Abstract
This study is aimed to analyze the comparison between women’s representation and resistance in Josephine Chia’s novel Frog under a Coconut Shell from Singapore and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy from India. By using a comparative literature approach, the research focuses on the differences and similarities in women’s representation and resistance to get gender equality in Singaporean and Indian society. Chia’s novel tells the story of Soon Neo and her daughter, Josephine, who struggles to get their rights as women in the midst of patriarchal Peranakan culture in Singapore, and Roy’s novel tells the story of Ammu and her twins children, Rahel and Estha, who fight against the social rules in India that are discriminative against women and the Untouchable people (Paravan). The research employed a descriptive qualitative analysis method and the theory of liberal feminism. There are similarities in the representation of women who are considered as second class and become the objects both sexually and economically; and restrained by their patriarchal society and culture. The difference of both novels is in the caste system which regulates women's freedom only reflected in The God of Small Things. From the perspective of liberal feminism, the female characters in both novels show resistance in making decision, education, society, and economy. However, resisting inequality in economy is only reflected in Frog under a Coconut Shell while resisting inequality in society is only reflected in The God of Small Things. The direct resistance is demonstrated in verbal and non-verbal ways.
Highlights
Literary work is often considered as a representation of human life
Two literary works that represent about gender issues are Josephine Chia’s Frog under a Coconut Shell from Singapore and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things from India
In India, this novel was opposed by various parties, accused of being a book that spread anti-communism and was regarded as a book that damaged the moral of young people[2]. These two novels, generally, have a storyline that is almost the same, that is the struggle of a woman who is a mother in fighting for what is their right as a woman and the rights of their daughters. Both come from different countries with different culture, this study aims at analyzing how the two cultures and countries can show similarities and differences in the women’s representation and resistance as depicted in these novels
Summary
Literary work is often considered as a representation of human life. One topic that is immortalized in many literary works is about women’s issues and gender equality. The second novel The God of Small Things was published for the first time in England by Flamingo 1997 This is the first novel of Arundhati Roy, a young woman writer from India. In India, this novel was opposed by various parties, accused of being a book that spread anti-communism and was regarded as a book that damaged the moral of young people[2] These two novels, generally, have a storyline that is almost the same, that is the struggle of a woman who is a mother in fighting for what is their right as a woman and the rights of their daughters. Comparing the issues of image and resistance of women in the two novels are investigated through the approach of comparative literature and liberal feminism perspective
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