Zahra Nur Fadilah

180410140027
Kelas: B
Butlers View Through The First Person Perspective
What the events have been in Robert OlencButlers life can influence the characters, the plot,
and other elements in his stories. What kinds of background of writers can be several aspects, such
as from their working period, their character in the real life, and marvellous events during their life.
The stories that Butler has written, are based on his experience of what he has faced in surrounding
him. According to biography.jrank.org, that Butler has said in many interviews that he believes fiction
can reveal human experience. The main characters of two stories Open Arms and Love are based
on his experience during in Vietnam to perform country duties. I refer to iowalum.com that Butler's
participation in the U.S. military brought him to Vietnam from 1969 to 1971, first as a counter-
intelligence special agent for the Army. The time Butler gets idea for his collection short stories A
Good Scent from A Strange Mountain when Butler has been in Vietnam and gets interested with the
condition of people there. I was interested in the Vietnamese diaspora because of the time I spent in
Vietnam (from an interview by Jessica Murphy to Butler (2004)). The characters in the stories as if
reflect himself in the reality life. As one character in Open Arms also reveals that since I speak
perfect English(p.1) and We are all of us from South Vietnam(p.2). Thus, I think that the narrators
are Vietnamese.
As I can see about Vietnamese and Americans in narrators telling, butler describes
Vietnamese and Americans by illustrating the situations about those countries. In both countries, the
mystical power or witchcraft are appeared by two narrators. The character of I, in Open Arms,
reveals that In my village you ran from a ghost because if he wants you, he can reach into that chest
of yours and pull out not only your heart but your soul as well. His belief about mystical things makes
him have a vision to his friend, Dang Van Thap. He feels that Thap has a dark side. As if Thap do not
want to seem friendly towards I. He was a ghost, as the character of I says. In Love the main
character tells about witchcraft or it is called voodoo(p. 80) in the story. There is no openness in the
relation of Buom and her husband. Doing voodoo magic (p. 88), is the only way for the main
character to solve his marriage problem instead of doing some conversation with his wife.
Based on two short stores, it is known that the voices of two narrators as an autodiegetic narrator.
According to Guillemette and Lvesque (2006) in their essay Narratology, they use Genettes
theory, there are two narrative parts (p. 10). One of these parts is autodiegetic narrator. In the
instructional discourse found in lines 30-43 we find an involved narrator, speaking in the first person
and appearing on stage as a protagonist in his own story (Guillemette and Lvesque, 2006: p. 10). In
both stories, two characters of I as narrators and also as a main character. According to
owl.english.purdue.edu (2015) website, that tone is A way of communicating information (in writing,
images, or sound) that conveys an attitude. Authors convey tone through a combination of word-
choice, imagery, perspective, style, and subject matter. The author portrays sad themes in two
stories. Although in Love has the sad theme, Butler inserts jokes to the story about voodoo magic
with the bladder (p. 85) and the goat shit (p. 85). The author tries to show that the main character,
in Open Arms have no vengeance but perhaps regret about the choice of his wife to another man.
Imperialism and power, I think, are elements which can not be separated. Imperialism will be
conceived of as a dominance relation between collectivities, particularly between nations (Galtung,
1971: p. 2). It can be seen from the dominance of Captain Townsend and the Australians. In Open
Arms the freedom of Dang Van Thap and I are curtailed. They seem to be forced watching films. As
I said that Townsend knew I didnt like these films (p. 9). It sounds similar like the main character in
Love. The character reveals that he is small man and wimp (p. 73). He despises himself.
Vietnamese boys and men become dominant people and have the power. They as if threaten his
existence as Buoms husband. As he says that Of all these men and boys it was the Vietnamese I
worried about (p. 74).
The author has used one part of narrative voice (Guillemette and Lvesque, 2006: p. 10)
in two stories. The first person as the narrator and also as the main character. Both of the main
characters have always the feeling about being little men and having no power than the dominant
people.
References
Butler, R.O. (1992). A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories: Grove Press.
http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4198/Butler-Robert-Olen-Jr.html
https://www.iowalum.com/pulitzerPrize/butlerTest.cfm
http://www.signosemio.com/genette/narratology.asp
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/575/1/
Galtung, Johan. 1971. A Structural Theory of Imperialism. The access is from
http://bev.berkeley.edu/ipe/readings/galtung.pdf
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/interviews/int2004-06-14.htm