

any aspects of the behavior or performance of any racial or ethnic

group. To others, racism is only adverse judgments on the behavior or

performance of selected list of racial or ethnic group (Sowel, 1994:154)

Based on the theory above, it can be concluded that racism

refers to an idea that differentiate some groups of people from others

based on their physical characteristics, intellectuality, or culture. The

conclusion is believed to the reality of superior race and inferior race.

And it results on how the superior race becomes more powerful than

the inferior race.

3. Theory of Gender

Most people still got confused to differentiate between sex

and gender. Stoller in David Gloves and Cora Kaplan‟s book (2000: 10)

states that

Gender identity starts with the knowledge and awareness, whether conscious or unconscious, that one belongs to one sex and not the other, though as one develops, gender identity becomes much more complicated, so that for example; one may sense himself as not only a male but a masculine man or an effeminate man or even as a man who fantasies being a woman.

The term „gender‟ is used to signal the complexities of those

„tremendous areas of behavior, feelings, thoughts and fantasies that are

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related to the sexes and yet do not have primarily biological

connotations‟ (Gloves and Kaplan, 2000: xx). It means that gender is

merely related to the behaviors of male and female, and not the

differentiation that is based on the sex. For instance, female is more

described as the person who responsible for the business inside the

house, such as taking care of the children, cooking; while male is more

described as the person who is responsible as the chief of family.

The concept of cultural process of exclusion, suggests that

women‟s inferior social status is a cultural phenomenon, not a

biological condition. Gender is defined in terms „maleness‟ and

„femaleness‟ (Madsen, 2000: 16). This argument is also supported by

Zamora (1996: 52). She states that what constitutes a female experience

is not biological gender or a specific female psyche but the limitation

felt by women as the result of the cultural constitution of gender.

Women are defined as „other‟ or they are ignored, rendered,

invisible and silent, if they do not fit the patriarchal scheme. Outside

the dominant definitions of male dominated culture, women exist only

as insane, inarticulate or irrelevant (Madsen, 2000: 18). Being a woman

in patriarchal society means that accepting the fact that they will not be

considered as a whole integrity. Women are considered as the second

class citizen, and their presence only be considered as the minor role of

the patriarchal society.

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Gender is a social construct design to limit the range of life

choices available to humankind for the suitable operation of social

institution. The position of women as the “other” and “inferior” as well

as the imposition of compulsory heterosexuality resultant from this

ideology of gender, are responsible for that “negative socialization”

which all women share (Birch, 1994: 5-6).

C. Review on Racism and Gender Discrimination in British Society

in 1960’s

1. Review on Racism in British Society in 1960’s

The expression of “colored “in Britain is related to any

person not of European origin, it is not only Africa but also Arabs,

Indians, Chinese and North Africa. It means that when English people

speak about „color problem‟ they may have in mind any type of race or

ethnic who have darker color skin than them (Little, 1956: 193).

The fact shows that in British society; nearly all of the

colored people in the United Kingdom possess British nationality when

they were born in a British colony or in Britain. It means that they are

entitled to the same rights and privileges as any other British society.

There are absolutely no legal regulations where colored people shall

live or what kind of employment they may or may not take. This does

not mean that there is no racial and color discrimination or that the

relations between white and colored people are entirely amicable. Some

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employers refuse to work together with the color man; others complain

that the color worker does not „stick‟ at the job (Little, 1956: 195-196).

The other discrimination that is faced by the colored people

is the problem of house and accommodation. The fact clearly shows

that there are some special clauses in the leases of houses and flats in

excluding a colored person, and quite often a colored family will have

to pay a higher rent than a white family. It happened because the house

owners are afraid that the presence of the colored people will cause a

lowering of assessment in that area, and they are afraid that there will

be depreciation in the value of their property. The tenants in that area

are afraid that their peace will be disturbed. The antipathy is even

stronger when white has to share the same house with the colored. The

effect of this situation is that there are only a few colored families who

lived in the some part of the town because of the difficulty of finding

rooms everywhere. This kind of situation is certainly widespread,

particularly in London. Thus, it is estimated that many of boarding

houses refuse a color lodger even of „good class‟ (Little, 1956: 198-

199).

The attitude of racial discrimination that happened in

Britain is caused by the lack of sanction or support by the law. By

refusing to accommodate colored person when rooms are available the

innkeeper commits a legal offence. The fact that racial discrimination

exist in Britain without any backing from the law means that colored

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prejudice has developed as part of the heritage of British society (Little,

1956: 200).

In the reality the toleration of racial discrimination tends to

be idealistic rather than realistic. It means that though many English

people sympathize with the colored man, the toleration to the racial

discrimination is just an abstract (Little, 1956: 203).

The British people have the fairly general feeling that

colored people are inferior because their pigmentation and the physical

characteristics. For the English people, a darker skin makes a person

socially less acceptable. It means that there is a tendency for black to be

eschewed by the white society because there is a social stigma about

black. In the other words, blacks experience color discrimination even

educated people and it has been formed by the society. It will be an

embarrassment if whites introduce black people to their neighbors. It is

considered the same as bringing the milkman to the house. There is a

belief that having a colored guest will get one‟s house a „bad name‟

because „color‟ has the same socially inferior connotation. The ordinary

colored people who experience a lot of bitterness are not always

expressed on the surface. Those who were born in the country naturally

feel that they have the same rights as any other citizen but in the reality

they are threatened as „foreigners‟. This situation makes the black

people decide not to have the relationship with the white. They are very

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wary in the relationship with white, they are so afraid of humiliation

that can be done by them (Little, 1956: 203-205).

The public authorities in the Britain also have no

responsibility on the disabilities which the colored people suffer, not as

something impersonal but rather as a piece of discrimination. It means

that color discrimination is not limited; it can happen not only in the

society but also in any kind of social institutions (Little, 1956: 205).

From the explanation above it can be concluded that the

racial discrimination in British society exist since a long time ago. The

British society has their own opinion that black is always related to

something bad. The discrimination toward the colored people has been

culturally constructed in the British society.

2. Review on Gender Discrimination in British Society in 1960s

Black women who live in Britain experience gender

discrimination since they step their feet in that country. The cold

welcoming makes they realize that Britain does not always become a

land of heaven for every people who comes there.

England was seen as the Promised Land simply because prospect in the Caribbean were so limited. (Bryan, 1985: 22).

England is seen as the promise land by most black people

because they have fewer opportunities in their home land. “Come to

England” is words that always come up in every black people at that

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time. They feel the promises of wealthy life in England are enough to

encourage them to come.

Although some black women came to Britain to join husband who had come on ahead of them, many more came independently as recruits, or simply to seek employment. (Bryan, 1985: 25).

Most black people come to England as recruits and they come

independently. Although, some women come to join their husband that

already come first to England. With no formal government efforts to

assist those who come to settle, they rely on friends and relatives for

support and accommodation, and on their own resources to help them

through the early traumas of adapting to unfamiliar environment

However, as woman we also bore the responsibility of caring the home and family. (Bryan, 1985: 28).

Most black women who come in the fifties and early sixties

feel pretty bore with the condition. After all day work at the factory,

they still have to work again at home as the housewife. And this

condition that they cannot against with. Most women who come at that

time are young woman who begin a new family. Life in England is

expensive and so is the contraceptive. It makes the pregnancy become

the event that cannot be avoided or delayed.

The experience of black women workers in Britain can be seen as a long catalogue of hardship suffered in menial, low-grade jobs….. (Bryan, 1985: 33-34).

Despite the relegation to the lowest grades, and their bitter

struggles outside the workplace to support their families, they have

always been able to find the energy and motivation to resist. From the

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late 1960s onwards, they begin collectively to oppose the exploitation

they confronted in their places of work. Since then, they have openly

defied employers who have sought to deny them their basic rights as

workers. They have been labeled „trouble-makers‟ in their struggles for

a better deal. Yet they have shown that black women are not prepared

to accept poor wages, bad condition, racism, and sex discrimination in

their workplace without a fight

For years, black women have tolerated the lowest paid jobs and working condition that far from satisfaction. (Bryan, 1985: 91).

The owner of factory has always comes up with the profit

then the health of their employees. It makes a great deal of

consequences for the employees. The owner does not realize the short

and long term of this condition of their employees.

Conditions such as these have all had their effect on working black woman; particularly since we do a „double day‟. (Bryan, 1985: 93).

The condition that has been explained gives the great effects

on black women. A “Double day” term becomes something that is very

familiar to many black women, since they have to take double

responsibilities. At day they have to work in the factory and at night

they still have to be the housewife of their family. This condition make

black women are more likely to have health problem. Because of the

stress that is caused from the activity, it can cause heart attack, strokes,

and hypertension. And the worst is that black women are the easiest

group to have these diseases comparing to other group in the society

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The descriptions above show that most black women at that

time are live with struggle in their daily life. The discriminations that

they experience make their life like to be abandoned from the dream of

wealthy life in England.

D. Theoretical Framework

The writer tries to apply the theory of gender, racism, and

character in discussing the novel. The theory of character and

characterization help the writer to understand the character in the novel.

By understanding the character and the characterization in the novel,

the writer is able to understand the story.

The theory of gender and racism are used by the writer to

understand how the main character experiences racism and gender

discrimination, and also to categorize the events that happen in the

story which can be considered as racism and gender discrimination.

Lastly, the writer uses the other important sources in

discussing the novel. They are Review on Racism in British Society

and Review on Racism and Gender Discrimination in British Society in

1960s. Those theories are believed to be important in giving the readers

some descriptions on how the British society deals with the relationship

with the black people and how the situation of black women who live in

British at that time.

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The writer uses the novel from Buchi Emecheta entitled

Second Class Citizen. The first publication of the novel Second Class

Citizen was published by Allison and Busby Ltd in 1974. The novel

which the writer used in this thesis was published by Heinemann

Educational Publisher in 1994. The novel consists of 186 pages. It is

divided into 13 chapters: the first and second chapters describe the story

of Adah‟s life in Nigeria with the gender discrimination that she has

experienced there. While the rest describe about her life in England

with racial and gender discrimination that she experiences. It also

comprises an introduction about the life of the novel‟s writer, Buchi

Emecheta.

The Novel Second Class Citizen portrays the life of a black

woman who lives with racial and gender discrimination that she

experiences through her days. She has to face the discriminations not

only from the society, but also from her husband. The first example of

the discrimination is her life in Nigeria. In Nigeria, she faces the

discrimination from her family. As a woman in Nigeria, existence is

something that can be considered absurd. Her birth is never recorded,

she never get enough education because her parent never send her to

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school. Her family gets the more attention to her brother, Boy. Finally,

she decides to move to England, because she believes that England is

the best place for her to reach everything that she desires. In the

contrary, England does not give what she has expected before. There

she faces greater problems that she has to deal with everyday. Her life

through the day is struggle toward discriminations that happen in

England. From society, she has to accept that her skin color is

considered as unacceptable in white people neighborhood. She shows

her struggle to gain everything that she wants by fighting the color

difference that separates the white and the black. She also shows her

struggle on gender discrimination by leaving her husband and raising

her children on her own. She does all of those for the sake of her

children and herself.

B. Approach of the Study

The approach that is used by the writer for this thesis is Socio-

Cultural Historical approach. The point of social-cultural-historical

approach is to reveal certain literary work from its relation with social,

cultural, and history of certain country. Rohrberger and Woods

(1971:9) in their book Reading and Writing about Literature state that

Socio-cultural-historical approach puts the work of literature as a product of civilization. Civilization here is defined as the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people and points out that literature takes these attitudes and actions as subject matter. It is important to investigate the social, cultural and historical milieu in which a work of literature is created so

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that the readers can find out the factors of motivations why the character behave and act in certain way. Literature embodies ideas significant to the culture that produce it.

It means that literature is influenced by anything that happens

in the society. It could be said that literature can be considered as a

mirror of some society. It is possible because in literature, we could

find any evidence about almost everything that happens in the society.

This approach is believed to be appropriate because with this

approach, thus, the racial and gender discrimination in this novel can be

revealed. Not only from the view of the main character that experiences

the discrimination but also the facts that happen from the society and

history of them. By revealing the facts of them, the writer will be able

to answer the questions and gain full understanding of racial and gender

discrimination.

C. Method of the Study

In this thesis, the writer used the library research as the

method to collect the data. The research was done by collecting some

books and any other sources that were related to analyze the novel.

The sources sources were taken from some relevant books

and also from the internet. The writer used the theory of character and

characterization from Abrams‟ book A Glossary of Literary Term, and

Murphy‟s book Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English

Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students. The theory of

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gender is taken from David Gloves and Cora Kaplan‟s book Genders,

Zamora‟s Contemporay American Woman Writers: Gender, Class

Ethnicity, and Madsen‟s book. The theory of racism was taken from

several books they are: Michael Paine‟s book A Dictionary of Cultural

and Critical Theory, Merril, Francis and H Wentworth Elderge book‟s

Cultural and society: An Introduction to sociology, Frazier‟s theory

from the book entitled Race and Culture Contacts in the Modren World

and Little‟s book The Race Question in Modern Science. The theory of

the relation between literature and society was taken from Wellek and

Warren‟s book Theory of Literature. The review on racism in British

society in 1960s was taken from the book The Race Question in

Modern Science. Review on gender discrimination in British society in

1960s is taken from The Heart of The Race; Black Women’s Lives in

Britain. The writer also took some information from the internet as the

secondary sources, if the books were not available in the library.

There were some steps that were taken in discussing the novel.

In the first step, the writer read the novel to gain understanding about

the main character of the novel. Second, the writer tried to describe on

how gender and racism discrimination could be experienced by the

main character. Then, the writer would describe how the main character

did some struggles against the discriminations toward her. By doing

this, the writer was able to answer the questions that had been stated in

problem formulation.

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CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter answers the questions that have already formulated in problem formulation. This chapter is divided into three parts. The first is the description about the character and characterization of the main character. The second part is the explanation about the racial and gender discrimination experienced by the main character. The third part is the explanation of the main character struggles from the racial and gender discrimination toward her.

A. The Characteristics of the Main Character

Adah‟s characteristics are described clearly in the novel. It gives the detail descriptions from her childhood to mature age. Her characteristics are described through her actions, conversations and the author‟s description which can be found in the novel.

Adah is the main character who was born during the Second World

War in Lagoz. She lives with her mother, but her mother does not give many attentions to her. It is because the society appreciates a boy better than a girl.

She was a girl who had arrives when everyone was expecting and predicting a boy. So, since she was such a disappointment to her parents, to her immediate family, to her tribe, nobody thought of recording her birth. She was so insignificant (p. 1).

Having a daughter is considered as an unlucky thing at that time. The society will more appreciate a boy rather than a girl. Thus, her presence in her

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family can be considered as a disappointment for her parents. Nobody wants to have a daughter.

Most black women at her time have the regular daily activities that according to Adah are considered as boring activities. Perhaps most black women at her time would have the same opinion with her, but she dares to speak out her mind. She feels uneasy with every activity that she has. She spends most of her time with her mother who does not give attention to her. She feels that she feels bore because there is nothing else to do but plaiting her mother‟s hair.

One afternoon, Ma was sitting in the veranda of their house at Akinwunm Street. With Adah‟s help, she had cooked the afternoon meal and they had both eaten. Ma started to undo her hair, ready to have it re-plaited. Adah had seen her do this a million times and was bored with watching her. There was nothing for her to do, there was nobody to play with; there was not even any mischief to plan (p. 4).

Adah is demanded to be a responsible woman. Based on Nigerian custom, she has to be very useful not only for herself, but the most important is for the family and society. She thinks that this fact would become the advantages for her. Becoming a girl means that no one would take care of her and it means that Adah has to be responsible for her own life, or she would not be able to survive.

One might think on this evidence that Africans treated their children badly. But to Adah‟s people and to Adah herself, this was not so at all: it was the custom. Children, especially girls, were taught to be very useful very early 1life, and this had its advantages. For instance, Adah learned very early to responsible for herself (p. 13).

Adah is considered as a responsible person can be seen when she gives no complain on her duty. No matter how hard the duty is, she would take it with all her heart. She realizes that it would be very hard for her to have a baby and

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doing heavy duty, but she thinks that it is her responsibility to earn the money.

Although, her husband has such an easy life, she does not mind with that. She does whatever she has to do, in order to make a living for her family.

Looking back at that time, she still wondered why she never thought it odd that she should be doing all the worrying about what they were doing to live on, why she, and she alone, always felt she was letting those she loves down if she stayed away from work, even for the sake of having baby. The funniest thing was that she felt it was her duty to work, not her husband‟s. He was to have as easy life, the life of a mature student, studying at his own pace (p. 98).

She believes that a woman deserves a better life. She sees that Igbo women who live with their husband get inappropriate treatment from their husband. She realizes the fact, but she does not want to be like those women. She sees that a woman who lives with a husband deserves to considered as a partner than just a couple with the husband. Being a partner means that a woman still has her right for deciding the future of the family, but being a couple means that a woman does not have the right. This fact makes Adah is considered to be an intellectual woman.

She would never, never in her life get married to any man, rich or poor, to whom she would have to serve his food on bended knee: she would not consent to live with a husband whom she would have to treat as a master and refer to as „Sir‟ even behind his back. She knew that all Igbo women did this, but she wasn‟t going to (p. 14).

Based on that explanation, Adah tries to make the statement to the society that she does not agree with the treatment for women in her society. She does not agree to consider men as her master like any other black women do. That opinion gives the big influence to her behaviors in the society. She tries anything

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that is possible to reach what she wants. Her way of thinking makes her to be more intellectual than the other black women.

Adah is also considered a person who really has high motivation. She would do anything in order to get what she wants. It can be seen when she needs money to pay for her exam. She does not have the money and she has no idea where she would get the money to pay the exam. She has to lie to her cousin‟s wife when she is asked to buy a pound of steak from the market. She says that she lost the money but her cousin‟s wife does not believe her. She realizes that she is wrong to do that and she is not a good liar, but she believes that what she has done is for the sake of her fate.

She is really no good at lying. The wildness in her eyes had a way of betraying her. If only she could have been all right: people would have believed her story. But she kept staring into her eyes, and her face showed her up like a mirror (p. 17).

Finally, she passes the exam. This fact proves that Adah is an intelligent woman. She becomes the best kid at that year and deserves for a full scholarship. It proves that Adah is able to manage herself in achieving what she has dreamed of and also she has proved again that she is a woman with intellectual way of thinking.

She not only passed the entrance examination, but she got a scholarship with full board. She never knew whether she came first or second or even third, but she was one of the best children of the year (p. 18).

The other fact that she is intelligent can be seen when she has to choose another job, while she already has a job at shirt factory. She thinks that she is not an average black woman comparing to most black women at that time. She thinks

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that she is more intellectual than any other black women. That is the reason why she feels that she deserves a better job than the job at the shirt factory. She has the experience of working in the British Library. This fact also encourages her to get a better life with a better job.

She had part of the British Library Association Professional Certificate, to say nothing of the experiences. Why should she go and work with her neighbors who were just learning to join their letters together instead of printing them (p. 38).

Adah always tries to be a good mother for her children. She tries everything for the sake of her children. Her children mean everything to her. She loves her children so much. It can be seen in the quotation below.

Yes, how had she known? How could a mother tell another woman who had never birth to a baby that sometimes she lived in her children? How could she explain that if her son underwent an operation her own body would ache; how could tell Cynthia that when she was looking at the fishcake, she had seen Vicky‟s wet face, twisting in pain, reflected in the window? There was too much to explain; too much about her self as a human being that she did not know. She just felt these feeling (p. 58).

She gives her effort to show that she is a very good and responsible mother for all her children. She realizes that sometimes her body says that she is not in good condition for working and taking care of the children, but she does not want to give up to that condition. She stands up and does her duty as a good mother for her children.

Something happened to Adah then. It was like a big hope and a kind of energy charging into her, giving her so much strength even though she was physically ill with her fifth child. Then she said very loud and very clear, „Don‟t worry, sir. The children are mine, and that is enough. I shall never let them down as long as I am alive,‟ (p. 185).

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The other proof that shows Adah is a very good mother can be seen when she lies about her pregnancy in order to gain some money for her children.

She realizes that if she does not work, it means that she would have no money for her and her children‟s needs. Thus, she has to lie, although her condition at that time of pregnancy would not permit her to do any hard activities.

According to her calculation, she should have the baby at the beginning of December………..But one thing was beginning to worry her, though, her bulk. Her boss was always looking at her, when she thought Adah was not watching, wondering. Adah had lied to them, saying that her baby was due early in February, so that she could stay as long as possible at work So if only Adah could work as long as possible, they would be able to pay their rent, pay for the children‟s nursery and put some money by until she got strong enough to go back to work (p. 97-98).

Those descriptions on Adah‟s behaviors prove that Adah can be considered as a woman who is not the same with the other regular women. She is a woman with intellectual way of thinking. She believes that her fate is not in the hand of other people. She does some amazing efforts to prove that she is a woman with capability to do great things. Most of all, she proves that her status as a mother does not limit her activity. She proves that she can be a good mother without depending on her husband.

B. Racism and Gender Discrimination Experienced by the Main Character

1. The Main Character’s Experiences of Racism

The novel Second Class Citizen is known as a novel that the story tells about the life of a young black woman. It means that the racism cannot be

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separated from the discussion, because racism mostly happens in every story of most black people at that time.

She begins to experience the racial discriminations when she has arrived in England. She is shocked when the white people give her a treatment that she thinks inappropriate. She begins to realize that the white people are trying to live away from her and her people. This fact is supported by the statement of her husband. He said that it is normal for black people to live in bad condition in

England. Many white people refuse to stay in one neighborhood with black people. They think that black people‟s presence is the disturbance for their family.

Are we going to lived here?‟ She managed to ask „Well I know you will not like it, but this is the best I can do. You see, accommodation is very short in London, especially for black people with children. The Pakistanis and even the Indians, so that African students are usually grouped together with them. We are all blacks, all coloreds and the only houses we can get are horrors like these (p. 35).

There is a statement that can be seen as a hard proof that racial discrimination is a very strong in England. Some of black people who are considered as king in their native country are not always have the same treatment as in England.

You must know my dear young lady, that in Lagos you may be a million officers for the Americans. You may be earning a million pounds a day; you may have hundreds of servant; you may be living like elite, but the day you land in England, you are a second class citizen (p. 3).

Most of black people in England send their children to the foster parents. The main reason is, there is a lack of the accommodation. The problem is, there is an informal regulation that the foster mother of the children has to be white. It means that there is a discrimination that white people is always better in

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everything comparing with the black people. It can be seen in the statement below.

No one care whether a woman was a suitable or not, no one wanted to know whether the house was clean or not; all they wanted to be sure of was that the foster-mother was white. The concept of “whiteness” could cover a multitude sins. (p. 44)

When Adah‟s child, Vicky, is sick, he has to be brought to the doctor, because the temperature is one hundred Fahrenheit. The doctor refuses to treat

Vicky and advises Adah to bring her child to Royal Free Hospital. It proves that the doctor does the racial discrimination to Adah‟s family. The doctor treats

Adah‟s family based on their skin color. It also proves that skin color in England still becomes the determining factor in the matter of medication.

Now an ambulance was speeding her to the Royal Free? Was it a hospital for poor people, for second class people? Why did they put the word „free‟ in it? Fear started to shroud her. Were they sending her Vicky to a second class hospital, a free one, just because they were blacks? (p. 60).

Adah feels strange when she knows that her child, Titi, does not want to talk to her. Later, she finds that Francis is behind the strange behavior of Titi.

Francis threats Titi to speak only English language or he lashes her. Adah is surprised to find that fact. Titi usually talks to her in Yoruba, their native language. Francis does this because he believes that black people is not better than white people. Francis thinks that English is a language of white people which symbolized intelligence, thus he forces his children to speak English language more often than any other language.

This was due to the fact that Nigeria was ruled for so long a time by the English. An intelligent man was judged by the way he spoke

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English. But it did not matter whether the English could speak the languages of the people they ruled. (p. 53)

It is a nightmare for Adah to live in England, because she finds many terrible experiences due to her skin color. She never expects to this miserable life.

She finds that it is very hard for her to find a better accommodation. A proper house is a rare thing for the black people in England. Usually the white people refuse to stay in one neighborhood with the black people, because they believe that black people are inferior and they are troublemakers. Thus, the white people decide to take no black people inside their neighborhood.

She would read and reread all that shops windows had to advertise. Nearly all the notices had „sorry, no coloreds‟ on them. Her house- hunting was made more difficult because she was black; black, with two very young children and pregnant with another one. She was beginning to learn that her color was something she was supposed to be ashamed of. She was never aware of this at home in Nigeria. She, who only a few months previously would have accepted nothing but the best, had by now been conditioned to expect inferior things. She was now learning to suspect anything beautiful and pure. Those things were for the whites, not the blacks (p. 70-71).

Adah has not found a home for her and her children. All houses refuse to accept black people by putting the sign “Sorry, no coloureds” in front of their house. Adah does not give up with this kind situation. She tries to find the way to get the proper house. One day she finds a good idea. She will offer to pay double rent for the house. The value of the property would decrease if black people who live in the property.

Every door seemed barred against them; nobody would consider accommodating them, even when they were willing to pay double the normal rent (p. 71).

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Finally, Adah finds an advertisement that has no sign of “No coloureds”. When she phones the owner, she has to fake her voice. She hopes that the owner wants to accept her and her family. She realizes that the area of the house is not appropriate, but she has no other choice. At the rent house, the owner is shocked that the tenant actually is black people.

As she opened the door, the woman clutched at her throat with one hand, her little mouth opening and closing as if gasping for air and her bright kitten-like eyes dilated to their fullest extent. She made several attempt to talk, but no sound came. Her mouth had obviously gone dry. But she succeeded eventually. Oh, yes, she found her voice from wherever it had gone previously. That voice was telling them now that she was very sorry, the rooms had just gone. Yes both rooms (p. 78).

This condition shows that racial discrimination in England is very strong. The owner rejects them. The owner feels tricked to see that the person who wants to rent the house actually is black.

Adah had never faced rejection in this manner. Not like this directly. Rejection by this shrunken piece of humanity, with a shaky body and moppy hair, loose, dirty and unkempt, who tried to tell them that they were unsuitable for a half-derelict and probably condemned house with creaky stairs. Just because they were blacks? (p. 79).

The racism is also shown when Adah is not given any opportunity to live even in that horrible house. The racism is also shown when the lower class of a white man who is described as homeless still has a right to insult the black people. It can be concluded that black is always placed as the lowest class in

England.

Finally Adah has found a house that accepts her and her family. The name of the owner is Mr. Noble. His house is located in the tumbled down area. It represents the real fact on how big the gap between the white society and the

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black society. It is shown by the big building that separates the area of the white people and the black people. The white people live in the area that looks very nice and the black people live in a dirty area.

As was to be expected, Mr. Noble‟s humble abode was situated in the gloomy part. There was a mighty building curving right into the middle of the street, shutting away the cheerful side from the gloomy one, as if it were determined to divide the poor from the rich; the houses from the ghetto, the whites from the blacks. The jutting end of this building was just like a social divide, solid, visible and unmovable (p. 90).

On the Christmas Day, Adah decides not to celebrate it, because she has no money. No celebration, instead she finds that Vicky is sick. She realizes that this is not the first time she has this experience. Adah has already accepted this experience when Vicky is sick and no doctor wants to treat her child because she is a black.

If anything should happen to Vicky now, Society would forgive the doctor, because he was a black child and he had been taken ill on Christmas Day. (p. 143)

Adah tells Francis to call a doctor for her son. Then, Francis calls an

Indian doctor but he refuses to come. The doctor says that the day is his rest day.

In England, the black people are positioned under every colored skin that lived there. It is showed when the Indian doctor to refuse the call because he feels that his skin color has higher position than Adah‟s. It proves that racial discrimination is not only done by the white people, but also the colored people in England.

The Indian doctor would not come. He said it was his rest day and I know that doctors are supposed to attend their patients in an emergency. Why should he refuse to attend to Vicky (p. 145).

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Those facts really prove on how the main character experiences some difficulties when she lives in England. The consideration about the superiority and the inferiority between the whites and the black becomes the main cause of racial discrimination that is experienced by the main character.

2. The Main Character’s Experiences of Gender Discrimination

Since the beginning of her life, Adah has experienced the gender discrimination, especially from her native. The society in Nigeria makes the position of woman is considered as unimportant. This fact is proved by the ignorance of her family about her birth record, because her family more appreciate the presence of a boy than a girl.

She was a girl who had arrived when everyone was expecting and predicting a boy. So, since she was a big disappointment to her parents, to her immediate family, to her tribe, nobody thought of recording her birth. She was so insignificant. (p. 1).

According to the Nigerian custom, many Nigerian women accept their role in the society without any arguments. This role has been inherited through the family in Nigeria. Most of them would be grateful with these conditions, because they think that they are useful for their family and their society. This condition becomes established when Nigerian thinks that sending their daughter to get education is a wasting of energy and money. This fact is also experienced by

Adah. Adah‟s family refuses to send her to school. The Nigerian thinks that education is important for boy only.

School- The Igbo‟s never played with that!. They were realizing fast that one‟s savior from poverty and disease was education. Every Igbo family saw to it that their children attended the school. Boys were usually given

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preference, though. So even though Adah was about eight there were still discussions about whether it would be wise to send her to school. Even if was sent to school, it was very doubtful whether it would be wise to let her stay long. „A year or two would do, as long as she can write her name and count. Then she will learn to sew‟. Adah had heard her mother say this many many times to her friends. (p. 3).

In England, Adah also finds the gender discriminations. For instance, there is a rule that says that a woman should have a husband to be able stay in

England. The husband also already has a job in England, and it is forbidden for woman to bring children to England. This rule will make Adah finds difficulty to move to England, because she is a single woman.

The immigration authorities were making it very difficult for single girls to come to England. You were allowed or as long as you were coming to join a husband who was already there (p. 37).

The proof on gender discrimination can be seen when Francis says that most of the women in England are not allowed to get any higher education, because it is useless for them. There is an opinion that a woman should be a housewife. They will only take care of the family. Thus, any higher education is not required.

„It is allowed for African males to come to come and get civilized in England. But that privileged has not been extended to females yet (p. 34).

Francis also thinks that to take care of children is a duty of a woman. He does not want to be disturbed. As the head of the family, Francis has an absolute power over his wife. He acts unfairly by refusing to help her wife to take care of the children.

„Who is going to look after your children for you?‟ Francis asked one day when she was tucking the babies into their settee bed. „I can‟t go

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on doing it; you‟ll have to look for someone. I can‟t go on looking after your children for you.‟ (p. 43).

Francis is truly an awful husband for Adah and her children. He never treats Adah properly as his wife. He often speaks impolitely to his wife. It can be seen when Francis feels annoyed when Adah asks him whether they will go to Mr.

Noble or not. Francis feels that a wife should not ask anything that would make the husband feels annoyed, although it is just for asking. From the statement below, Francis can be seen to be the supreme leader for his wife. He does not like his wife to ask. A wife is supposed to do anything that the husband wants without asking. This fact can be seen as another proof of Adah experiences the gender discrimination.

„Are we going to see Mr. Noble or not?‟ „Yes, yes, we will,‟ answered Francis quickly rushing to her. She dodged, and this annoys her husband and he demanded: „What the bloody hell do you want? I‟ve said that we will go and talk to them, what else do you want?‟ (p. 89).

As a wife, Adah feels that she needs love and attention from her husband, especially when she is pregnant. Francis never gives the love and the attention to his wife. Francis does not realize that a pregnant woman is supposed to be treated better in order to maintain the health of the mother and the baby. It can be seen on the quotation below

He could hardly ask her how she was feeling, because to him Adah was always his and no illness, no god can take Adah from him, so why bother to ask how she was feeling, when he was sure she would get better anyway? So they usually had nothing to talk about (p. 123).

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Francis is an arrogant person. He believes that Adah belongs only to him. No matter what he does, Adah cannot leave her. This opinion leads him to give less appropriate treatment to Adah

One day, Francis beats Adah outrageously. It is because of a simple reason. Adah goes to the family planning without his permission. Francis feels that Adah cheats behind his back. He does not like it and he believes that Adah deserves a punishment from him.

Francis called all the other tenants to come and see and hear about this great issue – how the innocent Adah who came to London only a year previously had become so clever. Adah was happy when Pa Noble came, because at least it made Francis stop hitting her. She was dizzy with pain and her head throbbed. Her mouth was bleeding (p. 154).

That quotation above shows how Francis disrespects Adah as his wife.

He beats Adah so hard and then calls the neighbors. His purpose is to embarrass

Adah in front the public. Francis wants to make statement that he is the head of the family and he rules everything that happens in his family.

Francis treats his wife based on his Nigerian custom. He believes that a woman has to respect the husband. The description of woman inside Francis mind is more likely as a servant. Woman is only something that able to please him as a man. It does not need any formality to live with a woman, because woman is seen to be the subordinate from a man. Francis does anything to get what he wants from Adah, including beating her. A woman is a brainless creature. All she has to do just obeying what the husband says and does. This fact can be seen on this quotation below.

Francis came from another culture, that he was not one of those men who could adapt to new demand with ease, that his ideas about women

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were still the same. To him, a woman was a second-class human, to be slept with at any time, even during the day, and, if she refused, to have sense beaten into her until she gave in; to be ordered out of bed after he had done with her; to make sure she washed his clothes and got his meals ready at the right time. There was no need to have an intelligent conversation with his wife because, you see, she might start getting ideas (p. 175).

There is a proof on this quotation below that Francis limits Adah‟s freedom. He rejects Adah‟s wish to become a writer. He thinks that a woman to become a writer is a wasting of time and energy. No one would read it, because they think that woman is not smarter than man. What a woman should do is taking care the family and focusing all of her time and energy to the family, not o n everything else.

Then Francis said, „You keep forgetting that you are a woman and that you are black. The white man can barely tolerate us men, to say nothing of brainless females like you who could think of nothing except how to breast-feed her baby.‟ „That may be so,‟ cried Adah, „but people have read it. And they say that it is good. Just read it, I want your opinion. Don‟t you know what it means to us if in the future I could be a writer?‟ (p. 178).

From that quotation, it can be seen that Francis never supports Adah‟s wish to be a writer. Moreover, Francis does the worst thing by burning all her books. Francis shows his domination through Adah‟s life. He believes that he can do whatever he likes. And he controls everything that happens in Adah‟s life.

C. The Main Character Struggles against Racism and Gender Discrimination

1. The Struggles against Racism

The practice of racism has already happened when Adah reaches

England. Most black people at that time are stuck with rules that discriminate

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them from the white people. But Adah with her education is able to make struggle against the racial discrimination. The struggle is shown by Adah through her behaviors, opinions, and speech.

Adah is able to get better job than other black people as a Senior

Library Assistant. Although Adah has a good job, it does not mean that she lives in a good house. Adah finds that it is very hard to get a better house in England for her and her family. Since Francis does not do anything to fix the problem,

Adah has to do everything by herself. Francis says that it is impossible for black people to live in good house, because the white people believe that black people are not able to afford it. Adah disagrees with this opinion. She shows her resistance by saying that everyone deserves to get a better life as long as they want make effort on it.

You forget I have young children, and they will bring me into contact with he neighbors. You should have thought of that before. Oh, I wish I had not come… „Why don‟t you stop wishing and face reality? It is too late now. We just have to make the best of the situation. I shouldn‟t start moaning, if I were you.‟ „Don‟t talk to me. I don‟t want to hear. You could have got better accommodation if you had really tried. But you didn‟t try hard enough,‟ Adah yelled (p. 36)

Adah shows her resistance with her opinion of the way of life in

England. She disagrees with the discrimination that is experienced by the black people. Why do the black people have to be differentiated? It is seen through her effort finding a job. Francis tells her that she has to work as a factory worker because it is the place that is appropriate for black people to work. She refuses that opinion. She thinks that if someone like her is more educated, then why she

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does not work at better place. She struggles against that opinion by working at

British library Association.

What worried her most was the description „second-class‟ Francis had become so conditioned by this phrase that he was not only living up to it but enjoying it, too. He kept pressing Adah to get a job in a shirt factory. Adah refused. Working in a factory was the last thing she would do. After all, she has part of the British Library Association Professional Certificate, to say nothing of the experience. Why should she go and work with the neighbors who were just learning to join their letter together (p. 38).

Adah thinks that is unfair for black people if they are always be judged as bad people. She believes that every person is born equally and completed with the bad side and good side. Thus it is unfair if white people always think that black people is bad. Why they have to judge a goodness or badness of someone just based on their skin color.

Adah could not stop thinking about her discovery that the whites were just as fallible as everyone else. There were bad whites and good whites, just as there were bad blacks and good blacks! Why then did they claim to be superior? (p. 52).

Adah”s efforts to struggle against the racism discrimination are also seen when she tries to find a house for her family. She realizes that a better house for black people in England is a rare thing. White people always refuse to stay with black people. Moreover, most of the landlords refuse the black people to become their tenant by putting a sign “No colored” in front of their properties.

Adah always tries to show that she is proud to be black people. She is proud of her native country, though many white people consider that African country is uncivilized country. She tries to be different from other black people who give up their fate of their country to white people. In the quotation below, she

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shows her struggles against racism by showing how proud she is for being colored.

She was different. Her children were going to be different. They were all going to be black, they were going to enjoy being black, be proud of being black, a black of different breed. That‟s what they were going to be (p. 148).

Adah is very different from other black people at that time. She is a woman with intellectual way of thinking. Her intellectual is used to against every act of racial discrimination. She proves that every person who is born to this world is deserved to have the equal rights and opportunities. No matter how black or how white they are.

2. The Struggles against Gender Discriminations

Adah has experienced the gender discrimination since she is born to this world. It is started when her presence that is not expected by her family and how she cannot get her dream of being educated from her family. Those experiences that make Adah dares to fight discrimination toward her. If men are able to get good education, then why woman are not allowed to het education.

Going to England has already become her dream. At that time, people in her native country who go to England, get a lot of respects from the society.

This fact encourages her to go to England. She wants to get respect from the society as a woman.

England is much different from what she has dreamed before. She finds the reality is much different from what people say. When she finds that the house is very bad, she becomes very upset. She is angry with her husband. She

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sends money to her husband in order to get a good house to stay in England. But, the fact is the house is very bad. It shows how Adah dares to express her feeling about her dissatisfaction toward the house. Her expression shows her bravery to get what she deserves to get.

Oh, Francis how could you have done this to us? After all we have friends who, though they may be living in slums like this, still live apart from this type of people. „You have tried Francis. Look at your friend, Mr. Eke, when he knew that his wife was coming with their daughter, he made sure he moved away from this lot‟ she said aloud. „Don‟t talk to me. I don‟t want to hear. You could have got better accommodation if you had really tried. But you didn‟t try hard enough,‟ Adah yelled (p. 36).

Life becomes much harder for Adah when she reaches England.

Francis forces Adah to work on shirt factory. He says that that is suitable work for black woman like her. Adah disagrees with that. She thinks that she deserves to get better job than that. She is more educated than any other black people who work at the factory. Why she has to throw away her intelligence while she can get a better job at somewhere else.

He kept pressing Adah to get a job in a shirt factory. Adah refused. Working in a factory was the last thing she would do. After all, she has part of the British Library Association Professional Certificate, to say nothing of the experience. Why should she go and work with her neighbors who were just learning to join their letters together instead of printing them? (p. 38).

She begins to realize that she has no role in her marriage. She wants to participate. She does not like to be ignored when trouble comes. Although the trouble is not to her, but she feels responsible when her husband gets into some troubles.

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She hated to be treated like a native woman who was not supposed to know the important happenings in the family until they had been discussed and analyzed by the menfolk. (p. 69)

She thinks that being silent is not the answer of her problems. She also thinks that silent is the answer for the problem of her marriage. She does anything to solve her problem. It is much better than just be silent. Moreover, she likes to take a fight with her husband if that can make the problem solved. It sounds inappropriate for a woman, but with that opinion, Adah shows her struggle against the discrimination toward her.

England is a silent country; people are thought to bottle up their feelings and screw them up tight, like the illicit gin her parents drunk at home. If you made a mistake and uncorked the bottle, the gin would be bubble out. She had seen Englishmen and women behave like humans once or twice, but why was it that they only behaved like humans when they were straggling out of the pubs on Saturday night? Well, if they would give her gas to shut her up, then she would not scream. She would face Francis and have it out with him. She knew Francis, she‟d rather have a fight with him than with a god or goddess she did not know (p. 100).

On the quotation below, it is seen that Adah refuses gender discrimination. She thinks that why does women always have carry the punishment. If Eve is fault to eat the forbidden fruit, it does not mean that Eve has to bear all the blames on her shoulder. Adam also eats the part of the forbidden fruit. Thus it makes Adam also has to carry the same burden as Eve does.

One of the men‟s ribs makes all the ribs of women. The ribs were to fine, to regular to be a man‟s. Fancy a woman having to work having to carry babies who kept pushing their mummies about and, on top of it all, having to have cancer as well. Was Eve the only person who ate the apple? Did not the man Adam eat some too? Why was it that women had to bear most of the punishment? It was not all fair (p. 105).

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She realizes that Francis is a not responsible father for the children and family. He does not do anything good to be a responsible husband and father. No matter what happen, she does not let her children to get improper treatments like she gets. She realizes that it is wrong to be married to Francis and she realizes that this burden has to be carried only by her. She teaches her children to behave themselves as treat their couple as the proper partner. She does not want gender discrimination that is experienced by her, also experience to her children

„If you don‟t go out of this ward, or stop talking, I shall throw this milk jug at you. I hate you now, Francis, and one day I shall leave you. I did not bring my children into the world to be brought up by a woman who can‟t even sign her name. A woman who used her thumb on our marriage certificate because she could not write. My sons will learn to treat their wives as people, individuals, not like goats that have been taught to talk….‟ (p. 127).

Adah decides to go to the clinic. She does not want to have more children. Francis would not be agreed with that, but she realizes that family planning is the best the decision that she could get. She takes her chance and deals with Francis later. He shows her bravery by taking a big decision on taking the family planning.

Adah got the literature without his permission. Could not the women be given the opportunity of exercising her own will? Whatever happened she was not going to have any more children (p. 149).

Finally, Adah takes a very big decision by leaving her husband and asking for a divorce. She realizes that her marriage is far to be said happy. By doing that, Adah shows her struggle against men oppressions. She will not let

Francis exploits her again just for his own benefit.

And remember, Francis, I am not your mother. I am me, and I am different from her. It is a mistake to use your mother as a yardstick.

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You never loved and respect her. You remember the saying that a man who treated his mother like a shit would always treat his wife like a shit? (p. 183).

Finally Adah gets her divorce and takes care of all her children, because Francis does not want to take care of them. Her life is getting better and better without Francis. She gets a proper job at The British Museum and her life could not be better than now. Adah is a truly of a representation of the struggle against gender discrimination. Her thought, speech, and behavior, could be the example for many women in the world to be brave to stand against the oppression toward them.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta is a novel that describes the life of a young black woman. The main character of the novel is Adah. Adah is a young black woman who lives under gender and racial discrimination around her.

Since the beginning of her life, she has experienced the gender discrimination from her family and her society. Her family does not want to record her birth because they think that to have a daughter is unimportant. And also, her family does not want to send her to school because they think that it is useless to give any education to a woman. But above of all, Adah is a woman who is different with other women. She is intelligent and smart. She always tries to reach her dream with any ways that she could do.

Her life becomes very complicated when she goes to England. There, she is discriminated by the society based on the skin color and gender. Besides the gender discrimination, there she has to experience the racism discrimination from the white people. The proof that show that she is discriminated is when she has to live in the slum area .She asks Francis to get a better place, but he says that that is all he can get for her. She tries everything to get a better place to stay. White people in England do not want to live equally with black people. They think that black people are uncivilized and trouble maker. They are ashamed to introduce black people to their neighborhood.

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The gender discrimination also happens in the novel; basically the main

cause is her husband Francis. While she lives there, Francis refuses to

work with the reason it will disturb his study. Francis always forces Adah

to do what he says and wants. The worst is when Adah is forced to work to

fulfill the family needs, while her husband does nothing. Francis is also an

awful husband. He never treats Adah with love and care, but instead with

yelling and punch.

Those experiences of racism and gender discrimination do not make

Adah surrender to her fate. She struggles with anything she could do. Basically it is from her intellectual way of thinking. With her intelligence she finds many ways to struggle against the discrimination toward her. Being an educated woman make her has so many ideas to solve the problem related to the discriminations.

The hard life that she has experienced makes her an independent woman. She has her own way to solve the problem and how to handle the problem. She believes that every person in this world deserves for equal rights and opportunities. It is not right when people are judged only by the color of their skin. Also, she believes that man and woman share the equal right and obligation to live in this world. Those facts that make Adah dares to break the wall of discrimination. She struggles against the racism discrimination with her thought, speech, and behavior. At the end of the story she dares to divorce her husband because she thinks that her husband is not worth to be lived together with. She proves to the world that black woman is able to do things that most white people would not expect it.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abrams, M H. A Glossary of Literary Term. New York: Holt, Rineheart and Winston, 1981.

Arliss, Laurie. P. Gender Discrimination. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc, 1991.

Birch, Eva. Lennox. Black American Woman’s Writing. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1994.

Bryan, Beverly. et al. The Heart of The Race: Black Women’s Lives in Britain. London: Virago Press Limited, 1985.

Emecheta, Buchi. Second Class Citizen. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1994.

Encyclopedia Americana International Edition. Danbury: Grolier Incorporated, 1995.

Frazier, E. Franklin. Race and Culture Contacts in the Modern World. New York: Alfred. A. Knopf, 1957.

Freeman, Jo. Women: A Feminist Perspective (3rd Ed). New York: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1984.

Gloves, David and Cora Kaplan. Genders. London: Roitledge, 2000.

Henkle, Roger B. Reading the Novel: An Introduction to The Techniques of Interpreting Fiction. New York: Harper & Row, Publ.1997.

Little, Kenneth. The Race question in Modern Science: Race and Society. Paris: UNESCO, 1956.

Madsen, Deborah L. Feminist Theory & Literary Practice. London: Pluto Press, 2000.

Merril, Francis and H Wentworth Elderge. Cultural and Society: An Introduction to Sociology. New York: Prentice Hall Inc, 1952.

Murphy, M.J. Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1972.

Paine, Michael. A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory. Springfield: Blackwell, 1997.

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Perrine, Laurence. Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. New York: Harcourt Brace Javanovich Inc, 1974.

Roberts, Edgar V and Henry E Jacobs. Fiction: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. New York: Prentice Hall Inc, 1987.

Rohrberger, Mary and Samuel Woods Jr. Reading and Writing about Literature. New York: Random House, 1971.

Sowel, Thomas. Race and Culture. New York: Basic Books, 1994.

Summers, Della. Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture. Essex: Longman, 1992.

Wellek, Rene and Austin Warren. Theory of Literature. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc, 1962.

Zamora, Lois. Parkinson. Contemporay American Woman Writers: Gender, Class, Ethnicity. London: Longman, 1996.

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APPENDIX

Summary of Buchi Emecheta’s “Second Class Citizen”

Second Class citizen is a story about the struggle of a black woman toward the racism and gender discrimination. Adah, the main character, was born in

Lagos, Nigeria. She lives in the society that applies the patriarchy to their role of their life. Women do not have any rights. They only have the obligation to serve the family and husband. However, Adah is not a woman who always accepts that kind of situation. She is encouraged by her father say about England. Her father often says that England is a land of opportunity where every people could reach everything. She wants to get a better life by going to England. She studies hard to reach what she has dreamed. Her family disagrees with her decision to go to school. She tries anything to get a better education. And finally, she is able to graduate from the school and get the scholarship.

She decides to get married in order to get a place for her college education.

Even in her marry; she experiences the gender discrimination that is done by

Francis, his husband and his family. She has to become the person who responsible for Francis‟ and his family‟s finance. Adah asks Francis that she wants to go to England with him. At that time, it is very hard for woman to immigrate to England. It is caused that immigration authorities only allow woman who has married which is able to move to England.

She is shocked when she steps her feet in England. The reality is much worse than she has expected. Especially when Francis shows the house that will

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be used by them. Adah is surprised with the condition of the house. The house is very poor and it is like the house for her maid in her native country. Francis says that white people do not want to live with black people. That fact makes that black people have to live in slum area.

Adah also has to face another fact that Francis begins to change. His attitude is not the same as Adah used to know. Francis becomes very lazy and abusive to her. He does not want to work. He thinks that working could disturb his study, thus Adah has to work for her family. She works very hard her family and she never complaint with the situation.

Finally, Adah manages to move to a better place, but the problem does not end there. Francis still does not change. His attitude becomes worse. He never appreciates what Adah has done for his and family. The climax is when Francis burns Adah novel when tell him that she wants to become a writer. Adah feels enough of these gender discriminations and decide to leave Francis by taking all her children.