Juniper Hayward's Defense Process to Achieve Fame in the Yellowface Novel by R.F. Kuang

Abstract

The Yellowface (2023) novel by R.F. Kuang shows the kind of struggle in Juniper Hayward. She gets a lot of public obstacles and criticism upon the publication of her novel, due to her successful dream rising. Slowly, June’s secret was revealed and making the situation even worse; her haters started to dig up some evidence to expose her faults to the public. Problems that happened in June caused her to build a defense mechanism to protect the career she had always dreamed of as a writer. Therefore, researchers find several problems arise: 1. How
does Juniper Hayward’s character show in the Yellowface novel? 2. How does the type of Juniper Hayward’s defense mechanism in the Yellowface novel?. The main character's data for research was collected through defense mechanisms found in the novel's dialogue. This research aims to use a descriptive qualitative method based on data from novel Yellowface and analyze it with Sigmund Freud’s theory of defense mechanisms. Researchers found the main character’s defense mechanisms in problem-solving of conflict and psychological problems, including denial, projection, rationalization, and intellectualization.