Review of Related Studies

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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

An Old-Fashioned Girl is published in 1869 by Louisa May Alcott. This novel tells about a simple girl named Polly Milton who visits her friend in the city. She comes into a different world between a country and a city. The researcher wants to find the stereotypical idea of an ideal woman. To do that, the researcher needs to discover the intrinsic element of the novel. In the story, Polly is raised by a perfect lady too and also has good manners though she lives in the country. And still in the cover of an unchanging rural class where everyone keeps using old manners. Polly is a fourteen years old girl. In order to explore Polly’s character deeper, a theory is used based on Polly’s life experience. Thus, characterization theory is used to fulfill the requirement of a literature study. According to the study by Krisna Sari Mulyaningsih, the stereotypical idea can be analyzed through the character of the novel. The theory of character and characterization is used to find out how the four Makioka sisters are described in the novel. Then to analyze the kind of expectations that given to the Japanese women based on thecharacterization of the four sisters, the writers combines the previous theory by relating it to the review of Japanese society in 1930s Mulyaningsih, 2011: 28. This study also concerns about An Old-Fashioned Girl that reflects stereotypical idea of an ideal woman. In the story, there are different cultures between a country and a city. At first, Polly lives in a country that does not care about fashion. And then, when Polly visits a city, she finds that she is 6 in a new world, a world where manners and customs are so different from the simple ways at home, that she feels like a stranger in a strange land, and often wishes that she has not come. People in the city have their own perspective of an ideal woman. For example, women in the city are considered themselves as ideal women only if they wear some glamorous things since they were fourteen. This issue relates to a reference that involves stereotypical issues of an ideal woman. The reference that relates to that issue comes from Yohannes Rosefhel Susilo Putra’s undergraduate thesis titled Becky’s Failures to be an Ideal Woman in The Victorian Era as Seen in Thackeray’s Vanity Fair says: “… A woman was ready to get married if she had some qualities, like being able to sing, play music instrument or had a special skill in language like French or Italian. They also had to innocent, virtuous, biddable, dutiful and be ignorant of intellectual opinion… Putra, 2009: 11-12” Compared to Putra’s study, there is a similarity between Putra and this study. The purpose of Putra and this study are to reveal the society’s perspective about an ideal woman. The difference between Putra’s study and this study is that Putra’s study focuses on the failure of a character in fulfilling the requirement to be an ideal woman. Meanwhile, this study focuses on how a character challenges the stereotype of an ideal woman. From Mulyaningsih’s analysis, there is the same purpose with this study. Mulyaningsih also focuses on woman’s character with the perspective of an ideal woman. On the other hand, Mulyaningsih’s study has central point on different work’s background. The work in her study stresses on different culture and era. For example, the culture on her study is about ideal woman in Japan in Meiji Era. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 7 In contrast with this study, the study tries to explore American culture in Victorian era.

B. Review of Related Theories