CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will be divided into five sub-chapters, namely Postcolonial

Studies, Previous Research, Biography of Rudyard Kipling and the Historical and

Sociological Background.

A. Postcolonial Studies

This research employs Postcolonial studies to answer the objectives of the

research. Postcolonialism or postcolonial study is a study that deals with the

relationship between the colonist (Western countries) and the colonized (Non -

Western countries). According to Ashcroft et.al. the main focus of postcolonialism

is to discover the processes, effects and reactions of colonization both in the past

and the present day. They state that

Post – colonialism (or often postcolonialism) deals with the effects

of colonization of cultures and societies…That post – colonialism

as it has been employed in most recent accounts has been primary

concerned to examine the process and effects, and reaction to

European colonialism from the sixteenth century up to up and

including the neo –colonialism of the present day (2001, pp.186,

188).

Originally, in the 1970s, the historians used the term postcolonial to refer

to a period after colony nation reached its freedom from imperialist‟s rules. Then,

20

the literary critic in the early 1980s employed this term to learn and find out the

cultural effect of the colonization (Ashcroft et.al. 1998, p. 186). In literary field,

the representation of the colonized by the colonist was inspiring the Western

author in creating his literary text. The long history and experience of colonial and

imperial rules in the colonized nations influences the colonists in portraying the

colonized through their perspectives and assumptions to the Western people. They

represented the place, native people and culture of their colonized as myth and

exotic. Since the earlier literary works written by the Western author or part of the

colonists, the literary works contained of the representation of the colonized

which some of them different from the factual condition of the colonized.

According to Prasad, the postcolonial theory and criticism means:

Postcolonialism is not a narrowly systematized and unitary theory.

Rather, postcolonial theory is a set of productively syncretic

theoretical and political positions that creatively employ concepts

and epistemological perspectives deriving from a range of

scholarly fields (such as anthropology, African American studies,

cultural studies, film and media studies, women‟s studies, history

and art history, literary theory, philosophy, political science,

sociology, etc.) as well as from multiple approaches to inquiry

(e.g., variants of Marxism and neo-Marxism, feminism,

psychoanalysis, post-structuralism, deconstruction, queer theory,

and so on). (2003, p. 7)

Prasad‟s statement above impose that Postcolonial theory and criticism

can be defined as interdisciplinary study because it combines two or more fields

of studies which relates to the effect of imperialism or colonialism from several

fields both in the past and the present day. As the result, postcolonial theory and

21

criticism is not a narrowly systematized and unitary theory because it has

influenced a wide range of disciplines. Moreover, Habib states that

Postcolonial criticism has embraced a number of aims, most

fundamentally, to reexamine the history of colonialism from the

perspective of the colonized; to determined the economic, political,

and cultural impact of colonialism on both colonized peoples and

the colonizing power; to analyze the process of decolonization; and

above all, to participate in the goals of political liberation, which

included equal access to material resource, the contestation of

forms of domination, and the articulation of political and cultural

identity (2005, p. 739).

Habib‟s statement above suggests that postcolonialism discusses various kinds of

experiences and effects of colonialism and imperialism both from the perspective

of the colonist and the colonized. The experience and impact can be seen from

many fields such as economy, politics and culture under colonialism and after

decolonization. Because of the experience and impact, postcolonial theory and

criticism requires the other studies that relates to the experiences and impacts of

colonialism and imperialism. It can be concluded that the main point of

postcolonial theory and criticism is to re - examine the experiences and impacts of

colonialism and imperialism under colonialism and after decolonization.

Inevitably, postcolonial theory and criticism had closed link with the

colonizing power because it examined the domination of colonizer toward the

colonized. Later, Prasad stated that postcolonial theory and criticism seen as “an

approach for critically analyzing the discourse (or discourses) of colonialism.”

(2003, p. 8). According to Weedon in Prasad, discourses were the ways of

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“constituting knowledge, together with the social practices, forms of subjectivity

and power relations which inhere in such knowledges and the relations between

them.” (2003, p. 8). Hence, postcolonial discourse potentially embraces

intellectual, social, cultural, politic and economy that seeks to reproduce relation

of colonialism (Prasad, 2003, p.8). Later, postcolonial theory and criticism as

discourse is known as colonial discourse. Originally, France philosopher, Michel

Foucault, brings this term. According to Ashcroft et.al, Foucault‟s colonial

discourse is

a system of statements within which the world can be known. It is

the system by which dominant groups in society constitute the field

of truth by imposing specific knowledges, disciplines and values

upon dominated groups. As a social formation it works to

constitute reality not only for the objects it appears to represent but

also for the subjects who form the community on which it depends.

Consequently, colonial discourse is the complex of signs and

practices that organize social existence and social reproduction

within colonial relationships. (1998, p. 42)

Foucault has idea that colonial discourse is a system of statement, which can

explore about the colonizing power and the relationship between the colonizer and

the colonized more deeply. Foucault believes that colonial discourse is not only

embraces the culture and domination of the colonizer but also it explore the

colonized so the colonized may also came to see themselves ( Ashcroft et.al,

1998, p. 42).

Moreover, Frantz Omar Fanon‟s discourse about the impact of colonialism

in French was the influential discourse that developed postcolonial theory. Fanon

was a predominant figure in the field of postcolonialism. He was a West Indian

23

psychologist and political theorist. He was born in Caribbean island of

Martinique, which was the colonized nation of French in 1925. He represented the

process of colonialism and its influences through his book Black Skin, White

Masks that published in 1952 (Sardar, 1988, p. 10). In his book, he recorded the

psychological effects of colonialism, specifically about racism based on the

colonized perspective. He was the subject of racism experience because he

examined this issues based on his experiences in his book. He explored the feeling

of the black people that live among the White people. He claimed that the France

white people tried to define him in negative term by called him Dirty Nigger and

a Negro (McLeod, 2000, p. 20). By using its superior power the white people

placed the inferior people as the other. This case led psychological trauma for the

colonized and his descendents. Then, there were many the colonized people tried

to follow the values and behavior of the colonist as their mask. It aimed to reach

equality with the colonist. As the result, the colonized lost their cultural identity.

Fanon concluded that if there was no discrimination towards the black people and

the way of thinking of the white people towards the black people changed, it

meant that the practice and effect of colonialism was successfully changed

(McLeod, 2000).

Furthermore, the discourse of Fanon become inspirational discourse that

emerges the other critics to use postcolonial theory in examining imperialism and

colonialism issues such as Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak and Henry

Louis Gates Jr. Edward Said is the most the influential critic who explores the

postcolonial theory deeply and challenge the representation of the colonized or

24

the native people. Edward Said is a literary and cultural theorist who was born in

Jerusalem, Palestine in November 1935. In 1978, Said published his book,

Orientalism which is one of the predominant works in postcolonial studies.

Through his book Orientalism, Said explores the relationship and difference

between the colonialist (Western or the Occident) and the colonized (East or the

Orient). However, he pays attention more to the Western‟s representation toward

its colonized countries as McLeod stated that

…Said pointed out that rarely did Western travelers in these

regions ever try to learn much about, or from, the native peoples

they encounters. Instead, they recorded their observations based on

commonly – held assumption about the „Orient‟ as a mythic place

of exoticism… Colonial power was buttressed by the production of

knowledge about colonized culture which endlessly produced a

degenerate image of the Orient for those in West, or Occident

(McLeod, 2000, p.22).

McLeod‟s statement above implies that the Western colonists prompt their

representation toward the colonized based on their experiences. They represent the

place, native people and culture of their colonized as exotic. Then, the Western‟s

representation of the East produced bad image to the East because it was only

shaped based on the Western‟s experience and knowledge. This case leads

Edward Said to express his own idea about Orientalism as means to against the

false assumption of the Orientalist.

Said argues that there are three definitions of Orientalism. The first

definition of Orientalism is an academic field. The next definition of Orientalism

is the concept of thought based on “an ontological and epistemological distinction

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made between "the Orient" and (most of the time) "the Occident.” (p. 2). Then, he

comes to the last definition of Orientalism which is his own definition that

broader than previous definitions. He defines Orientalism as “A Western style for

dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient.” (p.3). It means

that, according to Said, the Western colonists use Orientalism as its political

instrument to dominate the Orient. The reason why Said defines Orientalism as

political instrument to dominate the Orient is because he has assumption that

The Orient is not an inert fact of nature. It is not merely there, just

as the Occident itself is not just there either. We must take

seriously Vico's great observation that men make their own

history, that what they can know is what they have made, and

extend it to geography: as both geographical and cultural entities-

to say nothing of historical entities such locales, regions,

geographical sectors as "Orient" and "Occident" are man-made.

Therefore as much as the West itself, the Orient is an idea that has

a history and a tradition of thought, imagery and vocabulary that

have given it reality and presence in and for the West (1979, pp. 4 -

5).

Said‟s assumption above implies that the representation of the Orient by the

Orientalist is only fantasy, assumption and stereotype which is constructed by the

Orientalist come from Western intellectuals, writers and politicians because it is

only shaped based on the Western‟s experience and knowledge. Then, Said adds

further information that “The relationship between Occident and Orient is a

relationship of power, of domination of varying degrees of a complex

hegemony…” (p. 5). It means that the Occident or Western claims that they have

authority and predominant role to construct and represent the Orient to the

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Western World because they discover the Orient or in the other words they

“Orientalized” the Orient (Said, 1979, p. 5). This case brings Said to believe that

Orientalism is lies or myth constructed by Western in order to take over the

Orient. It is because the Western‟s knowledge about the East is not generated

from reality or fact. Therefore, Orientalism is only an effort of Western to take

over the Orient than considering it as a discourse about the Orient.

Then, Said informs that his goal to study Orientalism as “a dynamic

exchange between individual authors and the large political concerns shaped by

the three great empires-British, French, American-in whose intellectual and

imaginative territory the writing was produced.” (p. 15). Moreover, he mentions

his research question as “How did philology, lexicography, history, biology,

political and economic theory, novel-writing, and lyric poetry come to the service

of Orientalism's broadly imperialist view of the world?” What changes,

modulations, refinements, even revolutions take place within Orientalism?” (p.

15). Moreover, Said argues that there is link between British, German, France and

American intellectuals and Orientalism. This is because these countries are the

authority figures of Orientalism who take over the Orient within Western culture

(p. 20). Then, the idea of authority becomes subject of any knowledge of

Orientalism. Thus, he informs that his methodological focus is about “the history

authority” and “the personal authorities of Orientalism” because the authority can

be analyzed, not only the Orient (p. 20).

His methodological to examine authority are “strategic location” and

“strategic formation”. Strategic location is employed to describe “the author's

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position in a text with regard to the Oriental material he writes about” while

strategic formation is “a way of analyzing the relationship between texts and the

way in which groups of texts, types of texts, even textual genres, acquire mass,

density, and referential power among themselves and thereafter in the culture at

large.” (p. 20). Furthermore, he hopes that his discussion on the authority is not

only expose the lies or myth in Orientalist‟s text but he also wants to discover the

truth meaning of Orientalist‟s text (p. 21). He argues that by discovering the truth

meaning of Orientalist‟s text, it can make clear about colonial discourse which is

commonly describes the representation, not the truth.

Said starts with analyzing the speech of two British imperialists of the

early 20th

century, Arthur James Balfour and Lord Cromer about the Egypt.

Balfour and Cromer stress on the idea about the “knowledge and authority or

power” of the European Empire, the British Empire towards Egypt as the Orient

(p. 32). Said says that Balfour focuses on the concept of superiority and

inferiority. In his speech, Balfour uses concept „our or us‟ and “it or their”.

According to Said, „our or us‟ represent the superiority, while “it or their”

represent inferiority. Balfour uses this concept in order to distinguish the British

Empire with Egypt as its colonized country. On the other side, Cromer has idea

that the British Empire is appropriate figure to govern Egypt, because the British

Empire has more knowledge about the Orient or Egypt than the Orient

themselves. From the analysis, Said then concludes that

The most important thing about the theory during the first decade

of the twentieth century was that it worked, and worked

staggeringly well. The argument, when reduced to its simplest

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form, was dear, it was precise, it was easy to grasp. There are

Westerners, and there are Orientals. The former dominate; the

latter must be dominated, which usually means having their land

occupied, their internal affairs rigidly controlled, their blood and

treasure put at the disposal of one or another Western power.” (p.

36)

The conclusion of Said shows that Balfour and Cromer support the idea of

superiority because the Occident has more knowledge about the Orient than the

Orient themselves. Therefore, the Occident thinks that they have natural right to

dominate the Orient. Said stated that the aim of the British author represents the

Orient as the inferior is to justify the political domination by the Occident. This

case allow them to construct the image of the Orient as Said describes

The Orient was viewed as if framed by the classroom, the criminal

court, the prison, the illustrated manual. Orientalism, then, is the

knowledge of the Orient that places things Oriental in the class,

court, prison, or manual for scrutiny, study, judgment, discipline,

or governing. (p.40)

According to Said, the writing texts about the East appear since Ancient

Greece. The Ancient Greece text becomes the basis of European to write about

the East (p. 52). Then, Said analyze The Persian and The Bacchae, the ancient

Greece text which is created by Aeschylus. These texts represent image of the

Orient. It is represented by the Occident in order to show the distinction between

the Western and the Orient which shown

Europe is powerful and articulate; Asia is defeated and distant…It

is Europe that articulates the Orient; this articulation is the

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prerogative, not of a puppet master, but of a genuine creator,

whose life-giving power represents, animates, constitutes the

otherwise silent and dangerous space beyond familiar boundaries.

(p. 57)

According to Said, the description about the Western and the Orient are only

imaginative geographical because it only an effort to display the Western‟s

strength and the Orient‟s weakness based on the knowledge of the Occident.

Again, it shows that the Western is predominant creator of the Orient image.

Moreover, Said then explores the other evidence that show the Western

tries to construct the image of the Orient. In this part, Said argues that the

Europeans try to emerge their perception of towards Islam. The Europeans has

perception that Islam is threat for the Europeans, especially Christian people since

many nations are conquered by Islam military such as Persia, Syria, Egypt,

Turkey, Africa, Spain, Sicily, several parts of France, India, Indonesia and China

(p. 59). The power of Islam military is not only make the Europeans feel awe but

also fear. Then, Said states that the Christian authors are not interest in the high

culture of Muslim but they explore about the tyranny of Islam military in their

text based on their perception. Said describes, “Not for nothing did Islam come to

symbolize terror, devastation, the demonic hordes of hated barbarians. For Europe

Islam was a lasting trauma.” (p. 59). As the result, the Western scholars believe

that Islam is a heresy and they believe that Mohammad the prophet of Islam is

only an impostor because he imitates Christian to the true religion. Then, they call

Islam as Mohammedan because Mohammad is the founder of this religion (p. 66).

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Besides, they also design their perception about Mohammad “he became as well

the epitome of lecery, debauchery, sodomy, and a whole battery of assorted

treacheries, all of which derived „logically‟ from his doctrinal imposture.” (p. 62).

Said then makes conclusion that the Orientalists represent Islam based on their

knowledge and perception about Islam. Their representation about Islam is miss

presented. As the result, the imagination of the Orientalists imposes the image of

Islam in general.

Furthermore, Said explains about the project by Orientalist about the

Orient. Said considers Napoleon‟s voyage to Egypt and the opening of Suez

Canal as the Orientalist‟s project. Since Napoleon finds the classical texts by the

Orientalist expert about Egypt, he interests in the expedition to Egypt. Napoleon

considers that his expedition to Egypt is a project to dominate Egypt. In his

expedition, he has mission to create detail archive about the Orient, Egypt to the

European, especially France (p. 82). He claims that Muslim is the great barrier to

France hegemony in East. Therefore, he should collect the information about the

Muslim in Egypt in order to discover the weakness of Muslim then France can

take control Muslim. He also recruits the Orientalist intellectual as his translator.

Then, he begins to interpret Koran of Arabic to get knowledge about Muslim.

Although Napoleon‟s military is failed to dominate Egypt, his expedition gives

new knowledge about Muslim as Said states that

“Napoleon‟s occupation gave birth to the entire modern experience

of the Orient as interpreted from within the universe of discourse

founded by Napoleon in Egypt, whose agencies of domination and

dissemination included the Institut and the Description… After

Napoleon, then, the very language of Orientalism changed

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radically. Its descriptive realism was upgraded and became not

merely a style of representation but a language, indeed a means of

creation.” (p. 87)

The other the project by the Orientalist about the Orient is the opening of the Suez

Canal (p. 88). Despite the Suez Canal is the project of the Orientalist but it give

benefit for the Orient in Egypt. It ruins the distance between the Orient and the

Occident. Then, it emerges the idea about uniting the Western and the East into

“our world”. Then, the idea of the Orient transforms into “an administration or

executive one, it subordinate to demographic, economic, and sociological fiction.”

(p. 92).

Said once again believes that the text about the Orient influence the

construction of the Orient because the Western recognizes the Orient based on the

text. For Western, the text is accurate archive, which contains factual informations

and knowledges about the Orient though several of them are different from reality

as Said argues

Most important, such texts can create not only knowledge but also

the very reality they appear to describe. In time such knowledge

and reality produce a tradition, or what Michel Foucault calls a

discourse, whose material presence or weight, not the originality of

a given author, is really responsible for the texts produced out of

it.” (p. 94)

The argument of Said above shows that the knowledge of the Orient is only a

construction which is created by the Western Orientalist since the most of text

about the Orient is written by the Western Orientalist. As the result, the factual

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knowledge of the Orient is exchanged by the European representation about the

Orient and this representation is static because the knowledge about the Orient is

recognize from the Orientalist‟s constructed text as Said claims “Oriental

overrode the Orient.” (p. 96). Then, the text construct the Orient as their object in

order to show that the Western‟s authority toward the Orient (p. 102). This case

leads the intellectuals use the Orient as their object in their discourse. They still

interest in idea of the Orient as their object although the political situation change,

as Eastern nations acquired independence. It means that the construction about the

Orient is too strong so it makes the Orient‟s image is unchangeable as Said

declares “the West the actor, the Orient a passive reactor. The West is the

spectator, the judge and jury, of every facet of Oriental behavior.” (p. 109). Since

the Occident has more knowledge about the Orient than the Orient themselves,

the Occident views themselves as the heroes for the Orient who is protecting the

Orient from its unknown and strangers (p. 121).

Furthermore, Said analyzes work of two scholars, Silvestre de Sacy and

Ernest Renan. According to Said, Sacy and Renan are predominant figure in

shaping Orientalism. Said stated that Sacy concerns in

And since also the vastly rich (in space, time, and cultures) Orient

cannot be totally exposed, only its most representative parts need

be. Thus Sacy's focus is the anthology, the chrestomathy, the

tableau, the survey of general principles, in which a relatively

small set of powerful examples delivers the Orient to the student.”

(p. 125).

33

Sacy arranges an idea about the Orients which is required to be presented by the

Orientalist because the Orientalist has more knowledge about the Orient than the

Orient themselves. As the result, the Orientalist views the Orient as uncivilized

people. Then, the Orientalist claims that they have authority and predominant role

to construct and represent the Orient to the Western World because they think that

the Orient is unable to reach the same shape of civilization like the Western.

Therefore, the Orientalist think that they have a duty to “ present the Orient by a

series of representative fragments, fragments republished, explicated, annotated,

and surrounded with still more fragments.” (p. 128). Moreover, Ernest Renan, the

other scholar adopts Orientalism as his discourse, Semitic Orient. Renan‟s Semitic

Orient is associating the Orient with philology. Through his discourse, Renan

explores that the differences between the Indo – European language and the

Orient or Semitic language. Renan claims that the Indo – European language is

“the living, organic form” while the Orient or Semitic language is

“inorganic…Semitic is not a live language, and for that matter, neither are

Semities live creature.” (pp. 143-145). Renan‟s statement directly shows that the

act of the authority in his discourse. It means that he constructs the Orient as non

– human because he thinks that the Orient language is not a live language like

human language. For Said, the Renan‟s discourse is not focus in linguistic study

but it deals with the marginal issue. Therefore, the aim Renan in exploring

Semitic Orient is only want to shows that the Orient is uncivilized people.

In his following discussion, Said examines the latent and manifest

Orientalism as mode of knowing and representing the Orient. According to Said,

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the latent Orientalism is “an almost unconscious (and certainly an untouchable)

positivity…” (p. 206). The latent Orientalism is used for saving the Orientalist‟s

representation of the Orient because the Orientalist constructs the Orient as

“static, frozen, fixed eternally.” (p. 209). Moreover, the manifest Orientalism can

be defined as “the various stated views about Oriental society, languages,

literatures, history, sociology, and so forth…” (p. 206). It can be described that

the manifest Orientalism is the application of the latent Orientalism in order to

isolate the Orient from social development and movement.

Said furthers that the racist term and stereotype of the Orient which is

construct by the Orientalist is the part of manifest Orientalism. This line can be

seen from Rudyard Kipling‟s White Man. Said argues that Kipling‟s

representation of the European in his works contains the British imperialism

propaganda (p. 227). Said examines that the white author like Kipling uses “we”

to represent the Occident while “they” refers to the Orient. Said indicates

pronounce “we” the superiority of the Occident in order to show the weakness of

the Occident and to secure their perception toward the Orient so the Orient cannot

be “independent and rule themselves.” (p. 228).

In the last section, Said expresses that after World War II, the Orientalist

still spread its idea of Orientalism especially in United States. Therefore, United

States become the center of Orientalism. Said finishes this section by concludes

that the Orientalist cannot deny and avoid the existence of the Orient because “the

answer to Orientalism is not Occidentalism.” (p. 328). Later, Said hopes that his

book, Orientalism provides the information, method and idea for the intellectual

35

that “could dispense with racial, ideological, and imperialist stereotypes of the

sort provided during its historical ascendancy by Orientalism.” (p. 328).

Furthermore, the existence of colonial discourses emerged many native

authors from colonized nations that created their works to give another view of

imperialism and colonialism during many colonized nations in Asia, Africa and

Latin America fought the colonists for their independence in 1940s. According to

Habib (2005) the colonists addressed the colonized nations in Asia, Africa and

Latin America as the Third World (p. 738). The appearance of the native authors

and intellectuals as the representatives of the Third World emerged the

postcolonial literature. The postcolonial literature has arisen since the end of the

World War II. The postcolonial literature was works that had relationship with

imperialism and colonial expansion issues under colonialism and after

decolonization. Many literary works were produced in India, Sri Lanka, Australia,

Nigeria and Jamaica after they won their independence from their colonizer. In

short, the postcolonial literature was the medium of writers to describe the

interaction between the colonizer and the colonized especially in the colonized

people‟s perspective. In addition, it also discovers the responses and critiques

toward the intellectual‟s discourse of the colonizer especially, Europeans.

There were many novelists, dramatists, and poets have been marked as

postcolonial writers. One of the most inspirational postcolonial novels, which

emerged in this period, is Things Fall Apart by Nigerian novelist and poet,

Chinua Achebe (Habib, 2005, p. 738). This novel published in 1950. In the novel,

Achebe represented the ruin and change of Igbo‟s culture as the influence of

36

British colonialism in Nigeria in the late of 19th

Century. Besides, John Michael

Coetzee, a South African novelist, often used allegory to record the apartheid

regime in South Africa. Coetzee‟s novel, The Life and Times of Michael K (1983)

was the story of a man named Michael K who conducted a journey from Cape

Town to his mother hometown during war in apartheid period

(http://www.enotes.com/topics/postcolonialism). In 1983, the novel won the

Booker Prize. Furthermore, the works of literature in postcolonial period often

depicted the history and effect of colonialism upon the people who were ruled by

the colonizer. The development of postcolonial literature emerged the

postcolonial literary theory and criticism that dealt with another perspective of the

process and effect of imperialism and colonialism, especially in the colonized‟s

perspective.

Actually, postcolonial critic is similar to sociology of literature because

postcolonial critic sees a literary work in sociological aspect such as history,

culture, politic, economic, religion and ideology; and explores the influence of

society toward literary work. Moreover, sociology of literature is the development

theory of mimetic theory of M.H Abrams. According to Abram, mimetic theory is

“the explanation of art as essentially as essentially an imitation of aspect of the

universe.” (1953, p. 8). It means that there is relationship between literary work

and universe, especially the society. Literature is a work that is created by an

author who is the member of society. As an individual who live in a community

or environment, it is possible that many sociological aspects such as culture,

behavior, religion, education, life style and ideology can influence the author‟s

37

way of thinking. Then, life, condition and phenomenon that occur in society in the

surrounding of the author may become inspiration for the author in his process of

creating a literary work. Therefore, a literary work can be an imitation of society

because readers can find the social reality in the literary work. Then, sociology of

literature examines a literary work as a social document to discover social history.

It focuses on the analysis of the characters, characterizations, setting of place and

time; and plot of the novel to find the social condition in the novel.

Similar to sociology of literature, postcolonial critic discusses several

issues of sociological aspect especially power, economics, politics, religion, and

culture and “how these elements work in relation to colonial hegemony, western

colonizers controlling the colonized” which are reflected in the literary work

(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/10/). Specifically, postcolonial

critic focuses on “literature produced by colonial powers and works produced by

those who were/are colonized”

(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/10/). It can be concluded that

postcolonial critic analyses the relationship between the colonizer and the

colonized. According to Bertens, postcolonial critic examines “how these texts

construct the colonizer‟s superiority and the colonized‟s inferiority and in so

doing have legitimated colonization” (2001, p. 395). Thus, the main point of

postcolonial theory and criticism is to seek the colonial experience especially the

colonized people who are often controlled by the colonizer includes the impact of

colonialism and imperialism under colonialism and after decolonization through

the literary work.

38

Moreover, the novel as one of the literary work is formed from several

elements such as plot, point of view, character, setting and theme. Every element

has different function but it completes each other to build its form or whole

system. Thus, every element cannot be separated to understand a whole system of

literary text. Then, it needs to analyze each element and finds out the relation

among them to obtain the whole system. Therefore, the researcher who analyses a

literary work by using post-colonial theories, she or he must pay attention in

several elements inside the literary work such as plot, point of view, character,

setting and theme. The findings of intrinsic analysis are then continued to analyze

the colonial experiences and history and how the author constructs the colonial

experiences and its impact inside the literary work.

Since the purposes of this research are to find out how Rudyard Kipling

represents the influence of the British imperialism towards Indian society in order

to discover Rudyard Kipling‟s perception about the influence of the British

imperialism towards Indian society in his novel Kim, this research uses

postcolonial as approach. It is because postcolonialism theory deals with specific

guidelines to discover the British author‟s representation about the influence of

the British imperialism towards Indian society.

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B. Previous Research

There are several essays about Rudyard Kipling‟s Kim in various fields.

Edward Said wrote in his essay Rudyard Kipling: Kim (1987) about his reading of

Kipling‟s Kim in postcolonial field. He points out that the way of Kipling in

representing the Orient is similar to the attitude of the Westerner towards the

Orient. Moreover, Said explains that Kipling explores the issue of superiority of

white man. In section of masculinity, Said shows that Kipling celebrates the

relationship of male in his novel (p. 14). There are many male characters in the

novel and he puts man as his main character who has predominant role in the

novel. Said furthers that there is only a few number of women figures in the novel.

Besides, Kipling‟s representation of women in his novel shows that he places the

position of women as the subordinate one. Kipling depicts the women as

„prostitute, elderly widow, or importune and lusty women” (p, 12). This case

shows that Kipling tries to define men as the superior while women are inferior.

Moreover, Kipling shows that his idea engages with the authority of the

Western through his novel. Later, Kipling displays his idea of the authority by

represent the stereotypes of the Orient, which is derived from the Orientalist‟s

belief. Said notes that “Kim is a major contribution to this orientalized India of the

imagination, as it is also to what historians have come to call „the invention of

tradition‟ … Dotting Kim„s fabric is a scattering of editorial asides on the

immutable nature of the Oriental world.” (p. 28). Said cites the several example of

stereotypes of the Orient that appear in the novel. The example are “Kim would

lie like an Oriental”; “all hours of the twenty four are alike to the Orientals,” or

40

“the Oriental's indifference to mere noise”. For Said, the reason why Kipling puts

the several stereotypes of the Orient in his novel is to justify the rule of the

authority figure, the British Empire over the Indian society (p. 30). This case

shows that Kipling directly gives his support toward Western tradition about

Orientalism especially in term authority.

Like Said, Raskin examines Kim in his essay entitled Kim: In the Middle

Way. He associates Kipling with the British imperialism practice. For Raskin, the

main character in Kim is the reflection of Kipling himself (p. 99). Through Kim,

Kipling explores his imagination and “dreams” about the native Indian and their

culture for the Western reader. Kipling concerns in representing the native Indian

and their culture based on his knowledge in order to convince his Western reader

about the colonization of the British Imperialism in India. According to Raskin,

Kipling believes that the British Empire is superior so he justifies the colonization

of India by the British Empire. Later, Kipling uses the stereotype of Indian people

to define the Western by defining the Indian people and their culture in order to

show the Westerner as “confident, active, extravert, aggressive” while the

Easterner as “meditative, introvert and passive” (p. 107). Despite it is so clear that

Kipling is the supporter of the British Empire but he puts Kim in “Middle way”

until at the end of the novel (p. 123). This is because; Kipling wants to locate Kim

as a hero for Easterner and Westerner so he never comes to his decision that he

must choose between Easterner and Westerner. However, for Raskin, it is not the

original idea of Kipling. He thinks that Kipling hides his truth mind about his

41

admiration to the British Empire in order to represent the Westerner as virtuous

figure.

Moreover, another essay was written by Bahman Zarrinjooee entitled

Hybridity: The Effect of Imperialism in Rudyard Kipling’s Kim (www.jnasci.org.).

In his essay, Zarrinjooee applies the theory of postcolonialism by Edward Said

and Homi Bhaba. His essay focuses on the one of impacts of British imperialism,

the hybrid identity. According to Zarrinjooee, the main character of the novel,

Kim is the product of hybridization. It is the “favor” of Rudyard Kipling to

support the British imperialism in India (p. 1). Zarrinjooee argues that although

Kim‟s appearance and custom, which is like native Indian but he never, forget

about his root as the part of the white people. This is the reason why Kim has

multiple identities, as a Sahib and native of India. In the name of hybrid character,

Kim, Kipling wants to show the weakness of the native India. Then, he creates

Kim like the native Indian in order to explore the behaviors, cultures, habits and

languages of the native India. It constructs the image of Indian people as “the

other” because their behaviors, cultures, habits and languages are different from

the Westerner (p.7). Therefore, Kipling places the Indian people as uncivilized

people. Then, Zarrinjooee concludes that Kipling intentionally represents false

image of Indian people in order to show the supremacy of the Westerner.

The essays mentioned above give me inspiration to conduct this study

about the representation of Indian society in Kim from the point of view of the

colonist. However, this research will discuss about the different issues in the

novel. This research concerns with the representation of the influence of the

42

British imperialism towards Indian society. Moreover, this research tries to

examine the influence of the British imperialism towards Indian society in several

field in India such as economic, religious, educational, socio – cultural and

political fields in order to discover Kipling‟s representation about the influence of

the British imperialism towards Indian society.

C. Biography of Rudyard Kipling

The author is predominant figure of literary work because literary work is

the creation and product of the author. According to Abrams (1999) “Authors are

individuals who, by their intellectual and imaginative powers, purposefully create

from the materials of their experience and reading a literary work which is

distinctively their own.” (p.14). The author employs his or her idea, imagination,

intellection, expression and experience in his or her literary work. Moreover, the

author also delivers meaning and message or purpose inside it. Thus, a literary

work is owned by the author as its creator. This is why, the author has significant

role in literary work because he is the creator or subject of literary work and he

also expresses his response toward phenomena in his environment through his

work. Therefore, the explanation of biography is very important in order to obtain

the chronology of the author‟s life and social background.

On 30th

December 1865, a son of John Lockwood Kipling and Alice

Macdonald was born in Bombay, India. They gave him a name, Joseph Rudyard

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Kipling. They added name Rudyard because they had met and engaged in Lake

Rudyard where located in England. Then the name of the Lake became inspiration

for them in naming their son (Mallet, 2003). Kipling was the eldest of the two

children of the Kiplings. He had a younger sister, named Alice, familiar to his

family as Trix.

Kipling‟s father, John Lockwood Kipling was a pottery designer who

studied at the School of Art in Stoke. After he married to Kipling‟s mother, Alice,

the Kiplings moved to India and he worked as a teacher who taught architecture

sculpture to Indian student at the Sir Jamjetsee Jeheebhoy School of Art and

Industry. In 1875, he became Principle of the Mayo College of art and curator of

the Museum in Lahore India. Moreover, Kipling‟s mother, Alice Macdonald was

the eldest of five daughters of a minister Methodist, Reverend George Browne

Macdonald. She is a part of socialite because her sisters were the remarkable

daughter because they married with well known people in Victoria era. They lived

in India for a long time. However, they returned to England in 1897. In November

1910, Alice was sick and died then Lockwood followed her in January 1911

(Mallet, 2003).

Kipling family was a part of Anglo – Indian because they are British

people who living in India for a long time. Kipling born and spent his childhood

in India, until five years old. When he was child, he was familiar to Indian

language and habit because the servants of his family named Meeta were the

native of India and always spoke in Indian language (Kipling, 1951). However,

his childhood in India was over before his sixth birthday. His parent sent his

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sister, Alice and him to the house of Mrs. Sara Holloway, Lorne Lodge in

Southsea. At the time, Anglo-Indians had tradition to board their children to the

British people‟s house in order to get British education and tradition so their

children would not forget their real root (Mallet, 2003). Thus, Mrs. Holloway

taught them to speak, read and write in English.

In his book Something of My Self, Kipling expressed his feeling when

settled in there. Kipling was unhappy because he felt lonely and isolated in Lorne

Lodge. He felt anxiety because the teaching way of Mrs. Holloway was too fierce

and other children were always intimidating him. Then, he called Lorne Lodge as

The House of Desolation because the situation in there was associated with sorrow

and darkness. Furthermore, his feeling in Lorne Lodge was drew in his short story

Baa Baa, Blak Sheep in 1888 (Mallet, 2003). Moreover, he was really likes to

read. His parent was always sent him books. His depression was disappearing

when he visited his aunt frequently, Georgiana house in London. His aunt‟s

husband, Edward Burne-Jones was a painter who introduced him about art. It

made him interested in art, literature and philosophy. Those became his way to

remove his uncomfortable feeling and he began to express his feeling through

writing short story and poem.

When Kipling was thirteen years old, he entered the United Services

Collage on the North Devon coast near Bideford in 1878. The United Services

Collage was a school to prepare boys for British army. However, he could not

enter the military because he had bad eyesight. Moreover, he felt uncomfortable at

his school because his friends were always bullying him. Later, he depicted his

45

experience in United Service College in his book Stalky and Co in 1881.

Furthermore, Kipling‟s Father provided a job for him as assistant editor of local

newspaper, The Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore, Punjab, he then approved it

(Mallet, 2003).

In 1882, when he was sixteen, Kipling returned to India for his job as

assistant editor and journalist of The Civil and Military Gazette in the Punjab. His

tasks in The Civil and Military Gazette were provide report summary of official

publications, examined various local and specific journal that could be used in

newspaper. He also prepared a column about local event (Mallet, 2003).

Furthermore, he began to write verse and short story for newspaper. Work as a

journalist gave him many experiences to see the real condition in India and

improve his creativity in his writing skill. Therefore, his works represented his

experiences and what he saw in his environment.

There were many of his verses that were published in The Civil and

Military Gazette. The works were Echoes by Two Writes, Lord Ripon’s Revirie,

The Story of Tommy, The Song of the Women, a group of six poems, Bungalow

Ballads and The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows which was a short story. His first

volume of poems, Department Ditties and Others Verse, was published in 1886.

Then, his collection of short stories, Plain Tales from the Hills was also published

in 1888. The main topic of Plain Tales from the Hills is the life of Anglo – Indian

and native Indian.

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In 1888, Kipling moved to Allahabad to work in The Pioneer, the The

Civil and Military Gazette’s center. In The Pioneer, he produced short stories

such as Soldiers Three, The Story of the Gadsbys, In Black and White , Wee Willie

Winkie, Under the Deodars and The Phantom Rickshaw. He had had experiments

in his way of writing by enlarging his topic. His works in The Pioneer was not

only contain about the life of Anglo – Indian and Natives Indian but also include

an idea of imperialism ideology, especially in The Phantom Rickshaw (Mallet,

2003, p. 42).

In 1889, Kipling settled in London. His successful work in India gave him

opportunities when he settled in London. His previous works in India were

accepted by various magazine editors in London. In 1890, he published his novel

The Light that Failed which brought him met the publishing agent Wolcott

Balestier. Then, he and Balestier conducted collaboration on a novel, The

Naulahka in April 1892. Furthermore, Kipling fell in love with Balestier‟s young

sister, Caroline Star Balestier and married to her in 1892. The couple settled in

America after honeymoon and traveled to Japan. In America, he joined the

American Association of Author in order to enlarge his carrier in America (Mallet,

2003). Then, he published his bestseller book, Jungle Book during 1894 and

Captains Courageous in 1897. Further, in August 1897 Caroline gave birth to

their first son, John.

In America, Kipling met variety of people from different race such as

Irish, Italian and German. This diversity made Kipling interest in politics

especially in idea of American about England which nation that colonized

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America (Kipling, 1951, p.120). Kipling found a fact that the good Americans

were people who hate England and he thought that it was big bully in America.

Moreover, he continued in writing and the theme of his poems explored

imperialism and political such as the Song of the Dead, Recessional and the White

Man’s Burden. In The Song of the Dead, Kipling showed the spirit of imperialism;

“Came the whisper, came the vision, came the power with the need. Till the Soul

that is not man’s soul was sent us to lead” (Kipling in Mallet, 2003, p. 93). Many

criticize argued that Kipling‟s poems, Recessional and the White Man’s Burden

was the hymn for imperialism because both captured the spirit of imperialism and

supremacy of colonizer.

During 1900 after voyage from South Africa, he produced serial story,

Kim for one of America Magazines, McClure’s Magazine and later on October

1901 it appeared as a novel when he moved to Sussex. The setting of the novel

took place in India during the Great Game. It was the political conflict between

Russia and Britain in Central Asia. However, there were criticisms toward Kim

because it was exploring the reality when the British controls India. Thus, Henry

James who was a master of fiction of America stated that; “Kipling could never

have made so determined separation between literature and politics, but he did

concede that his „long leisurely Asiatic yarn‟ was „a bit more temperate wise than

much of my stuff.” (James in Mallet, 2003, p.119). Besides, Edward Said, a

Palestine American writer and he was known as a critic who has high critical

about Western Imperialism in Asia claimed that:

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Thus as I have been saying, Kim is a master work of imperialism: I

mean this as an interpretation of a rich and absolutely fascinating,

but nevertheless profoundly embarrassing novel. The device

invented by Kipling, by which British control over India (the Great

Game) coincides in detail with Kim‟s disguise fantasy to be at one

with India, is a remarkable one precisely because it would not

occurred without British Imperialism.” (Said, 1987, p. 45)

Though there is criticism towards the novel, it led Kipling to award the

Nobel Prize for literature in 1907 and it was the peak of his career as an author.

1916 was the sadness year for Kipling. His son, John who was a military officer

died in World War I. Then, to remember his son, he created a poem in titled “My

Boy Jack”. After his son died, he kept writing until 1930s but it was not

successful than before. In January 1936, he died in Middlesex Hospital because of

his ulcer burst after travelling to London, at the age of seventy. Then, he was

buried in Westminster Abbey on 23 January 1936. One year after his death his

autobiography Something of Myself was published in 1937.

The biography of Rudyard Kipling is important to use because of the

social condition. His environment and his way of life influenced him in writing a

literary work. For instate, Kipling and his family ever live in India for a long time.

Besides, Kipling lived and familiar to native as inferior and British as superior

which have different social system, culture and religion, so it is possible to

influence the Kipling‟s way of thinking about imperialism. Therefore, he explores

and expresses his ideas, experiences and perception through his novel Kim as a

representation about the influence of the British imperialism towards Indian

society.

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D. The Historical and Sociological Background of the British

Imperialism in India

The British Empire is the dominant empire in practicing imperialism. The

British Empire existed during the reign of Edward I in the thirteenth centuries.

Moreover, the reign of Elizabeth I was a mark of the practice of colony and

imperialism. Portugal and Spain were important countries that led another country

in Europe to explore countries around the world. Then, Britain followed the step

of Portugal and Spain to explore country around the world in the sixteenth century

(Johnson, 2003). The competition to look for raw materials and trade market laid

the British Empire to search new territory for new wealth and settlement.

Therefore, in the reign of Elizabeth I supported the naval to sail around the world

in order to expand the territory for its trade market and settlement.

North America was the first area of British expansion during the

eighteenth century. The British Empire was interested to colonize Caribbean

which is the part of North America. Caribbean had a lot of raw material such as

tobacco, sugar and coffee. The goal of Britain to colonize North America was not

only for commonwealth but also for looking for new settlement and spread their

religious belief, Puritan (Johnson, 2003). Moreover, in 1600s, British landed in

Australia and New Zealand. The growth of British population led British Empire

to look for new settlement. Then, Australia and New Zealand became the

settlement of emigrants of British that part of working class and middle class.

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These settlers set up the new land in this area for their outcome. Besides, the

location of Australia which is near to East Asia led the British Empire built port

there in order to support his expansion to East Asia.

In 1807, the British Empire was interested in West Indies because West

Indies had a lot of sugar (Johnson, 2003). Later, the sugar industry grew rapidly

there. At that time, the British Empire began to require a larger labor force for the

production of sugar. The British Empire begun to colonize South Africa at the end

of the eighteenth century in order to require slave as labor force for sugar

production. The force that matched in the tropical climate and cheaper cost were

the reason why of British in using of black African. Furthermore, the slaves from

Africa became commodities for the British Empire and human trade grew rapidly.

India was the most valuable colony territory of the British Empire during

the sixteenth until nineteenth centuries. Moreover, India was known as the Jewel

in the Crown of the Empire because India was the major supplier of raw materials

such as chintzes, rice, saltpeter and sugar cane for industries of the British Empire

(Johnson, 2003, p.24). The British Empire established in India since 1600s when

the British East India Company or EIC built trading posts at three areas in India,

they were Bombay, Madras and Calcutta (Suwarno, 2012). This company was

built by merchants of London under the control the British government.

Robert Clive was the predominant figure of EIC. Clive defeated France in

Carnatic War and took control Benggala in 1757. As the result, EIC got diwani

right, a right for collecting outcome from three regions Benggala, Bihar and

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Orissa (Suwarno, 2012). At that time, EIC was the prominent power in India. The

other predominant figure in the development of the British Empire in India was

the governor of EIC, Lord Wellesley. Wellesley set up the rule for British Raj or

King of India Empire who consolidated with British power. The rule was that

British Raj should pay tribute for the British Empire and rejected the other

European country in India. EIC was stronger because it could monopolize the

trade market in India under the reign of Wellesley. The British Empire developed

its economy by building railroad network in India in order to transport the raw

materials to the other places. As the result, Britain became the centre of economic

prosperity in Europe.

The British Empire did not only try to develop its economy but also the

culture. The British Empire began to destruct the original ideology, belief and

culture in India under the rule of Governor Lord Bentinck. Bentinck set up the

rule in education system in India. He transformed education system along with

British ideology and ignored the Indian tradition suttee or burning of widows.

Besides, he permitted the Evangelicals to spread Christian belief to Indians in

order to save British rule in India through Christian (Suwarno, 2012). As the

result, many churches and Christian schools were established in India.

Furthermore, the British Empire tried to add its culture to the Indians. The

British Empire imposed Indian to follow Victorian attitudes and customs in their

daily activities. For example, the English became the language of communication

in society. Almost all staffs or members of government, educators, religions,

leaders, traders and citizens used English as a means to communicate with other

52

people. In addition, the British Empire culture influenced to Indians education,

architecture, painting, literature, or even Indians religion and philosophy. It makes

Indians identity blurred because the British culture constructs Indians identity as

multiple identities. Moreover, British imperialism produces discrimination among

Indians because British as the superior clan can do anything to Indians. The

British Empire shaped social classes in Indian society to distinguish one race to

other in term of occupation. The upper class served as officials while the lower

class served as servants.

In political field, the British Empire was the centre of government in India.

The British Empire took of control Indian empire so, the Indians Empire was still

established but Indians king should follow the British Empire‟s rules. Therefore,

the Indian Empire finally collapsed in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Moreover, there was a distance between British people and Indians in society. In

government office, the amount of staffs of Indians was very small and they were

placed in low position. Meanwhile, the British Empire placed a lot of British

people as the leaders or heads and staffs in government office in order to control

the external and internal security in India. The British Empire also maintained its

power by developing and deploying its military in all regions in India to secure

India from external and internal security. The British Empire required Indians as

its troops to secure its territory around the world so Indian troops automatically

joined the war. For example, Indian troop joined Great War or Great Game to

secure and support the British Empire. Great War or Great Game was a military

conflict between the British Empire and Russian Empire (Johnson. 2003). The

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conflict between the British Empire and Russian Empire occurred since the

eighteenth century to compete for supremacy in Asia. In order to secure its

territory in Asia especially India, the British Empire prepared its troops to face

Russian. The total of troop of Empire consists of 23,500 British and 78,000 Indian

troops (Johnson, 2003).

India had a long history about British imperialism. Indians were very poor

and subordinate because the British Empire exploited the people and nature there

in order to get some profits. Besides, the British Empire forced Indians with its

religion, Christian. This situation led the rebellion of the Sepoy. This rebellion

called as Sepoy Mutiny in 1897. Some criticism argued that this mutiny was the

first war of Indian Independence (Suwarno, 2012).

The reason why Indians rebelled the British Empire was that there were no

freedom and satisfaction with British Empire especially toward Sepoy, Hinduism

and Islamism. Then, Indian soldiers or Sepoy began to disobey the rule and

command of the British Empire. There were many Sepoys were jailed. This case

caused other Sepoys and Indians rebel the British Empire. They took control of

Delhi city and then the rebellion spread to all regions in India. The Sepoy Mutiny

gave big impact to the British Empire especially EIC. As the result, EIC collapsed

in 1858. At the end of the nineteenth century, nationalism of Indians was growing

rapidly. There were group of nationalist, the Indian National Congress and the

Muslim league. Then, the act of the British Empire in India broke up and the

British Empire lost his authority in India in 1911.

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The phenomena that are described above are similar to the contents of the

novel Kim. In 1901, Kipling published his novel, Kim. In this novel, Kipling

attempts to show that Kim imitates the social condition in India when the British

Empire dominated nearly all fields of life in India. Therefore, the historical and

sociological backgrounds are important in the analysis to explore the information

and facts about the British imperialism in India.