Ngulyi’s Experience of the Practice of Patriarchy

married to aborigine man, Old Ned and had a daughter, Mangkayurangu, or Ella. Old Ned is Alice’s stepfather. They stayed in Kangan because Old Ned worked for Tommy, Alice’s father. One day, Old Ned had a terrible ill and needed a medical attention. They took him to Roebourne to get a better medical treatment, but he still cannot be cured, he ended up dying and then he died. He was buried in the Aboriginal cemetery. Not long after the funeral, an aborigine scout came and asked Ngulyi to be at Yule River to fulfill the custom to shave her head, it was necessary for a wife that belonged to YindjiBarndi tribe to shave her head not long after her husband died. Then one night one of the Aborigine scouts came and saw Tommy. He said that Mother had to be at the Yule River by a certain time. You see, it’s a law that when a woman’s nyuba partner dies she’s got to have all her hair cut off to make herself ugly for somebody else. Nannup, 1992: 25 We can see in that paragraph, aborigine society has a law only for women that oblige all women in their society to shave their head immediately after they lost their husband. It is intended to make themselves ugly and not attracted for somebody else. Then, if the women did not want to do that, Aborigine scout who sent by the elders will come over them to give a warning and ask them to go to Yule River to be judged. Alice also mentions about the place where used to organize the judgment by the elders, We got to meeting place, and that evening they made a big fire at two sites. The elders were all there waiting and Mother had to kneel down in a circle of men. We were sitting back from women.Nannup, 1992: 25 From the quotation above, we know that Ngulyi had to kneel down and surrounded by men while the women and her kids were sitting in the back. This clearly shows the domination of men that surrounded Ngulyi and she had to kneel down in the center of them. They asked her why she did not carry the law and rattled their spear, but Ngulyi just kept silent, and they jabbed the spear on her leg. The researcher believes that this thing proves a practice of patriarchy that occurs in the aborigine society. This law was only made for women in that society and what the custom did based on that story was really harm the women and limit women’s right. If a woman did not carry the law and just remained silent while the elders asked some questions, she will get a cruel treatment just like Ngulyi have got. This law really gave a disadvantage for women, they have to cut off their hair while they grieve because their husband died, and it does not make any sense to ask people to be ugly, nobody has a right to change a woman into something that she did not want to, and if a woman did not want to carry on the custom, they will get a punishment and it could be a cruel physical treatment that really harm like Ngulyi have got. Implicitly, this law took away women’s right, women lose their freedom to be somebody that they want to, they were not liberal because they had to oblige the law, and of course this law reflected the idea of patriarchy which is oppress and harm the women by the rules or laws that made by the men in the society. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI As it is told in the novel, there were various kinds of meetings and ceremonies that exist in the aborigine society that Ngulyi belongs to. Ngulyi usually took her kids, Ella and Alice, and also their cousin to the ceremony where they could sing and dance. As Alice stated, they really enjoyed it, that was a really great time, but not all ceremony in their society could bring happiness to them. In that society, there are also some ceremonies held by aborigines which reflected the practice of Patriarchy. It means that the ceremonies were made by men and for men, and the women are forbidden to take a part or join these ceremonies. In the ceremonies, the women in the society were strictly not allowed to enter those ceremonies, the women seemed to be ignored by the society itself because the society that dominated by the men does not allowed the women to take some parts of that custom. This is the prove that told by Alice in the novel, she says, There were also ceremonies that women weren’t allowed to go to, like Initiation time. Then the men used to be on one side of the river. The women had to the other side and they couldn’t pass on the men’s side. To walk on it would be crossing sacred ground because that’s the business side, See, that’s what my mother did that time, and they reckoned she went blind of it. That’s just the way of the law; they tell you not to do things, and if you do, well, you’re disobeying. p 27 We can see clearly on that quotation that the men from aborigine society that Ngulyi belongs to made some kind of ceremonies that only have the men for its participant. It is described in the novel like initiation and women were not allowed to join the men in the ceremonies, we see that women should be in the other side of the river, and the men called their side as a sacred ground, and women are not allowed to walk on it, it is like a private area for the ruler in that society, the men. From the feminist perspective, the researcher believes that the ceremony did a practice of patriarchy which limits the women right to take a role in a society. The society itself contains men and women, thus the women should be considered to take a role in the society. Besides, the society belongs to both men and women. The information above stated that men have an authority to control everything, they give a name of their side as the sacred ground, and forbid the women to walk on it. Actually they have no authority to take the women’s right to take a part on the events or ceremonies that held in the society. Women and men should have the same right in order to run and build the society. Not only prohibit women for joining them in the ceremony, men also did a cruel treatment for women who break that strict law. They were willing to make someone blind. They made such a terrible punishment for women Unfortunately, Ngulyi as the main character in the novel, experienced this cruel punishment from the men. She went blind because she walked on the sacred ground, the side that the men claimed to be their territory. She did it with Alice’s aunt, Winnie, Alice states Mother had gone blind. See, her and Auntie Winnie had gone out walking and they’d walked across sacred ground where the men were having meeting. They reckoned she went blind for doing that. So we had to stay there for a week, and I used to go and get hot water to bathe her eyes Nannup, 1992: 26. The quotation above shows that Ngulyi had a terrible punishment from the men because she was considered to break the law that women were not allowed to walking on the sacred ground. The men decided that she had to be blind for doing that. Ngulyi had to take care of Alice because of the men did to her. She was lucky that she only got temporary blind, but this thing cannot be underestimated. The men had no right to do such a bad treatment like that to women. They have already made many limitations for women in their society, and they still gave a cruel punishment to women and showed no humanity. Women have a right to receive a good treatment. Men should not be that cruel to women. Men had already taken away women’s right, but they still gave a bad treatment to women. The men have no right to hurt women, in this case, they made someone blind just because she broke the law. The punishment shows no humanity. Thus, the researcher believes that there are some ceremonies in the aborigine society that Ngulyi belonged to oppress women, limit women’s right, and give no freedom to women to be liberated like they want to do. Those ceremonies of course reflected the practice of patriarchy that really gives a limitation to every women move, take away women’s right, even it tortures them. The researcher can see clearly that the laws, the ceremonies that mentioned above are made by the men who believe that they are the one who has the authority to control the society, so that they oppressed women, and took way the women’s right. The researcher also believes that in the society the women should take a part equally like the men did, and also treated better in every way. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

2. Alice Bassett’s Experiences of the Practice of Patriarchy

Alice is the main character of the story after Ngulyi, her mother. She was described as a really complex character in the novel since the novel was her autobiography, it told us about Alice’s life from she was a young girl, until she became a grandmother. When she was a girl, Alice described as a curious girl, she was interested with a new thing in her surrounding, but her curiosity sometimes made her into a clumsy and careless girl, she was also described as a tomboy. Alice has a father named Tommy, who was a white man, but since Alice’s mother is an aborigine, she also considered as aborigine and belonged to the same tribe as her mother. Unfortunately, Alice Bassett also experienced the practice of patriarchy, even when she was a little girl. In this case, the custom and law that created by aborigine were also involved to bring the practice of patriarchy, and this issue also happened in the same society that made Ngulyi as the victim of the practice of patriarchy. This case began when there was a law that allowed the men for choosing their mother-in-law. When the man had decided their choice, the women could not avoid it. They had to surrender their daughter to the man. One day, there was an old man in the society came and asked Alice’s mother, Ngulyi if she got pregnant and the child born as a girl, the girl should serve him and become his wife in the future. And it was the evidence that Alice provides, When I was born they gave me to an old man. My group is garimarra, and balyirri is my straight. They did it by the men picking who they wanted as their mother-in-law. Like when this old fella was around fifty, and mother was having me, he said, ‘If that’s a girl, that’s my woman.’ Well I was born a girl, worst luck. p 35 Once again the researcher found out that the aborigine society where Alice belonged to had a custom which reflected the practice of patriarchy. The men chose their own mother-in-law in order to get the daughter, and they indicated that they wanted to exploit the girls by marrying them wit hout the girls’ permission. No matter the condition, if the men have chosen it, the girl should be their woman and serve them. The girl and her mother have no option left as the men have taken away their right and their freedom, the women must obey this law although they did not agree about that. Men’s domination was really strong in this case. They made such an unfair custom without thinking about the effect to women. They took away women’s right to get an equal treatment and freedom in the society. They tried to exploit women. They wanted to be served by the women without making any excuses, and they showed how the men have an authority over the women. They can control them. Thus, this thing was really unfair and only brought disadvantages for the women. Besides, woman also has a right to decide whom she wants to marry. If she already reaches a proper age to be married and ready to build a family, she could marry a man that she love. In the novel we provided with a different thought. The aborigine girl was taken from her mother since she was born. The little baby has no right to choose her partner in life because she was chosen by a man in the society