The Representation of Violence Against Woman in Glasgow’s Girl In Pieces

Abstract

This research utilizes the young adult novel as the subject of the study. The young adult novel used in this study is Girl in Pieces. The purpose of this study is to find out how the discourse on violence against women is presented in the story , how the main character’s healing journey and to determine the ideology that contributes to the novel's production. This research is interesting to analyze because there are many acts of violence that overshadow women, including rape and abuse, and depict women as weak and inferior creatures to men, so that women are more vulnerable to becoming victims of crime. The violence that appears in Girl in Pieces includes physical, psychological and sexual violence. The depiction of physical violence that occurs to the main character is meant to explain the reality of family violence, because this violence is perpetrated by her own mother. Throughout the novel, the main character is subjected to emotional abuse and psychological manipulation, by her boyfriend and Frank, all of which contribute to her feelings of low self-esteem, anxiety and depression. The main character also subjected to sexual violence and the novel portrays the devastating effects that this violence has on her, the novel shows how the main character is struggling to cope with the trauma and how she tries to numb the pain through self-harm. In order to analyze violence against woman as a subject matter from this novel, Stuart Hall's representation theory is utilized in this study. Representation is used to communicate with others or society. Discourse frames representation in literary works. In this case, discourse by Foucault is used as a framework of knowledge to determine the meaning of representation. Moreover, this research is categorized as qualitative research. There are two kinds of data in this research. First, primary data are taken from dialogues or statments related to the violence against women that depicted in the novel. The secondary data are gained from books, journals, magazine, newspaper and articles that give a lot of information to the researcher. As the result of this discussion, this research concludes that the violence against woman that occurs in this novel is due to the toxic environments, such as homeless shelter and abusive relationships. These environments perpetuate cycle of violence, making it difficult for the main character to escape and find stability because she is powerless to fight the violence. In this case, the destructive effects of the violence depict as the main character resorts to self-harm as a way to cope with her emotional pain.the last conclusion, the authors show how the main character find her own voice to gain strength and dignity within herself, or support from others. It also shows the self-determination and self-esteem, discovering a determination to rebuild a better life and heal from trauma.