WOMAN CONSTRUCTION IN PAULO COELHO’S THE WITCH OF PORTOBELLO

Abstract

Woman Construction in Paolo Coelho’s THE WITCH OF PORTOBELLO; Ullynara Zungga Vriscarinie Syahvira, 090110101023; 2013; 40 pages; English Department Faculty of Letters Jember University.

This research analyzes how woman is constructed in Paulo Coelho’s The Witch of Portobello. This novel tells about a woman called Athena, born in Transylvania, an orphan, who is later adopted by a wealthy Lebanese couple. In this novel, Athena as the main character in the novel considered that it is important to think about herself in being a woman and how to manage her womanliness. This novel uses narrative style, which means that Athena’s life is told through the stories of the characters which also play important roles in her life. This research aims to gain an understanding on how woman in the novel is constructed based on three points: woman’s characteristics, nature and position. This thesis uses feminist perspective in understanding the form of femininity and language indirection based on Irigaray’s theory. Since this research is a qualitative research, a documentary method is used to collect the data. The primary data are the facts and information about woman construction in The Witch of Portobello, which are told by the characters, while the secondary data are collected from Paulo Coelho’s own perception about woman and femininity in an interview with BBC. The secondary data are used as the background in understanding the construction in the novel, and also to support the analysis. An inductive method is used to analyze the subject matters, it means that a movement of thought is expressed or implied for the specific to the general. This method is helped by discourse method to map the constructions of woman through the lives of the characters in the novel. The information of the constructions leads this research to examine woman’s nature and position. vii

The result of this research shows that women in the novel are described to have choices in their lives. Thus, they can choose whether they want to be in the domestic place or show themselves in the public space, interacting with the society. Their nature is determined by their sexual function. Therefore, a woman becomes a receptor of whatever comes out from a man, especially in the reproduction activity. In Coelho’s perspective, a woman can be an active subject of her passivity, because accepting what men expect from women in a full consciousness is one way to be a postfeminist