The notion of power as it is reflected in The edible woman and Karmila : a comparative study

Abstract

This study explores how the notion of power in feminist concepts is reflected through the female protagonists of two novels, The Edible Woman and Karmila . The former is a Canadian novel written by Margaret Atwood, and the latter is an Indonesian novel written by Marga T. There are some reasons why the two novels are chosen to be the object of analysis. First, they both are written by women novelists. Second, their central theme is of women's issues. Third, they both belong to the period of contemporary novel. Based on the analysis, it is found that the major protagonists of the two novels are similar in the effort to free themselves from other people's control, especially from male domination. However, viewed from a cultural point of view, the way each novel asserts their power is different. This is because the two novels come from different cultural background. Or in other words, in terms of asserting power, something perhaps is 'small' if it is viewed from one culture, but it is 'big' if it is viewed from another culture. This work is done not to generalize how Canadian and Indonesian women assert their power, but to show how literary works can teach women to empower themselves and to take advantage from each other's culture. Literary works are read not only as entertainment, but also as a source of education. It is expected that the work can be a stepping stone for the writer and her colleagues, as well as for students of English department of to conduct other comparative analysis of Canadian and Indonesian literature in the future.