upon, moved, and impressed by other women”Raymond, 2001: 8. Therefore, affection is an important feeling in female friendship. This is because the power of a
woman to influence her friend in the action of changing her life. Without this female friendship, women do not have spirit and motivation to make movements.
Women who have decided to have a friendship will be mutually helping one another. A sense of solidarity will appear automatically for helping one another so
that they can survive. Facing the same experience makes them bound and allowing them to strengthen their friendship.
Moreover, Elizabeth Ann Bartlett uses Albert Camus’s thought of rebellionas an idea to find the true meaning of rebellious feminism. In Rebellious Feminism:
Camus’s Ethic of Rebellion and Feminist Thought, Bartlett finds the connection between Camus’s thought and feminism. According to Camus, friendship is a
concept of rebellion. It means that it is one of the actions taken to rebel. As he states that “…while “rebellion” does involve a negative activity of resisting oppression, it
also acts in a positive way to affirm human dignity, solidarity, friendship, justice, liberation, and beauty” Bartlett, 2004: 1. Therefore, the meaning of rebellion in this
study is because women live under patriarchal society, women need to affirm their friendship because friendship is very important for their survival. Women need to
affirm friendship because female friendship provides emotional support which is very helpful for their survival living under patriarchal culture. By affirming
friendship, women who are in friendship relationship can get human love from each other.
C. Theoretical Framework
There are some theories which are applied in this study. The purpose is to obtain deeper understanding of the topic. This study uses the selected theories that
are related to the problem formulation. In analyzing the difficult conditions of living under Chinese patriarchal
culture, the researcher needs several theories about the practices of Chinese patriarchal culture. The researcher explains the practices of Chinese patriarchal
culture based on the theories from Wen-Hui Tsai, May-Lee Chai and Winberg Chai, Francis L.K. Hsu, Fang Hong, Fangqin, Wang Ping, and H. M. Parshley.
After the difficult condition of women living under the practices of Chinese patriarchal culture are found, the researcher uses the theory of feminism. The theory
contains the theory of feminism in general and feminist idea about friendship from Maggie Humm, Ashley Montagu, Deborah L. Madsen, Janice G. Raymond, Sasha
Roseneil and Elizabeth Ann Bartlett to analyze how female friendship can make way for the survival of women living under Chinese patriarchal culture.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study is novel entitled Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. This novel was written by Lisa See. She is a New York Times bestselling author.
Besides Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, her other works which are also well- known and the New York Times Bestseller are On Gold Mountain 1995, Flower
Net 1997, The Interior 1997, Dragon Bones 2003, Peony in Love 2007, and Shanghai Girls 2009. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was published by Random
House, Inc. in 2005. This novel consists of 258 pages and is divided into four chapters. In 2011, this novel was made into a film version.
On the surface, this novel tells about the lives of two women who live in the nineteenth century which was very strict on the rules and customs, particularly
patriarchal system. Lily and Snow Flower are destined to be soul-mates, friends for life at the age of seven years. They have many similarities that can make them
became soul-matesfriendship. They were born in the horse’s year, in the same month, on the same day. Their height is also identical, equal beauty, and the most
importantly is their feet were bound on the same day. Lily and Snow Flower should follow the tradition of the painful foot binding before they enter puberty. After the
binding, they just spend their youth at the upstairs women’s chamber. Every day,
18 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
they learn to sew, weave, make shoes, and carry out the activities of women. They are forced to spend their time to carry out the activities of the women until they meet
their husbands through arranged marriages. Lily and Snow Flower move to their husbands’ home after they get married. In this study, the researcher found an
interesting thing to be analyzed which is their friendship. Their friendship can make way for their survival living under the oppressive Chinese patriarchal culture.
B. Approach of the Study
In analyzing Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, the researcher applied feminist perspective. This approach is relevant because this research
discusses about the life of Chinese women in patriarchal system in the nineteenth century especially the difficult conditions that women receive because of living
under the oppressive Chinese patriarchal cultures. Feminism views the system of domination is rooted from patriarchy. Patriarchy has a system to control and order
women what they should do in the society and certainly the system gives disadvantages for women.
Charles E. Bressler states that Women must not be like the traditional Cinderella: dependent
creatures who blindly accept the commandments of their patriarchal society. Unlike the traditional Cinderella, women must not weep about
their lot in life, but take an active part in creating and determining their own lives and their own futures Bressler, 1999: 178.
Bressler clearly states about what women should do in dealing about their lives living under patriarchal society. Women actually have choices about what they
should do for their lives. It depends on their willingness and bravery in taking the opportunities and utilizing those opportunities to make their better life happen.
Therefore, in this study, women try to find the best way in dealing with a hard and unfriendly life for them. Women use a bond which is female friendship to help their
survival under patriarchal society. This study shows how female friendship is really important for women who live under the oppressive patriarchal society. By using
feminist perspective, the researcher will be able to find out how female friendship can make way for the main characters - Lily and Snow Flower’s survival living
under Chinese patriarchal culture.
C. Method of the Study
In order to find the answer of each question in problem formulation, the researcher used library research as the method of the study. The researcher collected
the data from books, papers, journals, and internet. There were two sources used in this study. First is the primary source which
was the novel itself Snow Flower and the Secret Fan 2005 by Lisa See. Then, the secondary sources were books, papers, journals, and the internet. These sources used
as references for the analysis on the topic. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
There were several steps to complete this study. First, the researcher chose a literary work for this research which is Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. After that,
the researcher did close reading with the aim of better understanding the novel in every detail. Then, the researcher chose a topic and determined problem formulation
as the focus of analysis. The second step was to find some references that support for the analysis of
the topic. The references included theories, criticism, and approach that were relevant to the study.
The third step was to answer every question in the problem formulation. In answering the first problem formulation, the researcher should comprehend the
theory of Chinese patriarchal culture. The theory of Chinese patriarchal culture was used to find and analyze the difficult conditions that the main characters
experienced. In answering the second problem formulation, the researcher used the theory of feminism. After comprehending the theory of feminism and feminist idea
about female friendship, the researcher applied the theory to analyze the ways of female friendship can make way for the survival of the main characters living under
Chinese patriarchal culture. After all the problems were completely answered, the last step was drawing a
conclusion. The conclusion contained the crucial points of this study based on the results of the analysis.
