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THE DIMINISHING OF MAIN CHARACTER’S

ETHNOCENTRISM AS THE EFFECT OF VIETNAM WAR AS

SEEN IN VINCENT LAM’S THE HEADMASTER’S WAGER

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

NOVITA CAROLINA

Student Number: 114214037

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2015

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ii

THE DIMINISHING OF MAIN CHARACTER’S


SEEN IN VINCENT LAM’S THE HEADMASTER’S WAGER

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

NOVITA CAROLINA


ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2015


A Sar Jana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis

THE DIMINISHING OF MAIN CHARACTER'S


SEEN IN VINCENT LAM'S THE HEADMASTER'S WAGER

ByNovita Carolina

Student Number: l 14214037

-wi ..-0 W1

.{.;�id asAdvisor

Elisa Dwi Wardani. S.S., M.Hum.Co-Advisor

Approved by

111

June 22, 2015

June 22, 2015


Name

Chairperson : Dr. F.X. Siswadi, M.A.

Secretary : Sri Mulyani, Ph. D.

Member 1 : Dr. Gabriel Fajar Sasmita Aji, M. Hum.

Member 2 : Dewi Widyastuti, S. Pd., M. Hum.

Member 3 : Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum.

IV

Yogyakarta, June 30, 2015 Faculty of Letters

Sana Dharma University � Dean

A Sar Jana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis




By N ovita Carolina


Defended before the Board Examiners on June 30, 2015

and Declared Acceptable

BOARD OF EXAMINERS


https://www.usd.ac.id/profile_detail.php?id=01090

https://www.usd.ac.id/profile_detail.php?id=00459

STATEMENT OF ORIGlNALITY

I certify that this lUldergraduate thesis contains no material which has been previously

submitted for the award of any other degree at any university, and that, to the best of

my knowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material previously written by

any other person except where due reference is made in the text of the undergraduate

thesis.

Yogyakarta, JlUle 22, 2015

No�lina

v


LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma

Nama : Novita Carolina Nomor Mahasiswa : 114214037

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dhama karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul




Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan dem.ikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan. mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, rpendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akadem.is tanpa perlu meminta ijin kepada saya maupun memberikan loyalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenamya

Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal 22 Juni 2015

Yang menyatakan,

* Novita Carolina

VI


vii

“For surely there is a reward; And thy hope shall not be cut

off.” Proverbs 23:18

Never let the fear of striking out keep you

from playing the game. (Cinderella Story)


viii

Dedicated

To

The Almighty God, Jesus Christ

The Name above All Names

To

My Lovely Mother in Heaven,

And My Family

In the hope of a Better Future


ix

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My first gratitude is for Jesus Christ who has given a wonderful life for me. It

has been His grace for me to finish the study, especially the undergraduate thesis.

My deepest gratitude is for my mother in heaven. She is my first supporter who

supports me with her love and pray. Then, I also want to give my gratitude to my

father, grandfather, aunts, and uncles who also always love and help me.

I would like to thank my best advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S. Pd, M. Hum., and my

co-advisor, Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum., for helping me to write this

undergraduate thesis. I thank them for their patience, guidance, and ideas, in

developing my undergraduate thesis.

My gratitude also goes to all the lecturers and the staff of English Letters

Department. I thank them for all their knowledge, wonderful experience, and their

guidance. I will not forget these valuable moments.

The last, I want to thank my best friends, Febe Olivia, Nadia Puri, Ka Veny

Tambunan, Yolanda Marcella, Ka Alandita Yogiswara, Ka Gracia Hoyi, Ci Rosalina

Omega, and Ci Priskila Nia Meliana. They also always support me and give me much

advice.

Novita Carolina


x

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ..................................................................................................... ii

APPROVAL PAGE ............................................................................................ iii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ...................................................................................... iv

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .................................................................. v

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ... vi

MOTTO PAGE .................................................................................................. vii

DEDICATION PAGE ........................................................................................ viii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................. ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... x

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ xi

ABSTRAK ............................................................................................................ xii

CHAPTER I: Introduction ............................................................................... 1

A. Background of the Study ......................................................................... 1

B. Problem Formulation ............................................................................... 6

C. Objectives of the Study ............................................................................ 6

D. Definition of Terms .................................................................................. 7

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................. 8

A. Review of Related Studies ....................................................................... 8

B. Review of Related Theories ..................................................................... 12

1. Theory of Character and Characterization ........................................... 12

2. Theory of Ethnocentrism ..................................................................... 15

3. Theory of the Relation between Literature and Society ...................... 17

C. Review of Related Backgrounds .............................................................. 18

1. History of Vietnam War and Its Effect to Hoa ..................................... 19

D. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................ 21

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ................................................................. 23

A. Object of the Study .................................................................................. 23

B. Approach of the Study ............................................................................. 24

C. Method of the Study ................................................................................. 25

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 27

A. Percival‟s Ethnocentrism ......................................................................... 27

B. The Diminishing of Percival‟s Ethnocentrism ......................................... 35

1. The New Regulations ........................................................................... 36

2. The Cooperation with the American .................................................... 38

3. The Growing of Nationalism ............................................................... 39

4. The Northern‟s Victory ........................................................................ 40

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ......................................................................... 44

BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................. 47

APPENDIX ......................................................................................................... 49


xi

ABSTRACT

CAROLINA, NOVITA. The Diminishing of Main Character’s Ethnocentrism as

the Effect of Vietnam War as Seen in Vincent Lam’s The Headmaster’s Wager.

Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma

University, 2015.

This study discusses Vincent Lam‟s novel The Headmaster’s Wager. This novel

told Percival, a Chinese immigrant who lives in Vietnam. He is very proud of his

heritage because he always believes Chinese as the best culture. Thereby, it can be

assumed that he is an ethnocentric person. The novel takes Vietnam War as the

background. The situation makes Percival‟s ethnocentrism diminished. To go deeper,

the writer chooses to analyze the diminishing of Percival‟s ethnocentrism as the effect

of Vietnam War.

There are two problems analyzed in this study. First problem is the main

character‟s ethnocentrism which is revealed in the novel. Second problem is the

effect of Vietnam War that changes main character‟s ethnocentrism.

This study uses the theory of character and characterization by Roberts and

Jacobs, and M.J. Murphy, theory of ethnocentrism by Horton and Hunts, and Broom

and Selznick, the theory of relationship between literature and society by Wellek and

Warren, and Rohrberger and Woods, and the last is the history of Vitnam War and its

effect to Hoa by Herring, Pan and Lyons. In this study, the writer applies the library

research method and uses the sociocultural-historical approach. The approach is

chosen because this study examines the Vietnam War that affected the main character.

Based on the analysis, there are two main points which can be drawn from this

study. The first point is the main character‟s ethnocentrism. The characteristic is

mostly revealed through speech between, personal description and direct comment.

Ethnocentric person is usually feeling as a superior person, withdrawn, and orthodox.

Percival always feels that Chinese‟s culture is the center of everything. His

superiority influences him to withdraw himself from the Vietnamese. He tends to

mingle with the Chinese. Third, Percival is an orthodox person. He believes that his

culture is the truth of life. The second analysis is the effect of Vietnam War to

Percival‟s ethnocentrism. There are four factors of the Vietnam War which are the

new regulations, the cooperation with the American, the growing of nationalism, and

the nothern‟s victory. Those factors have changed Percival‟s opinion about his race.

Through the new regulations and the growing of nationalism, Percival realizes that he

is not a superior person and Chinese is not a superior race. Then, Percival who used

to be withdrawn has opened himself to the others by the cooperation with the

American. Finally, the war is over by the victory of North Vietnam. The situation

becomes worse for the Chinese. Their assets is taken over and they are being the

target of deportation. Percival has lost his wealth. To continue his life, Percival has to

go out from Vietnam. He used to believe that Chinese should go to China as the

safest place for Chinese, but Percival goes to America. At the end, he realizes that his

“superior” race brings problem to his life. He has diminished his ethnocentrism

through process of Vietnam War.


xii

ABSTRAK

CAROLINA, NOVITA. The Diminishing of Main Character’s Ethnocentrism as

the Effect of Vietnam War as Seen in Vincent Lam’s The Headmaster’s Wager.

Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata

Dharma, 2015.

Skripsi ini membahas sebuah novel berjudul The Headmaster’s Wager, karya

Vincent Lam. Novel ini menceritakan seorang tokoh bernama Percival. Dia adalah

perantauan Cina yang tinggal di Vietnam. Dia sangat bangga terhadap sukunya

karena dia percaya bahwa Cina adalah kebudayaan terbaik. Oleh karena itu, Percival

bisa diasumsikan sebagai seorang yang etnosentris. Pada masa itu, Vietnam dalam

masa peperangan. Situasi ini membuat melemahnya sikap etnosentris dalam diri

Percival. Untuk mengetahui lebih dalam, penulis memilih untuk menganalisa proses

berkurangnya etnosentris dalam diri Percival sebagai akibat dari Perang Vietnam.

Ada dua masalah yang dianalisa dalam skripsi ini. Masalah pertama adalah sifat

etnosentris yang dimiliki tokoh utama yang nampak di dalam novel. Kedua adalah

pengaruh Perang Vietnam terhadap sifat etnosentris dalam diri tokoh utama.

Penelitian ini menggunakan teori-teori dari Roberts dan Jacobs, M.J. Murphy,

Horton dan Hunts, Broom dan Selznick, Wellek dan Warren, Rohrberger dan Woods,

Herring, Pan dan Lyons, dan Hoover. Dalam penelitian ini, penulis menggunakan

metode studi kepustakaan dan menggunakan pendekatan sosial kebudayaan dan

sejarah. Pendekatan ini dipilih karena skripsi ini meneliti kehidupan sosial yang

mempengaruhi tokoh utama.

Berdasarkan penelitian, ada dua hal utama yang dapat ditarik dari skripsi ini. Hal

pertama adalah sifat etnosentris yang dimiliki Percival. Karakteristik Percival

kebanyakan muncul melalui deskripsi langsung dari penulis dan percakapan antar

karakter di dalam novel. Terdapat tiga karakteristik dari sifat etnosentris, yaitu

merasa diri superior, menarik diri dari masyarakat, dan ortodox. Pertama, Percival

selalu merasa bahwa kebudayaan Cina terbaik. Perasaan ini membawa ia sebagai

seorang superior. Kedua, Percival selalu menarik diri dari orang lain, terutama

mereka yang bukan Cina. Percival selalu beinteraksi dengan sesama orang Cina.

Ketiga, Percival orang yang ortodox. Dia selalu merasa kebudayaannya adalah ajaran

yang paling benar di dalam hidup. Hal kedua adalah Perang Vietnam telah

berpengaruh terhadap sifat etnosentris Percival. Terdapat empat faktor dari Perang

Vietnam yang mempengaruhi Percival. Mereka adalah peraturan-peraturan baru,

kerja sama dengan orang Amerika, tumbuhnya rasa nasionalisme, dan kemenangan

Vietnam Utara. Faktor-faktor tersebut telah mengubah pendapat Percival terhadap

ke-“superior”-an sukunya. Melalui peraturan-peraturan baru dan tumbuhnya rasa

nasionalisme, Percival menyadari bahwa dia dan Cina bukan seorang yang superior.

Kemudian, kerja sama dengan Amerika membuat Percival yang dulunya

mengasingkan diri telah membuka diri terhadap orang lain. Terakhir, perang pun

berakhir dengan kemenangan Vietnam Utara. Situasi menjadi sangat buruk bagi

orang-orang Cina. Harta mereka diambil alih dan mereka menjadi target deportasi.

Percival telah kehilangan hartanya. Demi melanjutkan hidupnya, ia harus pindah dari

Vietnam. Dia dulu percaya bahwa Cina adalah tempat paling aman bagi orang Cina.

Sayangnya, Percival harus pergi ke Amerika. Pada akhirnya, dia menyadari bahwa

suku “superior”-nya tidak bisa menolongnya. Dia telah kehilangan etnosentrisme

melalui proses dalam Perang Vietnam.


1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Some people live in a multicultural society where there are many races

and ethnics. Sociologists have tried to make a distinction between race and

ethnicity. Race refers to differences between people based upon inherited

characteristics, such as skin color while ethnicity refers to social differences in

acquired characteristics such as language, religion, national origins, and culture

(Broom and Selznick, 1977: 443). Most of people tend to group themselves in the

similar race or ethnicity. This produces a characteristic type of a group to make

the group easier to be distinct. Broom and Selznick say that when people of one

culture gather, they will produce a signature of their culture (1977: 113). The

goodness of the group is able to make continuity of the group. However, it can

also go to the assumption that their culture is the best. This assumption is called

ethnocentrism.

Ethnocentrism can be defined as the identification with the familiar and

devaluation of the foreign (Broom and Selznick, 1977: 73). Ethnocentric people

treat strange people, beliefs, or practices with suspicion and hostility simply

because they are different and they feel that their culture is the best. The most

extreme ethnocentric people support to treat the other less than human. In less

vicious form, ethnocentrism takes one‟s own culture for granted and passively,

but still rejects others. The term “American” that becomes very sensitive means


2

nation of the United States. However, the word is the common property of all the

people of North and South America, Latin American sometimes becomes angry

because that word is equally used to them. Ethnocentrism appears through one‟s

behavior in the society.

Ethnocentrism exists through socialization in the clan, tribe, or village.

People usually become tradition-directed. Their behavior focuses on the tradition

or mores that live in the society. A detailed norm of village life is learned directly

by people. When one person does something wrong, he will be ashamed because

wrongdoing is a transgression against the group (Broom and Selznick, 1977: 14).

Ethnocentric people are politically indifferent because they are traditional. They

are also subsistence-oriented which focus to make the continuity of the group.

Through those characteristics of ethnocentrism, people can see that

ethnocentrism can bring a trouble to society. Ethnocentric people feel that they

are superior while others are just inferior. In consequence, they will

underestimate other cultures and treat others as barbaric. They are also trying to

maintain their culture and close themselves from the others. Unfortunately, their

treatments to others, subsequently, can trigger others‟ resistance.

Feeling humiliated makes others have to show that they also have power

by rebellion. There will be a conflict between superior group and inferior group.

In South Vietnam, before the fall of Saigon, Chinese, as a minority group,

controlled 70% to 80% of commerce sector in Vietnam. The Hoa, overseas

Chinese, were respected as a an upper class group. They employed Vietnamese as

their servants. After the fall of Saigon, they were suspicious as communist. Their


3

business were also taken over by government. Therefore, many of them were

driven out from Vietnam and they were being refugee in other countries. In fact,

superior group can be defeated to show that inferior group have power.

The Headmaster’s Wager by Vincent Lam has a main character that shows

ethnocentrism clearly. Percival is a Chinese descent who lives in Cholon, South

Vietnam. In the 19th

century, Vietnamese tended to like reading in Chinese than

Vietnamese. At that time, Chinese had more prestige. Chinese was the language

that was used by nomad in South East Asia. Certainly, many Chinese in Vietnam

still hold on their tradition. Percival feels that he has a higher rank than

Vietnamese, but the situation in the novel does not support Percival to hold on his

culture. Percival who used to think that his heritage was the best one realizes that

he has to diminish his ethnocentrism.

Cultures may be weakened or destroyed under certain conditions. “A

culture may lose its strength and vitality as a result of internal social change or it

may be overwhelmed by outside influences” (Broom and Selznick, 1977: 78).

There are four situations that make culture weakened or vulnerable. First, a

breakdown of authority is threatened. Second, there is a serious gap between

cultural ideals and social realities. Third, individuals‟ life are fragmented, so that

they lack the sense of participated in a coherent and sustaining symbolic order.

Fourth, beliefs or practices hitherto valued for themselves become more narrowly

instrumental (Broom and Selznick, 1977: 79). The writer will focus on the second

situation that is suitable with the situation in the novel.

The reality in society does not always support the value of culture.


4

Society can destroy the culture of a group of people. The development in the

technology and economy makes some groups of people suffered to grow in the

development or stay in the culture or traditional life. “The rapid and radical

collapse of a way of life has frequently occurred when technologically advanced

societies have impinged on primitive communities” (Broom and Selznick, 1977:

82). War can also make the culture or the ethnocentrism of people diminished.

War is a situation that usually brings misery to people. It, actually, does

not need to happen because the war usually destroys not just material, but also

people. There are many victims and uncountable material destruction. Although it

is dangerous, Vietnam experienced this in the past, begun in 1950s. The

Headmaster Wager takes Vietnam War as the background of the story.

During the Vietnam War, the nationalism of Vietnamese was growing.

They thought that Vietnam had to have their own tradition, speak their own

language, and only Vietnamese could live in Vietnam. It forced immigrants to go

back to their homeland or stay there as Vietnamese. At the end of Vietnam War,

the Chinese and the American who were a minority and lived in South Vietnam

had to move. Americans would never have a place in Vietnam because America

was known as the causes of the second Vietnam War while Chinese could stay but

as a Vietnamese.

Vietnam War is described very well in novel The Headmaster’s Wager that

tells about the dilemma of Percival as a Chinese in a divided country, South and

North Vietnam. Percival has diminished his ethnocentrism as the effect of

Vietnam War. The war has made Chinese in Vietnam become homeless. They stay


5

refugee in another country. Percival used to be superior, but at the end of the

novel, Percival can not maintain his culture anymore. Through many aspects,

Vietnan War changes Percival‟s perspective as a Chinese.

The Headmaster’s Wager is written by Vincent Lam who never lives in

Vietnam, but in Canada. His grandfather, who lived in Vietnam during the war, is

inspiring him to write a novel. This novel does not tell about his grandfather‟s

experience. Instead, it picks up on a thread of his grandfather‟s life and an era his

grandfather experienced. Lam just heard and remembered what his grandfather

had said about the war and he made it as a story.

It is interesting that Lam does not experience the war or feel as a Chinese,

but he can describe the situation and the feeling clearly. Everyone who reads The

Headmaster’s Wager will think that this book was published at that time. In fact,

this book was published in 2012. The truth that Lam is a doctor will make reader

surprised. Even though he is a doctor, he is able to write a novel and short stories

aesthetically. It is being proper with the prize that he gets from his works.

The Headmaster’s Wager has been reviewed in Literary Review of

Canada Vol. 20 No. 6 July/August 2012 Edition. The Writer, James Fitzgerald,

said that “Lam has forged a testament to the immutable power of the filial bond”

(http://www.jamesfitzgerald.info/Vincent_Lam.pdf). Lam has got Giller Prize

(winning collection of linked short stories) on his short story Bloodletting and

Miraculous Cures. The Headmaster’s Wager, actually, is his first novel. This

novel will be the object of this study.

The points that will be studied in The Headmaster’s Wager by Vincent Lam is


6

the main character which is Percival. Percival lives in Vietnam, but still holds on

the Chinese‟s tradition and makes him as ethnocentric person. This characteristic

will be analyzed together with Vietnam War, which is the society background that

has relation with the diminishing of Percival‟s ethnocentrism.

B. Problem Formulation

In this paper, there are two important points that will be discussed; it is to

observe the representation of main character‟s ethnocentrism in the novel. This

paper also wants to explain the effect of the Vietnam War to Percival‟s

ethnocentrism. These points are briefly formulated as follows:

1. How is main character‟s ethnocentrism revealed in the novel?

2. How does Vietnam War change the main character‟s ethnocentrism?

C. Objectives of the Study

In formulating two questions above, the writer tries to focus on the main

character named Percival in the novel The Headmaster’s Wager by Vincent Lam.

First focus is the characteristic of Percival which is ethnocentric. The writer will

reveal Percival‟s ethnocentrism in the novel through the element character. After

identifying the ethnocentrism, the writer will analyze how Vietnam War can

affect Percival‟s ethnocentrism and make it diminished. At the end, the writer will

use first problem formulation to see how much change that happens in Percival‟s

ethnocentrism because of Vietnam War.


7

D. Definition of Terms

There are some terms that the writer used in this undergraduate thesis. To

avoid ambiguities and misunderstanding in the meaning, the writer tried to give

some definition of those terms. There are two terms that have to be explained,

there are ethnocentrism and Vietnam War.

First, ethnocentrism is the perspective that “is using the standards of one‟s

own culture or subculture to evaluate the characteristics of other cultures or

subcultures, generally from the point of view that one‟s own are superior”

(Broom and Selznick, 1977: 73). Ethnocentric people will think that they are

superior while others are just inferior. Therefore they usually underestimate to

others.

Second, Vietnam War is “the commitment between North and South

Vietnam to be in a bloody war instead of conducting a General National Election

in accordance with the Geneva Accord that aimed to gain a final military victory”

(Tran, 2000: 19). The superpowers countries that involved in the conflict were

Soviet Union and China supported North Vietnam and the United States

supported South Vietnam. The war ended in 1975 with heavy casualties of Nort

and South Vietnam. More than 4 million people including Vietnamese servicemen

and civilians of both countries died .


8

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

In this part, the writer is going to quote the studies related to the study in

this thesis, writing from other researchers. The studies can be the research on the

same author of the novel and criticism from other people who have read the novel.

The purpose of collecting the studies is that the writer wants to have another

perspective about the theme or the object of this study. Unfortunately, the study

or criticism of The Headmaster’s Wager by Vincent Lam are not found. Therefore,

the writer is going to use studies that have a similar topic.

A study based on the same topic is taken from a thesis written by Petriza

Giovanni Abu, who is an alumnus of Sanata Dhama University, entitled The

Effects of Vietnam War in 1960-1970 in Robert Olen Butler’s “Missing” and

“Salem”: a Sociocultural-Historical Study. The study questioned about the

similarities and differences of two short story Missing and Salem, go deeper the

study is the similarities and differences can lead to the effect of Vietnam War to

American soldier in Missing and to Vietnamese peasant in Salem. The study is

stated as follows:

The similarities found in both short stories are the setting and the

condition where the main characters are the victims of their government.

While the first difference found in both short stories is the identity. The

main character in “Missing” is an American soldier. On the contrary, the

main character in “Salem” is a Vietnamese peasant. The second difference

is the freedom of the choice to become disloyal. The similarities and the

differences between both stories draw to the effects of the Vietnam War.

The first effect is that there are many casualties from both sides. The


9

second effect is that Vietnam is destroyed. The third is the Amerasians

(the mixed children of US servicemen and Vietnamese). The fourth effect

is that the ritual uncertainty which makes the spirits of the Vietnamese

who are sent to war are unhappy. The last effect is the obligation for the

Vietnamese and Americans to join the military service (2005: viii).

Abu‟s object of the study has a similar background to the novel that the

writer used. “Missing”, “Salem”, and “The Headmaster‟s Wager” take the

Vietnam War as the setting of the novel. However, those works have different

characters. “Missing” has an American soldier, “Salem” has a Vietnam peasant,

while “The Headmaster‟s Wager” has a Chinese headmaster. War does not

recognize citizenship, everyone get the horrible effect of Vietnam War. Abu‟s

study and this study have a similar objective that is finding the effect of Vietnam

to the main character.

Another study comes from a thesis written by Yulita Eva Setiawan,

entitled The Culture Clash of the Chinese American in Amy Tan’s “The

Bonesetter Daughter”. The study questioned the characteristics of Lu Ling and

Ruth Young, and go deeper to investigate the culture clash in the novel and the

factor that causes it. The study is stated as follows:

It can be summarized that the conflicts regarding the matter of culture

happened because of the different characteristics between Lu Ling and

Ruth which then results in misunderstanding of cultures. As a Chinese

American, Ruth is accustomed more to the American culture than she is to

Chinese culture. It is because of the nature of the children of the

immigrants to assimilate to the culture of the country they were born at. In

contrary, as a Chinese immigrant, Lu Ling tends to preserve the culture of

her native country because she believes that her native culture as the best

(2012: xii).

The writer thinks that Setiawan‟s research has a relation with this study.

The main character Lu Ling is like Percival Chen in The Headmaster’s Wager.


10

They are an overseas Chinese. They have similar perspective that Chinese is the

best culture, therefore they are trying to preserve it. Regrettably, their culture got

a conflict with the society. Lu Ling gets trouble with her sister who has been

assimilated American culture, while Percival gets trouble through situation in

Vietnam. Setiawan‟s study and this study have a similar purpose that is finding

the cause of the clash of the culture.

Third study that will be used by the writer is a journal written by Neil

Segars, entitled How to Be Chinese in Mississippi: Representation of a Chinese

Grocer in Chyntia Shearer’s “The Celestial Jukebox. This study analyzes the

representation of Chinese grocer who lives in Mississippi Delta, go deeper to

investigate the society that influences the main character. The study is stated as

follows:

Angus with Chinese heritage of violence through renegade law and order

– the description works to contradict the stereotype of Chinese

businessmen as neutral in civic matters, especially regarding racial

conflict, by portraying Angus as playing an intimate part in the lives of

everyone who enters his store (2009: 63).

Segars finds that Chinese in “The Celestial Jukebox” is different from the most of

Chinese. Angus Chien, a Chinese descent, plays as a neutral player who let

everyone comes to his store, even black people. The writer thinks that this journal

has a relation with writer‟s study. This study also tries to find out the

characteristic or the representation of Chinese. Contrarily, Percival is an

ethnocentric person while Angus Chien not. Moreover, those main characters also

get a trouble from society because their characteristic.

For the last study that the writer finds is a journal written by Jean Amato,


11

entitled Relocating Notions of National and Ethnic Authenticity in Chinese

American and Chinese Literary Theory Through Nieh Hualing’s Overseas

Chinese Novel “Mulberry and Peach”. This study is trying to find out the

nationality of an overseas Chinese writer through their literary works. In this case,

Amato takes Nieh Hualing‟s novel “Mulberry and Peach”. Amato‟s research finds

out that the main character, Mulberry and Peach which are the same person has

schizophrenia represents the nationality of Chinese, Taiwanese, and North

American. The quotation is stated as follows:

Mulberry and Peach lies at the intersection between Asian American and

Chinese academic territories of literary research described above. By

drawing on both fields, a comparative study of such text can work to

loosen up some of the geographical, cultural, and national borders that

solidify around literary canons and debates over cultural authenticity

(1999: 33).

Actually, Amato‟s study is totaly different from the writer‟s study, but the writer

thinks that those studies have a relationship. Overseas Chinese writer can reveal

his nationality through the main character in literary work. Vincent Lam is also an

overseas Chinese who lives in Canada. He is actually a Canadian-Chinese, but he

does not show off his Canadian, but he shows his Chinese‟s culture through

Percival‟s characteristics. The biography of the author can influence how he

writes his literary works.

Four studies above are definitely different from writer‟s studies. Even

though those studies look like having a similar idea, in this study, the writer will

focus on the ethnocentrism of the main character. Then, the writer will analyze

the situation in Vietnam War that changes Percival‟s ethnocentrism. In the story,

Percival who is an overseas Chinese lives in Vietnam during the war. He used to


12

be a rich and respectful man, but Vietnam War has changed him to be inferior

people. In the other word, this thesis is going to talk about Percival‟s

ethnocentrism and the effect of Vietnam War to his ethnocentrism.

B. Review of Related Theories

There are some theories that the writer uses to reveal the problem

formulation. They are theory character and characterization, theory of

ethnocentrism, and the relation between literature and history. Theory of

character and characterization and theory of ethnocentrism conduct the writer in

defining the ethnocentrism of Percival. Then, the writer uses the relation between

literature and history to define the historical value in the novel that affect

character.

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

Character can be defined as a person in a film, play, or story. Edgar V.

Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs state that character in literature is “an extended

verbal representation of human being, the inner self that determines thought,

speech, and behavior” (Roberts and Jacobs, 1987: 119). It means that character as

a person can think, speak, and act. The behavior will give the reader the

knowledge of what kind of person the character is.

Even though character is a representation of human being, the sequence of

events in the story is just a composition of the author. It is set to give a space to

character to show his personality to the reader. Roberts and Jacobs agreed with


13

this idea. It is stated that “whereas in life things may „just happen‟, in fiction the

actions, interactions, speeches, and observations are all arranged to give you (the

reader) the detail you need for conclusions about character” (Roberts and Jacobs,

1987: 119).

As human being, people can not recognize others just through his

appearance. Roberts and Jacobs state that studying character means to connect the

appearance of character to his personality (Roberts and Jacobs, 1987:120). The

appearance of character give a clue to his personality, but the reader also have to

look in his thought, speech, and behavior. The author may focus more on one

character and slop on the other character. A character that is treated more by the

author is called protagonist, while the other is antagonist.

Roberts and Jacobs state that according to E.M. Forster there are two

types of character which are round and flat (Roberts and Jacobs, 1987: 120).

Character is divided into two types, round and flat. Round character is a

protagonist character who has more attention by the author. This type of character

has more descriptions and a chance to grow in the story which is called dynamic

character. Dynamic character will have different personality in the beginning of

story and in the end of the story.

The second type, flat character is known as antagonist character who

supports the round character. The reader just has a little information of flat

characters because they are not a major character that do not have more attention

from the author. This type of character stays the same in the beginning of the

story until the end of the story. They do not have experience to grow or change.


14

Furthermore, M.J Murphy in Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to

English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Student mentioned that there

are nine ways for author to describe character in literary work understandable to

readers (Murphy, 1972: 161-173). There are:

a. Personal description is the author‟s description of personal‟s appearance,

such as skin, hair, and clothes. As Roberts and Jacobs state before, studying

character means to connect the appearance to the personality. The character‟s

appearance gives a clue to the characteristics.

b. Character as seen by another is the author‟s description through another

character‟s point of view. Fiction will have protagonist and antagonist

character. Antagonist usually has an opinion of protagonist character. His

opinion is used to know the characteristics of the character.

c. Speech is the author‟s description through character‟s opinion when he says

something. As human being, character can talk to deliver his opinion about

what happens in his life. Through his speech, such as what kind of language

that he uses, it gives information about the personality of character.

d. Past life is the author‟s description of character‟s past life that shape his

characteristics to behave in such way. Personality of character is developed

through experiences that happened in his life. Therefore, the personality is

influenced by the past life.

e. Conversation of others is a description through the conversation of other

people and the things they say about character. Characters talk about each

other, they will have an opinion of each other. This opinion is used to know


15

the characteristics of character.

f. Reaction is the author‟s description about how a character reacts to various

situation and events. Personality of the character can be seen through his

response. It is about the way of the character to something that happens in his

life.

g. Direct comment is the author‟s comment on a person directly. Author as the

creator of the story has a right to describe by himself about the character.

h. Thought is the author‟s description of what a character is thinking about.

Character is a person who can think. He will have an opinion about himself.

This opinion will lead the reader to the character‟s personality.

i. Mannerism is the author‟s description of a person‟s mannerism, habits, or

idiosyncrasies. To give more knowledge, author will give the description of

what the character usually does or how he does something.

2. Theory of Ethnocentrism

According to Horton and Hunt‟s Sociology, it is stated that Sunner defines

ethnocentrism “as that view of things in which one‟s own group is the center of

everything and all others scaled and rated with reference to it” (Horton and Hunt,

1980: 73), while Broom and Selznick define as “identification with the familiar

and devaluation of the foreign” (Broom and Selznick, 1977: 73). It can be

assumed that ethnocentric people think that their culture is superior. They will use

their beliefs or ideas as a standard to judge others and others are just a stranger

for them.


16

As they feel superior, ethnocentric people will treat others as just

strangers. Therefore, they usually protect their culture and one against changes.

“It is the feeling that one‟s own culture is the best in all respects and that others

are in varying degrees inferior-barbaric, heathen, or outlandish” (Broom and

Selznick, 1977: 73). They think that others and changes can disturb their culture.

Horton and Hunt state that according to Ardono, ethnocentric people tend

to be less uneducated, more socially withdrawn, and religiously more orthodox

(Horton and Hunt, 1980: 74). First characteristics of ethnocentric people are

uneducated. Ethnocentrism can appear in many vary people. Horton and Hunts

reject the first characteristics because being educated or uneducated can not be a

standard of ethnocentrism‟s personality. It is stated as follow:

The old, the socially secluded, the less educated, and the politically

conservative may be ethnocentric but so are the young, the well educated,

the widely traveled, the politically “left” and the well to do (Ray 1971). It

is obvious that different type of people vary in the ideas about which they

are ethnocentric, but it is far less clear that there is any significant

variation, by social background or personality type, in the degree to which

people are subject to ethnocentrism (1980: 75).

Second characteristic is withdrawn. It means that ethnocentric people tend

to group themselves in order to maintain their culture. However, there are some

of ethnocentric people who do not fully draw off themselves from the world.

They still have interaction with others, but they do not absorb the strange culture.

They believed that others are just inferior.

Third characteristic is orthodox. Ethnocentric people will accept their

culture as the truth and follow it. Therefore, their culture can exist long time as

long as members of the group can preserve and keep the culture well. It also


17

needs the unity of members of the group. As they think their culture is superior,

changes will never be accepted. They protect the culture from external changes

that can damage the value of the culture. In fact, changes can not be prevented. It

makes some cultures collapsed and extincted while the others can survive and

stable.

3. Theory of the Relation between Literature and Society

According to Rene Wellek and Austin Warren, literature is a social

institution that uses language as its medium. Literature has a social function that

implies social problem such as tradition, norms, and myth, but it can not express

the whole society as the truth. Author, as the messenger, just gives a little part of

life in society. Wellek and Warren state as follows:

To say that literature mirrors or expresses life is even more ambiguous. A

writer inevitably expresses his experience and total conception of life; but

it would be manifestly untrue to say that he expresses the whole of life or

even the whole life of a given time, completely and exhaustively (Wellek

and Warren, 1977: 90).

The basic source of literature is the author‟s biography. Before the author

influences society through his work, society previously influences the author. The

author is a social creature who lives and absorbs value in society. Critic can relate

the work of literature to author‟s social background, family background, or

society where he lives. However, author can not put all ideology he believed in

the work of literature.

The old approach to see relationship between literature and society is to

learn literature as a social document. Literature records historic event in the world


18

through author‟s idea. Thomas Warton believes that literature has a skill to record

characteristics of time series. It is stated as follows:

Thomas Warton, the first real historian of English poetry, argued that

literature has the “peculiar merit of faithfully recording the features of the

times, and of preserving the most picturesque and expressive

representation of manners” and to him and many of his antiquarian

successors, literature was primaly a treasure of costumes and customs, a

source book for the history of civilization, especially of chivalry and its

decline (Wellek and Warren, 1977: 98).

It means that literature has a role as historical document that records some events

in one time. Literature gives a picture of what of society that lives in one time

when we never know.

According to Rohrberger and Woods in Reading and Writing About

Literature, state that “they define civilization as the attitudes and actions of a

specific group of people and point out that literature takes these attitudes and

actions as its subject matter” (Rohrberger and Woods, 1971: 9). It implies that

society deserves to be learned as the component that build literature. Society

always takes part in building story of fiction.

C. Review of Related Backgrounds

As the writer uses sociocultural-historical approach, related background is

needed to understand the study. The novel The Headmaster’s Wager by Vincent

Lam takes Vietnam War as the background society. Therefore, the history of

Vietnam War and its effect to Hoa will be used to conduct the writer in defining

the second problem formulation.


19

1. History of Vietnam War and Its Effect to Hoa

Vietnam started the first war with French which included Cambodia and

Laos. They used to be known as Indochina. At first, the war was about the

struggle to be free from French colonialism. Ho Chi Minh, on September 2nd

1945, proclaimed the independence of Vietnam from French rule (Herring, 1979:

3) and proclaimed himself as the president of the “Democratic Republic of

Vietnam” (Pan and Lyon, 1966: 20). On March 6th

, General de Gaulle agreed to

recognize Vietnam as a free state within the French Union. French troops were to

re-enter the northern part of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh, secretly had communist

party which is called Viet Minh. In 1946, he accused French of violating their

pledges to give the better live for Vietnamese. He increased the attack wherever

he could. French began to realize that Ho Chi Minh was part of communist party

that is supported by Soviet and China. War between French and Vietnam became

more intensified that brought them to Geneva Conference.

However, Geneva Conference did not bring good news for Vietnam.

Stephen Pan and Daniel Lyon state that second Indochina war started as the result

of Geneva Conference, 26 April – 21 July 1954 that mentioned there was a

division between North and South Vietnam (Pan and Lyon, 1966: 41). South

Vietnam got support from the United States, while north from Communist

country such as Soviet and China. The United States declared that no country

could disturb the peace in Vietnam. Actually, United States had helped Vietnam

during the war between French and Vietnam by sending the aid for Vietnam.

After the Geneva Conference, the relationship became closer and Unites States


20

clearly supported the South Vietnam.

North Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh who did not agree of the division

of Vietnam. As a republic, Vietnam must be united to be free from colonialism.

Ho Chi Minh still did his communist action and made people believe on what he

taught. Vietcong, the army of North Vietnam did guerilla to make South Vietnam

and United State dropped. Undoubtly, American increased his army to more than

16.000 men. Vietcong also increased the attacked more and more wherever and

whenever they wanted.

Not only Vietnamese, but also Chinese or called Hoa in Vietnam felt the

effects of the war. The first migration happened in the beginning of Geneva

According to Daniel J. Hoover in his thesis The Migration of Chinese-Vietnamese

from Vietnam: The Truong Family, Hoa who lived in North Vietnam and were

Catholic mostly moved to the South which was not communist. The largest

population of Hoa was in Cholon, Saigon, South Vietnam which is now known as

Chinese City (Hoover, 2010: 11). Even though living in Vietnam, Hoa were still

bounded to their culture, such as in education, marriage, civic organization, and

economic endeavors.

Chinese in Cholon and the surrounding areas primarily focused on

economic activities. This could be reflected through their desire of for prosperity

that was associated with wealth and strong work ethic. Therefore, Hoa were

always the target of political reform. “Their (Hoa) capital and community

structure could have been utilized in order to make more prominent gains within

the government. Instead, the ethnic Chinese remained deliberately isolated in


21

their own market driven aims” (Hoover, 2010: 13). Hoa were always being target

during Vietnam War, especially when the nationalism was growing.

During Ngo Dinh Diem reign, there was naturalization that made Hoa lose

their Chinese name. In 1956, the president declared that all Chinese should

renounce their Chinese nationality and adopt Vietnamese citizenship (Hoover,

2010: 14). Moreover, South Vietnam also discontinued the mail service to and

from China in order to cut the connection of Hoa with China. In October 1956,

Diem changed all school curricula, placing Vietnamese as the primary language

in the school. Chinese could be taught, but as a secondary language. As they lost

their name and their language, Chinese also forced to serve in military.

As economic activity was the main focus of Hoa, they absolutely avoided

military service. Most of them who were listed in military service chose to go

abroad than to stay in Vietnam and go to war. “Many other Sino-Vietnamese,

used educational opportunities to keep their children from front-line military

service (Hoover, 2010: 18).” When the communist succeed taking control of

South Vietnam, Bourgeoisie Hoa became the target of anti-comprador

bourgeoisie. Therefore many Hoa decided to leave Vietnam as soon as possible.

They paid bribe and gold so that they could leave by plane or boat.

D. Theoretical Framework

Each of the theory and review are presented before is used to analyze the

novel. The review of related studies is needed to strengthen the topic of this study

which deserves to be studied and analyzed. The theory on character and


22

characterization and theory of ethnocentrism give a contribution to the study.

These theories help the writer to answer first problem formulation that analyze

characteristic of Percival which is ethnocentric. The writer will compile the

ethnocentrism that appears in the novel is similar to the ethnocentrism that

Horton and Hunt state. Moreover, theory of character and characterization by M.J.

Murphy will help the writer to see how the characteristic describes in the novel.

The writer will only use some of character‟s description that is appropriate to the

analysis. The theory by Roberts and Jacobs will also be used to see the

complicated of the character and the changes that happen to character as the

dynamic character.

The theory of the relationship between literature and society is important

to give the writer the information about the close relationship between literature

and society. The theory gives a wide understanding that society can not be

separated from one character. Society gives strong influence to main character‟s

characteristics.

The background of the Vietnam War and its effect to Hoa also gives

contribution in order to help the writer to have a good understanding of Vietnam

War. Vietnam War has played an important role in order to change main

character‟s characteristic. The Headmaster’s Wager talks about a Chinese descent

who lives in Vietnam and gots the effect of the Vietnam War to his characteristic

as Chinese.


23

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

In this thesis, the writer uses the novel by Vincent Lam‟s The

Headmaster’s Wager which is published by Hogarth in 2012. It consists of 441

pages, include Vincent Lam‟s essay Memories of My Grandfatther. This novel is

his first novel that is published after he wrote short story Bloodletting and

Miraculous Cures that won the 200 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was also adapted

for television and broadcast on HBO Canada. In addition to strong review, The

Headmaster’s Wager is longlisted for 2013 Andrew Carnegie Medals for

Exellence in Fiction with the other 49 fictions.

The story took the setting during the time of Vietnam War between North

and South Vietnam. In the story, Percival was the headmaster of English School,

Chen Hap Sing, in Cholon, South Vietnam. Percival was a Chinese who lived

with his son, Dai Jai. Percival was known as the person who held his Chinese

tradition sturdily. He always underestimated to Vietnamese and never let his son

to have a relationship with them. As a Chinese, he always thought that he was

superior and had a higher class than Vietnamese. Therefore, he only mingled with

Chinese and lived in Cholon which was a Chinese city. It could be assumed that

Percival was an ethnocentric person. However, he was just a minority in Vietnam.

When the war became worse, Percival could not hold his heritage anymore.

Vietnam War had brought many problems to Percival‟s life. Consequently,


24

Percival had to change his perspective. Percival used to go home, to China,

unfortunately, he had to go to America to continue his life.

B. Approach of the Study

The aim of this study is to identify the effect of Vietnam War on Percival‟s

ethnocentrism. To help analyzing the problem, the writer applies the

sociocultural-historical approach. Rohrberger and Woods in Reading and Writing

Literature state that “critics whose major interest is the sociocultural-historical

approach insist that the only way to locate the real work is in reference to the

civilization that produced it” (1971:9). It means that there is a relationship

between literature and society where the work is created. The critics will focus on

the actions and the attitudes conducted of a specific group of people in the society

and its relation toward the work of literature.

Likewise, Rohrberger and Woods also state that analysis of the society is a

necessity (1971:9). Literature is not created in short times, but it takes a process.

Before literature is influenced by the society, it is influenced the author first.

Then, the author expresses his reflection on society in literary work. Literature

will be a representation of ideas, actions, or attitudes of the society. So, society

takes an important role toward literature.

Additionally, Rohrberger and Woods state that “the traditional historical

approach to literature usually takes as its basic some aspect of the sociocultural

frame of reference, combining it with an interest join the biographical as well as a

knowledge of and interest in literary history” (1971:9). It implies that what is


25

represented in the text should be justified by the reality.

So, from the quotations above, sociocultural-historical can be defined as

the belief that puts literary works as the product of civilization in one time that

includes society, culture, and history. The approach gives contribution in order to

help the writer to analyze the society in the novel which is Vietnam War that

changes Percival‟s ethnocentrism. Sociocultural-historical approach will be

suitable for the study to allow the writer to achieve deeper understanding about

the society, culture, and historical background of the society where the novel

takes place and time. By knowing the actual circumstance outside the text, the

writer will be able to reveal the idea that the author wants to inform the readers.

C. Method of the Study

In composing this research, the writer used the library research method.

The library research means collecting the data from a printed material such as

journals, magazines, and books. To support this study, the writer used two kinds

of resources as the requirement of the study. There are primary source and

secondary source. The primary source is the novel itself The Headmaster’s Wager

as the source information in order to answer the problem formulation. The

secondary sources were taken from some books, e-books, internet, PDF that

could be used as references and to support the research. The sources of the

theories had a contribution on identifying the character, ethnocentrism, and the

society in the novel, while the review of the studies was to get another point of

view about the similar topic and people‟s critical thinking.


26

There were systematic steps that the writer took for the analysis. First, the

writer read the novel The Headmaster’s Wager for several times to have the

understanding of the story itself and to find the focus of this study which was the

diminishing of Percival‟s ethnocentrism as the effect of Vietnam War.

Second, the writer collected data from many sources to support this study.

The writer had to understand the theories and the other sources which were stated

in chapter two. The sources were acquired from the printed material. The writer

could acquire some books of theory, dictionary, other‟s thesis, and essay. The

writer also acquired data from the internet. These data would help and support the

analysis of the research. Understanding theories meant that the writer

comprehended the sources so that there was no misleading in applying the

theories to the analysis.

After gathering all information of the theories and studies, the writer had

to collect the data from the primary source. The information from the primary

source and secondary source had to be matched. So, the problem formulation

could be answered. It can be seen in chapter four. After the analysis completed,

there was still one chapter that have to be completed. The conclusion part was the

chapter that restated the whole analysis in a brief writing.


27

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

In this chapter, the whole discussion of the thesis will be presented. The

analysis is to discuss the theories and the evidence in The Headmaster’s Wager

which lead to the answer of the two problem formulation. There are two issues of

discussion in this chapter as the follow up to the problem formulation. First is the

discussion of Percival‟s ethnocentrism and the following discussion focuses on

the effect of Vietnam War on Percival‟s ethnocentrism. In the discussion, the

writer uses the theory of character and characterization, theory of ethnocentrism,

and theory of relationship between society and literature which have been written

in previous chapter, and then the writer elaborates the theories with the evidence

found in the novel in order to reach a clear and systematic answer to the two

problem formulation.

A. Percival’s Ethnocentrism

In the first discussion, the writer is going to discuss Percival‟s

characteristic which is ethnocentric. The discussion is on identifying the

ethnocentrism that appears in the novel through Percival‟s characteristics. The

writer uses the theory of character and characterization and theory of

ethnocentrism by M.J. Murphy, Roberts and Jacobs, and Horton and Hunt that

have been written in chapter two.

Roberts and Jacobs state that “character is an extended verbal


28

representation of a human being, the inner self that determines thought, speech,

and behavior” (1987:119). There are many characters in the novel The

Headmaster’s Wager, however, there is only one person who represents

ethnocentrism which is Percival. He is the main character of the novel who has

more attention by the author. Therefore, Percival is a round character. As a person,

he also develops himself. According to Roberts and Jacobs, he is a dynamic

character.

Sunner defines ethnocentrism “as that view of things in which one‟s own

group is the center of everything and all others scaled and rated with reference to

it” (1980:73). Most ethnocentric people will treat themselves as the best one.

Percival as the representation of human being in the novel shows that he

is an ethnocentric person. He sees his culture as the center of life. So, he treats

others, especially the Vietnamese as the lower people. Percival acts like he is a

superior person even though he, actually, is the minority group in Vietnam. At the

first part of the novel, he reminds Dai Jai three times that they are Chinese.

Percival‟s reminder shows that the ethnocentric people want to preserve their

identities. Another that, Percival also wants to show that his culture has more

prestige than the Vietnamese‟s. Chinese is the foundation of the Vietnamese. The

quotation will be stated as follows:

“Did anyone asked you?” Percival turned to his son. “You are Chinese,

remember? For fifteen hundred years, this was a Chinese province. The

Imperial Palace in Hue is a shoddy imitation of the Summer Palace in

Beijing. Until the French came, they wrote in Chinese characters.”

“I know, ba, I know.” Dai Jai recited, “Before being conquered by the Han,

this was a land of illiterates in mud huts. Without the culture of China, the

Vietnamese are nothing but barbarians.” (2012:16)


29

Through speech (1972:163), Percival shows his superiority. According to

the history, China reigned Vietnam. After Vietnam got its freedom, Vietnam was

still influenced by China. Vietnam still held Chinese‟s culture, even the

Vietnamese spoke the Chinese language. Therefore, most of Chinese held to their

culture firmly. Percival, as the representation of civilization during the Vietnam

War, holds to Chinese‟s culture tightly. He believes that his culture is the

foundation of the life and the Vietnamese‟s life. It can be assumed that Percival

feels that he is superior person. According to Horton and Hunt, an ethnocentric

person will feel that they are better than the others.

According to M.J Murphy, Percival‟s superiority is also revealed through

the speech with his father, Chen Kai. ““Son, amongst the Annamese it is so easy

to make money. We Chinese are smarter than they are and can get rich from them.

It would be foolish for me to stay in Shantou”” (2012:93). Percival‟s superiority

somehow influences his treatment to the others. He always underestimates the

Vietnamese. He thinks that the Chinese is better than the Vietnamese, so it will be

easy for him to get money in Vietnam, because the Chinese is smarter than the

Vietnamese. Percival looks like he takes the advantage of the Vietnamese, but he

also shows that he is powerful than the Vietnamese. He is a Chinese who has

strong work ethic, so he is deserved to be rich.

Another Percival‟s treatment to the Vietnamese is when the two officer

come to his house to get his sign. There is a new regulation that the Vietnamese

language should be put in the curricula. “Why teach Vietnamese here? Why

should we Chinese be forced to learn that language?” (2012:16). According to


30

Murphy, the superiority is revealed through speech (1972:163). It is not a

necessity for him to learn or teach the Vietnamese language. Percival who has

lived more than sixteen years in Vietnam can not speak the Vietnamese fluently.

For him, it is not important to learn the Vietnamese language because there is a

more prestige language which is Chinese.

Another Percival‟s ethnocentrism that is revealed through the speech

(1972:163) shows when he tried to convince Dai Jai that China was the best place

for the Chinese. The quotation as follows:

“The greatest minds of all civilization-Emperor Wong, Confucius, the

Cheng brothers--all derived their wisdom from their mother China. You will

thrive in Shanghai. You will get a better education that you could ever hope fore

here in this muddy backwater.” (2012:118)

Percival shows his ethnocentrism more often. He feels that his culture is the

center of the world. Percival believes that civilization comes from China. As the

consequence, he underestimates the education in Vietnam. He states that the

education in China is better than in Vietnam. Percival does not only

underestimates the Vietnamese, but also the white people. “”What good have the

French ever been to us Chinese, or any white people? You would be miserable in

a land of the gwei lo (white people)” (2012:117).” Percival convinces Dai Jai that

living in America or Europe is better. Percival believes that white people only

bring problem. First Vietnam War was being the struggle of the Vietnamese under

the French colonialism. When the second Vietnam War began, The United State

supported Vietnam. There were many victims of the bomb that were caused by

the United State. Looking at the condition, Percival believes that white people

only bring problem.


31

Next, Percival‟s ethnocentrism is revealed through direct comment. The

author describes that Percival lives in Cholon, South Vietnam. Cholon is a

Chinese City (2012:6). As an ethnocentric person, Percival withdraws himself

from the Vietnamese. He tends to group himself with the Chinese. Moreover,

Percival tends to mingle with the Chinese. Most of his friends are Chinese. First,

Mak is Percival‟s assistant in English school. “Though he was of Teochow

Chinese descent, Mak was born in central Vietnam and spoke the language

fluently” (2012:15). According to the personal description (1972:161), Mak is

Chinese.

Second, from the direct comment (1972:167), students and teachers in

Percival Chen English Academy are Chinese. “Of course, many of the students at

the Percival Chen English Academy were in fact of Chinese descent and spoke

only basic Vietnamese, like their headmaster” (2012:21). Percival lives in Cholon,

that many Chinese live there means that most of his students are Chinese.

Percival also hires Chinese teachers to teach in his school. Percival knows that

Chinese workers have strong work ethic (2010:13), therefore it will be good to

his school‟s reputation.

According to the speech (1972:163), Chief Mei is the Chinese police in

Cholon. “”They let us Chinese police control Cholon as long as we don‟t come

cross them . . . On sensitive matters”” (2012:60). When Dai Jai is arrested,

Percival is asking help from Chief Mei who is a Chinese police. Percival believes

that the Chinese will help the Chinese, therefore he hopes that Chief Mei can help

and solve his problem. Unfortunately, Chief Mei can not do anything because he


32

does not have a power as a Chinese police in Saigon.

Last, according to the personal description (1972:161), Doctor Hua is a

Chinese. “The Cholon-born, Paris trained, Chinese doctor recommended an

American medication that he had conveniently available for sale in his bag”

(2012:102). After Dai Jai is released, Percival entrusts Doctor Hua to take care of

Dai Jai and heal him. He believes that Chinese people have a strong work ethic,

so Doctor Hua will do his best to heal Dai Jai.

Percival who withdraws himself from the Vietnamese also wants Dai Jai

to do the same way with him. When Dai Jai is instructed to got the military,

Percival wants Dai Jai to go to China to avoid the instruction. Cecilia, otherwise,

wants Dai Jai to move to America or Europe. “Our son must return to China,”

said Percival. “It is the only safe place for a Chinese person.” (2012:112).

According to the speech (1972:163), Percival is persistent to send Dai Jai to

China. It looks like that Percival wants to save his son, so he has to send his son

away quickly. Percival‟s reaction, actually, does not only show his caring to his

son, but also his ethnocentrism. He forces his son to move to China, even Dai Jai

has mentioned that China has a problem. “I heard on the radio that People‟s

Committees have banned the Parade of Deitis celebration. They say people must

stop worshipping the ancestors because in the new China-” (2012:117-118).

Percival does not pay attention to what Dai Jai said. He believes that the Chinese

shall go back to China.

Furthermore, Percival‟s ethnocentrism is appeared when he knows that

Dai Jai had a Vietnamese‟s girlfriend. The quotation will be stated as follows:


33

“And I will tell you again, until you learn its lesson! Ba Hai was very

beautiful. Did that save my father? An Annamese woman will ofer you

her sweetness, and then turn to sell it to someone else. (2012:10)

Mak sighed, “I have go down to teach.”

“Thank you for telling me about the girl. He must marry a Chinese.”

(2012:16)

Percival‟s withdrawal is revealed through speech (1972:163). He prohibits

his son to marry a Vietnamese woman. He calls it as “improper love”. According

to Merriam Webster Dictionary, improper is not following rules of acceptable

behavior and legally or morally wrong. So, it can be assumed that Dai Jai‟s love

is not following the rule because the rule is a Chinese man marries to a Chinese

woman. Percival‟s withdrawal and superiority influence him to underestimate the

Vietnamese over. He believes that a Vietnamese women always sell their

sweetness to every man. It can be assumed that Percival has considered

Vietnamese women as a whore.

Percival who thinks that his culture is the center of everything tries to

preserve his culture. According to Horton and Hunt, ethnocentric people will

protect their culture. Therefore, Percival as a father, wants to preserve his culture

by generating it to Dai Jai. Through the direct comment (1972:167), Dai Jai

attends Teochow Clan School. “Dai Jai had left for his Chinese classes at the

Teochow Clan School” (2012:22). Teochow is a Chinese people who speak in

Teochow dialect. Even though Dai Jai is born in Cholon, Percival wants Dai Jai

to learn about Chinese culture in his school and has a Chinese fellow.

Third characteristic of ethnocentrism is orthodox. It means that Percival

accepts his culture as the truth and follow it. His convention appears though his

lifestyle, such as food and book.


34

Percival always teaches Dai Jai about the Chinese culture. Therefore, Dai

Jai will get the Chinese culture not just at school, but also at home. Through

personal description (1972:161), the author described the situation clearly as

follow.

Normally, Percival would have criticized the cheeseburger, French Fries,

and pizza that Cecilia brought from the U.S Army PX, and banished the

cans of Coca-Cola and the Marvel comics. He would have admonished

her that Chinese stomach could not tolerate very much of this western

food, and why should their son read about superheroes in ridiculous

costumes when there were so many real Chinese heroes of history?

(2012:106)

Before Dai Jai was arrested, Percival had prohibited every single things about

America. He liked to tell a story about Chinese superheroes to Dai Jai when he

was a child. Chinese superheroes are much better than American superheroes

because Chinese superheroes are more real. It is taken from history, whereas

Marvel is just human‟s imagination. Another that, Percival has an opinion that

Chinese food is much better than American food. Chinese food is much more

healthy than American food which is junk food.

When he was at Chen Hap Sing, he instructed the cook to prepare only

Chinese dishes, and would only respond to the servants when they spoke a

Chinese dialect. When he took his breakfast alone on the balcony, where

he had long since instructed Foong Jie to remove the second cahir, it was

a Teochow breakfast of salted fish and rice proodge -never pho.

(2012:261)

From the personal description above (1972:161), Percival does not just

hate American food, but also Vietnamese food. He instructs Foong Jie, his

Vietnamese maid, to serve only Chinese food. He does not want Foong Jie to

serve pho, the Vietnamese noodle soup. As a Chinese, he shall eat Chinese food

to maintain the culture. Moreover, he forces his servants to speak Chinese dialect.


35

It does not only show Percival‟s orthodox, but also his superiority by asserting his

culture to the inferior group.

B. The Diminishing of Percival’s Ethnocentrism

In the second discussion, the writer is going to discuss the changing of

Percival‟s ethnocentrism as the effect of Vietnam War. The discussion is on

identifying the factors of Vietnam War that cause the alteration of the main

character‟s characteristic. The writer uses the theory of literature and society by

Wellek and Warren, and Rohrberger and Woods, and also the related background

of Vietnam War and its effect to Chinese by Pan and Lyon, and Hoover.

According to Wellek and Warren, literature is a social institution that uses

language as its medium. Therefore, literature will imply social problem such as

tradition, norms, and myth. The Headmaster’s Wager takes Vietnam War as its

background. In this novel, literature has a role as historic document that record

some events of Vietnam War.

Rohrberger and Woods state that “they define civilization as the attitudes

and actions of a specific group of people and point out that literature takes these

attitudes and actions as its subject matter” (1971:9). Vincent Lam takes the point

of view of Vietnam War from the Chinese. Therefore, Percival will be a

representation of the Chinese at that time who gets the effect of the war.

There are four factors of Vietnam War that change Percival‟s

ethnocentrism. They are new regulations, the growing of nationalism, the

cooperation with America, and Northern‟s victory. Therefore, this sub chapter


36

will be divided into four parts to explain the alteration clearly.

1. The New Regulations

During the Vietnam War, there were some regulations that the Vietnamese

and immigrants had to obey. In this study, there are two new regulations that

change Percival‟s ethnocentrism. They are the new regulation of citizenship and

school.

During Ngo Dinh Diem‟s reign, there was a naturalization that made the

Chinese had to adopt Vietnamese citizenship (2010:14). Percival as the Chinese

must obey this rule if he still wants to live in Cholon. “”I had to take Vietnamese

citizenship a few years ago, for the sake of my school license. Now, I am told to

teach Vietnamese,”said Percival” (2012:15). The speech shows that Percival has

no power to abandon the regulation. Percival must take Vietnamese citizenship to

continue his life in Cholon, Vietnam.

The second regulation is that every school has to put Vietnamese language

in the curriculum. When two Vietnamese officers come to his house, Percival still

feels that he is more superior than them.

The younger one said, “Percival? Percival Chen?”

“Da.” Yes. Dai Jai stood up quickly, but Percival did not. The two men in

sunglasses glanced at the single vacant chair, and remained standing. Now

that they were here on his balcony, Percival would do what was needed,

but he would not stand while they sat. (2012:12)

Percival feels that he is powerful person. He does not welcome or ask them to sit

down. The two officers give a document to be signed, but Percival does not want

to sign. He thinks that it is not a necessity to learn or teach Vietnamese language


37

in English school. Chinese language has more prestige than Vietnamese language.

At first, Percival meets Mr. Tu to solve the problem. Mr. Tu is a Chinese

who works as the second adjunct chief administrative officer of the department of

language institutes. Mr Tu can not help him for sure because it is not a problem

that can be solved by the Chinese.

Mr. Tu opened the package, and thanked Percival for the carton of

Marlboros and the bottle of Hine cognag. “The issue of Vietnamese

instruction in the Chinese quarter----in Cholon---is . . . how can I say . . .

Important to some,” he said. “It may be difficult to make exceptions.”

This type of response was also typical, in order to justify a price. But Mr.

Tu looked genuinely uncomfortable, which was unusual. (2012:20)

Mr. Tu‟s response shows the problem can not be solved. Percival must obey the

regulation. Even though he knows that Mr Tu can not help him, he is still

persistent not to teach Vietnamese language. When Dai Jai was arrested because

he demonstrated to deny learning the Vietnamese language, Dai Jai is accused as

the pro-communist. Percival started to realized that he has to take an action. “”We

will have to hire a Vietnamese teacher immediately,” said Percival” (2012:24).

Though the speech, Percival decide that he will put the Vietnamese language in

his curriculum.

Those regulations have changed Percival‟s ethnocentrism slowly. It can be

seen through his conversation with his son, Dai Jai. The quotation as follows:

“Son, a man could think without acting, or act without being seen. A son

should be dutiful. Not reckless.”

“Yes, Father.”

“We are wa kiu.” They were overseas Chinese, those who had wandered

far from home. “We are safer when we remain quiet.” (2012:28)

Percival who used to remind Dai Jai about their culture, chooses to stay quiet.

According to the speech, Percival does not want to show his superiority. He


38

realized that he is just an immigrant, the minority group in Vietnam. He can not

be too proud to his culture because he lives in a foreign country. Percival starts to

diminish his superiority because of the new regulations.

2. The Cooperation with America

After Dai Jai went to China, Percival has to pay his debt. Mak tells him to

get the certification from America so, he can increase the tuition by half. During

Vietnam War, South Vietnam is supported by the United States. There will be

many Americans who come to South Vietnam. Percival is smart to take the

benefits of the war. He cooperates with the American, named Peter. He hires his

students as translators for the American who come to Vietnam. The cooperation

has made Percival met many Americans.

Before the cooperation, Percival used to group himself with the Chinese.

Accoring to the speech, he also underestimated the white people when Dai Jai

had to move from Vietnam. “”What good have the French ever been to us

Chinese, or any white people? You would be miserable in a land of the gwei lo

(white people)”” (2012:117). The situation has changed, now Percival needs the

American to improve his economy. He used to withdraw, but Percival now has

opened himself and interact with the American. The relationship becomes close

when he invites them to the Tet Celebration. The quotation will be stated as

follows:

One of the locally hired junior teachers stood, tilted slightly to one side,

then caught a chair in his hand and managed to remain upright. “I would

like to say thank you to the American army,” he said in English. “You

have come to do brave battle against small yellow people, and to make the


39

English language a success. Therefore, you help us become rich! Thank

you, America!” (2012:220-221)

According to the Murphy, the development of the character is revealed through

speech (1972:163). Percival has started to have a close relationship with the

American. According to Broom and Selznick, the less ethnocentric people take

the other culture for granted, but still reject others, so does Percival. Even though

he begins to interact with others, he still does not like them. He just uses to them

to increase his benefits. “Even after years of association with the Americans,

Percival still dislikes having their sweat, their smell, on his hands” (2012:270).

According to the mannerism, Percival still hates the American‟s appearance. In

the same time, he opens himself to the American. The situation in the Vietnam

War made Percival meet and interact with many Americans.

3. The Growing of Nationalism

At the past, Chinese people were well known as bourgeoisie in Vietnam.

Their strong-ethic work had made the Vietnamese hated them. When the war

started, the Vietnamese started to discriminate the Chinese, especially in South

Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by China, therefore southern Vietnamese

always thought that the Chinese was the one of the agent that caused disunity of

Vietnam. “Mak turned to face Percival. “To what end? Mr. Tu spoke clearly---

this policy is a patriotic and political issue. You know that some in Saigon dislike

the Chinese- run English schools in Cholon”” (2012:22). Ironically, Percival who

is underestimated by the Vietnamese always believes that he has the best culture

and underestimates the Vietnamese.


40

When the war becomes worse, not only the south Vietnamese who does

not like the Chinese, but also the north Vietnamese. The north Vietnamese makes

the Chinese as the target of anti-comprador bourgeoisie. During the war, China

influenced and supported North Vietnam too much. North Vietnam started to

realize that China wanted to take over Vietnam. Therefore, there was a disunity

between North Vietnam and China. Percival, as a Chinese, is for sure being the

target of Viet Cong. When Tet offensive started, Percival is on the list of

assassination. Actually, they have been come into Chen Hap Sing, but Mak who

is a comrade of communist can prevent and convince Viet Cong that there is a

mistake by putting Percival on assassination list.

The officer‟s face was flat. “Did you know that your name was on a list?”

“A list?”

“Yes, an assassination list. It was in the pocket of one of the Viet Cong

who was shot outside of your school.” Percival thought of the men who

had burst into the room where Jacqueline was giving birth. Percival had

told himself it was just bad luck, that the assassination team had stumbled

into Chen Hap Sing. They had seemed defeated, exhausted. Was that why

they were so willing to kill, because they knew that their own end would

surely come soon? “The communist were on their way to kill you. That is

the reason I have not arrested you for providing your car to the enemy . . .

yet.” The officer laughed. (2012:248)

Through character as seen by another (1972:162), Percival is under

suspicion by the Vietnamese. Percival used to humiliate the Vietnamese. He,

actually, is the inferior group in Vietnam, but he acts like he is the majority group.

Percival‟s anxiety describes through reaction (1972:166), the quotation will be

stated as follows:

The more fortunate victims were the foreigners, army officers, and

prominent local officials and business people. They were targeted on the

night of Tet and shot by North Vietnamese assassination squad. Most of


41

the Vietnamese who died in the drawn-out occupation of Hue---teachers,

police, and anyone who spoke a foreign language--were bound by the

hands and feet, pushed into pits alive, and buried by the shovels of those

who were next to killed. As the fighting dragged on, the Northern troops

needed to conserve bullets. The graves were not deep and were easy to

find, wrote the journalist, as the rotting bodies stank through the shallow

mud. Percival read this, opened the coal box of the kitchen stove, shoved

the glossy magazine into it, and watched the pages burst into flames.

(2012:244)

After reading the magazine, Percival burns it. His reaction shows that he

is, actually, afraid of the situation. Percival used to bribe government, like when

he bribed Mr Tu, but he can not do anything. Percival can not fight for his

freedom or power. He can only burn the magazine. His action shows that he does

not have power anymore to defeat the Vietnamese. He started to realize that he is

the inferior group in Vietnam, not a superior group anymore. Viet Cong can kill

him anytime. Now, they are more powerful than him. The situation of the

growing nationalism makes Percival‟s ethnocentrism diminish. He has to survive,

so he can not hold to his culture tighly.

4. The Northern’s Victory

At the end of the war, when Northern has taken control of South Vietnam,

Percival has lost everything. He loses his son, Dai Jai and his assistant, Mak.

They died in the middle of the war. He also has to lose his school and house,

Chen Hap Sing. After the northern‟s victory, all assets of the Chinese is taken

over by government. The quotation is as follows:

Percival said, “The house was my father‟s. It became my school.”

“Ah, then you were a business-owner.”

“The headmaster of the school.”

“Now it belongs to the people. It is Revolutionary School Number Thirty


42

Seven.” He flicked his cigarette ash on the floor. “You must have a lot of

money. Did you steal it?” The can bo smiled. (2012:393)

Percival used to think that he was rich and it was easy for him to get

money from the Vietnamese, but the situation has changed. Percival does not

have anything and the Vietnamese takes control of what he had. The situation

developed Percival‟s characteristic. He used to think that he has the best culture

and believes himself as the superior person, now, ironically, he is the inferior

people. He is under controlled by the Vietnamese.

Furthermore, Percival who used to say “we are Chinese”, now recognize

himself as the servant of Vietnam. He acknowledges himself as the comrade of

Viet Cong. The quotation as follows:

“I have been a loyal Vietnamese, a servant of the revolution!” Percival‟s

voice rise, and he hoped it sounded patriotic rather than fearful. “I have no

interest in dollars or gold.”

The can bo paused, surprised at this claim. He continued, “You Chinese!

You are capitalist enemies of the working people who sucked the blood of

this war.”

Percival thought out that China itself had been communist for decades

now, a circumstance Percival had once mistakenly chosen to ignore.

Something in the way the can bo spat the word Chinese stopped him.

Instead, he said, “Comrade, I am a servant of Vietnam.”(2012:394)

According to his speech and reaction (1972:163,166), Percival is actually afraid

to the Vietnamese. He used to be brave because he was a superior person, now

can not do anything in front of the Vietnamese. From the conversation, the can bo

actually underestimates Percival. He accuses Percival as the cause of the war.

Percival, as a person, has to survive. He has to diminish his ethnocentrism if he

wants to stay alive in Vietnam. Percival has to humiliate himself. The Vietnamese

are now powerful than the Chinese.


43

Percival always taugh Dai Jai that Vietnam could have a civilization

because of China. Now, Percival depends his life on Vietnam. Because the

Vietnamese takes control of his life, Percival becomes poor and has nothing. He

has to take the residency permit to get food and house. Unless he has, he will be

the subject of deportation.

“This is your residency permit. You will need it for food. Without a permit

you are subject to deportation to the countryside. We will get rid of most

of you Chinese, because Saigon is for the Vietnamese. Ho Chi Minh City,

that is. If you are really a patriot, perhaps we will have to allow you to

stay. If you lied to me, you will regret it. Don‟t lose your permit.”

(2012:397)

The Northern‟s victory makes the Vietnamese more discriminate the Chinese.

Vietnam is the country of Vietnam. Therefore, whoever who is not the

Vietnamese should move. “”They will send all of us Chinese away, bit by bit.

They are just doing it gradually, so that we don‟t resists.”” (2012:402). The

Vietnamese keeps themselves from the Chinese. Percival who used to group

himself with the Chinese, now Vietnamese does the same way with him.

Therefore, he does not have a place in Vietnam.

Vietnam has been a superior country while Percival is the inferior person.

He realizes that he can not live in Vietnam anymore. Percival used to believe that

China is the safest place for Chinese (2012:112), but he can not go home. The

quotation will be stated as follows:

“Besides, you think the Vietnamese communist will love us Chinese in

Cholon? Even in China, you and I will be shot as capitalists, old friend.

Don‟t you remember 1968?The Northerners buried their prisoner alive,

didn‟t even bother to shoot them first. That is the reason to leave.”

(2012:362)

His Chinese descent has made him be discriminated by the Vietnamese.


44

Vietnam can kill him anytime and his grandson Lang Jai who has an appearance

of mixed children. Percival lives in South Vietnam which is a defeated country.

He also cooperated with the American because South Vietnam was supported by

the United States. This condition made him as the servant of capitalist. China, the

communist country, can not accept people who cooperates with the American.

Therefore, Percival has to go to America which is a safest place for him now. He

decides to meet Mrs. Ling who has departure business. Fortunately, Mrs. Ling

wants to help him, but Lang Jai must go by plane with her while Percival does by

boat. ““I will come later, by boat, and you will go by airplane. I will meet you in

America. It‟s a good game, a wonderful game. You will play it perfectly.””

(2012:412).

Percival realized that he had a mistake. He could not come back to China

or Vietnam. He diminished his ethnocentrism. He can not preserve his culture

anymore. He has to survive. If he wants to stay alive, he can not maintain his

belief.

“Once you have left a place, you can never go back. I made that mistake. I

thought it was possible. If you come back here one day, that house will be

changed, or it may be gone. The place of your memories will have

vanished, and you will have new memories. They will make the old ones

feel different. (2012:418)

The quotation above is the last conversation between Percival and Lang Jai.

According to the speech (1972:163), Percival regrets. He realizes that he can not

go back to China or Vietnam. He knows that it is his mistake never believing

Cecilia and Jacqueline. Cecilia always blamed Percival because he held to

Chinese firmly. Now, Percival has to diminish his ethnocentrim to stay alive. The


45

situation of the Vietnam War had changed Percival‟s characteristic. Percival

develops himself not to be ethnocentric.


46

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

Being ethnocentric can be positive and negative. Ethnocentrism makes the

culture exist for a long time. People will try to preserve it carefully by never

allowing others to disturb their life. According to the ethnocentric people, others

can destroy their culture and their culture is the best one, therefore they will

underestimate others and think as they are the superior. However, society always

changes. It can not always accept ethnocentric people. The situation in the society

can change the ethnocentric people to be whether more ethnocentric or less

ethnocentric. A bad society can turn the ethnocentric people to be less or not

ethnocentric anymore, for example a war.

The focuses of this study are the ethnocentrism of the main character and

the lost of the ethnocentrism as the effect of the Vietnam War. The writer has two

problem formulation. The first problem of the analysis is about the ethnocentrism

of the main character which is Percival Chen. The second part of the analysis is

revealing the factors of Vietnam War that change Percival‟s ethnocentrism. In

order to get the precise answers, the writer uses some theories to support the

study.

For the first problem formulation, the writer uses the theory from Roberts

and Jacobs, M.J. Murphy, and Horton and Hunt. Theory from Roberts and Jacobs

and M.J Murphy is applied to describe the characteristics of the main character in

novel, while the theory by Horton and Hunt was applied to find out the


47

characteristics of ethnocentrism.

The first part of the analysis is about the main character in the novel

which is Percival. He is a Chinese who is born in China, then he moves to Cholon,

South Vietnam. As a Chinese immigrant, Percival is always proud to his heritage.

He always thinks that Chinese is the best culture. It can be assumed that he is an

ethnocentric person. Ethnocentris person will feel that he is a superior person, so

does Percival. He always feels that the Chinese is better than the Vietnamese. His

superiority influences his chracteristic to be withdrawn. He tends to group

himself with the Chinese. Moreover, Percival believes his culture as the truth of

life and follows it. According to Murphy, Percival‟s ethnocentrism is revealed

through speech, personal description, and direct comment.

The second part of the analysis is about the diminishing of Percival‟s

ethnocentrism as the effect of the Vietnam War. The writer uses theory of

literature and society by Wellek and Warren and Rohrberger and Woods. The

writer also needs the historical background by Herring, Pan and Lyon, and

Hoover to get the correct analysis.

Percival is the representation of Chinese people at the time of Vietnam

War. Most of Chinese get the effect of the Vietnam War, so does Percival. There

are four factors that influenced Percival‟s ethnocentrism. They are the new

regulations, the cooperation with the American, the growing of nationalism, and

the northern‟s victory. Those factors have changed Percival‟s opinion of his race

and Vietnamese. Through the new regulations and the growing of nationalism,

Percival realizes that he is not a superior person and Chinese is not a superior


48

race. In Vietnam, he is just a Chinese immigrant who lives under Vietnamese‟s

reign. Then, the cooperation with the American makes Percival who used to be

withdrawn has opened himself to the others. Finally, the war is over by the

victory of North Vietnam. The situation becomes worse for the Chinese. Their

assets is taken over and they are being the target of deportation. Percival, as a

Chinese, has to go out from Vietnam. He used to believe that the Chinese should

go to China where was the safest place for the Chinese, but at the end Percival

moved to America. He realizes that his “superior” race can not help him. It brings

problem to his life. He has diminished his ethnocentrism.

So, this study wants to tell that Percival in The Headmaster’s Wager is the

representation of most Chinese at the time of Vietnam War. Before the war

became worse, many Chinese held the power of economy in South Vietnam.

They were always felt that they were better than the Vietnamese. Unfortunately,

the war had changed it. They could not underestimate others anymore. Most of

them had move from Vietnam and went as refugee in another country. The

Chinese had diminished the ethnocentrism because of Vietnam War.


49

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(2009): p. 55-63. (www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/GSO.2009.3.2.50). March,

31 2015.

Wellek, Rene and Austin Warren. Theory of Literature. London: Harcourt, 1977.


http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/GSO.2009.3.2.50

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APPENDIX

The Summary of Vincent Lam’s The Headmaster’s Wager

The story takes the setting during the time of Vietnam War between North

and South Vietnam. In the story, Percival is the headmaster of English School, in

Cholon, South Vietnam. He is a Chinese who lives with his son, Dai Jai. He has

been divorced with his wife, Cecilia who is also a Chinese. They used to live in

Hong Kong, China, but there was an invasion of Japan to China that made them

had to move. Percival‟s mother has been passed away, while his father is in

Cholon as a rice trader. To avoid the war, Percival and Cecilia move to Cholon

and live with Percival‟s father. Chen Kai, Percival‟s father, has been married to

the Vietnamese women, named Ba Hai. In order to take over Chen Kai‟s wealthy,

Ba Hai always gives an opium to Chen Kai. Percival‟s arrival has been brought

Chen Kai to the reality. So, he tries to go home to China, but no one ever hears

the news of him anymore.

In Cholon, Percival is a successful man, as the headmaster of English

School, Chen Hap Sing. He likes to do gambling and gives a bribe to make his

business go smoothly. He realizes that he lives in the midst of the war between

North and South Vietnam. There are some new regulations that have influenced

him, for example taking Vietnamese citizenship to live in Vietnam. However, he

pretends to never hear about the war as long the war does not disturb his business.

As a Chinese, he does not like the Vietnamese. He can not speak the language

well. Therefore, when there is a new regulation that every school has to taught


52

Vietnamese language, Percival tries to give a bribe to local official, who actually

can not help him. Dai Jai realizes that his father always tries to maintain the

culture. Dai Jai even can not have a relationship with a Vietnamese woman. To

make his father proud, he makes a protest in the Teochow School. In

consenquence, he is accused as a Chinese pro and he is arrested. Percival has to

ransom Dai Jai by giving a thousand taels of gold to Viet Cong. Even though Dai

Jai has been free, the problem still comes. He has to go to Shanghai, China to

avoid the military.

After Dai Jai‟s going, Percival has so many debts to be paid. Mak,

Percival‟s partner, sees that there is a chance to make more money in the midst of

war. South Vietnam is supported by the American, so there are many Americans

who will come and live in South. Percival employes his best students to be a

translator for the American. Therefore, he can double the tuition and pay the debt.

One day, he has money to pay the debt, but he chooses to use the money to do

gambling. In mah jong games, he wins so much money and also a girl, named

Jacqueline. The debt could be paid. He falls in love to Jacqueline, but she is not a

Chinese, she is a French-Vietnamese woman and his student in English School.

Percival can not marry her. When Percival tries to leave her, Jacqueline says that

she is pregnant, so [ercival takes care care of her and the baby.

In January, while there is a Tet celebration, there is an offense by the Viet

Cong. The Viet Cong breaks the cessation and attacks Saigon and Cholon. At that

night, Jacqueline who lives in Saigon comes to Chen Hap Sing because she has to

give a birth. Percival can not believe it because it is not the time. The baby is still


53

eight months. During the birth process, the Viet Cong comes to Chen Hap Sing,

tried to kill Percival, but Mak can prevent it. As a rich Chinese, it is possible for

Percival being the target of the Viet Cong. In the chaotic situation, Percival gets a

baby, named Lang Jai.

Dai Jai who lives in China, used to sent letters to Percival. One day, the

letter comes to Cecilia. It is written that Dai Jai is accused as the America pro

because of his father‟s school. He wants to come back to Vietnam. Cecilia goes to

China to find friends who can help her while Percival asks Mak help to bring Dai

Jai back. Then, Percival meets with General Cho, who is a Viet Cong. General

Cho promises that he will bring Dai Jai back, but he has to make sure that

Percival does not lie. He has to be sure that Percival is not an American spy.

Percival is beaten by Mak and Cho. Now, Percival knows that Mak is a comrade

of Viet Cong who uses his school to know the strategy of the United State. The

horrible truth is Lang Jai is his grandson and Jacqueline is Dai Jai‟s ex-girlfriend.

Percival chooses to leave Jacqueline and never met Lang Jai.

The war is going to the end. Percival let Mak to take over the school. He

only talks to Mak to ask about Dai Jai. Mak always says that Dai Jai is near. After

years, Dai Jai arrives in South Vietnam. He is fighting as a comrade of Viet Cong.

Percival picks him up, but what he sees Dai Jai and Mak have passed away. After

that, Jacqueline calls him to pick up Lang Jai in front of the zoo. She commits

suicide. She can not bear her problem of life. She realizes that she and Lang Jai

can not live in Vietnam because their appearance look like an Amerasian.

Communist never let Amerasian to live. Peter who promises to bring them to the


54

United States has left them alone. Percival, as the grandfather, takes care of Lang

Jai. He also realizes that it is not a good idea to live in Vietnam. Communist acts

like they let the Chinese live, but at midnight they will kill them. Therefore, he

meets Mrs Ling and asks her help. Percival goes by boat to the United States,

while Lang Jai and Mrs Ling go together by plane.


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