TOM DRISCOLL AS THE MANIPULATOR OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CAPITAL IN PUDDN'HEAD WILSON

Expanding on the critical discussion of the ambiguity of slave identity in Mark Twain’s Puddn’head Wilson put forward by Rowe (137), I want to argue that by exploiting the weakness of transitional capitalist society, the white slave character Tom Driscoll (Valet de Chambre) manipulates cultural identifiers in the form of cultural and social capitals, in order to subvert power from the ruling white elite, and ultimately elevate his societal statuses. I propose that his subversion of power, must be defined within the specific discourse of that setting, and this setting allows Tom, normally a black slave, to redefine himself as a white aristocratic member of the society. Tom’s ‘passing’ as a white aristocrat was initiated and propelled into being by his mother, Roxy, by exploiting main cultural identifiers which are parameters of cultural and social capitals. The first is Tom’s racial likeness to white slave masters which enabled him to supplant the true heir of the Driscoll’s family. The second is the objectified cultural capital of physical appearance such as speech and manners, to gain and maintain outward appearance of a white aristocrat. And the third, his conformity to the lofty ideals of lifestyle, manner, language, and honor, are required to pass as a member of the Driscoll family. Tom can then function as a sum of all Driscoll’s cultural, social, and economic capitals, and he was able to ‘steal’ the name of a powerful Driscoll family. These are all maintained by Tom in order to rob the Driscoll’s of their capitals, and ultimately, their power

Queequeeq as an American Imperial Subject in Melville’s Moby Dick.

Herman Melville’s Moby Dick has been scrutinized for the imperialistic constructs within its multicultural, multiracial and multiethnic settings. This article focuses on how Ishmael, the main character of the novel, describes the character of Queequeeg, the ethnic harpooner, at the scenes in the novel before they go aboard the ship Pequod, during their early meetings in New Bedford. In these events, Ishmael interpellates Queequeeg into existence, as through Ishmael’s narration here that Queequeeg is firstly depicted. The main character Ishmael serves as an organ of American Imperialism within the multicultural setting of the novel. The character Ishmael’s Eurocentric gaze constructs the non-white characters Queequeeg the ‘cannibal’ as a disempowered colonial subject, mainly through colonialistic and religious themes, powered by capitalistic motives. Queequeeg’s ethnicity is viewed by Ishmael through an Imperialistic, Eurocentric ideology that serves to frame non-white character, Queequeeg, into an inferior subject status. Queequeeg’s cultural identity in the end is constructed, judged, and modified by cultural criteria imposed by Ishmael’s Eurocentric gaze, which is colored by a capitalistic backdrop

African-American Vernacular English as Hip-Hop Artist Identity in Indonesian Rapper Ramengvrl's Songs

This study aimed to investigate and identify the grammatical features of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) used in the song lyrics of the Indonesian Rapper Ramengvrl’s album, Can’t Speak English, and understand the underlying reasons for this AAVE use by applying the language and society of sociolinguistics approach. The data was analyzed using Wolfram’s theory of classification of grammatical features of AAVE in Ramengvrl’s songs to elaborate on the purpose of its use. The data analyzed were qualitatively collected by closely and thoroughly listening to the songs and reading the transcribed lyrics. The results are as follows: Ramengvrl employs 8 out of 13 grammatical features of AAVE. Those are copula/auxiliary absence, specialized auxiliary, subject-verb agreement, negation, remote “been,” nominals, non-standard pronouns, and question formation. Furthermore, this AAVE use by Ramengvrl is because of (1) the influences of Hip-hop artists, (2) the authenticity of Hip-Hop culture, and (3) as an anti-language to represent herself. Keywords: African-American Vernacular English, AAVE, hip-hop, identit

THE INFLUENCE OF THE STORE AS SPATIAL SETTING TOWARD THE MAIN CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN SAYAKA MURATA’S CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN

This research examines Keiko Furukura’s character development influenced by the convenience store as the main spatial setting in Sayaka Murata’s novel entitled Convenience Store Woman (2018). The study is a literary criticism which uses the theory of New Criticism, especially its argument that centers on the analysis of the main character in the story. This research proposes that spatial settings can become one of most determinant factors to affect the character’s development in the story. The finding proves that the store is influential to the main character’s development as it plays as the character’s life-anchor to evaluate, measure or even, eventually, decide how worthy the main character is as a human

FINDING THE TRANSCENDENTAL BEAST IN POETIC TRANSLATIONS OF CHAIRIL ANWAR’S AKU

This study sets out to present the combined application of qualitative research and a translation method to elucidate the transcendental aspect of Chairil Anwar's poem entitled Aku. The translation process uses the poem’s verbatim format at first, then its interpretation of the content, and finally its inherent ideas by reading behind its lines. The transcending process is achieved through the use of a symbolic beast that permeates the poem’s structure. The beast-symbol has twofold functions in the poem, to say that everything beyond the persona-self is unworthy and thus the persona itself is capable of reaching a more divine place or becoming a higher being. Such a powerful symbol further substantiates the presence of a textual being, a voice of a persona that is inherent within the poem’s structure, and of which function is to express the persona’s wish to transcend into something bigger or higher than himself, which is resembling, if not equal to, a godly being. Keywords: poem’s persona, poetic translation, transcendentalism

Repressive Society in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Contemporary literary studies do not limit its study only on the study of classic literary text. Literary studies nowadays also study popular culture, especially the media, by utilizing progresses in the fields of Semiotics and Cultural Studies. Studying popular culture media is considered to be as important and rigorous as studying literary Classics, since the analysis  required are no less demanding and complex, and the cultural  impact of popular  culture is also significant.    This study, in the tradition of Cultural Studies, analyses popular culture by concentrating on ideology, also utilizing Marxist notions of it. This study chooses to analyze a relatively new medium that has not been researched much, which is video game. Video games are now one of the established popular culture medium, which has ideologically loaded content. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is chosen as the object of this study because it is one of the successful video games which have received much attention from  the general public, academics, and governments because of its explicit violent and criminal theme. The game focuses on criminal acts against the repressive law and the State.   This study analyses the repressive ideology in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, by focusing on the representation of the repressive society, namely the State and its apparatuses and the oppressed lower class. The scope of this study is on the analysis of the relevant elements of the game, focusing firstly on the narrative elements, through the understanding of its semiotic elements. Semiotic is used as an analytical tool to observe the representations of the elements of the society in the game. This study is a form of Cultural Studies that uses literary approach, and the aim of this study is to find the working of the repressive ideology involved, using the Marxist theories especially those developed by Louis Althusser.   From the analysis, the State and its apparatuses are represented in exaggeratedly negative form of repressiveness, and so are those who are compliant to the State’s ideology. Repressiveness is seen firstly from the way the ruling class utilizes the State’s Repressive Apparatus. The repressiveness and negative theme is also apparent in how the State / ruling class utilizes the Ideological State Apparatuses to support, justify, and ‘necessitate’ this kind of repressiveness. The dominant ideology of the society from the workings of these apparatuses can be found out to be repressive and negative, in the ways of representation summarized above, especially in the criminal theme and point of view of main story.   On the other hand, those who resist the State’s repressiveness: the lower class, the Gangs, criminals, and Carl Johnson, are criminals and villains. Both the State and its resistant elements are therefore represented as negative. It can be seen from this perspective that the game creates a negative society where compliance or resistance to the State is actually compliance to the negative ideology of the State.   The State and the resistant elements, however, are in an inter-related existence. The repressive State exists and becomes a necessity because of the threat of the resistant elements, and the resistant elements can only exist and flourish inside a State which has repressive law and which provides conditions suitable for them to exist. The State creates its Self from the resistant elements which are its Other. This creates a binary opposition between the State and its resistant elements in terms of Gun Possession, material appearance, ways of conduct, and capital ownership. The cultural themes of race and ethnicity, and also the label ‘minorities,’ are also built on this Self-Other dialectic.    This dialectic, supported with cultural ‘otherness’ built by the theme of ethnic minorities, are used for the purpose of defining the State’s superiority or ‘righteousness’ and the minorities’ inherent inferiority, ‘wickedness,’ or ‘resistant’ attribute.   There are many more areas that further studies may reveal, such as studies focusing more on the racist and sexist representations in this game or in other games. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas can be a very good example of an easily accessed and interactive media that promotes criminality and deviant behavior, seeing that player must commit criminal actions to be successful. Further government regulations on such evil-themed media with dangerous material are necessary, as they may cause detrimental  effects on its players, especially to children

Representing Invisible Politics of Shakespearian Plays in Orson Welles’ Chimes at Midnight

The full construction of the main character Falstaff, as a figure in the Shakespearean movie adaptation Chimes at Midnight, exists through the intertextual relationship between the film and the original Shakespearian plays. In this study, I argue that much of this intertextual material is non-existent in the film, but relies in its availability the audience’s own mind watching the film. By merely hinting at an incomplete material, the film recreates the entire feeling of a seemingly complete Shakespearean material with its original political preoccupations. This illusion of the complete text is shown in the isolated battle scenes that do not contribute much to the development of Falstaff, and the impotent military imageries in the film. However, the scenes where Falstaff’s foils are presented: the Earl of Worcester’s lies and the dying lamentations of Hotspur, are more evidently meant to give the impression that the film significantly adapt the original plays’ political motives that the film do not really concern itself with.  Keywords: Chimes at Midnight, Orson Wells, Intertextuality, Shakespeare, Falstaff, 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV&nbsp