A TRANSFORMATION INTO NEW AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE ERA OF 1880S THROUGH CATHERINE ANDERSON’S KEEGAN’S LADY AND INDIGO BLUE

Abstract

The analysis of this thesis will be focused on the transformation of American women in the era of 1880s as reflected through the novels of Indigo Blue and Keegan’s Lady. Indigo Blue and Keegan’s Lady are two novels of American women in the era of 1880s. The two protagonists have to endure all the hardship because of the gender discrimination towards women in their patriarchal society. Later, they are married to men from modern society and change their way of life. There are three problems to discuss in this thesis. The first one is the traditional perception of the patriarchal society in 1880s which is reflected in Keegan’s Lady and Indigo Blue. The second one is the new perception of the modern society in 1880s about American women represented through the main male characters in Keegan’s Lady and Indigo Blue. Finally, the last one is the transformation into new American women in the era of 1880s as reflected through the main female characters in the novels. The sociological approach is used in analyzing the thesis. It is used to analyze the relation between the literary works and the reality of American women in the era of 1880s. The theory of liberal feminism by Mary Wollstonecraft is also used to analyze the problems. The research is a qualitative description and it uses the inductive method. The events that are shown through the literary works are used to show the reflection of American women in 1880s. The old perception of patriarchal society, that had made American women suffered a lot because of gender discrimination, faced the new perception of modern society, which respected women more. The change and the new perception which were brought by modern society had become the cause of the transformation. Those people had given American women a new vision so that they were able to let go of their old perception of the patriarchal society which was full of gender discrimination. The desire to be equal and all of these influence and effort which were done to change their way of thinking made American women adopted the new perception and change into the new American women. The transformation of American women had given women a chance to gain their freedom, equality and rights. They were able to accept who they were and became better individuals.