CONSTRUCTING THE CULTURAL IDENTITY AGAINST TRADITION IN ‘A BACKWARD PLACE’ BY RUTH PRAWER JHABVALA

Abstract

This essay analyzes how the cultural identity is constructed to the new identity for the characters in ‘A Backward Place’. The culture has a massive role in constructing the identity toward people, society, and the other social institutions. As it has the big influence, the culture can deconstruct and construct the identity from the old to the new, the local to the global, and the minority to the majority. To analyze this novel I used the orientalism perspective. I think there is a deconstruction of identity to the characters in the novel through the culture, tradition, and language.        

Introduction

The novel ‘A Backward Place’ by Jabvala presents many cultural studies that I can see in the story, especially the contrasting characters created by the author. This essay will responds about the creating identity influenced by two cultures which appose each other, mainly in constructing new identity to the characters. Its process is presented in Etta, Judy, Bal, Shudir, Bhuaji, Clarisa, Mr. Hochstadt, and Mrs. Hochstadt. The main problem that I want to analyze focuses on the constructing identity in Judy, Etta, and Bal.

For the characters, I find the contrast culture between Etta and Judy. It affects the personality, language, how they dress up, and how they purely live in United States which has the gorgeous culture around their household and friends. Unconsciously they have to live and face the cultural challenge as the new tradition. The way they live is very funny for me. Etta as a Hungarian woman, she speaks English with French accent but her style is very modern. And also Judy as an Indian woman, she is faithful in her nationality, tradition, and culture even she lives in a modern country, United States. They are the cultural problems that will be talked in this essay.

The identifications of this essay are, how is the process of the ‘constructing’ identity toward the characters in the novel, and how is the relation of globalization with ‘constructing’ in the character’s identity. They will explain the problems in the novel that I want to talk about. The globalization appearance, the colonial influence, and the modernism make the massive changes and cultural shifting in the characterization. The novel presents the post-colonial problems in each country of ‘third world’. people are contaminated by modernism thought.

According to  Loomba, “The ‘othering’ of vast numbers of people by European colonialist thought, and their construction as backward and inferior, depended upon what Abdul JanMohamed calls the ‘Manichean allegory’, in which a binary and implacable discursive opposition between races is produced.” (1985: 60). In this essay, I will identify the characters with ‘constructing racial and cultural difference. As refers to the theory, it will indicate the post-colonialism which is in the novel. 

   

Constructing Cultural Identity to Etta, Judy, and Bal

            Eta and Judy clearly have the different character in themselves. Etta was Hungarian girl with French accent in English, and her style purely modern girl in the way she dress and act. On the contrary Etta is too far different with Judy, she is totally Indian girl from her culture, tradition, style in the way she dress. I assume this is the factor of the modernism and globalization happening to them. Unconsciously they have to do challenge this cultural problem. Etta seems really enjoy and take the modern tradition though from style, language, and culture. The modernism constructs the cultural identity to her. It grows up in her faith, manner, and personality. ‘Western’ dominantly contributes the cultures in creating the new identity. Personally, it changes her nationality to the modern enthusiasm. It reflects while she is speaking arrogantly to Judy. She totally dislike Judy from her traditional thought as not like the others around her people having a modern thought, style, life, and household. Judy really realizes that she is different with her friends especially in her office. But she never worries about her problems. She enjoys with her thoughts, culture, and tradition even she lives in a modern country.

            
          The problem happens to them as post-colonialism effects that make the cultural change.  It is like European thoughts create non-European cultural identity becoming the opposition. The binary opposition between European people and non-European people in the cultural race creates the colonialism and non-colonialism. As many critiques done by people against the cultural race itself, the humanity had not questioned for human being, whereas all human beings are same no difference in their nature. But, the colonialism makes a fascinating contrast that counters each others. The counter makes people divided to various sect/ideology. As the characters in the novel, Judy as an Indian girl who works in cultural Dais, she really realizes the counter culture in her country where she is living and working. Her resistance is seen from the way she is presented in the novel when Etta asked Judy to make up and bring the dress for her. She really dislikes Judy’s type from the way she dresses and makes up. Etta’s emotion has been totally created the colonial movement. She thinks Judy is not modern girl and very ancient.

            
        Meanwhile, Judy can control herself with her cultural power. She really noticed, being a modern girl is not must change her style and thought to approve a popular culture. Judy’s resistance to American nationalism is clearly seen in facing the globalization. She was very faithful to her culture and tradition, until she is asked by Mrs. Hochstadt to show Indian tradition fur American public. Actually she is very proud if she is able to show and practice Indian art and tradition as her national identity. Her image in the character shows that she actually notices the colonial history that has happened in her native country. That happened in many nations which had been colonized by European people. That European colonizing produce the imperialism, globalization, and modernism as explained in post-colonialism.

       Now, I will talk about the last character ‘Bal’ in the novel. From the colonial problems that I talked before, Bal is represented as the man who is talented in theatre. He is an actor. He is too interested in art and playing theatre. Beside his talents in theatre, he also likes a local and traditional art. His desire in loving art makes him the strong character toward the cultural studies. It’s like the way he loves his wife, Judy, who love too much her household with Bal. That fact happens because she serves nicely her husband and family, such as, preparing the dinner for her family herself. Even Bal never always with his family, Judy still love him so much. She knows that he sometime must work to outside the city, and he plays Theater or becomes an actor for his family. Such Bal’s character in the novel, it explained that Bal has a big cultural power in his faith. His work in entertaining doesn’t construct the European identity in his self. Naturally, he also can resist the modern culture and globalization in his country. But, sometime he must approve the modernism and the western culture in his work, because he must to do the popular art in the entertain industry. The industry is part of the imperialism. And he must face the cultural race as the big challenge in modern country.

The Relation of ‘Constructing’ with Globalization for the Characters in the novel

 Concept of globalization appears as a weapon to construct the European identity, seen from the massive fact happened in ‘third word’, which includes many countries in Europe continent and Asian continent. Parts of countries which are colonized in eighteenth century, the fact give big influences to cultures in each country. The globalization changes the human mind in any pattern of living. The goal is to transform the cultural representation. The concepts is applied in the novel through the characters; Etta, Shudir, Shanti, and Clarissa.

They are represented as the urban people in the novel. It seems clearly from their manner like when Etta and Shanti have dinner and coffee break in the coffee shop and bar. Their lifestyle distinguishes them from Etta and Bal. Etta and Shanti have been already accustomed by elegancy of the city, sitting on a nice sofa and living in elegant house. Etta loves too much the wealth. Her character applied to the concept of globalization. The globalization has the big power and authority in constructing human identity.

The globalization relates the human identity from dominant culture that appears in this modern era. The globalization totally affect the cultures and traditions for every people in the word. It creates the new identity for non-European people. Certainly, it makes people addicted in new cultural studies for non- Europeans, and set their mindset. It’s applied in Etta, Shudir, and Shanti. The culture makes them having the original identity, whereas it’s their imitation to the rises of globalization and cultural race against human. The cultural races force them to be the majority in the country, city, office, and household.

In globalization, social institution also has the big role and power to each country ‘third world’, because it’s massive effects for cultural deconstruction to Etta, Shuhdir, Shanti, and Clarissa in the novel. Their character has been created and constructed by the European tradition through globalization. The globalization is a mediator to triggers the modernism, imperialism, and nationalism changed in human mindset. The humanity is not the cultural discourse known by people. Now, the people are created as the individual machine which never cares among people problems. The people just think how the way to make their self rich and elegant for living is. People never want to worry what happened to their neighbors. The importance is they can enjoy their life and work, and people now are spoiled by the modern invention, property, nice facility, and new popular tradition.

Etta is clearly presented to such this social condition in this cultural discourse and cultural race. She does approve it and does not resist the modernism as she really enjoys it. Her heart and mindset is poor of the natural sense as human. She never cares, worries, and wants to know what is going on to the social condition. Such Eta who is explained in the novel, unconsciously there is a resistant power in her sense of feeling. She thinks how a poor she is in her character. She realizes that she is contaminated by a modern thought, because she ever has a bad background in her past household. Her husband never has been beside her when she need. She also never has been contented of her husband’s gaining. Her husband is Bal, he ever marries her before meets Judy. Bal and Etta are her old friend when she was in college, but they are very different.

The character in Etta showed what a big globalization is, and has massive power and relation to create the new identity in human. The relation influenced the characters in the novel as a fact in the reality. It also contributes the imperialism power in constructing an ideology. It mainly changes the social condition in people daily life. The way to resist these problems is that people have to take in faith of their own humanity and traditions. The power that can purely resist is just our own selves in how people face and challenge the cultural races in this modern era.

Conclusion

          The characters in the novel are represented as the reflection of the reality in human problems with their culture, tradition, thought, ideology, and social condition which constructs the identity. The binary opposition between ‘western’ and ‘north’ influenced the characters in the novel. It’s like how Etta, Judy, and Bal are presented in the concept of colonialism applied in themselves. Some of problems are such their household, family, lifestyle, and work. They refer to the cultural race and cultural discourse in people life. The cultural deconstruction also can change the nationality, mindset, humanity, and tradition. People will notice own themselves, if they aware in the cultural shifting that happens to each country. And then, the stereotype and the image of characters in the novel clearly created by postcolonial appearances.

References       

Anderson, B. (1991) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London and New York: Verso.

Bhabha, H.K. (1983) (1994). ‘Remembering Fanon: Self, Psyche and the Colonial Condition’, in P. Williams and L. Chrisman (eds), Colonial Discourse and Postcolonial Theory, New York: Columbia University.

Chatterjee, P. 1993a, Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse, 2nd edn, Zed Books, London.

Fanon, F.1990, The Wretched of the Earth, 3rd edn, trans. Constance Farrington, Penguin, Harmondsworth.

Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora” dalam Postcolonial Discourse and Postcolonial Theory, New York: Harvester/Wheatsheaf, 1993,392-403.

A Discordant Story from Kulon

Please, lead me away to Cinangka, Abadi’s grocery. Would you?

“Okay, take on my bike and we go right now, dude”, said a man.

“Here we go”, said Jony with pleasure.   

We have been on the location, dude.

“Thank you sir and this is the cost for my favorite man who always be loyal to wait me in front of his Motorcycle every my coming home,” Jony accosted. He is so friendly to everyone whom he meets, especially in his village.

First he arrived in home, he always go to his parents’ grocery before coming in home, it is intended for greeting. His parents more often stay in the grocery than in home, because they are a merchant. The grocery is near their home.

There is somebody wanted to buy five boxes of Indomie and Kapal Api, and take them in the back of stockroom, shouted Mrs. Bachtiar to Iyan.

“I copy mom, I’ll be back in two minutes with picking up them so fast” said Iyan loudly with a joke while being smoking a cigarette and drinking a last drop of coffee. He picked up the orders very late more than in two minutes

“Are you okay? This is order, and I’ll stop you smoking cigarette if you are slow” said Mrs. Bachtiar

“Yes mom, I am okay and I still keep my smile even these unfriendly things attach me” Walking with his burden feet and panic expression.

When iyan walked with his panic face, he looked Jony stood with laughing at him beside an iceboox, he just had awared of Jony’s appearance. So Jony give him a big hug because he is happy that Jony worked in Mrs’s Bachtiar’s grocery, not being unemployment again after graduating from his senior high school. Iyan himself is so close with Jony. They had been friend since they were children till now.

Iyan has a sad childhood with his family. His parents get divorce when he was a young child. Actually Iyan’s childhood is only grown up with his mother even it is most terrible for his own life.

Iyan never wants to stay for long at home. He feels like If he was at home, he just gets a hostility because of his abhorance toward his father who has asked his mother responsible of family’s burden alone. But, his dislikeness to the family because he really loves his mother too much. Therefor Mrs. Bachtiar has regarded him as her own son, he is so close with Jony’s family.

“Iyan, this is time to close the grocary” said Mrs. Bachtiar. Iyan Immadiately closed the grocary, helped by Jony.

After Isya Praying, Jony and Iyan met in Warung Mak Entin, with an old habit, drinking a cup of cofee for togerther with telling eachother stories. Jony called it as a ritual in the village with his friends to share informations about what’s heppening in the village. Actually, the ritual is often held with Iyan and Hafidz. The ritual has been initiated since they sit in senior high school.

“How is your study in university?” suddenly asked Iyan.

“my study?, yup, certainly I am still in doing the research, and it is so boring and really surfeited for me.” Said Iyan clearly. Jony asked Hafidz to Iyan “anyway where is Hafidz?, actually such this time he has appeared and came to this place”. Jony tried to phone Hafidz but before it worked, Hafidz came with a depressed face and sit silently with us.

“what happened with you, hafidz?” asked Iyan.

Hafidz replied “no, there is no matters, maybe I am just tired after working in Posko corporation”

“your eyes can lie to o me, and I don’t see the truth on your face” Jony tried to find out the main problems.  “what wrong with you, Hafidz?” asked Jony.   

“okay,I will tell you the truth about me, actually I am really confused with my position as a youngest son in my family” said Hafidz.

“what are you confused of?” asked Iyan.

“I try to help my family’s economy to increase my parents’s burden. I have given the apllication to all coorporations in Cilegon and Serang but it doesn’t work out. Certainly, I decide to keep helping my father in his repairshop and sometime I work in Hawai hotel and Posko Corporation project as a project worker. However,sometime I want to look for the job  in another regions. Unfotunately my parents don’t let me to do my intention for work. What must I do if you in my position?, I try to help my parents and look for new experiences , but they don’t support me.” Hafidz explained clearly.

“So, how about your story, Iyan” asked Jony.

“my mother is not in home again for two years. She decide to become a foreign worker in Saudi. And I have to survive for my own self and my little brother” replaid Iyan.

“I observe this village has changed, not like really our village as we live in a strange place. I recoganize the farmer is not rich of his rice again, the childeren don’t have a traditional game again in their life, there is no youth activity, such celebration of Nabi Muhammad saw days, mutual aid, and praying activity for the children in the mosque”

Jony realized that the racial culture, and the modernism changed the people identity of this village. Jony thought the bad situation happened because the new system of new culture, modernism, industrialist, and the social institution had contaminated our people. Jony explained his observation to Iyan and Hafidz.   

Reference:

- the short prose based on my friends’s experience in my village

-Accros The Universe’ film

Analisis Tanda pada Iklan "Tory Cheese Crackers"

Pada iklan Tory Cheese Cracker ini, saya sebagai penulis menemukan beberapa konten yang kurang ada hubungannya dengan produk yang ditampilkan pada iklan tersebut. Penulis memperhatikan dari segi gerakan kaki dan tangan yang diparadekan oleh seorang wanita dengan dua orang lelaki yang merepresentasikan pegulat China dan tagline yang terdapat pada iklan Tory Cheese Cracker tersebut. Sebelumnya penulis mengumpulkan data yang membahas iklan ini. Penulis menemukan refrensi bahwasanya iklan Tory Tory ini merupakan plagiasi dari iklan Spreetz Stick dari Jepang, selain itu juga iklan ini mempermainkan persepsi penonton dengan jaring-jaring kutipan “visual” yang sengaja dirajutnya. Iklan ini menggunakan teori logika terbalik agar segmen pasar sadar dengan rasa penasaran dari gerakan yang aneh atau gokil, seperi halnya tulisan “Jangan Dibaca” konsep ini mengkontruksi persepsi pembaca akan keingintahuannya apa yang terjadi pada tulisan tersebut. Hal ini disebut dengan hubungan intertekstualitas dengan objeknya, yaitu pembaca atau penoton. Pada analisis iklan ini, penulis akan mempersempit pembahsannya melalui gerakan yang divisualkan sebagai tanda atau ‘sign’, dan tagline pada iklan.

Pertama, gerakan putaran kaki dan tangan yang diperagakan oleh seorang wanita dan dua orang lelaki bertopeng sebagai pegulat China. Gesture tersebut merupakan bagian dari tanda sebagai media untuk menyampaikan persepsi kepada segmen pasar. Dari hasil amatan penulis, persepsi yang dituangkan pada iklan ini sekedar tarian gokil saja yang menjadi sebuah lelucon agar menarik perhatian penonton. Tidak ada kaitannya antara gerakan yang divisualkan dengan produk yang dikeluarkan oleh GarudaFood. Ada pun asumsi sebelumnya dari penulis bahwa gerakan tersebut melainkan dari tarian China, tetapi setelah diteliti tidak ada unsur budaya yang diterapkan melalui tanda ‘Gesture’ tersebut.

Kedua, tagline yang ditampilkan “Tory Cheese Cracker”, “Cheese Benar”. Penulis tidak menemukan hubungan teks dengan tarian konyol pada iklan. Teks tersebut hanya merepresentasikan kerenyahan keju yang terdapat dalam produk Tory Cheese Cracker. Adapun relasi tanda pada tagline tersebut, itu hanya kekuatan teks yang dikontruksi sebagai pendukung keterkaitan dengan produk yang diiklankan agar adanya hubungan intertekstualitas antara iklan dan penonton sebagai pemasarannya. 

Refrensi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBz1iy6Ssqo

http://the-marketeers.com/archives/story-that-creates-word-of-mouth.html

http://www.slideshare.net/HestiRahayu/membaca-iklan

http://pasirlangit.blogspot.com/2013/02/ost-cheese-dance-goyang-tory.html#.UU3WEReouAk

Lampiran:

Review to Survey of English Literature, Elizabethan

Social conflict in European people gives a massive effect to the English language, social culture, politic, and human history. They are a common point that becomes human document through a history and story in European people. The Anglo-Saxon period is the predecessor of English literature as identifying the Romans leaves and comes to England. The Anglo-Saxon is the old English language impressed the English novel literacy. One of their works is the story of Beowulf as a firstly famous story in poetry. It tells the glory of Danish knight and the strong king who eliminate the darkness in the Britain kingdom.   

            The war between nations in England impacted the revolution and development in old English period to the Middle English period against the science of literacy in English language. It impacts the method of writing the story in the novel and how is the story written, so both can make the improvement to the artistic literacy of English. Style of the story, language, and the storyline is very different with the works in Middle English. The literatures in the Anglo Saxon period rather write the heroic story in human life and human sacrifice as the historian art, than writing the romance in that time.

            Firstly, the Anglo Saxon people come from Denmark and East Germany. This people have own belief to their ancestor. Their ancestors are from Scandinavia. Therefore, they have the cultural mix, Scandinavia culture and because they stayed in Germany that is the Romanian authority, so that the Romanian impacts included their culture “Anglo-Saxon”. They have their own traditional beliefs (heathen belief). They worship goddess before the Christian religion mostly intervened them. In their mythology, goddess is affecting their lives, such as life, death, war, and natural.

            Characterization, social or individual identity, and history is the underlying emphasis within many eighteenth century novels is their emphasis on the individual, and the extent to which they portray the inner life of the individual as distinct from his or her social class, rank, status. This remained a continual tension within the novel throughout the nineteenth century, culminating in the divorce of the late 19th C. when individual/ society are seen to be antagonistic rather than self-supporting.

The impact and significance of the novel form may be especially obvious in the case of the English novel. Through the period that gave rise to the novel, England experienced a convulsive social transformation one that produced the world's first modern, capitalist economy. Along the way, traditional social values often appeared to be outdated, and so did traditional narrative forms

 It is no surprise, then, that the great English novelists were eager to create something new and different. Breaking from traditions in which stories were usually centered on aristocrats and nobles, they focused on the thoughts and feelings of ordinary people, taking pains to capture the rhythms of everyday life. At the same time, they also reacted to a number of larger developments: industrialization and urbanization, democratization and globalization.

Birth of the "Novel", with its associations of newness and originality, occurs in the eighteenth century. Before that there had been forms of long and continuous narrative prose, but it was only in the 1720s that we begin to see the emergence of a recognizable "Novel" form, example, concerned with the realistic depiction of middle class life, values and experience, showing the development of individual and individuated characters, over time. Contrast with the forms of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama (concerned either with the Aristocracy, or with gratuitous investigation of low-life). In terms of the subsequent development of the novel, example, the Realist 19th Century novel, the period of the eighteenth century is a mixture of consolidation and experimentation, either establishing foundations, or of experimenting with new possibilities. Epistolary form, confession, rogues biography, anti-romance, picaresque, moral tract, etc return to this in Contexts of the Rise of the Novel.

Shape and form are working against this was the need to shape experience into narrative order. Part of the answer, in Defoe's case, was to produce a loose baggy monster of a novel, without clear sense of narrative order and progression the episodic technique. By the time we get to Fielding he is already self-consciously using Chapters and Books (see Book II, Ch. 1 of Joseph Andrews.) This conflict between realistic intention and aesthetic narrative order is most clearly evident in Sterne's anti-novel Tristram Shandy, in which the conventions of the Novel are exploded before the novel has had a chance to become a settled form.

Related also was the issue of moral purpose. Eighteenth century novel torn between the demand not to offend (bring a blush to the maidenliness of cheeks), to teach, and yet also to be realistic. Novel writing from this point onwards tied to the moral demands of a middle class readership, (pleasurable instruction or to teach and to delight, Sidney and Elizabethan aesthetics) or to offer salacious or gratuitous accounts of low life. The moral demands on writers exploded at the end of the nineteenth century (Hardy, James, George Moore), but present here in the degree to which novelists deal with sex, adultery, passion and desire. Novel is a morally uptight form from the start. Same constraints apply to political issues.

Review of "But The One On The Right" By Dorothy Parker

            This short story tells about a woman who got a big exciting through a man on her right. The event happens in the restaurant during being a dinner between Mrs. Parker and a man on her left. There are three characters are mentioned in this story. Mrs. Parker is a narrator which is marked by the first monologue in the narration, “I knew it” said her. The narrator always shows of herself because she has a dialogue with the man on her left.

The man sits next to Mrs. Parker with a bored talking. She feels boring cause of sitting with a dull man. Fortunately she could cover her bad mood by talking the man on her right. All of she can see is only his shoulder. It seems a nice shoulder for Mrs. Parker. The narrator used a monologue as sarcasm toward the man on her left. She made a dialogue with the man by talking the other man, who sits next to a woman on the right of.

Sarcasm: Mrs. Parker always focused on her right though only the shoulder appeared. She started talking him when every foods had came over his table. The narrator asks about everything had happened to the man on her right through man on her left. All of dialogue which refers to her right made a death sentences for the man on her left. The man likes a fish and she does too (Mrs. Parker). But there’s something makes her wonder to like in that man. The man has been engaged in that event. That’s at all, the way to resist the man’s offer, the man who is on her left. Then Mrs. Parker met him in the party nightly. In the ending story Mrs. Parker got out the party with the man on her right.   

This story has a similarity with “Very Short Story” in the ending of the story, based on my point of view. According to the narration of this story, Luz has a patient who has a job out of the country. The patient is an army who stay in the hospital. He really needed hospitality from Luz as a nurse. Both of them love each others. Luz wished that she can be married with him. So he agreed to marry her after the armistice. He would be back absolutely. Unfortunately Luz never received a massage. Luz wrote a later for him but there’s no an answer to the letter to Chicago. Finally the man didn’t marry her; he certainly had married another woman.

The narration in “Very short story” is similar to the ending of both stories. The point in this story “But The One On The Right” is all of the possibilities will absolutely happen if we have a master plan before step to decision and judgment. And then the man whom Mrs. Parker loves is on her right not on her left.