ABSTRACT
HERNITA PURNASARI. Francesca as the Reflection of Woman in the Middle of the Emerging Feminist Movement as Seen in Waller’s The Bridges of Madison County. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008.
Gender matter is an issue that has been discussed for a long time. There is a paradigm in society which believes that men are superior and women are inferior. This traditional belief strongly embedes on society and the result is discrimination toward women almost in all their aspects of life. This kind of situation commonly happens among the social community that adopts patriarchal system, in which men have an authority to take a control and make a decision. It can be predicted that women become victims and suffer from the unequal treatment toward them.
They are the feminists, who struggle for the women’s right to be of the same status as the men are. They try to fight against gender discrimination by so many forms of effort. One of them is to initiate women movement for the liberation from gender discrimination. The women’s consciousness of their rights is mark of the beginning of feminism era. Even though the feminism issues have been widely spread, still, there are some women who does not dare to declare themselves as feminist who adopt feminism ideas, although in fact they hold some feminism ideas on their minds.
The objective of the study is to answer two main problems. First, it is meant to identify Francesca Johnson’s characteristics described in the novel The Bridges of Madison County written by Robert James Waller. Second, it is meant to analyze the Francesca Johnson’s character as the representation of women in the middle of the emerging of feminist movement.
In the analysis, the writer employed library research to collect data relating to the topic of the study. This study applies some theories to answer the questions stated in the problem formulation. They are the theory of character and characterization and the theory on feminism. In this study, the writer also uses feminism criticism because the focus of the study is analyzing a character related with the issue of feminism.
The analysis result shows that Francesca is a woman character who holds some feminism ideas in her mind. She is aware of her life situation in which she feels oppressed by the treatment of her parents, husbands and children. She has a thought to free herself from the situation which places her in the corner but she does not have bravery to make a real act in order to fulfill her desire. The element which keeps her to be an oppressed party is the strong paradigm on society which says that the women’s duty is to do households, to be an obedient wife for her husband, and raising children, although she lives in feminism era.
ABSTRAK
HERNITA PURNASARI. Francesca as the Reflection of Woman in the Middle of the Emerging Feminist Movement as Seen in Waller’s The Bridges of Madison County. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2008.
Masalah gender adalah sebuah isu yang telah didiskusikan sejak lama. Ada sebuah anggapan dalam masyarakat yang menganggap bahwa kedudukan pria lebih tinggi daripada perempuan. Anggapan kuno ini melekat erat pada masyarakat dan hasilnya adalah diskriminasi terhadap perempuan hampir di segala aspek kehidupan mereka. Situasi seperti ini biasa terjadi di komunitas sosial yang menggunakan sistem patriarki, dimana pria memiliki kekuasaan untuk mengendalikan dan membuat keputusan. Dapat diprediksi bahwa perempuan menjadi korban dan menderita akibat perlakuan yang tidak adil terhadap mereka.
Adalah para feminis yang memperjuangkan hak-hak perempuan untuk sejajar dengan pria. Mereka mencoba melawan diskriminasi gender melalui banyak cara. Salah satunya adalah memprakarsai pergerakan wanita menuju pembebasan dari diskriminasi gender. Kesadaran perempuan akan hak-haknya menandai awal era feminisme. Namun, meskipun isu-isu feminisme telah menyebar luas, masih banyak perempuan yang belum berani menyatakan diri mereka sebagai seorang feminis yang mengemban ide-ide feminis, walau pada kenyataannya, mereka memiliki ide-ide feminis itu dalam pikiran mereka.
Tujuan dari studi ini adalah untuk menjawab dua permasalahan utama. Pertama, studi ini dimaksudkan untuk menggambarkan tokoh Francesca Johnson dalam novel The Bridges of Madison County karya Robert James Waller. Kedua, studi ini dimaksudkan untuk menganalisa karakter Francesca Johnson sebagai cerminan perempuan di era pertengahan kemunculan pergerakan feminis.
Dalam analisa, penulis menggunakan metode penelitian pustaka untuk mengumpulkan data yang berhubungan dengan topik dari studi ini. Studi ini menggunakan beberapa teori yang digunakan untuk menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang ada di rumusan masalah. Teori-teori yang digunakan adalah teori tentang tokoh dan penokohan dan teori tentang feminisme. Dalam studi ini, penulis juga menggunakan pendekatan feminis karena fokus dari studi ini adalah untuk menganalisa tokoh yang berkaitan dengan masalah feminis.
Hasil analisa menunjukan bahwa Francesca adalah tokoh perempuan yang mengemban ide-ide feminis dalam pemikirannya. Dia sadar akan situasi hidupnya dimana dia merasa tertekan oleh perlakuan orangtua, suami, dan anak-anaknya. Dia punya gagasan untuk membebaskan diri dari situasi yang menyudutkannya, namun dia tidak memiliki keberanian untuk melakukan langkah nyata untuk memenuhi keinginannya. Faktor yang mendorong Francesca untuk tetap bertahan sebagai pihak yang tertindas adalah kuatnya paradigma di masyarakat bahwa kewajiban perempuan adalah untuk mengurus hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan rumah tangga, menjadi istri yang menuruti suami, dan merawat anak-anak, meskipun dia hidup di era feminisme.
FRANCESCA AS THE REFLECTION OF WOMEN IN THE
MIDDLE OF THE EMERGING FEMINIST MOVEMENT
AS SEEN IN WALLER’S
THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
HERNITA PURNASARI Student Number: 034214062
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
FRANCESCA AS THE REFLECTION OF WOMEN IN THE
MIDDLE OF THE EMERGING FEMINIST MOVEMENT
AS SEEN IN WALLER’S
THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
HERNITA PURNASARI Student Number: 034214062
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2008
Every dark light is followed by a light morning.
(unknown)
You ha ve to e ndure c a te rpilla rs if you wa nt to se e
butte rflie s
.
(Antoine De Saint)This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to:
My Lord, Jesus Christ My beloved parents My dearest brothers Adam Sapto Nugroho
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Praise to God, finally I could finish my thesis. I would like to thank Jesus
Christ for his blessing and for guiding me in writing and completing my undergraduate thesis. He gives me strength to cope with the hard days of my life.
My deepest gratitude goes to Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M. Hum., for
his help, guidance, patience, suggestions and time during the writing of my thesis.
I also thank Maria Ananta Tri S., S. S., M. Ed., my co-advisor, for reading my
thesis and giving me suggestions in order to make it better. I also thank all my
lecturers for their guidance and efforts to share me their valuable knowledge. To
all of the secretariat staffs, I thank them so much for helping me in dealing with
administration.
My greatest gratitude goes to my mom, Ny. Istinah, for her unconditional
love and belief. Thanks to my brothers, Dwi Aryanto and Sunaryadi, for their supports and courage to help me finish my study. And for Adam Sapto Nugroho,
thanks for being the part of me, giving me a lot of love and attention, and guiding
me through this life patiently.
My special thanks go to my beloved friends: C.Max, Mbendhol, Adi
“Mbings”, Agoeng Akakom, Tiok, Yeri, Jatip, SuShit, Cosmas, Superbay, Bagor, Danang, C.Nug TI. We have shared a lot of things and experiences that I will never forget. “Our friendship will last forever”. Thanks also to Jhony and
Yabes and English Letters students of 2003.
Hernita Purnasari
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Theory on Character and Characterization……… 9
2. Theory on Feminism………. 13
C. Theoretical Framework………. 19
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ……… 20
A. Object of the Study……….. 20
B. Approach of the Study………. 21
C. Method of the Study………. 22
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS……….. 24
A. The Characterization of Francesca Johnson ………. 24
3. Francesca and Her Opportunity of Career……… 42 4. Francesca as Herself ……… 43 5. Francesca’s Idea in the Relationship between Men and Women 48
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION………. 52 BIBLIOGRAPHY……….. 53 APPENDICES……… 57 Appendix 1: Summary of Robert James Waller’s The Bridges of Madison
County………. 57
Appendix 2: The Biography of Robert James Waller ………... 60
ABSTRACT
HERNITA PURNASARI. Francesca as the Reflection of Woman in the Middle of the Emerging Feminist Movement as Seen in Waller’s The Bridges of Madison County. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008.
Gender matter is an issue that has been discussed for a long time. There is a paradigm in society which believes that men are superior and women are inferior. This traditional belief strongly embedes on society and the result is discrimination toward women almost in all their aspects of life. This kind of situation commonly happens among the social community that adopts patriarchal system, in which men have an authority to take a control and make a decision. It can be predicted that women become victims and suffer from the unequal treatment toward them.
They are the feminists, who struggle for the women’s right to be of the same status as the men are. They try to fight against gender discrimination by so many forms of effort. One of them is to initiate women movement for the liberation from gender discrimination. The women’s consciousness of their rights is mark of the beginning of feminism era. Even though the feminism issues have been widely spread, still, there are some women who does not dare to declare themselves as feminist who adopt feminism ideas, although in fact they hold some feminism ideas on their minds.
The objective of the study is to answer two main problems. First, it is meant to identify Francesca Johnson’s characteristics described in the novel The Bridges of Madison County written by Robert James Waller. Second, it is meant to analyze the Francesca Johnson’s character as the representation of women in the middle of the emerging of feminist movement.
In the analysis, the writer employed library research to collect data relating to the topic of the study. This study applies some theories to answer the questions stated in the problem formulation. They are the theory of character and characterization and the theory on feminism. In this study, the writer also uses feminism criticism because the focus of the study is analyzing a character related with the issue of feminism.
The analysis result shows that Francesca is a woman character who holds some feminism ideas in her mind. She is aware of her life situation in which she feels oppressed by the treatment of her parents, husbands and children. She has a thought to free herself from the situation which places her in the corner but she does not have bravery to make a real act in order to fulfill her desire. The element which keeps her to be an oppressed party is the strong paradigm on society which says that the women’s duty is to do households, to be an obedient wife for her husband, and raising children, although she lives in feminism era.
ABSTRAK
HERNITA PURNASARI. Francesca as the Reflection of Woman in the Middle of the Emerging Feminist Movement as Seen in Waller’s The Bridges of Madison County. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2008.
Masalah gender adalah sebuah isu yang telah didiskusikan sejak lama. Ada sebuah anggapan dalam masyarakat yang menganggap bahwa kedudukan pria lebih tinggi daripada perempuan. Anggapan kuno ini melekat erat pada masyarakat dan hasilnya adalah diskriminasi terhadap perempuan hampir di segala aspek kehidupan mereka. Situasi seperti ini biasa terjadi di komunitas sosial yang menggunakan sistem patriarki, dimana pria memiliki kekuasaan untuk mengendalikan dan membuat keputusan. Dapat diprediksi bahwa perempuan menjadi korban dan menderita akibat perlakuan yang tidak adil terhadap mereka.
Adalah para feminis yang memperjuangkan hak-hak perempuan untuk sejajar dengan pria. Mereka mencoba melawan diskriminasi gender melalui banyak cara. Salah satunya adalah memprakarsai pergerakan wanita menuju pembebasan dari diskriminasi gender. Kesadaran perempuan akan hak-haknya menandai awal era feminisme. Namun, meskipun isu-isu feminisme telah menyebar luas, masih banyak perempuan yang belum berani menyatakan diri mereka sebagai seorang feminis yang mengemban ide-ide feminis, walau pada kenyataannya, mereka memiliki ide-ide feminis itu dalam pikiran mereka.
Tujuan dari studi ini adalah untuk menjawab dua permasalahan utama. Pertama, studi ini dimaksudkan untuk menggambarkan tokoh Francesca Johnson dalam novel The Bridges of Madison County karya Robert James Waller. Kedua, studi ini dimaksudkan untuk menganalisa karakter Francesca Johnson sebagai cerminan perempuan di era pertengahan kemunculan pergerakan feminis.
Dalam analisa, penulis menggunakan metode penelitian pustaka untuk mengumpulkan data yang berhubungan dengan topik dari studi ini. Studi ini menggunakan beberapa teori yang digunakan untuk menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang ada di rumusan masalah. Teori-teori yang digunakan adalah teori tentang tokoh dan penokohan dan teori tentang feminisme. Dalam studi ini, penulis juga menggunakan pendekatan feminis karena fokus dari studi ini adalah untuk menganalisa tokoh yang berkaitan dengan masalah feminis.
Hasil analisa menunjukan bahwa Francesca adalah tokoh perempuan yang mengemban ide-ide feminis dalam pemikirannya. Dia sadar akan situasi hidupnya dimana dia merasa tertekan oleh perlakuan orangtua, suami, dan anak-anaknya. Dia punya gagasan untuk membebaskan diri dari situasi yang menyudutkannya, namun dia tidak memiliki keberanian untuk melakukan langkah nyata untuk memenuhi keinginannya. Faktor yang mendorong Francesca untuk tetap bertahan sebagai pihak yang tertindas adalah kuatnya paradigma di masyarakat bahwa kewajiban perempuan adalah untuk mengurus hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan rumah tangga, menjadi istri yang menuruti suami, dan merawat anak-anak, meskipun dia hidup di era feminisme.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literature is the product of the creative thought of human being.
Therefore, there are a lot of literary works which contents are based on the
realities that happen in the real life. Many issues can be the main topic to discuss
in a literary work, such as politics, economy, social and culture, and other issues
that are up to date in the era in which the literary work is written.
While Abrams in his Glossary of Literary Terms states that a literary work can be a good reflection of a society where the works are written. By regarding a literary work, we can dig out many values that implicitly set in it. Literature is one element of culture. It contains values, thoughts, problems and conflicts. Literature functions as a representation of the situation happening in certain setting of time and place (Abrams, 1981:1).
Literature can be found in oral language such as folktale, epic, legend,
myth, ballad, and oral poetry, and written language such as poem, play, drama,
novel, and short story. It is possible that in the future, there will be some new
form of genre that can be categorized as work of literature.
In this study, the writer uses novel as the main source. Abrams describes
novel as a fiction literary work that reflects the reality of human life by presenting
complex character with their motives based on their social class and their
interaction with others. It is also described as the experience of daily human life.
That can be said that novel is the illustration of one’s experiences in facing the
problem in the real life and how to deal with it (Abrams, 1981:16).
The novel chosen for this study entitled The Bridges of Madison County. It
is a novel written in 90’s by Robert James Waller, photographer, author and a
professor of management at the University of Northern Iowa. This novel is best
sold in the United Stated. Several years after the novel firstly published, the film
was made with the same title The Bridges of Madison County. The same as the
novel, the movie also won a lot of movie awards. It is not merely because this
novel is best sold and the movie that is derived from it won a lot of awards that
the writer chooses this novel as the subject matter, but it is more because of some
uniqueness of this novel .
When the reader reads the novel, it seems that the introduction and conclusion of this novel seem to indicate that it is a true story written at the direct request of Francesca Johnson's children, based on their mother's journals and on Waller's firsthand research of Robert Kincaid's photography career. However, it is entirely a work of fiction fabricated by the author imagination. (http: //www.sos.mo.gov/wolfner/dbdc/bridgesof madisoncounty.asp).
Waller’s way to write this novel makes readers believe that it is a true story. For
Waller, it is an easy way to achieve their "suspension of disbelief" and make a
fanciful story credible. This kind of creative delivery of thought is rarely found in
the others novels. It is also interesting to find a male author like Waller to write
such an anti male sentiment, especially through the mouth of a male protagonist
so uncannily similar to the author himself. It can be the basic speculation that he is
a clear supporter of the feminist movement. In this novel, the readers will find
some conflicts in which a woman, in this case Francesca is confronted with unfair
treatments and situations which actually are aimed as a critic toward the
most people try to bring the equal right between men and women in reality. This
novel was published in 1992, yet the author chose to set it in Iowa, 1965. That is
five years after the second wave of American Feminism that happened in 1960’s,
which marks the establishment of the modern Women’s Movement. In other
words, the setting of this novel is in the middle of the emerging feminist
movement.
Feminism is an issue that has been discussed for a long time. There are
various opinions about where the position of women toward men should be, since
in fact God creates human as man and woman to live together in the same place
called earth. Some say that man and woman are different, but the differences itself
depend on one’s point of view.
Men and woman are, of course, different. But they are not as different as day and night, earth and sky, yin and yang, life and death. In fact, from the standpoint of nature, men and women are closer to each other than either is to anything else – for instance, mountains, kangaroo, or coconut palms. The idea that men and women are more different from one another than either is from anything else must come from somewhere other than nature (Glover and Caplan, 2000: xxiv).
From the quotation above, it can be assumed that what makes man and woman
different is not nature, but something else, let say society. In the past, the
traditional society made such a stereotype that the women’s position is lower than
man.
Jo Freeman in her book Women, A Feminist Perspective states that the traditionalist view look at the many way in which women differ from men concludes that these differences that far transcends reproductive capacities. The traditionalist notes that historically women have always had less power, less influence, and fewer resources than men, and assumes this must accord with some natural order (Freeman, 1984: xiii).
The stereotype made by the society had placed women in a difficult
situation. There is an unseen border which restricts them to develop. As Montagu
says that in the society there was conditioned norm, which stated that women can
do and can not do. (Montagu, 1953: 38) This norm makes women lack of
opportunities to develop their intelligence and skills, and they have different
opportunities to men. This situation inflicted a loss upon women because in
almost everyday society there is a belief that men are superior and women are
inferior. In past, limited by the norm, women can not have their opinion to be
heard. Women think that the belief is right, because it is believed as what really
happens. (Montagu, 1953: 23)
Facing for the bad situation for long enough time, the women then try to
find a solution for the problem which is basically appeared because of the
patriarchal system on society. What the women need is the equal rights on many
aspects as what is owned by the men. The women’s courage to struggle in order to
get the equal rights as the men is known as the born of feminism.
In Waller’s The Bridges of Madison County, there is the character of Francesca Johnson. This character can be seen as the woman figure that represents
women in the middle of feminist movement. In this novel, the character of
Francesca who is drawn as a woman who realizes the unfairness of gender
discrimination and holds some feminist ideas after she experiences some
situations which boxed her in the corner because of her position as woman.
Waller builds Francesca’s character as faithful wife and a good mother, although
holds out in her family’s situation in which she feels oppressed; put away her
mind to escape from that situation and buried her dream of finding the true love
on someone. Later, it can be seen that in fact, Francesca does not struggle to get
out from her difficult life situation by radical rebellion, but she has a tendency to
deal with her situation by realizing and accepting the situations that in fact,
happen to her.
The Bridges of Madison County, that title on its own is already enough to scare half of the male population away. They know it's a romantic drama and don't even need to see it, they are already convinced that they won't like it. And yet, if only they took the time to give it a try, they might be surprised by it. I know I was, so why should’t others have the same feeling about it (Philip Van der Veken, 2005)
The same with Philip Van der Veken from Tessenderlo, Belgium who says
that he is surprised by the things that he finds in the story, the writer is also
interested by the fact that besides being rich and dominated by symbols, there is
another thing that is interesting enough to be discussed further as the main topic in
this paper, that is Francesca Johnson as the reflection of women in the middle of
the emerging feminist movement.
Until now the matter of gender discrimination still becomes a popular
issue in society. In fact, the existence of discrimination toward female is caused
by social culture. The stereotype on society which said that women is in the
second class of social, while the first class consists of parents, man, and society
seems never faded. So that woman often feels being harassed in almost all aspects
of life.
Feminism issues in this novel are interesting to be discussed because it
dare to be feminists in order to minimize the oppression toward them. Through
Francesca’s story of life in this novel, the readers will find a situation in which a
woman, in this case Francesca Johnson shows her courage to solve her problems
of life by sacrificing herself as a woman to lose her hopes and dream. She
recognizes her position as a woman who lives in a society with it’s paradigm that
there are some things that women should not do. The uniqueness of Francesca’s
character is that she knows how to be a tough woman without merely
complaining, and also has no anger and egoism to be understood by men or by the
other, but she prefers to maintain her desire and try to put up with her life
situation.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the background above, this study formulates two questions:
1. How is Francesca Johnson described in Robert James Waller’s The
Bridges of Madison County?
2. How does Francesca Johnson reflect the life of women in the middle of the
emerging feminist movement?
C. Objectives of the Study
In this thesis, the readers can find the contra- feminism idea through one of
female characters in the novel The Bridges of Madison County. That is why it is
significant to know further about the character of Francesca Johnson and how she
is represented first before discussing the main issue about the women’s position in
the middle of emerging feminist movement in the novel The Bridges of Madison
D. Definition of Terms
In order to avoid misinterpretation in understanding this thesis, there
should be some explanation about some words, which are mostly used and widely
related to the topic that is going to be analyzed. Those words are follows:
1. Feminine
Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language define
feminine as having quality regarded as gentleness, weakness, delicacy, and modesty; womanly (1989).
2. Feminism
According to Maggie Humm, feminism is the ideology of women’s
liberation since intrinsic in all its approaches is the belief that the women
suffer because of their sex. (1990: x).
3. Feminity
Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
The Bridges of Madison County is the novel written by Robert James Waller. This novel is firstly published in1992 and was best sold in the United
States. Here can be seen that Waller as the writer was competent to catch the
readers’ desire, it is to get the novel in which the story derived from the affairs
which usually happen in daily life situation so that they get a great enjoyment to
play with their feeling when they read it.
Therefore, only two years after it’s firstly published, the movie of The
Bridges of Madison County was made. There are a lot of comments about this novel which has been filmed. Much of them give positive opinions about this
novel. Some readers and viewers said that this novel brings a new interesting
thing that is closely related to the issue of feminism.
Leo Goldsmith, in his review states that it is crucial in both versions that Francesca does not leave her husband for Kincaid, but in Waller’s estimation her gesture is one of feminine self-sacrifice, a relinquishing of her desire in the service of both of the men she loves. Only in Eastwood’s version is Francesca’s choice made something subtler: Francesca’s is a denial of something very like “true love,” but it is emphatically her decision to do so. She is not compelled by a woman’s sense of duty nor by the world’s cruel gender inequities, but by a practical unwillingness to ruin several lives (including perhaps her own) by pursuing an ethereal “true love” (Goldsmith, 2007)
In his review above, Goldsmith reveals his finding that the Francesca’s character
in the novel represents a woman who does a feminine self-sacrifice, meaning to
say that Francesca is one who faces a situation in which she becomes a party who
should give in to the moral value.
Another researcher the writer chooses as the references for her review of
related studies is Eka Wahyuning. She is a graduate student of English Letters
Study Programme, Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata
Dharma University, generation of 1995, who had done to analyze Waller’s The
Bridges of Madison County on her project for final thesis. She takes The Significance of The Symbol of The Covered Bridges Toward The Main Characters as Seen in Waller’s The Bridges of Madison County as the topic on her thesis. On her thesis, she had focus on all symbols used in the novel and also the relationship
between the characters, especially Robert Kincaid and Francesca Johnson.
Different from Eka Wahyuning, in this thesis, the writer will focus to study the
character of Francesca Johnson and discuss her position and life situation as a
woman in the middle of the emerging feminist movement.
B. Review of Related Theories
In order to analyze the problem formulation, the writer employs two kinds
of theories.
1. Character and Characterization
Abrams in his book A Glossary of Literary Terms describes character as “the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the
reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed
20). It can be concluded that characters can be analyzed by their dialogue and
their action.
Roger B. Henkle divides characters in two kinds, major character and
minor character. Major characters are the characters that are observed most often
in the story. These characters are given a good deal of attention and shoved onto
the background or off scene as attention turns elsewhere (Henkle, 1977:90). The
minor characters or secondary characters in the story performed more limited
functions. They can function in various ways; is elements of society that’s makes
up the human context, as average or normal points of reference, as foils to the
major characters or they can be symbols of aspects of the governing state of being
(Henkle, 1977: 100).
In his An Introduction to Fiction, Stanton says that a reader can understand
a character in a story by simply paying attention to the evidences shown in the
story. Firstly, we can understand the characteristic of the character from the
character’s name where sometimes the sound of the name fits the character. Then
the author explicitly describes the physical look of the character and comment
upon it. We can see it also from the other character in the story and their attitudes
toward the major character. The last we can see it from the character’s own
dialogue and behavior (Stanton, 1965:17-18).
Other explanation of character also stated by M.J. Murphy in his book
a. Personal description
The author directly describes the character’s physical appearance and clothes
in the way telling an accurate description.
b. Character as seen by another
Instead of describing a character directly, the author describes the character
through the eyes and opinion of the others, so that the reader can get a
reflected image.
c. Speech
We can understand the characters by the way they speak. Whenever they
speak, or in a conversation with the others, they give us a clue to their
characters.
d. Past life
The author lets the readers learn something about character’s past life by
giving them clues through his comment, conversation or through the medium
of another character.
e. Conversation of others
The author can give the readers clues about the character through the
conversations of other characters and what they say about him/her.
f. Reaction
The author lets the readers know about the character’s personality through his
g. Thoughts
The author gives the readers a direct knowledge about character is thinking
about.
h. Mannerism
The author explains about his character by describing the character manner or
habits.
Different from M.J. Murphy, Perrine in his book Literature: Structure,
Sound and Sense divides character into two categories, based on ‘motivation’ and based on ‘development’.
Based on ‘motivation:
- Flat character
Character which is characterized by one or two traits.
- Round character
Character which is usually complex and many sided.
- Stock character
Character as the stereotyped figure who occurs very often in fiction that his
nature is immediately known.
Based on ‘development’:
- Static character
Character which usually does not undergo a change or in other words at the
- Dynamic character
Character which undergoes a permanent change in his character personality or
outlooks.
In relation with character, it is important to understand the
characterization, because both of them are undivided. According to Mary
Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods in Reading and Writing about Literature
characterization is a character which has particular personalities and physical
attributes that differs them from other characters, that is shaped by the process of
an author creates a characters themselves ( Rohrberger and Woods,1971:20).
2. Feminism
There are many arguments about what feminism is. Feminism in general is
the ideology of woman’s liberation since intrinsic in all its approaches is the belief
that women suffer injustice because of their sex (Humm, 1990: 74). Maggie
Humm adds that feminist theory reveals the importance of women as individual. It
analyzes how sexual differences are constructed within any intellectual and social
world and build accounts of experiences from these differences (Humm, 1990: x).
Sexually, human being divides into two, male and female. The biological
differentiation between two kinds of human being is called gender. Talk about
feminism will be never far away from the matter of gender classification.
There is a kind of unpleasant feeling to know that women are often treated unfair
because in fact, gender is destiny, it is not the matter of choice of picking up and
discarding identities at will.
Despite their diversity, feminist critics generally agree that their goals are
to expose patriarchal premises and resulting prejudices, to promote discovery and
re-evaluation of literature by woman and to examine social, cultural and
psychosexual context of literature and literary criticism. Feminist critics therefore
study sexual, social and political issues once thought to be “outside” the study of
literature (Guerin, 1999: 197). In his further statement, Guerin states that in its
diversity, feminism is concerned with the marginalization of all women, that is
with their being relegated to a secondary position (Guerin, 1999: 196).
Jo Freeman in her book Women, A Feminist Perspective states that there
are discrimination between men and women. It has been for a long time that the
society considers men as superior and women as inferior. This paradigm was
started by the traditional thought and up to now, it is still strongly embedded to
the way of thinking of the society.
The traditionalist view looks at the many ways in which women differ from men concludes that these differences reflect some basic intrinsic differences that far transcend reproductive capacities. The traditionalist notes that historically, women have always had less power, less influence, and fewer resources than men, and assumes this must accord with some natural order (Freeman, 1975: xiii).
Feminism is closely related with the idea of universal equality between
men and women. It can be said that behind all differences, there is some
characteristically human nature by virtue that all men are equal. The aim of
Freeman divines the ideas feminism into several points, some of them are:
a. Equality
The idea of equality is that behind all the differences, basically men are all
the same in the matter of to have rights and to do their duties.
“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).
God creates people as men and women in order to complete each others, to
help each others to fulfill their needs and, in the most basic aim is to get
happiness.
b. Freedom of Argument
The feminism reacts against belief which is exists on the society that a
woman is placed under men’s control.
“Woman feels she is not made for command, and finds her truest happiness in submitting to those who wield a rightful scepter in justice, mercy and love” (Freeman, 1975: 421).
The idea of feminism is to give women awareness that they have a freedom in
revealing ideas and thought. Feminism brings a thought that women are free in
giving argument and finding happiness as long as they follow the legal rules of
law.
c. Opportunity
Feminism demands for the woman equality of education and access to the
profession. In other words, feminism help woman to fulfill their ambition to have
an equal right as man in achieving a satisfaction through her own abilities.
the family. He plays an important part as a head and a master of the family (Freeman, 1975: 73).
It is true that man is the leader of family, but he should give a wife (woman) her
right to develop her abilities and to go work or to have a job. A wife is a
homemaker, but she has a right to work because as same as man has, God gives
abilities to think or to do some valuable things.
W.L. Guerin in his A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature stated that the domination of male characters toward female characters appears
much more in the novel written by male writer and makes an ‘image of woman’
which is sometimes stereotyping woman and make a gender bias in the work
itself. The consciousness gives an important from of literary point of view that has
com to be called feminist literary criticism (Guerin, 1999: 245-249). Feminist
criticism tries finding the equality for woman to speak about their needs and their
consciousness on the gender equality as man can do.
As Sargent in his book Contemporary Political Ideology said, feminist
argue that men socialize women to accept both physical and mental mistreatment,
and that legal system has traditionally treated women as offender (Sargent, 1987:
220) it seems that there is a stereotype in society that there are two parties .The
first party is women, and the second party is society which consists of general
society, parents and men. There is such a rule that women in the first party have to
obey what the second party wants them to do as woman especially as wives, that
leads women become oppressed party.
There are some points to be fulfilled by feminists. Thomas Gramstad in his
concerning gender relations at a given time and place”. He adds that there is a
form of equal worth between the ideas and activism. Thus without a commitment
to action and social change, she is not a feminists, even if she holds feminist ideas
(Gramstad, 2007).
Deborah L. Madsen in Feminist Theory and Practice has an argument that feminism is women’s struggle to obtain an equality between women and men
stems from the premises that both sexes have the same human rights as well as
opportunities to advance themselves in many aspects of life (Madsen, 2000:2).
Still in the same book, she divides feminism in America into some points.
First Wave of American Feminism which began in the 1840’s and is
commonly marked by the first Women’s Right Convention, held in Seneca Falls
in 1848. It was organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other women who had
been denied a place at the international anti-slavery convention in London in 1840
(Madsen, 2000: 3-4). Women need to fulfill their personal and national destinies,
but they also need to fulfill the spiritual destiny of humanity and it is men who
have historically placed obstacle in their way (Madsen, 2000: 5).
The Seneca Falls Convention marked the beginning of the political
struggle for women’s right; the Declaration of Sentiments, modeled ironically of
Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, was drafted primarily by Elizabeth Cady
Stanton. Together with Susan B. Anthony, Stanton founded the National
Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869, and Lucy Stone established the American
Woman Suffrage Association, to promote a suffrage amendment to the
organizations merged in 1890 to become the National American woman’s
Suffrage Association, which later became the League of Women Voters (Madsen,
2000: 6)
Number pro-suffrage groups sprang up in the pre-war years: Elizabeth
Cady Stanton’s daughter, Harriet Stanton Blatch, founded the Equality League in
1907 and Alice Paul, who had been active in the British suffrage struggle,
founded the more militant Congressional Union, which later became the Women’s
Party. It was the Women’s Party that first proposed the Equal Right Amendment
to Congress in 1923 – ‘Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the
United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction’- and although this move
was unsuccessful, it did lay some of the intellectual groundwork for the second
wave of American Feminism in the 1960s (Madsen, 2000: 6).
The Second Wave of American Feminism emerged in the early 1960s and
focused upon an indictment of male sexism and the domestic oppression of
women. Betty Friedan’s the Feminine Mystique called for women to renew the
struggle of the first wave which had culminated in female suffrage in 1920, but
now feminist attention was focused on the exclusion of women from the public
sphere and sex-based discrimination in the work place (Madsen, 2000: 7).
The raising of women’s consciousness of gender oppression and raising as
a political issue the personal experience of that oppression were central to the
B. Theoretical Framework
The theory of character and characterization is very important to answer
the first problem in the problem formulation about how is the character of
Francesca Johnson represented in this novel.
Since the second problem in the problem formulation is deal with
feminism issues that lies behind the main character of this novel, it is needed the
theory which concern with the same topic, that is feminism. The theory feminism
is the theory that is applicable in order to answer the second problem formulation
that is to find how Francesca Johnson reflects the life of women in the middle of
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The Bridges of Madison County is a novel written by Robert James Waller. Robert James Waller was born in August 1, 1939 in Rockford, Iowa. He is
an American author who is also known for his work as a photographer and
musician. He received his Ph.D. in business from the Kelley School of Business at
Indiana University Bloomington in 1968. Waller later taught at the University of
Northern Iowa where he was also dean of the business school. He made a "seven
figure" donation to his alma mater, Indiana U. Several of his books have been on
the New York Times bestseller list including 1992's The Bridges of Madison
County which is the largest selling novel in history. This novel is firstly published in1992 and has been made into motion pictures.
The publication of this novel acquires a good response from the novel
lovers. The story derived from the affairs which usually happen in daily life
situation. The story is about the meeting between two lonesome people, Robert
Kincaid, a widower from Washington working as a photographer for National
Geographic; and Francesca Johnson, an Italian wife of local Iowan. They make
affair behind Richard Johnson, Francesca’s husband which leads them to have
emotional and sexual relationship.
The major theme in this novel is about the internal conflict of Francesca as
woman who is facing the situation in which she has a chance to decide her way of
life by herself, which in fact it will be the starting point for her to get freedom and
happiness. The conflict arouse when Francesca should make a decision whether
she will leave her family for Robert or decide to stay in her family with all the
consequences she would face. As the final decision, Francesca prefers to stay with
her family rather than to run away with Robert. Francesca and Robert keep their
love feeling until they both die. Their ashes are scattered around Roseman Bridge,
one of the covered bridge in Madison County, Iowa- as the symbol of their
re-union.
Adapted from the ordinary life story in a small country with all the
pleasantness, this novel successfully arouses a big attention from the readers.
Years after it’s firstly published, the movie of The Bridges of Madison County
was made. Almost the same with the novel which was best sold, the movie which
has the story adapted from the novel was also won for some award categories.
Generally, the story in this novel is about adultery for the sake of true love
between two lonesome people. They can not bring their relationship into marriage
because the main character, Francesca does not want to leave her husband.
Francesca has a reason why she can not leave her husband and her to children,
because if she does it, all people in Iowa will consider her as a woman with a bad
reputation. This novel shows the representations of female stereotypes in 1960’s.
B Approach of the Study
Since the analysis in this paper is focused on Francesca’s character and the
Wilfred Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature
stated that Feminist Literary Criticism is an approach which concern on women
and their position.
Unlike the other approaches, feminist literary criticism is often a political attack upon other modes of criticism. It its diversity feminism is concerned with the marginalization of all women, that is with their being relegated to a secondary position (Guerin, 1999: 196)
The writer thinks that this approach is the most appropriate approach to the
problem formulation. Feminist criticism uses to highlight gender stereotyping in
literary form. It examines the ways in which literature has been shaped according
to issue of gender. In other words, feminist criticism is used to bolded the
stereotype of gender matter in literary form.
C Method of the Study
In finishing this paper, the type of study that is used by the writer is library
research. It means that the writer collects all the sources that are available, like
books of literature, criticism and dictionary. Besides that the writer also used
internet as the media to collect the supporting data.
There were several steps in analyzing this novel. The first step, the writer
read the primary source the novel entitled The Bridges of Madison County in
order to understand the content of the story in order to be able to make a right
interpretation about this novel.
In the second step, the writer collected references that may be helpful and
could be related with the study. These references were books of literature,
In the third step, the writer applied the theories appropriate to be adjusted
to answer the two problem formulation. Since the first problem formulation is
about how the character of Francesca Johnson was represented in the novel, the
writer used the theory of character to answer it. The second problem formulation
was related with feminism issues portrayed through Francesca Johnson in The
Bridges of Madison County; therefore, the writer used the theory of feminism to answer it. Those two problems formulation were discussed in the analysis.
The last step was drawing the conclusion. After the writer discussed the
two problems formulation in the chapter of analysis, the conclusion was drawn.
There was a report about how is the character of Francesca Johnson and the
important information related with this character. There was also the brief report
about feminism issues portrayed through Francesca Johnson in The Bridges of
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
Since there are two questions in the problem formulation, the analysis in
this paper will be divided in to two sections. In the first section, there will be a
discussion about the woman main character in the novel that is Francesca
Johnson. The result of this first section of analysis will be the answer of the first
problem formulation. The second section is discussing about Francesca Johnson,
who reflects the life of women in the middle of the emerging feminist movement.
The result of the section of analysis is the answer for the second problem of the
problem formulation.
A. The Characterization of Francesca Johnson
This study concerns on the life of women in the middle of the emerging
feminist movement which is represented by Francesca Johnson in Waller’s The
Bridges of Madison County, that is why the writer wants to give a sufficient explanation of Francesca Johnson. It is important to take a look deeply on
Francesca Character because the character that is discussed brings such an
important role, that is as the representation of women on a certain era that is the
middle era of the emerging feminist movement.
Francesca Johnson is the character that is observed most often in the story.
This character is placed as the one that the readers will pay so much attention on.
That is why, based on Henkle’s theory, Francesca Johnson is categorized as a
major character of the story.
Based on another theory of character, Francesca Johnson is characterized
as a round character. It is Perrine’s theory which says, a round character is the
character which is complex and many sided. In the story of the novel, Francesca’s
character is told as a woman who has two sides of life. On one side, she lives in
the world of reality in which she is a wife, she has Richard as her husband and,
Michael and Carolyn as her children. There she lives with her family and does her
routines as an Iowan farmer’s wife, but on the other side of her life, she lives with
her illusion and her dreams, to be one who is able to express who is she and what
she want to be.
In this novel, Waller builds the character of Francesca Johnson with some
characteristics. He illustrates Francesca’s personal description as a woman who
has an interesting physical appearance. According to Murphy’s theory, the author
can make his characters understandable by using some type of description, one of
them is character as seen by another.
He took a small drink of tea and watched her. She was about five feet, fortyish or a little older, pretty face, and a fine, warm body. But there were pretty women everywhere he traveled. Such physical matters were nice, yet to him, intelligence and passion born of living, the ability to move and be moved by subtleties of the mind and spirit, were what really counted. That’s why he found most of young women unattractive, regardless of their exterior beauty. They had not lived long enough to possess those qualities that interest him (Waller, p.38-39).
The quotation above is about Francesca’s personal description and also the
character of Francesca as seen by another. There, Waller represents Francesca’s
character from the point of view of a man through the eyes of Robert Kincaid, the
man main character of the story. Robert as a man has a thought that Francesca is
from another pretty girls that Robert ever met before. From this quotation, the
readers will find that Francesca is a woman who possesses quality that not all of
women have and also attracting a man. One of them is that Francesca is a woman
who is not simply pretty, but also has a high quality.
Stanton’s theory says that a reader can understand a character in a story
from the character’s own dialogue and behavior. In the novel, Francesca is
described as a smoker.
Robert Kincaid pulled a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket, shook one halfway out, and offered it to her. For the second time in five minutes, she surprised herself and took the cigarette. What I am doing? She thought. She had smoked years ago but gave it up under the steady thumb of criticism from Richard… Francesca Johnson, farmer’s wife, rested against the dusky truck seat, smoked the cigarette, and pointed out, “There it is, just around the curve.” (Waller, p.33).
The quotation above shows that she used to smoke, but she gave it up because
Richard wanted her to stop her habit. She goes back to her old behavior after her
meeting with Robert.
“But” – she hesitated, smoked, looked across the table at Robert Kincaid – (Waller, p.42).
They both smoked, saying nothing, drinking brandy, drinking coffee (Waller, p.64).
Francesca really enjoys her habit to smoke. It seems that by smoking, she
wants to shows her rebellion toward Richard’s rule.
Francesca snuffed out her cigarette in the ashtray, swung open the door, and put her boots on the gravel. She glanced around to make sure none of her neighbors’ car were coming and walked toward the bridge (Waller, p.35).
Abrams in his theory says that the quality of a character can be seen by
consciousness of her social environment, Iowa People. There is a quotation which
shows Francesca’s reaction toward the society around her.
‘I’m supposed to say, just fine, it’s quiet. The people are nice. All of that’s true, mostly. It is quiet. And the people are nice in certain ways. We all help each other out. If someone gets sick or hurt, the neighbors pitch in and pick corn or harvest oats or do whatever needs to be done. In town, you can leave your car unlocked and let your children run without worrying about them. There are a lot of good things about the people here and I respect them for those qualities…” (Waller, p.42).
She realizes that she lives in a social community that is totally new for her. She
tries to settle in the situation in it. Here, Francesca is portrayed as an outgoing
person.
It is true that Francesca cares of the other like Iowa society, the society in
which she lives, but since she moved to Iowa she becomes an introvert person.
Then, after twenty years of living the close life, a life of circumscribed behavior and hidden feelings demanded by rural culture, Francesca Johnson surprised herself by saying, “I’ll be glad to show it to you, if you want.” Why she did that, she never had been sure. A young girl’s feelings rising like a bubble through water and bursting out, maybe, after all these years (Waller, p.29).
The quotation above shows that it has been for twenty years that Francesca
Johnson should live in the situation which is restricted by the rule of rural culture,
in this case the rule of Iowa society. Francesca lives in a place in which she can
not develop herself nor shows her feelings or ideas. And when she says that she
wants to shows Robert the location of the bridge he tries to find, that is the first
time for Francesca to do what she want, that is to make a new relationship with
someone new, which is for the Iowa society it is improper to be done by a woman
“She sat on the front porch swing. Richard came out after his program finished at ten o’clock. He stretch and said, ”Sure is good to be home.” Then looking at her, “You okay, Frannie? You seem a little tired or dreamy or somethin’”
“Yes,m I’m just fine Richard. It’s good to have you back safe and sound.” (Waller, p.121)
That is why Francesca prefers to hide her feeling rather than to tell Richard about
what she feels and about what happened in their house when Richard and their
children went to Illinois. She tries to keep that secret by herself instead of letting
the others know it.
Although she is described as an introvert person, there is a time when she
is able to share her feeling with someone she trusts, in this case Robert.
“But” – she hesitated, smoked, looked across the table at Robert Kincaid – “It’s not what I dreamed about as a girl. “The confession at last. The words had been there for years, and she had never said them” (Waller, p.42).
That line gives an idea of Francesca’s disappointment of reality she faces up. She
has a dream, but she can only keep it for herself for a long time, therefore she has
a delusion world where she lives with all her dream.
Francesca lives in a situation which lacks of happiness. It is hard for her to
stay in it, in the family in which she can not express her ideas and feeling freely.
Her rights and ideas are limited by an unseen boarder that puts her in a corner. She
is a woman who is seldom has a chance to choose something or makes a decision
for herself, but once she has it, she becomes a woman with a firm attitude who is
able to make a choice clearly.
The quotation above shows Francesca’s explicit decision. There is a moment
when she has a chance to accompany Robert making picture in Cedar Bridge.
After Francesca thinks deeply about the risk of her choice, she decides to take that
chance.
Francesca is a woman with a firm attitude in making a choice. She never
hesitates with the step she takes, but she always takes a choice with a deep
thought before she decides to take it. It can be concluded that Francesca is a
thinker. She always thinks about the problem she faces, analyzes it, before she
decides what to do.
Then he added, “If you want to come along while I’m shooting, that’s fine. It won’t bother me. I could stop by for you about fine-thirty… Francesca’s mind worked the problem. She wanted to go with him. But what if someone saw her? What could she say to Richard if he found out? Cedar Bridges sat fifty yards upstream from and parallel to the new road and its concrete bridge. She wouldn’t be too noticeable. Or would she? In less than two seconds, she decides. “Yes, I’d like that. But I’ll drive my pickup and meet you there. What time?” (Waller, p.76-77).
Inside her heart, Francesca really loves Robert and she definitely wants to be with
him. She thinks about the consequences and the safe plans to meet Robert in
Cedar Bridge. As the last step, she decides that she wants to accompany Robert,
and there is nothing that can stop her.
B. Francesca Johnson as the Reflection of Women in the Middle of the Emerging Feminist Movement
The setting of time in this story is in the year of 1965. It means that the
setting of the story in this novel is about five years after the second wave of
the modern Women’s Movement. Than, it can be concluded that this story might
represent the general situation of women in the middle of the emerging feminist
movement. According to the background above, the writer tries to portray the
women’s life in that era by analyzing the aspect of life of the character of
Francesca Johnson. Here, the writer divides the second part of the analysis in this
study into some point in order to make it easier for the readers to catch the
writer’s idea.
1. Francesca and Her Past Life
It has been for a long time that the society considers men as superior and
women as inferior. This paradigm was started by the traditional thought and up to
now, it is still strongly embedded to the way of thinking of the society. The gender
discrimination places women as a second sex and to be the party who should obey
the rules of which are made by the first party which is consist of another elements
of society: men and parents. There is such belief in the society which is said when
unmarried, a woman was the property of her father, and once married, she became
the property of her husband.
Simon De Beauvoir in Maggie Humm’s FEMINISM A Reader quotes ‘The female is a female by virtue of a certain lacks of qualities,’ said Aristotle; ‘we should regard the female nature as afflicted with natural defectiveness.’ And St. Thomas for his part pronounced woman to be an ‘imperfect man’, an ‘incidental’ being. This is symbolized in Genesis where Eve is depicted as made from what Bossuet called ‘a supernumery bone’ of Adam (Humm, p.47).
Simon adds, she is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he
with reference to her; she is the incidental, the inessential as opposed to the
The oppression toward women was undergone by Francesca in her past
life which in the end gives a big impact for Francesca’s life. She faced some
experiences that placing her in a situation which harmed her.
a. Francesca’s Obedience toward Her Father
The first oppression is Francesca’s obedience toward her parents.
Francesca’s parents are traditional parents who tend to force their daughter to
accept the decision they make.
“She had been twenty-five when they met – out of the university for three years, teaching at a private school for girls, wondering about her life. Most of the young Italian men were died or injured or in POW camps or broken by the fighting. Her affair with Niccolo, a professor of art at the university, who painted all day and took her on wild, reckless tours of the underside of Naples at night, had been over for a year, done in finally by the unceasing disapproval of her traditional parents (Waller, p. 19).
That part of the story tells that as a woman, Francesca can not decide by herself
what is good for her according her own thought and choice that she really want to
choose. Here, her parents take a role to make a decision for Francesca to choose a
man with whom she would live in the future. It is a proof that Francesca as a
woman has no right to decide the thing that actually it is a very personal matter for
her. Her right and her will are defeated by her parent’s superiority toward her.
Francesca’s parents’ involvement in making a decision brings a
consequence that she does not have other choices anymore about with whom she
can past the rest of her life.
There is nothing else can be done by Francesca except to accept Richard as her
life partner. She accepted Richard by the consideration that he might fulfill her
needs and finance. As a woman Francesca thinks that financial matter is more
important rather than the matter of love, and she thinks Richard is the one who is
able to support her life, although there is no guarantee that she will get the
happiness and the feeling to be loved by someone if she marries Richard. The
most important thing for her was, Richard offered to take her to America, far
away from her strict, disapproving parents.
b. Francesca’s Experience to be Abused
When Francesca studied in High School, she had faced an experience
which is until now; it is not easy for her to forget.
But the bias against poetry they had picked up, the view of it as a product of unsteady masculinity, was too much even for Yeats to overcome… She remembered Matthew Clark looking at the boy beside him and then forming his hands as if to cup them over a woman’s breasts when she read, “The golden apples of the sun”. They had snickered, and the girls in the back row with them blushed (Waller, p.60).
The quotation above shows Francesca’s disagreement toward what was done by
Matthew Clark. Francesca loves poetry with its beautiful words, but she was
disappointed by the act of man, in this case Matthew Clark who was abusing and
humiliating women by interpreting the words on Yeats poetry as the description of
the part of women’s body. For that, she could not do anything, although inside her
heart she wanted to complain and fought for her self-respect as a woman.
Francesca suffers by her finding that men live with their attitude, that was to
despise women. By the fact that she, herself and the girls in her poetry class had
an experience to be despised by male students, she fells that she was an outsider in
society. For her, it seemed that the society was authorized by men’s power.
2. Francesca and Her Marriage
Francesca is a married woman. She has Richard, an Iowan farmer, as her
husband and Michael and Carolyn as her children. So, she has double role on her
family, those are as a wife and as a mother. Here a quotation from the article
written by Betty Friedan. She explains that a husband and children has a big
involvement in woman’s consciousness of her identity.
There is an article which tells about Betty Friedan’s finding that women
are victims of a false belief system that requires them to find identity and meaning
in their lives through their husband and children. Such system causes women to
lose completely their identity in that of their family (http://www.
nytimes.com/2006/02/05/national/05friedanbox.html?r=1&oref=login).
In her book The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan states that the feminine mystique permits even encourages women to ignore the question of their identity. The mystique says they can answer the question “Who am I?” by saying “Tom’s wife… Mary’s mother.” But I don’t think the mystique would have such power over American women if they did not fear to face this terrifying blank which makes them unable to see themselves (Friedan, p.79).
She adds, in a sense that goes beyond any woman’s life, I think this is the
crisis of women growing up – a turning point from an immaturity that has been
identity, which began a hundred years ago and have to suffer it still today, simply
to become fully human (Friedan, p.79).
Francesca’s role as a wife and as a mother both of roles on her family are
also tyranny for her. In her double positions in her family, she actually never gets
happiness but only to fulfill the society’s suggestion, that a woman becomes a
complete woman when she has a family, a husband and children.
a. Francesca as a Wife
As Richard’s wife, Francesca is often being oppressed by Richard, both
directly and indirectly. There are some points that exist in Francesca and make her
decide to hold on in her family as good wife for Richard. They are more like a
demand that comes from society and should be fulfilled by women in their role as
wives.
i. Francesca’s Self-sacrifice for Richard.
In her marriage with Richard, Francesca is a faithful wife. It is told in the
story that she is not happy to be Richard’s wife. There are so many things that she
does not like from Richard. After she meets Robert, she feels that he is the one
whom she loves and with whom she wants to live with. Ignoring her dreams and
desire to pursue her own happiness, she prefers to stay with Richard rather than to
go with Robert.
For maybe twenty seconds they sat there. He was up ahead, only thirty feet from her. She could still do it. Get out and run to Harry’s right door, climb in over the knapsacks and cooler and tripods (Waller, p.123).
That is a time for Francesca that she has a chance to leave Richard for Robert, but
