The response of the main characters toward the practice of Chinese Patriarchal Culture as revealed in Lisa See`s now Flower and The Secret Fan.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
THE RESPONSE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS TOWARD THE
PRACTICE OF CHINESE PATRIARCHAL CULTURE AS
REVEALED IN LISA SEE’S SNOW FLOWER AND
THE SECRET FAN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
NOVITA
Student number: 084214078
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2012
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
THE RESPONSE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS TOWARD THE
PRACTICE OF CHINESE PATRIARCHAL CULTURE AS
REVEALED IN LISA SEE’S SNOW FLOWER AND
THE SECRET FAN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
NOVITA
Student number: 084214078
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2012
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH
UNTUK KEPENTINGAN KAMPUS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma
Nama
: Novita
Nomor Mahasiswa
: 084214078
Demi kepentingan ilmu pengetahuan saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
THE RESPONSE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS TOWARD THE PRACTICE
OF CHINESE PATRIARCHAL CULTURE AS REVEALED IN
LISA SEE’S SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan
kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan
dalam
bentuk
media
lain,
mengelolanya
dalam
bentuk
pangkalan
data,
mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain
untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan
royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta.
Pada tanggal: 30 November 2012
Yang menyatakan,
Novita
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Life is a song j sing it.
Life is a game j play it.
Life is a challenge j meet it.
Life is a dream j realize it.
Life is a sacrifice j offer it.
Life is love j enjoy it.
a S a i B a b aa
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
This undergraduate
thesis is dedicated to
my beloved
Parents
Brothers
Sisters
because of their
affection, supports,
and prayers.
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I want to give my deepest gratefulness to Jesus Christ. Because of
His blessings, finally I could finish my thesis.
I also thank to my advisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani S.S., M.Hum., who helps
me from the beginning till the end of my thesis writing. I realize that I will never
come to this end of my study without her patient and compassion to accompany and
give me so many precious advices. I also thank my co-advisor, Maria Ananta Tri
Suryandari, S.S., M.Ed, for reading my thesis and giving me the needed corrections.
For all my lecturers of the English Letters Department, I give my great thanks
for their guidance during my study. I also thank all the secretariat staffs who always
gave me a big help in processing my administrative stuff.
I thank my family, for their care and support that I needed most. I thank my
father and my beloved mother who always accompany and guide me patiently during
my thesis writing. My deep love also goes to my brothers and especially to my sister,
Dewi for her never ending support and motivation. I love them so much. I thank them
for their never ending loves, prayers, patience, support, encouragements and
understanding. I also thank to my cousin, Akun for giving me an indirect motivation
to finish my thesis as soon as possible. A great thank also to my great uncle, Viktor,
for his supports both in fund and motivation, I appreciate it so much.
I thank my great friends, Cicil, Karin, Lidya, and Sia, my boardinghouse
mates who always give me support and help. I also thank Mami Linda, Siska, Pebri,
Riris, Palut, Jefry, and Gustin for our hanging outs together. Thank for you all and
hopefully this friendship will last forever. I also thank Topan for lending me his
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Thesis; and for Putri for our sharing during my thesis writing. Most of all, a great
thank to my special friend, An-An for his patient and support to me especially when I
am down and sad; and thank also for the unforgettable vacations we had to forget my
boredom and dizziness for a while. Thank also to so many motivational and
inspirational people I met out there and their great books and writings I read that have
given me so many valuable teachings. Finally, my friends in English Letters‘08
whose names are not mentioned unintentionally, I thank you all for the friendship,
support, and prayers. It is a great pleasure to know all of you
Novita
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE .....................................................................................................
APPROVAL PAGE ...........................................................................................
ACCEPTANCE PAGE .....................................................................................
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ...........................
MOTTO PAGE ..................................................................................................
DEDICATION PAGE .......................................................................................
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...............................................................................
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................
ABSTRAK .........................................................................................................
i
ii
iii
iv
v
vi
vii
ix
x
xi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................
A. Background of the Study ...................................................................
B. Problem Formulation ........................................................................
C. Objectives of the Study .....................................................................
D. Definition of Terms ...........................................................................
1
1
4
5
5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ....................................................
A. Review of Related Studies ................................................................
B. Review of Related Theories ..............................................................
1. Theory of Character and Characterization ..................................
2. Theory of Patriarchal Culture ......................................................
3. Theory of Feminism ....................................................................
C. Theoretical Framework .....................................................................
7
7
10
10
11
17
21
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ..................................................................
A. Object of the Study ............................................................................
B. Approach of the Study ......................................................................
C. Method of the Study ..........................................................................
22
22
24
25
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ...............................................................................
A. The Characteristics of the Main Characters .......................................
1. The Characteristics of Lily ...........................................................
2. The Characteristics of Snow Flower ...........................................
B. The Practices of Patriarchy in China ..................................................
C. The Rebellion of the main Characters ................................................
26
26
26
30
35
47
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ..........................................................................
62
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...............................................................................................
67
APPENDIX: Summary of Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan .............
70
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ABSTRACT
Novita (2012).The Response Of The Main Characters Toward The Practice Of
Chinese Patriarchal Culture As Revealed In Lisa See’s Snow Flower And The
Secret Fan. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata
Dharma University.
This thesis discusses Lisa See’s novel, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. The
story begins with the match of sisterhood called laotong between Lily and Snow
Flower. With Snow Flower, Lily writes stories with their women secret writing, nu
shu which is written in their fan. When they are married out, there are many problems
that they should face as a married woman who have to follow all the patriarchal
values. Later, Lily humiliates her laotong in front of the other women because of the
misunderstanding in their fan. Finally, Lily regrets her acts and spends her life to
write about women’s stories and sufferings.
There are three problems to be analyzed in this thesis. They are: (1)How are
the main characters described in See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan? (2)What are
the practices of Chinese patriarchal culture experienced by the main characters?
(3)What is the response of the main characters to the practice of Chinese patriarchal
culture?
This study employs a library study method. There are two kinds of sources.
The primary source is the novel itself, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. The
secondary sources are taken from several books, papers, and articles related to the
topic. In answering the problems, several theories on literature and feminism are
applied. The feminism approach is chosen since the analysis deal with women’s
oppression. There are theories of character and characterization, theory of patriarchal
culture, and theory of feminism.
The result of the analysis shows that the main characters in the novel are Lily
and Snow Flower. Lily is described as lack of attention; obedient; yielding; good in
householdskills; smart; and having a not really good temper. Snow Flower is
described as expressive and talkative; good in art skills; obedient and yielding; and
realistic. There are several practices of patriarchy, such as women are isolated; they
should have attributes like being passive, submissive, yielding, obedient, and filial to
men; daughters are completely unexpected; exploitation, oppression, and violence in
their marriage life; the arranged marriage; the crippling and tormenting foot binding;
and unequal right to have education of women and men. The response of the main
characters in small way toward the patriarchal culture is depicted in different way. Nu
shu is the same media that they use to show their rejection toward the patriarchal
culture. Lily completely disagrees with the patriarchal practices but she does not
show it directly. Snow Flower actually disagrees with it also but because of her
acceptance she finally just accepts all the bad luck she has without complaining.
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ABSTRAK
Novita (2012). The Response Of The Main Characters Toward The Practice Of
Chinese Patriarchal Culture As Revealed In Lisa See’s Snow Flower And The
Secret Fan. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata
Dharma.
Skripsi ini menganalisis novel karangan Lisa See, Snow Flower and the Secret
Fan. Novel ini menceritakan tentang kehidupan wanita China di abad ke-18. Cerita
bermula ketika ada perjodohan persaudaraan perempuan yang disebut laotong dalam
bahasa China antara Lily dan Snow Flower. Lily menulis kepada Snow Flower
menggunakan bahasa rahasia wanita mereka, nu shu yang ditulis di kipas mereka.
Ketika mereka menikah, banyak permasalahan yang harus mereka hadapi sebagai
seorang istri yang harus tunduk kepada nilai-nilai patriarki. Kemudian, terjadi
kesalahpahaman dan Lily mempermalukan Snow Flower di depan wanita-wanita lain.
Pada akhirnya, Lily menyesal dan menjalani masa tuanya dengan menulis cerita
tentang wanita dan penderitan-penderitaan mereka.
Dalam skripsi ini, ada tiga masalah yang dianalisis. (1) Bagaimana karakter
utama dijelaskan dalam novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan? (2) Apa saja praktekpraktek budaya patriarki China yang dialami oleh karakter utama? (3) Apa respon
yang ditunjukkan karakter utama terhadap praktek-praktek tersebut?
Skripsi ini menggunakan metode studi pustaka. Ada dua macam sumber
pendukung. Sumber utama adalah novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Sumber
kedua diambil dari buku-buku dan artikel-artikel yang berhubungan dengan topik
cerita. Dalam menjawab pertanyaan, beberapa teori tentang kesusastraan dan feminis
diaplikasikan dalam skripsi ini. Pendekatan yang digunakan adalah pendekatan
feminis karena analisis novel ini berhubungan dengan penindasan wanita. Teori yang
digunakan dalam menganalisis novel ini diantaranya adalah teori tokoh dan
penokohan, teori budaya patriarki, dan teori feminis.
Hasil analisa novel ini menunjukkan bahwa karakter utama dalam novel ini
adalah Lily dan Snow Flower. Lily dijelaskan sebagai orang yang kurang mendapat
perhatian; penurut; patuh; pintar dalam pekerjaan rumah; cerdas; dan terkadang
berwatak egois. Snow Flower dijelaskan sebagai orang yang ekpresif dan suka bicara;
pintar dalam ketrampilan wanita; patuh dan penurut; dan realistis. Ada beberapa
praktek budaya patriarki, seperti keadaan wanita yang terkungkung di rumah; wanita
harus mempunyai sifat-sifat seperti pasif, tunduk, penurut, patuh, dan berbakti pada
pria; anak perempuan tidak diharapkan dalam keluarga; pemerasan, penindasan, dan
kekerasan dalam kehidupan rumah tangga; pernikahan yang diatur; pengikatan kaki
yang menyakitkan, dan ketidaksetaraan hak dalam mendapatkan pendidikan.
Penolakan dalam bentuk kecil terhadap praktek-praktek budaya patriarki tersebut
ditunjukkan oleh karakter utama, kedua karakter tersebut menunjukkannya dalam
cara yang berbeda. Nu shu menjadi media yang sama yang digunakan untuk
menunjukkan penolakan kedua karakter tersebut. Lily tidak setuju dengan praktekpraktek patriarki. Snow Flower sebenarnya juga tidak setuju tetapi karena
penerimaannya akhirnya dia menerima saja nasib buruknya tanpa protes.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A.
Background of the Study
Talking about women oppression and submission is always interesting
because it is an old issue which still happens today in some societies. Chinese
women, for example, experienced the bad moment after about the thirteenth century
when they were aimed to be subservient to men in their life. They had many
experiences from their childhood to adulthood related to the obligation in all aspects
of their life. They did not have any freedom to express their feeling and desire.
Women in China represented the cruel life of women in a patriarchal culture with the
rules and norms that women had to follow without complaint.
Since their childhood, Chinese girls got bad treatments from their parents.
When they were born, they brought little joy to the family, and in the very poor
family it was a common thing to kill the infant girl. Girls were the burden of the
family because they were just considered as useless mouth that needed to be fed but
would not continue the family line. The girls who were lucky could live but with
very little care from parents. They would be fed until they reached seventeen or so
then would be married out to a stranger (Eastman, 1988: 20).
Chinese girls had to experience the crippling foot binding when they reached
the age three or four. This practice probably originated among dancing girls in the
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2
palace during the late Tang Dynasty in the ninth to tenth century. This practice was
in no sense religious but purely a matter of social convention. Girls without small
feet would be regarded as social disgrace and could not find the desirable husband
(Latourette, 1951: 680). This practice was also applied to attain the smallest feet that
related to the sexual allure in which men saw it as something tempting and
interesting.
Chinese women also had to follow their fate when their wedding had been
properly arranged since their childhood. They had no chance to choose their own
husband because it was thus an alliance between two different families, not a matter
of individual choice and mutual affection (Smith, 1994: 253). The purpose of
marriage was just simply to maintain the continuation of the family line, which
means that women had to bear son to maintain their position in the family.
Actually, when women married out, their other miseries began.
“On the day of the wedding, the woman cut her throat just as she was being
put into the bridal chair to be carried to her husband’s home. Mao was deeply
affected by the incident, and he referred to the bridal sedan as a “prisoner’s
cart”, a vehicle that took a young woman away from her own home and
planted her in someone else’s, usually to live the rest of her life in silent
despair” (Smith, 1991:195).
The quotation above shows us the parable of the bridal chair which is regarded as the
prisoner cart which brought that woman to her miserable life. When they married out
to one family she did not know at all, she actually began her life as the silent creature
who had to obey and yield to men.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
3
Women were ignored and did not get much chance to talk, to act or to express
what they wanted and felt; women never got the opportunity to speak. This pattern
appeared clearly in the society and women had to married out to the men they did not
know. When they married and lived in the husband’s house they had to obey the rule
in that house, they had to serve the husband and all people in that house. This was the
norm of Chinese society; ones who disobeyed the rule will get the punishment from
the family and the society.
“Women have to respect their husband, fathers, older brothers, and other
related senior males; if they do not, they will find themselves becoming social
outcasts” (Hsu, 1948: 207).
Women were accustomed to keep silent rather than speak up their willing. In
the novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, there were some sworn sisters who came
and did the women’s work such as making embroidery, sewing, singing and also
writing the women’s secret writing. They enjoyed the time when gathering together
and hissing their stories, much sorrowful than joyful. In other word, Chinese women
were having close relationship and friendship because of the same experience and
life story; they formed emotional ties with other women (Humm, 1992: 337).
The novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan tells about the hard life of women
who lived under the patriarchal culture. They could only survive if they followed the
rule and norm in the society. Snow Flower and Lily have different family
background, different class and status, but they could make a good relationship
which is seen through the time they sharing their skills together, Snow Flower shared
her art and writing skills while Lily shared her household skills. Through the hard
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
4
living, both characters showed their response toward the oppression by their writings
in the fan that represented their rejection.
This study wants to bring up the idea of women in China that were regarded
as inferior to men physically, socially, politically, and sexually. The idea that
women’s place is in home not in the public made them more suppressed in the
society. The novel has many valuable things about culture, what is hidden and what
is the truth which is very surprising. The least but not last, the writer intends to share
the perspectives of women and how they response toward the harsh condition in
order to get their freedom.
B.
Problem Formulation
These three questions will guide and help the writer to analyze and have
further discussion on this novel.
1.
How are the main characters described in See’s Snow Flower and the Secret
Fan?
2.
What are the practices of Chinese patriarchal culture experienced by the main
characters?
3.
What is the response of the main characters to the practice of Chinese
patriarchal culture?
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
C.
5
Objectives of the Study
This study is intended to answer those three questions stated in the problem
formulation. The first objective is to describe the characteristics of the characters in
the story, Snow Flower and Lily. The second objective is to identify the practices of
Chinese patriarchal culture. This will help the writer to make a trustworthy study.
Then, the third objective is to observe the response of Snow Flower and Lily toward
the practices of patriarchal culture which in fact tormented women physically and
mentally. Those objectives are very important because they are related each other,
the response is also affected by their characteristics and we will be able to know the
character’s characteristics through their thoughts, utterances, and actions in the story.
The writer puts some women activists who gave great contribution to women’s life.
Their perspectives can be about women’s oppression universally and also about
Chinese women’s oppression specifically.
D.
Definition of Term
1.
Culture: According to Kroeber, A.L., & Kluckhohn, in his paper entitled
Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions defines that "Culture consists
of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by
symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their
embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e.
historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture
systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, and on the other
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
6
as conditioning elements of further action." (Kroeber, 1952:47). While the other
definition is "By culture we mean all those historically created designs for living,
explicit and implicit, rational, irrational, and nonrational, which exist at any given
time as potential guides for the behavior of men." (Kluckhohn, 1945:78-105).
2.
Patriarchy: Patriarchy literally means rule of the father in a male-dominated
family. It is a social and ideological construct which considers men (who are the
patriarchs) as superior to women (Ray, 2012:1). According to Sylvia Walby in
“Theorising Patriarchy” calls it “a system of social structures and practices in which
men dominate, oppress and exploit women” (Walby, 1990). Patriarchal societies
propagate the ideology of motherhood which restrict women’s mobility and burdens
them with the responsibilities to nurture and rear children. “Patriarchal ideas blur the
distinction between sex and gender and assume that all socio-economic and political
distinctions between men and women are rooted in biology and anatomy (Heywood,
2003: 248).
Patriarchal culture is a traditional pattern which is historically created in a
society or group which consists of the attached values, conditioning elements of
further action and also potential guides for the behavior that put men as superior and
can dominate, oppress and exploit women. This pattern becomes a system of social
structures and practices in that society.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
The writer will present some reviews that are found in some printed sources
like books, studies, papers, and articles and also from the electronic sources like
internet. Those reviews of related study contain the comment of the critics and the
analysis of the story in their point of view. The writer also adds some relevant
theories that will be used to answer the problem formulation.
A.
Review on Related Studies
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan written by Lisa See is a novel that tells
about the close friendship between two women in China in 18th century. Snow
Flower and Lily represent the lives of Chinese women who have to experience the
foot binding that much tormenting, and also they present the reader with their idea of
rejection toward patriarchal culture seen through women’s secret writing in their fan.
See had worked so hard to collect data related to this novel by travelling to
remote area in China. After the long and tiring research she finally got the most
important data that tell the whole story of women’s life that is from the women secret
writing called Nu Shu in Chinese language. Many reviews came up since this novel
has been sold to 38 countries and became the New York Bestseller, the Booksense
Number One Pick, and won numerous awards domestically and internationally.
(http://www.lisasee.com/Bio.htm) (18 March 2012).
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8
One of the studies related to the patriarchal society is The Responses of
Chinese Immigrant Women in America in the Mid 20th Century toward the Demands
of the Society in Lisa See’s Shanghai Girl written by Emeilya Kumala Sari,
“Although she is modern, she keeps preserving her old culture, the Chinese culture.
Therefore, she also accepts the demands of the society attached to her which are also
based on the Chinese culture as her duties” (Sari, 2011: 48). In the novel entitled
Shanghai Girl, there is an important idea about patriarchal value which exists in the
society with two cultures involved, Chinese and America. Women, no matter how
modern they are, they still have to maintain their old culture which is already
attached to them since their childhood. This means that though they have a better life
or even if they live in the place with different culture, they cannot forget or abandon
their Chinese culture because it is a duty of all women to keep and preserve it well.
Therefore, women should follow all the rules to become good women; one of it is for
being obedient.
Another study is written by Deasy Ekawati titled Orchid’s Character
Development and Struggle in Anchee Min’s Empress Orchid: A Reflection of Early
Feminist Struggle in China.
“As a woman herself, Min was not unfamiliar with the various hardships
women have to face in life, which became the main background for her
literary works. It is interesting to watch how Min unfolds and makes efforts
to restore the history of a leader who was heavily misunderstood and
wrongly depicted, only because she tried to rule and survive in a very
patriarchal land.” (Ekawati, 2009: 3).
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
9
The quotation shows that Min writes the novel based on what she knows and sees as
a woman. She tells a story about a leader who was misunderstood because she tried
to survive in a very patriarchal land. We can see that a woman, no matter in what
position she is or how influencing she is but if she lives in a society where men are
superior to women so she has to obey.
The studies written by Emeilya and Ekawati are quite similar to my study
which focuses on women’s position in a family and society that sees women as
inferior to men in the patriarchal society. Chinese women, even though they are
living in a place that is completely different with Chinese society, they have to
preserve and keep their old culture which means they should follow the value of
patriarchy. Snow Flower and Lily are two of millions of Chinese women who lived
under men’s domination in a patriarchal society. They present us the hard situation of
women’s life and how they survive through the cruel situation of foot binding,
marriage, friendship, and so forth. Both characters are looking for their freedom in
their way, in this case through their writings they show the objection and rebellion
toward the unfair and cruel situation they and all women have to face.
The writer wants to study women’s responses to the practices of patriarchal
culture, here the writers emphasizes on the way the two characters rebel to the
practice of patriarchal culture through their writings.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
B.
Review on Related Theory.
1.
Character and Characterization.
10
Barnet in his book Literary for Composition defined character into two
meanings, the first is a figure in a literary work and the second is a figure of
someone’s personality that divided into mental and moral qualities. There are some
important factors that must be considered when the readers want to know more about
the character, they are what the character says and does. Through the character’s own
attitude and way of speaking, we will know what kind of character that he observes.
The other factor is what the other character’s comment and action toward the
character (1988: 71).
In An Introduction to Fiction, Stanton states that the term character is used in
two ways, it designates the individuals who appear in the story; and its way refers to
description of attitudes, interests, desires, emotions, and moral principles of the
individuals (1965:17). He adds that character in a story can be categorized into two
different types: major character and minor character. Major character is a character
that may dominate the whole story and is frequently presented in it. Meanwhile, the
minor character is presented in order to explain and help the other character,
especially the major character (1965: 17-18).
Murphy in his book Understanding Unseen detailed the techniques of
characterization. There are nine techniques to understand a character in a story such
as through their personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life,
conversation of others, reaction, direct comment, thoughts, and mannerism. Here the
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
11
writer uses some of them which are really showing their characteristics like their
personal descriptions to define their physical look. The writer can also know the
characteristics through the character’s conversation and speech; their reaction toward
one thing; their thoughts and also their mannerism (1972: 161-173).
2.
Patriarchy & Chinese Patriarchal Culture.
Patriarchal culture has a long history, Chinese people have a great respect to
their ancestors and they believed that if they could maintain the family line, their
ancestors would be happy and gave protection to all of them.
The term “patriarchy” is therefore justified by this fact, that of the “universal”
oppression of women by men. As Adrienne Rich writes,
“Patriarchy is the power of the fathers: a familial-social, ideological, political
system in which men-by force, direct pressure, or through ritual, tradition,
law, and language, customs, etiquette, education, and the division of labor,
determine what part women shall or shall not play, and in which the female is
everywhere subsumed under the male…” (1976: 3).
Rich argues that women often experience the oppression from men, men control and
manage in what part women can be in and what women should do and not do. The
tradition also gives influence to women position in one society; because some
traditions place women in men’s authority and they are belong to men.
Patriarchy has two main forms, private and public. Private patriarchy is based
upon household production as the main site of women’s oppression. This form
creates women’s oppression in the field of household when women are bound to stay
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
12
at home and obey all the rules inside the house without complaining. Chinese
patriarchal society has made a distinction between men and women in their daily
activities. The domestic and private spheres in this case refer to the Chinese terms
nei-wai mean inner and outer. Women are assigned to the inner while men to the
outer, even the husband and wife are having a strict interaction and are separated in
many parts. Women’s concerns are related to those which are completely domestic
like nurturing children, cooking, and the other household works; while men can
handle the public affairs like farming and running business (Chan, 2000: 116).
Supporting the idea of patriarchy and women’s subordination to men,
McDowell and Pringle further state that, women are not only constantly defined in
relation to men, but are defined as dependent and subordinate to them as well (1992).
Women have to acquire qualities like gentleness, passivity, submission and striving
to please men always. This statement is basically similar to Simone de Beauvoir
analysis which views women as fundamentally different from themselves; they are
not autonomous creature but more likely as male dependent. Beauvoir states that men
are the subject who is subordinated by women, and women themselves are regarded
as the other one (1953: xxii).
Family has been the strongest universal unit in China and since they
appreciated family so highly then the practice of patriarchy will always continue time
to time. Chinese people are well known for their politeness and obedience to the
older and also faithfulness to their family. In the society, men and women never get
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
13
the same treatments from their family as well as their society, because women are
inferior to men and must assume a strictly subordinate role (Hsu, 1948: 207).
In the Chinese society, the baby boys are preferred than the baby girls,
because the girls are considered as the poor investment in traditional society of
China, since they will marry out and become the member of other’s households. The
very poor family may even sell their female children into slavery or prostitution and
it is not rare for the poor family to destroy the child. While the boys are considered
crucial and important because they will continue the family line and maintain the
ancestral sacrifices (Smith, 1994: 248).
The idea of Confucianism has a big contribution in creating the patriarchal
culture in China, a famous scholar Ban Zhao conducted the ideal womanhood as
stated,
“To be humble, yielding, respectful and reverential; to put herself after
others… these qualities are those exemplifying woman’s low and humble
estate. To retire late and rise early; not to shirk exertion from dawn to
dark… this is called being diligent. To behave properly and decorously in
serving her husband; to be serene and self-possessed, shunning jests and
laughter… this is called being worthy of continuing the husband’s lineage.
If a woman possesses the above mentioned three qualities, then her
reputation shall be excellent” (Eastman, 1988:19).
Women’s life is created and is managed orderly, they cannot do anything they want
and cannot behave inappropriately. Women in the time of Qing dynasty, for example,
might not go outside their upper chamber without any important purpose and should
be accompanied by other people. During their childhood women are accustomed to
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
14
be independent and not be spoiled. Their childhood is less hard and miserable
because they do not feel the unpleasant live with mother-in-law.
Women live in isolated circumstances; they cannot have freedom at all.
Women’s life is completely restricted in the women’s chamber and home, and there
is a story of Buddhist-oriented women who wish that in their next existence they will
be reborn as dogs so that they will have greater freedom (Smith, 1994: 250).
According to Gerda Lerner and Bhasin, family plays an important role in creating
hierarchical system and for socializing the next generation in patriarchal values
(1986: 127; 1993: 10). In this case, mother is the one who took the greatest role in
the continuation of the patriarchal culture; they preserve this culture indirectly by
teaching their daughter the proper quality of a good woman like being passive,
submissive and obedient to men so that it can be clearly understood why that culture
continue for so long time.
Suranjita Ray in the article Understanding Patriarchy writes that women are
not only treated as subordinate to men but are also subject to discriminations,
humiliations, exploitations, oppressions, control and violence (2012: 1). The violence
against women is happened because of the gender stereotypes toward them like
women experience the rape, sexual harassment, wife-beating, and so on from their
husband (Bhasin, 1993: 13). Women experience discrimination and unequal
treatment in terms of basic right of food, health care, education, employment, control
over productive resources, decision-making and livelihood not because of their
biological differences or sex, which is natural but because of their gender differences
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
15
which is a social construct (Geetha, 2002: 10). She says that sex is considered as a
fact, everyone is born with either male or female genitalia, but gender is social
construction, gender discrimination and differences are man-made and they get
legitimized in a patriarchal society.
China itself is one of the status-oriented societies in which the people are
really concerning about status in a society. In a family for example, there is a tight
differences in the position of father, mother, and other family member. Father is
typically remote, stern to his son, while his son is respectful, servile to his father.
There is no same treatment applied to the higher and lower position person in a
family in China. This also happen in the case of students to their teachers (Eastman,
1988: 35).
The other things that also show the patriarchal culture in Chinese society is
marriage and it is considered as the most important thing because it will determine
the continuation of a family line. Marriage is male-centered; the emphasis is not
upon the partnership between the man and his wife, but upon woman’s duty to her
husband and especially her parents-in-law (Hsu, 1948: 107). It legitimizes that a
woman should never be made independent, as a daughter she should be under the
surveillance of her father, as a wife of her husband and as a widow of her son
(Chakravarti, 2006: 75). A marriage is properly arranged since they were still so
young and do not understand anything about it, Mao thinks that young women
should have courage to oppose the arranged marriage and eliminate all the rooted
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
16
belief that as soon as a person drops out of his mother’s belly, it is said that her
marriage is settled (Smith, 1991: 195).
Mao states that the beginning of women’s miserable life is when they marry
out and have to follow all the rules in their husband’s home as the stranger and
unwanted one. Women can only keep silent and calm, sometimes they feel uneasy
with the life but that is the fate that all women should take, no one can deny it.
“On the day of the wedding, the woman cut her throat just as she was being
put into the bridal chair to be carried to her husband’s home. Mao was deeply
affected by the incident, and he referred the bridal sedan as a “prisoner’s
cart,” a vehicle that took a young woman away from her own home and
planted her in someone else’s, usually to live the rest of her live in silent
despair” (Smith, 1991: 195).
The other typical of Chinese patriarchal culture is taking concubine that is
often associated with acquisition or expression of prestige, and for the simple reason
to maintain the continuation of the family line if the first wife cannot bear a son to
the family (Hsu, 1948: 206).
Women still have to experience a much tormenting treatment of foot binding
in their early childhood. This is the customs of the old China in which all girls have
to bind their feet in order to get a very small “golden lilies” that is considered as a
object of great erotic appeal for men in traditional China. This custom is not in a
sense of religious but purely a matter of social convention. It is said that women
without small feet are regarded as disgraced and it is impossible for them to get a
desirable husband (Latourette, 1951: 680).
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3.
17
Feminism
According to Bhasin and Khan in the article Understanding Patriarchy,
Feminism is an awareness of patriarchal control, exploitation and oppression
at the material and ideological levels of women’s labor, fertility and
sexuality, in the family, at the place of work and in society in general, and
conscious action by women and men to transform the present situation
(Bhasin and Khan, 1999: 3).
It is a struggle to achieve equality, dignity, rights, freedom for women to
control their lives and bodies both within home and outside. Patriarchy is seen as an
oppressive system because it is characterized by paternal dominance, hierarchy,
competition and power and where women are sexually devaluated (Tong, 1989: 2).
The word ‘feminism’ itself is originated from the French word feminism
either as a medical term to describe the feminization of a male body, or to describe
women with masculine traits. When it is used in the United States in the twentieth
century it was only used to refer to one group of women: ‘namely that group which
asserted the uniqueness of women, the mystical experience of motherhood and
women’s special purity’ (Jaggar, 1983: 5).
There are two movements in the track-record of feminists, first wave
feminism movement which principally concerns with equalities, and the second
feminism movement concerns with the women’s challenge to oppose the ‘legalities’
of patriarchal world. In the first moment women are objects, sometime victims of
mistaken social knowledge. In the second moment women are challenging that
‘knowledge’ from the strength of their own experience could release them from the
oppression (Humm, 1992: 11).
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
18
Virginia Woolf argues that women should refuse the values of patriarchal
society because it is the source of their oppression. In the patriarchal society,
particularly in a family, gender inequality is the basic concern which she believes
that it is socially constructed and can be challenged and changed. The same with her,
Simone de Beauvoir through her novel The Second Sex states that one is not born,
but rather becomes, a woman. She believes that if women break out the
objectification then the patriarchy will end, along with the oppression of women
(Humm, 1992: 45).
Kate Millet and Susan Brownmiller who argue that women’s oppression is
not from biology but from the social construction of femininity and that the sexual
violence, especially rape and the thread of rape which enables men to control
women. Millet with her Sexual Politics explains politics as a power to control other
persons, in this case the sexuality of women (Humm, 1992: 61). Millet demonstrates
some attributes that belong to men and women, they are said to be normal if it is
passive for women and it is active for men. Men are tenacious, aggressive, curious,
ambitious, planful, responsible, original, and competitive while women are
affectionate, obedient, responsive to sympathy and approval, cheerful, kind, and
friendly. Women have to be brave to refuse those traits in order to release them from
the oppression from the men both in domestic and sexual matter (1989: 10).
Some famous feminists describe some main causes that create women’s
oppression in a society. Firestone, through her book The Dialectic of Sex argues that
reproduction is the basis of women’s subjection; she believes that the ‘material’ of
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
19
women’s body is the source of her enslavement but women can change it through the
technological development. Another similar argument from Mitchell who also
believes that biological reproduction of women, that is childbearing which creates
the oppression of women. They encourage women to control over their reproduction
role in this case are the child-bearing and child-rearing which are the means of men
to control over women (Humm, 1992: 66).
Physical facts are the other factors that create the subordination and
subservience of women to men, because men are usually bigger and powerful than
women so that they have the opportunity to control women through their physical
appearance. Social facts such as marriage which is contracted and regulated by men
also relegate other oppressions of women into the secondary status which place them
in home rather than able to accede in the public positions (Ortner, 1998: 21). Women
need to realize that their physical differences are not the most important thing, their
ability and knowledge are their strongest possession to end the patriarchal practices.
Ellen R. Judd in her book The Chinese Women’s Movement between State
and Market tells about the quality of women in China as stated below,
“Apart from observing that raising women’s quality is necessarily part of
raising the quality of the nation itself, and that this also makes a contribution
through families and child rearing, the Women’s Federations have argued that
raising women’s quality will assist women in pursuing their rights and
interests and in achieving gender equality” (Judd, 2002: 21).
She argues that one nation’s quality will rise if women’s quality rising as well and
that raising of quality will affect the families and child rearing. She thinks that
women will have their own freedom to manage their life and follow their dream.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
20
They can improve their quality of life if they have better quality of education which
leads them to the equality of gender. She argues also that women can improve their
life if they acquire useful practical skills that hopefully will increase their income
(2002: 27). Though it deals with economic problem, but it can be understood that
skills and education for women are really important if they wish for a better life.
French feminists in the book A Reader Guide to Contemporary Feminist
Literary Criticism created a new form of writing to break the patriarchal practices.
“French Feminists’ determination to break through patriarchal practices-by
creating new forms of writing/thinking which could not be described as the
‘other’ half of male-defined rationality-inspired excitement and debate”
(Humm, 1994: 16).
Writing has become the instrument for women to express their rejection toward
patriarchal practices which has brought so many injustice and sufferings to their life.
In order to survive, women create forms of writing or thinking which can only be
understood by women, and that forms of writing state for women’s rationality.
Chinese women have their own secret language called nu shu, it is their secret
writing which is originally composed by men’s writing but women create it
differently in order to keep its existence. The characters of nu shu will be painted or
embroidered in their clothes, handkerchiefs, and fans. Through nu shu married
women can communicate with the other women in their home village which is
mostly tells about their dreams, hardship, hopes, or even an urgent message.
http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/Nu_shu:_The_Secret_Language_of_the_Chine
se_Women (5 September 2012).
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
C.
21
Theoretical Framework
The writer already mentioned several theories that have relation with the
topic and each theory will contribute to the analysis. The theories are the theory of
character and characterization, theory of Chinese patriarchal culture, and theory of
feminism.
Theory of character and characterization are used to describe the main
characters’ characteristics in the story. The writer focuses on the attitudes, acts, and
their speeches. Theory from Stanton and Murphy are used here to analyze the main
characters in the problem formulation number one.
Then, the theory of Chinese patriarchal culture is used to identify the
practices of patriarchy in China. This will help the writer in analyzing the problem
formulation number two and theory of feminism will be used to answer problem
number three on how the two characters rebel through the practices.
Finally, some criticisms and studies with the similar topic will also give a
significant contribution to enrich and to complete this study.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A.
Object of the Study
The object of this study is the novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan written
by Lisa See. She is an international bestseller author who has written so many
excellent works: On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My
Chinese-American Family (1995) and the novel Flower Net (1997), The Interior
(1999), Dragon Bones (2003), Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005), Peony in
Love (2007) and Shanghai Girls (2009), which made it to the 2010 New York Times
bestseller list.
One of the excellent works is Snow Flower and the Secret Fan which was
sold to 38 countries. The novel also became a New York Times bestseller, a
Booksense Number One Pick, and won numerous awards domestically and
internationally. MGM Studios acquired the film rights. She was honored as National
Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women in 2001 and
was the recipient of the Chinese American Museum’s History Makers Award in fall
2003.
The novel Snow Flower and the Se
THE RESPONSE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS TOWARD THE
PRACTICE OF CHINESE PATRIARCHAL CULTURE AS
REVEALED IN LISA SEE’S SNOW FLOWER AND
THE SECRET FAN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
NOVITA
Student number: 084214078
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2012
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
THE RESPONSE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS TOWARD THE
PRACTICE OF CHINESE PATRIARCHAL CULTURE AS
REVEALED IN LISA SEE’S SNOW FLOWER AND
THE SECRET FAN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
NOVITA
Student number: 084214078
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2012
i
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ii
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
iii
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH
UNTUK KEPENTINGAN KAMPUS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma
Nama
: Novita
Nomor Mahasiswa
: 084214078
Demi kepentingan ilmu pengetahuan saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
THE RESPONSE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS TOWARD THE PRACTICE
OF CHINESE PATRIARCHAL CULTURE AS REVEALED IN
LISA SEE’S SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan
kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan
dalam
bentuk
media
lain,
mengelolanya
dalam
bentuk
pangkalan
data,
mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain
untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan
royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta.
Pada tanggal: 30 November 2012
Yang menyatakan,
Novita
iv
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Life is a song j sing it.
Life is a game j play it.
Life is a challenge j meet it.
Life is a dream j realize it.
Life is a sacrifice j offer it.
Life is love j enjoy it.
a S a i B a b aa
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
This undergraduate
thesis is dedicated to
my beloved
Parents
Brothers
Sisters
because of their
affection, supports,
and prayers.
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I want to give my deepest gratefulness to Jesus Christ. Because of
His blessings, finally I could finish my thesis.
I also thank to my advisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani S.S., M.Hum., who helps
me from the beginning till the end of my thesis writing. I realize that I will never
come to this end of my study without her patient and compassion to accompany and
give me so many precious advices. I also thank my co-advisor, Maria Ananta Tri
Suryandari, S.S., M.Ed, for reading my thesis and giving me the needed corrections.
For all my lecturers of the English Letters Department, I give my great thanks
for their guidance during my study. I also thank all the secretariat staffs who always
gave me a big help in processing my administrative stuff.
I thank my family, for their care and support that I needed most. I thank my
father and my beloved mother who always accompany and guide me patiently during
my thesis writing. My deep love also goes to my brothers and especially to my sister,
Dewi for her never ending support and motivation. I love them so much. I thank them
for their never ending loves, prayers, patience, support, encouragements and
understanding. I also thank to my cousin, Akun for giving me an indirect motivation
to finish my thesis as soon as possible. A great thank also to my great uncle, Viktor,
for his supports both in fund and motivation, I appreciate it so much.
I thank my great friends, Cicil, Karin, Lidya, and Sia, my boardinghouse
mates who always give me support and help. I also thank Mami Linda, Siska, Pebri,
Riris, Palut, Jefry, and Gustin for our hanging outs together. Thank for you all and
hopefully this friendship will last forever. I also thank Topan for lending me his
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Thesis; and for Putri for our sharing during my thesis writing. Most of all, a great
thank to my special friend, An-An for his patient and support to me especially when I
am down and sad; and thank also for the unforgettable vacations we had to forget my
boredom and dizziness for a while. Thank also to so many motivational and
inspirational people I met out there and their great books and writings I read that have
given me so many valuable teachings. Finally, my friends in English Letters‘08
whose names are not mentioned unintentionally, I thank you all for the friendship,
support, and prayers. It is a great pleasure to know all of you
Novita
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE .....................................................................................................
APPROVAL PAGE ...........................................................................................
ACCEPTANCE PAGE .....................................................................................
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ...........................
MOTTO PAGE ..................................................................................................
DEDICATION PAGE .......................................................................................
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...............................................................................
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................
ABSTRAK .........................................................................................................
i
ii
iii
iv
v
vi
vii
ix
x
xi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................
A. Background of the Study ...................................................................
B. Problem Formulation ........................................................................
C. Objectives of the Study .....................................................................
D. Definition of Terms ...........................................................................
1
1
4
5
5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ....................................................
A. Review of Related Studies ................................................................
B. Review of Related Theories ..............................................................
1. Theory of Character and Characterization ..................................
2. Theory of Patriarchal Culture ......................................................
3. Theory of Feminism ....................................................................
C. Theoretical Framework .....................................................................
7
7
10
10
11
17
21
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ..................................................................
A. Object of the Study ............................................................................
B. Approach of the Study ......................................................................
C. Method of the Study ..........................................................................
22
22
24
25
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ...............................................................................
A. The Characteristics of the Main Characters .......................................
1. The Characteristics of Lily ...........................................................
2. The Characteristics of Snow Flower ...........................................
B. The Practices of Patriarchy in China ..................................................
C. The Rebellion of the main Characters ................................................
26
26
26
30
35
47
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ..........................................................................
62
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...............................................................................................
67
APPENDIX: Summary of Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan .............
70
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ABSTRACT
Novita (2012).The Response Of The Main Characters Toward The Practice Of
Chinese Patriarchal Culture As Revealed In Lisa See’s Snow Flower And The
Secret Fan. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata
Dharma University.
This thesis discusses Lisa See’s novel, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. The
story begins with the match of sisterhood called laotong between Lily and Snow
Flower. With Snow Flower, Lily writes stories with their women secret writing, nu
shu which is written in their fan. When they are married out, there are many problems
that they should face as a married woman who have to follow all the patriarchal
values. Later, Lily humiliates her laotong in front of the other women because of the
misunderstanding in their fan. Finally, Lily regrets her acts and spends her life to
write about women’s stories and sufferings.
There are three problems to be analyzed in this thesis. They are: (1)How are
the main characters described in See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan? (2)What are
the practices of Chinese patriarchal culture experienced by the main characters?
(3)What is the response of the main characters to the practice of Chinese patriarchal
culture?
This study employs a library study method. There are two kinds of sources.
The primary source is the novel itself, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. The
secondary sources are taken from several books, papers, and articles related to the
topic. In answering the problems, several theories on literature and feminism are
applied. The feminism approach is chosen since the analysis deal with women’s
oppression. There are theories of character and characterization, theory of patriarchal
culture, and theory of feminism.
The result of the analysis shows that the main characters in the novel are Lily
and Snow Flower. Lily is described as lack of attention; obedient; yielding; good in
householdskills; smart; and having a not really good temper. Snow Flower is
described as expressive and talkative; good in art skills; obedient and yielding; and
realistic. There are several practices of patriarchy, such as women are isolated; they
should have attributes like being passive, submissive, yielding, obedient, and filial to
men; daughters are completely unexpected; exploitation, oppression, and violence in
their marriage life; the arranged marriage; the crippling and tormenting foot binding;
and unequal right to have education of women and men. The response of the main
characters in small way toward the patriarchal culture is depicted in different way. Nu
shu is the same media that they use to show their rejection toward the patriarchal
culture. Lily completely disagrees with the patriarchal practices but she does not
show it directly. Snow Flower actually disagrees with it also but because of her
acceptance she finally just accepts all the bad luck she has without complaining.
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ABSTRAK
Novita (2012). The Response Of The Main Characters Toward The Practice Of
Chinese Patriarchal Culture As Revealed In Lisa See’s Snow Flower And The
Secret Fan. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata
Dharma.
Skripsi ini menganalisis novel karangan Lisa See, Snow Flower and the Secret
Fan. Novel ini menceritakan tentang kehidupan wanita China di abad ke-18. Cerita
bermula ketika ada perjodohan persaudaraan perempuan yang disebut laotong dalam
bahasa China antara Lily dan Snow Flower. Lily menulis kepada Snow Flower
menggunakan bahasa rahasia wanita mereka, nu shu yang ditulis di kipas mereka.
Ketika mereka menikah, banyak permasalahan yang harus mereka hadapi sebagai
seorang istri yang harus tunduk kepada nilai-nilai patriarki. Kemudian, terjadi
kesalahpahaman dan Lily mempermalukan Snow Flower di depan wanita-wanita lain.
Pada akhirnya, Lily menyesal dan menjalani masa tuanya dengan menulis cerita
tentang wanita dan penderitan-penderitaan mereka.
Dalam skripsi ini, ada tiga masalah yang dianalisis. (1) Bagaimana karakter
utama dijelaskan dalam novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan? (2) Apa saja praktekpraktek budaya patriarki China yang dialami oleh karakter utama? (3) Apa respon
yang ditunjukkan karakter utama terhadap praktek-praktek tersebut?
Skripsi ini menggunakan metode studi pustaka. Ada dua macam sumber
pendukung. Sumber utama adalah novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Sumber
kedua diambil dari buku-buku dan artikel-artikel yang berhubungan dengan topik
cerita. Dalam menjawab pertanyaan, beberapa teori tentang kesusastraan dan feminis
diaplikasikan dalam skripsi ini. Pendekatan yang digunakan adalah pendekatan
feminis karena analisis novel ini berhubungan dengan penindasan wanita. Teori yang
digunakan dalam menganalisis novel ini diantaranya adalah teori tokoh dan
penokohan, teori budaya patriarki, dan teori feminis.
Hasil analisa novel ini menunjukkan bahwa karakter utama dalam novel ini
adalah Lily dan Snow Flower. Lily dijelaskan sebagai orang yang kurang mendapat
perhatian; penurut; patuh; pintar dalam pekerjaan rumah; cerdas; dan terkadang
berwatak egois. Snow Flower dijelaskan sebagai orang yang ekpresif dan suka bicara;
pintar dalam ketrampilan wanita; patuh dan penurut; dan realistis. Ada beberapa
praktek budaya patriarki, seperti keadaan wanita yang terkungkung di rumah; wanita
harus mempunyai sifat-sifat seperti pasif, tunduk, penurut, patuh, dan berbakti pada
pria; anak perempuan tidak diharapkan dalam keluarga; pemerasan, penindasan, dan
kekerasan dalam kehidupan rumah tangga; pernikahan yang diatur; pengikatan kaki
yang menyakitkan, dan ketidaksetaraan hak dalam mendapatkan pendidikan.
Penolakan dalam bentuk kecil terhadap praktek-praktek budaya patriarki tersebut
ditunjukkan oleh karakter utama, kedua karakter tersebut menunjukkannya dalam
cara yang berbeda. Nu shu menjadi media yang sama yang digunakan untuk
menunjukkan penolakan kedua karakter tersebut. Lily tidak setuju dengan praktekpraktek patriarki. Snow Flower sebenarnya juga tidak setuju tetapi karena
penerimaannya akhirnya dia menerima saja nasib buruknya tanpa protes.
xi
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A.
Background of the Study
Talking about women oppression and submission is always interesting
because it is an old issue which still happens today in some societies. Chinese
women, for example, experienced the bad moment after about the thirteenth century
when they were aimed to be subservient to men in their life. They had many
experiences from their childhood to adulthood related to the obligation in all aspects
of their life. They did not have any freedom to express their feeling and desire.
Women in China represented the cruel life of women in a patriarchal culture with the
rules and norms that women had to follow without complaint.
Since their childhood, Chinese girls got bad treatments from their parents.
When they were born, they brought little joy to the family, and in the very poor
family it was a common thing to kill the infant girl. Girls were the burden of the
family because they were just considered as useless mouth that needed to be fed but
would not continue the family line. The girls who were lucky could live but with
very little care from parents. They would be fed until they reached seventeen or so
then would be married out to a stranger (Eastman, 1988: 20).
Chinese girls had to experience the crippling foot binding when they reached
the age three or four. This practice probably originated among dancing girls in the
1
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2
palace during the late Tang Dynasty in the ninth to tenth century. This practice was
in no sense religious but purely a matter of social convention. Girls without small
feet would be regarded as social disgrace and could not find the desirable husband
(Latourette, 1951: 680). This practice was also applied to attain the smallest feet that
related to the sexual allure in which men saw it as something tempting and
interesting.
Chinese women also had to follow their fate when their wedding had been
properly arranged since their childhood. They had no chance to choose their own
husband because it was thus an alliance between two different families, not a matter
of individual choice and mutual affection (Smith, 1994: 253). The purpose of
marriage was just simply to maintain the continuation of the family line, which
means that women had to bear son to maintain their position in the family.
Actually, when women married out, their other miseries began.
“On the day of the wedding, the woman cut her throat just as she was being
put into the bridal chair to be carried to her husband’s home. Mao was deeply
affected by the incident, and he referred to the bridal sedan as a “prisoner’s
cart”, a vehicle that took a young woman away from her own home and
planted her in someone else’s, usually to live the rest of her life in silent
despair” (Smith, 1991:195).
The quotation above shows us the parable of the bridal chair which is regarded as the
prisoner cart which brought that woman to her miserable life. When they married out
to one family she did not know at all, she actually began her life as the silent creature
who had to obey and yield to men.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
3
Women were ignored and did not get much chance to talk, to act or to express
what they wanted and felt; women never got the opportunity to speak. This pattern
appeared clearly in the society and women had to married out to the men they did not
know. When they married and lived in the husband’s house they had to obey the rule
in that house, they had to serve the husband and all people in that house. This was the
norm of Chinese society; ones who disobeyed the rule will get the punishment from
the family and the society.
“Women have to respect their husband, fathers, older brothers, and other
related senior males; if they do not, they will find themselves becoming social
outcasts” (Hsu, 1948: 207).
Women were accustomed to keep silent rather than speak up their willing. In
the novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, there were some sworn sisters who came
and did the women’s work such as making embroidery, sewing, singing and also
writing the women’s secret writing. They enjoyed the time when gathering together
and hissing their stories, much sorrowful than joyful. In other word, Chinese women
were having close relationship and friendship because of the same experience and
life story; they formed emotional ties with other women (Humm, 1992: 337).
The novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan tells about the hard life of women
who lived under the patriarchal culture. They could only survive if they followed the
rule and norm in the society. Snow Flower and Lily have different family
background, different class and status, but they could make a good relationship
which is seen through the time they sharing their skills together, Snow Flower shared
her art and writing skills while Lily shared her household skills. Through the hard
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
4
living, both characters showed their response toward the oppression by their writings
in the fan that represented their rejection.
This study wants to bring up the idea of women in China that were regarded
as inferior to men physically, socially, politically, and sexually. The idea that
women’s place is in home not in the public made them more suppressed in the
society. The novel has many valuable things about culture, what is hidden and what
is the truth which is very surprising. The least but not last, the writer intends to share
the perspectives of women and how they response toward the harsh condition in
order to get their freedom.
B.
Problem Formulation
These three questions will guide and help the writer to analyze and have
further discussion on this novel.
1.
How are the main characters described in See’s Snow Flower and the Secret
Fan?
2.
What are the practices of Chinese patriarchal culture experienced by the main
characters?
3.
What is the response of the main characters to the practice of Chinese
patriarchal culture?
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
C.
5
Objectives of the Study
This study is intended to answer those three questions stated in the problem
formulation. The first objective is to describe the characteristics of the characters in
the story, Snow Flower and Lily. The second objective is to identify the practices of
Chinese patriarchal culture. This will help the writer to make a trustworthy study.
Then, the third objective is to observe the response of Snow Flower and Lily toward
the practices of patriarchal culture which in fact tormented women physically and
mentally. Those objectives are very important because they are related each other,
the response is also affected by their characteristics and we will be able to know the
character’s characteristics through their thoughts, utterances, and actions in the story.
The writer puts some women activists who gave great contribution to women’s life.
Their perspectives can be about women’s oppression universally and also about
Chinese women’s oppression specifically.
D.
Definition of Term
1.
Culture: According to Kroeber, A.L., & Kluckhohn, in his paper entitled
Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions defines that "Culture consists
of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by
symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their
embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e.
historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture
systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, and on the other
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
6
as conditioning elements of further action." (Kroeber, 1952:47). While the other
definition is "By culture we mean all those historically created designs for living,
explicit and implicit, rational, irrational, and nonrational, which exist at any given
time as potential guides for the behavior of men." (Kluckhohn, 1945:78-105).
2.
Patriarchy: Patriarchy literally means rule of the father in a male-dominated
family. It is a social and ideological construct which considers men (who are the
patriarchs) as superior to women (Ray, 2012:1). According to Sylvia Walby in
“Theorising Patriarchy” calls it “a system of social structures and practices in which
men dominate, oppress and exploit women” (Walby, 1990). Patriarchal societies
propagate the ideology of motherhood which restrict women’s mobility and burdens
them with the responsibilities to nurture and rear children. “Patriarchal ideas blur the
distinction between sex and gender and assume that all socio-economic and political
distinctions between men and women are rooted in biology and anatomy (Heywood,
2003: 248).
Patriarchal culture is a traditional pattern which is historically created in a
society or group which consists of the attached values, conditioning elements of
further action and also potential guides for the behavior that put men as superior and
can dominate, oppress and exploit women. This pattern becomes a system of social
structures and practices in that society.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
The writer will present some reviews that are found in some printed sources
like books, studies, papers, and articles and also from the electronic sources like
internet. Those reviews of related study contain the comment of the critics and the
analysis of the story in their point of view. The writer also adds some relevant
theories that will be used to answer the problem formulation.
A.
Review on Related Studies
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan written by Lisa See is a novel that tells
about the close friendship between two women in China in 18th century. Snow
Flower and Lily represent the lives of Chinese women who have to experience the
foot binding that much tormenting, and also they present the reader with their idea of
rejection toward patriarchal culture seen through women’s secret writing in their fan.
See had worked so hard to collect data related to this novel by travelling to
remote area in China. After the long and tiring research she finally got the most
important data that tell the whole story of women’s life that is from the women secret
writing called Nu Shu in Chinese language. Many reviews came up since this novel
has been sold to 38 countries and became the New York Bestseller, the Booksense
Number One Pick, and won numerous awards domestically and internationally.
(http://www.lisasee.com/Bio.htm) (18 March 2012).
7
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8
One of the studies related to the patriarchal society is The Responses of
Chinese Immigrant Women in America in the Mid 20th Century toward the Demands
of the Society in Lisa See’s Shanghai Girl written by Emeilya Kumala Sari,
“Although she is modern, she keeps preserving her old culture, the Chinese culture.
Therefore, she also accepts the demands of the society attached to her which are also
based on the Chinese culture as her duties” (Sari, 2011: 48). In the novel entitled
Shanghai Girl, there is an important idea about patriarchal value which exists in the
society with two cultures involved, Chinese and America. Women, no matter how
modern they are, they still have to maintain their old culture which is already
attached to them since their childhood. This means that though they have a better life
or even if they live in the place with different culture, they cannot forget or abandon
their Chinese culture because it is a duty of all women to keep and preserve it well.
Therefore, women should follow all the rules to become good women; one of it is for
being obedient.
Another study is written by Deasy Ekawati titled Orchid’s Character
Development and Struggle in Anchee Min’s Empress Orchid: A Reflection of Early
Feminist Struggle in China.
“As a woman herself, Min was not unfamiliar with the various hardships
women have to face in life, which became the main background for her
literary works. It is interesting to watch how Min unfolds and makes efforts
to restore the history of a leader who was heavily misunderstood and
wrongly depicted, only because she tried to rule and survive in a very
patriarchal land.” (Ekawati, 2009: 3).
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
9
The quotation shows that Min writes the novel based on what she knows and sees as
a woman. She tells a story about a leader who was misunderstood because she tried
to survive in a very patriarchal land. We can see that a woman, no matter in what
position she is or how influencing she is but if she lives in a society where men are
superior to women so she has to obey.
The studies written by Emeilya and Ekawati are quite similar to my study
which focuses on women’s position in a family and society that sees women as
inferior to men in the patriarchal society. Chinese women, even though they are
living in a place that is completely different with Chinese society, they have to
preserve and keep their old culture which means they should follow the value of
patriarchy. Snow Flower and Lily are two of millions of Chinese women who lived
under men’s domination in a patriarchal society. They present us the hard situation of
women’s life and how they survive through the cruel situation of foot binding,
marriage, friendship, and so forth. Both characters are looking for their freedom in
their way, in this case through their writings they show the objection and rebellion
toward the unfair and cruel situation they and all women have to face.
The writer wants to study women’s responses to the practices of patriarchal
culture, here the writers emphasizes on the way the two characters rebel to the
practice of patriarchal culture through their writings.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
B.
Review on Related Theory.
1.
Character and Characterization.
10
Barnet in his book Literary for Composition defined character into two
meanings, the first is a figure in a literary work and the second is a figure of
someone’s personality that divided into mental and moral qualities. There are some
important factors that must be considered when the readers want to know more about
the character, they are what the character says and does. Through the character’s own
attitude and way of speaking, we will know what kind of character that he observes.
The other factor is what the other character’s comment and action toward the
character (1988: 71).
In An Introduction to Fiction, Stanton states that the term character is used in
two ways, it designates the individuals who appear in the story; and its way refers to
description of attitudes, interests, desires, emotions, and moral principles of the
individuals (1965:17). He adds that character in a story can be categorized into two
different types: major character and minor character. Major character is a character
that may dominate the whole story and is frequently presented in it. Meanwhile, the
minor character is presented in order to explain and help the other character,
especially the major character (1965: 17-18).
Murphy in his book Understanding Unseen detailed the techniques of
characterization. There are nine techniques to understand a character in a story such
as through their personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life,
conversation of others, reaction, direct comment, thoughts, and mannerism. Here the
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
11
writer uses some of them which are really showing their characteristics like their
personal descriptions to define their physical look. The writer can also know the
characteristics through the character’s conversation and speech; their reaction toward
one thing; their thoughts and also their mannerism (1972: 161-173).
2.
Patriarchy & Chinese Patriarchal Culture.
Patriarchal culture has a long history, Chinese people have a great respect to
their ancestors and they believed that if they could maintain the family line, their
ancestors would be happy and gave protection to all of them.
The term “patriarchy” is therefore justified by this fact, that of the “universal”
oppression of women by men. As Adrienne Rich writes,
“Patriarchy is the power of the fathers: a familial-social, ideological, political
system in which men-by force, direct pressure, or through ritual, tradition,
law, and language, customs, etiquette, education, and the division of labor,
determine what part women shall or shall not play, and in which the female is
everywhere subsumed under the male…” (1976: 3).
Rich argues that women often experience the oppression from men, men control and
manage in what part women can be in and what women should do and not do. The
tradition also gives influence to women position in one society; because some
traditions place women in men’s authority and they are belong to men.
Patriarchy has two main forms, private and public. Private patriarchy is based
upon household production as the main site of women’s oppression. This form
creates women’s oppression in the field of household when women are bound to stay
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
12
at home and obey all the rules inside the house without complaining. Chinese
patriarchal society has made a distinction between men and women in their daily
activities. The domestic and private spheres in this case refer to the Chinese terms
nei-wai mean inner and outer. Women are assigned to the inner while men to the
outer, even the husband and wife are having a strict interaction and are separated in
many parts. Women’s concerns are related to those which are completely domestic
like nurturing children, cooking, and the other household works; while men can
handle the public affairs like farming and running business (Chan, 2000: 116).
Supporting the idea of patriarchy and women’s subordination to men,
McDowell and Pringle further state that, women are not only constantly defined in
relation to men, but are defined as dependent and subordinate to them as well (1992).
Women have to acquire qualities like gentleness, passivity, submission and striving
to please men always. This statement is basically similar to Simone de Beauvoir
analysis which views women as fundamentally different from themselves; they are
not autonomous creature but more likely as male dependent. Beauvoir states that men
are the subject who is subordinated by women, and women themselves are regarded
as the other one (1953: xxii).
Family has been the strongest universal unit in China and since they
appreciated family so highly then the practice of patriarchy will always continue time
to time. Chinese people are well known for their politeness and obedience to the
older and also faithfulness to their family. In the society, men and women never get
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
13
the same treatments from their family as well as their society, because women are
inferior to men and must assume a strictly subordinate role (Hsu, 1948: 207).
In the Chinese society, the baby boys are preferred than the baby girls,
because the girls are considered as the poor investment in traditional society of
China, since they will marry out and become the member of other’s households. The
very poor family may even sell their female children into slavery or prostitution and
it is not rare for the poor family to destroy the child. While the boys are considered
crucial and important because they will continue the family line and maintain the
ancestral sacrifices (Smith, 1994: 248).
The idea of Confucianism has a big contribution in creating the patriarchal
culture in China, a famous scholar Ban Zhao conducted the ideal womanhood as
stated,
“To be humble, yielding, respectful and reverential; to put herself after
others… these qualities are those exemplifying woman’s low and humble
estate. To retire late and rise early; not to shirk exertion from dawn to
dark… this is called being diligent. To behave properly and decorously in
serving her husband; to be serene and self-possessed, shunning jests and
laughter… this is called being worthy of continuing the husband’s lineage.
If a woman possesses the above mentioned three qualities, then her
reputation shall be excellent” (Eastman, 1988:19).
Women’s life is created and is managed orderly, they cannot do anything they want
and cannot behave inappropriately. Women in the time of Qing dynasty, for example,
might not go outside their upper chamber without any important purpose and should
be accompanied by other people. During their childhood women are accustomed to
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
14
be independent and not be spoiled. Their childhood is less hard and miserable
because they do not feel the unpleasant live with mother-in-law.
Women live in isolated circumstances; they cannot have freedom at all.
Women’s life is completely restricted in the women’s chamber and home, and there
is a story of Buddhist-oriented women who wish that in their next existence they will
be reborn as dogs so that they will have greater freedom (Smith, 1994: 250).
According to Gerda Lerner and Bhasin, family plays an important role in creating
hierarchical system and for socializing the next generation in patriarchal values
(1986: 127; 1993: 10). In this case, mother is the one who took the greatest role in
the continuation of the patriarchal culture; they preserve this culture indirectly by
teaching their daughter the proper quality of a good woman like being passive,
submissive and obedient to men so that it can be clearly understood why that culture
continue for so long time.
Suranjita Ray in the article Understanding Patriarchy writes that women are
not only treated as subordinate to men but are also subject to discriminations,
humiliations, exploitations, oppressions, control and violence (2012: 1). The violence
against women is happened because of the gender stereotypes toward them like
women experience the rape, sexual harassment, wife-beating, and so on from their
husband (Bhasin, 1993: 13). Women experience discrimination and unequal
treatment in terms of basic right of food, health care, education, employment, control
over productive resources, decision-making and livelihood not because of their
biological differences or sex, which is natural but because of their gender differences
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
15
which is a social construct (Geetha, 2002: 10). She says that sex is considered as a
fact, everyone is born with either male or female genitalia, but gender is social
construction, gender discrimination and differences are man-made and they get
legitimized in a patriarchal society.
China itself is one of the status-oriented societies in which the people are
really concerning about status in a society. In a family for example, there is a tight
differences in the position of father, mother, and other family member. Father is
typically remote, stern to his son, while his son is respectful, servile to his father.
There is no same treatment applied to the higher and lower position person in a
family in China. This also happen in the case of students to their teachers (Eastman,
1988: 35).
The other things that also show the patriarchal culture in Chinese society is
marriage and it is considered as the most important thing because it will determine
the continuation of a family line. Marriage is male-centered; the emphasis is not
upon the partnership between the man and his wife, but upon woman’s duty to her
husband and especially her parents-in-law (Hsu, 1948: 107). It legitimizes that a
woman should never be made independent, as a daughter she should be under the
surveillance of her father, as a wife of her husband and as a widow of her son
(Chakravarti, 2006: 75). A marriage is properly arranged since they were still so
young and do not understand anything about it, Mao thinks that young women
should have courage to oppose the arranged marriage and eliminate all the rooted
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
16
belief that as soon as a person drops out of his mother’s belly, it is said that her
marriage is settled (Smith, 1991: 195).
Mao states that the beginning of women’s miserable life is when they marry
out and have to follow all the rules in their husband’s home as the stranger and
unwanted one. Women can only keep silent and calm, sometimes they feel uneasy
with the life but that is the fate that all women should take, no one can deny it.
“On the day of the wedding, the woman cut her throat just as she was being
put into the bridal chair to be carried to her husband’s home. Mao was deeply
affected by the incident, and he referred the bridal sedan as a “prisoner’s
cart,” a vehicle that took a young woman away from her own home and
planted her in someone else’s, usually to live the rest of her live in silent
despair” (Smith, 1991: 195).
The other typical of Chinese patriarchal culture is taking concubine that is
often associated with acquisition or expression of prestige, and for the simple reason
to maintain the continuation of the family line if the first wife cannot bear a son to
the family (Hsu, 1948: 206).
Women still have to experience a much tormenting treatment of foot binding
in their early childhood. This is the customs of the old China in which all girls have
to bind their feet in order to get a very small “golden lilies” that is considered as a
object of great erotic appeal for men in traditional China. This custom is not in a
sense of religious but purely a matter of social convention. It is said that women
without small feet are regarded as disgraced and it is impossible for them to get a
desirable husband (Latourette, 1951: 680).
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
3.
17
Feminism
According to Bhasin and Khan in the article Understanding Patriarchy,
Feminism is an awareness of patriarchal control, exploitation and oppression
at the material and ideological levels of women’s labor, fertility and
sexuality, in the family, at the place of work and in society in general, and
conscious action by women and men to transform the present situation
(Bhasin and Khan, 1999: 3).
It is a struggle to achieve equality, dignity, rights, freedom for women to
control their lives and bodies both within home and outside. Patriarchy is seen as an
oppressive system because it is characterized by paternal dominance, hierarchy,
competition and power and where women are sexually devaluated (Tong, 1989: 2).
The word ‘feminism’ itself is originated from the French word feminism
either as a medical term to describe the feminization of a male body, or to describe
women with masculine traits. When it is used in the United States in the twentieth
century it was only used to refer to one group of women: ‘namely that group which
asserted the uniqueness of women, the mystical experience of motherhood and
women’s special purity’ (Jaggar, 1983: 5).
There are two movements in the track-record of feminists, first wave
feminism movement which principally concerns with equalities, and the second
feminism movement concerns with the women’s challenge to oppose the ‘legalities’
of patriarchal world. In the first moment women are objects, sometime victims of
mistaken social knowledge. In the second moment women are challenging that
‘knowledge’ from the strength of their own experience could release them from the
oppression (Humm, 1992: 11).
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18
Virginia Woolf argues that women should refuse the values of patriarchal
society because it is the source of their oppression. In the patriarchal society,
particularly in a family, gender inequality is the basic concern which she believes
that it is socially constructed and can be challenged and changed. The same with her,
Simone de Beauvoir through her novel The Second Sex states that one is not born,
but rather becomes, a woman. She believes that if women break out the
objectification then the patriarchy will end, along with the oppression of women
(Humm, 1992: 45).
Kate Millet and Susan Brownmiller who argue that women’s oppression is
not from biology but from the social construction of femininity and that the sexual
violence, especially rape and the thread of rape which enables men to control
women. Millet with her Sexual Politics explains politics as a power to control other
persons, in this case the sexuality of women (Humm, 1992: 61). Millet demonstrates
some attributes that belong to men and women, they are said to be normal if it is
passive for women and it is active for men. Men are tenacious, aggressive, curious,
ambitious, planful, responsible, original, and competitive while women are
affectionate, obedient, responsive to sympathy and approval, cheerful, kind, and
friendly. Women have to be brave to refuse those traits in order to release them from
the oppression from the men both in domestic and sexual matter (1989: 10).
Some famous feminists describe some main causes that create women’s
oppression in a society. Firestone, through her book The Dialectic of Sex argues that
reproduction is the basis of women’s subjection; she believes that the ‘material’ of
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19
women’s body is the source of her enslavement but women can change it through the
technological development. Another similar argument from Mitchell who also
believes that biological reproduction of women, that is childbearing which creates
the oppression of women. They encourage women to control over their reproduction
role in this case are the child-bearing and child-rearing which are the means of men
to control over women (Humm, 1992: 66).
Physical facts are the other factors that create the subordination and
subservience of women to men, because men are usually bigger and powerful than
women so that they have the opportunity to control women through their physical
appearance. Social facts such as marriage which is contracted and regulated by men
also relegate other oppressions of women into the secondary status which place them
in home rather than able to accede in the public positions (Ortner, 1998: 21). Women
need to realize that their physical differences are not the most important thing, their
ability and knowledge are their strongest possession to end the patriarchal practices.
Ellen R. Judd in her book The Chinese Women’s Movement between State
and Market tells about the quality of women in China as stated below,
“Apart from observing that raising women’s quality is necessarily part of
raising the quality of the nation itself, and that this also makes a contribution
through families and child rearing, the Women’s Federations have argued that
raising women’s quality will assist women in pursuing their rights and
interests and in achieving gender equality” (Judd, 2002: 21).
She argues that one nation’s quality will rise if women’s quality rising as well and
that raising of quality will affect the families and child rearing. She thinks that
women will have their own freedom to manage their life and follow their dream.
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20
They can improve their quality of life if they have better quality of education which
leads them to the equality of gender. She argues also that women can improve their
life if they acquire useful practical skills that hopefully will increase their income
(2002: 27). Though it deals with economic problem, but it can be understood that
skills and education for women are really important if they wish for a better life.
French feminists in the book A Reader Guide to Contemporary Feminist
Literary Criticism created a new form of writing to break the patriarchal practices.
“French Feminists’ determination to break through patriarchal practices-by
creating new forms of writing/thinking which could not be described as the
‘other’ half of male-defined rationality-inspired excitement and debate”
(Humm, 1994: 16).
Writing has become the instrument for women to express their rejection toward
patriarchal practices which has brought so many injustice and sufferings to their life.
In order to survive, women create forms of writing or thinking which can only be
understood by women, and that forms of writing state for women’s rationality.
Chinese women have their own secret language called nu shu, it is their secret
writing which is originally composed by men’s writing but women create it
differently in order to keep its existence. The characters of nu shu will be painted or
embroidered in their clothes, handkerchiefs, and fans. Through nu shu married
women can communicate with the other women in their home village which is
mostly tells about their dreams, hardship, hopes, or even an urgent message.
http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/Nu_shu:_The_Secret_Language_of_the_Chine
se_Women (5 September 2012).
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C.
21
Theoretical Framework
The writer already mentioned several theories that have relation with the
topic and each theory will contribute to the analysis. The theories are the theory of
character and characterization, theory of Chinese patriarchal culture, and theory of
feminism.
Theory of character and characterization are used to describe the main
characters’ characteristics in the story. The writer focuses on the attitudes, acts, and
their speeches. Theory from Stanton and Murphy are used here to analyze the main
characters in the problem formulation number one.
Then, the theory of Chinese patriarchal culture is used to identify the
practices of patriarchy in China. This will help the writer in analyzing the problem
formulation number two and theory of feminism will be used to answer problem
number three on how the two characters rebel through the practices.
Finally, some criticisms and studies with the similar topic will also give a
significant contribution to enrich and to complete this study.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A.
Object of the Study
The object of this study is the novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan written
by Lisa See. She is an international bestseller author who has written so many
excellent works: On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My
Chinese-American Family (1995) and the novel Flower Net (1997), The Interior
(1999), Dragon Bones (2003), Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005), Peony in
Love (2007) and Shanghai Girls (2009), which made it to the 2010 New York Times
bestseller list.
One of the excellent works is Snow Flower and the Secret Fan which was
sold to 38 countries. The novel also became a New York Times bestseller, a
Booksense Number One Pick, and won numerous awards domestically and
internationally. MGM Studios acquired the film rights. She was honored as National
Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women in 2001 and
was the recipient of the Chinese American Museum’s History Makers Award in fall
2003.
The novel Snow Flower and the Se