IKATAN DAN PERLAWANAN KARAKTER PEREMPUAN DI NOVEL KHALED HOSSEINI BERJUDUL A THOUSANDS SPLENDID SUNS DAN ATIQ RAHIMI BERJUDUL THE PATIENCE STONE

THE FEMALE CHARACTERS’ BONDING AND RESISTANCE IN KHALED HOSSEINI’S A THOUSANDS SPLENDID SUNS AND ATIQ RAHIMI’S THE PATIENCE STONE

Ikatan perempuan dulunya merupakan salah satu aspek eksistensi perempuan yang tidak terefleksikan meskipun memiliki tujuan yang sangat besar dalam kehidupan perempuan utamanya pada penindasan seksis yang disebabkan oleh sistem patriarki. Dominasi laki-laki dalam masyarakat patriarki menyebabkan penindasan seksis yang menciptakan problematisasi gender bagi perempuan di seluruh dunia hingga saat ini. Untuk mengakhiri penindasan seksis, perempuan harus melakukan solidaritas kekuatan yang memungkinkan perempuan membangun front persatuan untuk menghilangkan sekat-sekat yang memisahkan mereka, seperti sikap seksis, privilese kelas, dan praanggapan lainnya. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk menganalisis A Thousand Splendid Suns karya Khaled Hosseini dan The Patience Stone karya Atiq Rahimi melalui perspektif feminisme bell hooks (1984) yang membangun solidaritas politik antar perempuan untuk menghentikan penindasan seksis terhadap perempuan. Beberapa penelitian sebelumnya yang terkait disediakan untuk mendukung analisis dan memperjelas kebaruan dan kontribusi penelitian. Ada tiga tujuan dalam disertasi ini yang didasarkan pada perspektif tersebut, yaitu untuk mengkaji penindasan seksis yang dihadapi karakter perempuan dalam kedua novel oleh pengarang Diaspora Afghanistan, untuk mengamati ikatan perempuan yang dibangun untuk menanggapi penindasan seksis yang dialami oleh karakter perempuan, dan untuk menyelidiki ikatan perempuan yang mempertajam ketahanan dan kekuatan karakter perempuan. Karena tugas pokok penelitian ini berpusat pada mengkaji, menganalisis, menafsirkan, dan mendeskripsikan perspektif feminisme bell hooks (1984) dalam dua novel dari dua pengarang yang berbeda, maka penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dan mengikuti desain analisisisi.

Hasil penelitian ini sangat membuktikan bahwa kedua novel yang dibalut dengan kisah cinta, seks, dan obsesi ini sangat menyentuh berbagai isu feminisme yang menonjol. Sebagian besar isu dalam A Thousand Splendid Suns dan The Patience Stone disampaikan dalam ketegangan konflik budaya dan politik yang terjadi di Afghanistan pada 1960-an hingga 2000-an dari invasi Soviet hingga Taliban. Hosseini dan Rahimi dengan cemerlang mengukir karya mereka untuk mengedepankan kritik mereka terhadap penindasan seksis terhadap perempuan Afghanistan akibat invasi politik Soviet dan kekuasaan Taliban pada 1960-an hingga 2000-an. Melalui kedua novel tersebut, mereka menyuarakan keprihatinan dan mengajak para perempuan Afghanistan untuk membangun solidaritas guna memperkuat perlawanan untuk membebaskan diri dari pengaruh kekuasaan Taliban yang merepresentasikan dominasi laki-laki terhadap perempuan atas nama syariat Islam yang telah menyebabkan mereka tertindas, sengsara dan menderita. Namun, solidaritas yang dibangun untuk tokoh perempuan dalam novel Hosseini lebih konkrit ketimbang novel Rahimi karena solidaritas tersebut melibatkan perlawanan fisik yang kemudian memberikan dampak nyata untuk keselamatan kehidupan tokoh perempuan yang menghadapi penindasan seksis.

Women bonding formerly had been one of the un-reflected aspects of women existence though those have enormous goals in women lives in which sexist oppression they challenge which is caused by the patriarchal system. Male domination in the patriarchal society causes sexist oppression that forms gender problematizing challenged by women around the world till nowadays. To end sexist oppression, women must perform the power solidarity which enables women to build a united front in order to eliminate the barriers that separate them, such as sexist attitudes, class privilege, and any other presupposition. This research has been conducted to analyze Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns and Atiq Rahimi’s The Patience Stone through the feminism perspective of bell hooks (1984) that is building political solidarity between women to stop sexist oppression against women. Some related previous studies are provided to support the analysis and clarify the novelty and the contribution of the research. There are three objectives in this dissertation which are based on the perspective, those are to examine the sexist oppression challenged by the female characters in both novels by the Diaspora Afghanistan authors, to observe women bonding built to response to the sexist oppression experienced by the female characters, and to investigate women bonding which sharpens the female characters resistance and strength. Since the main tasks of this research are centered on examining, analyzing, interpreting, and describing the feminism perspective of bell hooks (1984) within the two novels of the two different authors, this research applies a qualitative approach and follows the design of content analysis.

The results of this research strongly prove that both novels, which are wrapped up in the stories of love, sex, and obsession, have profoundly touched on a wide range of the prominent issues of feminism. Most of these issues in A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Patience Stone are delivered in the tensions of cultural and political conflicts happened in Afghanistan in the 1960s until the 1980s from the Soviet invasion to the rule of the post-Taliban rebuilding. Hosseini and Rahimi have brilliantly crafted their works to put forward their criticism on the sexist oppression against Afghan women that is caused by the gap in terms of social and economical background and the family hierarchy. The physical, mental, verbal, overload house works, daiily live in oppresive situation, and awareness of patriarchal politic are the forms portraid in two novels. The physical and mental effects are also the related issues portraid in two novels.  Through both novels, they voice their concerns and urge regarding the Afghan women to build solidarity to strengthen the resistance to liberate them selves from the influence of Taliban’s reign which represents the male domination against women in the name of Islam syariah which have caused them to plunge into the states of oppression, misery and suffering. The value of shared strength and resource which is as a revolutionary value to build solidarity in order to create front unity is depicted in the two novels. However, the solidarity built for the female character in Hosseini’s novel is more concrete rather Rahimi’s novel since it involves physical resistance which then gives concrete impact to save the life of the female characters who challenge sexist oppression.