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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Since nineteenth century, the literary works have been becoming a regime culture. It has
the strong attractiveness to gender’s problems. Women as an inferior and weak person and men as strong and a smart person always cover the
literary world. Up to now, the point of view which is difficult to prevent is hegemony
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of men to women. Most the entire literary works, men’s writing are
more predominant than women’s writing. The men’s figure keeps on becoming the authority, and assumed that women considered as the second sex and the
subordinated person.
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A survey in America in 1960s indicated that literary canon of the country was full of the men’s writing.
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Moreover, it was discovered that some of literary works in history of American literature did not mention any women writers for
centuries. Of course, the result of the survey caused many American observers; especially women wondered why it could be happened. Later on, there would be
some efforts to observe the variety of literary works of America to look for some important women writers who did not record in the past. It might be caused of the
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The political, economic, ideological or cultural power exerted by a dominant group over other groups. See Definition of Hegemony, Definition from Wikipedia.
2
Suwardi Endaswara, Metodologi Penelitian Sastra Yogyakarta: Pustaka Widyatama, 2003, p. 143.
3
Soenarti Djayanegara, Kritik Sastra Feminis: Sebuah Pengantar Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2000, p. IX.
only men’s authority that had a power to decide the quality of the literary of works.
Therefore, there would be the movement in literary criticism field following the previous feminism movement in women social that eventually we
know as feminist literary criticism. It is one of the variety of literary works based on feminism ideology that would like to get the justice for looking the women
existence, it is either as the writer or the reader of the literary works. Feminist Literary Criticism is the rebellion of the female consciousness
against the male images of female identity and experience. The concept of female identity shows us how female experience is transformed into female
consciousness, often in reaction to male paradigms for female experience. It is an ideology that opposes the political, economical and cultural relegation of women
to positions of inferiority. The critical project of feminist critics is thus concerned with uncovering the contingencies of gender as a cultural, social and political
construct and instrument of domination.
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The emergence of feminist literary criticism certainly cannot be separated from the feminist movement which began in 1700s. In general, feminism is
women’s Liberation ideology which is supported by all of the approaches that indicate women to get unfairness because of the sex.
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This movement rises because the woman is always supposed as the second sex and gets the
discrimination in the social life. It does not mean the extreme rebellion movement
4
Shilpi Goel, Feminist Literary Criticism Language in India: Strength for today and hope bright for tomorrow, volume 10: 4 April 2010, p. 403.
5
Maggie Humm, Ensiklopedia Feminisme. Translator, Mundi Rahayu Yogyakarta: Fajar Pustaka Baru, 2007, p. 158.
of woman to man, but to opposite the social caste and the paradigm of static myth in the social. Woman is not a weak creature because she has her own ability to get
the position in the society. In the other word, this movement is the awareness of women about their identity to destruct the hierarchy that is harmful for woman’s
position, such as exploitation of woman, and also slavery from man. The feminist movement occurred not only in America but also in almost
around the world including in the Middle East. The inequality gender in the Middle East seemed after 15th to early 18th centuries, the condition of woman in
some countries in Middle East such as Turkey, Egypt, and Syria, had not been different from centuries before. However, it seemed only a few of the growth in
selected areas. For example, by the end of 18th centuries, the woman had already got reading subject at many schools and could continue to famous college to get
Moslem scholar status. But for other areas, woman had not got yet the place as equal as men.
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Nawal el Sa’dawi, as a doctor and a defender of women’s right in Egypt stated that women in the Middle East were oppressed not because they lived under
the rule of Islam or belonged to the East, but as a result of the patriarchal class system which had dominated the world for thousands of years. In her view, the
struggle for women’s civil liberties, individual freedom, and secularism had no significance. In this discourse, patriarchy was used as a blanket term to disguise
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Euis Amalia,
Pengantar Kajian
Gender: Feminisme:
Konsep, Sejarah
dan Perkembangannya Jakarta: Pusat Studi Wanita UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, 2003, p. 122.
Islam’s role in the oppression of women. Every aspect of women’s subordination in the Middle East was inaccurately labeled as the result of patriarchy.
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The phenomenon about the oppression of women has happened until the current decade. Finally, there are women writers who make the feminist protest
works related to those inequality genders. It can be seen from every description that covers the plenty of literary world. A few of reality and sacrifice of women in
protecting their rights and freedoms are described by Fatima Mernissi through her works. The significance of her contribution to the literary establishment lies in the
fact that the women writers have seen the female identity as a continuous process of becoming and thus have reflected its flexibility.
Fatima Mernissi is one of productive Moroccan feminist who has written about issues of inequality of gender in her many works. She has been getting
attention from the woman activists and enthusiast of gender until now through her works. As one of the best known Arab-Muslim feminists, Mernissis influence
extends beyond a narrow circle of intellectuals. She is a recognized public figure in her own country and abroad, especially in France, where she is well known in
feminist circles. Her major books have been translated into several languages, including English, German, Dutch, Japanese and Indonesia. She writes regularly
on womens issues in the popular press, participates in public debates promoting the cause of Muslim women internationally, and has supervised the publication of
a series of books on the legal status of women in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.
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Azam Kamguian, The Liberation of Women in The Middle East Islam and Modernity, 2003 Accessed on May 25, 2010. www.liberationofwomen.html
Mernissis works explore the impact of this historically constituted ideological system on the construction of gender and the organization of domestic
and political life in Muslim society today. Mernissis works also explore the relationship between sexual ideology, gender identity, sociopolitical organization,
and the status of women in Islam; her special focus, however, is Moroccan society and culture. As a feminist, her works represent an attempt to undermine the
ideological and political systems that silence and oppress Muslim women. Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood 1994 is one of her
memoir that exposes the multiplicity of experiences faced by women living in harem an
d talks about the confusion Mernissi’s experiences as a young girl in a harem against the backdrop of Moroccan nationalism, Westernization, and the
nascent womens rights movements. As a literary genre, a memoir is a piece of autobiographical writing which
is often shorter than a comprehensive autobiography. The span of time covered in the memoir is often brief compared to the persons complete life span. A memoir
often tries to capture certain highlights or meaningful events in ones past. And it usually has a particular focus of attention, focusing on the selected events from a
perspective that may not include other facts and details from the persons life. In other words, the memoir is highly focused and selective in the memories it
includes.
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Dreams of Trespass is the story of Fatima Mernissis girlhood and the important women in her life; they are her mother, her aunts and cousins, and her
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N. Zuwiyya, Definition of Memoir, Accessed on June 20, 2010, http:www.Definitionsof_Memoir.htm.
grandmother and her co-wives. It is described from her view of life as a young girl in the 1940s informed by an adults understanding without losing the experiences
of a childs limited world view and attempts at understanding the world around her. In addition, this memoir is an interesting glimpse of domestic life in mid-
Twentieth Century Fez. It is able to provide a very accessible view of the important social and political changes of the time, such as the French occupation
of Morocco, World War II, Feminism thoughts, and Moroccan Nationalism. Because the story takes place almost exclusively within the family circle,
domestic issues and day to day life figure prominently as well. In the story, as the men hold on to tradition, most women argued for
equality and change and found some ways to express their desires. For example, Yasmina, merni
ssi’s grandmother who influenced mernissi’s life in building rebel. From her grandmother, Mernissi learned about the gender equality, the meaning
of confinement in harem, and a causal link between political defeats suffered by
the Muslims with the downturn experienced by women. Another character, Mernissi’s mother is probably one of the most powerful
women in the story. Mernissi’s mother taught Mernissi how to do and to survive
as women. From her mother, she got the story that told about how to be smart and wisdom. In addition, Mernissi confessed that both her mother and her
grandmother who supportd her to study in higher education so that women can be independent.
Not only her grandmother and mother who transformed the feminism thoughts to Fatima Mernissi but also both Cou
sin Chama and Aunt Habiba’s stage
elaborated plays celebrating famous womens lives with all the women and children of the harem and occasionally the young men participate as members of
the production or members of the audience. These plays helped Mernissi to decide that singing, dancing and sensuality were part of the feminists lives and should
not be forgotten; sensuality was a refreshingly natural part of life throughout the story.
So, we can see that Fatima Mernissi wrote the memoir that about the cultural image of women in harem. She also described the best ways of her
mother, grandmother, aunts and cousins in delivering some feminist thoughts to her as a young generation. Those are life experiences that might have been
experienced by other women. According to brief explanation about memoir of Dreams of Trespass:
Tales of a Harem Girlhood above, the writer decides to analyze the feminism thoughts that appear in the story used feminist literary criticism theory. Finally,
the writer determines this research under the title
“Feminism Thoughts in Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi
”.
B. Focus of the Study
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