“MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA NOVEL BY ARTHUR GOLDEN”: AN ANALYSIS ON FEMINIST LITERARY
CRITICISM PERSPECTIVE
THESIS
BY:
DENY WIDYAYANTI 07360214
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ... i
LEGALIZATION ... ii
MOTTO ... iii
ABSTRACT ... iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of Study ... 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem ... 4
1.3 Purpose of the Study ... 4
1.4 Significance of the Study ... 4
1.5 Scope and Limitation ... 4
1.6 Definition of Key Terms ... 4
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Novel as Part of Fiction ... 6
2.2 Elements of Novel as Part of Fiction ... 7
2.2.1 The Plot………... 7
2.2.2 Character and Characterization………... 10
2.2.3 Theme ... 11
2.2.4 Setting ... 12
2.2.5 Point of view ... 12
2.3 Literary Criticism ... 23
2.4 Feminist Literary Criticism ... 15
2.5 Gender Bias... 17
2.5.1 Stereotype... 18
2.5.3 Violence ... 19
2.5.4 Burden ... 20
2.5.5 Marginalization ... 20
2.6 Memoirs of A Geisha ... 21
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design ... 23
3.2 Research Approach ... 24
3.2.1 Objective Approach ... 24
3.2.2 Mimetic Approach ... 24
3.2.3 Expressive Approach ... 24
3.2.4 Pragmatic Approach ... 24
3.3 Object of the Study ... 25
3.4 Research Instruments ... 25
3.4.1 Observation ... 25
3.4.2 Interviews... 26
3.4.3 Document Analysis ... 26
3.5 Data Collection ... 26
3.6 Data Analysis ... 27
CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Finding ... 29
4.2 The Gender Biases Expressed in Memoirs of a Geisha Novel Related to Feminist Literary Criticism... 29
4.2.1 Table of Stereotype... 30
4.2.2 Table of Subordinate……….. 32
4.2.3 Table of Marginal……… 34
4.2.4 Table of Violence……… 35
4.3 Discussion……… 38 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
5.1 Conclusion ... 41 5.2 Suggestion ... 42 BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams, M.H. 1999. A Glossary of Literary Terms. USA: Earl McPeek.
Arp, Thomas R. and Greg Johnson. 2006. Perrine’s Literarture Structure, Sound, and Sense. USA: Graphic World, Inc.
Ary, Donald. 2006. Introduction to Research in Education. USA: Thomson Wadsworth. Azis, Asmaeny. 2007. Feminisme Profetik. Yogyakarta: Kreasi Wacana.
Bressler, Charles E. 1999. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Delahoyde, Michael. 2011. Feminist Literary Criticism. (online). (www.wikipedia//encyclopedia.org.feministliterarycriticism).
Ellen Rooney (Ed.). 2006. The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Literary Theory: What Feminism Did to Novel Studies. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Fakih, Mansour. 2008. Analisis Gender dan Transformasi Sosial. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.
Gale, Thomson. 2006. Biography Resource Center/Contemporary Authors Online. (online). (www://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC).
Golden, Arthur. 1998. Memoirs of a Geisha. London: Vintage.
Handayani, Trisakti dan Sugiarti. 2008. Konsep dan Teknik Penelitian Gender. Malang: UMM Press.
Ismiwati, Dewi. 2010. Beauty Concept of Geisha in Arthur Golden Memoirs of a Geisha. Thesis. Malang: State Islamic University of Malang.
Janie. 2006. Summary and Reflactions “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden. (online). (http://bookbrowse/memoirsofgeisha.com)
Kennedy, XJ. 1983. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, Third Edition. Canada: Little Brown and Companytate University.
Koesnosoebroto, Sunaryo Basuki. 1988. The Anatomy of Prose Fiction. Jakarta: Depdikbud. K.S, Yudiono. 2009. Pengkajian Kritik Sastra Indonesia. Jakarta: PT Grasindo.
Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literarture. 1995. United States of America: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data.
Penguin Reader Teacher Support Programme. 2008. Memoirs of a Geisha. (online). (http://penguinreaders.com).
Plain, Gill and Susan Sellers(Ed.). 2007. A History of Feminst Literary Criticism: Defining Feminist Literary Criticism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Pradopo, Rachmat Djoko. Beberapa Teori Sastra, Metode Kritik, dan Penerapannya. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar
Sugihastuti, dan Itsna Hadi Saptiawan. 2010. Gender dan Inferioritas Perempuan Praktik Kritik Sastra Feminis. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation and definition of
the key terms used in the thesis.
1.1 Background of the Study
Society still assumes that the position of women is lower than men. It is called discrimination which can be found in literary works. One of the literary works that can be criticized in feminist perspective is novel. According to Nancy Armstrong
(The Cambridge companion to Feminist Literary Theory. 2006: 99):
Novel criticism acknowledged the success of these new reading practices during 1990s, when it focused considerable attention on sentimental fiction as the imaginary seedbed of a more inclusive nation, class mobility, and aesthetic innovation. In the years following that success, few critics of the novel have reflected on the fact that feminism adapted a very traditional - that is, masculine - notion of lack to think about the status of women and the gendered division of labor, not to mention the historical role played by both the category of the feminine and the people who occupy it.
In literature, novel criticism is one of innovation in literary works. This is a
new reading practice that successfully brings modern analysis to the novel which has been traditional and masculine. The traditional and masculine novels tell about
women status and their burden that are reflected as discrimination. The novel criticism analyzes and criticizes a literary work that has discrimination content in order to give information to the reader about feminist perspective.
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work which contains of injustices and inequalities of women. In doing feminist
literary criticism the researcher should analyze, interpret, and evaluate the novel based on feminist perspective.
According to K.S (2009:51) feminist literary criticism Perspective is seriously discussed because some reasons, they are: (1) give a feedback of the literary symptom which had developed in the past century. (2) Open the movement space which is
developed between author or women critic with men critic in understanding women author literary works. (3) Re-contemplate of literary criticism perspective which had
existed for centuries, so there can be new theorems which is more understand human symptoms.
There are some important steps that can help researcher to do the research. First, identify women characters and find the position in society. Second, analyze another character especially who has relation with woman character that is analyzed.
Third, analyze the style of author such as the language and the story of the novel that is expressed by the author (Sugihastuti, 2010: 101).
Those steps can be analyzed based on gender analysis. But, firstly the
researcher must differentiate between gender and sex. Gender is differentiation between men and women, not based on the biological nature. The biological
differentiation is the will of God, so it will be permanently different, whereas gender which is socially constructed by a behavioral difference between men and women. (Fakih, 2008:7) Shortly, gender analysis should involve two sexes to explore the life
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According to Bressler (1999:4) the meaning of literary criticism is a
disciplined activity that attempts to describe, study, analyze, justify, interpret, and evaluate a work of art. This discipline attempts to formulate aesthetic and
methodological principles on which the critic can evaluate a text. Literary works can be criticized based on specific perspective, such as feminism that researcher conduct in this research. Criticizing a literary work is not only to women authors, but also to
men authors. Their literary works sometimes contain discrimination to women, even women authors. That is why there is Feminist Literary Criticism which can change
the stereotype to women that commonly negative.
According to Azis (2007) feminism perspective have not a great portion to be
discussed in Indonesia. This topic is not too concern to be analyzed in Indonesia. While, in western this kind of criticism is main thing to study related to literary term because it is serious topic to be analyzed further that can give great contribution for
women equality.
The researcher finds the human symptoms in the novel Memoirs of Geisha which is chosen as an object of analysis. The novel told about the struggle of woman
who was fated as a Geisha. Geisha is an elegant entertainer from Japan. They are surrounded by men. Only rich men can get their performance. Chiyo (Sayuri) was the
name of main character in this novel. Many hard things happened in her life since she was a little girl. Even then she enjoyed being Geishabut she didn’t get a right as men. As a poor girl, she was sold by her father to be a Geisha and her life was only to
4 1.2 Statement of the Problem
Considering the points discussed in the background of the study, the problem is formulated as follow:
What kinds of gender bias are expressed in Memoirs ofGeisha novel based on
Feminist Literary Criticism Perspective?
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The purpose related to the literary works is:
To find out the kinds of gender bias of Memoirs of Geisha Novel based on the
Feminist Literary Criticism
1.4 Significance of the Study The study has two significances:
1. For the reader, this research will enlarge the knowledge about literary
criticism especially on feminism perspective. The reader also knows about gender biases expressed in Memoirs of Geisha novel.
2. For the next researcher, it can be used as a reference for the next researcher
who wants to conduct a research about literary criticism analysis.
1.5 Scope and Limitation
The research is limited to the gender bias that is expressed in the Memoirs of Geisha related to feminist literary criticism.
1.6 Definition of the Key Terms
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worked to contain and constrain women in practice (A History of Feminist
Literary Criticism: 2007).
2. Novel: a fictional prose narrative of considerable length and a certain
complexity that deals imaginative with human experience through a connected sequence of events involving a group of person in a specific setting (Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature: 1995).
3. Memoirs of a Geisha is the title of the novel written by Arthur Golden
4. Gender: differentiation between men and women characteristics based on a
social and cultural scheme.
Bias: inequality or discrimination which is happened because of the gender
differences.
(Analisis Gender dan Transformasi Sosial: 2008).
5. Gender bias: the bias of role, status of women and men such as stereotype,
