Inter-Caste Marriage Their Fighter Against Traditional Values

36 lanjut, dan membantu membukakan pintu ke sorga bila orang tua telah meninggal 2003:45. Family craves for having son because son will continue their descent purusa, helps their parents when they become older, and helps to open heaven’s door when their parents died 2003:45. The tradition already placed men more special than women.The system which becomes the cause of this phenomenon is patriarchal system. Although the phenomenon of this tradition become the public secret, but there are still many women that don’t realize it. They still believe that raising their children, being the servants of their husband are women’s destiny. In Tarian Bumi there are the women’s characters that fight against the tradition. They fight against the patriarchal culture which harms them, the other tradition that women fight in this novel is caste system. There are two kinds of the fights of women characters that reflected in this novel, there are:

4.2.1 Inter-Caste Marriage

Balinese used social caste in their society. Therefore, there are some rules that should be obeyed in their marrying. Years ago, Balinese could not marry people from other castes but in this era, they are allowed to get married with other castes but with the rule that men can marry women from lower caste than him not with women from higher caste. In this novel, the author tries to rebel the tradition. Through this novel, the writer shows Ida Ayu Telaga as a woman who rebels this tradition. Ida Ayu Telaga was a Brahmin and a beautiful dancer. Her mother educated and reminded her about her duty as nobleman. Her mother wanted her to get married with man from similar caste. This can be seen from this quotation: Universitas Sumatera Utara 37 “Kau adalah harapan Meme, Tugeg. Kelak, kau harus menikah dengan laki- laki yang memakai nama depan Ida Bagus. Kau harus tanam dalam-dalam pesanku ini.Sekarang kau bukan anak kecil lagi.Kau tidak bisa bermain bola lagi.Kau harus mulai belajar menjadi perempuan keturunan Brahmana. Menghafal beragam sesaji, juga harus tahu bagaimana mengukir janur untuk upacara Oka Rusmini;59. “You are my hope, Tugeg. Someday, you have to marry an Ida Bagus. You need to deeply remember this. Now, You are not a kid anymore. You can’t play anymore. You have to start learning how to become a Brahmin girl. You have to remember various sesaji, and also have to know how to make a janur for ceremony Oka Rusmini :59 Telaga was a different person from her mother. She was never proud of being a nobleman and she never wanted to be born as the Brahmin. She felt that Brahmins were full of lying and hypocrisy. She never wanted to be born as a nobleman and she rejected Ida Bagus Adnyana, the man that her mother arranged to her. This quotation as a prove that Telaga reject Bagus Adnyana; “Apa yang Meme tahu tentang laki-laki itu?Apa? Telaga menantang mata ibunya. Kali ini dia harus berani melawan, karena ibunya sangat memaksa agar Telaga mau keluar dengan laki-laki itu. Dari matanya Telaga tahu, laki- laki yang selalu bermanis-manis dengan ibunya itu akan melahap tubuh Telaga tanpa sisa, lau membuangnya ke keranjang sampah. Tidak Telaga tidak akan membiarkan laki-laki itu menyentuh satu helai pun rambutnya Oka Rusmini:109. “What do you know about that man? What? Telaga challenge her mom. This time she has to bravely fight because her mother really force Telaga to go out with that man. From her eyes Telaga knows, the man who really polite to her mom really eager to taste her body. Then throw her away. No Telaga won’t let that man touch her, even just one strand of her hair. Oka Rusmini:109 She reject him because Bagus Adnyana was a bad man, he never love Telaga as a women. He only had a sexual attracted with her. In other side, Telaga fell in love with Wayan Sasmitha, the painter from Sudra. She already love him since they was child. The quotation below shows that Telaga was really in love with Wayan. Bagi Telaga, cintanya yang dalam pada Wayan hanya untuk dirinya sendiri. Perasaan itu terlalu menguasai dirinya.Setiap kali kerinduan mengintip, Telaga hanya bisa menutup wajahnya dengan bantal. Menangis sepuasnya Oka Rusmini:118 Universitas Sumatera Utara 38 For Telaga her love for wayan is only for herself. That feeling strongly controlling herself. Every time she miss him, Telaga just can close her face with pillow.contently crying Oka Rusmini:118 The problem was that Wayan was a Sudra and Telaga was a Brahmin. As the writer mentioned above, Balinese tradition never allowed that Telaga who was Brahmin getting married with Wayan, who was a Sudra. People in Bali believed Brahmins women were the sun which shining in the world, so they were not allowed to touch them. Depiction of Brahmins women can be seen from the quotation below; “Kulit perempuan itu terbuat dari sinar matahari. Kau lihat Apabila kau berani menyentuhnya, seluruh dewa akan melempar senjata terbaiknya.” Seorang laki-laki ikut menambahkan Oka Rusmini:8 “That skin made from sunshine. You see If you dare to touch it, Gods will throw their best weapons.” Said the man Oka Rusmini:8 Seorang laki-laki Sudra dilarang meminang perempuan brahmana.Akan sial jadinya bila Wayan mengambil Telaga sebagai istri. Perempuan sudra itu percaya pada mitos bahwa perempuan brahmana adalah surya, matahari yang menerangi gelapOka Rusmini:121. Man from Sudra caste not allowed to marry Brahmin woman. He will get bad luck if Wayan takes Telaga as his wife. That sudra woman believe in the myth that Brahmin women is the sun, the sun that light the dark.Oka Rusmini:121 The other quotations that prove man from Sudra can’t allowed to marrying Brahmin’s women was taken from author’s narration in page 121, this quotation showed that Luh Gumbreg, Wayan’s mother didn’t approve her son idea to marrying Telaga : Teryata perempuan tua itu tidak berani menerimanya sebagai menantu. Seorang laki-laki Sudra dilarang meminang perempuan brahmana.Akan sial jadinya bila Wayan mengambil Telaga sebagai istri. Perempuan sudra itu percaya pada mitos bahwa perempuan brahmana adalah surya, matahari yang menerangi gelap. Kalau matahari itu dicuri, bisakah dibayangkan akibatnya? Oka Rusmini:121 That old woman doesn’t courageous to accept her as her daughter in law.Man from Sudra caste not allowed to marry Brahmin woman. He will get bad luck if Wayan takes Telaga as his wife. That sudra woman believe in the myth that Brahmin women is the sun, the sun that light the dark. If the sun was stolen, can you imagine the impact? Oka Rusmini:121 Universitas Sumatera Utara 39 In the end, Telaga rebelled the tradition by marrying Wayan. She even got the consequences. Telaga should leave her luxury as the Brahmin, and discarded by her family and no longer considered as the Brahmins. and become the ‘bad luck’ for her husband family. Telaga as the women character in this novel reflected liberal feminism, and itself focus on individual rights and autonomy; minimize malefemale difference; emphasize equality of opportunity and promote strategies that tear down barriers; seek to extend to women the individual rights gained by men. Telaga showed that concept of liberal feminism individual rights, rebelled the tradition by marrying the man from lower caste, Wayan Sasmita.

4.2.2 Prefer to be Single