“Him?” Who was this man she had been married to? the girl asked herself. She closed her eyes but could not picture him 7.
Patriarchy has clearly made one-sided way of life. It decisively causes the inferiority of women Eagleton: 1991. It supports men but demands too much to
women. Although Western women are inferior because of it, they are still a part of the society. Meanwhile, Javanese women are properties of men. They must be
perfect in front of the society, in fact in front of men. Patriarchy is stronger in Javanese society than in Western society.
4.2.2 Religion
According to Murniati 1992: XXI, religions and rituals are one of seven aspects that are called culture. Hornby 2005:1279 describes religion as the belief
in the existence of god or gods, and the activities are connected with the worship of them. In this analysis, we will talk about two religions. They are Catholic and
Islam. Murniati 1992:2 also states that human create various rules to maintain their relationship with God. Therefore, we will find it logical that there are rules in
a religion that influence humankind. Human creates spiritual rules as a part of cultural structure Murniati, 1992: 5.
According to the tradition, holy bible and theology is done, written, and learnt by men Murniati, 1992:12. Therefore, all of those things, which are
written and learnt, come from the language and the point of view of men. This fact creates injustice for women. Society tends to interpret the teaching from holy
bible with men point of view. Even though the teaching may be addressed to both PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
sexes, men and women, society, with men point of view, emphasizes only on men’s important. Opposing it means a sin.
Lorna leaves among the Catholic society. She and her family go to church every Sunday. “The Sunday morning ritual at Rose Point Cottage began with
breakfast at eight, followed by church at ten. 33” Lorna also experiences going to a Catholic Abbey during her pregnancy. “Your father and I don’t like sending
you away, but we saw another way…he found a Catholic abbey of Benedictine nuns… 275” Living in Catholic society, Lorna interfaces rules that bound
women. Those rules are spiritual rules. Buckler 1983: 537 says that the early reformers had urged study of the
Bible as the means of improving human conduct. He 1983: 538 also says that the spiritual study, however, tended to revive Saint Paul’s notion that women are
the source of sin and vice in the world. Therefore, to conduct a better life, men must have the total control to women.
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God I Corinthian
11:3. In the late of nineteenth century, society interprets the teaching differently.
They emphasize only on women’s position as the subordinate of men, and that men have the right to rule women. As a part of the society, Lorna interfaces the
condition. As a woman, she must agree to be controlled by men, in this case her father. When she has not married yet, Lorna is controlled by her father. If her
father gives her orders, she must agree to do so. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
“You know he is about us girls. We’re nothing to him but fluffy empty- headed matrimonial material to whom he gives orders which he expects to
have obeyed without incident… 75”
From the evidence above, we can see that a woman should obey her father and her husband when she is married. Men have the control to women. They
conduct women beha viour as they please. This is a part of conducting a better life. By controlling women behaviour, men set up a good future Buckler, 1983: 537.
This is unfair because women are considered as a lower being whose behaviour may cause problems. Women are rega rded as human who are not as wise as men.
Women even considered as not quite so human because they are the source of sin that need to be totally controlled to prevent worse life.
In The Natural Superiority of Women, Montagu 1953: 28 mentions that women are forced to be much more sedentary than men because women bear
children and nurse them. Woman is the cricket on the hearth, man is the eagle on the wing. Women stay at home to nurse and care for their children, to prepare
food. Men leave the hearth for the hunt. Society believes in this interpretation. They agree that women’s place are in the house for house things.
Genesis 11 and 12 tells us the story about Sara and Abram. Sara is infertile, so she gives her slave, Hagar, to give Abram a son. Instead of realizing
Sara’s effort, as a woman, to support her husband, society believes that baring children, nursing them and preparing husbands’ needs are the duty and the only
activity of women. Lorna, as a woman, is directed for the same thing by her parents. She cannot attend any college, or travel to Europe as she wishes, because
she needs to focus on her marriage. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
“… Just once, Tim, just once I’d like my father to look at me as if he knew I had a brain in my head, as if he knew I has wishes and aspirations that go
beyond catching a husband and running a house and raising children the way Mama’s done… 75”
Murniati 1992: 33 states that Catholic church strongly preserves the tradition. From the Holy Bible, we can see that Jews tradition really influences
church tradition. According to the Jews tradition Murniati, 1992: 33, men are thankful because they were born as men. They consider women as teasers, and sin
makers which are, later, connected with the first sin. It explains why there are one- sided spiritual rules for women.
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in transgression. Notwithstanding she shall
be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety I Timothy 2: 11 – 15.
The Old and New Testaments bring a tremendous influence upon the
attitude of men toward women in the societies. Women must remain in silence, and have no authority above their husbands. This obedience is considered as a
faith and sobriety that save women from their fault. The evidence shows us that religion put a big influence to women inferiority.
.., when Mr. Charles Dana Gibson himself had been a guest at Rose Point Cottage, and had indulged her with long interludes of conversation about
the personification of his “girls” and the message they conveyed: that woman could have freedom and individuality while remaining feminine.
In the wake of Gibson’s visit, Lorna had not only changed her hairstyle, she had eschewed her elaborate skirts, which she wore tonight 4.
However, Western society develops them selves. The evidence above shows us women freedom through the life of Lorna. Lorna is allowed to have her
own style that she adopts the style from other women. This style comes from the new development of the society. As Hinsley 1967:197-200 mentions in A
History of Western Society , there are feminists who struggle for gender
equality. They bring new perspectives and develop society’s point of view about women position.
Lorna’s fashion style is the smallest example of women freedom as the effect of the development. Later, Lorna can make her own decision to
marry Jens. “Will you marry me?” “Yes.” “When?” “Right now, tomorrow, as soon as the law will let us 391.” This evidence shows us that women
inferiority in Lorna’s society develops step by step. In Javanese society, women inferiority is also influenced by religion.
Mas Nganten comes from a family who do not have any religion yet. “…About ten years ago, I visited your village. It was dirty, the people were
poor, and nobody prayed…35.” Then, when she married to Bendoro, she lives among Moslems. She learns to read the Arabic, and sholat. Her life in
Bendoro’s house is greatly influenced by the religion. Murniati 1992: XX states that every holy bible of every religion is
younger than the human existence it self. She 1992: XX also states that what is written in the bible is influenced by the human civilization. Therefore, this is
logical if Koran, Islamic holy bible, write the teaching according to men point of PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
view. The writing process of the bible is done by men Murniati, 1992: 12. It is also logical if society interprets the teaching in men point of view.
Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more strength than the other women,… An Nissa:34.”
According to the verse above, men is the leader of all. They have the duty
to responsible to rule. The same teaching is written in other verse. In An Nissa verse 11. it is written: “Allah mensyiratkan bagimu tentang pembagian pusaka
untuk anak-anakmu. Yaitu: Bagian seorang anak lelaki sama dengan bagian dua orang anak perempuan.” Society interprets the teaching as women are lower than
men. Society starts to create rules that bound women and keep them inferior. Like what happens in Western society, Javanese society creates one-sided rules and
labels those rules with verses form the holy bible. “You belong to me, and I will determine what you can and cannot do and
also what you must do... 133” Mas Nganten is considered as the property of Bendoro. She belongs to
Bendoro. Bendoro will decide what she must and must not do, and Mas Nganten can only follow his words. This is considered as a part of a wife’s obedience to
her husband. As what happens in Javanese society, opposing the rule means sin. It seems that even religion does not provide love and life for women. Society
strengthens their one-sided rule with religious evident. Mas Nganten is not allowed to go anywhere unless the Bendoro tells her
so. “After three months, you’ll be able to go wherever you want, as long as it’s with the Bendoro’s permission. …48” This is a part of the obedience. As
Montagu 1953: 23 mentions in her book, woman’s place is in the home. Women PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
devote their entire life to their husbands as stay inside the house as their husbands want them to. Although they give the total devotion, they cannot hope to have the
same thing. This obedience is a duty in which women do not deserve for rewards. ..— and those lonely nights, the especially empty Thursday nights, the
beginning of all good Muslim’s day of rest, when her husband would never come to her room and the other nights of the week when she waited
for him as well, stretched out in front and in back of her, like two sections of a silent path on which there were no other passerby. No one else was on
it, just she, herself alone 241
Montagu 1953: 23 also mentions that women have been conditioned to believe that they are inferior to men, and they have assumed that what everyone
believed is a fact of nature. Mas Nganten is also conditioned to believe that she is inferior to her husband. She gives herself to serve her husband, but the Bendoro
do not have the duty to always visit her. He may do as he wishes to, and Mas Nganten cannot complain. Even though Mas Nganten feels so lonely and needs
her husband’s existence, she cannot ask for it. Men do not have any duty to women. It explains why women must treat their husbands well while men seem to
be ignorant. Your wives are a filth unto you; so approach your tilth when or how you
will…Al Baqarah: 223.
This situation, of course, emerges desperation on women so as Mas Nganten. She often feels so lonely and desperate with the condition. “What now?
the girl screamed silently. Haven’t I suffered enough? But she had no rights now, she had come to realize, not even the right to scream from fear or pain 61.”
Unfortunately, complaint is not welcomed. This is a part of wives’ obedience to husbands.
Divorced women shall wait concerning themselves for three monthly periods… So if a husband divorces his wife irrevocably he cannot, after
that, re- marry her until after she has married another husband and he has divorced her… When you divorce women,… When you divorce women,
and they fulfil the term of their…Al Baqarah: 228 – 232.
According to the verse above, it is men who have the rights to divorce their wives. In Islamic rules, men can give what is called talak to their wives
whenever they think it is needed. Talak can only be given to women by their husbands, and women has no right to give talak or divorce to their husbands. This
is unfair, because men domination often creates discomfort in marriage, and women suffer from the condition. Therefore, women actually deserve for right to
divorce their husbands too. It seems that, after being ignorant, husbands can divorce their wives anytime whenever they think their wives do not serve them
well anymore, even though the wives actually have tried the best to serve their husbands.
“Just get ready to go home,” he snapped. “This isn’t your place anymore.” “What are you saying, Papa?” “What do you think I’m
saying? You’ve been divorced.” The girl’s body started to tremble. She was going to swoon. Her father quickly put his arm around her,
keeping her on her feet. “Be strong,” he told her, “be strong 259.” After her first childbirth, Mas Nganten is divorced by her husband. It
also happens to the former of Bendoro’s consorts. He divorces her wives after their first childbirth. Mas Nganten is shocked by the incident. She never
thought that her husband would divorce her after her long serving, and especially after the birth of their first child. However, this is the rule, and
Mas Nganten, once again, must face the pain. Bendoro, who is a Moslem, believe that it is his right to divorce his wife. Therefore, he did not
acknowledge Mas Nganten about the divorce. He tells it to Mas Nganten’s father when he asks Mas Nganten’s father to take her wife home after the
divorce. Here, we can see clearly how religion influences the inferiority of
women. Mas Nganten, who live among Moslems, is treated and conditioned as inferior, because society believes that Islamic law put women in lower
level. She must accept that she is not more than property because society interprets the Islamic teaching one- sidedly that women are the subordinate of
men. Other than what happens to Lorna who finally reach what she wants,
that is to make her own decision to marry Jens, Mas Nganten still have to face her inferiority. Javanese society has not so much developed them selves.
Even though it is mentioned in the novel that Mas Nganten live during the life of R.A. Kartini, a feminist heroine, the movement of women brings no
significant result yet, and women inferiority remains the same. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
85
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS
This chapter consists of two parts. The first part is the conclusion of the study. I draw the conclusion based on the problem formulation that is formulated
in chapter one and also based on the analysis in chapter four. The second part of this chapter is suggestions for further researchers and English teacher who apply
this study in his or her teaching- learning activity.
5.1 Conclusions
