i
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
ROSALINA DAU Student Number: 034214023
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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you are;
If you think you are dare not,
you don’t;
If you like to win, but think
you can’t,
It’s almost a cinch you won’t.
If you think you’ll lose,
you’re lost;
For out in the world we find
success begins with a fellow’s
will;
it’s all in the state of mind.
If you think you’re outclassed,
you are;
v
Life’s battles don’t always go
to the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the man who
wins is the man who thinks he
can.
v
My Grandmother, Pui Len
For every single hope and prayer…
My Father, F.A.M. Jelivan
For every single drop of sweat…
My Mother, Elisabet
For every touch of love and
blessing…
My Sister and Brother
and
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guidance in all of my life including His power that enables me to finish this thesis. My gratitude is dedicated to my sponsor,Adventina Putranti, S.S., M. Hum. and my co. sponsor,Gabriel Fajar Sasmita Aji, S.S., M. Hum.for their great help, patience and understanding in supporting me to finish this thesis.
My gratitude is also dedicated to my beloved parents, my father; Drs. F.A.M. Jelivan, M.M., My mother; Elisabet, A.Md.Kep, my older sister; Rafaela Wisda Fiesta Hinuqand my younger brother; Ronaldus Yen. I thank them for the prayers, and supports to me.
My special thanks go to my cousins:Ber and Ella/De’e(for her saliva on the pillow!), and my friends: Vita/Pita, Sendy, Nophie. I thank them for so much stupidities that we shared, for the best moment and the worst one, for the laughs and the tears we shared that make me understand the meaning of friendship.
For the guys that came into and walked out of my life within years I study at Sanata Dharma University and for every single moment that has already passed that makes me grow more mature and stronger. I thank them for becoming joy and pain and for the lesson I have learnt. For everyone that cannot be mentioned here because of the page limitation, it does not mean that they are not important. I would like to thank them for all of their kindness and support.
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A. Background of the Study ……….. 1
B. Problem Formulation ………. 5
C. Objective of the Study ……….. 5
D. Definition of Terms ………... 5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ………... 7
A. Review of Related Studies ………. 7
B. Review of Related Theories ………... 9
1. Theory of Characters and Characterization ……….... 9
2. Theory of Feminism ……….... 11
a. Feminism and its Varieties ……….. 11
b. Ideas of Feminism ………... 15
C. Theoretical Framework ... 18
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ……….... 19
A. Object of the Study ... 19
B. Approach of the Study ... 20
C. Method of the Study ... 21
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ... 23
A. Riley Gordon’s Characteristics ... 23
B. Ideas of Feminism Revealed through the Character of Riley Gordon ... 36
1. Freedom and the right to choose ... 36
2. Equality ... 44
3. Opportunities ... 47
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 50
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Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008.
This thesis discusses the novel of Carol Clewlow entitled Not married Not Bothered. The novel is interesting to discuss because it deals with modern woman issues. The novel presents Riley Gordon as the main character who decides to be single in the society that outclasses the unmarried women. Even though there is much oppression from the society, she remains solid with her ideas about how she has to be. Certain ideas that Riley Gordon holds in her life are reflecting feminism. Thus, by struggling for a life that fits her ideal she is struggling for the ideas of feminism that she holds.
There are two problems to be answered in this thesis. The first question is about how the character of Riley Gordon is described in the novel. The question is important to recognize Riley’s attitude that furthermore leads to the second question which is about how the ideas of feminism are revealed through the character of Riley Gordon.
This thesis uses library research as the methodology. There are several theories employed here, theory of character and characterization to answer the first problem and theory of feminism to answer the second problem in the problem formulation. The feminist criticism is employed as the approach in this thesis because the writer studies the novel from feminist’s point of view.
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Tesis ini membahas novel karangan Carol Clewlow yang berjudul Not Married, Not Bothered. Novel tersebut berkaitan dengan permasalahan wanita di jaman modern yaitu tentang perannya di masyarakat yang menjadikan novel tersebut menarik untuk dibahas. Novel tersebut menampilkan Riley Gordon sebagai tokoh utamanya yang memutuskan untuk tidak menikah tanpa mempedulikan lingkungannya yang memandang sebelah mata terhadap wanita yang tidak menikah. Walaupun ada banyak sekali tekanan dari lingkungan dan masyarakat sekitar, Riley tetap teguh dengan pemikirannya tentang bagaimana dia harus bersikap.
Ada dua permasalahan yang dijawab melalui tesis ini. Analisis pertama adalah tentang bagaimana karakteristik Riley Gordon dipaparkan didalam novel. Analisis pertama sangatlah penting untuk menganalisis tokoh Riley Gordon yang kemudian menuntun kepada analisis kedua. Sementara analisis kedua adalah tentang bagaimana ide-ide feminisme tercermin melalui penokohan Riley Gordon.
Metode pustaka adalah metode yang dipakai dalam penulisan tesis ini. Ada beberapa teori yang digunakan dalam penulisan tesis ini yaitu teori penokohan yang digunakan untuk menjawab permasalahan pertama dan teori feminisme yang digunakan untuk menjawab pertanyaan kedua. Pendekatan feminis digunakan sebagai pendekatan dalam tesis ini karena pendekatan tersebutlah yang dipakai penulis sebagai acuan dalam mengolah novel yang dibahas.
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Not Married, Not Bothered, which is the source to be explored by the
writer, was published in London in 2005 by Harper Collins publisher. The novel
is telling about a woman named Riley Gordon who has different view toward
marriage from her family and friends. Riley Gordon has highlighted what it means
to be a spinster, not because of circumstances, but because of her own choice.
Riley is an independent heroine who does not think that as a woman she needs to
be accompanied by a man for the rest of her life. The novel gives a new and
different view of lifestyle options for women, a lifestyle where a woman can stand
independently without a husband especially for the women living in Great Britain.
Thus, it is not impossible if the novel has a tendency to be read from feminist
perspective.
In literature, feminism is one of many issues that cannot be avoided.
Many works of women writers start to be considered and appreciated. Even some
women writers start to write about women and their rights. While inNot Married,
Not Bothered, through Riley Gordon’s character the novel reveals ideas of
feminism which are applied in the modern era in the novel. Riley shows different
personality which rebels against the common conservative society where she
lives. Thus, the novel interests the writer to explore the story, especially exploring
Riley Gordon’s character and some ideas of feminism that are revealed through
let people, especially the patriarchal society, tell her how it is to be a good
woman. Unlike women around her who are so much influenced by the patriarchal
society’s point of view about women, she defines herself as an independent
woman. Riley Gordon frees herself from the bound of domestic duties that have
been identical to women for centuries.
If driven back to centuries ago, the most influential Greek philosopher,
Aristotle, defines that to be a good wife a woman has to do domestic duties, do
everything based on her husband order and permit and keep herself from
interaction with other women and is not allowed to be involved in decision
making even for her own children marriages. The following quotation shows that
women are supposed to be at home and not given the opportunity to be involved
in public affairs.
has been a commonsense in various societies that makes it is hard to be changed.
One of those countries holding the patriarchal’s idea of a good woman is the Great
Britain.
In the year 1861, there is a tiny development in the role of women in
Britain. Even though there are large numbers of women who are wives, one in
four of those wives were occupied in other than doing domestic duties. Women’s
position at home are also not merely become the doer of the domestic things
anymore. Woman becomes her husband’s “helper” in farm-houses or shops, or
sometimes being his substitute in cases of his desertion or helplessness. However,
still, women are not standing independently alone. Women’s position is still as a
helper whose job is merely to support men. (http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/
butler/educ.html).
The working women do not have better fate either, in fact worse. There
were 80,017 female teachers in England who have uncertain salary in the year
1861. Even from five hundreds applicants, three hundred applied for a similar
place (teacher) with no salary at all. However, they are willing to do the job in the
hope of a higher class in the society (http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/butler/
educ.html).
Women are seemingly given opportunity to develop themselves. However,
it is still hard for women to be independent. Women, whether they like it or not,
have to be dependent to men to make a living because the society and its
that women are conditioned to believe that men are naturally superior and women
are naturally inferior to men.
Women have been conditioned to believe that they are inferior to men and they have assumed that what everyone believes is a fact of nature (Montagu, 1952:23).
Because of the social view that women are inferior, women themselves
sometimes are not aware to the condition that they are being discriminated. They
accept the social view and come to the wrong conclusion that their inferiority is a
fact of nature (Montagu, 1952:23).
Montagu also states that women have fallen to the fact that they are no
more expecting freedom or equality since they are accustomed to the inferiority.
They just conclude that men are by nature will be dominant and women are
subservient as quoted below.
Women have been so long conditioned in the environment of masculine dominance that they have come to expect the male to be dominant and the female subservient (Montagu, 1952:39).
After centuries living under oppression, women start to react against the
discrimination. Women start making efforts to gain their rights. This effort to gain
equality between men and women, called feminism, affects every aspect of human
life such as social, economic, culture, and of course literature.
From the reasons conveyed above, the writer is interested to analyze
Clewlow’s Not Married, Not Bothered from feminism’s point of view and
elaborate it in this thesis. The writer will analyze Riley Gordon’s personality to
To help the discussion of the topic, some problems are formulated as
follows:
1. How is the character of Riley Gordon described in the novel?
2. How are the ideas of feminism revealed through the character of
Riley Gordon?
C. Objectives of the Study
The first objective of this thesis is to describe Riley Gordon character in
the story and the second objective is to deeply recognize how Riley Gordon, as the
main character in the novel, reveals the ideas of feminism referring to the
problems formulated.
D. Definition of Terms
In order to produce clearer analysis and avoid misunderstanding toward
certain terms included in this study, some terms are defined in this subchapter.
1. Character
M.H. Abrams in his book,A Glossary of Literary Terms, defines character as
“the person presented in a dramatic or narrative, who is interpreted by the
reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional quality, that is
expressed in what he says-the dialogue-and by what he does-the
According to Women’s Studies Encyclopedia, Feminism is “a belief and
commitment to equal right and opportunities for women” (Terrey, 1989: 139).
3. Ideas of Feminism
Chowk: Unflinching Idealism, websites of idealisms, states that ideas of
feminism are the visible representations of feminism which is containing the
social action in which the action deals with the political, economic, social,
cultural, spiritual, intellectual, artistic, racial and sexual and hegemonic
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
In this chapter the writer focuses on various studies and theories related to
the literary work discussed. It includes the reviews from many critics and some
theory of character and characterization and feminism.
A. Review of related studies
Maria Goreti Tri Kurniawati, one of the alumnae of Sanata Dharma
University, writes a thesis based on feminism study. Her thesis which is entitled
Ideas of Feminism Revealed in Lena Lingard’s and Antonia’s Characters as Seen
in Willa Charter’s My Antonia emphasizes on feminism ideas that the two
characters hold. Maria Goreti Tri Kurniawati shows the struggle of the two main
characters of the novel against a patriarchal society as can be seen in the following
quotation.
While Black Hawk women are only expected to get married and working at home, Lena chooses to be a dressmaker. She leaves her rough work in the farm ad comes to town where there are more opportunities for her to take. Lena realizes that she has a special talent in knitting; therefore she wants to be a dressmaker. In the farm, she used to knit socks or clothes for her siblings or even for her neighbors. To make her dream comes true, Lena leaves Nebraska and comes to the town of Black Hawk. Lena leaves the farm because she does not like to do an outdoor work in the farm (Kurniawati, 1998:54).
Besides struggling for the opportunity to have a better life, the two main
not marrying someone is one of her effort to be independent as can be seen
through the quotation below.
A woman has a right to choose, and Lena chooses not to get marry to focus on her work and be a successful dressmaker. She resolves to remain single to be able to support herself and help her family in the country without being disturbed by family’s burden. She refuses to get married because she does not want to be dependent to her husband (1998:57).
Another study of ideas of feminism can also be found in the undergraduate
thesis of Nilam Maharani. Nilam Maharani, who was a student of English Letters
in Sanata Dharma University, writes a thesis entitled The Ideas of Feminism as
Seen through the Two Major Characters in Mark Rutherford’s Clara Hopgood.
Nilam Maharani analyzes the ideas of feminism revealed through two major
characters in one of Mark Rutherford’s works, Clara Hopgood. A part of the
analysis can be seen in the quotation below.
The society cannot accept progressive things easily. Clara is not like other women who are supposed to obey rules in the city. As a woman living in patriarchal society, Clara should not talk too much in public. She should be as speechless as other women. The second reason is that although Clara knows her reaction in speaking in public is prohibited, she neglects it. She continues her habit in expressing herself courageously (Maharani, 1999: 63).
Clara omits the patriarchal society and its point of view. Instead, she rebels
against it by doing thing which is prohibited by the patriarchal society. She uses
her right freely and fight the patriarchal society so that she reveals idea of
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
A character on a fiction is a creation of the author that is presented in
his/her works (Barnet, 1988: 712). Thus, it is impossible for a fiction to be lack of
characters.
Stanton states that the term character is commonly used in two ways.
First, it designates people who appear in the story. Second it refers to the mixture
of interests, desires, emotions and moral principles that makes up each of these
individuals (1965:17).
According to Stanton, there are three important ways to understand a
character in a story. First is by paying attention to the character’s name because
sometimes the author makes the name fits the character. The second way is by
paying attention to the author’s explicit description of and comment upon the
character and the last is by paying attention to the character’s own dialogue and
behaviour (1965:17-18).
While, according to Murphy, there are nine ways in which an author
characterizes his/her character in a novel:
1) Personal Description
The author can describe a person’s appearance and clothes.
2) Character as seen by another
Instead of describing a character directly the author can describe him through the eyes and opinions of another. The reader gets, as it were, a reflected image.
3) Speech
person speaks, whenever he is in conversation with another, whenever he puts forward an opinion, he is giving us some clue to his character.
4) Past Life
By letting the reader learn something about a person’s past life the author can give us a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character. This can be done by direct comment by the author, through the person’s thoughts, through his conversation or through the medium of another person.
5) Conversation of Others
The author can also give us clues to a person’s character through the conversations of other people and the things they say about him. People do talk about other people and the things they say often give us a clue to the character of the person spoken about.
6) Reactions
The author can also give us a clue to a person’s character by letting us know how that person reacts to various situations and events.
7) Direct Comment
The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly.
8) Thoughts
The author can give us direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. In this respect he is able to do what we cannot do in real life. He can tell us what different people are thinking.
9) Mannerism
The author can describe a person’s mannerisms, habits or idiosyncrasies which may also tell us something about his character (1972:161-173).
Holman, in his book An Introduction to Fiction, states that
characterization is the creation of the imaginary person (character) so that the
character exists for the reader as lifelike (Holman & Harmon, 1986:81).
There are three fundamental methods of characterization according to
(1) The explicit presentation by the author of the character through direct exposition, either in an introductory block or action; (2) the presentation of the character in action, with little or no explicit comment by the author, in the expectation that the reader will be able to deduce the attributes of the actor from the action; and (3) the representation from within a character, without comment on the character by the author, of the impact of actions and emotions on the character’s inner self, with the expectation that the reader will come to a clear understanding of the attributes of the character (1986:81).
Holman and Harmon propose that the presentation of the character
through direct exposition, actions and the character’s inner self is forming the
characterization of the characters in a novel perfectly by involving readers’
deduction.
2. Theory of Feminism
a. Feminism and Its Varieties
Feminism, according to Lizbeth Goodman in her book Approaching
Literature: Literature and Gender, is a politics: a recognition of the historical and
cultural subordination of women and a resolve to do something about it
(Goodman, 1996:X). Thus, the key of feminism is the recognition that women are
subordinated that then leads to a real action to do something about it.
Feminism arises as the result of the unfair treatment toward women in
society. The basic assumption of feminism is starting from the awareness of the
women to be free from discrimination, oppression, exploitation and try to end
those traits (Fakih, 1996:69).
The first women movement emerges during the 1800’s. It was time of
individual freedom and universal education (Freeman, 1979:533). However, the
first feminism movement dies in 1920 for about forty years (1979:543).
Feminism arises from its death in 1960. It is signed by the establishment
of some feminist organizations such as Commission on the Status of Women in
1961 by President Kennedy and National Organization for Women (NOW) in
1966 by Betty Friedan (1979:545).
Mary Wollstone Craft first raises her voice in support of women
emancipation. In her Vindication of the Rights of Women, in 1972, she states that
the lack of sufficient training was felt to be one of the major disabilities in
women’s struggle for independence (Freeman, 1979:521). Women are
conditioned in a situation where they cannot explore their own potencies that
leads to their dependency.
On its development, feminism branches into various kinds from various
eras. However there will be only some significant and mostly discussed feminism
will be presented in this thesis.
The first type of feminism is liberal feminism. Liberal feminism
emphasizes on the individual, the rights of a woman as an individual human being
that has her own will and decision. Equality between men and women is the
central concern of this kind of feminism. However liberal feminists propose that
every woman, as an individual being should be given the same opportunities as
every man (Fakih, 1996:69).
Another branch of feminism is marxist feminism which is organized
gender oppression. Marxist feminism combines the study of class with the
analysis of gender (Madsen, 2000:65).
Marxist feminism argues that the source of women’s oppression comes
from the patriarchal capitalism. Women are exploited sexually and economically.
Women are sold and trafficked as a tool of economy. Marxist feminism believes
that the oppression toward women can be reduced if women are involved in
economic activities (Fakih, 1996:87). The following quotation also shows that the
deletion of the capitalist system will reduce oppression toward women.
Marxism recognizes that women are oppressed, and attributes the oppression to the capitalist/private property system. Thus they insist that the only way to end the oppression of women is to overthrow the capitalist system (http://www.uah.edu/woolf/feminism_kinds.htm on June 18, 2007).
Another more extreme feminism is called radical feminism. This term
refers to the feminist movement that sprung out of the civil rights and peace
movements in 1967-1968. The reason this group gets the "radical" label is that
they view the oppression of women as the most fundamental form of oppression,
one that cuts across boundaries of race, culture, and economic class.
(http://www.uah.edu/woolf/feminism_kinds.htm on June 18, 2007). Some radical
feminists are even lesbians. However not all radical feminists are lesbians and not
all lesbians are feminists (http://frontpage.uwsuper.edu/psychology/358/
feminism.htm on June 11, 2007). Radical feminists reject all forms of male
domination. In a nutshell, radical feminists do not agree with the idea that women
From various kinds of feminisms, liberal feminism will be the focus
feminism theory of this thesis. Liberal feminism is chosen because from the
writer’s findings, Riley as the main character in Clewlow’s Not Married, Not
Bothered, tends to have the idea of liberal feminism than the other kinds of
feminism such as marxist or lesbian feminism.
Liberal feminism has several phases on its development. Initially, liberal
feminism rooted on the political movement that later grows into women liberation
to choose their role in domestic and public affairs individually.
Liberal feminism starts in the 18th and 9th century. It focuses on rights
where “right” must be given priority above “goodness”. It includes the rights to
control reproduction organ, abortion and free access to contraception and its
information as stated in the Bill of Rights that is proposed by National
Organization for Women (NOW) in its first National Conference in Washington
in 1967 (Tong, 1998:16).
In contrast with marxist feminism that emphasize collectivity, liberal
feminism put emphasis on the individual. Liberal feminism stresses the
importance of the individual and individual autonomy (Madsen, 2000:35).
Mary Wollstone Craft, a liberal feminist thinker, in A Vindication of the
Rights of Woman states that a woman, as an individual being, should have her
own choices in life. She states that the middle classed women that have no choice
and opportunity in their life are not luckier than the pet animal. They sacrifice
their health, freedom and morality for prestige and power that their husband own
There are still many kinds of feminism that are not mentioned. However
the kinds of feminism mentioned will not all be involved. The writer only focuses
on liberal feminism because based on the writer’s finding when she relates liberal
feminism to the main character of the work involved, liberal feminism is the most
appropriate theory to be employed in this thesis.
b. Ideas of Feminism
Feminism theory is a very wide one. There are many kinds of feminism
with many kinds of specific ideas and sometimes the ideas are contradictory
between one kind of feminism and another. To provide this thesis with a clearer
border, the writer focuses on the ideas of feminism in general which accepted by
all kinds of feminism and excluding certain specific ideas of minor kinds of
feminism and feminism that is still inviting many controversies such as lesbian
feminism etc.
Ideas of feminism are the visible representations of feminism which is
containing the social action in which the action deals with the political, economic,
social, cultural, spiritual, intellectual, artistic, racial and sexual and hegemonic
institutionalized inequity of women (http://www.chowk.com/articles/85211). The
i. Freedom and the Right to Choose
Montagu in her book, The Superiority of Women, states that men have
power over women. They control women in many ways and let them to be
dependent to men. People assume that women cannot do work better than men do
(Montagu, 1953:21).
To release themselves from this wrong assumption women have to realize
that they are not inferior. Women have to be aware of their rights. Then, women
should be able to make decisions in order to be independent. Women have to
realize their rights to choose. They are free to choose what works or activities they
want to do. All human beings, including women, should enjoy the rights they have
as human beings. Women have freedom of argument that maintains them free to
choose (Freeman, 1975:39).
ii. Opportunity
Basically, men and women are created with equal rights. Thus, they should
be given equal opportunity. In fact, women are treated unjustly. They have so far
lesser opportunity than what men have. One of feminism goals is to get the same
opportunity with men in every sphere so that they can develop their potentials.
Women are considered as less intelligent and inferior because they are not given
enough opportunities and chances to develop themselves (Montagu, 1953: 187).
Thus, in order to explore themselves optimally women need the same opportunity
Feminism proposes that women should struggle to get opportunity to
develop themselves. Women have to free themselves from the bound of
housewives. They need to realize that they can do many more things than merely
do the domestic duties.
iii. Equality
Feminism goal is to get equality between men and women. Feminism
proposes that men and women have to be treated equally and such gender
discrimination must be deleted because men and women are basically created
equal as stated in the following quotation fromWomen: a Feminist Perspecive.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness (Freeman, 1975:439).
Montagu states that men and women need to cooperate each other in order
to gain equality. They should help each other because they are mutually dependent
as reflected in the below quotation.
Men should help women and women will help men, anyway, the sexes are interdependent in manner so biologically fundamental, their function are so basically reciprocal (Montagu, 1953:152).
By being cooperative, the relation between men and women is hopefully
can be a perfect harmony and women and men positions is expected to be equal.
Feminism demands equality in every aspect of life between men and women. The
equality between men and women can be reached if there is a good cooperation
C. Theoretical Framework
Theory of character and characterization and theory of feminism are used
to answer the first and second question in the problem formulation. Theory of
character and characterization and theory of feminism are very crucial in this
research. The writer uses theory of character and characterization to explore the
main character in the novel. While, feminism theory is used to know what
feminism is and what things are considered as feminism ideas. Therefore it will
help the writer analyze some ideas of feminism revealed through the main
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the methodology in analyzing Carol Clewlow’s Not Married, Not Bothered. There are three sections in this chapter. The first part is the subject matter concerning the topic of the thesis. The second is the approach used to answer the problem and the last part is the steps which discuss about the process in doing the study.
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is a book written by a woman writer named Carol Clewlow. The title of the book isNot Married, Not Botheredwhich was published in London in 2005 by Harper Collins publishers. Before writing novels, Carol Clewlow was a journalist for twenty years in England. She is the author of the best selling A Woman Guide to Adulterywhich becomes a hit TV series.Not Married, Not Bothered is her latest book.
simply has different views toward singleness that can not be seen by people around her. Her family and relatives keep pursuing her to get married and cannot respect her choice to be a single woman. Riley Gordon who is also the narrator of the story tells the readers how her love life is and how her relationships with her family and friends are. At the end of the story Riley Gordon remains single and feels the real freedom in her life because she has chosen the right option, not because she is forced by her families, friends or lovers but simply because of her own choice.
B. Approach of the Study
As the writer deals with feminism revealed through one of the characters in the novel, the approach used by the writer in this research is feminist criticism approach. The writer uses feminist criticism to emphasize on feminism in literary work involved. The writer interprets the novel from feminist point of view and reveals some ideas of feminism through the main character in the novel.
According to Goodman, feminist criticism approach is an academic approach to the study of literature which concerns feminist ideas to the analysis of literary text and the context of their production and reception (1996:XI). Thus, the key of feminism is the recognition that women are subordinated. Then the recognition leads to a real action to do something about the subordination.
role and the works that imply men and women position in society will be the object of feminist criticism application.
While, Guerin states that feminist literary criticism’s goal is to explain how power imbalance the relation between men and women. It also shows how gender stereotypes shaped by culture are reflected in or challenged by literary text (1992:196). Thus, the approach is not merely exploring men and women relationship in the society but also explaining the inequity power between men and women. The reflection of culturally-constructed gender stereotypes will be seen in the literary text.
Feminist literary criticism highlights feminism in literary form. The feminist critics’ goals are to support discovery and reevaluation of literature by women as can be seen in the quotation below.
Despite their diversity, feminist critics generally agree that their goals are to expose patriarchal premises and resulting prejudices, to promote discovery and reevaluation of literature by women, and to examine social, cultural, and psychosexual contexts of literature and literary criticism (Guerin, 1992:197).
The feminist literary criticism allows us to see how women writers seek to make us recognize women’s rights. Women rights will be implied in the literary works and they will be revealed by the approach (Madsen, 2000:37).
C. Method of the Study
Bothered was taken as the primary source while other books and articles about theories and criticisms related to the analysis were used as the secondary data.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This chapter covers the analysis and the discussion of the analysis that is required by the study in order to answer the questions stated in the problem formulation in chapter one. This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part is discussing how the character of Riley Gordon’s is described in the novel and the second part is discussing how the ideas of feminism are revealed through the character of Riley Gordon.
A. Riley Gordon’s Characteristictics
One of Murphy’s nine characterization methods is personal description where the author describes a person’s appearance and clothes. Through the following quotation, Riley is described as a person with uncommon style.
As regards my hair, I’ve always worn it long. I’ve had every style known to men or beast (perms, pleats, plaits, highlights, low-lights, etc., etc.) but still it’s never risen much above my shoulders. Thus the day I came in with it ice white and shorn, my mother fell back against the sink like she was having a heart attack (p.11).
mother is shocked when she sees Riley’s new and more extreme hair cut such as perms, pleats, plaits, highlights, low-lights, etc.
Another way an author characterizes his/her character in a novel, according to Murphy, is by the “the eyes and opinions of another”. Riley is described as a woman who is careless to her appearance. Her character as seen by her mother describes that she does not care about her weight or what she wears. She even wears messy stuff like clumpy shoes and motorbike jacket. The description is implied in the following quotation.
‘Darling…do I dream it…or are you a size 14?’ (Or 16 in Cassie’s case.). I have learnt over the years that all my mother’s snips and snides are prefaced by the word ‘darling’. As in: ‘Darling…do you have to buy that clumpy shoes?’ ’Darling…is that motorbike jacket you’re wearing?’ And now, of course: ‘Darling, all I’m saying is, do you really think your hair suits you that short?’ (p.11).
Riley’s mother opinion about her outfit shows Riley’s carelessness toward her appearance. She never thinks what is supposed to be worn by men or by women. She also does not categorize which one is men’s outfit and which one is women’s or which outfit fits certain occasions.
Riley’s mother really concerns toward her appearance. She has a good body-shape even if she is not young anymore.
She is proud of her look. She criticizes Riley because of Riley’s appearance that is not like other women around them. Riley does not put special attention toward her appearance. She does not follow common standard of women’s beauty that is supposed to be slim and having a non-catching-eye hairstyle.
Riley writes a novel for children entitledThe Importance of Aunts. The novel makes her appears in a children’s television program. However, because of her terrible style, through the following quotation, someone on television tells her that her style must be changed before she appears on television.
‘You need someone.’ ‘Sorry?’
‘To advise you’ ‘On what exactly?’ ‘Your hair, for a start’ ‘Oh, right’ (p.121).
The speech above reflects how inappropriate Riley’s appearance is, especially because she has to attend a television program for children. Riley’s style also reflects that she is a rebellious person because she does not follow other people’s normal fashion style.
nervous being there with Nathan but because it is already her habit since she was a little girl. “’You eat like a caveman, Riley’ He said. ‘You must hardly taste it.’” (p.24). Because Riley is a rebellious person she does not like to follow the rule such as table manner.
I said ‘Don’t criticise me,’ and he stretched a hand immediately across. He said ‘I’m sorry. I’m just interested, that’s all. I wondered why you ate so fast’ (24).
She does not like to be advised about how she has to behave. She is angry when Nathan criticizes her because as far as she is concerned it is the way she eats and she thinks nothing is wrong about it.
Another thing that also shows her rebellious personality in the novel is her negative attitude toward certain standards. For example, her rejection toward the rule of married women’s name that soon is replaced by their husbands’ name after they get married. When she conveys her disagreement, her mother corrects her like what she usually does when correcting Riley in the matters of etiquette.
‘It’s the correct form of address,’ she insists when I remark upon it, rolling out of the r’s as she always does when co-rr-ecting me on matters of etiquette (p.250).
However, Riley is different. That Riley is often corrected by her mother in the matter of etiquette shows that she rebels certain standards in her society. It also shows that Riley’s rejection towards common standards is not a rare thing done by her. Thus, the way Riley behaves and her fashion style describe that Riley is a rebellious person.
Riley, the main character in the novel is also the narrator of the novel. Through the author direct comment, Riley is also described as an ambition-less person. She is lazy. Even the career she has is basically not the result of her effort. She gets a job in a newspaper named Free Press because of her father. One day, Riley’s father helps a man named Harry Oates, who is the editor of theFree Press,to fix his car. Then, Harry Oates gives Riley the job.
As with so many things in my life – jobs, affairs – I fell into journalism. I’m an aspiration-less bastard, if you want to know the truth of it. In addition I’m lazy, bone idle. I see myself as a sort of Friday afternoon person, juddering along that old Assembly Line of Life. Suddenly someone calls out and the Angel Assistant turns. And, hey presto, there I go, juddering on pass and out into the world minus that vital component of ambition (p.59).
Riley has no certain targets in her life. She does not fall into journalism because she wants it but because it happens accidentally.
when she was in school. In fact, she failed at everything in the grammar school that she and her sister Cass attended.
Unlike Cass, whose name, even to these day, is emblazoned in gold in the hall of the distinguished old girls’ grammar school we both attended, I failed miserably at everything, exiting with barely an O level (p.59).
Through Riley’s attitude towards her life and everything she has involved in, Riley is clearly described as an ambition-less person. She is not interested in reaching certain goals in her life.
When Cass who is clever and diligent buries her potencies by becoming a housewife and merely doing domestic things, Riley explores herself optimally although she is not as clever as Cass.
Through the author direct comment, Riley’s sexual life is also described as lack of ambition. She is not as ambitious as her friend Sophie who says “if you don’t get it soon, you’ll start doing weird things” (p.242) to persuade Riley to have sex regularly.
I’m not like Sophie, you see. Sophie is never without sex, but that’s because she puts time and effort into acquiring it. She treats it as a hobby, approaching it the same way, trawling the personal adverts, clicking around the on-line dating (p.242).
Contradictory to Sophie, Riley does not think that it is an essential thing to have sex regularly. It shows that she is a person who does not try many ways to reach her goal. If something cannot be reached she will not feel much disappointment because she never uses much time and effort into acquiring something.
The following quotation shows that Riley is not only an ambition-less person but also a lazy person.
They said, ‘Is there nothing you want to do?’ and I didn’t feel it was appropriate to say that was exactly it, that the only thing I really wanted to do was nothing (p.59).
If she can do nothing she will do nothing. Riley’s career and all she has is not the result of her effort or diligent personality. She has it all effortlessly.
Despite her carelessness toward her life and her appearance, Riley Gordon is described as a loving person. Murphy states that a person’s character in a novel can be revealed through how that person reacts to various situations and events. Through Riley’s reaction when she knows that her sister Cassie has cancer shows that she is a loving person.
The day Cass told me she had cancer, I shook my fist at heaven, cursing the fact that there no system, no Great Cosmological Swap Shop where we were allowed to trade our lives to save another’s. I knew then that I’d give my life cheerfully for Cass, which was no big deal (p.36).
She wants to take the burdens of the illness. She regrets the fact that it is not her who has to bear the disease.
Riley’s reaction toward her father’s death is also describing that Riley is a loving person. She is so much depressed when his father dies. She does not join her mother and other mourners. Instead, she sits in a hidden spot on the corner of the graveyard for a long time “I laid a hand in my heart, feeling suddenly faint. Violently sick” (p.78). She does not talk to anyone. She even asks Archie to leave her alone when he wants to give her a lift because everyone has gone home.
’Go away. How many times do I have to ask you? Just leave me alone, will you?’ and I dropped down on the stone (p.78).
It is very hard for Riley to face the fact that her father has already passed away. She feels so much pain so that she does not want anybody to accompany her.
She also loves her nephew and niece, Jonah and Elsa very much. Even though they are not her own children she loves them much. Riley often takes care of them when Cassie and Fergie have to go out. One day, when Jonah is still a young boy and under Riley’s protection, he stays out late on his bike.
Riley worries him very much. She is so afraid if something happens to Jonah so that she cries when Jonah finally comes home. Her reaction toward what happen to Jonah clearly shows that she loves Jonah very much.
Through Riley’s thought one day, when Riley takes Jonah to his first morning of his work placement, Riley is described as a person who is excessively protective. At that time, Riley is afraid that is caused by her love to Jonah and Elsa.
I didn’t want Jonah to be in that suit, no mater how good he looked (and he did look good). I didn’t want him to be going out there into the world where he would meet other young men a couple of years older than himself who would take him out drinking. I didn’t want him to meet some sharp young miss by the photocopier who would break his heart for the first time (p.108).
It is not easy for Riley to face the fact that Jonah and Elsa is growing up. Far inside her heart she hopes that she can always protect them from “that big bad world out there for ever”(p.108). There is fear that she faces as Jonah and Elsa grow up. She is afraid that the world will treats them badly. Her concern toward what might be faced by Jonah shows that she loves him. She is afraid that something bad might happen to him.
he goes traveling. That is why in the speech between Riley and Archie, Riley is very angry with Archie who support Jonah’s idea to go traveling.
‘Damn you, Archie,’ I said slapping my glass down on the buffet table at Fergie’s retirement party. ‘Why the hell did you have to encourage him?’
‘He didn’t need encouraging.’ Archie looked down his long nose at me, took a swing of his wine. ‘Anyway, I thought you’d approve.’ ‘It’s not like when I did it. That’s the point. Look around you. It’s a bloody dangerous world now, Archie.’ (p.111).
One of Holman and Harmon methods of characterization is the representation from within a character, without comment on the character by the author, of the impact of actions and emotions on the character’s inner self. Thus, from Riley’s inner self it can be seen that she is described as a person who cares about the society condition around her. She often criticizes things that she thinks running falsely. She said “the more I think about it, the madder I am”(p.3) to the fact that spinsters are less valued simply because they are not married.
As far as I can see, it’s spinsters that have kept this damn country going. Teachers, civil servants, nurses, secretaries, plus a hundred other occupations, years of faithful service from the single woman and not just after World War One either. And for what? To go on being patronized and condescended to, to have her live considered so much of less worth than that of her married sister (p.3).
‘I blame medical science. It’s gone ahead extending our lives physically without giving us the mental and emotional resources to cope with it. Human kind cannot bear too much reality.’(p.81).
Riley’s criticisms toward certain phenomena in life indirectly describe Riley’s critical personality. She is not a passive person. She reacts against the facts that she faces which she thinks running falsely.
In the novel, through her speech with her friend, Danny, Riley is presented as an introverted person. She never tells anyone about herself even to Danny who is her close friend. That is why when she accidentally talks about Nathan, her ex-boyfriend in Bangkok, Danny is so surprised knowing that for a long time he does not know about it.
‘Hey…hey…hey…’ ‘What?’
‘You’ve never talked about this before, Riley.’
And I hadn’t. I’d never told anyone. Not Sophie. Not Cass. Not even Danny, who was staring at me now from the end of the sofa (p.143).
Riley enjoys doing things with no one but herself. She loves doing things alone and she considers life is “too short to share”(p.241) even when she falls in a big problem. She never tells her problem to anyone, even to her closest friends, Danny and Sophie or to her own sister, Cassie.
‘All of these years…’ Danny has a hand over his heart. ‘What?’
‘Locked away inside you’
Riley does not regret her action of not telling her friends about what she really faces. She categorizes it as a small thing that is not supposed to be shared.
One day Riley is cheated by her boyfriend, Lennie. Lennie persuades her so that she would invest her money in Lennie’s business. Somehow, the business fails. Lennie runs away and makes Riley paying all of his debt. She faces the problem herself. Her family and friends know that she has problem with Lennie. However, Riley keeps her mouth in silence. Through Riley’s following thought, it can be seen that Riley is introverted.
When friends asked about it, I’d say, ‘There’s nothing to say,’ which was not true, there was everything to say, but I just couldn’t bear to go through it, their eyes, against their will, glaze over (p.319).
Riley does not want other people feel what burdens her. She keeps her problem for herself because she does not want other people are involved in her problem.
When Riley is pregnant she also does not tell Cassie about the pregnancy. Years after the pregnancy, she still thinks it is not good to tell Cassie about the pregnancy that can be seen through the quotation below.
‘No. I don’t ever want them to know.’ ‘Why? I’m just curious’
‘Because I never told Cass at that time and now it would break her heart to find out that at that time in my life I never turned to her for help.’ (p.339).
When Riley knows that she is pregnant, she makes her own decision and takes care herself. Riley does not want others to help her even if the help comes from Archie who is the one that is supposed to be responsible to her pregnancy.
‘Look. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. What can I do?’ ‘Nothing. There’s nothing for you to do.’ ‘Money?’
‘No. I have it.’
‘I could take you…there…pick you up…look after you…’ ‘No. No.’ (p.298).
Riley does not think she needs Archie’s help since she can control everything by herself. She said “I’ve told you a dozen times, there’s nothing you can do. Nothing I want you to do.” (p.300) when Archie keeps insisting to do something for her.
It is different from women around her, for example her cousin, Fleur. She never makes her own decision. She is dependent to her husband as can be seen through the following quotation.
Over the years, Fleur’s conversation has been entirely dominated by Martin and I and our house … our car…our holiday…our children. Her tongue would slick along those pale pink lips in self-satisfaction as she said the words. To all outward appearance she and Martin were joined at the hip. A few years ago, for instance, she offered me a free weekend in Paris she’d won in some upmarket shopping competition. ‘I can’t go,’ she said, ‘Martin’s working.’ (p.53).
Riley is also described as a kind hearted person. Her reaction toward a woman who needs help one day when she is in the train shows it. In her way to the city she tries to help a woman who has difficulty with her shopping.
At one stop a young woman who looked about my age tried to get on with a buggy, carrier bags full of shopping swinging off each side of it. As she heaved and pushed, the wheels stuck in the floor of the carriage. She looked close to tears as the doors began to close on her. I rose to help but with one last push she was on (p.296).
Riley does not know who the woman is. However, she is touched and tries to help the woman. From Riley’s reaction toward another people who need help shows that Riley is a kind hearted person. Riley likes to help people even when she does not know them.
Riley has a strong personality that is somehow different from other characters in the novel. Her rebellious, critical and independent personalities make her tend to have different ideas of life that further leads to the ideas of feminism.
B. Ideas of feminism revealed through the character of Riley Gordon 1. Freedom and the right to choose
As I stared up into the crystal-blue canopy above me, I thought about everyone back home and, in particular, I thought about them working and I felt a deep, satisfied sense of pleasure that I was here doing nothing.
I thought this is what freedom feels like. And the revelation seemed so real and so true I could have reached out and touched it.
It seemed to come right out of the heart of all that blueness (p.69). She feels satisfaction from the freedom she has there. She feels that freedom is very important for her. She feels comfort that she is able to reach the freedom.
their life. Riley holds the idea that women are supposed to have their freedom even if they are already married. According to her, married women deserve to enjoy their life instead of always depend to their husbands. Marriages are not supposed to steal women’s freedom.
Riley tries to help her cousin, Fleur, to understand that women are free to live their lives. Riley has her freedom to do everything she wants because she is aware of her right to chose. She does not want to be like many women around her who have to do the domestic things such as taking care the children and husband. Thus, they are only considered nothing but wife and mother. Her sister, Fleur, never even “seen a gasbill” (56) since she is married. It shows her absence in any social activities. Fleur says “I’ve worked my fingers to the bone for him over the years” “I’ve been nothing but a wife and mother” (55) showing that she knows about the marginalization that happens to her but she remains as she is.
In the contrary, Riley does not want her freedom stolen by men. She even tries to help her cousins to get their freedom by convincing them that they deserve to have better choices than merely becoming mothers and wives.
Unlike women around her, Riley never let men of her society control her life. Riley loves her freedom as an independent woman very much and values it highly so that she does not want to sacrifice her freedom to anything including relationships with men.
end her relationship with Nathan because she thinks that the relationship ties her down.
‘I just want to be free,’ I said to Nathan one night, not long before the end. He said, ‘It’s just a word Riley.’I said, ‘I just want to do what I want to do, that’s all…go where I want to go… live the life I want to live.’(p.68).
Riley wants to have her freedom and her right to choose every single choice that life gives to her without men’s control over her. Riley considers man-woman relationship as something that is not supposed to be a thing that burdens her. When her relationship with a man risks her freedom she will choose to end the relationship.
People around Riley think that it is a bad thing for salesmen to call a married woman using “Miss”. Even when a woman is unmarried it is the best option to call her “Mrs”. To call a woman whose marital status is unknown yet, it is the safest option to call her ‘Mrs’ than ‘Miss’ as if it is better to be married than single as can be seen in the following quotation.
In short, address MrsBunn the Baker’s wife as MissBunn and you’ll be down a snake before you start, without a hope in hell of flogging her that extremely dubious additional plumbing insurance. For what married woman wants to be considered a spinster? By contrast, complimentMissBunn the spinster daughter by addressing her asMrs, and you’ll be up a ladder and signing her up before you can say Not Covered By The Policy (p.249).
think it is better to be coupled that single, salesmen must be failed to offer their product if they address their woman customer by using ‘Miss’.
However, Riley never thinks that it is better if a woman is accompanied by a man. She thinks that it is purely a women’s right to choose whether they want to marry someone or not and if they choose not to marry someone they absolutely does not need to feel worse than their married sister. She thinks unmarried women have to be respected as well as married women are, instead of being an object of mockery. The status ‘single woman’ is a result of their choice that is not supposed to be mocked.
The madder I think about it, the madder I am, and this because as far as I can see, it’s spinsters that have kept this dam country going. Teachers, civil servants, nurses, secretaries, plus a hundred other occupations, years of faithful service from the single women and not just after World War One either. And for what? To go on being patronised and condescended to, to have her life considered so much of less worth than that of her married sister. Worse – and this is in the new millennium – to continue being the subject of grubby jokes and prurient conjecture, to be caricatured as fey, grey and miserable on stage and screen and in all those fey, grey miserable novels (p.3).
There is no reason why women should feel better if they are married or coupled. She herself is very proud of the title ‘Miss’ which is attached to her.
People around Riley think that women are always better to be married or if they are not, at least they are considered as already married. It is better to have one man, even if the man is already died, than being single. One day Riley’s mother says to Riley that if needed she even has to explain why she remains single.
‘Sometimes it’s really useful to have a dead fiancé, Riley.’
‘This is a small town, Riley. I don’t know why but some people just seem happier if you can give them a good reason why you’re single’ (p.23).
That is also the reason why Riley’s mother, Barbara Gordon, build a relationship with Tommy that she actually does not need.
A word now about Tommy. What is Tommy to my mother?
In other circumstances you might call Tommy my mother’s lover. But I don’t believe it. Not for one minute. And if you think this is the response of an anally retentive spinster daughter, well, frankly I don’t give a toss. Suffice it to say on the matter of sex, I wish my mother was having it, I wish I was having it, I wish you were having it, I wish we were all having it, I’m that generous. Still I’d lay a pound to a penny that my mother is not and never has been en flagrante with Tommy. Or with anyone else. Including our father (p.8).
Riley is also advised by her mother to have a boyfriend, to have someone to accompany her life. Because her mother thinks it is important for a woman to be accompanied by a man.
‘I’m not talking about getting married, Addy. No one has to get married these days. There just never seems to be anyone in your life, that’s all.’ (p.10).
In the contrary, Riley has a different idea about men-women relationship. She thinks it is immature to feel better if others think she is married. She chooses not to get married and she will not marry someone only because of her mother oppression or a fear of the society mockery. One day Riley explains to her friend Danny that being single is purely her choice. She explains that her singleness is not because she does not have another choice or because she is abandoned by a man she loves like what happens to Miss Havisham in one of Charles Dickens’s novels.
A far as the spinster is concerned, her state has nothing to do with absence, or loss, or missed opportunity. It’s not Second Best at all but First Choice. In fact the view up here on the shelf is pretty damn good from where she’s looking.
‘Hey’ I said to Danny, ‘I’m not Miss Havisham. There’s no wedding cake mouldering away in the middle of my table.’(p.144).
Riley does not regret her choice of being single. She knows that she has made the best decision for her. She knows that she already chosen the right one for her.
I don’t regret like I don’t do poker-work, or petit point or any of that hokey-pokey, pointy-nosed patronising crap that’s supposed to attach, to the single, childless older woman.
I’m heavy on regret and this is why. Because regret is another of those clichés dogging the feet of the spinster. It translates into that ‘air of sadness, of loss’ wished upon us by the likes of the celebrity interviewer (p.223).
Riley thinks a marriage may steal her freedom as a woman. That is why she is surprised when her friend, Magda, decides to get married that she thinks as an action of releasing Magda’s freedom.
‘I’ve decided to take the title,’ this like it came with a castle and fishing rights and several thousand acres of prime Scottish upland. ‘Really. Can you do that?’
‘Yes. Absolutely.’ ‘But…’
‘What?’
‘Well…isn’t it a bit…you know…unliberated?’ ‘Not at all. I’m using it in itstraditionalform.’
According to Riley, getting married means loosing all her freedom as a woman and she is really shocked when Magda, who initially has the same idea about freedom as her, finally decides to let her freedom go by getting married.
Riley is unlike many other single women in the novel, who think they do not need to vote, Riley thinks it is important for single women to be heard. It is important for her to choose in the election and according to her, single women have to make their voice heard.
society. Which is crazy. Utterly paradoxical. Because the fact that single people use less of the society’s resources, e.g., schools, health service, etc., and pay proportionately more for everything, should be the very reason why they need to make their voice heard, why they should be voting (p.279).
Riley disagrees with the single women around her who think that it is unimportant to vote. In fact, vote determines their choices and by not letting their voice heard it means the women do not aware to their rights to choose and throw it into a trash bin instead.
Besides having the idea of freedom and having her rights to choose, Riley also demands equality between men and women so that the equality may create a condition to support women’s freedom and right to choose.
2. Equality
Riley does not agree with the idea that women are always behind men or behind great women there will be always men. It is shown by her disagreement with men domination of women that reflected in the name of married women. People around Riley, including her mother, think that it is normal and nothing is wrong with it.
‘Mrs John Smith…’ ‘Mrs Harry Jones…’ ‘Mrs Ernest Wilkins…’
‘It’s the correct form of address,’ she insists when I remark upon it, rolling out of the r’s as she always does when co-rr-ecting me on matters of etiquette (p.250).
According to her, men and women are supposed to be equal in position including the matters of naming. Wives do not need to be called by their husbands’ name and husbands do not need to be called by their wives’ name. It leaves the sense that the wives are not important as it is unimportant to mention their names.
Riley holds the idea that there must be equality between men and women. She does not want to be inferior to men. She tries to do things that common people consider as men’s work such as repairing electronic devices. She does not want to be useless compared to men. Riley once has a boyfriend who is useless at all things mechanical named Lennie. One day when he brings home a video, the most expensive and complicated one on the market. Riley tries her best to learn how to set the video.
“My first major triumph, awash with grief, my first step toward recovery, would be sitting down one day to teach myself how to set it” (p.86).
Riley believes that the equality between men and women also can be reached through the equal education. That is why instead of marrying someone and doing the domestic things, Riley continues getting higher education. Riley studies Women Studies in Bristol and still visiting the university sometimes to go to its library. Even though she is already graduated, she never thinks it is time to stop studying. It can be seen through the following quotation.
One evening I drove the twenty-five miles to Bristol to use the library of the university where I did my degree as a mature student what seems like yesterday, but is actually twenty years ago. I always go in the evening. It’s almost empty then (p.30).
Equality is also tried to be reached by Riley by exploring herself in career sphere as what men do. Initially, she works in a newspaper and then she works as a children’s book writer. She becomes famous because of the book she writes.
I subsequently spent the best part of seven years there in the end, first on news and then as a features writer. I left for what would prove to be an unhappy spell in freelance public relations, something which at least had the advantage of propelling me into that English degree at the university. It was here that I start to write, producing the first of the ‘Aunts’ books for which I am now (mildly) famous (p.60).
3. Opportunities
In the society where Riley is involved in, opportunity is seemingly not a problem. Women are given opportunities as well as men. However, women in Not Married, Not Botheredare still not given equal opportunities because of the invisible patriarchal power in the society. Women are trapped in domestic sphere and cannot take the opportunity because of the misleading perception of a good mother and good wife. Riley’s cousin, Fleur, even believes it as women’s highest calling. It can be seen in the following quotation.
On the night they got engaged, for instance, she informed me in all seriousness that she considered the occupation of wife and mother ‘a woman’s highest calling’ (she used those words precisely) (p.52).
Fleur was nineteen when she is engaged to Martin and she decides to marry him two years later, and losing her opportunities because she has to deal with her twenty-four-hours job of taking cares the house, husband and children.
Unlike women in the society, Riley frees herself from the common misleading perception about good women, she goes traveling to Bangkok and experience many things that cannot be reached by women who are trapped in doing the domestic sphere.
job and better future can be reached. By having a good education, Riley proves that actually a woman’s intellectual ability is not lower than a man. If given the same opportunity as men, women can do well in education.
Because of the opportunity she gets, Riley can be financially independent. She gives up the day job. Riley also has her own cottage that she bought from her own money.
After some success I was able to give up the day job. I had moved the twenty-five miles back to my home town by then; bought this cottage (p.60).
On the other side, women around her are only doing things in domestic sphere. They miss the opportunity to go traveling alone and enjoy themselves, to have their own time, to find who they really are and what they want to be and reach.
Fleur, for example, has to face the fact that she cannot do what she really wants to do. The need of having time for herself is explained by Fleur when she meets Riley in the following quotation.
‘I told Martin now the children are away I want time for ME… time to find myself, time to get my head together.’ She said ‘I need space…’ (p.54).
B. Ideas of feminism revealed through the character of Riley Gordon 1. Freedom and the right to choose
Freedom is something important for Riley. She does not want to be involved in things that may steal the freedom from her. When Riley travels to Bangkok, one day she feels the freedom is very close to her and she compares it to her hometown and the routines that everyone has to face everyday.
As I stared up into the crystal-blue canopy above me, I thought about everyone back home and, in particular, I thought about them working and I felt a deep, satisfied sense of pleasure that I was here doing nothing.
I thought this is what freedom feels like. And the revelation seemed so real and so true I could have reached out and touched it.
It seemed to come right out of the heart of all that blueness (p.69). She feels satisfaction from the freedom she has there. She feels that freedom is very important for her. She feels comfort that she is able to reach the freedom.
