28 At the end of Chapter Three in this novel, Dawan‟s mother finally decides
to accompany Dawan to get Noi‟s support. She still thinks that she cannot convince her husband by herself or by asking grandmother‟s support. She knows
that she needs Noi‟s support because Noi is the one from her family who had ever lived in the City before. She encourages herself to fight for Dawan‟s right to get a
better education because she believes that Dawan can also bring change to the family eventhough she is a girl.
c. Kwai
Kwai is Dawan‟s brother and also known as Dawan‟s rival to get the scholarship. Kwai is disappointed because the one who wins the scholarship is
not him, but his own sister, Dawan. “It‟s fine for you to spout off ideals like that,” her brother interrupted
rudely, his voice growing louder and sharper at every sentence. “But what can you do to bring them
about? You‟re only a girl. You won‟t be able to fight, or to argue loudly, or to lead people in times of crisis. All you‟re
good at is studying --- that‟s how you got the scholarship in the first
place.” p. 51. Kwai used to be close to Dawan and they often share their ideas together.
They usually support each other and it is seen when Kwai asks their father to permit Dawan to go to school with him in their village. However, after the result
comes out, Kwai makes a distance with his sister. He even underestimates his sister‟s capability to bring the change for their family and their village.
Eventhough Dawan has explained that she wants to get better education because she needs the knowledge to improve their village and also their lives, Kwai still
insists that, as a girl, Dawan cannot achieve her dream because she will not be PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
29 able to fight, to argue, or even to lead people. For him, all girls can do is just
studying but they cannot apply it to get a better life. “Why go and study more when all you‟re going to end up doing sooner or
later is cook and r aise babies anyway, like Mama?” he demanded,
punctuating every few words by hurling a pebble onto the smooth river surface p. 111.
Kwai states this statement when he meets Dawan on the day she will leave the village to study in the city. Once again, Kwai is in doubt to let his sister take
the scholarship and go far away from their village. He questions the reason why Dawan should learn far away from home and he believes that Dawan will end up
having fate like any other girls in the village.
d. Noi and Ghan
Noi is Dawan‟s cousin. She and her husband, Ghan, have ever lived in the city before. She lives in the city to work there and earn three times more money in
the city than anyone can earn in the village.
She listened more closely to the adult conversation, and heard Noi saying, “But what can a young girl hope to learn, alone in the City? There is
nothing good or healthy there, my Aunt. She will only become bitter and angry.” p. 35.
That conversation is only between Dawan‟s mother, Noi and Ghan. The gender schema refers to a young girl who is seen as someone fragile that needs to
be protected. Nobody trusts a girl to leave alone, especially in the city, a place where there is no relatives and families. People do not expect anything to a girl
who studies in the City because for them, it is useless. Furthermore, a girl is not an independent person, like a boy, so it will be hard for close family to let girls
30 live independently in the city. In addition, Noi describes the city as a place that
creates tough life which is not the same as what is in people‟s imagination.
“That is true,” Ghan confirmed. “There is no sense in a young girl going off into the City alone.” p. 35.
To suppport her wife, Ghan states the same statement about how a girl should not leave the village to live alone in the city. Noi and Ghan has the same
opinion about the city because for them, that place is not appropriate for a girl to live alone. It will be different if the one who lives alone in the City is a boy. There
will be more supports for him because boys are trusted and know how to manage themselves and feed themselves. By the time a girl has a chance to live in the city,
there will be more contradictory opinions towards it rather than pro opinions. “But that‟s exactly the point,” Noi broke in sharply. “She doesn‟t have to
go to the City, does she? She can go to school here.” p. 35.
From the statement above, the writer finds that Noi creates her own point of view about how a girl should get education. Girls may get more education, yet
they are not expected to do many things for the society by earning the knowledge from school. Noi keeps insisting that there is no reason for a girl to study in the
city because they can still learn in the village. Moreover, the city is seen as a dangerous place for her because she has been through tough life in there. For her,
it will be better for a girl to live in the village and keep doing her fate to cook and raise the baby, rather than going through tough life in the city which is full of
unfairness and injustice for poor people like villagers. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
