A. INTRODUCTION
1. Background of the Study
Arundhati Roy is a novelist who never stops to “explain the fact”. She also thinks how to create her internal involvement into action. The God of Small Things is her first novel, it is acclaimed as a masterpiece and rapidly becoming an Indian bestseller in an international literary sensation. She finished her book entitled The God of Small Things in May 1996. This novel won the booker prize in London in 14 of October 1997 (Prestige Books, New Delhi, 1999).
The background of this novel is a village in state part of India, Kerala, a region in southwest of India. History showed that Kerala has various cultures with confusing interaction by Portugese and British colonization. Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christian grow well there. Orthodox Syrian Christian church places highest rank of the 20 % of its population. Communism also grows well there. In 1956, Kerala a first region which is colonized by Communist Party which won the general election in that region (Budianta, 2003:xix).
This novel describes Ammu’s life and her family. Her life is full of violence and oppression from her family and society. Ammu, as a member of touchable caste, is described as women who are really brave to break the rules that a member of touchable women forbade to do, that is marrying untouchable men, Baba and loving men from untouchable caste, Velutha. This forbidden marriage and love bring Ammu into law that placed her into death. This is the tragic story that finally Ammu is expelled from her family and her society while Vellutha died by torturing from police.
Based on those descriptions, there are some reasons why the researcher is interested in analyzing this novel and choosing this topic. First, this novel describes women’s role between high caste and low caste. The researcher identifies and describes women’s roles based on their status, society and economy as the result of capitalism. Second, it is controversial novel. Third, the existence of caste system suspence in India which bring women into lower position under men, and also the law of caste system that obviously shown in this novel who changed the life of everyone in India, Marxism in Kerala, and the social inequalities between women and men.
2. Statement of the Problems
Based on what has been explained in the background of the study, the research problems are formulated as follows:
1. What are the women’s positions in Indian Caste System described in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things?
2. What are the women’s roles of touchable caste in Indian Caste System as portrayed in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things?
3. What are the women’s roles of untouchable caste in Indian Caste System as portrayed in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things?
3. Objectives of the Study
Based on the statement of problems above, the objectives of study are :
1. To find the women’s positions in Indian Caste System as described in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things.
2. To describe the women’s roles of touchable caste in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things.
3. To find the women’s roles of untouchable caste in Indian Caste System as portrayed in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things?
4. Scope and Limitation of the Study
In order to reveal women’s roles in Indian Caste System portrayed in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, the researcher focuses on female character by using Marxist Feminist Literary Criticism. It will explain women’s roles as touchable caste and untouchable caste reflected in Indian Caste System. The researcher will also identify women’s positions under men’s rules in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things reflected in Indian societies.
5. Significance of the Study
By doing this research, the researcher hopes this research can give useful contribution of knowledge in both theoretically and practically. Theoretically, this research is to enrich theoretical bases of literary studies. This research is to apply the Marxist Feminist Literary Criticism relates to the finding of discussion. This research is to give contribution and new point of view in the science of analyzing the novel and new building of an understanding of literary criticism using feminist approach.
Practically, this study will help the researcher and the readers to understand about feminist approach especially marxist feminism, so they can broaden their knowledge about feminist approach. The readers are expected to have more sincerity for the problem happen around the society especially gender problems. Furthermore, this result of study will be very important sources for the next researcher who wants to conduct the similar research.
B. RESEARCH METHOD
1. Research Design
This study is literary criticism and uses marxist feminist literary criticism. It is a literary criticism because in this study the writer conducts discussion of literature, including description, analysis, and interpretation of a literary work. The writer looks at this literary work by paying special attention on female characters to find out how women’s roles and their positions in Indian Caste System as described in novel. The researcher applied this research by identifying, describing, and analyzing the data by using marxist feminist theory.
The researcher applied the theory of marxist feminism based on theory of Karl Mark about work division based on sex and Engels’ theory about origins of family. Marxist feminist literary criticism begins by adopting the theory of Karl Marx about the work division based on sex and materialism in production. He then found the words “bourgeois” that indicates high class society and “proletar” that indicates low class society.
Engels’ theory about the family identifies that men dominated women as the concept of bougeois and proletar. Men are “bourgeois” and women are “proletar”. Family changes its function, family should be the place where women and their girl can get happiness, affection, and awards, but in contrary especially in patriarchy family become the institution which oppresses women.
Marxist feminist literary criticism focused on women’s condition that is determined by structure of production. Tong (1998) stated that women’s oppression comes from private property’s right. Private property through production by a small number of people begins a class system. Something which manifested in this production is capitalism. This is also signal that capitalism is not only social rules but also the cause of women’s oppression.
2. Data Source
The data is taken from novel The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy that was first published in Great Britain by Flamingo in 1997. It consists of 339 pages. This novel had won the booker in London in 14 of October 1997. The data are collected in the form of words, sentences, and phrases as presented within novel.
3. Data Collection
There are some steps to get the data that the researcher needs, they are reading and understanding the novels being analyzed, choosing and selecting the data dealing with each problem that will be investigated, collecting the data which have relation to the problem of the study, retyping all the data that have been chosen and selected based on the original quotations existing in the novels.
4. Data Analysis
After collecting the data, the data analysis is conducted. The data analysis is conducted based on following steps; they are reviewing the data that have been collected, determining the component parts of each event, discovering and explaining about women’s positions in Indian Caste System, women’s roles in Indian Caste System, and the different roles between touchable and untouchable women in Indian Caste System.
7. Definitions of Key Terms
Women’s role: Wibowo (1988) defines that social role is someone’s actions that are expected by society who has a certain position in society. Therefore in society, human being places various of social position. By this position they will have different role based on their position in society. Society consider that men have more extensive role while women have limited role. It is because women usually play role in domestic, while men play role in public, they usually work outside the house
Marxist feminism: It is a theory of feminism that focused on women as the basis of women’s submission toward material and production as the manifestasion of capitalist society. Humm (2002) stated that Marxist feminism is aimed to describe material basis of women’s submission, and the relation between types of productions ans women’s status; it also applied the theory of women and class toward family roles.
C. RESULT OF ANALYSIS
The result of this analysis shows that women’s positions in society and family influence their role in society and family. First, women’s positions in Indian Caste System are women are inferior under men’s control, women are unequal to men. Second, there are different role between women from Touchable caste and women from untouchable caste. touchable women’s role are women as men’s servant, women as men’s helper, and women as mother who educate and take care of their children. Third, untochable women have roles as working women who work outside house as labour and main livelihood seeker for their family, and women who have to fulfill touchable men’s sexual desire. The following is the detail of the finding.
The phenomenon that has been raised about women is that women are the second sex. It means that position of women is under men, they are as second-hand status in society. “In term of such ‘conventional’ analyses the specific class position of women can never be considered, for a social chategory defined in terms of the theoretical framework adopted relegated women to ‘second-hand status’.” (West (in Kuhn), 1978:220).
The custom of Indian society has an important role on how women should be, on what they should do. Custom or society play an important role of the condition experienced by women. Ratna explain about this. He said that culture plays an important role to women. Language used in society more and less emblem the women, for example women who address as betina (Female) consider as degradation, in contrary if men addressed as Jantan (male) means commendation. This has been developed in society. That is why feminist try to change it and shows to men through action and literary works that they are not weak as men think.
Indian Caste System view women as the one who are really inferior even in their own family. Indian society believe that a daughter who has married is responsibility of her husband. They do not have position in their parent’s home. This is what Baby Kochamma said about Ammu. She said that a daughter who has been married does not have position in her family. Therefore when Ammu divorce and choose to live with her family she ignores her, but finally, she forced herself to allow her to live in Ayemenem house with her family.
She described wholeheartedly to the commonly held views that a married daughter had no position in her parents’ home. As for divorced daughter – according to Baby kochamma, she had no position anywhere at all (The God of Small Things: 45).
Another phenomenon is inequality between men and women. Indian society believe that men have high position, therefore men have more chance to go on public that women. The law of heritage in Indian caste system always placed men as the absolute heir of family’s property. They got legitimately portion. It is proven in the novel that Ammu does not have right on family’s property, even it is factory’s family and she also work there she doesn’t have right to owe it. Because she is a girl she had no claim on her family’s property. Feminists see that this is kind of unfairness and discrimination between men and women.
Thoungh Ammu did as much work in the factory as Chacko, whenever he was dealing with food inspectors or sanitary engineers, ha always referred to it as my factory, my pineapples, my pickles. Legally, this was the case because Ammu, as daughter, had no claim to the property (The God of Small Things:57).
The family institution, which is within this, is household. It is the first cause of women’s oppression. Engels stated that women acquire their satus from their position in household. He also argued that there is a controlled in household, in this case men controlled women. After this thing happen men is the women’s controller. In the arrangment of new family women are as slave/servant (proletar) while men are bourgeouis.
Another phenomenon is women roles as men’s servant. They serve food, drink, and men’s need. This is shown by Kalyani, she always serves food, drink, or her husband’s need. Kalyani is one figure of touchable women in India who really obedient to her husband. She does everything that her husband want.
Kalyani put a steel tumber of steaming coffee on the table for her husband (The God of Small Things: 278).
The following phenomenon is women as men’s helper. Though, Indian women are main livelihood seeker for their family and they can have their own salary, men still consider them as men’s helper. Their role is only help husband to add family need. It is because society expect women as wife and mother.
This is shown in the novel that Mammachi started to make pickles to help her husband after her husband retired from her job and can not fulfill his family need. By her skill of making pickles and preserves, Mammachi becomes a success women till she can built a company named Paradise pickles and preserves. This company help her family much financially. Not only that, by her company, she also can help another women in her surroundings to work in her company as labor.
Mammachi had started making pickles commercially soon after Pappachi retired from Government service in Delhi and came to live in Ayemenem. The Kottayam Bible Society was having a fair and asked Mammachi to make some of her famous banana jam and tender mango pickle. It sold quickly, and Mammachi found that she had more orders than she could cope with. Thrilled with her success, she decided to persist with the pickles and jam, and soon found herself busy all year round. (The God of Small Things:47)
This novel also explains about women’s role as mother for their children. This role demand them to be able to take care of their children, a mother who has unlimited mildness and love for her children. For example is Ammu. She is a mother with two children. As a mother she has to be able to love and take care of her children, moreover after her divorce. She has to struggle alone to take care of her two children. She often thinks that being a mother is a hard job, but she can not avoid it because it is her destiny. Look at quotation below:
What was it that gave Ammu this Unsafe Edge? This air on their unpredictability? It was what she had battling inside her. An unmixble mix. The infinite tenderness of motherhood and the reckless rage of a suicide bomber. It was this that grew inside her, and eventually led her to love by night the man and her children loved by day. (The God of Small Things:44)
In Indian society, untouchable are discriminated especially women. They are not allowed to have the same place with touchable caste. They also did not allow to touch touchable’s things. They are discriminated in society. They often get some tortures from touchable caste. Because of their low position in society, they only play role as labour, or housemaid, they also become the center of violence, they become the center of touchable men’s sexual desire.
It is also told in the novel that women from untouchable caste is only work for being dhobi in touchable’s house. One example is Aniyan, she is untouchable caste and she become the dhobi of Mammachi’s family (touchable caste) in Ayemenem house. Look at this quotation:
Aniyan the dhobi was happy with her daily gratuity (The God of Small Things: 169).
The case happened to low class is that they work to find livelihood, they finance their family. While women from middle class or high class work to get self actualization. “Perempuan terutama yang dari kelas bawah banyak yang terpaksa bekerja mencari nafkah. Sedangkan perempuan kelas menengah banyak yang bekerja demi aktualisasi diri” (Gove, Egalita, Jurnal Kesetaraan Gender. 2006: 53)
Beside being labour, untouchable women in India also should fulfill touchable men’s sexual desire. Actually, it doesn’t come from themselves, but the system made it, they are not prostitute, but they are prostituted by the system in society that is Capitalism, they do not have role as men’s sexual desire, but they are roled to be men’s sexual desire. Weisberg stated that “The prostitute is a victim of a system of male oppression”. “The prostitute is a victim of the economic system”. This role is so hard for them, that they should give their body sincerely. Most of them do this because they are not able to fight it. And the fach is that they depend their livelihood on touchable caste. Discrimination always happened to them, they are discriminated and exploited in the work place.
The God of Small Things written by Arundhati Roy also explaines this case, that there are many working women from untouchable caste who get some discrimination and sexual harrasment from touchable men.
“Already, they were a number of ragged, lightskinned children on the estate that Hollick had bequeathed on tea-pickers whom he fancied. This was his first incursion into management circles.” (The God of Small Things: 42)
It is said that Mr. Hollick as boss has done bad treatment by forcing his labor (Dalit women, untouchable) to serve him, and satisfy his sexual desire without any pity. And finally, he didn’t really responsible on what he has done, he just leave them who has been pregnant and let his children taken care by their mother without financially help or affection from him. Women in this case experience on role conflicts where the fact and women’s expectation is different.
D. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
1. Conclusion
Indian caste system is one caste that has rigid rules. The Indian caste system changes the society life, and it has been a custom. Many cases happen in India between Touchable caste and Untouchable caste, that Untouchables, as lower caste are subjected rudely by Touchable caste. Women, in this case got violence and discrimination than men. It is because women consider as second class. The existence of women as if didn’t consider by them, that they will call women only if they need help, or tragically to release men’s sexual desire. This problem has been existed from long ago. That is why feminist rise to reveal and change those problems. The result of the feminist’s effort can be felt that is in modern era or contemporary era women have taken some roles outside the house, like being politician or organizational member.
As the researcher explained in this study about women’s role between touchable caste and untouchable caste in Indian caste system portrayed in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things that most of touchable women have roles in domestic area. But, untouchable women have role outside the house as working women (labour). There are also some dominations done by men to women that led into the inequality between men and women. The effect is true that many Indian women today, especially Dalit women have got some violence from men. The religion also plays an important role in this case. Ironically, the religion that must function as guidance, salvation, and composure have changed its functions into the contrary of those functions, that the religion functions to create chaos in Indian society, as the explanation in Manusmriti that women got the unfair treatment from men.
The God of Small Things brings the problem of women’s roles in society, family, workplace and household. this roles is based on their social status where their low position influence their role in their life.
2. Suggestions
There some suggestions for this study. First, it is suggested for other that researchers try to analyze the other aspects from Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things related to women’s positions and women’s roles. It is interesting and suitable to discuss topics or subject that had not been discussed. It hoped, the study of those aspects will enrich the appreciation of this work.
Second, in accordance with this study, it is advisable to conduct a study on Marxist feminist approach. Finally, it is expected that this research can be used as reference in conducting and broadening the same field on the other fields of study. The researcher also expects that the reader can give correction and criticism toward this research in order to make this research as a good literary criticism.
E. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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