Method of the Study

Postmodernist sees fragmentation as an „exhilarating, liberating phenomenon, symptomatic of our escape from the claustrophobic embrace of fixed systems of belief‟ Barry, 2002: 84. Fragmentation in general has characteristics as follows: First, it posits a hidden center in each text. Second, it is considered as a self-enclosed item without due regard to the spacing between itself and other fragments. Third, it was required to be relatively short. And fourth, it remains in fee to identity: not a formal unity, to be sure, but a supposedly higher, imaginative wholeness Hart, 2004: 72. Fragmentation in general is supposed to have a hidden message in each text. Although in many cases it seems to ignore the “spacing between itself and other fragments” Hart, 2004: 72, fragmentation also respects either the interval, interruption, or even silence that space each text. Fragmentation could be resolved in unity, but supposedly only in more imaginative way. It means that to resolve the fragmentation, the audience need to think deeper and go beyond the story so that they could formulate the message of the story in a complete wholeness. Actually there is no fixed rule for the writers to strictly use those characteristics of fragmentation. As the literary world developed, they could have their own style in their writings. In this study, the subject being discussed is the fragmented writing method and style in Caryl Churchill‟s Top Girls. Considered as a leading feminist text in its first London debut in 1982, Top Girls let its audience have several interpretation for its main point, feminism. Using postmodern format, fragmentation, Churchill might want to challenge the social ideology at that time. It is on the female stereotypes that she wants to speak up. In this fragmented play, she fragments character, setting and plot. 1. Fragmented Character Rather than having all characters portrayed from only one time, either from past, present, or present time, Churchill prefers to have them from both present and past time. In Top Girls, there are characters representing the present time and characters representing some various periods of time. From the present time, there are Marlene as the main actresses, the Waitress, Joyce, Angie, Win, Nell, Mrs. Kidd, Shona, Kit, Jeanine, and Louise. While Isabella Bird, Lady Nijo, Dull Gret, Pope Joan, and Patient Griselda come from various periods of past time. In this section, it is only Marlene that is being discussed. The reason why Marlene is the only character to be discussed is that she is the main character here. Therefore she is the prominent figure to be analyzed. The other characters are also important as they also contributes in this play. Each of them has its own contribution. Without them, Marlene could hardly be analyzed deeper. Marlene is portrayed as a successful female in male‟s patriarchal world. She beats her male rival Mr. Kidd and gets the promotion to be a managing director in her agency. In the beginning of the play, she holds a dinner party to celebrate her promotion. She invites all her imaginative friends coming from different period of time to keep her company. MARLENE. Now who do you know? This is Joan who was Pope in the ninth century, and Isabella Bird, the Victorian traveller, and Lady Nijo from Japan, Emperor‟s concubine an dBuddhist nun, thirteenth century, nearer your own time, and Gret who was painted by Brueghel. Griselda‟s in Boccaccio and Petrarch and Caucer because of her extraordinary marriage. I‟d like to profiteroles because they‟re disgusting Churchill, 1990: 74. All of her imaginative friends share different stories portraying women in their own periods. All of them are seen as successful women. It is because they either marry a Prince, become a Pope, travel throughout the world, or become a nun, but there is a price to pay. They need to sacrifice something for those sort of success. In Act One, it is seen how Marlene is a good listener and quite good in responding all her friends‟ stories. MARLENE. But Griselda, come on, he took your baby. GRISELDA. Walter found it hard to believe I loved him. He couldn‟t believe I would always obey him. He had to prove it. MARLENE. I don‟t think Walter likes women. GRISELDA. I‟m just sure he loved me, Marlene, all the time. MARLENE. He just had a funny way of showing it Churchill, 1990: 74. ... JOAN. St. Peter‟s to go to St. John‟s. I had felt a slight pain earlier, I thought it was something I‟d eaten, and then it came back, and came back more often. I thought when t his is over I‟ll go to bed. ... Far away I heard people screaming, „The Pope is ill, the Pope is dying.‟ And the baby just slid out on to the road. MARLENE. The cardinals won‟t have known where to put themselves Churchill, 1990: 70-71. Marlene rarely interrupt when her friends are speaking. Although the dialogues are overlapped, they always listen to each other well and focus on who is speaking at that time. Marlene shows good attitude towards all her imaginative friends all the time. It is because sh e considers herself as equal to them. She also breaks the traditional women‟s stereotypical ideals just like what they have done in their period of time. This scene is like a surreal thing to happen in the real world. The audience may spot this scene as Ma rlene‟s imagination because of those surreal characters. She does not have real friends in her real world. Therefore, she invites her guests from her imagination to attend her diner party. In Act Two, Marlene is shown to be a high-qualified lady in her work. She has two co-workers, Win and Nell, whom also have good qualification for women at that time. Win a is well educated girl and she has a science degree so that she is told to be a high