women’s struggle under the practice of patriarchy in … · ngulyi and alice di gambarkan sebagai...

WOMEN’S STRUGGLE UNDER THE PRACTICE OF

PATRIARCHY IN ALICE NANNUP’S WHEN THE PELICAN

LAUGHED

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

Gavin Anditya Putra

Student Number: 114214079

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2016

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ii



LAUGHED

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

Gavin Anditya Putra


ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2016


iii

A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis



LAUGHED

By

Gavin Anditya Putra


Approved by

Sri Mulyani Ph.D 15 September 2016

Advisor

Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M.Hum 15 September 2016

Co. Advisor


iv

A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis



LAUGHED

By

GAVIN ANDITYA PUTRA


Defended before the Board of Examiners

on September 26, 2016

and Declared Acceptable

BOARD OF EXAMINERS

Name Signature

Chairperson : Dr. Fx. Siswadi M.A

Secretary : Sri Mulyani, Ph.D.

Member 1 : Maria Ananta Tri S., S.S, M.Ed.

Member 2 : Sri Mulyani, Ph.D.

Member 3 : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M.Hum

Yogyakarta, September 30, 2016

Faculty of Letters

Sanata Dharma University

Dean

Dr. P. Ari Subagyo, M. Hum.


v

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yand bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma

Nama : Gavin Anditya Putra

Nomor Mahasiswa : 114214079

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan

Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul



LAUGHED

Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan

kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan,

mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data,

mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media

lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin kepada saya maupun

memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai

penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada tanggal 10 September 2016

Yang menyatakan,

Gavin Anditya Putra


vi

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certify that this undergraduate thesis contains no material which has been

previously submitted for the award of any other degree at any university, and that,

to the best of my knowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material

previously written by any other person except where due reference is made in the

text of the undergraduate thesis.

Yogyakarta, September 10, 2016

Gavin Anditya Putra


vii

This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to

My Mother

My Father

My Brother


viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis advisor, Sri Mulyani Ph.D,

who has helped me in writing this thesis. I thank her for the advice, the

encouragement and the guidance that she gave to me.

I also express my gratitude to Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M.Hum as co.

advisor of my thesis. I thank him for his advice and guidance to complete my thesis.

I would also like to thank all the lecturers of English Letters and the staff

for the guidance and knowledge that they gave to me since I entered English Letters

Department.

My special gratitude goes to God, my beloved parents, and my brother, who

always give their love and support me in every way, my comrades in arms: Bobob,

Ceribo, Hagil, Melan, Nindi, Panji, Patrick, Piwi, Rian, Siman, Tata, Tyok, and

Willy, I thank you all for the kindness. I also thank to ‘Eleven’: Afel, Ariya, Ceha,

Deas, Dicky, Echo, Ipul, Ismid, Kunthi, and Lulung.


ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................... ii

APPROVAL PAGE ......................................................................................... iii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE .................................................................................... iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ............................ v

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ............................................................... vi

DEDICATION PAGE ...................................................................................... vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................. viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. ix

ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... x

ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................ xi

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 1

A. Background of the Study ...................................................................... 1

B. Problem Formulation ............................................................................ 4

C. Objectives of the Study ........................................................................ 4

D. Definition of Terms .............................................................................. 4

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE .................................................. 6

A. Review of Related Studies ................................................................... 6

B. Review of Related Theories ................................................................. 7

C. Theoretical Framework ....................................................................... 12

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY .................................................................. 14

A. Object of the Study ............................................................................... 14

B. Approach of the Study .......................................................................... 15

C. Method of the Study ............................................................................. 16

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 18

A. Women and the Practice of Patriarchy in When The Pelican Laughed

18

B. Women’s Response to the “Unfair” Practice of Patriarchy.................. 33

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 38

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 41


x

ABSTRACT

Gavin Anditya Putra. Women’s Struggle Under The Practice of Patriarchy in

Alice Nannup’s When The Pelican Laughed. Yogyakarta: Department of English

Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2016.

This study centers on the novel When The Pelican Laughed, written by Alice

Nannup with Lauren Marsh and Stephen Kinnane. The novel tells us about the

struggle of two main characters, Ngulyi and Alice under the practice of patriarchy

in their society. They were described as brave, smart, and tough women who will

fight for their rights.

There are two objectives in this study: First, to find out the practice of

patriarchy that occurs in the novel When The Pelican Laughed; Second, to find out

the responses of the two main women characters in facing the practice of patriarchy.

The writer applies library research method to gather the data and references

for this study and uses feminism approach when analyzing the novel to have a better

understanding in reveals the two main women characters in When The Pelican

Laughed.

From the analysis, the writer reveals some practices of patriarchy that had

been experienced by Ngulyi and Alice which oppressed them like a ceremonies that

only allowed men to join, a law that allowed men for choosing their mother-in-law

and her daughter without permission from them, and bad treatments from the man.

The writer also finds the responses toward the practice of patriarchy from the two

main characters who are struggling for their rights; they fight over the law and also

the men that limit their rights.


xi

ABSTRAK

Gavin Anditya Putra. Women’s Struggle Under The Practice of Patriarchy in

Alice Nannup’s When The Pelican Laughed. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris,

Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2016.

Penelitian ini berpusat pada novel berjudul When The Pelican

Laughed, yang di tulis oleh Alice Nannup beserta Lauren Marsh dan Stephen

Kinnane. Novel ini menceritakan tentang perjuangan dua tokoh utamanya, Ngulyi

dan Alice di bawah tekanan praktik patriarki yang berada di lingkungan mereka.

Ngulyi and alice di gambarkan sebagai wanita pemberani, cerdas, dan kuat yang

akan selalu berjuang demi hak nya.

Penelitian ini memiliki dua tujuan, yakni: Pertama, untuk mengetahui

adanya praktik patriarki di dalam novel When The Pelican Laughed; Kedua: untuk

mengetahui respons dari kedua karakter wanita dalam menghadapi praktik patriarki

tersebut.

Penulis menerapkan metode studi pustaka untuk mengumpulkan data

serta referensi dan menggunakan mendekatan feminism dalam menganalisa novel

tersebut agar memiliki pemahaman yang lebih baik dalam mengungkap kedua

karakter wanita di When The Pelican Laughed.

Dari hasil analisa novel tersebut, penulis menampakan beberapa

praktik patriarki yang bersifat menekan di alami oleh Ngulyi dan Alice seperti

upacara adat yang hanya diperbolehkan untuk kaum pria, hukum yang

memperbolehkan para pria memilih calon mertua nya tanpa persetujuan dari sang

mertua dan anak perempuannya, serta perlakuan-perlakuan buruk yang dilakukan

para pria terhadap wanita. Penulis juga menemukan respons terhadap praktik

partriarki dari kedua karakter tersebut dalam memperjuangkan hak nya, mereka

melakukan perlawanan terhadap hokum dan para pria yang telah membatasi hak

mereka sebagai wanita.


1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Women worldwide are still discriminated since they are all under men’s

domination. Some men in this time still assume that “female” is a second sex. Men

underestimate women role in daily life, starting from the common things to the

complex things. Rosemarie Tong in Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive

Introduction argues that:

Thus, in the United States, for example, women are pushed into jobs like

nursing, teaching, and childcare, while they are steered away from jobs in

business, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In addition,

legislation specifically barring women from such “masculine” jobs as

mining and firefighting or preventing women from working the night shift

or overtime is not exactly a distant memory (Tong, 2009:34).

The explanation shows the discrimination over women in daily life,

Rosemarie Tong briefly says that in the US, they limit women’s freedom to choose

any job, and thus there are only several jobs that allowed for women there.

There are various cases from time to time. Long time ago, women terribly

suffered from men’s domination either from their own society or from the other

society like the colonizers. They experience a social inequality in many aspects and

they get a lot of pressure from both their own society and colonizer or we can call

it “white people”. In nineteenth century, women in America experienced some

gender discrimination by their own community as Madsen says in Feminist Theory

and Literary Practice, “woman in America was unable to vote, and after


2

marriage had no control of her property or her children. Her status was akin to that

of a minor or slave.”

Thus after a lot of discrimination, women begin to start their movements to

fight back the men’s domination over everything; they fight for their right, and try

to bring back their dignity and also their role in daily life. One of their movements

is producing some literary works that show us about their experience and how they

solve all the problems that caused by men’s domination. In this case, literature has

a big role as a media to inform and show the struggle of women to reach the gender

equality issue and to emphasize their existence in this world. They show and prove

that female is reliable in this life and they can change the world with their own

power without men domination. In this case, the researcher uses a novel by Alice

Nannup entitled When The Pelican Laughed to elaborate more about how women’s

being discriminated and suffers from men’s discrimination.

According to Marjorie Boulton in The Anatomy of the Novel, the novel is a

branch of fiction that developed in late in history but a relish for stories seems to be

as recorded humanity (Boulton, 1975: 1). Boulton also mentions the definition of

novel from Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, ‘Novel is an invented prose

narrative that is usually long and complex and deals with human experience through

a connected sequence of events’ (Boulton, 1975:11). Thus, novel is a form of prose

that consist a story which reflects and deals with human’s life experience.

Alice Nannup, as an author, writes her own life experience in the form of

novel with the help of Lauren Marsh and Stephen Kinnane entitled When The


3

Pelican Laughed. She is an aborigine. She portrayed her whole life since she was a

child. She tells us how she was raised by the aborigine family with all the traditions

in the aboriginal society. The aborigine was considered as a patriarchal society

where the men dominated. This novel takes place in Australia where the aborigines

lived under white people’s domination. Alice is a part of aboriginal society that

lives under the white people domination. Besides, she also has to live under men

domination and obey men’s rules in her aborigine society. In her novel she focuses

on her struggle against the domination by her surrounding especially from the men

which reflects the idea of feminism.

The reason why the researcher chose this topic is because we have to revalue

women’s contribution to our life and consider once again the important of women’s

role in our life, Peter Barry said in Beginning Theory about feminist, so we can have

more respect to women and not thinking that woman or female is a second sex.

Women need equality in all of aspects, so we have to give them chances to take part

in this life and they also have the same right as the men in all aspects of life.

The researcher uses the feminist approach in literary work and some theories

on feminism to analyze this novel, and focus on Alice Basset as the main female

character and also her mother, and her struggle against her own society (Aborigine)

and white people domination in her society.


4

B. Problem Formulation

1. How do women experience the practice of patriarchy in Alice Nannup’s

When The Pelican Laughed?

2. What are the responses of women in facing the practice of Patriarchy in their

environment in Alice Nannup’s When The Pelican Laughed?

C. Objectives of the Study

The first objective of this study is to see what Alice and other women

experience in his life as a woman from aboriginal society and under the white

people domination. I want to find out what treatment that she got from her own

society whether it is good or not, and also from white people around her that have

more power in her environment and reveal whether there is any gender

discrimination that given by her from both society or not

The second objective is to find out what the responses of Alice and other

women are to face all the pressure from both society (Aborigine and White). The

researcher will reveal whether they fight back or not.

D. Definition of Terms

Feminism

According to Peter Barry, Feminism is women’s movement that struggle

over the image of the women (Barry, 2002: 121-122). In The Dictionary of Feminist

Theory, Feminism is a doctrine of equal rights for women and ideology of social

transformation aiming to create a world for women beyond simple social equality.


5

(Humm, 1995: 94). In general, feminisms is the ideology of women’s liberation

since intrinsic in all its approaches is the belief that women suffer injustice because

of our sex. (Humm, 1995: 94)

Patriarchy

According to Peter Barry, Patriarchy is cultural thought of men or women

in the society about sexual inequality where the men have more power and control

the women (Barry, 2002: 122). And according to The Dictionary of Feminist

Theory, Patriarchy is a system where the men have an authority to control and

oppress the women in the society (Humm, 1995: 200)


6

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

Feminist criticism is a theory that focuses in the image of women and it is

used to analyze the struggle of women right under men’s domination. I will provide

the review from other studies that also use feminist approach to analyze the story.

It is from Amanda Rindu Dyah Perdana in Patriarchy, Woman Suffering, and the

Ideas of Feminism Reflected Through the Character in Maria Irene Fornes’s: The

Conduct of Life.In the story, there is a male character named Orlando, he described

as a powerful man with maximum authority and he also reflects patriarchal value

by his characteristics. Orlando has several servants; one of their servants is Olimpia.

Olimpia is one of the victims that experience Orlando’s violence. Perdana states:

At this time Olimpia does not see Orlando as her employer but as a man

who always abuses her verbally and also a man who treats her unkindly. She

has to rebel and what Olimpia has done is her form of rebellion. (Perdana,

2008:50)

In that statement, the researcher agrees that Olimpia has reflected the idea

of feminism toward Orlando (man), she wants to rebel and be free from Orlando

domination. Then, in this study, rebellion is not just toward a single man. The

women can fight back towards society rule, and it proves that feminism can do more

than struggling towards one man but also a society that has wider scope.

There is also a research by F.X. Risang Baskara about the novel When The

Pelican Laughed. In his undergraduate thesis entitled The Indigenous Struggle Of


7

Aborigines In Western Australia In The 19th Century As Reflected In Alice Nannup’s

Life In When The Pelican Laughed, Baskara also discusses about the major

character’s (Alice Nannup) struggle, but he focus more on the idea of

postcolonialism that is revealed by the characters. He states:

The second part of the analysis will study the indigenous struggle in

Western Australia in 19th century that are reflected through Alice Nannup’s

characteristics in When The Pelican Laughed. The theory of indigenous

struggle is used to help the writer to analyze what kind of struggle emerge

in the characteristics of Alice Nannup. Besides, the writer also uses the

postcolonialism approach to see what happened in Australia during the

colonialism period (Baskara, 2010:68).

We can see in the quotation above, the researcher has almost the same object of the

study with Baskara, but the approach that the researcher uses to analyze the

characters is different. Baskara uses postcolonialism approach to analyze the

characters, while the researcher uses feminism approach in his research.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Characterization

According to Characterization theory in Thomas R Arp and Greg Johnson’s

Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, there are some ways to describe

a human character in a story. First the author of the story will decide whether he or

she uses a Direct Presentation by tell the reader about the character or Indirect

Presentation by show the reader the character through the actions (Arp and Johnson,

2006: 162).


8

According to M.J Murphy in Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to

English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students, there are 9 ways to

know the characteristics of the character, those arefrom personal description like

the character’s appearances and clothes, character description as seen by another or

opinions from other characters, Speech of the character or what character said in

the story, character’s past life or past experience, conversation of other characters

and all things that other characters said about him or her, character reaction to some

situations, direct comment by the author, thoughts by the third person point of view,

and mannerisms that can describe a character’s habits.

M.H. Abrams also has some methods for characterizing, in A Glossary of

Literary Terms he says, “The author may show not only external speech and actions,

but also character’s inner thoughts, feelings, and responsiveness to events; for a

highly developed mode of such inner showing” (Abrams, 1999: 33-34). So, instead

of speech and physical actions that occur in the story, the author may show

character’s thoughts, feelings and responses to the events that happen in the story.

2. Theory of Feminism

Feminist literary criticism is the product of woman movement that deals

with literature and focuses on the significance of the images of the woman that

appear in literary work. (Barry, 2002: 121). It shows the importance of the women

in every aspect of our life and women have the same role just like men. Barry also

writes:


9

In this sense the women’s movement has always been crucially concerned

with books and literature, so that feminist criticism should not be seen as an

off-shoot or a spin-off from feminism which is remote from the ultimate

aims of the movement, but as one of its most practical ways of influencing

everyday conduct and attitudes (Barry 2002: 121-122).

It proves that feminist criticism wants to show us how reliable the women

participation is in our daily life and prove that women have the same power as men.

Deborah L.Madsen in Feminist Theory and Literary Practice also explains about

Feminist literary theory and its aims. She said that literary feminism tried to show

the value of the feminine by promoting the image of women in literature so

everyone sense it (Madsen, 2000:16). She also mentions three main aims from

Feminist literary theory, she states:

Feminist literary theory had three main aims: to expose the workings of the

ubiquitous patriarchal power structure; to promote the rediscovery of

women’s historical achievements (including literary history); and to

establish a feminine perspective on critical, literary, political, scientific,

philosophical (and other). (Madsen, 2000:14-15)

We know that they want an equality and recognition from the others in many

aspects of life and also create a woman perspective on those subjects and want to

show about the image of woman.

From the basic theory of feminism, we also have Multicultural, Global, and

Postcolonial Feminism. Those branches of feminism concern to women from any

race, ethnicity, class, sexual identity, age, etc. (Tong, 2009: 215). Multicultural

Feminism initially focus only in one nation, the U.S., then Global and Postcolonial

Feminism widen the scope, like Rosemarie Tong says in her book:

Multicultural feminist focus on the basic insight that even in one nation—

the United States, for instance—all women are not created or constructed

equal. Depending on her race and ethnicity but also on her sexual identity,


10

gender identity, age, religion, level of education, occupation or profession,

marital status, health condition, and so on, each U.S. woman will experience

her identity and status as a woman differently. Expanding on multicultural

feminists’ basic insight, global and postcolonial feminists stress that

depending on whether she is a member of a First

World/developed/Northern/Western nation or instead a Third

World/developing/Southern/Eastern nation, each woman in the world will

be positively or negatively affected in significant ways (Tong, 2009: 200-

201).

Multicultural feminism has many similarities with Global and Postcolonial

feminism; both of them focus on the women from any race, ethnicity, class, etc.

The one that differentiate them is only in the scope. Multicultural feminism only

focus in United States while Global and Postcolonial feminism focus in all

developed and developing nations and also the nations that were colonized.

C. Review of Related Backgrounds

1. The Writer’s Biographical Background

Alice was born in 1910s on Abydos Station, out from Port Hedland,

Australia. Her mother was fifteen years old when she had her, and they left there

when Alice was a baby. Her mother’s name was Ngulyi and her European name

was Dot. She was born on Pilbara Station, which is between Roebourne and Marble

Bar, Western Australia. After leaving Abydos, they went to Kangan station and

Ngulyi travelled from station to another station to work. They lived there for a while

and they moved to Roebourne at Alice’s father house and they were staying there.

They lived there in the aborigine society.

When Alice was twelve years old she was taken to the south to get an

education. The Campbells promised to return Alice to his family when she finished


11

her study, but she ended up in Moore River Settlement. According to the website

www.noongarculture.org.au, Moore River Settlement was designed to be a self

supporting farming settlement and planned to provide schooling, employment, and

also health facilities, but during 1920s it changed from farming to the interment for

aborigine people. It also stated that “Children of ‘mixed decent’ or what was termed

‘half-castle’ aboriginal people, were brought there to be trained as domestic

servants for white society” (www.noongarculture.org.au/moora/). Alice was not the

only victim of this movement, many aborigine children were taken from their

family at that time.

In Moore River, Alice stayed in a dormitory which had very strict rules that

sometimes oppressed her freedom. In there she was given a training to work. In her

childhood, she was sent to some family to work there until she got older and went

back to the settlement.

She got married in 1932, right after she went back to the settlement. In

history, 1930s era was a difficult time for people in Australia, it called “The Great

Depression”. According to the website www.australia.gov.au, this event gave

terrible impact to Australian society, people at that time did not have a steady job

and income. The main cause of the Great Depression is not completely solved, the

website states “Although the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange determined

its timing there were several factors involved: A fall in export prices and sales, a

fall in overseas loans leading to a reduction in government capital spending, and a

fall in residential construction”(www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-

story/great-depression).


http://www.noongarculture.org.au/

http://www.noongarculture.org.au/moora/

http://www.australia.gov.au/

http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/great-depression


12

By that time, Alice kept travelling with her husband to one place to another place

to find a job and raise their children. During their lifetime, they raised ten children.

2. Patriarchy in the Australian Aborigines Society

Patriarchy is a system which dominates by the men. They have an authority

which oppresses women (Humm, 1995:200). This research makes Patriarchy as one

of the main concern since the researcher wants to reveal about the patriarchy that

occurs in the novel When The Pelican Laughed which take place in the Australian

Aborigines Society.

According to Sandra Bloodworth in her article on the website, she

mentioned about the proof that she got from the observations of the Europeans in

nineteenth century regarding the degraded of Aboriginal women. The Aboriginal

woman described as the one that cruelly beaten and torture if she does not obey the

man. The woman should work all day, mind the children, carry all the family

belongings when travel, and also there is a fact that marriages are arranged for the

girls in Aborigines society at a very young age or even before birth

(www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/interventions/gender.htm).

D. Theoretical Framework

This thesis studies the novel by Alice Nannup entitled When The Pelican

Laughed. The researcher focuses on the woman main characters in the story, Ngulyi

(Alice’s mother) and Alice herself. The researcher analyzes the characters from

their characteristics, social experiences, and responses to the treatments from their

society.


http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/interventions/gender.htm

13

The characterization theories are really needed to discover Alice’s life that

she had experienced. Those theories are not only used to find out the characteristic

of the character but also the treatments from other elements in her environment, her

life experience, her struggle to face the pressure, her suffers, and so on. These

theories can be helpful to answer the first problem formulation and even the second

problem formulation.

Since this study focuses on the female or women characters, the feminism

theory is really helpful to determine what Alice as the female character do which

reflect and show the idea of feminism as our concern. We need to find out the value

of women itself and what movements are done by Alice when she faces her life and

some pressures from her environment. And we can find out what men do to limit

women movement and their rights, and dominate over the women, we can call it as

patriarchy. In this story, of course we concern to Alice’s society, we can find out

what her society especially the men give to her, everything that maybe limit Alice

movement. This theory is really helpful to bring the idea of feminism closer to us

and answer both problem formulations.


14

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The literary work that the researcher discusses in this study is a novel by

Alice Nannup with Lauren Marsh and Stephen Kinnane, entitled When The Pelican

Laughed. This novel was first published in 1992 by Fremantle Arts Centre Press,

and reprinted in 1992, 1993, 1996, and 2000. This novel has 225 pages and divided

into 4 parts. This novel is based on Autobiography of Alice Nannup.

This novel tells us about Alice Nannup’s life from she was a young girl until

she became a great-grandmother. The story of this novel is set in Australia. In the

beginning, Alice also tells a story about her relationship with her mother and her

life as a little girl in the society where she lived. She lived with her parents and her

sister. She has an aborigine mother while her father is a white man. She knew the

truth when she got older.

Her life was apprehensive since she was taken from her family and society

to work as domestic servant and sent to a dorm with a terrible treatment. In the

beginning she was offered to get an education, but she ended in the settlement and

trained as a servant. She began to get some pressure with that environment and

sometimes she fought back for her right, freedom and dignity. She moved from one

place to another and worked for various masters. She got


15

both good and bad experience when she worked as a servant but she kept struggling

to get a better life.

Then, in her adulthood, she came back to the settlement and met a guy, and

then she married him. She began her journey with her husband. She and her husband

had to struggle to raise their children. She moved from one place to another place

to work and get a better life.

In her old age, she finally could go back to her hometown and met the rest

of her family who she left behind when she was taken to the settlement. She spent

her old age in Geraldton and she was happy that she was able to live peacefully.

This novel is focus on Alice and also her Mother’s life and struggle as an

aboriginal woman in her society that dominated by man and white people. They had

to survive by travel from one place to another in order to get better life. Sometimes

they had to experience the suffers from the law that existed in their society.

B. Approach of the Study

As this research focuses on the female character, the researcher uses

Feminism as an Approach to analyze the literary work that has a women or female

character as the main concern.

Indeed, feminism has often focused upon what is absent rather than what is

present, reflecting concern with the silencing and marginalization of women

in a patriarchal culture, a culture organized in the favor of men (Guerin,

2005: 222-223).

From the quotation above, using Feminism to analyze this novel can help the

researcher know more about the characteristic of Alice as an aborigine woman, her


16

own life experience, what she felt in any condition that told in the novel, and what

she did to struggle against her society domination.

C. Method of the Study

The method that the writer uses in this study is Library Research. The main

data or sources for the research were taken from the novel When The Pelican

Laughed, and the writer gets secondary sources and some theories to analyze the

data from books of literature, related theories, and also the book of feminism since

the writer use feminism approach to analyze the novel.

There are some steps that the writer did to doing this research. The first step

was reading the novel very carefully to understand what the main concern of the

novel and find the practice of patriarchy and also the response from the main female

characters to the practice of patriarchy.

Next, the writer chose the Feminism Approach to analyze the novel When

The Pelican Laughed since the main female character that really complex and

become the main concern in the novel and also using the theory of characterization

to know all about Ngulyi and Alice as major female characters. The writer searched

some supportive data and theories through books in the library and e-book.

Then, the researcher paid more attention to the major female characters’

characteristics and their life experience including all their suffer in the story and


17

also the society where they belonged. The writer concerned about that in order to

find out about the practice of patriarchy that may be experienced by them.

Next, the writer began to find out their response to their surrounding that

gave her some pressures and the practice of patriarchy itself. Then the writer applied

feminist literary theory to answer the problem formulation.

Finally the writer made a conclusion from the analysis. That was how this

study was finished.


18

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

In this chapter, the researcher answers the problem formulations which

stated on the first chapter of the research. First, the researcher analyzes on how the

women experience the practice of patriarchy as reflected by the main character in

the novel. Second, the researcher finds out and discuss about the responses of

women in facing the practice of patriarchy in their environment.

A. Women and the Practice of Patriarchy in When The Pelican Laughed

In the novel When the Pelican Laughed, there are two main women

characters that experienced the practice of patriarchy; they are Alice and her

mother, Ngulyi. Alice’s mother experienced the practice of patriarchy in Aborigine

society, while Alice experienced it in a bigger scope aborigine and white society.

The meaning of the practice of patriarchy itself is anything that the men do to

oppress and harm the women.

1. Ngulyi’s Experience of the Practice of Patriarchy

Alice’s Mother whose name Ngulyi is a smart woman, she spoke six

languages, Nyamal, Palyku, Kariyarra, Ngarluma, Yindjibarndi, and of course

English, she also has an European name, Dot. She was born on Pilbara Station,

which is located between Roebourne and Marble and she belong to the Yindjibarndi

tribe. She is a quite hard worker, stated in the novel that she travelled from station

to station and worked there in the kitchen and doing housework. She


19

married to aborigine man, Old Ned and had a daughter, Mangkayurangu, or Ella.

Old Ned is Alice’s stepfather. They stayed in Kangan because Old Ned worked for

Tommy, Alice’s father.

One day, Old Ned had a terrible ill and needed a medical attention. They

took him to Roebourne to get a better medical treatment, but he still cannot be cured,

he ended up dying and then he died. He was buried in the Aboriginal cemetery. Not

long after the funeral, an aborigine scout came and asked Ngulyi to be at Yule River

to fulfill the custom to shave her head, it was necessary for a wife that belonged to

YindjiBarndi tribe to shave her head not long after her husband died.

Then one night one of the Aborigine scouts came and saw Tommy. He said

that Mother had to be at the Yule River by a certain time. You see, it’s a law

that when a woman’s nyuba (partner) dies she’s got to have all her hair cut

off to make herself ugly for somebody else. (Nannup, 1992: 25)

We can see in that paragraph, aborigine society has a law only for women that

oblige all women in their society to shave their head immediately after they lost

their husband. It is intended to make themselves ugly and not attracted for

somebody else. Then, if the women did not want to do that, Aborigine scout who

sent by the elders will come over them to give a warning and ask them to go to Yule

River to be judged. Alice also mentions about the place where used to organize the

judgment by the elders,

We got to meeting place, and that evening they made a big fire at two sites.

The elders were all there waiting and Mother had to kneel down in a circle

of men. We were sitting back from women.(Nannup, 1992: 25)


20

From the quotation above, we know that Ngulyi had to kneel down and surrounded

by men while the women and her kids were sitting in the back. This clearly shows

the domination of men that surrounded Ngulyi and she had to kneel down in the

center of them. They asked her why she did not carry the law and rattled their spear,

but Ngulyi just kept silent, and they jabbed the spear on her leg.

The researcher believes that this thing proves a practice of patriarchy that

occurs in the aborigine society. This law was only made for women in that society

and what the custom did based on that story was really harm the women and limit

women’s right. If a woman did not carry the law and just remained silent while the

elders asked some questions, she will get a cruel treatment just like Ngulyi have

got.

This law really gave a disadvantage for women, they have to cut off their

hair while they grieve because their husband died, and it does not make any sense

to ask people to be ugly, nobody has a right to change a woman into something that

she did not want to, and if a woman did not want to carry on the custom, they will

get a punishment and it could be a cruel physical treatment that really harm like

Ngulyi have got. Implicitly, this law took away women’s right, women lose their

freedom to be somebody that they want to, they were not liberal because they had

to oblige the law, and of course this law reflected the idea of patriarchy which is

oppress and harm the women by the rules or laws that made by the men in the

society.


21

As it is told in the novel, there were various kinds of meetings and

ceremonies that exist in the aborigine society that Ngulyi belongs to. Ngulyi usually

took her kids, Ella and Alice, and also their cousin to the ceremony where they

could sing and dance. As Alice stated, they really enjoyed it, that was a really great

time, but not all ceremony in their society could bring happiness to them.

In that society, there are also some ceremonies held by aborigines which

reflected the practice of Patriarchy. It means that the ceremonies were made by men

and for men, and the women are forbidden to take a part or join these ceremonies.

In the ceremonies, the women in the society were strictly not allowed to enter those

ceremonies, the women seemed to be ignored by the society itself because the

society that dominated by the men does not allowed the women to take some parts

of that custom. This is the prove that told by Alice in the novel, she says,

There were also ceremonies that women weren’t allowed to go to, like

Initiation time. Then the men used to be on one side of the river. The women

had to the other side and they couldn’t pass on the men’s side. To walk on

it would be crossing sacred ground because that’s the business side, See,

that’s what my mother did that time, and they reckoned she went blind of it.

That’s just the way of the law; they tell you not to do things, and if you do,

well, you’re disobeying. (p 27)

We can see clearly on that quotation that the men from aborigine society that Ngulyi

belongs to made some kind of ceremonies that only have the men for its participant.

It is described in the novel like initiation and women were not allowed to join the

men in the ceremonies, we see that women should be in the other side of the river,

and the men called their side as a sacred ground, and women are not allowed to

walk on it, it is like a private area for the ruler in that society, the men.


22

From the feminist perspective, the researcher believes that the ceremony did

a practice of patriarchy which limits the women right to take a role in a society. The

society itself contains men and women, thus the women should be considered to

take a role in the society. Besides, the society belongs to both men and women.

The information above stated that men have an authority to control

everything, they give a name of their side as the sacred ground, and forbid the

women to walk on it. Actually they have no authority to take the women’s right to

take a part on the events or ceremonies that held in the society. Women and men

should have the same right in order to run and build the society.

Not only prohibit women for joining them in the ceremony, men also did a

cruel treatment for women who break that strict law. They were willing to make

someone blind. They made such a terrible punishment for women

Unfortunately, Ngulyi as the main character in the novel, experienced this

cruel punishment from the men. She went blind because she walked on the sacred

ground, the side that the men claimed to be their territory. She did it with Alice’s

aunt, Winnie, Alice states

Mother had gone blind. See, her and Auntie Winnie had gone out walking

and they’d walked across sacred ground where the men were having

meeting. They reckoned she went blind for doing that. So we had to stay

there for a week, and I used to go and get hot water to bathe her eyes

(Nannup, 1992: 26).

The quotation above shows that Ngulyi had a terrible punishment from the men

because she was considered to break the law that women were not allowed to


23

walking on the sacred ground. The men decided that she had to be blind for doing

that. Ngulyi had to take care of Alice because of the men did to her. She was lucky

that she only got temporary blind, but this thing cannot be underestimated.

The men had no right to do such a bad treatment like that to women. They

have already made many limitations for women in their society, and they still gave

a cruel punishment to women and showed no humanity. Women have a right to

receive a good treatment. Men should not be that cruel to women. Men had already

taken away women’s right, but they still gave a bad treatment to women. The men

have no right to hurt women, in this case, they made someone blind just because

she broke the law. The punishment shows no humanity.

Thus, the researcher believes that there are some ceremonies in the

aborigine society that Ngulyi belonged to oppress women, limit women’s right, and

give no freedom to women to be liberated like they want to do. Those ceremonies

of course reflected the practice of patriarchy that really gives a limitation to every

women move, take away women’s right, even it tortures them. The researcher can

see clearly that the laws, the ceremonies that mentioned above are made by the men

who believe that they are the one who has the authority to control the society, so

that they oppressed women, and took way the women’s right. The researcher also

believes that in the society the women should take a part equally like the men did,

and also treated better in every way.


24

2. Alice Bassett’s Experiences of the Practice of Patriarchy

Alice is the main character of the story after Ngulyi, her mother. She was

described as a really complex character in the novel since the novel was her

autobiography, it told us about Alice’s life from she was a young girl, until she

became a grandmother. When she was a girl, Alice described as a curious girl, she

was interested with a new thing in her surrounding, but her curiosity sometimes

made her into a clumsy and careless girl, she was also described as a tomboy. Alice

has a father named Tommy, who was a white man, but since Alice’s mother is an

aborigine, she also considered as aborigine and belonged to the same tribe as her

mother.

Unfortunately, Alice Bassett also experienced the practice of patriarchy,

even when she was a little girl. In this case, the custom and law that created by

aborigine were also involved to bring the practice of patriarchy, and this issue also

happened in the same society that made Ngulyi as the victim of the practice of

patriarchy.

This case began when there was a law that allowed the men for choosing

their mother-in-law. When the man had decided their choice, the women could not

avoid it. They had to surrender their daughter to the man.

One day, there was an old man in the society came and asked Alice’s

mother, Ngulyi if she got pregnant and the child born as a girl, the girl should serve

him and become his wife in the future. And it was the evidence that Alice provides,


25

When I was born they gave me to an old man. My group is garimarra, and

balyirri is my straight. They did it by the men picking who they wanted as

their mother-in-law. Like when this old fella was around fifty, and mother

was having me, he said, ‘If that’s a girl, that’s my woman.’ Well I was born

a girl, worst luck. (p 35)

Once again the researcher found out that the aborigine society where Alice

belonged to had a custom which reflected the practice of patriarchy. The men chose

their own mother-in-law in order to get the daughter, and they indicated that they

wanted to exploit the girls by marrying them without the girls’ permission. No

matter the condition, if the men have chosen it, the girl should be their woman and

serve them. The girl and her mother have no option left as the men have taken away

their right and their freedom, the women must obey this law although they did not

agree about that.

Men’s domination was really strong in this case. They made such an unfair

custom without thinking about the effect to women. They took away women’s right

to get an equal treatment and freedom in the society. They tried to exploit women.

They wanted to be served by the women without making any excuses, and they

showed how the men have an authority over the women. They can control them.

Thus, this thing was really unfair and only brought disadvantages for the women.

Besides, woman also has a right to decide whom she wants to marry. If she

already reaches a proper age to be married and ready to build a family, she could

marry a man that she love. In the novel we provided with a different thought. The

aborigine girl was taken from her mother since she was born. The little baby has no

right to choose her partner in life because she was chosen by a man in the society


26

just like what Alice says in the novel “It was never the old women that chose, it was

only ever the men. They had it all their own way”(p35). She and also her mother

cannot do anything but they have to surrender to this custom that has been made by

the men in society. They cannot escape from the man’s domination in their society,

although Alice was still a little girl, the Old man has to wait until Alice was old

enough, like what Alice says

He was waiting until I was old enough, however old that was, and he’d say,

‘When you’re ready to come with me, you’re coming, whether you like it

or not.’ This was all in Aborigine of course, and he’d come over demanding

a feed (Nannup, 1992: 35).

The quotation above shows that Alice has never been given an option as the men

would wait for her until she was old enough, then Alice should be coming with him,

whether she like it or not. The researcher believes that the old man violated the

women’s right that the women wants to be free from any force The old man does

not have any rights to limit their freedom. They cannot simply choose any mother-

in-law he likes and marry her daughter. Besides marrying her daughter, the old man

will also turn Alice to be his servant, the researcher finds in the quotation that the

old man demands a feed from Alice, and her mother cannot make her daughter

refuse it, like what Alice says afterward

When he’d come, Mother would go off and hide herself because she was

forbidden to mix with her son-in-law. She used to say to me, ‘Make it, make

him a cup of tea. Go on, give him what he wants (Nannup, 1992: 35).

The information above showed that Ngulyi as Alice mother could not do anything

to refuse the old man request, and she gave Alice an advice to give whatever he


27

wants, she also remained to hide herself because there is a law that not allowed her

to mix with her son-in-law, and she could only give an advice to her daughter. From

the explanation above, the researcher sees clearly that the women have lost their

right to refuse the things that they do not like. They only surrender by the law that

oppresses their right. Whether they like it or not, they have to serve the men that

are considered in that society as the one who has the authority over everything.

The researcher believes that this case proves the form of patriarchy exists in

aborigines’ society. The women who have a girl that already chosen by the men

cannot do anything but give the girl to the men. They cannot refuse the men to

marry their daughter though their daughter might be turn as a servant for the men.

They cannot do anything against the law that reflected the practice of patriarchy

The researcher still concerns about another issue of the law that reflected

the practice of patriarchy in Aborigine society that Alice belonged to. Apparently,

there is another custom that oppress women based on the information that Alice

provides in the novel. Alice mentions about a custom that requires the women to

walk behind the men if the women want to walk together with the men. Not only

walk behind the men, the women also get inequality treatment, they have to carry

on the luggage while the men only carry a simple thing. Here is the custom that

Alice tells us about

It was never the old women that chose, it was only ever the men. They had

it all their own way. A woman used to walk about four or five yards behind

her man, carrying a baby on her hip, a bundle of wood or something on her

head, another bundle on her back, and have children walking along with her.

She’d do all that while the man was walking along carrying a couple of

spears! I tell you what, the men had it made. (Nannup, 1992: 35)


28

In this case, the researcher found that the man gave unfair treatment to the woman.

It meant the man has violated women’s right which the woman should get an equal

treatment from everyone. The information above described about the woman who

used to walk around four or five yards far behind the men. It was a quite far distance

for a couple to walk together. Not only walked far behind the man, the women also

have to carry their baby on her hip, and if they had more children, the children must

walk along with her. The woman also has to carry many luggages by herself. It is

described in the quotation that it might be a “bundle of wood or something, and he

carried the luggage on her head and another luggage in her back.”

It seemed like a heavy task for the woman to do all of that thing, while in

the other hand, the man only carried a simple thing like describe in the quotation,

the men only carried a couple of spear, and it meant nothing if we compare to what

woman did. This law is very unfair. The man did a practice of patriarchy which

harms the woman by ordering her to do a heavy task while he carried couple of

spears.

In the novel, Alice also expresses her anger and disappointment about this

custom. She says in the last two sentences, “She’d do all that while the man was

walking along carrying a couple of spears! I tell you what, the men had it made”

(p35). It is unbelievable, when a couple walked together, but only the women that

carried the luggage while the man can walk comfortably by only carrying a couple

of spears. She was really disappointed about what the men had made by creating a

law that only give advantage to the men but oppress the women in the other way.


29

The researcher concludes that this law is a form of practice of patriarchy in

the aborigine society. Those evidences prove that only the man that considered as

the one who has an authority over woman like giving an order to his woman without

consider about the woman’s condition, and the woman should obey the order from

her man. This law reflects an inequality in the aborigine society, and that is how the

patriarchy works.

When Alice got older, a couple, Mr and Mrs Campbell met her and talked

to her family that they want to take her down South to educate her and of course

she was really excited and accepted that offer. It was a long journey to the south,

they had to stop by so many times and Alice not expected that she had to work for

someone before she was going to school. Alice was taken to Beeginup, and she

started her school there, but she still has to work at the farm. That circumstance did

not last long, they continue their cruise from farm to another until Alice realized

that the promise to bring her to school will never happen and she was sent into

Moore River Settlement.

Alice was taken to Mogumber and from that place she ride out to the

settlement. There, Alice lived in a dormitory, and she tells that everything was

separated there. There were separate dormitories for boys and girls, even the dining

room was also separated.

Evidently, leaving her hometown did not make Alice free from the practice

of patriarchy. She also experienced it in the society among the settlement, and this

time she experiences it from the boy that lived in the same settlement like her. There


30

is a habit in the dormitories when the boy writes a note and sends it to the girl, and

the girl never supposed to send notes, she just answered them. Once, a boy wrote

Alice a letter that he wanted to see her, but Alice seems did not care about it and

just ignore the note. In a few days, the thing that did not expect to be happened.

They had a morning break and the boy came over Alice when she was in a hurry to

visit someone, and then they had a conversation,

‘Just a minute,’ he said. ‘I want to talk to you.’

‘ What do you want?’

‘Did you get my note?’

‘Yeah,’ I said.

‘Well, what did you do? Why didn’t you answer it?’

‘I ripped it up,’ I said, ‘I don’t want you.’

Well he grabbed hold of me by the neck and pushed me down onto the fence.

He was nearly choking me and I couldn’t get away. ‘When I write notes to

girls I expect an answer,’ he said, and I could hear how angry he was.

(Nannup, 1992:74)

That conversation shows us that even at the young age, a man can do something

that reflected the practice of patriarchy. Alice did not expect this thing to happen

because of the notes that have been written to her. This is a simple thing that if she

does not like someone, she does not have to answer the notes or meet that person,

she has a right to reject or ignore the notes from the boy, but in this case, that boy

forced Alice to answer the notes because he expected a response. It was like a law

that a boy writes a note for a girl, she had to answer it. It shows the practice of

patriarchy because the boy forced Alice to answer his note even though Alice has a

right to not to do that, this boy clearly violated the woman right by forced someone

else will.


31

The boy also treated Alice cruelly. The novel describes that he grabbed

Alice’s neck and pushed her down onto the fence, and he was nearly choking her

after he knew that Alice did not want to answer the note and ripped the notes from

him and he told us how he expected an answer from a girl who received a note from

him. This issue really oppresses Alice as a woman. She has a right not to answer

the notes, but the boy as a man does not care about her right, he forced to get an

answer and treated Alice cruelly like that whereas he has no right to treat a woman

like that. From the case above, the researcher finds that what the boy has done to

Alice reflected the practice of patriarchy by forcing the girl’s will and treat her

cruelly.

The researcher still concerns about the patriarchy in the Moore River

settlement. In this case, not only Alice who experiences an inequality treatment, but

also all women in the settlement that lived in dormitory experiences it. The problem

is revealed when Alice observed the dormitory for girls and the dormitory from

boys. From the beginning the society has kept everything separate in that place. The

women and men got a different dormitory to live in and so was the dining room.

Alice realizes that boys got a better space and more freedom in their dormitory, like

what Alice says:

The camps were off limits to us up in the compound – well, the girls really,

because boys were much freer. Some of the girls had relatives down there

and they would ask to go down to see them. They might be allowed, but if

they weren’t they’d sneak down (Nannup, 1992: 84).


32

The information above shows that the camps were very limited for the girls. There

are so many strict rules that limit them for doing anything, unlike the girls, the boys

never feel the same. While the girls were limited, the boys got more freedom. They

were much freer than the girls. Sometimes, the girls had to sneak down illegally if

they want to meet their relatives because the law restrained them.

The researcher sees an inequality that reflected by the law in the Moore

River, the law was very strict for the women and restrain them. In the other hand,

the boys were much freer as Alice described in the story, the law was unfair, it sides

with the boys.

Previously in the novel, Alice also mentioned about the boys who got more

freedom in the settlement, Alice says, ‘Although us girls were pretty much

supervised, the boys were free to roam around as they liked.’ (Nannup, 1992: 82).

The researcher finds out that the girls in the settlement got much supervision than

the boys got. The quotation says that the boys were freer to wander everywhere they

liked. This thing completely shows that there was a law that only for the men and

the law itself only restrained the girls. It limited the girls’ freedom and took away

their right to be treated equally like the boys. This law is very unfair for the girls.

They have a right to be treated equally and get the same freedom in their life.


33

B. Women’s Response to the “Unfair” Practice of Patriarchy

In this session, the researcher answers the second problem formulation

about the women response to some treatments and laws that reflected the practice

of patriarchy by observing the responses of the character Ngulyi and Alice since

they are the main characters that experience the practice of patriarchy in their

society in the novel. Ngulyi experienced the practice of patriarchy in her aborigine

society which belonged to Yindjibarndi tribe, while Alice experienced it not only

in the aboriginal society that she belonged to, but also in the Moore River settlement

where she sent to.

1. Ngulyi’s Response to the Practice of Patriarchy

Based on the first issue that the researcher stated in the first problem

formulation which was experienced by Ngulyi, which was about the custom that

requires the women to shave their hair when they lost their husband in order to

made themselves ugly for other people, the researcher found out that Ngulyi made

an opposition over the law. She did not do what the law has said. She refused to

shave her head because she thought that it was not necessary. An Aborigine scout

asked her to be at the Yule River to judge Ngulyi for breaking the law. In the Yule

River, they asked Ngulyi some questions about why she did not carry out the law

and forced him to keep shaving her head, even Ngulyi deserved a cruel treatment

from the men. They hurt her by jabbing her leg with a spear, but she kept carry on

her stand and told them that the law was not necessary. It is proved when Alice

states


34

She told them that she didn’t think it was necessary to cut off her hair, and

they were really cross with her. They said to her she thought she was white

because she had Tommy behind her. But Mother didn’t think that at all and

she was very upset. (Nannup, 1992: 26)

The quotation above showed us that Ngulyi made a resistance to avoid the law that

reflected the practice of patriarchy which violated the women’s right by forced

women to do something. She refused to shave her hair and stood in her principle

even though the men tortured her by jabbing her leg with a spear while kept forcing

her to shave her head in order to make herself ugly for somebody else, she told them

that the law for women to shave the hair was not necessary to do, until the elders

and the men were really annoyed at her. She was also very upset about their opinion

about her that she thought she was white because she had Tommy. And the writer

could conclude that this resistance is a part of Feminism which struggle for

women’s right against the men rule and domination toward women.

2. Alice Bassett’s Response to the Practice of Patriarchy

The researcher now moves to the response that Alice has done in facing the

practice of patriarchy that she experienced. As the researcher mentioned before in

the first problem formulation, Alice was already ‘reserved’ by an old man from her

society before she was born. ‘Reserved’ here means that the old man has already

ask Alice’s mother to let Alice marry him one day when she was mature enough to

be married, Ngulyi as her mother could not do anything to refuse it. When Alice

knew the truth that she has to marry the old guy, she refused it. When the old man

asked her to be a servant by feeding him, this was how Alice tried to refuse to feed


35

the old man although her mother gave her an advice to give him what he wants, as

she says in the novel:

He’d be saying to me, ‘You my woman, you feed me.’

I said to him, ‘Mirda, nyinda buga,’ That means, no! you buga, you stink.

‘Never mind about the buga,’ he said. ‘You my manga (woman).’ (Nannup,

1992: 35)

In the conversation above, Alice refused to serve the man by directly said no when

he said that she was his woman and asked her to feed him. She believed that she

did not belong to the old man. She also fought him back by saying that he smelled

stink. But the men still insisted and affirmed that Alice was his woman and she had

to obey him. Although her mother gave her an advice to give the man all things he

requested, Alice stood on her principle and resisted the old man.

Alice’s resistance did not stop at that time. She had an idea to run away from

marrying that old man. She got a chance to escape from that guy when the

Campbells came to meet Alice’s family and they were going to take her to the South

and educate her, like what the researcher had explained earlier. Alice says, ‘I was

really excited about going, it sounded like a real adventure. Besides, I thought, it

was a good way for me to get out of marrying that old fella I was promised to.’

(Nannup, 1992: 39). In that sentence, Alice was really excited about going to the

south and shows her consideration to escape for marrying the guy. She thought that

if she went to south far away from her home; she could avoid marrying the old man,

and she also got an education there.


36

Although the promise to give her an education never happened, at least

Alice’s consideration to be free from the old man reflects the idea of Feminism

because she wants to escape from that man’s domination which considered as the

practice of patriarchy by exploiting Alice.

The next response from a woman in facing the practice of patriarchy that

the researcher found in the novel occurs in the part when Alice has moved to the

Moore River settlement. In the previous part, the researcher found that Alice also

faced the practice of patriarchy from a boy in the Moore River settlement.

It is about the habit in the Moore River that in the dormitory, the boys used

to write notes for the girls, and the girls should answer it. The researcher has found

that there was a boy who wrote a note to Alice and expected she will answer the

notes, but the reality was not the same like he expected, Alice did not answer his

notes. He came over Alice and asked her if she got his notes or not and why she did

not reply it, and Alice said, ‘I ripped it up, I don’t want you’ (Nannup, 1992: 74).

By her answer, the researcher assumes that Alice realized that she had a right not

to answer the notes from the boy though she knew that in that society, the girls

should answer the notes from the boys.

The boy got angry because Alice did not want to reply the note and meet

him so that he hurt Alice physically and told her that if the boy wrote a note for a

girl, a girl had to answer it and he was expecting it, he seemed to force and punish

Alice for what she had done. Although got beaten by the boy, Alice did not remain

silent, once again she clarified that she had the right to not answer the notes, and


37

she said ‘You don’t get one from me’(Nannup, 1992: 74). She kept struggling on

her right and convinces the boy that he will never get an answer from her although

he forced her and torture her cruelly like that. The researcher finds how strong Alice

defended her right and her principle although the force from the boy was really

strong. She believed that the girl was not under the boy domination, she had a right

to refuse and fight back the man who tried to oppress her in any ways.


38

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

In the previous chapter, the researcher has answered the two problem

formulations. In his research, the researcher focused on two main characters of the

story, Ngulyi and Alice. The first problem formulation stated in the first chapter is

about the women and the practice of patriarchy.

The first character that experienced the practice of patriarchy is Ngulyi. In

the story, after her husband passed away, an aborigine scout came to Ngulyi and

asked her to fulfill the custom. The researcher found that the aborigine society that

Ngulyi belonged had a law only for women that oblige all women in the society to

shave their head after they lost their husband.

The researcher also found some ceremonies held by the society which

reflected the practice of patriarchy. In the ceremonies, the women in society were

strictly not allowed to take a part or join those ceremonies and the men also did a

cruel treatment for women who broke that law and made such a terrible punishment.

Ngulyi experienced this cruel punishment from the men.

The other character that also experienced the practice of patriarchy in the

story is Alice. There was a law which applied in the society that allowed the men

for choosing their mother-in-law. When the man had decided the choice, the women

could not do anything except surrendered their daughter to the man. Alice

experienced this unfair law. A man chose her to be his wife and she could not resist.

He would wait for her until she was old enough to be married.


39

Based on the information given by Alice in the novel, the researcher also

found a law that gave unfair treatment to the woman. The law said that if the woman

walked with the man, she should walk behind the men in a quite far distance. Not

only walked behind the man, she also carried a baby and the entire luggage by

herself while the man only carried a couple of spears in his hand.

Then, Alice also experienced the practice of patriarchy in another society.

She experienced it Moore River Settlement. There is a habit in the dormitories that

the boy writes a note and sends it to a girl, and the girl should answer them. Once,

Alice got a letter from a boy, but she ignored it. Then, that boy came to Alice and

physically abused her.

Moore River is a very strict place to live. In his research, the researcher

found that the camps were very limited for the girls. There are many rules that limit

the girls for doing something. Unlike the girls, the boys never felt the same thing,

they seemed to get more freedom because the boys in the settlement got less

supervision than the girls got.

The second problem formulation is about women’s response to the “unfair”

practice of patriarchy. In this case, the researcher also focused on two main

characters in the novel, Ngulyi and Alice since they are the main characters that

experienced the unfair practice of patriarchy.

Based on the research from the previous chapter, Ngulyi experienced the

custom that required the woman to shave their head. The researcher found that

Ngulyi responded the unfair custom by making an opposition over it.


40

Then the researcher found another response to the unfair treatment by Alice.

As stated in this research previously, Alice was already chosen by the old man from

the society. When Alice knew about the truth that she had to marry the old guy, she

refused it. Besides, she also had a plan to run away from marrying the old man. She

got an opportunity to escape when the Campbells offered her an education in South.

She took this chance immediately to get away from him.

Alice also made a response to the practice of patriarchy when she moved to

Moore River settlement. It is about the habit in the dormitory when a boy wrote a

letter to a girl. Alice did not want to answer the note from the boy, so he got upset

and hurt her. Although she was being forced and got beaten by the boy, Alice kept

in her stand and clarified that she had a right to not answer it.

The researcher can make a conclusion that there are some practices of

patriarchy that occur in When The Pelican Laughed which experienced by the two

main character, Ngulyi and Alice. They also had a response to those unfair

treatment. They realized that they had to struggle their right, so they stood on their

principle to maintain the equality and of course this thing reflects the idea of

feminism.


41

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