Freedom from Patriarchy The Ideas of Feminism Revealed through the Main Character.
cannot accept the unfair treatment by her father. Throughout rejection of her father’s unfair treatment, she criticizes the oppression and unfairness instead of
taking them for granted. Therefore, she plans to escape and prove that she has a right to be free of her life which is emphasized by her thought “It was another step
towards growing in my faith and celebrating my free choice as a free person in a free society” 2009: 67. Freedom here means that, as women, they have their
rights to make a decision for their happiness and live their life to the fullest. The second characteristic of Hannah that supports this idea of feminism
is her being independent. Freeman states hat, women have to realize that they are not inferior beings, and should stop of being dependent on men. Women have the
right to live, therefore, they are free to decide what they want and what they to do. To be independent, women should be able to choose, state arguments, and make
decisions in their lives 1999: 18. Hannah never lets men of her society control her own life. She loves her freedom as an independent woman to choose every
single choice that life gives to her without any control from men. Hannah feels happy that she is able to reach the freedom by her own self after escaping from
patriarchal society. She is happy with her own choices: to convert her religion and change her identity. She manages to escape because she does not want to be
trapped in forced marriages and abusive relationships. She believes that living a life to the fullest is better than being trapped in slavery. She uses her chance as
well as she can to find out what her rights are 2009: 68. Hannah is an independent person which shows the ways of being free in living her own life. It
shows her freedom of choice in her life when she escapes from her house to PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
continue her own life. In my new life I had so much freedom from the very start. I almost didn’t
know what to do with it. In the suburb where the Joneses lived no one knew me. I could wander around at will, quite unnoticed. I was suddenly
free of all the slave-life chores that I had been forced to do at home. I could still help out, of course, but I wasn’t forced to, and I wasn’t beaten
if I made a mistake. Freedom, choice, and anonymity were new things that I would have to learn to cope with 2009: 96.
Hannah releases herself from the wrong assumption about women should be inferior and dependent on men. She becomes aware of her right and freedom. She
decides to be independent. The third characteristic of Hannah that supports this idea of feminism is
her being courageous. As a courageous woman, she dares to do what she likes. The courage on herself drives her to break the old tradition and fight against the
norms in patriarchal society. According to Barlet, after gathering their consciousness, women are ready to start their struggle. Women start to refuse to
be abused because they have realized their fundamental worth. They do not want to be oppressed anymore and they want to be threated by the full measure of
dignity that humanity demands 2004: 5. Hannah is brave to break the patriarchal rule in her society. Louis Tyson argues that patriarchal men and women believe
that anyone who violets traditional gender roles is in some way unnatural, unhealthy, or even immoral 20011:141. As a courageous person, Hannah is
brave to take risks and does not care if the society judges her as dishonoured woman and brings shame to her family.
The moment when she escapes and lives her new life shows that she is brave to be free and uses her right to decide where her life continues. Hannah
thinks that leaving her old tradition is much better than being trapped in patriarchal system that limits her freedom.
For my whole life I had dreamed about running away and escaping my family. Now I was finally doing it. I hadn’t had time to think or process
anything. For the first time, I felt truly free. I didn’t want my father ‘s dark shadow cast over me again, even if it was just memory. The only
way to truly break free had to ne to get out of the north of England completely. I had to move somewhere where I wouldn’t always be
stumbling into people with links to my community and my past 2009: 126.
Hannah feels truly free to live her own life. She does not want to live under her father’s control anymore. She chooses to get out of the north of England
completely and to move somewhere where she cannot be connected with people who links to her father’s community and her past life. This action shows her
courage that she dares to get out from her family that constantly oppresses her. Related to this condition, Hannah‘s bravery is used to take several
actions in order to oppose this kind of society. The only way to be free from this situation is to escape from her house. Hannah believes that she has the right to
choose her own faith, to follow her own belief, and to listen to her own heart. Little Hannah is a caged butterfly, but she must be brave to be free from the
patriarchal society that limits her freedom. She is successful in getting her freedom: freedom to choose on what she believes, freedom to speak out about her
belief, freedom to live a life as she can fit, even when others do not agree. She is a free woman in a world where there are many women in her society encage.
To Hannah, belief is a uniquely personal thing. The principal act that had made me so abhorrent to my family was my leaving Islam – my apostasy.
Belief is a uniquely personal thing. I had had the temerity to believe that I had the right to choose my own faith, to follow my own belief system,
to listen my own heart I had started to believe in myself. At this stage I PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
had never heard of the word ‘apostasy’. I didn’t know that it says in the Hadiths that anyone who converts out of Islam and refuses to return
should be killed. I didn’t know that converting out of Islam was considered one of the greatest sins of all. But even had I known this, I
would probably still have invited my family. I wanted them to see where my life was going and where freedom’s journey was taking me 2009:
137.
To Hannah, freedom to believe is a personal thing. She uses her right to choose
her own religion. She has a right to choose her own faith, to follow her belief system, to listen her heart, and to believe in herself.
Freedom is important for Hannah, she believes that everyone is born free and has the right to live her own life. Hannah is brave to express herself. She
eventually often repels the social custom of old Pakistani that makes her appear very unusual in front of the society without any fear. The way she gets dressed
makes her as an object of gossiping. People enjoy gossiping about Hannah because she shows different images of society’s traditional expectation.
Skip rebellion fuelled my own rebellious spirit, although my actions at twelve years old were a little less decisive. My hair was really long and it
was all the same length. Everyday I wore it in a big thick plait. A couple of the girls on my street had their hair cut into fringes, and I thought it
looked great. But Mum told me that it was bad and that Allah would punish them. Having a fringe was ‘haram’, she said. I’d never read
anything in Quran that said it was wrong to cut your hair. The way Mum and Dad went on, everything was ‘haram’. It was surprising that
breathing was allowed I thought fringes looked so fashionable, and I decided I was going to have one. I didn’t care if it was ‘haram’. I would
just keep it secret. I always wore a hijab, even at home, so I’d just have to make sure my forbidden fringe was never visible 2009: 53.
Hannah shows her bravery by taking a risk to do what she wants. It is proven by
her thought that she is willing to take a risk. Because of her bravery, Hannah gets the sense of freedom which is incredibly valuable to her. If Hannah is not brave
enough to break the patriarchal system, she can be trapped and enslaved by her PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
own family: her body will be controlled by her father and be trapped into painful situations. Those unfortunate situations are situations that want to be avoided by
Hannah, for she prioritizes a condition when she has managed to do something that is by her choice, and under her control. She is not about to give up very
easily. It is stated that most of women in Pakistan do not have the right to
choose their own husband since their marriage are already arranged by their parents. Their parents choose man based on the background of the family
including wealth, social status, and religion Marxist 2016. Hannah does not accept this arranged marriage system, she would like to choose her own husband
for love not for an honour to her family. Hannah also breaks social custom of Pakistan, her own society. One of the basic rights is freedom to love someone.
Hannah’s characteristic of being a rebellious person shows that as a woman she is free to do something she wants, regardless the society’s perception towards it. Her
courage of being a rebellious person is proven when she concedes that it is necessary for her to make a mistake by being a rebellious person. Hannah is able
to explain many people about their rights in society, especially women that they have the same right and freedom of choice as men do. Hannah likes to be free to
choose her life partner. Hannah feels the satisfaction from the freedom she has in there. Hannah does not want her freedom to be stolen by men. She even tries to
help her friend to get their freedom by helping her escape from arranged marriage. Skip and I were forever discussing the forced marriage that other girls in
the street had suffered. Skip was the sort of girl who wouldn’t be forced into anything. She wanted to fall in love, and marry for love. We used to
fantasise about finding the perfect man and about the perfect wedding. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Skip and I shared a dream of getting an education – her to her herself from control of the community, me to free myself from the darkness of
home. And we fantasised about finding love 2009: 50
The reason why Skip and Hannah want to be free is because they want to marry by their own choices. They want to marry for love and continue their lives by
getting education which lets them be free from any control of their community and be free from the darkness at home.