45 However, this study discusses different topic. This study is carried out to
find new issues. This present study is to reveal the issues of lesbianism not only in Indonesian stories but also English language stories. Since it is a comparative
study, it is done to find out the portrayal of lesbians in Indonesian and English stories: the way they perceive their feeling, sexual orientation, and relationship,
the background for becoming a lesbian. The internal and external conflicts as well as discriminations which are experienced by lesbians portrayed in the short stories
are presented as well, which are not discussed by the previous researchers. This research is meant do some exciting and never-before-done work in Indonesian and
English language lesbian literature. Therefore, we can get some information of the issues of lesbianism not only in the Indonesian language short stories but also in
the English language short stories. Moreover, the sample in this study uses the recent lesbian literary work. The material objects of this study are short stories
published within 2000
th
in order to gain the recent condition and situation of lesbian’s life and the issue of lesbianism in current period of time. Thus, these
research results are used as references in this study.
C. Theoretical Framework
Given that this study aims to analyze the portrayal of lesbians in Indonesian and English language stories, Comparative Literature Approach is
used. It is used to analyze and examine the similarity and the diversity of the way lesbians are portrayed in 30 selected Indonesian and English short stories. This
study applies Lesbian Criticism and Queer Theory. The Lesbian Criticism is applied to examine the issue of lesbian and lesbianism as an identity, specifically,
46 from the way lesbians characters perceive and define their feelings, sexual desire
and relationship, as well as the reasons for becoming a lesbian. By applying Queer Theory this study is meant to reveal the complexity and fluidity of sexuality
represented through the lesbian characters’ identity as lesbian, their conflicts and discriminations experienced in their life.
CHAPTER III PORTRAYAL OF LESBIANS IN INDONESIAN AND
ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES
“All creation is… a visible sign of the invisible divine presence… All creation mediates and expresses something of the mystery of God to those who
can read the signs” Charles Cummings
This chapter discusses how lesbians are portrayed in thirty selected Indonesian and English language short stories in order to answer the following
question: What is exactly meant when one is a lesbian as portrayed in these literary works? How do they perceive and define their feelings, sexual orientation
and relationship? And what are the cause factors or reasons for being a lesbian? In this chapter, we can find the way lesbians are represented through their characters,
and the way they view their feelings, their desire or sexual orientation, and their relationships to the same sex. This chapter also discusses the backgrounds which
made the woman characters choose to become a lesbian. At the same time, I am going to present the similarities and the differences among the stories as well as
the depiction of the characters. There have been many debates on whether being a lesbian is a “given”,
construction or even both of them. It has been debated for a long time if being a lesbian is caused by environmental factors, such as broken home family,
upbringing, child molestation, traumatic experience and many others. It can also be sometimes perceived as a hormonal factor which has inherited from relatives,
just like the way hair and skin color are inherited. It can also be out of pure love, and as a matter of personal choice. As narrated by Kulkarni that the debate
