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.

2. Pursuing Equality

Another idea of feminism is pursuing equality. As Terrey states, feminism means a belief and commitment to equal right and opportunities for women Terrey 1989:139. Pursuing equality is also the idea of feminism that is revealed through Hannah’s characteristics in the novel. Hannah as the main character in this novel becomes a victim of stereotyping on women. In Pakistan society, where Hannah lives in, women and men do not have the same equality in many aspects of life. The unequal position between men and women in this story is clearly seen from her father’s perception. There is no concept of equality in her father, the Imam’s world. For instance, women should serve men at home and do all the household chores, which create a limitation for them interns of opportunity. The concept of equality on Hannah’s society is very much focusing on around how people could maintain that honour and how people can avoid bringing shame on themselves and their family. Honour is not so much about what people do, but it is about what people are seen to be doing, or caught doing publicly. It shows the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI unfair treatment by the society itself 2009: 45. Hannah’s characteristic of being critical is related to the idea of pursuing equality. As the person who has the concept of equality in her mind, Hannah disagrees with this rule. In her perspective, both men and women should be equal to other. She does not agree the way Pakistani society deals with the patriarchal system. This circumstance has led women in Pakistan not to have equal rights. Hannah has proven that a woman can be equal in both public and private sphere by doing what men usually do. In our culture girls are less welcome than boys. We are presumed to be in need of constant protection. This wasn’t just for our own good: it was for the sake of family’s honour. If a daughter goes off the rails, it brings more shame on your family than if a son does. I never heard any of the women on the street gossiping about boys doing anything wrong. It just wasn’t a big deal. The culture on our street was very much cantered around how you could gain honour, how you could maintain that honour, and how you could avoid bringing shame on yourself or your family. The women were obsessed with honour and shame 2009: 45. Based on Hannah’s thought mentioned above, women are presumed to be in need of constant protection which is not for their goods: it is for the sake of family’s honour. If a daughter goes off the rails, it brings more shame on your family than if a son does. This shows the inequality between men and women in Hannah’s society because women are expected to be a tool to retain the family’s honour, thus they are imposed with a protection that limits their freedom. Hannah needs to be a critical person in order to get equality. It can be seen from the way she shows her disagreement toward the condition of women in her society. Through Hannah’s characteristic of being critical, she shows the ideas of pursuing equality in herself. She learns other people’s lives, culture, and belief systems which shape her to be a critical in assessing many things. It can be seen from her curiosity about her life. She needs to not only know more about her life but also follow what her father says. She starts to be sceptical about anything that happens around her, like her life, her belief, and how to deal with her problems. Being social worker in India. And I loved the fact I was doing something to help others, and disregarding my own situation. I loved learning about other people’s lives, culture, and belief systems. 2009: 112 Through her thought and action, the ideas of feminism are revealed by Hannah that is her demand for pursuing equality in living her patriarchal society. She has a different perspective from other women in Pakistani society in common. Hannah does not agree with the idea that men dominate women in many spheres of life. Hannah’s childhood experience makes her realize that she has the condition of having no freedom while she lives in the neighbourhood of Pakistan society. She realizes that her family treats her unequally and then she realizes that women should get the same position as men. Feminism demands women to have their right to do the outside activity beside at home. If women are used to be submissive to stay at home and only do the household chores, now they can do the outside activity besides doing the household chores based on their choices in order to pursue equality. As a critical person, Hannah uses her opportunity to be equal to men and helps other women who have the same situation like hers. She works in a workshop for Muslim girls focusing on how to communicate with their parents on issues like arranged marriages, and other problems they might face and being critical about their lives. The second characteristic that is related to this idea of feminism is her PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI being independent. It is considered that women do not need go to school because they do not need to be schooled since their destiny is to be at home especially in the kitchen. In the society, women’s opportunity is only limited to staying at home. The patriarchal system, which is found in the society, makes women dependent on men. Women have no choice except the activities in the house. Women become dependent on men because they cannot work as well as men do. Hannah cannot accept this unequal treatment. Rosemarie Tong argues that women, then, after demanding freedom, they also demand the same opportunity in the public sphere. They want to get the chance to earn money by their own abilities. Women or wives, in order to be partners with men or husband should earn money outside the house. Only by then, they will not be the objects of men, the servants. Women should have the same education as men have because all human being deserve the equal chance to get better development on their rational and moral capacities. Thus way, women can achieve their full personhood by getting their education 2009: 28-31. Hannah is good at education. She chooses theology as her major in the university. She moves to England where there are many opportunities for her to take. I’d advised Lancaster University had a great Theology department, complete with top-class lecture. I had always been fascinated by different belief systems, and I had loved the philosophy module in A-level Religious Studies. I had enjoyed the way it challenged my mind with free discussion and free thought. It was that which had first made me think that I’d like to explore further the world’s major faith systems. Now, at Lancaster Uni I was going to get my chance 2009: 118. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Hannah wants to be a successful woman because she wants to be independent so that she can support herself and her life. She takes an opportunity to develop herself. She goes to university for a higher education and she takes a master degree as a form of herself development in educational sphere. She takes an opportunity of getting higher education so that much more opportunities like having job and better future can be reached. By having a good education, she proves that women’s intellectual ability is actually not lower than men. If women are given the same opportunity as men, women can do well in education too. After escaping her past and oppressive life, she discovers many possibilities and opportunities in order to pursue equality for herself without depending on others. She is able to determine her life, make money, and enjoy her life. I had cooked chicken takka masala, vegetable curry, rice, and nan breads – going easy on the spices. Each person paid £5 for their lunch – so it was a bargain Around 100 people turned up, so that event alone raised me £500. By the time we were ready go to India I’d raised £ 1,758 – more than enough to cover my trip. I had never been abroad on my own before, and I just knew the trip was going to be a real adventure 2009: 114. As a woman who takes many opportunities in life, Hannah is also successful in proving that women are as qualified as men when given equal opportunities with men. She also works in YMCA as a teacher at school and teaches Religious Studies lesson. It is shown that she has the same ability as men in education as well as men in career without depending on others. Patriarchal society believes that women are born as the domestic workers and must deal with PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI