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8 . Thoughts
The author gives the reader direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. He tells us what different people are thinking.
9 . Mannerism
The author describes a person’s mannerism and habits that may also tell the readers something about his character.
2. 2 Theory of Feminism
In order to reveal the idea of feminism, I would like to discuss the theory of feminism. When we are talking about feminism, what will come up into our
mind is that feminism relates to a social value. Montagu says that in the society there is conditioned the norm, which states what women can do and cannot do.
They are not given the chances to develop their intelligence and skills and they have different opportunities to men 1958: 38. The statement means that women
are conditioned as weak creatures. Women’s positions are always under the men’s positions in every aspect of life. People believe that women do not have abilities
to do the work better than men. Therefore, feminism believes that women and men’s position in society are the result of social factor, not natural or biological
factors. Feminism tries to see women to be equal to men. Feminist theory reveals the importance of women’s individual and shares
experiences and women struggles. Women struggle for equal opportunities and for equal rights. They realize that they have the same opportunities and rights as men.
Women try to fight against this condition and strive for their rights.
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Fakih explains about the feminist struggle. The most important thing about feminist struggle is finding out the equality, dignity and freedom 1996: 99.
The ideas of feminism are:
1 . Equality
The definition of feminism deals with both equal rights for women and in a way to create a world for women beyond social equality. All human beings are
born free and equal in dignity and rights. Men and women should have equal rights. Because of the equality, there is no difference between human beings.
2 . Liberty
Women have the rights to live, work, and liberty. Women have their own freedom and rights to do anything they want. The main point is that women are born free
and equal to men. They are supposed to be subjected to men. Therefore, women are no longer put up of being dependent on men.
3 . Wome n’s Right to be Herself
Feminism believes that wom en’s first right is to be a woman. It means that they do not imitate the men when they develop their ability.
4 . Opportunity of Career
Feminism means freedom for all aspects of women’s active expression. It is the elimination of all structural and psychological handicaps to women’s
independence. Feminism demands for the women equality in education and equal in accessing the profession. The women should have an equal role with man in
achieving her satisfaction through her own abilities. The theories of feminism support the feminist ideas but also the theories
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of superior feeling. Actually women are not inferior as men and people say. Women have many superior characters. The feeling of superiority can make
women realize their power. It is true that women are more emotional than men but they can handle their feelings. Women have good abilities in expressing their
feelings. This fact makes them more realist than men. They are better in handling the bad conditions they face in their life, like starvation, exposure, fatigue, shock,
and illness Montagu, 1953: 83-84. Women do not only have the superior feeling but they also know what is good and bad in the way they use their feeling of
superiority. Montagu says that women know their power and use them for good deeds 1953: 143. From her statement we can conclude that women are more
realistic. They can control their feelings effectively and use their power for good purposes.
The development of feminism cannot be separa ted from its history. There are two movements of feminism, namely First Wave Feminism and Second Wave
Feminism.
According to Humm 1992: 14, the First Wave Feminism is concerned with the equality between men and women. It creates a new political identity of
women and won for women legal advances and public emancipation. In the past, the position of women in the society was very different to that of men. Montagu
says that t he myth of female inferiority is so old, and has been for so long a part of ideas and institutions of men that it has been generalized for almost every as pect
of female being 1953: 60. The myth states that female is ’weaker’ than male.
The first wave feminist criticism claims that all women should be equal to men.
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The Second Wave Feminism is concerned with the women’s differences from men to oppose the ‘legalities’ of patriarchal world Humm, 1992: 11. It
means that the second wave feminism attempts to break the old assumption of patriarchy that is legalized by society. In patriarchal world, men have higher
position and priority in the society. The pioneer of the second wave feminism, Simone de Beauvior , concludes that women are constructed differently from men
and somehow those differences between women and men become roots of the society to pla ce women in inferior position. Society sets up male as a positive
norm and woman as the negative , second sex or other Humm, 1992: 44. There are also other kinds of feminism which cause different issues in
each movement as well as having their own characteristics in struggling for
women’s rights. Humm 1992, 87-181 proposes four kinds of feminisms.
A Marxist feminism distinguishes societies by their own forms of productivity and characterizes the history of any society in terms of changes in
production. A Marxist answers to the question of ‘woman’ would point to the sexual division for power differentials between women and men”. A central point
of socialist and Marxist feminism is to determine the ways in which the institution of the family and wom en’s labour are structured by and ‘reproduce’, the sexual
division of labour. A Marxist idea can be applied specifically to women’s situation, for
example , whether women from a distinct sex-class and how patriarchy continues to reproduce itself in a similar way over time. By widening the Marxist concept
of reproduction as to includethe household labor and childcare, feminists give a
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major contribution on the interaction of gender and economy. Socialist feminism highlights the relationship between paid work
and domestic labour in which it reveals the impact of the sexual division of labour, by pointing out that women in the home do more of the work. Another
crucial soc ialist feminist debate concerns ‘the reserve army of labour’, a term used to explain gender inequality in work Humm, 1992: 87-88.
Black, Asian, and coloured women feminism issue is also a race issue. Racism haunts sexism and this relationship should not be ignored. But it is all too
easy to argue, as do white feminists, that reproductive control and the family and legal inequalities are the major features of patriarchy. Race cannot be added to
other sides of social institutions and as additional variable, for black feminist argues that race, class and gender are interlocking system of oppression not
additive system. Most take feminism to involve recognition of ‘multiple identities’. The
basic components of Asian and black feminist thought – its themes and methods are shaped by a black woman’s or a woman of colour’s position as an
insideroutsider and by her “imbeddedness’ in Afro-American or Asian culture
Humm, 1992: 122.
Lesbian feminism is seen as a definable cultural phenomenon with an articulate theory. Their term ‘woman identifies woman’ is as an important ide a of
Second Wave Feminism and gives ‘lesbianism’ a broad definition characterized by desires, experiences and self-perceptions rather than social categories.
“Radicalesbian argue that ‘lesbianism’ is shaped by ideological and political
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preferences as much as by explic it sexual practices. ‘Lesbianism’ is no longer to be limited to one form of sexual activity”. It ca n contain many meanings, for
example , a socio-political conception of society and recognition that it is
heterosexuality not simply male economic power Humm, 1992: 163.
Liberal feminism aims to achieve equal legal, political, and social rights for women. It wishes to bring women equally into public institutions and to
extend the creation of knowledge so that women’s issues can no longer be ignored. Contemporary liberal feminists campaign to eradicate gender
stereotyping but do not campaign for alternatives to traditional forms of gender relations such as heterosexual marriage.
Liberal feminism has always informed American feminism much more than British feminism, perhaps because programmes of positive discrimination
the selection of women over men if equally qualified accord with American democratic values Humm, 1992: 181.
For analyzing the novel I use socialist feminism. It highlights the relationship between paid work and domestic labour in which it reveals the impact
of the sexual division of labour, by pointing out that women in the home do more of the work. I also apply second wave feminism as the main basic in feminism.
2. 3 Criticism
