wisdom. In addition, Mernissi confessed that both her mother and her grandmother who supportd her to study in higher education so that women can be
independent. Not only her grandmother and mother who transformed the feminism
thoughts to Fatima Mernissi but also both Cou sin Chama and Aunt Habiba’s stage
elaborated plays celebrating famous womens lives with all the women and children of the harem and occasionally the young men participate as members of
the production or members of the audience. These plays helped Mernissi to decide that singing, dancing and sensuality were part of the feminists lives and should
not be forgotten; sensuality was a refreshingly natural part of life throughout the story.
According to brief explanation about memoir of Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood above, the writer decides to analyze the feminism
thoughts that appear in the story used feminist literary criticism theory. Finally,
the writer determines this research under the title
“Feminism Thoughts in Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi
”.
B. Theoretical Frameworks
1. Feminism Theory
Etymologically, feminism comes from word femme woman; it means a woman singular, struggling to get women rights plural as a social class.
6
According to Ratna, feminism aimed to make a balancing of interrelation of
6
Kutha Ratna Nyoman, Teori, metode, dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar, 2006, p. 184.
gender and it is movement conducted by women to refuse everything that subordinated and margined by dominant culture either in political fields,
economics, or other social life.
7
Feminism, including in particular such notions as womens right to equality and their right to control their own lives, is, with respect to the Middle
Easts current civilization at any rate, an idea that do not arise indigenously, but that come to the Middle Eastern societies from outside. To predict and direct the
future of that idea, and therefore the future of women in the Middle East, an understanding of the development of feminism in the Middle East is crucial,
including its transformations transplanted to a Middle Eastern, predominantly Islamic environment, and its different interpretations in the locally different
cultures of the Middle East. It swiftly becomes apparent, in considering the history of feminism in the Middle East that two forces in particular within Middle
Eastern societies modify; hampering or aiding the progress of feminism. First there are attitudes within the particular society, and the cultures and the sub-
cultures formulations, formal and informal, regarding women. Second and perhaps as important, are the societys attitudes and relationship to feminisms
civilization of origin, the Western world.
8
7
Ibid, p. 184.
8
Leila Ahmed, “Feminism and feminist movements in the Middle East, a preliminary
exploration: Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen ”, Women’s Studies
International Forum, Vol. 5, Issue 2, 1982, P. 153.
2. Feminist Literary Criticism Theory
