2.5 Related Journals
The research paper entitled: Oppression Toward Women in George Eliots’s The Mill on the Floss, done by Uswatun Rozaqoh a student in The State Islamic
University Maulana Malik Ibrahim of Malang. This thesis focuses on the struggles of oppression that is faced by the female character Maggie that faces patriarchal kinds of
oppression. This paper reveals that the oppression Maggie faces begins from the nearest community that is her own family and then grows on that first begin with her
father, then uncle, and continues with her brother; and then by people in her surroundings. It shows how the men as the member of patriarchal society, who
considers women as objects and possessions that do not have values or rights to be respected. They put men as priority and put women aside. In Maggie’s case, she tries
to overcome the suffering that she gets from the men in her life by finding her self- esteem. Through the hatred for men, Maggie finally reveals that it is not only hate that
she feels for those men but also fear that holds her from finding her self-esteem. This is what she struggles to overcome in the process of finding her self-esteem after being
oppressed by a lot of people. Since The Mill on the Floss concerns about patriarchal society, it shows how women were taught to be inferior since they were very young.
The research article written by Julianna Greco in 2013 entitled Gender: A Social Construction from the Sociological Imagination: Western’s Undergraduate
Sociology Student Journal. This article mainly discusses the social constructions that have been molded towards the male and female gender. However, in relation to the
problems of the analysis of The Bell Jar, this article suggests some points of how society constructs femininity. This articles states that multiple institutions in society
create the feminine persona. Media in particular gives negative conceptions of what it means to be a girl and unnoticeably demonstrates the subordination of women.
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Subordination also takes place in the absence of the wifes name. She is labelled ‘wife’ implying again that the role of the wife is her dominant and only role, tending
to the needs of the husband. Progression throughout the years has brought the status of women much closer to being equal to males, however subordination still exists, yet
in a much different form. Magazines explicitly use empowering words for females to sell their products,
in a sense they use a fake feminist expression by telling young girls they can experience independence and empowerment by purchasing goods that will enhance
their femininity. What all this is saying is that regardless of the time period or what medium the messages of gender are portrayed on, the simple fact that there is a
difference between two genders and that through the media it demonstrates another way how gender is socially constructed through our everyday practices. The issue that
society faces now can be recognized through people who clearly don’t fit the definition, which in fact includes many people. In a sense people are living in a world
they simply don’t fit into, they are marginalized, and because of these narrow definitions it seems right that they should be.
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CHAPTER III METHOD OF THE STUDY
In every study or critical analysis, there is always a research method needed in the process in order to fully understand all the data and finally transform it into a
complete study. In analyzing Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, the writer will use descriptive and qualitative method. The writer will go through the necessary steps for
achieving the most effective study results and these steps involves research design, data sources, data collection, and data analysis.
3.1 Research Design
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