Woman’s struggle against Polygamy practice in Escape by Carolyn Jessop

ABSTRACT

People have functioned literature as the way to experience the world around them through imagination, because literature often presents a documentary picture of life. It describes the real life of another world. By reading literary work, especially novel, people can enrich their emotion and also enrich their experience about life reality, including women oppression reality that is often presented in the literary work.

This research is conducted to analyze woman s struggle against polygamy practice in Escape. This research purposes to describe: (1) the polygamy practice described in Escape (2) the impact of polygamy practice describes in Escape (3) the main character s struggle against polygamy practice describes in Escape. The researcher hopes this research will able to contribute some findings or information to the research of literature especially on Carolyn Jessop s novel Escape.

This research is a literary criticism. Feminism becomes the chosen approach to analyze this research. The data are chiefly collected from the original text of Carolyn Jessop s Escape. The novel shows the woman s struggle against polygamy practice.

Through the analysis in this research, it is found out that the polygamy practice in the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints is socialized by the older generations to the children. Polygamy practice is sacred to this community. The children will be told that if women do polygamy practice, someday they become a goddess.

Polygamy practice has impacts; those are the physical violence and physiological violence. Beating to the wives and children is the form of physical violence which is described in the analysis. Depression is the form of psychological violence which is described in the analysis.

Struggling against polygamy practice is done by the main character Carolyn Jessop by having sexual relationship in order her husband still believe that she is a loyal wife and this is a success. So, Carolyn can get the freedom by struggling against her husband s physical violence.