ENGLISH DEPARTMENT READERS’ RESPONSE TOWARD
TWO R. A.
KARTINI’S LETTERS IN BOOK, “HABIS GELAP TERBITLAH TERANG”
Eva Evina
Abstract
The influence of Dutch culture on the 19th –century made R. A. Kartini, a Javanese woman from Jepara broke the traditions. She is an Indonesian heroine who wanted to get the same high education as men. This thesis analyzes to find out the people opinions or thoughts about R. A. Kartini from the book, Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang. This book contains two letters of R. A. Kartini that I use to get some perceptions or feeling from the readers. This thesis deals with the struggles of R. A. Kartini as a heroine for Indonesian women to get gender equality and the same rights as men. Based on this idea, Subjective Reader-response theory will be an appropriate tool to analyze the thought of the readers about R. A. Kartini through her letters. 13 participants ED Students were selected to be the readers’ response. Subjective reader-response theory is a tool to analyze the response of participants’ thoughts. Through this study, it reveals that the readers’ perception toward R. A. Kartini through her two letters is that she had to give a real action for Indonesian women. The real action that shows her struggle for Indonesian women. It is because in her letters, she only shared her own desire to get freedom of her tradition. She did not mention any other Indonesian women’s thought or experiences in her two letters.
