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A. INTRODUCTION
Lit erat ure is used t o express person’s idea in view ing life in t he societ y. We can find some ideas, m essages and port rait of a societ y by exploring it. It
is t he mirror of hum an life t hat port rays hum an feeling, though, im aginat ion, and percept ion which can be view ed based on personal judgment .
Act ually in some w ays w om en are equal to men. But , in many societ ies w om en become t he second. They are charact erized as passive, dependent
and emot ional, whereas m en are charact erized as aggressive and act ive. Women have been subordinat e t o men in st at us, mobility and public
leadership. They should do
domest ic sphere, nurt uring children, maint aining t he household and serving t heir husbands M adsen, 2000:2.
Pat riarchy is t he st ruct ural and ideological syst em t hat perpet uat es t he privileging of m asculinit y. Such syst em s make w om en overlook t heir ow n
m arginal posit ions and feel inst ead secure, prot ect ed and valued. That m arginalization has been accom plished, t hrough m en’s abilit y t o define and
cont rol fem ale sexual behavior. Women, according t o this view , were valuable only on the basis of their abilit y t o reproduce Kuhlm an, 2008: 21.
Since w om en have been t reat ed as inferior t hey realize here t hat t hey have t o do som et hing. Thus, t hey can have equal right with other persons
especially m en. Therefore, t hey did a movem en t . According t o Holman and Harmon 1986: 201 such movement is now called fem inism m ovement .
Buck’s Pavilion of W omen is a fairly radical approach t o t he subject of m en and wom en in the decade of the 40s. It is t he st ory of M adame Wu, a
w om an whose surprising decision t o ret ire from m arried life and select a concubine for her husband upset s her ext ended household.
The novel is about a wom an nam ed M adame Wu. She lives in a pat riarchal societ y w hich believes t hat a m an is t he head of a social unit .
Act ually, pat riarchy it self m eans ruled by t he m ale head of a social unit. How ever, fem inist w rit ers have used t he concept t o refer t o the social syst em
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of m asculine dominat ion over w om en. Buck here t ried t o show about a w om an nam ed M adame Wu t hat st ruggles t o have t he sam e right as m en in
som e aspect s of life. The m al e dom ination and Chinese culture force M adam e Wu to be a wom an t hat has no right t o have a good education.
M adam e Wu lived in the era of t he Second World War w hen m any foreigners cam e and visit ed China. It is also the era of w om en’s movem ent in
Europe and America. How ever, China st ill m aint ains t heir t radition and beliefs t o rest rict w om en. They believe t hat w omen are not allow ed to work out side
of the house because t hey do not have a smart brain like m en. Women just become w ives t hat give birt h, nurture t he babies and do
t he household m at t ers. It also happens t o M adam e Wu. She did and handled t he household mat t ers like choosing a w ife for her sons, doing accounting,
and designing t he house. How ever, in her fort iet h birt hday she realized t hat she had to do som et hing for her freedom from the rest rict ions.
Based on those aspect s, t he researcher w ould like t o analyze t he charact erist ics, sym pt oms and effect s of fem inism as shown in Pearl S Buck’ s
Pavilion of Women novel, and t he title is: GENDER EQUALITY IN PEARL S
BUCK’S PAVILION OF W OM EN NOVEL 1946 .
B. Theoretical Foundation
Kategori