NEGOTIATING MODERNITY, RESISTING TRADITION: GENETIC STRUCTURALISM ANALYSIS ON BUCHI EMECHETA’S THE BRIDE PRICE

Abstract

The Bride Price is a novel written by Buchi Emecheta from Nigeria. This research is focused on the perception of a binary opposition between modernity and tradition (the modern and traditional way of thinking) in African society as a reflection through the novel of The Bride Price. The main female and male characters represent the people in 1950s until 1970s who are exposed to the new discourse and tend to reject the African traditional culture, because of their education. There are three problems to discuss in this research. The first is the modern and traditional thoughts in The Bride Price novel, the world view's construction in The Bride Price, and the last is the social structure which prevails in Nigerian social class that makes them have the world view. Furthermore, in examining the research, I use qualitative research method and qualitative data to analyse and identify this research. The data is written in the research as quotations This research uses genetic structuralism theory. Applying Goldmann theory of genetic structuralism, I analyse the world view of the writer and Nigerian social structure. Therefore, there are some results of this thesis using genetic structuralism, I break the analysis of the binary opposition between modern and traditional thoughts in the novel, the world view of the writer through the female main character’s way of thinking, and social-cultural condition in Nigeria in 1950s until 1970s.