She does not want to end up like her mother whose life is under the control of her husband.
For my whole life I had dreamed about running away and escaping my family. Now I was finally doing it. I hadn’t had time to think or process
anything. The shock was starting to overwhelm me 2009: 64.
Hannah has a big dream about running away and escaping from her family because she cannot find happiness there. Because of her bravery, she can do that.
2.d. Courageous to State Her Argument
At first, Hannah is very shy and hard to speak up about the condition around her. Then, Hannah becomes a woman who brave to state her opinion. She
is not afraid of facing her father’s reaction in order to defeat her mother. She wants to change the condition in her patriarchal society that women should be
brave to speak up about what she feels and wants. It can be seen from the way Hannah answers her father in order to defeat her mother. Mr. Shah hates everyone
who is not a Pakistani Muslim, but her wife takes the opportunity to take English lessons from one of Hannahs teachers, Miss Smith, in a home learning scheme.
Miss Smith comes once a week when the Imam is at the mosque and Mrs. Shah keeps her notebook hidden inside her sewing machine. One day, the Imam comes
home early and finds Miss Smith in his house. Then, Mr. Shah gives his wife a memorable beating. Hannah tries to protect her mother, but her father turns on
her. Hannah does not like the way her father threats her mother badly. Hannah is brave and straightforward in saying her opinion. She decides to speak out and
break the silence. It can be seen when Hannah’s father knows that her wife welcomes western people to their house. He is very angry and then beats her wife.
“What are you doing? Bringing that gori into the house? A dirty gori infidel In my house How dare you”
“You are not hitting Mummy” I cried out. I held up my arms to try to stop him. “Stop it Stop it Leave Mummy alone”
“Get out of the way” he screamed. I do what I like in this house I’m your father You do as I say Get out of the way”
“I had started to cry, but I kept repeating the same words through my tears: You’re not hitting Mummy. You’re not hitting Mummy. You’re
not hitting…” My brothers were upstairs. They must have been able to hear Mum’s
screams, but they didn’t react. I guess they didn’t feel they could challenge my father’s authority in the family, or within the wider
community as a whole 2009: 22.
Hannah shows her bravery from her reaction to face her family when she fights
against her father. Hannah is brave to state her opinion when her father asks her to keep silent when her father feels that he has the authority in the house that no one
can deny it. Another example that shows Hannah is brave in stating her argument is
when Hananh’s father comes to school. After escaping from her house, Hannah lives in her teacher’s house, Felicity. Hannah still continues her study at school.
One day, her father comes to school. He begs Hannah to go home. She knows that her father only does that to maintain his pride and family honour. When Hannah’s
father cries, Hannah knows that it is fake tears. To Hannah, escaping from house is a right thing to do. She wants to be free from oppression and abuse. Women
who live in patriarchal society usually cannot give her opinion. However, Hannah does not afraid to speak up about what she thinks is true.
“The shame, the shame He railed. “Look what you’ve done to us…. Look at the shame you’ve brought on the family. Please come home.
How can we live with the shame?’ At the moment I knew absolutely that my father’s tears were false. It was
a sickening show and a sham. He didn’t care one jot about me. He cared only to maintain his precious, precious ‘honour’.
“No way,” I answered him, in Punjabi. “I’m not coming home today, and I’m not coming home tomorrow. I’m never coming home” 2009: 95
Hannah’s father only thinks about the shame and honour for her family. Hannah
does not want to be trapped into patriarchal society anymore. He is brave to say no and leaves her family to get a better future.
3. Independent
Women in Hannah’s society should stay at home and do the house household chores, they are forced to be dependent on men and live under men’s
controls. As an independent woman, Hannah does not want to depend herself on others. She has to face the problem inside her family alone and finds the solution.
Hannah’s independence can be seen since her childhood through her action that does not want to be trapped in the patriarchal society. She wants to be an
independent woman and wants to do anything as best as she can without men’s control. She does not want only do house things, but also something else that men
can do. I wanted to experiment my life and rally push boundaries of my
independences and freedom. I wanted to stand on my own two feet more than ever, and to do so I felt that I had and to do so I felt that I had –
reluctantly – to leave my home 2009: 25.
Hannah wants to experience her life to be independent and liberated. She wants to do everything by herself without depending her life on others. She wants to
explore her life by herself. Then, Hannah makes a decision to leave her family and challenges herself to live her life to the fullest.
As the story begins, Hannah’s childhood is unhappy and full of sorrow PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
because she lives under her father’s control. In order to bee free from this unfair situation, Hannah should study harder to get opportunity at school. Hannah uses
her opportunity at school to get better life. From the beginning of the story, she loves school and tries to do her best in class. To Hannah, school is a much happier
place than home. She studies as hard as she can, so she can escape from home and live independently. She finishes her school and gets a good grade. Being
successful at school, Hannah gets the opportunity to continue her study in a university that she wants.
I finally graduated with a 2:1. I was immensely proud of what I had achieved. I had studied hard and felt I really deserved my degree mark. It
was sad that I couldn’t share my success and happiness with my family, but there it was 2009: 126.
Hannah is successful in finishing her senior school and gets a good mark. After finishing her school, Hannah wants to start her new life without depending
on others. At the end of that year, she uses the opportunity in education to take Theology and Religious Studied, at Lancaster University. She follows her interest
that she loves the philosophy module in A-level Religious Studies. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after university. I thought I
might become a teacher, like Felicity, or a social worker, like Barry. These were the two people I most looked up to in my life. I knew I
wanted to help young women who were trapped in a similar situation to the one that I had been in, and had yet to fully escape. I knew that the
problem I had experienced were a growing issue. There were more and more stories appearing in the press about girls running away from
arranged marriages, and about so-called ‘honour killings’ 2009: 118.
Hannah plans to be a teacher and a social worker to help people who have the
same condition like hers. She believes that women who have the similar condition like hers must be liberated and escape from the patriarchal system.
Then she continues her own life to work and becomes a public speaker. By working and becoming a public speaker, Hannah begins to make her own
money to live independently. I wanted to learn to manage my own finances, to cook and care for
myself, to become totally self sufficient, and to be able to manage my own freedom. That’s what most people my age could do, and I wanted
the same. I wanted to be like them. PAB put you with people who could help you learn all those ‘life skills’ and make the transition into a free
and independent person 2009: 106.
As an independent person, Hannah learns to manage her money to continue her own life. She learns to manage her own finance, to take care for herself, to be a
self-sufficient, and to be able to manage her own freedom. She also helps any homeless people who come into her and teaches them a little independence, so
they can survive in their lives. I was actually very busy with work, and it was hard to find time out for
anything, let alone oddball Tom. I had started running a series of workshop about Islam and cross-cultural issues. It was part of my work
with a tiny charity called Crossways. Crossways helps people from different backgrounds to better understand Islam – both the belief system
and the culture that so often goes with it. I ran the workshop for Muslim girls focusing on how to communicate with their parents on issues like
arranged marriages, and other problems they might face. The aim was to get dialogue going, before ‘shame and honour’ came into equation
2009:133.
The new life of Hannah makes her feel liberated and free. She becomes confident to become independent and no longer lives in fear. After leaving her
family, as an independent woman, Hannah has to force herself to do what actually she wants to do. She also works with a charity, called Crossways which helps
people from different backgrounds to better understand Islam, both the belief system and the culture that they deal with. She leads the workshop for Muslim
girls focusing on how to communicate with their parents on issues like arranged marriages, and other problems they might face. She helps women how to face the
same problem like hers independently. She knows how to find a job. She thinks she can do anything without bothering anyone. The reason why she becomes
independent woman is that she believes in her own strength. She has to decide everything by her own.
B. The Ideas of Feminism Revealed through the Main Character.
To provide this thesis with a clearer explanation, the researcher focuses on the ideas of feminism in general, which accept all kinds of feminism. The ideas
of feminism themself are based on Hannah’s characteristics, the way of she thinks, and the way she struggles against the patriarchal society where she lives
in. The researcher finds two ideas of feminism based on it, which are freedom patriarchy and pursuing equality
1. Freedom from Patriarchy
Freedom is the basic idea of feminism and the must be applied in women’s life. The main character of Hannah, obviously reveals this idea which
can be seen from her demands of freedom. In Pakistan, patriarchal system makes women have no right to make a decision, and deprives women from freedom to
live their own lives. As her life continues, Hannah starts to feel tired with this patriarchal society. She begins to realize that she has to move and get out from
this social condition. Hannah then realizes that she must be free from the patriarchal society where she lives in. Related to feminism, a woman must break
the bonds of her patriarchal society and define herself if she wishes to become a significant human being in her own right and defy male classification as the other.
Women must realize that they have freedom to be significant human being not inferior human being Madsen, 2000: 182.
The first characteristic of Hannah that shows the idea of freedom from patriarchy is her being critical. Living in patriarchal society makes Hannah
sceptical and curious about her life, which is not inappropriate. She criticizes something that she thinks is not true and illogical for her. It happens when she
criticizes the condition between men and women in her society. Hannah uses her own right to be free from patriarchal society. Being part of western society, it
makes Hannah to be more critical. Humm states that women become more aware of herself and her society. The struggle against patriarchy begins as the voice of
women is found. By becoming conscious women find the chance and use the chance to speak against injustice. Struggle against patriarchy starts after women
becoming conscious of themselves and criticizing their symbolic misinterpretations in society 1990: 3.
She likes to compare her life to others. Here, Hannah compares her belief system to other belief systems to get a better life, which lets Hannah to be
liberated. When she joins her western friends, Hannah feels the freedom is very close to her and she compares it to her society and the routine that she faces
everyday. Hannah also wants to be free because her Pakistani friend inspires her in terms of how to face life. One of her friends who inspires her to get the sense of
freedom is Sonia. Sonia’s family towards women is completely different from PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
