WHITE NARRATIONS, A REVELATION OF THE BLACK AND WHITE RELATION IN FAULKNER’S ABSALOM, ABSALOM!: A POSTCOLONIAL STUDY ON RACISM IN THE SOUTHERN US A Thesis Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Attainment of the Sarjana Sastra Degree in English Literature by Sri Sumaryani 07211141014 ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE STUDY PROGRAM FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS YOGYAKARTA STATE UNIVERSITY MARCH 2012 i DEDICATION To Ibuk and Plab and to the memory of Bapak Who taught me to love music and books in the sweet old days v MOTTO “Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.” —William Faulkner vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Without God the Almighty, I would have never finished the writing. With sincere gratitude, I acknowledge my family and friends who have contributed a lot in helping me to work on the process of writing. Special recognition and gratitude must be given to Bapak Sugi Iswalono and Ibu Ari Nurhayati whose guidance and professionalism lead me to the completion of the work. For the endless love, prayers, care, and support, I thank my mother Paryati and my brother Beng “Plab” Pramono. I also wish especially to thank my father Sukartana for the most precious legacy he left for me: memories. My gratitude also goes to Mbah Atung H.M. Hasyim for his support and care. My big family also deserves to get the gratitude for their warmth, love, and support. During the process of writing the thesis, I have received much support and been blessed with friendship, generosity, and care from my second family at International Office UNY, KKN Cibuk Lor 38, and English Debate Society UNY. I also thank my friends at First Division of EDSA FBS, Literature Concentration, Class XII IA4 SMA N 1 Wates 2007, LBI SMA N 1 Wates, English Language and Literature Class A, and those whom I cannot mention one by one. Finally, I realize that this work is far from perfection. Thus, it is open to all criticism and suggestions. Yogyakarta, March 10th 2012 Sri Sumaryani vii TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE ............................................................................................................. i APPROVAL ................................................................................................... ii RATIFICATION ............................................................................................ iii PERNYATAAN .............................................................................................. iv DEDICATION ................................................................................................ v MOTTO .......................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................. viii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1 A. Background of the Study ................................................................. 1 B. Research Focus ................................................................................ 5 C. Research Objectives ........................................................................ 7 D. Research Significance ..................................................................... 7 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................... 8 A. Fanon’s Theory of Racial Difference in Colonial and Postcolonial Societies .............................................................. 11 1. Blacks and Language ................................................................. 13 2. Relationship between Blacks and Whites .................................. 17 3. Blacks and Symbolization .......................................................... 20 viii B. Racism ............................................................................................. 24 C. Previous Research Findings ............................................................ 27 D. Seeing the Southern Life in the 19th Century .................................. 28 E. Faulkner as a Southern Author ........................................................ 32 F. Analytical Construct ........................................................................ 33 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................................... 36 A. Research Approach ......................................................................... 36 B. Data Type ........................................................................................ 36 C. Data Source ..................................................................................... 37 D. Data Collection................................................................................ 38 E. Research Instruments ....................................................................... 39 F. Data Trustworthiness ....................................................................... 39 G. Data Analysis .................................................................................. 41 CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ......................................... 42 A. The Identification of Racism in the Southern US ........................... 43 1. The Use of Language ................................................................. 44 a. The Deployment of Images ................................................... 45 b. The Use of Derogatory Terms ............................................... 49 c. The Use of Courtesy Titles .................................................... 53 2. The Relationship ........................................................................ 57 a. A White Man and a Black Woman ........................................ 59 ix b. A Black Man and a White Woman ........................................ 63 3. The Symbolization ..................................................................... 68 a. Animals .................................................................................. 70 b. Sexual Threats ....................................................................... 74 B. The Characteristics of the Southern People .................................... 79 1. Being Proud of White Race ....................................................... 81 2. Being Religiously Hypocritical .................................................. 86 CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS .................................................................... 90 REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 92 APPENDIXES ................................................................................................ 95 x WHITE NARRATIONS, A REVELATION OF THE BLACK AND WHITE RELATION IN FAULKNER’S ABSALOM, ABSALOM!: A POSTCOLONIAL STUDY ON RACISM IN THE SOUTHERN US By Sri Sumaryani 07211141014 ABSTRACT This research aims to identify racism depicted in a novel entitled Absalom, Absalom!, and to explain the characteristics of the Southern people in relation to racism revealed in the novel. The theory of racial differences in colonial and postcolonial societies by Frantz Fanon is used to answer the objectives. The research was qualitative in nature and a descriptive-qualitative method was used to analyze the data. The main source of this research was a novel entitled Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner. The data were some phrases, clauses, sentences, and expressions related to racism and characteristics of the white Southern people in relation to racism found in the novel. The data analysis was conducted through six steps: identifying, reading and re-reading, coding and categorizing, and sorting the data, making the interrelation between the description of the data and the theory, and making an interpretation of the findings. To obtain trustworthiness, the researcher used intra-rater technique and peer debriefing method. The findings of this research show that there are three aspects seen through the narrations of the white Southerners which depict racist treatments towards Blacks: the use of language, the relationship, and the symbolization. First, White Southerners use language as a means to create negative images towards Blacks and to show Whites’ supremacy through the use of derogatory terms and the standard use of courtesy titles. Second, the relationship between Blacks and Whites tends to spoil Blacks. Black women are regarded as objects by white men while black men are considered dangerous and polluting the white women’s purity and honor. Third, the skin color of Blacks symbolizes animals and sexual threats for white race. The three aspects are used by White Southerners as a means to subjugate Blacks. Meanwhile, the white Southerners, represented by the narrators and other white characters in the novel, are portrayed as being proud of their race and religiously hypocritical. The pride is represented by their unchanged attitudes and treatments towards Blacks as a means to hold White supremacy after the end of the Civil War while their hypocrisy is shown by the use of religious values that have been twisted to legitimize their racist treatments towards Blacks. xi 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background