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THE VALUES OF FEMINISM AS REVEALED THROUGH

  

INGE’S CHARACTER IN FREMD’S THE GLASS INFERNO

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

  

By

Corry Veronika

Student Number: 044214015

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

• Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in raising up every time we fail (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
• Three grand essentials to have happiness in this life are something to do, something to love

  and something to hope for (Joseph Addison).

• • You have to endure caterpillars if you want to

  see butterflies (Antoine De Saint).

  

I dedicate this thesis for to My Beloved Parents, My Sisters

and My Brother who always support me in accomplishing this

thesis.

  

I dedicate this thesis for those who have participated and

supported me so far.

  

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my biggest gratitude to Jesus Christ for the

blessings, strength and miracles He has been giving in my life, so that I am finally

able to accomplish this undergraduate thesis. Thank God for answering my

prayers.

  My gratitude is also directed to my advisor, Ni Luh Putu R., S.S, M.Hum.

I am so grateful for her guidance, patience, and especially for the time she spent

for reading and correcting my thesis. I really appreciate all things she has done in

process of writing my thesis. I would also like to say thank to my co-advisor, Dra.

Theresia Enny Anggraini, M. A, for her time in correcting my thesis.

  Furthermore, I deeply express my gratitude to my beloved parents for their

love, prayers, support, both financial and spiritual and good advices. I am so

proud to be their daughter. It is wonderful to have both of them as my parents. For

my big sister, Fenty Ferary, thanks for being a good model for me; and thanks for

the love, support and help, “I am so proud of you, Sis!”. For my little sisters

Febby Felicia and Caroline Setiyanti, thanks for the love and support. I am also

so proud of my big brother, Ferry Haryanto. I would like to thank him for

encouraging and motivating me in finishing my thesis.

  Next, my sincere gratitude belongs to Bunny. Thanks for the love, support,

patience, help and the friendship. It was very helpful and means a lot for me. It

was nice to have a chance to meet and know you.

  I also dedicate this thesis for my little angel, Natalia. Although we meet

only in short time, but it means a lot to me. Thank you for the moment that we

shared, for the laughter and joy. You will always be in my heart and I know you

are shinning down on me from heaven.

  I would not forget to say thanks to my best friends in Yogyakarta (Rhien,

Dede, Ita, Erlin, Afril, Fitha and Ci Linda). Yogyakarta would not be much

wonderful without you guys.

  Lastly but not the least, I would like to express my gratitude to my friends

in class A that I cannot mention one by one. It is nice to have nice friends like

them. There are many wonderful and exciting moments that we have shared

together, “Thanks for the memories friends!” I would not forget to thank all the

staff in English Letters Department. I thank them for their help.

  

Corry Veronika

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................. i

APPROVAL PAGE ....................................................................................... ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE .................................................................................. iii

MOTTO PAGE .............................................................................................. iv

DEDICATION PAGE .................................................................................... v

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................. vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................... viii

ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... ix

ABSTRAK ...................................................................................................... x

  c. Patriarchy and Its Oppressions ................................................... 20

  B. The Patriarchal Society as Depicted in the Novel .......................... 43

  6. Inge is a Strong Woman ............................................................. 42

  5. Inge is an Attractive Woman ..................................................... 40

  4. Inge is a Responsible Woman .................................................... 38

  3. Inge is a Kind-hearted Woman .................................................. 35

  2. Inge is an Independent Woman .................................................. 32

  1. Inge is a Brave Woman .............................................................. 28

  

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ............................................................. 22

A. Object of the Study ........................................................................ 22 B. Approach of the Study ................................................................... 23 C. Method of the Study ....................................................................... 25

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS .......................................................................... 26

A. Inge’s Characteristics ..................................................................... 27

  C. Theoretical Framework ................................................................... 21

  b. Values of Feminism ................................................................... 17

  CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study ................................................................

  a. Feminism in General ................................................................. 13

  2. Theories of Feminism ................................................................ 13

  1. Theories of Character and Characterization ............................... 10

  8 B. Review of Related Theories ........................................................... 10

  8 A. Review of Related Studies .............................................................

  5 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ................................................

  4 D. Definition of Terms ........................................................................

  1 C. Objectives of the Study ..................................................................

  1 B. Problem Formulation .....................................................................

  1. The Oppressions from David ..................................................... 45

  2. The Oppressions from Paul ........................................................ 50

  3. The Oppressions from Tristan .................................................... 53

  C. The Values of Feminism as Revealed by Inge ............................... 57

  1. Freedom of Choice ..................................................................... 58

  2. Equality ...................................................................................... 61

  3. Woman’s Right to be Herself ..................................................... 63

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ..................................................................... 68

BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................... 73

APPENDIX ..................................................................................................... 75

  

ABSTRACT

CORRY VERONIKA (2008). The Values of Feminism as Revealed through

Inge’s Character in Fremd’s The Glass Inferno. Yogyakarta: Department of

English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

  This undergraduate thesis is dealing with one of Angelika Fremd’s novel

entitled The Glass Inferno. It presents the female heroine as the central character

and the interesting issue that comes up in The Glass Inferno is feminism. It tells

about a woman who lives in patriarchal society that causes her experiencing

oppressions from her surrounding. She has to survive in order to get her existence

as a woman. This novel with its complexity, reveals the struggle of a woman who

lives under patriarchal society, and through the main character’s characteristics,

actions, struggle and thought could be seen the values of feminism. It would be

interesting to discuss the values of feminism as revealed through Inge’s character.

  There are three objectives of the studies that would be the main discussion

of this thesis. The first objective is to find out the characteristics of Inge as the

main character in The Glass Inferno. The second objective is to reveal the

patriarchal society where Inge lives. The last objective is to find out the process

by which the values of feminism appear through Inge as the main character The

Glass Inferno.

  In this discussion, the writer used the library research in which there are

two types of sources that are primary and secondary sources. The primary source

is the novel The Glass Inferno itself, while the secondary sources are the

references books and the sites from internet that supported the discussion of this

thesis. As for the theories, there are two theories applied, they are Theories of

Character and Characterization, and theories of Feminism. Related to the topic of

this thesis, the approach that is used to analyze the problem formulation is

feminist approach.

  The result of this study mentions that Inge is a young woman who is

brave, independent, kind-hearted, responsible, strong and attractive. She lives

under patriarchal society, therefore, as the result she gets oppressions from her

surrounding. Patriarchal society always gives negative outcome to the second

class citizen, women. The oppressions can be in sexual or psychological forms.

Through Inge’s characteristics, actions, struggle and thought can be seen that she

reflects the values of feminism that are freedom of choice, equality and woman’s

right to be herself. The story reveals that women have to survive under patriarchal

society in order to get their existence as women who have the same and equal

rights with men.

  

ABSTRAK

CORRY VERONIKA (2008). The Values of Feminism as Revealed through

Inge’s Character in Fremd’s The Glass Inferno. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra

Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Tesis ini berhubungan dengan salah satu novel Angelika Fremd yang

berjudul The Glass Inferno. Novel ini menyajikan pahlawan wanita sebagai tokoh

utama dan pokok persoalan yang menarik yang muncul di novel ini adalah

feminisme. Novel ini bercerita tentang seorang wanita yang tinggal di masyarakat

patriakhal, yang menyebabkan dia mendapat tindasan dari sekitarnya. Dia harus

berjuang untuk mendapat eksistansinya sebagai wanita. Novel ini dengan

kerumitannya, mengungkapkan perjuangan seorang wanita yang tinggal di

masyarakat patriakhal, dan melalui karakter, tindakan, perjuangan dan pemikiran

dari tokoh utama dapat dilihat nilai-nilai dari feminisme.

  Ada tiga pokok bahasan yang akan dibahas dalam tesis ini. Pokok bahasan

yang pertama adalah untuk mencari tahu karakter dari Inge sebagai tokoh utama

dalam novel The Glass Inferno. Pokok bahasan yang kedua adalah untuk

menunjukkan gambaran masyarakat patriakhal dimana Inge tinggal. Pokok

bahasan yang terakhir adalah untuk mencari tahu proses yang dilalui Inge

sehingga nilai-nilai feminisme dapat dilihat dari karaker Inge sebagai tokoh utama

di novel ini.

  Pada pembahasan ini, penulis melakukan penelitian pustaka di mana

terdapat dua macam sumber, sumber utama dan tambahan. Sumber utamanya

adalah novel itu sendiri, sedangkan sumber tambahannya adalah buku-buku

referensi dan situs-situs yang mendukung pembahasan ini. Sementara itu, ada dua

teori yang diterapkan berkenaan dengan teori karakter dan karakterisasi, dan teori

feminisme. Berkaitan dengan topic tesis ini, pendekatan yang digunakan adalah

pendakatan feminisme.

  Hasil studi ini menyebutkan bahwa Inge adalah seorang wanita muda yang

berani, mandiri, baik hati, bertanggung jawab, kuat dan menarik. Dia tinggal di

masyarakat patriakhal, maka dari itu sebagai akibatnya dia mendapat tindasan dari

sekitarnya. Masyarakat Patriakhal selalu memberi efek negative kepada

masyarakat kelas kedua, dalam hal ini adalah wanita. Tindasan-tindasan itu bisa

dalam bentuk seksual ataupun psikologis. Melalui karakter, tindakan, perjuangan

dan pemikiran dari Inge dapat disimpulkan bahwa dia merefleksikan nilai-nilai

feminisme, yaitu kebebasan dalam memilih, persamaan hak dan juga hak wanita

untuk menjadi diri sendiri. Cerita tersebit mengungkapkan bahwa wanita harus

berjuang dibawah masyarakat patriakhal dengan tujuan untuk mendapat

eksistensinya sebagai wanita yang memiliki hak yang sama dan seimbang

terhadap pria.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Feminism always becomes an interesting topic to discuss, since it deals with

  women’s struggle to get equality in all aspects in life toward men, such as education, work fields, politic, human rights, etc. It is particularly hard to find out what equality means when it comes to gender, since there are real differences between men and women. Men and women are created equal with their own excesses and lacks, therefore they have to complete each other but in practice, there are a lot of unfair treatments towards women. They are treated as second- class citizen and what they are doing is somehow restricted to the society in this male-dominated world. Therefore feminists are struggling to get equality.

  Actually, what most feminists want is not to replace patriarchy with matriarchy, they only struggle for equality. However, equality itself is a difficult idea to be seen as something which is standard, fair to someone without any classification from sex.

  Women’s movement has existed a long time ago and it is not the invention of the twentieth century. Women had been struggling to get equality since a long time ago, but the one which marked the rise of this issue is the feminist movement. As stated by Deborah L. Madsen in the book Feminist

  

Theory and Literary Practice feminist movement is divided into two waves. The

  first wave is the wave of American Feminism in 1840s-1920 which is commonly marked by the first women’s rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls in 1848 and the second wave is the wave of American Feminism in 1960s which focused upon indictment of male sexism and the domestic oppression of women and also marks the establishment of the modern Women’s Movement (2000:3).

  Although feminist movement has already existed for decades but still many cases of women’s oppression are found. Women are oppressed by society and men due to their sex, they are less valued than men. Women are considered as “trouble” for men. Judith Butler in the book Gender Trouble: Feminism and

  

Subversion of Identity explains that the significance of the term ‘trouble’ in her

  title. For men, as the subject of desire, ‘trouble’ is represented by the female ‘object’ of desire who unexpectedly returns and answers the masculine gaze, who refuses the passive position of the feminine object and thereby ‘contests the place and authority of the masculine position’. In the other hand it can be said that a male subject desiring a female object. (Butler, 1990, p vii) It means that the image of women can be seen as something ‘desiring’ and giving ‘trouble’ to men.

  As oppressions are received by women, a lot of females and some males authors criticize the system that has existed since a long time ago, and they do not only criticize but also want to open the eyes of people in this world to see define what equality they wish for is. Through literary works, they try to give real and true condition about women’s life in patriarchal society. They always struggle for equality. Therefore, women’s writings are considered as critical category since women’s writings and feminism are closely related. Through the literary works, the authors could convey their ideas, comments, dreams in life. Most of works of feminist authors represent the voice of women, to get equality towards men in all aspects in life. Besides, feminists also use it as a medium to trigger women’s awareness about their own rights, to be appreciated fully by society and men and also to restructure the patriarchal society so that women’s rights will be appreciated and there will be no more oppression towards women.

  In this study the writer chooses the novel of The Glass Inferno. The Glass is a novel written by Angelika Fremd, an Australian female writer. The

  Inferno

Glass Inferno is one of her best novels which presents female heroine as the

  central of the story. Her novels concern more on women’s world. One of the interesting issues that comes up in The Glass Inferno is about feminism. The

  

Glass Inferno was first published in 1992 by University of Queensland Press

  Australia. It is the second part of trilogy novels dealing with the life of Inge Heinrich as the main character. It deals with the life of Inge Heinrich as the female character who lives in patriarchal society. She has to survive to get her existence as a woman. Although she lives in male-dominated world which caused oppression to her, she keeps on surviving, her dignity as a woman will not strong, responsible and attractive somehow become a proof that she can survive and struggle for her existence as a woman. Patriarchal society and feminism cannot be separated, they have strong relationship. One becomes the cause and one becomes the effect. The negative result is oppression; unfair treatment that triggers many reactions. Many women are struggling to get equality, to be treated as equal as men.

  In this study the writer wants to see the feminism values reflected by the main character, Inge. As a woman, she knows what she wants and what she does not want in her life. She wants to have freedom to choose what she wants for her life. In the novel, Inge reflects the values of feminism through her actions, thoughts and struggle. She demands her freedom as a woman, to do whatever she wants to do with her own responsibility and also to be free from males’ domination.

B. Problem Formulation

  1. How is Inge characterized?

  2. How is the patriarchal society depicted in this novel?

  3. How does the character of Inge reveal the values feminism in patriarchal society, as depicted in the novel?

  C. Objectives of the Study

  Based on those questions in the problem formulation above, this study attempts to obtain satisfying answers. In order to see the feminism values that are reflected by the character of Inge, this study has three objectives that have to be accomplished. First, this study is meant to find out the characteristics of Inge as the main character in The Glass Inferno. By knowing her characteristics, the writer could understand what Inge really likes and what she wants in her life.

  Second, this study aims to find out the patriarchal society where Inge lives. This could be seen from how the male characters do to the main character, Inge. We could also see the struggle of a woman living in a male-dominated world. Last, this study aims to find out the values of feminism reflected through Inge, as she lives under patriarchal society, experiencing oppressions and as the main character in The Glass Inferno.

  D. Definition of Terms

  In order to avoid misunderstanding in reading this study and to give the right focus for the readers while reading this study, there are some terms that the writer needs to define. This definition of terms hopefully can be helpful in understanding the terms that are used.

1. Feminism

  Barranger defines “feminism” as a critique of prevailing social conditions which have excluded women from dominant male cultural, social, sexual, political and intellectual discourse and pursuits (1994:646). Humm states that feminism is an ideology of women liberation since intrinsic in all approaches is the belief that women suffer injustice because of their sex. She also defines feminism as the principal that women should have political, economic and social rights equal to men (1992: xi). In simple terms, feminism is a form of rebellion against the patriarchal ideology which has placed women in its ruthless clutches for centuries.

  2. Value(s)

  In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, value(s) is/are defined as standards, principles, or ideas about worth or importance of certain qualities, especially those generally accepted by a particular group (1987: 1165).

  3. Gender

  Gender, in common usage, refers to the differences between men and women. Madsen defines gender as opposed to ‘sex’, which refers to the socio- cultural characteristics attributed to the different biological sexes (2000: xii). Whereas sex is biologically determined, gender is socially constructed. Feminism has posited gender roles to be socially constructed, independent of any biological basis. In gender studies the term gender is used to refer to propose social and cultural constructions of masculine and feminine.

  4. Patriarchy

  According to Madsen, patriarchy is another recurrent term, referring to men and all things masculine, and a political system that places power in the hands of men and thus serves male interests at the expense of women (2000:xii).

  Feminists argue that the opposite of feminism is not masculinity but patriarchy. Therefore, it is not surprising the word ‘patriarchy’ has negative association when it is used in the context of feminist theory.

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies

  is Fremd’s portrayal about women’s struggle in living

  The Glass Inferno

  in patriarchal society. The main character, Inge in The Glass Inferno faces many problems and injustice treatments because of her sex. In struggling her own will, dreams and also to reject the patriarchal standards in her society, she reflects the values of feminism. There have been many comments on literary works by internationally well-known American writers, whether classic or temporary ones, but it is a different case if the novel study is Australian novel. The writer finds that there is limited information or sources related to the work available on books or internet, but two comments based on the novel are finally found.

  Sue Walton in her essay entitled Search for Self Rings with Honesty commented on Inge’s characteristic. According to Walton, women’s quest for identity has becomes a recurrent theme in literature. As the main character Inge represents the same idea. Her struggle in searching for self-knowledge and self- understanding are sort of realization for her curiosity about identity and she does not realize that her refusal to choose any specific course of action in itself is a kind of selection process. Walton explains that many aspects had influenced Inge’s life in her struggle in searching for self-knowledge and self-understanding. By experimenting with different sexual partners, Inge tries fervently to discover who she is and where she belongs. The hostility of the world in which she lives, however, is given full reign when her liaisons are discovered. Society, the law, the medical profession combine to humiliate and control her. Inge moves through Melbourne, Sydney, Papua, and Brisbane trying to establish her own identity. She continues to see her existence in terms of her partners and is unable to crate a sense at herself apart from them.

  Walton states that Inge’s act in experimenting with different sexual partners as the way to discover who she is and where she belongs.

  Another comment comes from Sneja Gunew from the same source. His essay entitled A New Getting of Wisdom, explains the main character, Inge’s childhood and also the story of an artist’s development that told a migrant and non-Anglo Celtic perspective. He states:

  I love the ending. She says that for a square peg, meaning herself, a suitable hole will ultimately be found. Her too we have the Bildungsroman (the story of an artist’s development) but told in this case from a migrant and Non-Anglo Celtic perspective. As Inge’s half-sister Monika declares, ‘if being grown-up makes then I don’t want to be a woman or a migrant!’ The purple hands, incidentally, are on one level merely an allergic reaction to the new country, on another, a telling mark of alienation.

  Further more, he also states that there are many sexual actions that appear in the story.

  The men are physically brutal and sexually rapacious, while the women here become the subjects, the victims who need to learn survival; bartering sex for material leading to alienation from their own bodies. From those two comments above, we can see that Inge is depicted as a strong, brave and curious woman who lives in male-dominated world. Here, we can see also how her struggle emphasizes her ask of equality in patriarchal society. She struggles for the equality to become the person in her own right, the significant person.

  In this study, the writer wants to develop both of those comments, the statements which describe Inge as a figure of woman who struggles in facing the oppressions that she got from her society, patriarchal society. In this study, the writer also wants to find out the feminism values that are revealed by Inge as the main character. It is interesting to discuss the character of Inge since she acts differently from the other women characters in this novel. Her characteristics reveal the effort of feminism values that women should have a progress in thinking to determine their selves, as a significant person, not the other. She no longer can be said as woman who is submissive, obedient and passive in dealing the condition that she has to face.

B. Review of Related Theories 1. Theories of Character and Characterization

  Since this discussion is aimed to analyze the characteristic of Inge, related to this idea of feminism, therefore it is important to present theories of character and characterization.

  Character is an important element in the story. Character is commonly used in two ways (Abrams 1985:23). The first way is the character designates the individual who appears in the story. Second, the character refers to the mixture of interest, desires, emotions and moral principles that make up each of this individual and character gives a certain situation or circumstances in the story because he or she shows his or her emotion on it.

  According to Abrams, character may remain essentially “stable”, or unchanged in outlook and disposition, from beginning to end of a work, or may undergoes a radical change, either through a gradual process of motivation and development or as the result of a crisis (1985:23).

  Foster differentiates fictional character into flat and round characters. A flat character is built around “a single idea or quality” and is presented without much individualizing detail, and therefore can be fairly adequately described in a single phrase or sentence. While a round character is complex in temperament and motivation and is represented with subtle particularity; such a character therefore is as difficult to describe with any adequacy as a person in real life, and like real person, sometimes surprising the readers (1927: 29).

  Character and characterization are related and cannot be separated from each other. In real life, human sense of character naturally varies with their power of perception and understanding. Human being can find his or her own characterization by seeing others’ judgments towards something.

  According to Murphy (1972: 161), the author always reveals the character of imaginary person in the story. It is called characterization. Therefore, attempts to make his or her characters understandable to, and come alive for the readers: a. Personal description. The author can describe a person’s appearance and clothes. The telling and accurate description can help the readers to know the characters further.

  b. Characters as seen by another. Instead of describing a character directly the author can describe the character through the eyes and opinions of another character.

  c. Speech. The author can give us an insight into the character of one of the persons in the book through what person says. It can be whenever a person speaks, whenever he or she is in conversation with another character, whenever he or she puts forward an opinion, he or she is giving the readers some clue to his or her character.

  d. Past life. By letting the readers learn something about a person’s past life the author can give the readers a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character. This can be done by direct comment by the author, though the person’s thoughts, through his conversation or through the medium of another person.

  e. Conversation of others. The author can also give the readers clues to a person’s character through the conversation of other people and the things they say about him or her. People do talk about other people and the things they say often give as a clue to the characters of the person spoken about. by letting the readers know how that person reacts to various situations and events.

  g. Direct comment. The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly.

  h. Thoughts. The author can give us direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. In this respect he or she is able to do what we cannot do in life.

  The author can tell the readers what different people are thinking.

  These are some of the ways in which an author makes his or her readers aware of the personalities and the characters of the people that he or she writes about in his or her books. By knowing about the characterization the readers will understand why the character does the thing and the emotional feeling of the readers will also be involved when they read the story.

2. Theories of Feminism

a. Feminism in General

  The first idea that is likely to occur in the course of any historical thinking about feminism is that feminism is a social force (Humm, 1992:1). The emergence of this social force is because the awareness of feminists to understand that in all societies which divide the sexes into differing cultural, economic or political spheres, women are less valued than men. Humm states that feminism also depends on the premise that women could consciously and in sexual equality combines with a commitment to eradicate sexist domination and to transform society (1992:1). In the other word it can be said that feminists desire to restructure the patriarchal society, not to replace it with matriarchy, they only struggle to get equality. The goal of feminism is to change the degrading view of women so that all women will realize that they have the same right with men in all fields. Feminist theories reveal the rights that women should have, women’s oppression and also women’s struggle to get the equality toward men.

  According to Maggie Humm, in general, feminism is an ideology of women liberation since intrinsic in all approaches is the belief that women suffer in justice because of their sex. It is also stated that feminism is defined as the principal that women should have political, economic and social rights equal to men. Maggie Humm argues that feminist approach aims to redress the portrayal of gender stereotypes and gives the appropriate value to ignore women’s writing (1992: xi).

  Feminism appears because there is an unfair treatment toward women in society. The basic assumption of feminism is a movement that starts from the women’s awareness to be free from discrimination, oppression, exploitation and to try to end these treatments. Feminism is a women’s movement to be free from oppressions, discriminations, and to get the same rights and dignity with men.

  Feminism believes that women have the same right as men. They have the rights to live, to work, to get education, to get freedom and so on. Women, want. Women are born free and equal to men in the sense of human rights. Unfortunately, in this male-dominated world, women’s rights are not fully appreciated, because what women do is restricted due to their sex. There is a belief in the patriarchal society that men are superior and women are inferior. The misconception of women stereotyping that women are weak, dependent, passive, submissive and receptive makes women seen as inferior to men. It is clear that from time to time people assume that women are nothing compared to men because people themselves believe it and do not want to try breaking that wrong assumption about women.

  Feminism also notices that women are always regarded as inferior to men because they are never given equal opportunities to show their intelligence and to prove their capabilities. Their potentialities to develop their abilities are narrowed by the gender stereotypes system built by the patriarchal society.

  Related to the gender stereotypes, according to Butler, gender identity is the same with a cultural performance, matrix of signifiers that enables members of a cultural group to ‘read’ the signs of gender and to be read as gendered subject, that the basic ‘to search for the origins of gender, the inner truth of female desire, and a genuine or authentic sexual identity that repression has kept from view (1990: viii).

  It is clearly seen that what feminists’ desire are equal rights and equal opportunities for women. Feminist theory reveals the importance of women’s equal opportunities and equal rights. They realize that they have the same right as men, and because of that, women try to fight against the condition and strive for their rights.

  In relation to marriage, Stanton says that marriage is only one of a range of choices men may make about how to live their lives; and how women have no individual sovereignty. She recognizes that women are educated and socialized to expert only marriage as the structuring principle of their lives. “Personal freedom is the first right to be proclaimed, and that does not and cannot now belong to the relation of wife, to the mistress of the isolated home, to the financial dependent”.

  The married women surrenders all her rights, including the right to control her own body, though her husband gives up nothing, she becomes an unpaid domestic drudge, robbed of her labor; and when women are paid to work outside the home they are paid not according to the value of their labor but according to the value of their gender. Stanton identifies the lack of legal status as a citizen as the root cause of women’s dependence within marriage. That situation also can cause the economic and sexual oppression on woman (1969: 70).

  As Stanton has expressed it, we must reject every conception that makes women an instrument of men. Both men and women have the same rights and dignity as human being. They complement each other through their differences. Within a marriage, women have the same rights as men. In marriage, women should be free, respected and sovereign in proportion to the stability of the

  Feminist movement also focuses on women’s consciousness about their disadvantageous positions that is regarded as the second class citizen, the purpose is to correct the labeling on women and to restructure the society in order to get the equality in gender. The basic goal of feminist movement is to correct the misconception of women stereotyping and to get the equality toward men.

b. Values of Feminism

  Based on the brief explanation about feminism above, there are three values that are important for feminist struggle to get equality towards men. The values will be explained below. i. Freedom of choice

  According to Zillah Einstein in her book The Sexual Politics of the New

  Right: Understanding the “Crisis of Liberalism” liberalism as an ideology

  promised certain crucial values, such as individual autonomy, freedom of choice, equality of opportunity and so on (1982:189). Stanton also supports Einstein ideas that personal freedom is the first right to be proclaimed, and that does not and cannot now belong to the relation of wife, to the mistress of the isolated home, to the financial dependent (Madsen, 2000:40). ii. Equality

  Einstein states that liberalism as an ideology promised certain crucial values, such as individual autonomy, freedom of choice, equality of opportunity desire that feminist want: equal rights and also equal opportunities (1992:2). Humm states:

  “Liberal feminism aims to achieve equal rights, political and social rights for women. It wishes to bring women equally into all public institutions and to extend the creation of knowledge so that women’s issue can no longer be ignored (1992:181).

  Moreover, Madsen states that liberal emphasis on the individual and stresses the importance of the individual which are protected by guaranteed rights, economic justice and equality of opportunity (2000:35). iii. Woman’s right to be herself

  Stanton states that the rights of the individual are natural rights which the individual brings into the world of birth; these rights cannot be taken away because they are constituted of the individual. Women and men are created equal, therefore women’s rights have to be appreciated as the same with men (2000:39)

c. Patriarchy and Its Oppression

  According to Madsen, patriarchy is another recurrent term, refers to government by men; patriarchy is a cultural (ideological) system that privileges men and all things masculine, and a political system that places power in the hands of men and thus serves male interests at the expense of women (2000:xii).

  Feminists argue that the opposite of feminism is not masculinity but patriarchy. Therefore, it is not surprising that the word ‘patriarchy’ has negative association when used in the context of feminist theory.

  Humm states that the oppression of women differs too from class and race because it has not come out of capitalism and imperialism. The sexual division of labor and the oppression of women by men predate capitalism. Patriarchal authority is based on male control over the woman’s productive capacity and over her person. This control existed before the development of capitalist commodity production. It was belonged to a society in which the persons of human beings were owned by others. Patriarchy, however, is contradicted by the dominant mode of production in capitalism because in capitalism the owner of capitalist owns and controls the labor power but not the persons of his laborers (1992:96-97)

  In Gilman’s view, capitalism and patriarchy work together in the economic and sexual exploitation of women (Madsen 2000: 41). As the negative outcome of patriarchy is oppression. Women constitute the oppressed class in patriarchal society and men constitute the class of oppressors. Gender oppression is the systematic under patriarchy and not a matter isolated violent and discriminatory incidents. According to Anne Koeidt women’s oppression stem from men’s sexual power over women which is achieved through actual or threatened physical violence and by psychological inducements such as romance (Humm, 1992:261). Firestone also supports Koeidt ideas on forms of oppressions, she states:

  “But sexual oppression is the fundamental and foundational form of oppression in patriarchal society “(Madsen, 2000:158). Firestone also shows how women and children are educated to accept their place in lower class, a rigidly segregated class modeled upon the sexual class that is ‘woman’ trough the twin mythologies of femininity and childhood. Another form of oppression according to Firestone is love oppression. She concludes that love and romance are very different for men and for women. men idealize, mystify and glorify the individual women with whom they fall in love in order to obscure her inferior class status, women, in contrast, pursue the male love and approval that will raise her up from he subordination class position and validate her existence. In this way, love becomes a political force, a force for unequal power relations (Madsen, 2000:159). Or in the other word it could be said that there are two forms of oppressions, they are physical violence or sexual abuse and psychological inducements or love oppression.

C. Theoretical Framework

  In this part of the study, the writer will explain some of the theories and approach that will be used to analyze the problems of the study. It also explains the reason why the theories are needed and applied in the analysis.

  The study of Anglika Fremd, The Glass Inferno aims to reveal the feminism values through the main character’s life. In order to achieve the aim, there are three problems come up. First, how Inge’s characteristics are described, second, how the patriarchal society depicted and the last, how the feminism values are reflected through the main character. Therefore, some theories are needed to be applied in the analysis.

  The first analysis aims to find out the characteristics of Inge. The theory of characterization, defined by Murphy, and the theory of Forster on character will support the writer to analyze the main character, Inge. The theory of characterization is used to know the process in finding Inge’s characteristics, actions, struggle and thought.

  In discussing the patriarchal society in which Inge lives, the writer applies the theory of patriarchal society related to the feminism theories: Feminist

  

Theory and Literary Practice by Madsen, A reader's Guide to Contemporary

Feminist Literary Criticism by Humm and Feminism: A Reader by Humm. Here,

  the impact of living in male-dominated world could be seen clearly from the oppressions experienced by Inge which come from men around.