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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter contains the introduction of research. It consists of the

background of the research, the statement of the problem, the objective of research,

the significance of research, and the organization of writing.

1.1 Background of the Research

People use their mind to create something, like literature which is born from

the people thoughts. According to Wolfrey J. R., ( 2006, p. 62) said “literature has

been used to designate any ‘imaginative’, ‘creative’ of ‘fictional’ writing”. One of the

results from creative, imaginative and fictional writing which is created by the people

is Novel and it is included in the genre of literature, namely prose.

The prose is the expression to describe the consideration and feel which does

not have rhyme and rhythm. According to Abrams M. H. (1999, p. 246), the meaning

of prose often signified as a daily language which to describe a fact or idea because it

can use for magazine, newspaper, and novel.

The novel is one of prose. According to Abrams M. H. (1999, p. 190), the

term of Novel is now applied to a great variety of writings that have in common only

the attribute of being extended works of fiction written in prose. In the intrinsic

element of the novel, we recognize, there are theme, character, setting, etc. The

researcher will focus on characters as the object in this research. Definition of

characters according to Abrams M. H. (1999, p. 32);

 “Characters are the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative
work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with
particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences
from what the persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it (the
dialogue) and from what they do (the action)”.

From that citation, the writer recognizes that characters have each personality

which impacts to the story. Characters also represent something, like this research, the

researcher will take feminism in character in this story. In the literary works, the

writer can change the life of the character which the writer wants. If he/she changes

the character, the identity of the character will change too. Sometimes the change of

character can result to bad and good; If bad then the feminism from the character will

experience the crisis.

One of the novels which have icon feminism is Eat Pray Love, and then the

researcher takes this novel. Eat Pray Love’s novel for the first time was published on

February 2006, becomes a New York times’ best seller for over 200 weeks, American

Booksellers Association Acclaimed Best Seller, the first on the Book Sense Paperback

Nonfiction List for over a year. This novel is included into popular fiction that makes

readers want to see a well-defined and interesting plot, with plenty of complications

and conflicts to keep them entertained. The conflicts might be physical between

characters or might involve problems that characters must solve. Characters in these

types of works might be embroiled in verbal fights with one another or might have a

murder mystery that they must solve. The same point I have found in this novel.

In the novel Eat Pray Love, there is a character named Elizabeth Gilbert who

has the character of feminist. Elizabeth Gilbert is very curious about her life, she was

always happy and the type of person that is perfect, because it has all the desirable

modern woman, intelligent, ambitious, that is a husband, house, and a brilliant career.

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But instead of feeling happy and satisfied, that she felt panic, sad and disappointed.

She felt the divorce, depression, failure in love and lost the handle will be the

direction of her life. To restore it all Liz took a radical step that is searching for his

true identity again by means of travel around the world by herself in three countries

that are Italy, India, and Indonesia. Liz including women who are strong, independent

and well educated. Said Gilbert (2006, p. 90);

“To my eye, there was nothing this woman could not do on her own.”
It means that the woman can do anything without needing help to
others.

Feminism is all about embracing the natural qualities of a woman. The quality

of the natural mean female must have a good way, humble, adult, mother, and lover.

Feminism is to focus on proving that there are similarities between men and women,

and then comes from the literature that is based on the principles of feminism and

refers to literary works centered on the struggle for women's equality and accepted as

a human being.

Women will be able to change the world and will reconstruct the back view of

society about women. Women should place herself into the text and write for herself

as well as for other women to provide insights to other women about their bodies and

about their advantages that they did not realize. According to Cixous (Nurrachman,

2015, p. 270), a woman must write herself, a woman must put herself into the text as

into the world and into history by her own movement. Then that citation talks the

woman has power on the text and be shown to herself.

The researcher has found that the main character of this novel has a problem

with her character. It becomes a new topic which is interesting for the researcher to

analyze. The concept is an internal model which comprises assessments. Features

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assessed include but are not limited to personality, skills and abilities, occupation and

hobbies, etc. The concept is not restricted to the present. It includes past selves and

future selves. Future or possible selves represent individual ideas of what they might

become what they would like to become, or what they are afraid of becoming. They

correspond to hopes, fears, standards, goals, and threats. It may function as incentives

for future behavior and they also provide an evaluative and interpretive context for the

current view of self. The researcher is interested in this story because normally

women are passive who always entrust to the condition. They are waiting for their

future will come to their life. They do not try to find it by themselves but in this story

the character of Liz Gilbert is different. She is an active woman and struggles to find

her own life.

1.2 Previous Studies

There are some previous studies about the same object of this thesis, those are,

Cause and Impact Analysis on The Main Character’s suffering in Elizabeth Gilbert:

Eat Pray Love by Fredy Yunanto (2011) this thesis about dominant by the cause and

impact sourced from the main character’s suffering life. It displays through some

confession from the main character and the paragraph that supports the main character

felt unhappy from her problems. The second previous studies found by the researcher

is the thesis by Ardi Wirdiansyah (2011) which Thesis’s entitled The Life of

Elizabeth Gilbert as Reflected in Her Novel Eat, Pray, Love, the thesis talks about

how is the harmony concept from sociological approach applied. The third previous

studies found by researcher is the thesis by Bert Olivier (2012) this entitled The

Pleasure of Food, and the Spiritual: Eat, Pray, Love and Babette's Feast, the thesis

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talk about the implications of the enjoyment of mundane pleasures and the allegory

that enables the viewer to grasp the possibility of significant culinary enjoyment on

the part of an otherwise excessively spiritually oriented group of people. The last

previous studies found by the researcher is the journal by Colton Lovelace (2014)

entitled Love the Lace; Field work journal: Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love, it is

about the personal thought of the writer. This journal talks about how Elizabeth

Gilbert makes the reader understand through the paragraph by using hyperbole.

Related to the previous study above then the researcher uses the feminist approach in

this thesis, relates how feminism stated by one of the well-known experts of feminist

Helene Cixous applied in this novel.

1.3 Statement of Problems

From the background above in this research, the researcher will analyze

feminism of the main character Liz in the Novel Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

This research formulates the following of two questions to analyze:

2.1 How does the feminism of the main character constructed to be Independent

Woman in Eat Pray Love?

2.2 How does the feminism pursuit Liz’s happiness in Eat Pray Love?

1.4 Objectives of Research

From the questions above, the researcher takes a purpose of objectives of the

research, two objectives as following:

1. To know the feminism of main character Liz constructed to be independent

woman in Eat Pray Love.

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 2. To know how does the feminism pursuit Liz’s happiness in Eat Pray Love.

1.5 Significance of Research

The Significances of this research:

4.1 Academically this research gives the knowledge about feminism character on

popular fiction, especially in Eat Pray Love novel.

4.2 Practically,

4.2.1 To give some references to other researchers that want to write a thesis,

paper, journals, etc.

4.2.2 To give knowledge about the characteristic of the main character to the

student, especially English Literature.

4.2.3 This research is expected to improve the knowledge of feminism through

the character of Liz as American modern woman in Eat Pray Love.

4.3 For the reader, this research is expected to be a helpful source in comprehending

about feminism in popular literature.

1.6 Organization of Writing

This paper is divided into five chapters to analyze the Feminism of the main

character in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love.

Chapter I, Introduction, consist of the background of the problem, statement of the

problem, objectives of research, the significance of research, and organization of

writing.

Chapter II, Theoretical foundation, feminism, character, feminist theory (Helene

Cixous), the feminism of character in Novel.

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Chapter III, methodology of the research, consist of the method of research, source of

data, the technique of collecting data, the data and ends with the technique of

analyzing data.

Chapter IV, finding and discussion consist of an analysis of what is characteristic Liz

and how the feminism of Liz described in Eat Pray Love.

Chapter V, conclusion and recommendation.