Background of the Study

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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

After conducting some research on the internet, the researcher does not find any theses, journals, and articles that talk about the novel. However, the researcher finds two related studies that help to think more about the novel. The first study related to the current study belongs to Dona Windasari Septiana entitled “A Woman’s Struggle against Patriarchy in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening : A Feminist Perspective.” This study aims to reveal the struggle against patriarchy through the characterization of the main character in the story, Edna Pontellier. Septiana’s study comes with the conclusion that Edna Pontellier is a submissive wife who always obeys her husband’s will. After the rebellion happens, Edna frees herself from the patriarchal culture that makes her remain silent. Edna learns to believe that if she moves from her old house and earns her own money, she can get better education and she can stand alone without depending to her husband. In short, Edna wants to be recognized well as an independent human being who has her own rights. The difference between Septiana’s study and the researcher’s study is that Septiana’s research is about is the main character who lived in a western patriarchal society while the researcher’s study focuses on Muslim Pakistani Imam family lives in United Kingdom. The main character being analyzed is born as an Imam’s daughter and she has to deal with the religion as well as patriarchal norms that are often stricter than the western patriarchy. The researcher’s and Septiana’s study have the similar discussion, that is researches focus on the condition of patriarchy around the main character and the religious norms that control the society using feminist perspective. The second study is entitled The Ideas of Feminism Revealed through the Major Female Characters in My Ancestor’s House written by Erlyn Theresa Nugroho 2014. This study discusses about two major female characters who are aware of gender equality in a play with the setting in Pakistan. Nugroho compares two major female characters, Bindia and Roona in her study. Both of them are hard-working women who give their best to provide their family. The difference is Bindia has the refusal on men domination by taking a distance from her family in Pakistan and move to America. Deedi is obedient to her husband and runs the patriarchal tradition. Although Deedi does not agree with the tradition, she cannot do anything since she does not want to be perceived as a defector and alienated by society in Pakistan. Deedi is the figure the figure that most of the character discusses. She is the victim of tradition: she suffered of the patriarchal culture that surrounded her life. She is the figure that captured the exact situation in Pakistan when women have less of freedom and ruled by men. While Bindia is the character that reflects the idea of feminism: she leaves her homeland to America as the form of her refusal about men’s domination. Bindia also has the awareness of gender equality that women and men should have the same rights and position Nugroho, 2014: The difference between Nugroho’s study and the researcher’s study is Nugroho compares two main female characters while the researcher only uses the main character of the novel. The other difference is the main female characters in Nugroho’s study are against the patriarchal issues, while the researcher focuses not only on the patriarchal system but also on religious norms of Muslims living in a western society. Thus, this research is more extensive in terms of using the feminist approach because the condition of patriarchal around the main character and the religion norms that control the society. However, the researcher wants to reveal the ideas of feminism through Hannah’s characteristics, a girl who is dominated by her father and lives in patriarchal society. She lives around Pakistani society with strong Islamic rules. This situation leads her to repulse patriarchy to get her freedom and being equal with men by her own choices and actions. This study does not only tell about gender inequality but also feminism in the context of strong Pakistan culture, religioun, and society. Moreover, this thesis develops the ideas of feminism through Hannah’s characteristics.

B. Review of Related Theories 1.

Theory of Character and Characterization Characters are considered very important in novels. Since this study analyzes and focuses on the main character, the understanding of the character’s theory is needed. From Abram’s statement, it can be concluded that character in narrative work show the moral values and dispositional qualities that can be seen though their dialogue, characterization, and their action. Meanwhile, characterization is all the things writers do to build up the characters they want. Through characterization, writer can transform real-life people into characters in fiction Grenville, 1999:36.