The portrait of black woman's struggle living in the 'white world' as seen in Aunt Hager's character in Langston Hughes' Not Without Laughter

Budarto, Irene Saraswaty (2005) The portrait of black woman's struggle living in the 'white world' as seen in Aunt Hager's character in Langston Hughes' Not Without Laughter. Undergraduate thesis, Universitas Katolik Widya Mandala Madiun.

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Abstract

Literature is a means of communication which represents human's thoughts through written language. There are three kinds of literature: fiction, which consists of short story and novel; drama and poetry. Novel is a long story manners, and of time in which it is written. Therefore, the readers can imagine the time and place of the story that are meant by the author. In this case, the writer chooses a novel written by Langston Hughes entitled Not Without Laughter. This novel is first published in 1930. Langston Hughes himself, is one of many talented black writers connected with the period called the Harlem Renaissance. Not Without Laughter is one of his two famous novels, besides his other works, and it is called as a semi-autobiographical novel. Not Without Laughter brings a story of a Negro family living in the white environment in the early twentieth century. Aunt Hager, the main female character in this novel, is a picture of an old black woman who has ever lived in the slavery period and struggles hard to survive her family. She has a great hope on her daughters to raise up the black people so that they will have the same social status with the white people. However, when her daughters one by one disappoint her, she turns her attention to her grandson. The writer's reason in analyzing Not Without Laughter is due to the portrait of a black woman who struggles living in the 'white world' to raise her children and to fulfill their needs. Reading this novel makes the writer understand more about the life of black people in the early twentieth century. Some of them hate the white people and never try to respect them, while some others try to fit the white people's life by learning the way they speak and behave. However, Aunt Hager never tries to do both. She never hates the white people or tries to do what they do. She respects them, but she still wants to see the black people 'appear in the surface' without leaving their destiny as black people. She teaches her daughters to respect the white people as she considers that without the white people, the black cannot earn a living. In this writing, the writer takes the main source of data from the novel Not Without Laughter written by Langston Hughes, and by collecting some data and other references in order to support this thesis. Besides, theory of setting is used to describe Aunt Hager's point of view towards the white people who have discriminated the black people; theory of feminism is used to discuss Aunt Hager's struggle for raising her children in the 'white world'; and theory of social and psychological conflict is used to explain the effect of Aunt Hager's experience in educating her youngest daughter, Harriett, and her grandson, Sandy. Many lessons can be taken from the nove1 Not Without Laughter. As an old black woman, Aunt Hager faces many difficulties and handicaps during her lifetime. However, she never cries for her life. She keeps struggling to survive to fulfill her family's needs. She always faces the difficulties with joy and pride. The write hopes that by reading this thesis, the readers are able to understand more about patience in facing every hard situation that occurs in this life. Besides that, the writer also hopes that the readers will understand more about feminism, especially black women feminism.

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