Liberal Feminism: Emphasizing Individualism and Equal Rights in Meena Kandasamy’s When I Hit You
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1301.03Keywords:
democracy, gender equality, revival, liberal feminism, empowermentAbstract
Liberal feminism is the emerging mainstream feminism that spotlights gender inequality and women’s liberation within the context of liberal democracy. The aim of the study focuses on the perspectives of liberal feminism using prominent ideas of liberal thinkers in Meena Kandasamy’s award-winning novel When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife (2017). The methodology of the study includes concepts of liberal feminism in the text, and it is substantiated and explored using the ideologies of notable liberal thinkers such as Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty and The Subjection of Women. The protagonist’s transition from a submissive to a self-liberated persona strengthens the novel’s credibility as a liberal feminist text. The paper also attempts to show that the concepts of liberal feminism very well appear in the selected text.
References
Arifatin, Fais Wahidatul. (2019). “Gender Stereotype in Joyce Lebra’s The Scent of Sake.” NOTION: Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Culture 1 (2): 76. Retrieved August 24, 2021 from https://doi.org/10.12928/notion.v1i2.976.
Asri, Yasnur. (2018). “Women’s Rejection toward Patriarchy Culture: A Feminism Study in Selected Indonesian Novels” 148 (Icla 2017): 200–205. Retrieved September 1, 2021 from https://doi.org/10.2991/icla-17.2018.35.
Delukman. (2018). “Existing Feminism in Helen Garner's Monkey Grip.” Journal of Advanced English Studies 1 (2): 50–55. Retrieved August 19, 2021 from http://sastra.unifa.ac.id/journal/index.php/jes/article/view/33.
Farzaneh. (2012). “Thomas Hardy, John Stuart Mill and Feminism.” Thesis. University of Wollongong.
Foley, A. (2007). “Fay Weldon, Liberal Feminism and the Praxis of Praxis.” Literator 28 (3): 27–54. Retrieved August 30, 2021from https://doi.org/10.4102/lit.v28i3.167.
Friedan, Betty. (1964). The Feminine Mystique. New York: DELL PUBL. CO.
Hariharasudan, A., and Gnanamony, S. (2017). “Feministic Analysis of Manju Kapur’s A Married Woman.” International Journal of Scientific Research and Education 5 (1): 6135–41. Retrieved August 24, 2021, from https://doi.org/10.18535/ijsre/v5i01.01.
Jones, Carole.( 2015). “‘Femininity in Crisis’: The Troubled Trajectory of Feminism in Laura Hird’s Born Free and Jenni Fagan’s the Panopticon.” Contemporary Women’s Writing 9 (3): 385–400. Retrieved August 18, 2021, from https://doi.org/10.1093/cww/vpv007.
Jose, Jim. (2004). “No More like Pallas Athena: Displacing Patrilineal Accounts of Modern Feminist Political Theory.” Hypatia 19 (4): 1–22. Retrieved August 22, 2021, from https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2004.tb00146.x.
Kandasamy, Meena. (2017). When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife. India: Juggernaut Books.
Kaplan, Cora. (1986). Sea Changes: Essays on Culture and Feminism. London: Verso.
Krolokke, Charlotte, and Anne Scott Sorensen. (2005). “Gender Communication Theories and Analyses: From Silence to Performance.” 1st ed., SAGE Publications, Inc
Lasa ÁlvarezBegoña. (2018). “Mary Hays, an Eighteenth-Century Woman Lexicographer at the Service of ‘the Female World’”. ELOPE: English Language Overseas Perspectives and Enquiries 15 (2), 81-94. Retrieved August 1, 2021, from https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.15.2.81-94.
Mayabadi, Farzaneh. (2012). Thomas Hardy, John Stuart Mill and Feminism. School of English Literatures and Philosophy, University of Wollongong. Retrieved August 19, 2021, from https://ro.uow.edu.au/
Michael, Magali Cornier. (1987). “Who Is Sarah?: A Critique of The French Lieutenant’s Woman’s Feminism.” Critique - Studies in Contemporary Fiction 28 (4): 225–36. Retrieved August 10, 2021, from https://doi.org/10.1080/00111619.1987.9936460.
Mill, John Stuart. (1869). The Basic Writings of John Stuart Mill: on Liberty, the Subjection of Women and Utilitarianism. New York: Classic Books.
Mitra, Indrani, and Madhu Mitra. (2013). “Of Liberal The Discourse Feminism and Third World Women’ s Texts : Some Issues of Pedagogy” 18 (3): 55–63.
Myers, Mitzi. (1986). “Impeccable Governesses, Rational Dames, and Moral Mothers: Mary Wollstonecraft and the Female Tradition in Georgian Children’s Books.” Children’s Literature 14 (1): 31–59. Retrieved September 1, 2021 from https://doi.org/10.1353/chl.0.0638.
Nur, Azizah and Nurul Fitri. (2019). “The Representation of Liberal Feminism through the Main Character in ‘The Post’ Movie.” Journal of English Language Teaching 3 (2): 84–94. Retrieved February 14, 2021, from http://jelt.unbari.ac.id/index.php/jelt/article/view/41/49.
Rini, Rahayu, Pepi Siti Paturohmah, and Ujang Suyatman. (2020). “The Roles Of Sophie Neveu As Reflection Of Women’s Equality In Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code Novel.” Call 1 (1): 1–8. Retrieved April 30, 2021, from https://doi.org/10.15575/call.v1i1.8802.
Rotskoff, Lori E. (2000). “Home-Grown Radical or Home-Bound Housewife? Rethinking the Origins of 1960s Feminism through the Life and Work of Betty Friedan.” Reviews in American History 28 (1): 120–27. Retrieved September 2, 2021, from https://doi.org/10.1353/rah.2000.0014.
Sayekti Ningsih Lasahi. (2018). “Critic Of Liberal Feminism Towards The Role Of Women (In Catholic and Protestant Churches).” Thesis. University Of Darussalam Gontor.
Snow, Nancy E. (2002). “Virtue and the Oppression of Women.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy Supplementary Volume 28 (January 2015): 33–61. Retrieved February 1, 2021, from https://doi.org/10.1080/00455091.2002.10717582.
Suaidi, Rusfandi, and Trisno Tunggal Rahayu Wilujeng. (2016). “Feminism Reflected In Pride And Prejudice Novel By Jane Austen 1813.” Jurnal Ilmiah Bahasa Dan Sastra 3 (1): 85–99. Retrieved September 1, 2021, from https://doi.org/10.21067/jibs.v3i1.1157.
Turan, Ishak and Hale, Kryci. (2018). “Liberal Feminism and the current conditions of Syrian Refugee Women and Children.” The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies 72: 487-502.
Ukić KoštaVesna. (2014). “Irish Women’s Fiction of the Twentieth Century: The Importance of Being Catholic”. ELOPE: English Language Overseas Perspectives and Enquiries 11 (2), 51-63. Retrieved February 1, 2021, from https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.11.2.51-63.
Widiatmi, Yasinta Deka. (2013). “The Portrayal of Feminism in the Main Characters of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.” Journal of English Language and Culture 3 (1): 61–73.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. (1792). A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects. London: Printed for J. Johnson.
Wulandari Mega, Dwi, Supiastutik, and Hat Pujiati. (2019). “The Representation Of Liberal Feminism In A Woman Is No Man By Etaf Rum.” LENTERA: Jurnal Ilmiah Kependidikan. Retrieved August 9, 2021, from http://jurnal.stkippgribl.ac.id/index.php/lentera.
