Mule as a Symbol of African American Women during the New Negro Movement Depicted in Mules and Men and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

FIRDIANTI CITRA SIWI, Dr. Nur Saktiningrum, M.Hum.

2017 | Tesis | S2 Pengkajian Amerika

New Negro Movement diyakini berhasil menumbuhkan semangat emansipasi dan kebanggaan ras rakyat Amerika keturunan Afrika di lingkungan kulit putih. Pengikut gerakan ini bertujuan untuk menghapus stereotip tentang rakyat Amerika keturunan Afrika yang digambarkan secara jelas dalam minstrel show dan segregasi ras atau yang dikenal sebagai hukum Jim Crow. Namun demikian, dua novel berjudul Mules and Men dan Their Eyes Were Watching God yang ditulis oleh salah satu anggota gerakan tersebut, Zora Neale Hurston, menunjukkan sisi ambigu. Dengan menggunakan bagal sebagai simbol, perempuan Amerika keturunan Afrika disimbolkan inferior, yang mengindikasi bahwa emansipasi bagi mereka patut dipertanyakan. Oleh sebab itu, peneliti menyusun dua pokok permasalahan dalam menganalisis isu tersebut, yaitu: (1) bagaimana bagal dikarakterisasikan dalam kedua novel tersebut untuk mendeskripsikan perempuan Amerika keturunan Afrika dan (2) mengapa perempuan Amerika keturunan Afrika disimbolkan seperti bagal. New Historicism digunakan sebagai pendekatan dan teori untuk menjawab permasalahan tersebut karena analisis penelitian ini menempatkan karya sastra pada sudut pandang sejarah sekaligus meneliti power relations yang terjadi saat gerakan New Negro Movement berlangsung, Secara khusus, interpretasi analisis penelitian ini ditinjau dari sudut pandang Myth and Symbol School. Sementara itu, metode yang diaplikasikan dalam penelitian ini adalah analisis dokumen. Hasil penelitian ini memaparkan bahwa perempuan Amerika keturunan Afrika dinilai diam seperti bagal karena mereka tetap diam ketika menghadapi kekerasan dan diskriminasi ras pada kemunculan hukum Jim Crow atau segregasi. Oleh sebab itu, mereka pasrah mematuhi hukum tersebut seperti bagal yang patuh pada tuannya. Para perempuan tersebut juga dinilai keras kepala seperti bagal yang cenderung memaksakan kehendak. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa mereka masih memperoleh kekuatan untuk bertahan dengan cara menjadi keras kepala. Namun demikian, sifat keras kepala yang dimaksud tidak selalu berarti negatif maupun menyinggung, melainkan sisi yang berbeda, yaitu kekuatan mereka dalam memperjuangkan hak terhadap hukum dan kebijakan apapun yang merugikan mereka. Dalam hal ini, sifat keras kepala menjadi senjata dalam pembuktian diri. Ciri bagal ketiga yang disamakan dengan perempuan Amerika keturunan Afrika adalah keberadaan mereka sebagai beast of burden. Pada masa New Negro Movement, perempuan Amerika keturunan Afrika, khususnya yang tergolong dalam kelas menengah, biasanya bekerja sebagai asisten rumah tangga. Seperti halnya bagal yang bekerja di ladang untuk membantu tuannya mencari nafkah, para perempuan tersebut juga berkontribusi dalam memenuhi kebutuhan finansial keluarga mereka. Oleh sebab itu, emansipasi bagi perempuan Amerika keturunan Afrika sepenuhnya diperoleh selama mereka dapat menyuarakan kaum mereka di hadapan publik dan membuktikan bahwa mereka mampu mencapai keberhasilan akademis dan ekonomi untuk menunjukkan kekuatan demi mempertahankan hak.

The New Negro Movement was believed to be successful in growing sense of African American emancipation and racial pride in the white society. The proponents of the movement aimed to wipe away the stereotype of the African Americans, which was clearly depicted by the minstrel show and the racial segregation or Jim Crow laws. Nonetheless, two novels entitled Mules and Men and Their Eyes Were Watching God which are written by one of the proponents of the movement, Zora Neale Hurston, present something ambiguous. Through the use of mule as a symbol, the African American women are symbolized as inferior, which means the emancipation for them is still questionable. Accordingly, the researcher then formulates two problems to analyze the issue. They are: (1) how mules are characterized in the novels to describe the African American women and (2) why the African American women are symbolized by mules. New Historicism is employed as the approach and theory to answer the problems since the analysis situates the literary works within historical perspective and figures out power relations that functioned during New Negro Movement. More specifically, the interpretation of the analysis takes a perspective of Myth and Symbol School. Meanwhile, the method conducted in this study is document analysis. The findings show that the African American women were considered as silent as mules because they remained silent when they encountered racial violence and discrimination in the emergence of Jim Crow laws or segregation. Therefore, they could only obey the laws the way mules are obedient to their masters. They were also deemed to be as stubborn as mules, meaning that they are determined to do what they want. It shows that they still gain some power to survive by being stubborn. Nevertheless, the stubbornness here does not always mean something negative or offensive. It reveals something different, which is the strength of the women in defending their rights against any rules and policies that may harm them. In this case, their stubbornness becomes their weapon to show their self-revelation. The third characteristic of mules compared to the African American is their existence as a beast of burden. During the New Negro Movement, the African American women, especially those of the middle class, usually worked as domestics. Just like mules that work in the plantation to help their masters make money, the African American women also contribute to their family financial needs. Accordingly, the emancipation for the African American women was fully achieved as long as they could produce voice of their community in public and prove that they were able to make some achievements based on academic and economic standards in order to show their power to stand for their rights.

Kata Kunci : Mule, New Negro Movement, Storytelling