Alice Bassett’s Experiences of the Practice of Patriarchy
When I was born they gave me to an old man. My group is garimarra, and balyirri is my straight. They did it by the men picking who they wanted as
their mother-in-law. Like when this old fella was around fifty, and mother was having me, he said, ‘If that’s a girl, that’s my woman.’ Well I was born
a girl, worst luck. p 35
Once again the researcher found out that the aborigine society where Alice belonged to had a custom which reflected the practice of patriarchy. The men chose
their own mother-in-law in order to get the daughter, and they indicated that they wanted to exploit the girls by marrying them wit
hout the girls’ permission. No matter the condition, if the men have chosen it, the girl should be their woman and
serve them. The girl and her mother have no option left as the men have taken away their right and their freedom, the women must obey this law although they did not
agree about that. Men’s domination was really strong in this case. They made such an unfair
custom without thinking about the effect to women. They took away women’s right to get an equal treatment and freedom in the society. They tried to exploit women.
They wanted to be served by the women without making any excuses, and they showed how the men have an authority over the women. They can control them.
Thus, this thing was really unfair and only brought disadvantages for the women. Besides, woman also has a right to decide whom she wants to marry. If she
already reaches a proper age to be married and ready to build a family, she could marry a man that she love. In the novel we provided with a different thought. The
aborigine girl was taken from her mother since she was born. The little baby has no right to choose her partner in life because she was chosen by a man in the society
just like what Alice says in the novel “It was never the old women that chose, it was only ever the men. They had it all their own way”p35. She and also her mother
cannot do anything but they have to surrender to this custom that has been made by the men in society. They cannot escape from the man’s domination in their society,
although Alice was still a little girl, the Old man has to wait until Alice was old enough, like what Alice says
He was waiting until I was old enough, however old that was, and he’d say, ‘When you’re ready to come with me, you’re coming, whether you like it
or not.’ This was all in Aborigine of course, and he’d come over demanding a feed Nannup, 1992: 35.
The quotation above shows that Alice has never been given an option as the men would wait for her until she was old enough, then Alice should be coming with him,
whether she like it or not. The researcher believes that the old man violated the women’s right that the women wants to be free from any force The old man does
not have any rights to limit their freedom. They cannot simply choose any mother- in-law he likes and marry her daughter. Besides marrying her daughter, the old man
will also turn Alice to be his servant, the researcher finds in the quotation that the old man demands a feed from Alice, and her mother cannot make her daughter
refuse it, like what Alice says afterward When he’d come, Mother would go off and hide herself because she was
forbidden to mix with her son-in- law. She used to say to me, ‘Make it, make
him a cup of tea. Go on, give him what he wants Nannup, 1992: 35.
The information above showed that Ngulyi as Alice mother could not do anything to refuse the old man request, and she gave Alice an advice to give whatever he
wants, she also remained to hide herself because there is a law that not allowed her to mix with her son-in-law, and she could only give an advice to her daughter. From
the explanation above, the researcher sees clearly that the women have lost their right to refuse the things that they do not like. They only surrender by the law that
oppresses their right. Whether they like it or not, they have to serve the men that are considered in that society as the one who has the authority over everything.
The researcher believes that this case proves the form of patriarchy exists in aborigines’ society. The women who have a girl that already chosen by the men
cannot do anything but give the girl to the men. They cannot refuse the men to marry their daughter though their daughter might be turn as a servant for the men.
They cannot do anything against the law that reflected the practice of patriarchy The researcher still concerns about another issue of the law that reflected
the practice of patriarchy in Aborigine society that Alice belonged to. Apparently, there is another custom that oppress women based on the information that Alice
provides in the novel. Alice mentions about a custom that requires the women to walk behind the men if the women want to walk together with the men. Not only
walk behind the men, the women also get inequality treatment, they have to carry on the luggage while the men only carry a simple thing. Here is the custom that
Alice tells us about It was never the old women that chose, it was only ever the men. They had
it all their own way. A woman used to walk about four or five yards behind her man, carrying a baby on her hip, a bundle of wood or something on her
head, another bundle on her back, and have children walking along with her.
She’d do all that while the man was walking along carrying a couple of spears I tell you what, the men had it made. Nannup, 1992: 35
In this case, the researcher found that the man gave unfair treatment to the woman. It meant the man has violated women’s right which the woman should get an equal
treatment from everyone. The information above described about the woman who used to walk around four or five yards far behind the men. It was a quite far distance
for a couple to walk together. Not only walked far behind the man, the women also have to carry their baby on her hip, and if they had more children, the children must
walk along with her. The woman also has to carry many luggages by herself. It is des
cribed in the quotation that it might be a “bundle of wood or something, and he carried the luggage on her head and another luggage in her back.”
It seemed like a heavy task for the woman to do all of that thing, while in the other hand, the man only carried a simple thing like describe in the quotation,
the men only carried a couple of spear, and it meant nothing if we compare to what woman did. This law is very unfair. The man did a practice of patriarchy which
harms the woman by ordering her to do a heavy task while he carried couple of spears.
In the novel, Alice also expresses her anger and disappointment about this custom. She says in the last two sentences, “She’d do all that while the man was
walking along carrying a couple of spears I tell you what , the men had it made”
p35. It is unbelievable, when a couple walked together, but only the women that carried the luggage while the man can walk comfortably by only carrying a couple
of spears. She was really disappointed about what the men had made by creating a law that only give advantage to the men but oppress the women in the other way.
The researcher concludes that this law is a form of practice of patriarchy in the aborigine society. Those evidences prove that only the man that considered as
the one who has an authority over woman like giving an order to his woman without consider about the woman’s condition, and the woman should obey the order from
her man. This law reflects an inequality in the aborigine society, and that is how the patriarchy works.
When Alice got older, a couple, Mr and Mrs Campbell met her and talked to her family that they want to take her down South to educate her and of course
she was really excited and accepted that offer. It was a long journey to the south, they had to stop by so many times and Alice not expected that she had to work for
someone before she was going to school. Alice was taken to Beeginup, and she started her school there, but she still has to work at the farm. That circumstance did
not last long, they continue their cruise from farm to another until Alice realized that the promise to bring her to school will never happen and she was sent into
Moore River Settlement. Alice was taken to Mogumber and from that place she ride out to the
settlement. There, Alice lived in a dormitory, and she tells that everything was separated there. There were separate dormitories for boys and girls, even the dining
room was also separated. Evidently, leaving her hometown did not make Alice free from the practice
of patriarchy. She also experienced it in the society among the settlement, and this time she experiences it from the boy that lived in the same settlement like her. There
is a habit in the dormitories when the boy writes a note and sends it to the girl, and the girl never supposed to send notes, she just answered them. Once, a boy wrote
Alice a letter that he wanted to see her, but Alice seems did not care about it and just ignore the note. In a few days, the thing that did not expect to be happened.
They had a morning break and the boy came over Alice when she was in a hurry to visit someone, and then they had a conversation,
‘Just a minute,’ he said. ‘I want to talk to you.’ ‘
What do you want?’ ‘Did you get my note?’
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Well, what did you do? Why didn’t you answer it?’
‘I ripped it up,’ I said, ‘I don’t want you.’ Well he grabbed hold of me by the neck and pushed me down onto the fence.
He was nearly choking me and I couldn’t get away. ‘When I write notes to girls I expect an answer,’ he said, and I could hear how angry he was.
Nannup, 1992:74
That conversation shows us that even at the young age, a man can do something that reflected the practice of patriarchy. Alice did not expect this thing to happen
because of the notes that have been written to her. This is a simple thing that if she does not like someone, she does not have to answer the notes or meet that person,
she has a right to reject or ignore the notes from the boy, but in this case, that boy forced Alice to answer the notes because he expected a response. It was like a law
that a boy writes a note for a girl, she had to answer it. It shows the practice of patriarchy because the boy forced Alice to answer his note even though Alice has a
right to not to do that, this boy clearly violated the woman right by forced someone else will.
The boy also treated Alice cruelly. The novel describes that he grabbed Alice’s neck and pushed her down onto the fence, and he was nearly choking her
after he knew that Alice did not want to answer the note and ripped the notes from him and he told us how he expected an answer from a girl who received a note from
him. This issue really oppresses Alice as a woman. She has a right not to answer the notes, but the boy as a man does not care about her right, he forced to get an
answer and treated Alice cruelly like that whereas he has no right to treat a woman like that. From the case above, the researcher finds that what the boy has done to
Alice reflected the practice of patriarchy by forcing the girl’s will and treat her cruelly.
The researcher still concerns about the patriarchy in the Moore River settlement. In this case, not only Alice who experiences an inequality treatment, but
also all women in the settlement that lived in dormitory experiences it. The problem is revealed when Alice observed the dormitory for girls and the dormitory from
boys. From the beginning the society has kept everything separate in that place. The women and men got a different dormitory to live in and so was the dining room.
Alice realizes that boys got a better space and more freedom in their dormitory, like what Alice says:
The camps were off limits to us up in the compound – well, the girls really,
because boys were much freer. Some of the girls had relatives down there and they would ask to go down to see them. They might be allowed, but if
they weren’t they’d sneak down Nannup, 1992: 84. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
The information above shows that the camps were very limited for the girls. There are so many strict rules that limit them for doing anything, unlike the girls, the boys
never feel the same. While the girls were limited, the boys got more freedom. They were much freer than the girls. Sometimes, the girls had to sneak down illegally if
they want to meet their relatives because the law restrained them. The researcher sees an inequality that reflected by the law in the Moore
River, the law was very strict for the women and restrain them. In the other hand, the boys were much freer as Alice described in the story, the law was unfair, it sides
with the boys. Previously in the novel, Alice also mentioned about the boys who got more
freedom in the settlement, Alice says, ‘Although us girls were pretty much supervised, the boys were free to roam around as they liked.’ Nannup, 1992: 82.
The researcher finds out that the girls in the settlement got much supervision than the boys got. The quotation says that the boys were freer to wander everywhere they
liked. This thing completely shows that there was a law that only for the men and the law itself only restrained
the girls. It limited the girls’ freedom and took away their right to be treated equally like the boys. This law is very unfair for the girls.
They have a right to be treated equally and get the same freedom in their life. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI