fight over old custom where bisexualism and lesbianism are still considered taboo. Lillian is a woman who is very adventurous in her love life. She has several
relationship with men and once builds a marriage but it does not work. Lillian’s sexual interest is not only towards men, but also women. They are Djuna, Helen,
and Sabina whom Lillian is attracted to. As they also have interest with woman, they share affection and passion with Lillian. These four women then try to reach
their own happiness by pursuing their natural desire and freedom. With their effort, they make that it is not impossible to have sexual attraction both in male
and female. They show that human, specifically woman, should be free to experiment their sexual interests without being limited by society’s assumption.
B. Approach of the Study
In conducting the analysis towardLadders to Fire, the writer uses Feminist Literary Criticism approach since this research focuses on the struggle of the
women characters to break patriarchy’s gender stereotype. Maggie Humm states that feminist literary criticism rejects traditional standards of criticism and of
literary history. Feminists use literary criticism to help them deconstruct the politics of patriarchy as it is represented in language 1995: 153. According to the
previous statements, it can be concluded that feminist literary criticism concerns on how women struggle to pursue and criticize gender issue through literature.
Moreover, Humm also states that the first and major achievement of feminist criticism was thus to highlight gender streotyping as an important feature of
literary form 1995: 8. By this statement, the basic goal of feminist literary PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
criticism is to reform gender streotyping which put women lower and more marginalized in patriarchal society.
The writer chooses this approach to analyze the ideas of radical libertarian feminism as reflected in Ladders to Fire. There are two main characters in the
novel named Lillian and Djuna who have similar sexual preference and use it as the freedom to pursue their passion. Their struggle becomes the reflection of
feminism, specifically radical libertarian feminism, which fight over patriarchy’s gender streotyping.
C. Method of the Study
In this study, the writer used library research as the method to gather the data and theories. Library research is defined as the systematic study and
investigation of some aspect of library and information science where conclusion are based on the analysis of data collected in accordance with pre-established
research designs and methodologies hlwiki.slais.ubc.ca, August 9, 2016. This is the most relevant method to conduct this study since it concerns on the document
sources. The primary source is the novel entitled Ladders to Fire with foreword by Gunther Stuhlmann by Anais Nin. Secondary sources are used to support this
study which are collected through jurnals, books and dictionaries. There are also web-based sources to gather all the supporting information in this study.
To study the primary source, there were some steps applied. The novel was read firstly to get whole understanding about the contents and other aspects within
the novel. After deciding to analyze feminism as reflected through the women PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
characters in the novel, the writer focused on the major characters only who are Lillian and Djuna. Their characteristics in the novel were analyzed using the
theory of character and characterization. After studying their characteristics, the writer then related their characteristics with feminism theory, specifically radical
libertarian feminism. Finally, the conclusion of this study was drawn after passing through all the steps.
