CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Feminism always becomes an interesting topic to discuss, since it deals with women’s struggle to get equality in all aspects in life toward men, such as
education, work fields, politic, human rights, etc. It is particularly hard to find out what equality means when it comes to gender, since there are real differences
between men and women. Men and women are created equal with their own excesses and lacks, therefore they have to complete each other but in practice,
there are a lot of unfair treatments towards women. They are treated as second- class citizen and what they are doing is somehow restricted to the society in this
male-dominated world. Therefore feminists are struggling to get equality. Actually, what most feminists want is not to replace patriarchy with matriarchy,
they only struggle for equality. However, equality itself is a difficult idea to be seen as something which is standard, fair to someone without any classification
from sex. Women’s movement has existed a long time ago and it is not the
invention of the twentieth century. Women had been struggling to get equality since a long time ago, but the one which marked the rise of this issue is the
feminist movement. As stated by Deborah L. Madsen in the book Feminist
1 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Theory and Literary Practice feminist movement is divided into two waves. The
first wave is the wave of American Feminism in 1840s-1920 which is commonly marked by the first women’s rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls in 1848 and
the second wave is the wave of American Feminism in 1960s which focused upon indictment of male sexism and the domestic oppression of women and also
marks the establishment of the modern Women’s Movement 2000:3. Although feminist movement has already existed for decades but still
many cases of women’s oppression are found. Women are oppressed by society and men due to their sex, they are less valued than men. Women are considered
as “trouble” for men. Judith Butler in the book Gender Trouble: Feminism and Subversion of Identity
explains that the significance of the term ‘trouble’ in her title. For men, as the subject of desire, ‘trouble’ is represented by the female
‘object’ of desire who unexpectedly returns and answers the masculine gaze, who refuses the passive position of the feminine object and thereby ‘contests the place
and authority of the masculine position’. In the other hand it can be said that a male subject desiring a female object. Butler, 1990, p vii It means that the
image of women can be seen as something ‘desiring’ and giving ‘trouble’ to men.
As oppressions are received by women, a lot of females and some males authors criticize the system that has existed since a long time ago, and they do
not only criticize but also want to open the eyes of people in this world to see clearly what truly happened in this male-dominated world. They are trying to
define what equality they wish for is. Through literary works, they try to give real and true condition about women’s life in patriarchal society. They always
struggle for equality. Therefore, women’s writings are considered as critical category since women’s writings and feminism are closely related. Through the
literary works, the authors could convey their ideas, comments, dreams in life. Most of works of feminist authors represent the voice of women, to get equality
towards men in all aspects in life. Besides, feminists also use it as a medium to trigger women’s awareness about their own rights, to be appreciated fully by
society and men and also to restructure the patriarchal society so that women’s rights will be appreciated and there will be no more oppression towards women.
In this study the writer chooses the novel of The Glass Inferno. The Glass Inferno
is a novel written by Angelika Fremd, an Australian female writer. The Glass Inferno
is one of her best novels which presents female heroine as the central of the story. Her novels concern more on women’s world. One of the
interesting issues that comes up in The Glass Inferno is about feminism. The Glass Inferno
was first published in 1992 by University of Queensland Press Australia. It is the second part of trilogy novels dealing with the life of Inge
Heinrich as the main character. It deals with the life of Inge Heinrich as the female character who lives in patriarchal society. She has to survive to get her
existence as a woman. Although she lives in male-dominated world which caused oppression to her, she keeps on surviving, her dignity as a woman will not
let her give up. Her characteristics such as brave, independent, kind-hearted, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
strong, responsible and attractive somehow become a proof that she can survive and struggle for her existence as a woman. Patriarchal society and feminism
cannot be separated, they have strong relationship. One becomes the cause and one becomes the effect. The negative result is oppression; unfair treatment that
triggers many reactions. Many women are struggling to get equality, to be treated as equal as men.
In this study the writer wants to see the feminism values reflected by the main character, Inge. As a woman, she knows what she wants and what she does
not want in her life. She wants to have freedom to choose what she wants for her life. In the novel, Inge reflects the values of feminism through her actions,
thoughts and struggle. She demands her freedom as a woman, to do whatever she wants to do with her own responsibility and also to be free from males’
domination.
B. Problem Formulation
Kategori