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Crowther. The second part is the secondary sources that become supporting sources in giving information for my study. They are books, articles from the
internet and Encyclopedia. The books used are The Natural Superiority of Women by Ashley Montagu and Women, Race Class by Angela Y. Davis. Complete
information for those supporting sources can be found in the bibliography. The study that was conducted was library study. However, in doing the
analysis, there were other steps to be done. The first step was reading the novel thoroughly in order to understand the literary work deeper. Second, I brainstormed
the main ideas that can be found in the novel. Next, I analyzed the characteristic of the major character by using the theory of character and characterization.
Afterward, I tried to find out the women’s position in the novel by using the review of women’s position in Iran in the latest twentieth century. The last step
was drawing conclusion based on the analysis.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This part serves to answer the problems as stated in the previous chapter. It is stated before that this study posed two problems. The first problem is how the
major character is portrayed in the novel. The second problem is how women’s position in Iran is reflected through the major character in the story. Therefore,
this chapter is divided into two divisions.
4.1. Characterization of Maryam Mazar
Character is the central point of the readers’ interest. Each character has a different role in creating the novel more interesting and dramatic. In Yasmin
Crowhter’s The Saffron Kitchen, Maryam Mazar becomes the major character of the novel because she dominates the whole story and is presented frequently in the
novel as Stanton stated about major character 23. In addition, Abram and Stanton define characters as the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work
who have the same characteristics as real human beings. As the major character, Maryam, has the mixture of interests, desires, emotions, and moral principles.
Moreover, in revealing this character, I also used a theory proposed by Murphy. He points out nine ways in presenting the character in a novel. They are
personal description, character as seen by others, the character’s speech, character past life, the conversation of others, reactions, direct comments, thought, and
mannerism.
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4.1.1. Introvert
Maryam is such an introvert person. It is hard for the other characters to be familiar with Maryam deeper, even for Edward, her husband. Her being an
introvert makes her be a mysterious person with inconvenient past for her husband and everything goes worse when she has a problem. Whenever she faces a
problem, she speaks in her native language and continues by some physical actions to release her anger. Even, Edward assumes that Maryam is a mysterious
person for herself, which means no one knows her, even Maryam herself. “She’s a complicated woman, Maryam. Sometimes she’s a mystery to
herself, let alone to me.” He had shared these words before, other times when she had seemed to crack around the edges, a stream of Farsi
shouted from the landing before the door to her turquoise room was slammed shut, emerging full of regret hours later. 17
As her husband, Edward has tried many things to know Maryam deeper. However, everything seems useless when Maryam keep living in her mysterious
mind, where she keeps hiding her secret from her husband. She is trapped in her past life which makes her living in nightmares and it goes worse when her
beloved parents passed away. In the end, he had failed. All those years of trying to hold her up through
her nightmares and tears, the places where she floundered and the past she could never fully share with him. In the early days, when they were just
married, the bleak moments wouldn’t last long; a few hours before she would re-emerge, sweet and smiling, and he would hold her even closer.
But it grew worse after the Revolution and her parents’ death. Her collapses were less frequent, but deeper and darker. 31
Maryam also likes to stay alone in her own time. This makes her become more mysterious person, since everyone stays out of her lonely time. This can be seen
on page 20, “She wants to be on her own most of the time. I’m staying out of her way. She knows where I am.” Moreover, sometimes Maryam asks them to go to
