Table Of ContentRahmawati 6
Introduction
Do you still remember who the longest ruler in Indonesia was? Have you ever
wondered what happened to our homeland for 3.5 centuries under the Dutch
colonialists? A long time ago, the nations of the world were attracted to dominate
Indonesia, especially the western nations. It is caused by the location of Indonesia
which is strategic and abundant in natural wealth. Among the Western nations that
come to Indonesia, the Netherlands, desired to control Indonesia. The experience
of the Dutch colonial era is shown in Dutch, American, even in Indonesian literary
works. The example of literary works which discuss the Dutch colonial era are
Multatuli (Max Havelaar), P.A. Daum (uit de suiker in de tabak/ dari Gula ke
Tembakau), Hella Haasse (Oeroeg and Sleuteoog), Louis Couperus (De Stille
Kracht/ DSK) or Mas Marcodikromo (Student Hijo), Abdul Moeis (Salah
Asoehan), Pramoedya Ananta Toer (Bumi Manusia), Lian Gouw (Only a Girl), dll
(Murwani 1).
Indonesian people cannot forget the Dutch Colonial Era, because the Dutch
seized property of the inhabitants; they also robbed Indonesians‘ self-esteem by
applying a stratification system. According to Sujatmiko, there was a stratification
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system applied throughout the population of the Dutch colonial era into three
racial categories; the first is the Europeans or Westerns who were on the top of the
stage, then the Foreign Orientals (Chinese, Indian, and Arab) were in the middle,
and the Inlanders (or natives) were on the lower end (186). Because of the
stratification system, it led all of the classes under the Dutch ruling class to feel
inferior.
Post-colonialism, which was founded by Edward Said, basically was against
the binary division or binary opposition: Orient and Occident. Those portrayals
are represented as the colonized and the colonizer. The Orient, which refers to
Eastern countries, is described in negative terms. The west has misrepresented the
Orient as inferior, marginalized, or ―other‖ to the West. But, behind the
marginalization, actually there is a complicated and seemingly contradictory
nature of the relationship between the colonized and the colonizers. It is shown in
Only a Girl, where the colonized (Chinese family) imitate the colonizers‘ culture
in terms of life style, culture, the way of thinking, etc. Besides that, although they
are colonized, by mimicking the colonizers‘, they also assume themselves as the
colonizers and apply a colonial gaze which is judging the eastern (natives) with
the colonizers‘ cultural standard or norms. Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin define
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the term ―Post-colonial‖ and say Post-colonial is ―all the culture affected by the
imperial process from the moment of colonization to the present day‖ (qtd. in
Sawant 120). In other words, the cultures of the colonized people were affected by
the colonizer‘s culture, or the colonized even mimicked the colonizers since they
interacted with them for such a long time.
The story of Nanna‘s family, grabbed my interest. I like the background of
their lives as Chinese who try to ‗survive‘ in Indonesia. Reading through, I deeply
followed Nanna‘s family‘s attitudes and thoughts in their lives and struggles, and
it triggered me to think critically toward their reasons in doing mimicry. The
colonizer‘s stereotype makes Nanna‘s family bravely transform to the colonizers‘
‗tongue‘ and culture, a new world which is different from theirs. Realizing the
transformation of culture led to a mixed feeling which led me to use Homi K.
Bhabha‘s theory.
Using Homi K. Bhabha‘s Post-colonialism theory, I will examine how his idea
of mimicry and ambivalence is shown in Only a Girl. I choose this novel because
it is close to the Indonesian context, besides that the story also talks about the
inferior-Chinese family who adopts Dutch culture and act like they are superior
compared to the natives. Here, I claim that the Chinese family is inferior because
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they were second class based on the Dutch class stratification; besides that the
Chinese family belongs to the Eastern ones in terms of location and the culture;
that‘s why the Chinese family in Only a Girl novel is inferior compared to the
Dutch who are on the first level, the superior.
In addition to Homi K. Bhabha, I also apply Antonio Gramsci‘s theory of
hegemony and racist theory by Bulhan, to explore the reason of why mimicry is
done by Nanna‘s family in terms of surviving in Indonesia in the Dutch Colonial
era. Since the Dutch came to Indonesia, they always tried to take over
Indonesians. One of their ways is spreading the belief that the East and the West
are two different things. The East is portrayed as uneducated, mystical, and
irrational, and the West is rational, moral, civilized. In addition, they make the
portrayals seem to be true and natural. Through those portrayals, the colonizer
wants to make the colonized to acknowledge their inferiority, so they are unable
to hold their culture and change it to the Dutch culture which they perceived as the
superior one.
The objective of this study is to analyze how and why Nanna‘s family, as the
colonized, hold tight to their Chinese culture, but at the same time, they also
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imitate the culture of the Dutch colonizer. In addition, this study also proves that
Ambivalence does not always disturb postcolonial power. Significantly, the
finding of this study is to help readers, especially English Department students
who are concerned about literature, to gain a better understanding of how and why
mimicry and ambivalence happens. Thus, by understanding the actions, readers
are expected to understand that actually culture can also affect imperialism, as
what Bhabha says ―the cultures are not discrete phenomena, but always in contact
with one another‖ (Tibile 81). So, in the other words, the purity of culture is
something that cannot be maintained, because one culture has been influenced by
other cultures. In addition, if the certain culture tries to adopt and imitate the other
culture, there must be some factors behind it. Furthermore, since academic papers
about Post-colonialism in Only a Girl are extremely rare, even nonexistent, I
believe that this research is badly needed for those who are interested in the
similar theme. Although the word ‗post‘ in post-colonialism means after, but the
theory can be applied in this era and the era after us (Ashcroft, Griffiths, and
Tiffin 169).
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Theoretical Discussion
1. Post-colonialism
Post-colonialism belongs to a new literary theory; it began to recognize since
1990s (Brizee and Tompkins). Interestingly, it has become one of the most
expanding and challenging areas of literary and cultural studies today. Post-
colonialism happens when there is a clash between two cultures and it is
characterized by the issue of power and control. In this situation, the colonizers
apply as the Center and the colonized become marginalized. The theory of Post-
colonialism, which focuses on the marginalized and the issue of inequality, is one
of the well-known theories in literature. As an example, Westerners viewed the
Eastern as the ―Other‖ and put themselves as the center. That concept is based on
the term Orientalism. Orientalism created an image of the Orient as immoral,
backward, and irrational (Said 58). Actually, the Orient is a concept constructed
by the Westerners or Europeans. As Edward Said stated in his book, called
Orientalism, ―Orientalism is a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is
based on the Orient‘s special place in European Western experience‖ (Said 1).
The theory of Orientalism was introduced by Edward Said who is the founder of
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Post-colonialism theory. Orientalism is very important and plays a crucial role in
the study and development of Postcolonial criticism and literature (Khan and
Khan 1). Orientalism is ―the term used by Edward Said for the assessment of the
attitudes and perspectives of the Western scholars, or Orientalists, to legitimize
colonial aggression by intellectually marginalized and dominated Eastern
peoples‖ (Khan and Khan 2).
2. Mimicry
However, the other well-known Post-colonial critic, Homi K. Bhabha, stated that
colonialism is not only seen as oppression, domination, and violence, but also
from varied cultural contact and interaction (Tibile 2). According to Sawant, from
the late 1970s, ―Post-colonialism also has been used by literary critics to discuss
the various cultural effects of colonization‖ (120). The concept of ―Post-
colonialism deals with the effects of colonization on cultures and societies‖
(Sawant 120). One of the effects is mimicry. In Of Mimicry and Man: The
Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse, Bhabha defines mimicry as ―a subject of
difference that is almost the same, but not quite‖ (86). The concept of mimicry
was introduced by Homi K. Bhabha, who is one of the most respected
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postcolonial critics; all of his ideas reflect how the colonized empower the
colonizer authority (Tibile 72). The basic meaning of the word ‗mimicry‘ is
imitation of one object to another. In addition, Bhabha says ―mimicry reveals
something in so far as it is distinct from what might be called an itself that is
behind. The effect of mimicry is camouflage…. It is not a question of
harmonizing with the background, but against a mottled background, of becoming
mottled— exactly like the technique of camouflage practiced in human warfare‖
(99). Bhabha‘s point is that mimicry produces something which is different with
its original form. Mimicry is a crucial term in Post-colonial theory, because the
relationship between the colonizer and the colonized leads to the ambivalent
relationship (Sawant 123), which means complex and two opposing drives or
feelings often exist in the relationship. So, although the word mimicry means
resemblance, but at the end it is far from the meaning itself.
Since we were dehumanized by the Europeans, the colonizers, but the idea
that foreign things are superior is still applied nowadays. It is contradictory with
the word ―post‖ in Post-colonialism, which means after (Sawant 120). But, in this
case the theory happens until now, in the ―future‖, in many ways and in many
forms. Bhabha finds mimicry is a sign of double vision and forked tongue (qtd. in
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Kumar 119). In other words, mimicry does not simply copy or imitate the object,
but it also has double vision which is having two goals (resemblance and
mockery), and the forked tongue which means what they say is different from
what is on their heads. According to Bhabha, mimicry is imitating language,
culture, manners and ideas in an exaggerative way (Tibile 87). It means that
mimicry is not the colonized‘s servage, since it creates repeated actions with
difference (Tibile 87). This mimicry is also ―a form of mockery as Bhabha‗s Post-
colonial theory is a comic approach to colonial discourse because it mocks and
undermines the ongoing pretensions of colonialism and empire‖ (Tibile 87). In
short, mimicry is one reaction toward stereotype of the Orient and the Occident.
3. Ambivalence
In addition to mimicry, there is also ambivalence which appears in the
novel. The term ‗ambivalence‘ first was developed in psychoanalysis to describe a
continual fluctuation between wanting one thing and wanting its opposite (Sawant
4). Ambivalence is sometimes called ―in-betweenness‖ where it is in a position
that is not 100% agreeing with one side or feeling entirely one way. It describes
the complex mix of attraction and repulsion that characterizes the relationship
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between colonizers and colonized. Ambivalence sometimes is used synonymously
with hybridity. Ambivalence is a crucial concept in Post-colonial theory which
associated with cultural signs, colonial practices and the colonized cultures (Tibile
79).
Bhabha denies Fanon‗s idea which talks about the black who are asked to
be ‗white‘ is part of the colonial power and says that it can destroy colonial
hegemony. He even emphasizes that there are many indeterminacy in the
relationship of the colonizer and the colonized. So through hibridity, here the
colonized could speak and answer the question of Spivak which is “Can the
Subaltern Speak?” (Tibile 82). I think the word ‗indeterminacy‘ there means a
mixed feeling, so the colonized have feelings of both love and hate toward the
colonizers. Although the colonized try to be similar with the colonizer, but they
still keep their difference. So, sometimes the colonized feel in limbo.
4. Hegemony
The next theory is hegemony. The idea of hegemony is discussed by Anthonio
Gramsci who was an Italian (Green). Hegemony is not only related to economic
matters, since it becomes an important part of Marxism. Here, the term hegemony
Description:Asoehan), Pramoedya Ananta Toer (Bumi Manusia), Lian Gouw (Only a Using Homi K. Bhabha's Post-colonialism theory, I will examine how his
