19
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The novel Girls of Riyadh was written by Rajaa Al-Sanea, a young woman doctor who grew up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The novel was first published in
2005 in Arabic language in Lebanon with the original title Banat Al-Riyadh. It was prohibited to be published in Saudi Arabia due to the controversial content
since Saudi Arabia is very strict with things related to sex segregation. In 2007, the novel was translated into English and published by The Penguin Press New
York and finally available in many bookstores in Saudi Arabia. The novel consists of 286 pages and divided into 50 chapters.
The novel which is written in the form of emails by a woman narrator tells about the life of four Riyadh young women. They are, Gamrah, Michelle, Lamees,
and Sadeem. The narrator herself is the friend of these four women. She discovers the life of her friends by sending emails every week to the internet subscriber in
Saudi Arabia. The story begins with Gamrah’s wedding. She is married to Rashid who is
chosen by her family and move to United States. Gamrah realizes that Rashid does not love her. Once they move in America, Gamrah finds out that Rashid
loves another woman who is a Japanese women. Gamrah tries hard to protect her marriage by using her pregnancy but it did not work out. She eventually divorced
with Rashid and comes back to Riyadh and bears her son there. Being a widow
causes a depression for Gamrah but she eventually is able to move on with her life.
Michelle whose real name is Mashael is half American. Her father married her mother who is an American. She cannot have a happy ending love story with
her boyfriend Faisal since Faisal’s mother refuses to let Faisal to marry Michelle due to family pride. Nothing hurts Michelle more than the reason behind Faisal’s
mother refusal, she just cannot accept the very conservative way of thinking of the Saudi Arabia society that in order to choose a right partner for their children a
family background is very important, rich people will only marry rich people. At the end Michelle and her family move to Dubai where she is able to live a better
life in a more liberal society. A bit different from Michelle and Gamrah, Sadeem who already signed the
marriage contract with Waleed ends up being divorced by him. He left her without a word, even before their wedding celebration was conducted. The reason why
Waleed divorces her is simply because she sleeps with Waleed before she moves in with him. Even though it is not forbidden since they are already legally
married, he is shocked by Sadeem’s interest in sex. At the end, Sadeem end up marrying her cousin.
The last is Lamees, she is the one who has the happy ending love story, she marries Nizar, a friend that she loves and obviously loves her. Unlike her
other friends, they live happily after marriage. Girls of Riyadh is simply a love story yet through the romantic atmosphere
the author discovers the life of women in Saudi Arabia who live under the male
dominance. The novel reveals many things about women In Saudi Arabia and the discrimination that they experienced, it also shows how they are struggling to get
their freedom without leaving their religious values.
B. Approach of the Study
Kategori