CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
No body knows why women always have lower position than men. Before
nineteen century, women do not have the same education like men, have no right
to vote in general election, have no chance to join the parliament, and women
have no chance to work in publics area. Men hold almost all position of political
and economical power. Women just stay in the place without door and window.
They can not actualize themselves. The assumed norm in many societies is for
women to be in charge of domestic labor and childrearing while men engage in
more public concerns. This condition made women never exist as perfect human
being.
Gradually, many women realize this unfair condition. Women made a
movement to protest the inequality. They try to make resistance for breaking male
domination in the world. This struggle movement came from the women
superiority idea, named feminism. „Feminism‟ taken from French language
„feminisme’ found by socialist philosophy Utopian Charles Fourier in nineteen
century. The English term used firstly in 1980 to show women struggle in getting
same chance with men (Cavallaro, 2001: 201). Feminism grows up to catch more
fundamental women‟s problem.
However, this feminism idea not only protest about woman chance in
public areas (like the vote right in general election), this idea also deconstruct
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more essential problems (like why woman could not being the leader of family).
Feminism according Aquarini described as the ideology that has great ideas; to
deconstruct women oppression of gender inequality, to identify the root of women
submission, and to free women from the male domination. So it is the ideology to
make some change for women‟s life (Priyatna, 2006: 22). It tries to change world
perspective about women. Even there have been under estimated image of women
as the second sex.
Feminism gives a commitment intensively to defense women‟s right in
social justice, politic economy, education and professional chance. It defenses the
demand toward sexual autonomy and reproduction rights, the protection from
physical and physiological insulting, language domination, and deconstruction
and representation of feminine (Cavallaro, 2001: 201). So this great ideology
focuses on one thing, giving a better life for women.
It is in line with Humm said in his feminist encyclopedia that feminism is
the basic theory of women struggle movement. It has a principle objective to
understand of women oppression through race, gender, class, and sexual oriented.
Feminism is the reaction and attitude of person to change women oppression
(Humm, 2007: ix). Through feminism ideology people will be showed the
imbalance of women life. Feminism realizes people (whether men or women)
about the oppression toward women.
Feminism, according to Michael Ryan is ideology that asks why women
have played a subordinate role to men in human societies. It is concerned with
how women‟s live have changed throughout history, and it ask what about women
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experience is different from men‟s, either as result of an essential ontological or
psychological difference or as a result of historical imprinting and social
construction (Ryan, 1997: chapter 6). Feminism explains why woman always
oppressed by man. It may be caused by many roots of woman oppression, such as
Ryan said that it caused of ontological and psychological difference, social
construction or other things.
Feminism and feminist movement help women to have better life in the
imbalance social construction. Solve oppression in public and private social life.
However, the oppression toward women not only happens in social life but also
happens in literary world, like what happen in real life, in literary world women is
always being object. Sugihastuti and Suharto said that in the literary work story, a
man loved a woman because she was beautiful, attractive, event sensual. Man
ignore other qualities that occured to the woman (Sugihastuti and Suharto: 2005,
viii). It is one example of women oppression in literary work. Men appreciate
women only from their beauty and sexuality.
The phenomena of women oppression in literature has been historical
problems for women. Women writer never appreciated like men in literary world.
Even the numbers of women writer is so little. Most of great writers who have big
contribution in literary world are men. That is why women never important for
literary growth, so the birth of feminist literary criticism is the reaction of women
oppression described in literature. Feminist literary criticism has the purpose to
read and examine male domination toward female in literary world. Ryan said in
his book, feminist literary criticism studies literature by women for how it
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addresses or expresses the particularity of women‟s lives and experience. And it
studies the male dominated canon in order to understand how men have used
culture to further their domination of women (Ryan, 1997: chapter 6).
Feminist literary criticism wants to read the male domination canon as a
symptom rather than description. It also wants to understand why women were
always oppressed by men and why this gender inequality pattern happened in
literature. Feminist literary criticism is concerned with the creation of a counter of
women writers excluded from the male domination in literature. It undertakes an
examination of the relations between the representation of women in literature and
such social and historical issues as sexuality, the family, patriarchy, and law.
Mario Klarer said that feminist literary theory starts with the assumption
that “gender difference” is an aspect which has been neglected in traditional
literary criticism and, therefore, argues that traditional domains of literary
criticism have to be re-examined from a gender-oriented perspective (Klarer,
2004:91). So if gender difference is being the aspect of oppression to women in
literature, feminist literary criticism wanted to show that there were two difference
sexes that should have equal right.
Moreover, feminist literary criticism as a counter of male domination in
literature can be applied in many kinds of literary work; even there was opinion
that feminist literary criticism should be applied in feminist literary work.
Feminist work here means the work should has content of women struggle to
break male domination. However, the writer has different idea about this.
Feminist theory here is a tool to read and to criticize literary work. It starts with
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the assumption that literary work filled with male domination canon. So, it is
possible to criticize some literary work using feminism, even has not content of
women‟s struggle.
Feminist literary criticism seeks to be at once critical and enabling. It
takes issue with the way the male domination canon has represented women, and
it finds in the literary evidence signs of a counter narrative, an alternative story of
women experience (Ryan, 1997: chapter 6). It means literary work produced by
women within a story of women‟s oppression reflecting a critic of male
domination. Through literary works, women deliver their experience to resist male
tyranny. Even though the work does not present women‟s struggle explicitly, the
output of that work has been the struggle of women writers to share their
experience through writing.
Shirley Conran did that struggle in her novel Crimson; it is like the voice
of women life in marriage life. Conran presented oppression to women through
the women characters in Crimson novel. Women never have their own authority
to determine their self existence in their marriage life. Women can not transform
their sexual need because of their position subordinate to men. They just like an
object that being property of men. They got much marital violence; rape, sexual
abuse, verbal violence even physical violence. Women commanded to be obedient
child that followed all men wanted, just like hand doll. Men as puppeteer held the
important role to play women‟s action in their marriage life. Men have the
authority, the power, and the legitimation to dominate women.
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In marriage, love is not being the pure and holy feeling anymore. Love is
just power to dominate women. Men manipulate love to control women. By the
name of love, women should sacrifice their independency, self esteem, happiness,
and their existence as human being.
What women want in life is love and what men want is power And men want power as much as women want love: women think that they don‟t understand what power is, but in the nursery, power is called getting your own way.
From “A Burning Heart” by Elinor Dove
She is Elinor O‟Dare bestselling romantic novelist, obedient woman, and
submissive. She is the major character of Crimson novel by Shirley Conran. She
spends her rest of life remembering the horror of her marriage life. Shirley Conran
shares women life in male domination. Elinor described as obedient wife that
fooled in the high and holy institution called marriage. She realizes what her
husband did is something inhuman and cruel. However, she still believes that as
wife she should do something to defend her marriage, anything she needs to do.
She sacrifices her happiness life and exchanges it for the happiness of her man.
She is influenced by many Romans reading that told about women life with
charming and kind man.
She has written that women just want love in their life but men
manipulated women‟s feel as the instrument and power to dominate women. Love
is power for men. Women are never free from this situation, wrestling between
feeling love and affection. Elinor just grants what her husband wants, and receives
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the cruelty in many long years. Firstly, she thought that whatever she did is done
by every woman in marriage life, although her husband oppresses her right as
human.
Elinor was simply unable to resist the temptations offered by Billy. And of course, she did not dare resist, although she now felt bitterly ashamed of the physical desires of her body and her willing capitulation to Billy‟s domination. With some success, she made excuses to her self: I didn‟t want to do it, but Billy made me do it, and he‟s my husband, and I must obey him.
Torn between her pleasure and the resultant shame, Elinor felt her guilt steadily grow. And increasingly Billy manipulated, dominated, and exploited her (Crimson, 1992: 82).
The same fate happens to her three granddaughters, each of them has little
bit same problem with love and power of men. Clare, the oldest one, has the
problem with her sexual need, she never get climax. As property, the satisfaction
of women in marriage life is not the concern; the concern is only about men
satisfaction. Clare feels unhappy with her marriage because her husband ignores
her sexual need. Then, she must take same big decision when her husband went to
bed with another woman.
Actually, she does not want apologize her husband. Elinor as grandmother
advices Clare to do like what she did, sacrifice her happiness and forgive her
husband. Elinor has ever felt the unfaithfulness of her husband, but by the name of
love and family happiness, she has to forgive her husband. Elinor wants Clare to
do what she has done to save their marriage.
Other major characters are Annabel, the second granddaughter, and
Miranda, the youngest, they also have little bit same problem with their men.
However, the focus of this study is only to the life of Elinor and Clare. The writer
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thinks that there are both similarities and differences of Elinor and Clare life, such
as different reaction of them to male domination.
As we know there are many feminist thoughts with their own ideology,
like liberal, radical, Marxist, and existentialist feminism. However, after
examining the symptoms of women phenomena in Crimson novel, the writer
thinks that existentialist feminism is closely suitable to be applied in this study. It
will help the writer to explain women‟s oppression. Existentialist feminism has
the concept of „self‟ and „others‟; to be „self‟ man should oppress „other‟ and the
other is woman. Existentialist feminism discusses about women‟s life in
marriage. Existentialist feminism also explains women‟s love in marriage.
Existentialist feminism also has the concept of malafide woman that adopted from
bad faith existentialism philosophy, the condition closely to self deception,
unconsciousness, and delusion. There are three characteristics of malefic woman;
the prostitute, the narcissism, and the mystic.
Actually, there have been many feminist literary studies unfortunately the
writer can not find the feminist literary study concerned in existentialist feminism
thought. The writer presents the previous study is related to the object of the
study. The writer has some previous studis to be reference for doing this analysis.
The study entitled Gender Inequality in Laura Conway`s For A Dream`s Sake: A
Feminist Perspective written by Heni Sumarah student of school of teacher
training and education Muhammadiyah university of Surakarta in 2009. The
objective of this study is to describe how gender inequality in the society is
reflected in Laura Conway‟s For a Dream’s Sake.
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The other is the study under the title Need for Women‟s Independence in
Danielle Steel‟s Journey: Feminist Approach written by Sri Lestari, student of
school of teacher training and education faculty Muhammadiyah university of
Surakarta in 2009. The object of this study is to find how women‟s independence
as a need is reflected in Danielle Steel‟s Journey.
That is clear that the writer really wants to explain this novel by using
feminist literary criticism approach with feminist existentialist as one of feminist
thought. The importance of women‟s life is being one major reason of why this
feminist study done. Feminist literary criticism helps the reader to identify why
women in literature is always oppressed by man, could not actualize her sexual
desire, fall into the sublime of love and always being labor of family.
So based on the background of this study, the writer is curious to do
analysis by the title OPPRESSION TO WOMEN IN SHIRLEY CONRAN‟S
CRIMSON (A Feminist literary Criticism).
1.2 Statement of the Problems
After conducting the background of the study, the writer formulates
statement of the problems as follows:
1. What is oppression to women major characters described in Shirley
Conran‟s Crimson?
2. What are the reactions of women major characters toward their oppression
in Shirley Conran‟s Crimson?
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1.3 Objectives of the Study
Based on statement of the problems, therefore, the aims of the study are:
1. To find oppression to women major characters in Shirley Conran‟s
Crimson.
2. To describe the reaction of women major characters toward their
oppression in Shirley Conran‟s Crimson.
1.4 Scope and Limitation of the Study
There are many aspects of this novel that are interesting to be analyzed.
However, it is impossible to analyze the whole aspects of the novel because the
facts that knowledge, time, and fund are absolutely limited. Therefore, this
analysis will be limited on oppression to two major women characters there are
Elinor O‟Dare and Clare O‟Dare. The writer will analyze the oppression that
happens in their marriage life. However, the writer needs to explain about
oppression to women in pre-marriage time as the preparation in facing married.
Actually, there are four women major characters in Crimson; Elinor
O‟Dare, the grandmother; Clare O‟Dare, Elinor‟s first granddaughter; Annabel,
Elinor‟s second granddaughter, and Miranda, the last one. All of them have
problems with marriage, except Miranda that has not been married yet. They have
the same problems with men, love, and power. But only Elinor and Clare are
having a little bit same condition with the object of this study. They faced same
condition like the problem with their sexual need and the husband‟s affair.
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