are Fanny May, the older sister, and Tracy May, the middle sister. Cindy is a little sister in May‟s family. May‟s family come from an Upper class family in Magrit.
It is showed by this quotation below: “The point being that these arguments were transitory and niggling
compared to the hostility the Mays and Tarkens had for each other and all because the Mays were Upper Magrit and the Takens we
re Lower.” Fowler 2006, 23
Although May‟s family comes from Upper class family but May‟s family have good relationship with the neighbor in surrounding, particularly with the Lower
class family. Cindy and two sisters are attractive women. They are exceptionally
confident young women, especially for Tracy. It is shown by this statement in novel below:
“In fact, the three May sisters picked at each other constantly. They were all attractive, and Tracy was no exception, neithe
r was she exceptional.” Fowler 2006, 29
The next is Norma Baldish. She is the bartender. When a baseball team is formed, she gets position as catcher, and Henry pays Norma to drive an old school
bus to pick the team up when they play baseball. Irini‟s father always comes to
her bar to drink alcohol. Because she often meets Irini‟s father, he falls in love with Norma. He adores Norma very much. Finally Norma married with Irini‟s
father. It can be seen in the quotation below: “The woman can fix a car, snowplow a street, pump a septic tank, bring a
deer down with a single shot, and make a martini so dry it‟ll suck your heart right out through your throat. Of course I love her. Good golly, Irini.
Who wouldn‟t? I‟m the luckiest man in the world.” Fowler 2006, 328
Because of Norma‟s skill, Irini‟s father falls in love with her. Norma is a practical woman. She can do work that rarely done by women such as pump a
septic tank. Her skill is manly because she has skill that is usually done by man. Claire Kinser is the last of women character. Claire works in the Scientific
Kitchen. She is the best cook at the Mill. She has the skill from her mother, Rose. Previously she has cooked all the Collin‟s family meals. The Kinsers are an old
Upper Magrit Family. Claire is five years older than Irini. She is briefly engaged to a soldier that she meets in Detroit. It is shown by this statement below:
“One week she was showing everyone her ring –a modest affair with a diamond chip
–and his picture –a blond man, about Claire‟s age, with an embarrassed smile
–and the next week her hand was bare.” Fowler 2006, 36
Claire engagement only lasts for one week, the next week her hand is bare. When she breaks her engagement she doesn‟t tell everyone. It is different when
she is proposed, she shows her ring to everyone. The relationship among all women is very good. They never fight; most
of them work together all day. This is showed by this statement below: “My mother said that the Sweethearts never fought. Nine girls, most of
whom worked together all day, and my mother couldn‟t remember that a cross or gossipy or hurtful word was ever spoken, except for the tiniest of
quarrels, the smallest of disagreements, only enough dissension to keep
things interesting,” Fowler 2006, 125
B. Feminism Values through the Women Characters
Feminism is women movement of demanding full equality between women and men, equality rights that covers all aspects of life, in political,
economic, social and cultural. Women have been struggling for equal right over
the past 150 years and growing successfully. This struggle is to show their existence in public, in order to get their right and their identity, as independent
women. Therefore, feminists‟ critics struggle to destroy the patriarchal system
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that is believed as the root of women‟s oppression. Based on the statement above, in The Sweethearts Season novel there are
some feminism values, such as educated and independent. It is shown by female characters in this novel. In traditional society, women do not have opportunity to
get higher education, to hold office, or to have a certain job. Traditional society assumes that it is enough for women to have the ability of writing, reading, and
counting. Even though when a woman has given an opportunity for having higher education, it is usually for supporting women role as a wife and mother.
The feminist uses education to free themselves to achieve happiness and pleasure fulfillment. With education, women can get job they really like and can
also show their ability and their capacity. Feminist is fully aware that the only way to enter social life or working life is by education. It is proved when Irini
decides to continue her study to college and leave the baseball team. As the quotation below:
“Irini had gone downstate to college. There was no baseball team for her, but there was a good program in education and she was studying to
become a n ursery school teacher.” Fowler 2006, 337
There is Cindy May who is difficult in chopping and mincing. Beside that she also can not plays baseball, although she has formed in a team. Therefore, she
takes piano lesson and learns to play a baseline of a single note. Because of she
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Rulled or controlled by men; giving power and importance only to men.
can not cooks, can not plays baseball well, she decides to take lessons of playing some of instrument of music so that she has skill that the other do not have. Such
as in the quotation below: “No one said Cindy shouldn‟t play baseball. No one even thought it. Cindy
did everything her sister did. She‟d always taken her turn at the dishes, same as her sisters. She made her bed, she did the ironing. She‟d taken
piano lessons, learning to play a baseline of a single note. Chopping and mincing
were difficult for her.”Fowler 2006, 109 Besides Irini and Cindy, there is Claire Kinser who goes to France to learn
Spanish cooking. She wants to learn more about cooking. It is shown by this quotation below:
“It was going to be Carmen, and they had sent Claire to France to learn Spanish cooking.” Fowler 2006, 338
By getting education women become independent. Independent is one of
the feminism values. Independent is the quality of someone, which is not dependent on other people or thing and it is not controlled by other people or
other things. This is showed by Irini who decides to work at breakfast cereal factory after she graduates from high school. For Irini, taking a job after graduated
from high school is a promotion for herself. It is showed by the following quotation:
“The beginning is in 1947, when the portrait still hung in the mill. This is the year that Irini Doyle graduated from high school and took a job in the
Scientific Kitchen. Of course, a lot of women all over the country were going back to the kitchen after the war, but for Iri
ni it was a promotion.” Fowler 2006, 8
Irini not only decides to work after she graduates from high school but also she shows her independent side when she chooses her love for Walter Collin
