Patriarchal Gaslighting Portrayed in Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us

Abstract

This research discusses the representation of patriarchal Gaslighting portrayed in the novel entitled It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover as the material object. This study analyzes the emergence of gaslighting behavior seen through the experience of the female characters. This study also analyzes the effect of gaslighting on female characters' lives as well as the critical position of the author. This is important to discuss because the term "gaslighting" is unfamiliar to some people as a form of abuse. This research will use the representation theory of Stuart Hall and the discursive approach of Foucault. This research also uses Marcia Baron's article "Manipulativeness" to analyze the manipulation tactics that are used by male characters in the novel. The method used is a qualitative method. The data will be processed in three steps 1) Identifying the gaslighting tactics using Baron's "Manipulativeness," 2) Analyzing the effect of gaslighting on the main female characters' lives and 3) Analyzing the critical position of the author. The results of this study are finding the forms of gaslighting tactics perpetrated by the male characters namely deception, pressuring to comply, and employing emotional vulnerability. Gaslighting makes the two main female characters in the novel hard to decide their choices and tend to doubt their decision to leave their manipulative husbands. Therefore, through this novel, Hoover criticizes that women must have the economic power to get their rights and live independently to break the cycle of abuse.