Background of The Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of The Study

Anything about women has always been an interesting topic to talk about. In literature we can see many authors produce literary work such as, poetry, play, prose that focuses on women as the subject. One of American writers who talk about her experiences through her literary works is Louisa May Alcott. In this undergraduate thesis, An Old-Fashioned Girl is used as the main source in the analysis. An Old-Fashioned girl was originally serialized in Merry’s Museum magazine. This story is about a young girl namely Polly Milton from a country who comes to the city visiting Fanny Shaw her friend. She comes to a place which is not suitable for her because of her simple style and also looks “odd” for the people in that city. This novel also describes Polly Milton’s journey from the first visit when she was a girl and the second visit when she becomes a piano teacher and helps the Shaw Family from bankruptcy. This novel also describes the style of fashion especially in Victorian era and the stereotypes of the people who live at that time. Macrae in Pilcher and Whelehan’s Fifty Key of Concepts in Gender Studies gives a definition about the concept that stereotype was introduced into social science by Lippmann 1922 when he used it to describe the 2 ‘typical picture’ that comes to mind when thinking about a particular social group 2004: 166 The Victorian Era itself was a time of great change and progress- with its efforts to reform complex social institutions and its experimentations with mechanical and scientific ingenuities. The Victorian Era was highly moral. Motherhood\ was cherished and virtue was idolized. There was no greater icon of these ideals than the Queen herself, or the virtuous life of her husband Prince Albert . However, while this strict code of behavior greatly increased the civility and the gentility of life, it also encouraged an austere climate of conformity Jarrett, 2013. Through that explanation, the focus on the stereotype was Queen Elizabeth herself because the people at that time idolized her. They were following her from her behavior to her fashion style. This is different from the people now, where so many people can be idolized. There is an interesting statement that is related to the concept or picture of people’s mind in a society. Margaret L. Andersen quoted in Selly Handayani’s thesis The Portrait of Ideal Woman in Early 19 th Century British Society as Seen in Anne Elliot in Jane Austen’s Persuasion “…All of these expectation-communicated through parents, peers, the media, the schools, religious organizations, and numerous other facets of society- create a concept of what it means to be a “woman” or be a “man”…Handayani, 2003: 3”. explained The researcher used that statement as the reason why the topic is chosen. It is because the concepts of people’s mind are created from their expectation which is communicated from one to another. People in that society creates picture on their 3 mind on how a woman should become more interesting by wearing some glamorous things and become “a lady” on their young age.

B. Problem Formulation