Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of the background of the study and the approach of the study. Background of the study provides the reason of choosing the story, benefits of the study, the problems formulation, and the objectives of the study. Then, approach of the study discusses the object of the study, the method and the approach which are employed in the study.

A. Background of the Study

There are various kinds of works of literature; one of them is novel. According to Bressler 1999, Novel as a work of literature is a text with certain qualities, contains some elements such as plot, character, tone, symbol, conflict that often represents author’s life or experience and has major action to give values to the readers, and also to entertain the readers p.10. It means that besides entertaining the readers, reading novel might also give values to the readers. The author of the novel could create or write any story which she would like to tell the readers. The stories could be a love story, a history, a tragedy, etc. A novel might also enrich the readers ’ knowledge through the story which is told in it. Novel is divided into two types, there are fiction and nonfiction. Novel which is analyzed by the researcher is about women who are being oppressed by a social group called Taliban. The author writes the story based on 2 her inspiration when she visited refugees in Afghanistan. In writing the story, the author describes the setting in the novel such as the place and the time, the character in the novel; character’s feeling and situation. The purpose of describing the setting in the novel is to tell the readers about the society which exists in the novel. Langland, 1984 states, “society is a concept and a construct in fiction” p.4. It means that by describing the society it would help the readers understand the concept in the novel. In other word, the author wants the readers to put themselves into the situation in the novel. However, the situations in the novel are just the same as the situations in our reality nowadays. Since the situation in the novel still exists today, the researcher hopes the readers might understand the story better. Men and women have the same rights to live in this world. In some countries, women and men get the same treatment in the surroundings. However, in some other countries, women are treated differently as men. Afghanistan is one of the countries which treats men and women differently. According to Wall 2014, “The perpetration of men’s violence against women is understood to be a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women ” p.1. Therefore, women in whose country has a history about men’s violence against women would receive a different treatment in the society. In Afghanistan, men have more power than women. Women are treated differently since Afghanistan has history about it. Women ’s oppression happens during the Taliban regime. Women can only stay at home and cannot go to work. Women cannot also go to school. Women are only allowed to stay at home. Since this case still 3 happens nowadays, this case has already drawn big attention to people around the world. It makes the researcher wants to analyze this case deeper. The author of the novel is Deborah Ellis. She is one of feminist activists in Canada. She writes a novel about Afghan women’s life based on her experience when she visited Afghanistan. The novel is entitled The Breadwinner because the novel tells about an eleven-year-old girl who becomes the breadwinner for her family. She becomes the breadwinner because women are oppressed by the Taliban. Therefore, she disguises herself into a boy so the Taliban would not know her identity. Based on the novel, Taliban is a group of Muslim people who rule the country Ellis, 2000:11. The story in the novel takes place in Afghanistan, where the Taliban controls the country. This novel also reveals the social situation which happens to the major character and other women in Afghanistan where women could not go outside of their house, they could not go to work or school, and they must cover their body when they go outside. In The Breadwinner, Parvana is the major character. Parvana is an eleven- year-old girl who becomes breadwinner for her family in order to keep her family alive. However, in her struggle to work for her family, Parvana does not show herself, because she cannot go outside alone even if her mother accompanies her. Her father is not around because her father is arrested. Therefore, in order to go outside safely, she disguises herself into a boy since the Taliban only allows boy and men go outside the house. Her father is arrested because the Taliban knows that her father goes to school in the UK and her father could speak English. According to the Taliban, her father betrays them so they arrest her father. Since 4 then, Parvana is the only one who can help her family. Unfortunately, she has an unwise sister. Her sister does not want to go to work for her family. Her sister just stays at home and helps her mother. Hence , the family’s only hope is Parvana. Besides Par vana’s story, the novel also reveals the social situation which happens in Afghanistan. The author also tells about how the Taliban leads the country and how they treat the women unfairly. The benefits of this study are the readers might able to enhance their knowledge about the women ’s oppression that happens in Afghanistan. It provides some information and knowledge for the readers to learn about women ’s oppression during the Taliban regime. It might also help the readers to have a better understanding a bout Afghanistan’s social culture and also its history. Another benefit is it will develop people ’s awareness of women’s oppression. The researcher expects by discussing it, women ’s oppression in the surroundings society, or even the world would decrease. Based on the background of the study, the major character’s characteristics and women ’s oppression are the main object of this study. Therefore, the researcher decides that, there are two formulated problems which are needed to be analyzed in this study. Those formulated problems are; first, “How does women’s oppression change the major character’s characteristics as seen in the novel?” and “How is women’s oppression exposed in the novel?” By conducting this study, the researcher intends to find out the changes of the major character’s characteristics which is caused by women ’s oppression, and expose the women’s oppression which is experienced by Afghan women 5 The objectives of this study are to find out the changes of the major character ’s characteristics and to show women’s oppression which is exposed in the novel. By understanding the objectives of the study, the readers are hoped to have high awareness of how to treat people around them. So, there will be no oppression happened in the society. As the readers have known how is the feeling of people who are being oppressed.

B. Approach of the Study