Gun issue becomes one of the most polemic issues in the United States alongside racism. Regardless, the last major gun control legislation to make it into law was the assault weapons ban in 1994 as part of a larger crime-related bill approved during Bill Clinton presidential period. After the assault weapons ban expired, American society is threatened by the increasing numbers of gun violence issue such as mass shooting and gun homicide. In this case, NRA involvement is vital towards gun culture in the United States. As non-profit organization, NRA has influential lobbying for any policies towards gun policies. Thus, this paper discusses the dissemination of gun culture on NRA family website www.nrafamily.org. In 2016, Amelia Hamilton rewrote two Grimm’s fairytales “Little Red Riding Hood (Has a Gun)” and “Hansel and Gretel (Have Guns). Since gun becomes commodity, these NRA versions of fairytales can be analyzed as part of consumer manipulation by using consumer capitalist theory. Thus, this analysis shows that those fan-fictionalized fairytales consist of two main aspects: gun as protector and gun culture as common culture in the United States. It embraces the rationalization of gun ownership’ in the United States despite its lethal consequences.

This paper aims to analyze the influence of systemic racism on quarter-life crisis, experienced by Malcolm X, as seen in The Autobiography of Malcolm X (As Told to Alex Haley). Its emphasis is to find the relation between racial segregation in American society and its influence on quarter-life crisis, which is a psychological crisis of uncertainty, self-insecurity and identity confusion, occurs during emerging adulthood. Therefore, by applying a qualitative method, this research is under Post-Nationalist American Studies and psychosocial approach as an integrated paradigm which accommodates the inter-disciplinary aspects of �self and society�. The analysis showed that racial segregation, in the field of education and job occupation, is a form of systemic racism which influences Malcolm X�s mental wellness as an emerging adult African-American. He experiences Robinson�s phases of quarter-life crisis which are locked in, separation/time-out, exploration and rebuilding. In fact, racial segregation in this narrative works as �a function of blocked opportunities� which disallows young African-Americans to develop their own competencies and to achieve their �American Dream�. However, in the development of his quarter-life crisis, Malcolm X managed to rebuild his new long-term commitment contributing to the reconstruction of his adult identity as an African-American Muslim activist.

This paper aims to analyze the influence of systemic racism on quarter-life crisis, experienced by Malcolm X, as seen in The Autobiography of Malcolm X (As Told to Alex Haley). The emphasis of this research is to find the relation between racial segregation in American society and its influence on quarter-life crisis, which is a psychological crisis of uncertainty, self-insecurity and identity confusion, occurs during emerging adulthood period. Therefore, by applying a qualitative method, this research works under Post-Nationalist American Studies and psychosocial approach as an integrated paradigm which accommodates the inter-disciplinary aspects of "self and society". The analysis shows that racial segregation, in the field of education and job occupation, is a form of systemic racism which influences Malcolm X's mental wellness as a young African-American. Racial segregation, in this case, is "a function of blocked opportunities" which disallows young African-Americans to develop their own competencies and to achieve their "American Dream". In the development of his quarter-life crisis, Malcolm X manages to rebuild his new long-term commitment which contributes to the construction of his adult identity as an African-American Muslim activist.

Haruki Murakami is mostly well-known for his many works and is considered as one of the most influential writers in Japan. One of his greatest works is a nostalgic novel Norwegian Wood which named after The Beatles song, Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) in their album Rubber Soul (1965). It becomes #1 bestselling novel in Japan. This novel resembles many aspects of “Americanization” of Japanese young adult life in the 1960s Japan which was strongly influenced by American popular culture. Many Japanese in this novel adopt Western culture which was popular in the United States. Hollywood and American music became central part of the main story in Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. By using cultural imperialism theory, this research focuses on the imposition and glorification of American culture in 1960s Japan which is celebrated as part of central storyline. American cultural imperialism can be seen in dissemination and glorification of American popular culture and American way of life (lifestyle) among Japanese young adults. Furthermore, they create many social and cultural changes. It is further helped by the post-war Japanese’s inferiority after losing to the United States in World War II. In fact, Western thoughts and beliefs are part of “American gifts” during U.S occupation which disseminate even after the end of occupation. Thus, this historical postcolonial relationship between Japan (as the colonized) and the United States (as the colonizer) massively supports “Americanization” of 1960s Japan which results a loss of identity and a cultural dependency of Japan toward the United States.

This paper discusses postwar Japanese adoption of American culture in a debut novel by Lynne Kutsukake entitled The Translation of Love. This novel is set during the U.S. occupation of Japan after the end of World War II. Postwar Japanese are forced to live under American power, while undergoing an economic, social, and moral crisis (kyodatsu). By using postcolonial perspective under Transnational American Studies, this paper finds the adoption of American culture by postwar Japanese characters in the novel, which come from various social backgrounds, including schoolteachers, schoolchildren, bar girls, and prostitutes. The adoption of American culture includes language (English), Western dating (lifestyle), custom, and fashion. This cultural adoption can be defined as the construction of new Japanese society built under American influence to be more “American-oriented”. Moreover, it further implies the devaluation of Japanese culture, the humiliation of postwar Japanese people, and the birth of Japanese cultural dependency toward American culture.Keywords: American culture; postcolonial; postwar Japan; transnational; U.S. occupation