develop her artistic talent in writing poetry, understand the concept of heaven and hell, etc. But, there are also negative examples of female characters that do not
have intention to come out from the male domination. Esperanza is different from other female characters in this story that do not have intention to defy the male
domination. The male domination that she has faced through her experiences and the male domination that she has seen through other female character’s
experiences will encourage her to respond it. Esperanza’s response toward male domination in this story reflects feminism value. Later in the analysis, the writer
will show how male domination is presented and how feminism value is reflected through Esperanza’s response toward male domination in this novel.
B. Approach of the Study
Since the primary objective of the analysis is to find feminism values, the approach that will be used by the writer in this analysis is feminism approach. It is
to find feminism value in the protagonist character Esperanza. Her response toward male domination reflects feminism value. Therefore, feminism approach is
suitable to be used in the analysis. Wilfred L. Guerin in A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature,
stated that feminism has often focused upon what is absent rather that what is present. It is a reflecting concern with the silencing and marginalization of women
in patriarchal culture. It is a culture that is organized in the favor of men 2005: 222-223.
Feminism approach is used to explore the literary works in which it contains the women’s role and position in society that is marginalized and
oppressed by patriarchal culture. Lizbeth
Goodman in
Approaching Literature: Literature and Gender stated that “Feminism literary criticism is an academic approach to the study of
the literature which applies feminist thought to the analysis of the literary texts and the contexts of their production and reception” 1996: xi.
Furthermore, Deborah L. Madsen in Feminist Theory and Literary Practice stated that “feminist perspectives focus upon how women’s writing
attempts to create a feminist consciousness of the oppression and injustice suffered by women” 2000: 37. So, the key of feminism approach is the
consciousness of the subordination and the marginalization of women in society.
C. Method of the Study
The method that is used to analyze The House on Mango Street is library research. This study uses sources that are divided into primary and secondary
sources. The primary source is taken from the novel itself, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Whereas the secondary source is taken from many
books of theory such as A Glossary of Literary Terms by M.H. Abrams, Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel
for Overseas Student by J.J Murphy and A Handbook to Literature by William Harman and C. Hugh Holman to write about theory of Character and
Characterization. Theory of Patriarchy and Violence is taken from Fifty Key
Concepts in Gender Studies by Jane Philcher and Imelda Whelehan and theory of Feminism is taken from Feminism: A Reader by Maggie Humm, Feminist Theory
and Literary Pratice by Deborah L. Madsen, and also from Fifty Key Concepts in Gender Studies by Jane Philcher and Imelda Whelehan. A book entitled Race
Relation by Harry H. L. Kitano is used to know the social background of the Chicano social group.
There were several steps taken in analyzing this novel. The first step was reading the primary source, The House on Mango Street, several times to
understand the story and to get the main idea. After that, the writer created problem formulation that was used as a guidance to analyze this novel. The
second step was searching the references and theories related such as theory of Character and Characterization, theory of Patriarchy and Violence, and theory of
Feminism that were used in answering the problem formulation and after that was reading those theories and references to know how it should be applied. The third
step was applying those theories to analyze the novel. Theory of Character and Characterization were used to describe Esperanza’s characterization in this novel.
Theory of Patriarchy and theory of Violence were used to know how male domination is presented in this novel, and theory of Feminism was used to know
how feminism value is reflected through Esperanza’s response toward male domination in this story. The last step was making the conclusion based on the
analysis.
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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
