11 footbinding and had to walk on their tiny feet as well “Unfolding Secrets: An Old
Woman’s Memoirs Reveal a Culture Wrapped in a Story”, 2005. Meanwhile, Victoria A. Brownworth’s article talks about the strict
adherence to Confucian rules. This meant that their gender defined every aspect of the lives of the Chinese women in the nineteenth century. Brownworth states that
at that time a Chinese woman’s life was “rigidly defined and programmed by her gender: footbinding, arranged marriage, virtual imprisonment by both her family
of origin and her husband’s family” “Secrets, Misery in a Chinese Woman’s Tale”, 2005
In this study, the writer is going to reveal how footbinding and the women’s secret writing in nineteenth-century China are portrayed in the novel and
how male domination relates to footbinding and the women’s secret writing as well. Both will be formulated in sociological scope. Furthermore, this study has
never been conducted by other writers.
B. Review of Related Theories
The theories used in this study are male concepts of manhood, concepts of living in a society, sociological review of Chinese society in the nineteenth
century, sociological review of footbinding in China, and then sociological review of Chinese women’s secret writing.
1. Male Concepts of Manhood
There are some interpretations about male ideology. Men seem destined to fight with nature in which they should deal with society. According to Turner
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
12 quoted by Dubbert in his book A Man’s Place: Masculinity in Transition 1979,
it is stated that, He came from a civilization based on individual competition, and he
brought the conception with him to the wilderness where a wealth of resources, and innumerable opportunities gave it a new scope p. 80.
From the quotation above, it can be seen that the spirit of competition helped men develop the qualities of characters needed to survival. They have a
better chance of survival since they have these capabilities. Men have qualities of courage, endurance, and muscular strength, which make them more adaptable than
women to a changing environment. Women, however, according to Patrick, developed very different qualities: “such as good manners and good taste in
matters of etiquette” as cited in Dubbert, 1979, p. 91. The system in the society tends to agree if it is easier for men to dominate
a society than for women. Men have more power in controlling because they have strong sense of conation—a mental process that makes someone wants or decides
to do something. They have the nature to think before act. Therefore, they are more likely to lead a society.
According to E. A. Ross’ theory quoted by Sorokin in his book Contemporary Sociological Theories 1928; men have desires which are derived
from social forces. Then, social force is classified into two parts. They are the natural and the cultural. It can be seen in the following quotation:
The natural desires are: a appetitive hunger, thirst, sex-appetite; b hedonic fear, aversion to pain, love of ease, warmth, sensuous pleasure;
c egotic shame, envy, love of liberty, of glory, of power; d affective sympathy, sociability, love, hate, jealousy, anger, revenge; e recreative
play impulses, love of self-expression. The cultural desires are: a religious; b ethical; c aesthetic; d intellectual p. 642.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
13
Furthermore, men can be separated according to their interests. The interests men have according to Small in Sorokin include: health, wealth, sociability or prestige,
knowledge, beauty, and rightness p. 644. Talking about manhood means talking about gender. Even though gender
means social sex, it is also close to the difference between men and women. According to Crawford in her book Talking Difference on Gender and Language
1995, the different way of acting of men and women is influenced by a way of creating differences. That is why the men confirm that they are different from the
women. It is supported by the following quotation. When men and women are treated differently in ordinary daily
interactions, they may come to behave differently in return. Thus, gender can be conceived as a self-fulfilling prophecy—a set of processes by
which gender difference is created, the observed differences are conflated with sex, and belief in sex difference is confirmed p.14.
2. Concepts of Living in a Society
