CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study Literature is one of
some ways to express the creativity in developing the view of civilization. There would be always
some messages, points of view, and ideas
that try to be explored by literature. No matter what it is, where it is and when it is. We have known that literature is a
part of human life that reflects the reality
in what have happened in each aspect of life. Literature represents life which deals with internal and external factors
of human life; it will be interested to
criticize it, because we will get a lot of knowledge by this criticism. To
criticize literary works, we need some
understandings about literary criticism. Peck and Coyle (1986:150) define that "Literary
criticism is the analysis, interpretation and evaluation of literary works". It does
not mean that literary criticism is to find the fault in literary works. Analyzing literature
means analyzing human life as experiences,
ideas, motivations, emotions or expectations which are expressed in the words. Literature also pays attention to
the social life reflected at that time.
Wilbur (1962: 123) also states
about literature, in his opinion,literature can not be created in vacuum; it is the work not
simply for person, but an author fixes in
time and space, answers to a community of which he is an important, because an articulate part. Simply mean that
literature can not stand by itself, there are so many factors influence the existence of
literature. The work of literature is called an autonomous and independent. But when we
talk about the influence of the literature
to the society or its opposite, we have to relate this aspect to the society and reality. This influence will appear also
in men or women as part of society.
Today, if we pay attention more
to the development of womens problems, especially in the discussion of the
equality on the right between a man and a woman, we will find that the issues on women
are controversial and complex.
Those problems need more solution
and discussion. Those problems are not only the responsibility for the
government, but alsoour responsibility tosolve those problems. As we know that the problems of
women are the problems of society, because
women arethe important part of society.
Since past time, society has been
dominated by men. It has not absolutely acknowledged
the existence of women. And for a long time, women have considered living from relying on mens power.
Men and women mostly follow the concept
that a woman cannot stand by herselfwithout the support of a man in her side. Men are considered as the first
class in society, while women are the second.
This conception eventually leads to the role distinctions between a man and a woman in society. This fact has shown us
that in the whole of the life aspects,
the women are always dominated by men. This domination is usually called by patriarchal system in the society.
A woman is taught to regard a man
as a godlike and to worship him. The goal of her existence is to be associated with him,
to love him and be loved by him, because
this allows her to share in his male power and sovereignty. She achieves happiness when a man she loved accepts her as
part of his identity. In reality, because
no man is a godlike, she is ultimately disappointed but refuses to acknowledge his fallibility; because no man
can give her either his ability to act and
chooseor the character to accept responsibility for those actions and choices, she does not really achieve or even
participate in his status as subject or standard.
She remains dependent on other
(Epstein,1995: 3).
Some people believe that
patriarchal system that has been acknowledged in the society has caused discrimination and
unfair treatment to women in the society.
Mies (1987: 37) says that patriarchy means the rule of father which includes the rule of husbands, of bosses and
the rule of every man in all of aspects such
as politics and economics. We can understand that patriarchal system to operate when a man dominates a woman in all of
aspects in society. So, there is appearance
the discrimination and unfair treatment to a woman. In patriarchal system, a man has more power to dominate,
exploit, determine and control of a womans
life aspects in the society. Of course those all make women oppressed in patriarchal
society.
In patriarchal system,
amanbecomes the standard or norm. He is the subject who is capable of choice, of acting, of taking
responsibility, and of affecting his destiny
in whole of his life. While, awoman, who is measured against the standard of aman, becomes the other,dependent
on him, she is an object to be acted
upon by a man; she is given meaning and status by her relationship to him (Thomas, 2001). In patriarchal society, there
are almost different treatments toward
women. They have limited opportunities, facilities and resources in many aspects of life. That limitation has been part
of the social custom. Therefore, men, either
unconsciously or consciously, have oppressed women, allowed them little or no voice in the political, social or
economic issues of their society (Bressler: 1998: 160). In majority of households, a man
is being central figure that support the
financial of the family. While, a woman always stays at home to take care their children.
Feminist criticism tries to
destroy this image. Initially feminist criticism reflects the political goals of feminism in
that the author and text are judged in accordance
with how far they can be reconciled with feminist ideology. These 'images of woman' school of feminist critics
adopt this point of view and is particularly
concerned with how woman's characters are represented in literature (Newton, 1988: 263).
To begin, what do feminist
critics mean by the term patriarchy, here are some meanings of patriarchy, According to Judith
Bennett, in her recent work History Matters,
patriarchy is the central problems of woman's history, and more over, it is the greatest general problems of all
history. There is no other term is as useful to describe the system by which women
dominated, oppressed and exploited by men.
Generally, based on the website
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/feminist.html which the researcher has found,
there, the researcher gets the information that feminist literary criticism exists to counter,
resist, and eventually eliminate the traditions
and conventions of patriarchy the ideology or belief system which sees as "natural" the dominance and
superiority of men over women in both private and public contexts-as it exists in literary,
historical, and critical contexts. The fact that the goal of feminist criticism is
"literary" does not necessarily limit its effects to the arena of "culture" or the
academy. Feminist literary criticism may be seen as intervene in the process of culture's
self-reproduction to make visible the injustices
of present relations between man and woman, and perhaps, keep them from being reproduced in the future. Feminist
critics also called as attention to unique
female literary traditions and modes of reading informed, if not wholly determined by, woman's historical oppression
in patriarchal society.
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