THE COLONIZED PSYCHE OF JOE CHRISTMAS AS THE BEARER OF A HYBRID IDENTITY IN WILLIAM FAULKNER’S LIGHT IN AUGUST

Abstract

This thesis discusses the colonized psyche of a mulatto who is colonized by the others, which is drawn in Light in August. The novel depicts how Joe Christmas who is a mulatto gets bad treatments from whites and also blacks. The thesis analyzes the life of Joe Christmas as a mulatto who feels that he does not belong to a certain race because both races do not regard him as the part of their culture. This problem makes him in the condition of what Bhabha Called as “unhomeliness” and “otherness”. Since he is the product of miscegenation, therefore the problem is analyzed under the hybridity theory. As a mulatto he feels that he does not have the real identity, therefore he always tries to search his identity by living as blacks and also whites. Furthermore, in examining the data, inductive method is used by exploring particular facts of Joe Christmas as mulatto who bears a hybrid identity found in the novel before going to the general descriptions. The psychological approach is used in this thesis to analyze the colonized psyche of Joe Christmas. Besides, the postcolonial study is applied to analyze the psychology aspects of Joe Christmas in his colonial experiences. This research is conducted by using the qualitative method. The study uses the library research in collecting data concerning to the postcolonial issues, and the data taken from books, papers, articles, the biography of the author and other resources taken from the internet. Finally the analysis of this research is presented in a descriptive way. In addition, there are several goals in this thesis. The first is to describe the condition of mulatto as the bearer of a hybrid identity represented in William Faulkner’s, Light in August. The second is to show the societies’ perception toward mulatto. The third goal is to explore the result of a hybrid identity toward Joe Christmas. The findings of the thesis analysis describe that Joe Christmas who is a mulatto bears the hybrid identity. This hybrid identity is gotten by him because as the mixing product between blacks and whites he tries to live as both in order to find the real identity, whether he is black or white. This condition causes his psyche being colonized. His colonized psyche as the bearer of a hybrid identity is the result from the perception of the society toward him. His identity as a mulatto also makes him in the complicated conditions, since he gets the bad treatments not only from whites but also from the blacks. Both races are indicated treat him so bad especially the whites.