CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study We have
known that literature is part of human life that reflects the reality in each aspects of life. Scott (1962:123)
stated that literature cannot be created in vacuum; it is the work not simply for person,
but of an author fixed in time and space,
answering to a community of which he is an important, because articulate part. It means that literature cannot stand by
itself, because many factors which influence
the existence of literature. A literary work is called an autonomous and independent, but if 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. So, literature depends
on the human experiences that are reflected by imaginative arrangement in social, culture and so on.
Novel is one of literary works and as the
literature genre. Novel is usually closely
related to human beings and has the message of life through the story.
John Peck and Martin Coyle
explained the novel by the definition below: Novel presents a documentary picture of life.
There are so many characteristics of the
literature genre, which is given by novel. The authors also experienced what they had seen and what they had done, and then
they brought them to the written things
by own language that came from their thoughts. Novel, however, are long works with a great amount of detail on every
page. They thus present all the complicating
facts that need to be taken into account before we can reach any sort of judgment (Peck and Coyle, 1986: 102-103).
Literary criticism is one of the literary
studies. Literary criticism is a literary
study that directly concerns with literary work which emphasizes on the value and the advantages of literary works.
But literary criticism does not only limit
on the text, interpretation, or literary consideration, but also consists of
the problems more broadly about the
literature, what the literary for, and how the relationship between literary and the human
problems in reality.
Most modern criticism stresses the importance
of close attention to the literary text.
Feminist literary criticism claims that traditional criticism has silenced or suppressed the debate about gender
because it is in its own interests to do
so. Culler (1997:128) said that feminist theorist champion the identity of women, demand rights for women, and promote
women’s writings as representation of
the experience of women.
Recent literary critics have come into an
agreement that there is still no conventional
definition of literary criticism as well as the function of literary itself. As we know that literature has changed
time by time because the literature itself
depends on the society responses in understanding and accepting the information, especially in literature. The
dynamic of literature is also closely related
to society development and concerned with the cultural context in certain period.
Feminist literary criticism is
literary criticism informed by feminist theory, or by the politics of feminism more broadly.
Its history has been broad and varied, from
classic works of nineteenth-century women author. Feminist Literary Criticism grew out of women's movement
following WW II. This approach analyzes
the representation of women in literature. Though the projects of individual critics differ, there is general
agreement that interpretation of literature involves critique of patriarchy. Patriarchy is
an ideology that privileges masculine ways
of thinking or points of view and marginalizes women politically, economically and psychologically.
In the history of science, the
role of women movement was hardly involved
in the development element. The feminists thought that the historians always only focused their attention to the
politic, war, or the law. Whereas, the women
history had never been touched. Feminists also regret the American history writing that only tells about the
nation power. Usually they tell about white
American men who changed the American history in several decades. The feminists also thought that the women had
never contributed the history because they
had almost never been given place in politic, economic, and military and other aspects.
Nowadays, one of the most
apprehensive problems people is women oppression
in several aspects of life. Women always become the victims who are suffering from the worst treatments by men.
Moreover, the existence of women was
marginalized inside of the society’s way of thinking caused by the early socialization.
By understanding the concept of
feminism, and also by reading this novel, the researcher hopes that the reader or anyone
else could change their way of thinking
and their point of view about women position in society; how to treat the women, how the women should be in society or
the other opinion about feminism.
In order to know more about the
existence of the women itself in particular, and their community who are marginalized and
suffer the oppression in general, the researcher
would like to describe those problems and find the feminist values in Fern Michaels’ Texas Rich.
We always see oppressions in
almost every aspect of life that were faced by women such as in education, politic, economic,
social, and etc. The researcher thought
that woman should be placed in the right way, and she should get the equal position as man’s position. In Fern
Michaels’ Texas Rich, the main character
is a wife who is under controlled by her husband’s family. Although woman is expected to obey and entertain her
husband and family, provide everything
that her husband wants and obey his orders, she also has to fight when she is suffering from oppression and
harassment. This is the story of the Colemans dynasty of Moss and his father who obsessed
with power and building a dynasty.
But, the most is about Billie
Ames herself who has trouble in living up to the family expectations and her struggle to become
her own in a world dominated by Colemans.
Texas Richwith sets the beginning
of WW II and young Willa (Billie) Ames,
who is working class in Philadelphia, is courted by Moss Coleman of the wealthy Coleman family of Texas and their
sprawling Coleman family "Sunbridge"
ranch ala "Southfork" in Austin, Texas. Both Billie Ames and Moss Coleman are about 18 years old. This is the
captivating story of four generations.
There’s Moss, living in the
shadow of a father whose obsession with power overshadows the needs of his only son;
Jessica, the doomed mother who gave up everything
to become the perfect Coleman wife; Moss and Billie’s children, struggling against the family’s legacy while
desperately trying to live up to insurmountable
expectations; and the grandchildren, heirs to a tarnished empire who just might fulfill their dreams.
Fern Michaels, who is a very
popular, best-selling author of romance, mystery, suspense and historical novels,
originally published this book in 1985.
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