Resistance Definition of Terms

In 2014 Agustina Kresia Agasi conducted a study on rebellion against Taliban oppression. Her study is entitled “The Rebellion of an Afghan Woman against Taliban Oppression Revealed through Kamila’s Struggles in Gayle Temach Lemmon’s The Dressmaker of Khair Khana”. Agasi observes the characteristics of Kamila. She argues that Kamila’s characteristics are educated, open minded, determined Agasi, 2014: 34. Actually, these characteristics contribute to her struggle to rebel against Taliban oppression. For example, Kamila is suffering when living under Taliban’s regime. She is not allowed to contact with outside world, work, and should wear burqa, but she has to struggle to get a financial support from her family. Therefore, with the characteristics that she has, she chooses to rebel against Taliban oppression. Agasi argues that Kamila rebels against Taliban by becoming androgynous and empowering woman Agasi, 2014: 61. In this case, she becomes a tailor and opens tailoring business though in Taliban regime, a tailor should be for men, not women. Agasi’s study which is about how a woman wants to rebel against Taliban oppression is useful for this study as a guideline to prove the oppression under Taliban regime. The difference lies on the analysis of the intrinsic element. Rather than analyzing the characteristics of the main character, this study focuses on the setting. The writer believes that analyzing setting is more paramount than characteristics of character. It is because setting can be a basic reason on why the main character in this study does the resi stance against Taliban’s rules on ideal Muslim women.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Setting

According to M. J. Murphy in An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Student , “The setting can be concerned with the place in which the characters live and also the time in which they live. These have a great effect upon the personalities, actions, and ways of thinking of the characters” Murphy, 1972:141. This theory is completed by M.H. Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms Sixth Edition , he stated that setting is the overall setting of narrative or dramatic work, like the general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occurs Abrams, 1993: 330. Based on his theory, there are three types of settings, setting of place, time, and social circumstances. According to Hugh Holman and William Harmon, setting of place is the actual geographical location, its topography, scenery, and physical arrangements. Then setting of time is the time or period in which the action takes place. Lastly, setting of social circumstances is the general environment of the characters, for example religious, mental, moral, social, and emotional condition through which the people in the narrative move Holman and Harmon, 1986: 465. The setting of social circumstances is difficult to be analyzed because we should see the social condition where the characters grow up and how it influences their personalities, action, and ways of thinking.