Dawan’s Mother Gender Schema as a Result of External Factor

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 31 “You see what happens when you try to have your own way, Dawan? In the long run, it‟s not worth it to fight with boys. You‟ve only got a cut leg now, but next time it may not be your own brother you‟re fighting with, and you may be hurt even more. Believe me, it‟s painful in this world to get in the way of men.” p.87. Noi is in the market to help Dawan when Dawan‟s leg gets hurt. It is injured because Kwai is very angry to her and pushes her away. Noi seems to be angry to Dawan because Dawan still struggles to get support to talk to her father, while her own brother is very angry to her. The gender schema that can be found in Noi‟s statement is that girls should not fight the boys because girls are weak and have no power. Girls should just obey and accept what the boys say. Once girls try to resist boys, they should accept the consequences of getting hurt. Therefore, many girls gives up their chance if it means they have to counter boys.

e. The Old Monk

When Dawan almost gives up to find any supports so that her father can permit her to go to the city, she has an idea to ask the old monk to talk to her father. Her father respects the old monk so much, that is why her father might allow her to go if the one who talks to him is the old monk. Like a tired breeze through dry weeds, the old monk sighed softly. “How can I help you do something that I don‟t believe in? You‟re still young, child, but I don‟t think you should waste any more time dreaming such futile dreams. What can a mere schoolgirl hope to achieve anyway? Be satisfied with that...” p. 75. The old monk used to think wisely. For him, to make a change, someone does not need to go to the city and gets education there, especially if that person is 32 a girl. He clearly states that he believes a girl should not waste her time to improve herself. Having a dream to get better education in the city is a fustile and impossible thing to achieve. The old monk also states that a girl should just accept what is available for them and not expect more. It means, girls should not have a chance to learn more because they need to be grateful of their fates and be satisfied with that. In addition, the old monk is actually a neutral person who just accepts the condition in the village. The old monk does not want to help Dawan because he does not want to be involved in internal conflict in Dawan‟s family. For him, what Dawan‟s father does can be justified because it is not safe for a girl to live alone in the city which full of strange people and far from home. Although at the beginning, the old monk seems to underestimate Dawan‟s role as a girl, at the end, he states his opinion wisely, yet still shows gender schema about how a mere girl should not waste her time to dream a fustile and useless dream while there are so many things to be grateful in the village.

f. Dawan’s Grandmother

Unlike the other characters who show their opposite opinions toward Dawan‟s scholarship, Dawan‟s grandmother consistently shows her support to Dawan from the beginning until the end of the novel. “Child,” she said, touching her granddaughter‟s hand lightly, “I‟m proud of you.” p. 30. Gender schema that appears in this Dawan‟s grandmother‟s statement is about the equality of boys and girls. In her eyes, both Dawan and Kwai, whoever PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI