Against the Stereotypes of Black Identity in Toni Morrison’s "Jazz"

A reading in Postcolonial Perspective

This thesis entitled Against the Stereotypes of Black Identity in Toni Morrison’s Jazz, a reading in Postcolonial perspective. Meanwhile, the theory of Homi K. Bhabha which focused on the stereotype concept used by the writer. The writer is Kanti Sulistyowati. The writer tries to discuss and analyze the story of African American, which exposes the issue on stereotypes through the characters of Joe Trace and Violet Trace that attached to them.

The analysis divided into three section. The first is about stereotypes of African American that are dividing into two parts, a stereotype as a murderer and stereotype as troublemaker. The second is about the practice of stereotyping which dividing into three sections; the construction of ‘otherness’ and exclusion, stereotyping and power, and the role of fantasy. The last is about contesting the stereotypes that take a point on reversing the stereotypes and the positive and negative images.

The first point of this analysis is to spotlight the practiced of stereotype as murderer and troublemaker. A murder is directly attached to identify Joe although no one saw Joe murdered somebody. The portrait of Africa reflects the portrait of Harlem ( an African zone). It means that Harlem with its Black community is seen as Africa in the scene of unmitigated savagery, cannibalism and licentiousness in it. The Blacks who inhabit Harlem are portrayed as naturally cannibal or murderer. The stereotype as troublemaker is described by the writer as well as the other practiced of stereotype based on the construction of ‘otherness’ and exclusion, power, and the role of fantasy. It makes conceivable enough through the argument given by the writer and another supported concept by Stuart Hall.

Based on her research question, it can conclude that the writer seems to focused on the way of stereotype practiced in the real life and compared to the novel. It makes the analysis looks so simple in the context of complexity beyond the other problem in the society. Yet, we can find interesting point from this statement that, the practiced of stereotyping still exist although in the super power country like America.

Looking from the grammar that used by the writer, we as the reviewer could not find and manage the crucial grammatical error on her thesis. The writer of the thesis carefully check some grammatical mistakes but in some sentences there are mistakes related to punctuation, colon, full stop, and another particle point of the grammar.

As a whole, the analysis is a repeating the same matter that actually useless to focus on the way stereotyping contested in the novel. From the beginning until the end of the analysis, the writer shows the same reason that mixed with expert opinion as the basic supported concept. Another interesting point in this thesis is the opinion given by the writer seems believable based on the data and the theory of some expert. However, it dominantly states by the expert only and the writer adding it as she states by her self.

The method which used by the writer is qualitative research, but in the analysis the writer only looks in the perspective of simple argument that related to the concept of stereotype not the application of power ruled by the whites. The character who is considered as the ‘other’ is excluded from people around him or her and is exposed in negative sense of binary form. While the character who is often required to be both in negative and positive sense of binary form, means that there is ambivalence. In our opinion, the writer missed this concept in her analysis. Overall, this thesis inspired us to analyze the problem in the eyes of our sensitivity not in the eyes of another perspective. But as the entity, the theory itself can supported our opinion to make our analysis get focus to the matter we are configure as a framework.