taking care of the children and doing the housework. If they work, it means they deny their fate as a woman and a wife. Thus, by working hard Ammu wants to
show to people that she is capable to do that, and she is equal with men. It is also described in the novel that in her family Ammu often gets domestic
violence from her husband, Baba. When her husband asks her to go to Mr. Hollick, and Ammu refuses it, he husband grabbes her hair, and punches her. The
violence begins to involve the children. Ammu feels that she has to leave her husband. Thus, she finally asks for divorce, and she leaves her husband Roy 42.
c. Society’s Treatments
According to Chinmoy 79, struggle can be fighting to get something or survive in an inconvenience condition. The inconvenience can be the reaction and
treatments from the society. Sometimes, treatments from the society become a reason to struggle.
Ammu experiences the same thing. She comes to Ayemenem, her hometown, in an unwelcome condition. It is because she has an intercommunity
marriage and then she divorces. In Indian society, being a widow is sinful. Moreover Ammu becomes a widow because of a divorcee. The society thinks that
it will be better being a widow if their husband dies rather than divorce. A woman who divorces her husband is considered breaking the society law.
According to the society’s rule, a married daughter does not have a position in parents’ home. As a divorced woman Ammu decides to return to her parents’
home. Although the society and family reject Ammu’s coming, she keeps returning. She has no choice.
Baby Kochama, Ammu’s aunt, says that a divorce daughter has no position anywhere at all. Baby Kochama presses Ammu because of Ammu’s divorce from
a love marriage and intercommunity marriage. Mayo 75 in Mother India says according to Indian society spontaneous love is unreliable in the marriage.
Kochu Maria – the servant in Ayemenem house – also shows her dislike to Ammu’s small family. Kochu Maria dares to tell Rahel and Estha that they have
no right in that house. She tells them as if she is the owner of the house. Kochu Maria, who slept on the floor on a mat, said that she would complain
to Mamachi. ‘Tell your mother to take to your father’s house,’ she said. ‘There you can
break as many beds as you like. These aren’t your beds. This isn’t your house.’ Roy 83
Knowing that her children have a bad treatment, Ammu watches over her children fiercely. Her watchfulness makes her tense and strict. She is very easy to
get angry with her children, and quicker to give punishment for their children if they behave badly.
Being a divorced widow makes Ammu less honoured in her society. She gets a bad treatment not only from women but also from men. A police calls her a
Vesya. In India a Vesya means a prostitute. The police treats her as if she is a Vesya. Using his baton the police tapes on Ammu’s breast. He points Ammu’s
breast as though he is choosing a mango from a basket. According to Braun, Linder and Asimov 478, when a person gets a
problem and find no solution for the problem, shehe will just accept the problem. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
When Ammu faces the reality that her return to her own house is unwelcome sometimes she just lets the problem go. It makes the society around her think that
she lives between two worlds. Somehow she can be dangerous but somehow she is not.
Ammu is less honored in the society because she divorces her husband. The society does not honor her because as a wife she cannot accept all the household
problems caused by her husband. She is also considered as a woman without good morality. It is because she cannot keep the tradition rules to be a good wife and a
good mother in her family. Since she was a girl she has been taught the basic law of Indian society. Although Ammu’s family are Christian Syrian but the Hinduism
has rooted in her family. “Twenty percent of Kerala’s population were Syrian Christians, who believed that they were descendants of the one hundred Brahmins
whom Saint Thomas the Apostle converted to Christianity when he traveled east after the resurrection Roy 66.”
Indian society gives husbands a position as a god on earth. According to Mayo 30, a woman in India is very weak. She is completely unrecognized and
her knowledge is just to praise the household idols, namely husband. She has been taught to praise their husband as god on earth. She accepts her husband as her
personal god. The ideal Indian women should respect their husbands. They have been
taught that they must regard their husbands as their God on earth. Wives have to serve their husbands well . They have to obey their husband. They also have to
devote all of her life for their husband, children and family Mayo 30. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
It can be seen that the society’s treatments affect Ammu to pursue equality. Her family, especially her brother - Chacko, never acknowledges her deeds. The
caste system and patriarchal system that root in their life make him become very arrogant to Ammu. Baby Kochama, Ammu’s aunt, does the same thing to Ammu.
She refuses Ammu’s return. According to her, becoming a widow is like a curse. Besides that, the society believes that as a widow she has no right anymore in her
parents’ home. According to Maslow 42, a person needs esteem needs and self- actualization needs. Esteem needs are given in the form of the treatment of the
society. They include prestige, recognition, acceptance, attention, status, reputation, and appreciation. If this needs are fulfilled a person will feel confident
and more productive. On the contrary, a person will feel inferior, weak and hopeless. Meanwhile self actualization is achieved after the esteem needs are
fulfilled. These needs are related to how a person can express herself. In this novel, Ammu experiences bad treatments’ from the society because she is a
widow. She is very difficult to express herself. This situation makes Ammu struggle to achieve the equality. She wants to have recognition, prestige,
acceptance, etc from the society.
3. The Struggles of Ammu for Equality
