CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Writing with the purpose of changing people‘s pessimistic views about women of achieving gender equalities and denouncing the injustices inflicted to women became the main goal for feminist writers and activists. They aimed at creating a world, at least in literature, where women would be able to live as individuals. Women often depicted as the inferior gender, a passive object that could not survive on its own and that could do nothing for itself. Women, in literature, could only exist through the eyes, minds and lives of men but never for themselves. Beautiful and obedient, they could never think on their own. They were obliged to occupy a secondary place in the male's world not because of their capacities but rather because of imposed cultural and social forces. This representation led to deny women's dignity and even worse their identity.
The history of patriarchy reveals a variety of injustices women suffered from. They represented, in a way, the oppressed class that had always been subject to men‘s domination through male self-interest and had been prevented from full development as human beings. Sexism, under patriarchy, was the norm that ruled gender relationships for men were in control of everything.
assumption that a woman is under a man. Men are culturally different from women. Physically, men are strong while women are weak. Men’s nature is rude and women’s is gentle. Men’s idea is always authoritative and women’s is dependent. Men are always active and become determiner while women are only passive and become receiver. There are many more things that can show the women are in the secondary place. like a woman should stay at home to cook, look after the children and serve her man, and then a woman should keep in silence when a man speaking. These issues finally cause women to start questioning this kind of gender inequality and struggling to fight against the superiority of men, called Feminism.
Feminism is a phenomenon in the society. In discussing feminism, people will talk about women. Feminism is a kind of social changing which derives from women’s suffrage movements in the nineteenth century in Europe and America. It is closely related to the social changing of gender issues. Mary Wollstonecraft, the first feminist who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), encourages woman writers to insert feminism in their literary works. Finally, feminism has been widely spreading.
The term feminism can also be used to describe a political, cultural, or economic movement that is aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women. Feminism involves political, cultural and sociological theories, as well as philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for women’s rights and interests.
from others. But all the definition is almost same in the main point. Here the writer is going to put some definition of the most popular feminist in the world.
• Estelle B. Freedman (2003:285) said in his book ‘No Turning Back’:
“Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently of equal worth. Because most societies privilege men as a group, social movements are
necessary to achieve equality between woman and man.”
• Rosalind Delmar (1986:13) said in her book ‘What is feminism’ that
:“Feminism is usually defined as an active desire to change women’s position in society.”
• Christina Hoff Sommers (1994: 22) said, in the book ‘Who Stole Feminism’
that : “a concern for women and a determination to see them fairly treated” • Ratna (2004:184): "Dalam pengertian yang paling luas, feminisme adalah
gerakan kaum wanita untuk menolak segala sesuatu yang
dimarginalisasikan, disubordinasikan, dan direndahkan oleh kebudayaan
dominan, baik dalam bidang politik dan ekonomi maupun kehidupan social
pada umumnya." (In its broadest sense, feminism is a women’s movement
which rejects the marginal, subordinated and underestimated things by the dominating culture either in politics, economics or social life in general). • Awuy (2002:1) in his essay Feminisme di Persimpangan Jalan states:
"Feminisme merupakan sebuah fenomena kultural. alasan kemunculannya
ialah berdasarkan ketidakpuasan terhadap realitas yang dianggap sebagai
konstruksi patriarkal". (Feminism is a cultural phenomenon of unsatisfactory
Feminism has finally changed traditional perspectives in a wide range of area in human’s life. Many feminist activists have campaigned for women’s legal rights such as rights of contract, property rights, and voting rights. Nowadays they are also promoting women’s rights to bodily integrity and autonomy, abortion rights, and reproductive rights. They have struggled to protect women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape. On economic scopes, feminists have advocated for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay. In addition to that, they also fight against other forms of gender specific discrimination against women.
The reason of why feminism exists is because the patriarchal construction has subordinated and repressed the essence of women during the last decades. In a patriarchal society, men have the power, dominate social or cultural systems, and have authority over women and children. Men’s superiority, which is also supported by the culture, finally creates significant injustice as portrayed in Alice Walker's novel 'The Color Purple' which become one of the problems of the study that will be discussed in this thesis.
Alice Walker an American author and activist who excelled in literature often emphasize in her works the importance of regaining feminine entity, self-esteem, fulfilling self-realization and achieving sexual awareness. The concern of black women, the impact of racism and sexism as well as their impact on black women were the main themes of these black writers. In their fiction, the female characters are able to change, to progress and excel in all aspects of life. (en.m.wikipedia.org)
Americans…” (Bell, 1987: 269). She is African-American writers. “This is evident in the way that Walker has passed on some of Southern heritage in her fiction” (Lauret, 2000: 96).
Alice Walker‘s epistolary novel, " The Color Purple is one of the best literary works that clearly illustrate the sufferings of African-American women from patriarchy, sexism and racism. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1983. The Color Purple is the story of Celie, a poor, barely literate Southern black woman who struggles to escape the brutality and degradation of her treatment by men” (Gates, Jr-Appiah, 1993: 16). Walker’s novel The Color Purple published in 1982 begins with the scene of rape. When the protagonist of the novel, “…Celie is 14…stepfather, whom she believes is her father, begins to rape her…” (Walker, 1996: 50) She cannot tell this trauma to anybody. At first, her stepfather starts to do this when her mother is not at home. Then he says “…you better shut up and git used to it” (Walker, 1985: 3). Celie’s expressions show how difficult position she stays. “But I don’t never git used to it. And now I feell sick used to it. I be the one to cook. My mama she fuss at me an look at me. She happy, cause he good to her now. But too sick to last long” (Walker, 1985: 3).
The reason of significance of the Celie’s rape scene is that there is not a race issue. Celie is black and her stepfather is black, as well. This incident displays that being a member of a black family is dangerous for a female. These facts are the representatives of a black female’s life. Celie is demonstrated “…the black woman as oppressed …”(Evans, 1984: 163)
The Color Purple does not only describe but even goes beyond that purpose. In fact, Alice Walker‘s true intention from writing this novel is not only to give voice to black women but also to provide them with a path to be followed in getting their freedom. Walker shows us the evolution of her major character, Celie, from being a sexually abused child to a passive wife and finally to an emancipated woman. Emancipation is any of various effort to procure economic and social right, political right or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchised group, or more generally in discussion of such matters. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/emancipation
(Hooks 1984:44) Celie's relationship with these women helps Celie to achieve spiritual freedom and gain economic freedom. The Color Purple may be fiction, but it would be a very powerful and wonderful way to teach moral development as we see the main character Celie.
The analysis underlying this paper assumes that Celie, the protagonist, is able to free herself through writing letters and with the help of women around. Thus, close attention is given to sisterhood, this magic and strong female relationship that gives Celie physical, spiritual and mental strength in order to get rid of males' oppression. Her sister Nettie, her stepdaughter Sofia and her close friend Shug are of great help and support in her emancipation. In addition, the central character, Celie, expresses herself through writing letters. Pouring her sufferings down into a paper is a therapy that enables her to survive and even to liberate herself.
More importantly, the novel offers a model of inspiration for women‘s struggle against man domination.
1.2 Problem of the Study
In this analysis, there are questions that need to be answered :
1. How are Celie's problems portrayed in the novel "The Color Purple" ?
2. How are Celie's struggle for her freedom from man's domination ?
1.3 Objective of The Study
Based on the problem of the study above, the objective of the study are :
1. To identify the problems that cause Celie suffer deeply
2. To describe celie's struggle for her freedom from man's domination
1.4 The Scope of The Study
As limitation of further analysis in this thesis, scoping the main cause of the problem will be needed to prevent wider analysis in the thesis. The scope of the study is only focused to the main character problems that consist of sexual abuse, physical abuse, Psychological abuse, uneducated and the struggle of achieving her freedom without the description about any other character of the novel.
1.5 Significance of The Study
