C. Method of the Study
The method that is used to collect data for the thesis is library research
.
The study only looks from and collected from library and some from trusted web articles
.
There are two big steps taken in analyzing this research
.
First, the researcher starts with reading and understanding the whole short story
.
The second step is collecting data, references, and theories related to this short story
both from library and online sources
.
The researcher tries to find other sources and apply the theories based on the feminism perspectives
.
From the reading, the researcher is interested with how women are treated in the society during the 1950s
– 1960s
.
Thus, the feminism approach is specified into liberal feminism approach. After understanding the short story, the researcher
applies the gender hierarchy theory and finds that there is a specific standard on how women are expected to be or act since they live in a strong patriarchal society
at that time
.
Through the liberal feminism perspectives, the researcher tries to see how women are being treated during the era
.
Then, the researcher will relate Eva’s
condition with the theory of women as angels and monsters
.
From here, the researcher finds that as a woman, Eva is seen as a figure whose only duties are to
keep her husband happy and take care of the children
.
It goes accordingly to how women are expected to be during the Victorian era
.
In relation to the theory of Angels and Monsters by Gilbert and Gubar, the researcher also finds that women
are either stereotyped as angels and monsters with the angel being the one who are likeable to men and the monsters are the ones who cause anxiety towards men
since they are rebellious
.
The poem “Angel in the House” provided in the previous part then also gives clearer information on how women are basically
categorized or stereotyped as angels and monsters
.
The researcher concludes that Eva is treated unfairly since she has no freedom to even voice her own opinion and her husband gets to decide everything
for her
.
Based on the analysis, the researcher sees that Eva belongs to the angelic type since she is formed and depicted as the ideal type of wife in the era of 1960s
.
The poem “The Angel in the House”, the short biological review of Tillie Olsen, and the understanding of women’s role in Victorian Era are provided to
understand the context easier . With these, the researcher looks back to the
Victorian era and use the poem “The Angel in the House” as this poem is the foundation and initial start of how women are expected to be in the society
. While the understanding of women’s role provides better understanding of
how women lived during the era, the poem gives the background information on why women are expected to be who they are even
. This poem will be the foundation on how women is seen and expected to be during the 1950s
– 1960s, even until this present days
.
23
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the problems formulated in the earlier chapter are answered
. Based on the problems formulated, this chapter is divided into two parts
. The first part describes how the character Eva undergoes related to her roles as a housewife and a mother in the story
“Tell Me a Riddle”. The second part is how the character Eva react to the stereotypes, set by the society, addressed
towards her as a women in the story Tell Me a Riddle written by Tillie Olsen .
A. Eva and Her Roles Related to Gender
As mentioned, “Tell Me a Riddle”
was published as a part of a four story collection in 1961. Tell Me a Riddle served as the main title of that collection. Out
of the four stories, “Tell Me a Riddle” is placed the last and the story tells about the
marriage of an aging Russian immigrant couple named Eva and David. In spite of the fact that the collection consists of four different short stories, the first
three stories are related to Eva’s family. The previous three separated stories tell
each of Eva’s child and their struggles with their own family and the society in relation to racism. The three stories then lead the readers to Eva as the heroine.
With that said, researcher discusses about the characteristics of Eva as she is the protagonist of the short story “Tell Me a Riddle”. The researcher chooses Eva as
she fits the idea of feminism best in the story.
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