GENDER MEANING AS NARRATED IN TONI MORRISON'S BELOVED : GREIMAS' ACTANTIAL ANALYSIS (MAKNA JENDER DALAM NOVEL BELOVED KARYA TONI MORRISON: ANALISIS AKTAN GREIMAS)

Abstract

Gender Meaning present a conventionally simplified and standardized conception or image concerning the typical social roles of male and female, both domestically and socially. The goal of this study is to find the gender meaning in the story seen from the composition between male and female in the novel. It is also to find the meaning behind the actions of the characters and the relation among characters in the novel. This study uses actantial model theory by A.J Greimas. Actantial model is a theory of narrative structure that has function to find the deep structure of text or the meaning behind text. In this theory, Greimas distinguishes between actor and actant. Then, he breaks down the actans into 6, there are sender, receiver, subject, object, helper and opponent. Every actant has its own function in a story. This study applies the mixed method. Therefore, types of the data are represented numerically (quantitative data) and textually/ pictorially (qualitative data). The data use number or percentage to count the actants, and there are many quotations from the novel or another resources which also has a function as data. The source of data is taken from Toni Morrison’s Beloved. The data is analyzed by using actantial analysis, and then it is compared to the analysis based on the relation between each character. It is used to find the deep structure of the story and to know the gender meaning as reflected in the novel. The results show that women have important roles in the novel. They are strong, powerful and brave. They never give up to get the better future. It breaks an opinion that women are always inferior. Thus, the stereotype about women that women are weak, submissive, inferior are proven wrong in this novel.