Object of the Study Approach of the Study

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The object of this is Eleanor and Park. It is written by Rainbow Rowell and published by Orion Books in 2013. This novel is a New York Times Bestseller. This novel consists of 329 pages. It is divided into 58 chapters. Eleanor and Park is a story about a young girl named Eleanor. She lives with her mother, Sabrina, and her step-father, Richie. Her family is not like other ordinary families. Her step-father likes to abuse her and her mother. The situation of the family is very messy. They live in a small-miserable house. Eleanor has to sleep with her sister and brothers. There is no more room for her siblings. The bathroom in the house does not have a door, so that Eleanor always tries to avoid the presence of the step-father because she does not feel comfortable by the step-dad ’s presence. They are also very poor. However, in this kind of atmosphere, the step- father does not encourage both of Eleanor and Sabrina when they are in difficulties. He even becomes worse for the family members. He is not like a man that can make happiness for the family members. He always blames Sabrina and sometimes Eleanor. In this kind of situation, both of them try to bear the pain. Sabrina becomes an object for Richie to release his anger. He also curses Eleanor by throwing bad words to her and he is prejudice toward E leanor and says the she is a bad girl which actually is not true. Both of the women experience the violence by Richie which shows that there is something wrong with the family.

B. Approach of the Study

Literature deals with the environment and the society that the readers should understand. So, when the work is read by the reader, it should give them a perspective on the environment and the society. From the issues which appear in the novel, feminist criticism is relevant to apply in this thesis. “Broadly defined, feminist criticism examines the ways in which literature and other cultural productions reinforces or undermines the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women. ” Tyson, 2006: 83. Furthermore, Indeed, feminism has often focused upon what is absent rather than what is present, reflecting concern with the silencing and marginalization of women in a patriarchal culture, a culture organized in the favor of men Guerin, 2005: 222-223. From the quotation above, feminism focuses on the silencing of women in a society where men dominate over women.

C. Method of the Study