2. Revalue
To revalue means to consider that someone or something is important. In this case, women‟s position is revalued. It means that women‟s position is also as important
as men‟s. Women in the traditional view were not seen as something important because their position is lower than men. Therefore, there is a need to revalue
women‟s position to assure the society that women are as important as men. They are
equal as
human being
living in
this world.
6
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
The study on Caryl Churchill‟s Top Girls was also done by other researchers. In this section, there are some short passages taken from journals. The first is from Rebecca
Cameron‟s journal entitled “From Great Women to Top Girls: Pageants of Sisterhood in British Feminist Theater” who writes:
... however, this production expresses a feminist ideal more than they do a material reality; the performance of united sisterhood shows signs of strain with a certain
degree of self-awareness 2009:143. From that short sentence, Cameron tells the reader that Top Girls only reveals the
idea of feminism through the sisterhood of all the characters who come from different cultures and period of time. From Cameron‟s point of view, the play being discussed only
deals with the „feminist ideal‟ which means it is on how men and society should treat women.
However one interprets the play, the experience of these six women exemplifies how male domination in the patriarchal system has occurred since centuries ago and
is supported by most sacred institutions of the Church and flourishes in the marriage institution Djunjung, 2002:174.
A bit similar to Cameron, Jenny M. Djunjung also writes that Top Girls deals with
the idea of the existence of patriarchal system in that era that women could not resist. They hardly resist that kind of male domination because it had already existed long time
ago. Although there were some feminist movement, or what so called as suffrage movement, they run ineffectively because Church which was supposed to be neutral
supported that patriarchal system.
After reading the other studies perspective toward Caryl C hurchill‟s Top Girls, there
is a need to seek for a further learning point of the play. The previous studies only focused on one main point in which feminism took its place. It is the existence of
patriarchal system and feminist ideal. Besides, like what Kritzer had said earlier, Churchill actually has given the reader space to go beyond her story 1989: 131.
A short passage below is from Hua Ni and Dawei Lian‟s journal entitled “Study of the Fragmented Structure in Oracle Night
as a Metafiction.” Fragmented narration at least has the following function in Oracle Night. In the first
place, fragmented narration provides infinite space for the writer‟s imagination. ... In this kind of writing, we would have difficulty assuring ourselves whether the
writer is narrating a real experience or is just simply creating a fiction Ni and Lian, 2012: 545.
From the quotation above, it is seen that fragmentation could help the audience to
see something beyond the story itself. The researcher agrees that fragmentation exists to make the audience of Top Girls become more critical on the postmodern style in writing
such a feminist themed work. Fragmentation is used simply to deliver Churchill‟s message on how the society has changed, which the researcher explains in the next
chapter on the analysis part. If Hua Ni and Dawei Lian, through their journal, wonder „whether the writer is narrating a real experience or is just simply creating a fiction,‟
through this study, the researcher tries to explain how actually Churchill does both thing in her Top Girls.
Together with the fragmentation of the main figure, their remarks contribute to the transformation of the dramatic space, from the realistically depicted bedroom to non
real landscape Kolecka, 2009: 117-118. Anna Suwals
ka Kolecka, through her work “Fragmentation and Discontinuity in Three Tall Women,
” shows that fragmentation can be a medium for a „transformation‟
from something to something else. In her work, she states that the „transformation‟ being discussed is the
change from „the realistically depicted bedroom to non real landscape‟ 2009: 118. In other words, fragmentation takes charge in transfiguring new
identity of something. The researcher agrees with Kolecka‟s work. It means that fragmentation can be a media
in „transforming‟ a new identity. This study is a development of the other studies that have been mentioned earlier. It
explains how the fragmentation as seen through the non linear plot, mixed characters coming from different period of time, and the fragmented setting are described in the
play being discussed. This study also examines how the fragmentation style used in Top Girls
makes a twist in each end of the scenes to trigger the audience thinking about women‟s position and the fragmentation itself as a medium in revaluing women‟s
position. B.
Review of Related Theories
In this section, the researcher presents several theories that are applied in analyzing the work for this study. They are theory of feminism, postmodernism, and postmodern
feminism. 1.
Theory of Postmodernism Postmodernism is a movement originated within the arts and architecture. It
is now a term which encompasses various approaches, including discourse analysis, genealogy, deconstructionism, textuality. What binds postmodernists is their rejection of
modernity; they question, for instance, the Western knowledge systems, the social construction of dominant interpretations, rationality, and are concerned with forms of
resistance and silenced voices Marchand and Parpart, 1995: 245.
