SATIRICAL REPRESENTATION OF THE LATE 20TH CENTURY COSMOPOLITAN LONDON WOMEN SEEN THROUGH REBECCA TO REVEAL CRITICISM ON CONSUMPTIVE LIFESTYLE IN KINSELLA’S CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
ASTRID KHAIRUNNISA
Student Number: 044214066
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009
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I am + God = Enough (Mario Teguh, The Golden Ways)
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This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to
My dearly loved parents & My beloved person
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, Alhamdulillah, I would like to thank to Almighty Creator and
All-Merciful Allah SWT who has given me love, guidance, help, strength, patience in every second of my life. You have given me light and you show me the straight way to step.
My deep appreciation is intended to my advisor, Mrs. Elisa Dwi Wardhani,
S.S., M. Hum. Thank you for your advices, suggestions and guidance during the completion of my thesis. Knowing you is a great moment for me and I am very proud to be a student whom you guide in accomplishing my thesis. I would also say thank you to Mrs. Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M. Hum., my Co-advisor for giving me corrections and suggestions. Mr Tatang Iskarna, S.S., M. Hum., I would say thank you so much for very interesting examination.
Next, I would say thank you to my dearest father and mother, Papah Heri and
Mamah Suci, both of you have given me your love and your support. Mom, I would say thank you for always praying for me and thank you for being the best mother in the world. I also would like to express warmest thank and love to my two little brothers Agung, Ageng. My ‘aunty’ and ‘Uncle’, I am glad to have your supports.
My gratitude is also aimed to all lecturers who patiently guide me during my four years study in English Letters. Mba’ Indhi ’02 and Riani Nabu, I would say thank you so much for our discussions, and your corrections in grammar. To all my friends in English Letters 2004 especially Shanty, Oneng, IreneTroy, Adi, Lutfi,
viii Letty and Monic thank you for the discussions and all time we have shared together in the last four years in English Letters. My soul sister Hastin Prima, my
Aphrodite’s gossip girl friends (D’ boncels, Sandra and Mb’ Selvy), Tante Sari’s family, and my entire friends around me who have given their love, care, support and advices for me during my thesis work. I really thank all of them but I apologize if I cannot mention them one by one.
Special thanks I give to my beloved person, Noviar Perdana Kesuma, thank you so much for your helps, attentions and understanding during my thesis writing. I will never forget the love, sadness, happiness, and precious moments we shared together.
To all the people in English Letters secretary office especially Mbak Nik and to all the people in Sanata Dharma Library, I would say thank you very much for helping and serving me during my study in Sanata Dharma University.
Astrid Khairunnisa
ix TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE……………………………………………………………… i APPROVAL PAGE……………………………………………………….. ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE……………………………………………………. iii MOTTO PAGE……………………………………………………………. iv DEDICATION PAGE…………………………………………………….. v LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI……………... vi LEMBAR PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN KARYA………………………. vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………….. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………….. x ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………….. xii ABSTRAK………………………………………………………………… xiii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION………………………………………… 1 A. Background of the Study………………………………………. 1 B. Problem Formulation…………………………………………... 4 C. Objective of the Study…………………………………………. 4 D. Definition of Terms……………………………………………. 5
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW……………………………... 7 A. Review of Related Studies……………………………………... 7 B. Review of Related Theories……………………………………. 9 1. Theories on Character and characterization……………. 9 2. Theories on Representation…………………………….. 11 3. The relation between Literature and Society…………… 13 4. Theories on Consumption and Consumerism…………… 13 5. Theories on Satire………………………………………. 15 C. Review on the Late 20th Century London Society 16 D. Theoretical Framework………………………………………… 21
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY……………………………………… 22 A. Objective of the Study…………………………………………. 22 B. Approach of the Study…………………………………………. 23 C. Method of the Study…………………………………………… 24
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS………………………………………………. 26 A. Rebecca’s Characteristics……………………………………… 26 a. Independent…………………………………………….. 27 b. Fashionable and Stylish………………………………… 28 c. Brand minded…………………………………………… 31 d. Shopaholic………………………………………………. 33
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B. Representation of the Late 20th Century Cosmopolitan London Women in the Characteristic of Rebecca……………………….. 38 a. Independent…………………………………………….. 48 b. Fashionable and Stylish………………………………… 40 c. Brand minded…………………………………………… 41 d. Shopaholic………………………………………………. 42 C. The Criticism on Consumptive Lifestyle Revealed from the Satirical Character of Rebecca as the Representation of the Late 20th Century Cosmopolitan London Women…………………… 44
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION…………………………………………… 54
BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………….... 58
APPENDIX……………………………………………………………...... 61
xi ABSTRACT
ASTRID KHAIRUNNNISA. Satirical Representation of the Late 20th Century Cosmopolitan London Women Seen through Rebecca to Reveal Criticism on Consumptive Lifestyle in Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letter, University of Sanata Dharma, 2009.
Literature can become a device used by an author to criticize social condition or phenomenon that happened in society because literature is not merely created from the author’s imagination. This thesis analyzes the main character in Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic as the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. Kinsella, as the author does not only portray London women through the characterization of the main character, but she also puts an idea in representing London women lifestyle as seen in the story. This study is done to analyze three problems. The first problem is to analyze the characterization of the main character in the story. The second problem is to explain how characteristics of the main character in the story can be the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. The last problem is to find the idea of criticism on women consumptive lifestyle which is brought by the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women in the satirical characteristics of the main character. In this thesis, the writer applied a library research method and internet data to examine the work. The analysis of this study is done based on the significant theories and data collected from the library research, while Internet was an electronic exploration to complete the information needed. The sociocultural-historical approach is the most suitable approach applied in this research. This approach is useful to reveal the idea behind a literary work. In the analysis, the writer finds that the main character in the story brings the characteristics of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. This finding proves that the main character represents the late 20th century cosmopolitan women. Next, the writer reveals the idea behind that representation by analyzing the satirical characteristics of the main character of being brand minded woman and shopaholic which mean to criticize women lifestyle since the main character is the representation on women at that time. These satirical characteristics of the main character lead the writer to conclude that the idea revealed behind the representation is the author’s criticism toward women consumptive lifestyle which is trapped in compulsive shopping as the effect of consumerism.
xii ABSTRAK
ASTRID KHAIRUNNNISA. Satirical Representation of the Late 20th Century Cosmopolitan London Women Seen through Rebecca to Reveal Criticism on Consumptive Lifestyle in Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009.
Karya sastra dapat berfungsi sebagai alat yang digunakan oleh seorang penulis untuk mengkritisi keadaan sosial atau fenomena yang terjadi dalam masyarakat karena karya sastra tidak semata mata tercipta dari imajinasi pengarang. Thesis ini menganalisa tokoh utama dalam cerita milik Kinsella, Confessions of a Shopaholic, sebagai representasi dari wanita kosmopolitan London. pada akhir abad 20. Dalam cerita ini Kinsella, si pengarang tidak hanya menggambarkan gaya hidup wanita London melalui penokohan tokoh utama, akan tetapi dia juga meletakkan suatu ide dalam merepresentasikan wanita London dalam cerita itu. Studi ini dilakukan untuk menjawab tiga permasalahan. Permasalahan pertama adalah untuk menganalisa penokohan tokoh utama dalam cerita. Permasalahan kedua adalah untuk menjelaskan bagaimana penokohan tokoh utama dalam cerita menjadi representasi wanita kosmopolitan London pada akhir abad 20. Permasalahan terakhir adalah untuk mengetahui ide kritik terhadap gaya hidup wanita yang dibawa oleh representasi dari wanita kosmopolitan London pada akhir abad 20 dalam penokohan tokoh utama yang satirikal. Dalam thesis ini, penulis menggunakan metode studi putaka dan data internet dalam menganalisa karya tersebut. Analisis dari studi ini dilakukan berdasar pada teori teori yang signifikan dan data yang dikumpulkan dari studi pustaka, sedangkan ekplorasi internet digunakan untuk melengkapi informasi yang dibutuhkan. Pendekatan sosiokultural historikal adalah pendekatan yang paling tepat untuk dipakai balam penelitian ini. Pendekatan ini berguna untuk mengungkap ide dibalik karya sastra. Pada analisa ini, penulis menemukan bahwa penokohan tokoh utama dalam cerita ini membawa karakteristik wanita kosmopolitan London pada akhir abad 20. penemuan ini membuktikan bahwa tokoh utama merepresentasikan wanita kosmopolitan London pada akhir abad 20. Selanjutnya, penulis mengungkap ide dibalik representasi dengan menganalisa penokohan tokoh utama yang satirikal yaitu menjadi wanita penggila merek dan penggila belanja yang digunakan untuk mengkritik gaya hidup wanita mengingat tokoh utama adalah representasi wanita pada masa itu. Penokohan tokoh utama yang satirikal ini menuntun penulis untuk menyimpulkan bahwa ide yang diungkapkan dibalik representasi adalah kritik penulis terhadap gaya hidup wanita London yang konsumtif, gaya hidup yang terjebak dalam gaya belanja berlebihan sebagai dampak dari konsumerisme.
xiii CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literature as a work of art is a product of human intelligence. It conveys idea and truth or even factual event. Literature, as Hudson said, can be seen as a reflection of reality or even the truth of life. Hence literature can be used as a device to reveal the reality in life.
Literature is a vital record of what men have seen in life, what they have experienced of it, what they have thought and felt about those aspects of it which have the most immediate and enduring interest for all of us. It is thus fundamentally an expression of life through the medium of language (Hudson, 1985:10).
It is noted from Theory of Literature that literature represents life (Wellek and Warren, 1956:94). It means that literature is a reflection of life containing the author’s expression of experiences, problems, thought, feeling and attitudes toward life. The problems faced by the characters in literary work may be similar with the problems we face in the real world. Therefore, literary works may give us example of human life that can be learned, by understanding the problems that are faced and the decisions that are made by the characters.
Brit chic-lit, the popular name for modern British easy-to-read novel is one of the literary genres. Sophie Kinsella a British former financial journalist is one of the famous Brit chic-lit writers, she is the author of Can You Keep a Secret?,
Undomestic Goddess, and the best selling Shopaholic novels. Her ‘Shopaholic’ novel are Confessions of a Shopaholic, Shopaholic and Sister, Shopaholic Take
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Manhattan, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Shopaholic the Wedding, and latest is
Shopaholic and Baby. She is the young talented modern writer; she has crafted amusing work in the voice of women with whom many readers can identify.
(http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0440241413.asp).
The first ‘Shopaholic’ novel, Confessions of a Shopaholic is the work to discuss in this study. It is Kinsella’s bestseller, which has been already translated into 34 languages in the world and is a huge success among women in 20s and
30s. It is an easy-to-read novel, which tells about British woman’s life style and her expensive habit (http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0440241413.asp). It stimulates the writer to analyze the novel deeper. Based on the statement in
Abram’s book, that mimetic criticism view literary work as an imitation, reflection, or representation of the world and human life (1981: 37), the writer is sure that the main character in the novel is the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. The representation does not stop only in the similarities between modern woman lifestyle presented by the author in the story and the actual modern women lifestyle in the late 20th cosmopolitan London era. By presenting the lifestyle through the way the author treats the main character, she seems to expose the specific kind of women lifestyle nowadays. By the evidence of the representation, the writer elaborates the satirical characteristics of Rebecca from the story which are the subject to be attacked by the author to reflect women’s life. It means that the story does not only show the woman’s lifestyle, but it also contains author’s perception of phenomenon that happened in the late 20th century cosmopolitan London society.
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Confessions of a Shopaholic tells about the main character Rebecca
Bloomwood as a woman who spends money much more than she has got.
Rebecca, the protagonist, described as a 25 years old woman, who works in
London as a financial journalist at Successful Saving magazines. Rebecca is a modern and stylish woman with high-living lifestyle. She lives in a fabulous flat in London’s trendiest neighborhood. She has good relation with a group of glamorous socialite friends and she has a wardrobe full with the must-have- branded-items, a main line into the heartbeat of consumerism today. Shopping is her only hobby and a true addiction of her. It is interesting to see how Rebecca deals with many problems in the story, how she solves her shopaholic addiction problems and tries to make her own decision about what the best for her.
The description of the main character as the model of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London society presented in the story makes the writer interested to analyze the actual condition that is represented in the story. First, by applying the theory of surface representation, the writer will analyze Rebecca’s characterization to prove that Rebecca is the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. The thesis will not stop in the comparison between the characteristics of Rebecca in the story and the characteristic of cosmopolitan
London women in the actual condition of the late 20th century. Theory of the depth representation, which tries to investigate what is behind the surface representation, will be applied to analyze the criticism on women consumptive lifestyle as the idea behind the representation.
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B. Problem Formulation
The problem formulation of this study will be based on these questions as follow:
1. What are the characteristics of Rebecca in the story?
2. How do the characteristics of Rebecca represent the late 20th century
cosmopolitan London women?
3. How do the satirical characteristics of Rebecca as the representation of
the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women reveal the idea of
criticism on women consumptive lifestyle?
C. Objective of the Study
The aim of this study is to answer the questions stated in the problem formulation. Primarily, the writer will analyze the characterizations of the main character in the story. Then, the writer will compare the characterization of the main character in the story to the characteristic of women in the late 20th century cosmopolitan London society. This step is done to answer how the main character in the story can be the representation of the cosmopolitan London women in late
20th century. The next is to answer the last problem formulation. This problem formulation will analyze idea revealed behind the surface representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women.
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D. Definition of Terms
There are some terms used in the relation to the topic of this thesis. It is important to understand the terms because the terms relate to the problem discussed.
Representation considers such texts can create not only knowledge, also the reality that they appear to describe (Castle, 2001:75). Representation reflects the real condition and situation behind the text, but it does not mean that what in the text is totally same as the reality.
Cosmopolitan, according to 9th Annual Global Symposium on Motion
Preservation Technology is the large city with globally consciousness as the representative of all or many parts of the world
(http://softwareontap.net/AEM_Prod/SAS9/Home.asp).
Shopaholic, according to William L. White in the article A Disease
Concept for the 21st Century is the term to define person with addiction problem in shopping (http://www.bhrm.org/papers/Counselor4.pdf).
Satire, according to Abrams is the literary art of diminishing a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking towards it attitudes of amusement, contempt, indignation, or scorn (1971: 153).
Consumption, according to Edgar and Sedgwick in their book Cultural
Theory ‘The Key Concept’ defined as a culturally significant activity on consuming goods, which construct distinctive lifestyle and express status of a person (2002: 80).
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Lifestyle, according to Cultural Theory ‘The Key Concept’ may be understood as a focus of group or individual identity as the individual expresses him or herself through the meaningful choice of certain items or pattern of behavior (Edgar and Sedgwick, 2002: 216). Therefore consumptive lifestyle is distinctive lifestyle of individuals who try to express their identity largely through the consumption activities.
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CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
There are some reviews and studies about the character in Kinsella’s
Confessions of a Shopaholic. This part mostly focuses on the general review about
Rebecca as the main character in the story.
Traver in her article The Shopaholic Who Will Get You Addicted stated that this book nicely tells how shopaholic Rebecca is and how she faces her shopaholic problem. Females from ages thirteen to seventy would enjoy these books and become as addicted to Kinsella’s writing as Rebecca Bloomwood is to her credit card. In fact, USA Today said that Kinsella’s books are “too good to pass up. Confessions of a Shopaholic catches most 20s and 30s women’s attention; light story contains woman’s problems in money, job, love, and her expensive habit (Traver, 2005:25).
Maria on her review explained the plus side of Confessions of a
Shopaholic, this book is written in a chatty and easy-to-read style. It moves along and captures the reader’s interest. Rebecca was quite charming and engaging when she was not totally self involved and delusional, but as the story continued and it becomes clear that she was losing control successfully rationalizing her irresponsible behavior.
As a popular novel ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ contains light story. It is an enjoyable; light little book which easy to predict the happy end. I liked Kinsella's writing style, although I know all readers don't enjoy the first person point of view. The heroine is rather silly, mentions a lot product names, ridiculous moments, but that's the whole point. If she behaved
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more reasonably and was less interested about shopping she would not be a shopaholic and those were not give any senses at all. (http://likesbooks.com/cgi-bin/bookReview.pl?BookReviewId=3249).
In The Journal of American Popular Culture, Jennifer Scanlon from
Bowdoin College stated that The Shopaholic books have given their focus on shopping, different with women’s magazines, film, television, which focuses on the visual, the Shopaholic books minimize the visual.
In an online interview, author Kinsella is asked why she fails to give a physical description of Becky Bloomwood in any of the books in the series. This, she answers, was a deliberate decision, “I really like the fact that it’s not specified. I think it means anyone can identify with her. I want my readers to feel they are inside Becky’s head, seeing the world through her eyes, not looking at her from the outside” (“Meet Sophie Kinsella”). (http://www.americanpopularculture.com/journal/articles/fall_2005/scanlo n.htm).
Stella Indriani Tampi in her Undergraduate Thesis “The Effect of Rebecca
Bloomwood’s Compulsive Shopping Disorder toward Her Relationship with
Other People in Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic Series” stated that Rebecca suffers from an impulsive disorder called Compulsive Shopping Disorder (CSD). She explained Rebecca’s CSD by analyzing her character which shows more than four symptoms of a psychological illness called Compulsive shopping disorder.
Because of her CSD, Rebecca causes many problems in her relationship with the other characters in the story (Tampi, 2008: 50-51).
What the writer is going to present in this paper will be different with the previous studies which is presented above. The writer tries to see deeper and analyze clearer about the character’s lifestyle as described in the story. Then to analyze how the main character brings some kind of fact in 20th century cosmopolitan London women lifestyle that the author wanted to reveal to the reader. 9
B. Review of Related Theories
There are some theories that relate to the study. Those are theories on characters and characterization, theories on representation, theories on relation between literature and society, theories on consumption, and the last is theories on satire.
1. Theories on Characters and Characterization
To get a better understanding about characters in this novel, it is important for the writer to focus on some theories about character. Character is one important element in a novel because from the beginning until the end, it supports the development of the story. The author conveys her story by using the involvement of the characters. It can be seen from their action and dialogue in the story.
In Glossary of Literary Terms, Abrams define character as;
The character in a literary genre: a short and usually witty, sketch in prose of distinctive type of person and the persons presented in narrative or dramatic work by the author as being endowed with normal and disposition qualities that can be evaluated from the dialogue and action (1981:20-21).
The character’s can be observed from their actions, views, dialogue and direct or indirect explanation from the author. In Literature: “Structure, Sound and Sense”
Laurence Perrine states as follows:
An author may present her character either directly or indirectly. In the direct presentation he tells us straight out, by exposition or analysis, what a character is like (1987:68).
Meanwhile, characterization is the way the author creates character.
Therefore, characterization should be conveyed into good way in order to create a 10
clear image to the reader perception (Rorhberger, 1971:20). Characterization must follow three principles in order to be convincing. Firstly, the characters in the story must have a consistency in the way they behave. This consistency might be broken if only there is a sufficient reason to explain this change of behavior.
Secondly, whatever the characteristic do, they must have clear motivations especially when they break the consistency of their behaviors. Last, the characters must appear lifelike or reasonable (Perrine, 1974:64).
The major characters hold important role in a story because the major characters will determine the development of the story. In Understanding Unseen:
An Introduction to English Poetry and Novel, Murphy stated nine ways in which the author attempts to make his characters understandable to, and come alive for readers, so that the readers understand about the representation of the character.
The nine ways are explained as follows:
1 Personal description
The author shows the personality of the characters through their
appearance and clothes they wear.
2 Characters as seen by another
The author shows one’s character through other character’s view or other
characters view or other character’s opinion.
3 Speech
The author describes the characters through what is said by characters.
4 Past life
The author describes the characters through their past life. 11
5 Conversation of others
The character is described from the way they speak to each other or from
the dialogue or when the character says something.
6 Direct comment
The author gives comments directly to the characters.
7 Thought
The author describes the characters through their thought or their ideas in
considering something.
8 Mannerism
The author describes the characters through their habits or manner and also
on how they behave.
9 Reactions
The author describes character’s characteristics through their reactions to events and any situations (1972:161-173).
2. Theories on Representation
Representation considers such text can create not only knowledge but also the very reality that they appear to describe (Castle, 2001:76). By using the theory of representation, the truth or the reality behind the text can be revealed.
Andrew Gibson in his book Toward a Postmodern Theory of Narrative defines two accounts of narrative representation; they are representation to be matter of surface and depth. According to him, surface representation is a realism of particulars. The language is seen as innocent and it conceives of a language as unproblematically adequate to what it represents (Gibson, 1996: 81). So if it is 12
applied in a work of art, it will result in something which is “visible”. Gibson here also defines the term “visible” by quoting from other theorist.
Of course, this is only a “visibility” by convection or contact, and is not to be confused with cinematic visibility. But in term of the old contract, “surface representation” emerges in the first instance as an “optical realism” (Feyerabend, 1987: 151). Strictly speaking, it is not confined to the “visible”, but equally includes what is heard, felt, and so on, the world as apprehended by the senses (Gibson, 1996: 82).
It can be concluded from the theory above that the term “visible” means something that not only can be seen by optical organ, but also by hearing and feeling. It means surface representation reveals the physical truth behind the text.
Gibson also defines “depth representation” in the book as follow:
“Representation of depth”, on the other hand, means penetrating the visible. In James’ terms, it “guess[es] the unseen from the seen” (ibid. p.3). This is the representation of essences, general features, types which thus depends on and expresses ontological conviction. It pierces through the veil of the visible or what the visible supposedly secretes or embodies, capturing that distilled essence and saturating language in it (Gibson, 1996: 82).
It means that the depth representation observes and defines the invisible things or the unseen things from the surface representation (the visible things) of a work of art. Representation of depth can be said that it goes beyond the visible. It tries to find things that lay behind the surface representation by doing deeper considerations of the work, and by seeing the surface representation from various point of views.
3. The Relation between Literature and Society
Literature is a social institution that uses language, one of the social creations as its medium. Literary tools such as symbols used in the literary works represent social conventions and norms that are used only in society. The object of 13
the literature, the world and the people are the imitation of social reality.
Therefore, literature with its medium devices and the objects is the representation of life itself (Wellek and Waren, 1956:94).
Literature has social function. An author himself is a member of society who has particular social conditions. The author gets some level of social acknowledgement and appreciation, and then presents his work to the readers because indeed literature has a close relationship with particular social issues.
Therefore many problems discussed by literary study on social reality in the literary work are social question for example economic, sociocultural and political problems (Wellek and Waren, 1956:94).
The relation between literature and society is that literature is an expression of society (Wellek and Waren, 1956:95). Also literary work can play its role as a document that record social realities, happen in society, which is artistically portrayed by the author (1956:102). The author expresses the truth, historical truth and social truth that happen in exact world through literary work.
4. Theories on Consumption and Consumerism
In the book Consumer Behavior, Solomon stated that “consumers is a generally thought as a person or groups who identifies a need or desire, makes a purchase, and then disposes of the product during the consumption process”
(Solomon, 1994: 8).
In their book Cultural Theory ‘The Key Concept’, Edgar and Sedgwick define consumption as a culturally significant activity on consuming goods, which construct distinctive lifestyle and express status of a person. Consumption allows 14
the consumers to differentiate him or herself from the mass (2002: 80-81).
According to Schifman and Kanuk in the book Consumer Behavior, there are some products in the market which influence people to become more consumptive in order to differentiate their self-concept.
Consumers may purchase certain products because these products are favored by the member of either their own or higher social class (e.g., a luxury imported sports car), and a consumers may avoid other products because they perceive the product to be lower class products (1978: 376).
The consuming habit which urges consumers to consume things only to complete their social needs called consumerism (Tampi, 2008: 11). According to
Oxford Dictionary for Business World, consumerism is continual increase in the consumption of goods (A.I.E.A.M, 1993: 175).
Tillman Necthman in his article Luxury, Gender, and Sexual Politic in
Britain in the Late Nineteenth Century explains consumerism is defined as a tendency of people to identify strongly with products they consume, particularly of name brands and status-enhancing appeal
(http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journal_of_womens_history/v018/18.4ne chtman.pdf).
A consumer, as the subject of consumerism purchases things that can influence other consumer’s perception to determine his or her self-concept (1994:
296). He adds that consumerism is influenced by people, setting and product. The consumer’s purchase is very much affected by society in which they live in, the others consumers and mostly advertisements (1994: 439).
In order to follow their lifestyle which is taken over by consumerism, consumers consist to continually increase the consumption activities to satisfy their desire in consuming. This kind of lifestyle is called consumptive lifestyle. 15
5. Theories on Satire
The word satire derived from the Latin ‘satura’ means ‘a medley’.
Encyclopedia Britannica vol. XIX explains satire as the expression in adequate terms of the sense of amusement or disgust by the ridiculous of unseemly, provides that humor is a distinctly recognizable element that is invested with literary form. Without humor, satire is invective; without literary form, it is mere clownish jeering (1970:1986). Moreover, Holman and Harmon mention that there are two major types of satire, namely direct and indirect satire. In direct satire, the satiric voice usually is done by the first person to the reader or the character. In indirect satire, the butt that may be the character or group is ridiculed through what they say and do (1986:447). According to Abrams, indirect satire was the most common form of a fictional narratives, in which the object of satire are the characters who make themselves and their opinion ridiculous by what they think, say, and do and are something made ridiculous by the author’s comments and narrative style (1977:155). The satire may be presented in some of the elements of literary work, for the example through the characters, the dialogues, the plot, etc.
The most common element used to project satire is the character (Joan, 2001: 10).
In The New Encyclopedia Britannica stated that since satire means to ridicule or scorn, many satirists have used this mode of writing to expose the failings of individual, their follies, and foibles or vices and crimes of mankind, institution; such as family, government or societies with their ideals or values and beliefs. In his famous play The Importance of Being Earnest, for example, Oscar
Wilde ridiculed the society at his time, which is snobbery, distinctive in regarding someone’s dignity by his social status and materialistic (1983: 232) 16
Satire in other hand makes the reader laugh and think at the same time because it is her foolishness she sees. The characters that the author present, are describing the funny side of human. Satire is one of the ways to us to think and correct ourselves. It is not a criticism to condemn us. It is just a joke and a caricature of us. It is something to laugh at not to be judged and be punished.
C. Review on Background the Late 20th Century Cosmopolitan London
Women.
According to A New History of England, 1990s is identical with women’s movement as the effect of centralizing structures of the woman’s liberation movement of the 60’s and 70s. It was about pressure for changes in lifestyle, and social arrangements that put women’s needs and expectations in a more central position. Job and lifestyle became more important than as aspiration for women, rather then replacing house and family (2000:282). Historically, enormous advance in women’s right as some women in higher social spheres refused to obey the sex roles dictated to them was seen in the middle of 20th century. As they entered the workforce, women gained economic power as well. Law designed to protect women’s right were enacted including the Equal Pay Act of 1970. Major actions on the women’s movement were done by feminists, who were active in advocating right for women, their actions and words often motivated and inspired such movements (Glencoe, 2000:876-877).
In A New History of England, the major shifts of England’s urban constructions in second half of twentieth century are the increasingly multicultural nature of society and the impact of globalization, specifically of American culture 17
hegemony. Attempts in the late of 1990 is suggested as modish urban life, or, more generally, a supposed set of modish national values, as a replacement to earlier and other cultural traditions that appear less to elicit popular support than an emphasis on the national dimension of the interlocked cultures of sport, television, lifestyle, trend, and celebrities (Black, 2000:233). Fashion takes an important part in lifestyle in London. London is one of the big four fashion capitals beside Paris, Milan and New York. London is home to some of the finest haute couture, the creation of exclusive custom-fitted of clothing in the world.
Burberry, French Connection FCUK, Laura Ashley, Alexander McQueen and
Stella McCartney are all famous London designers. Some of the world's most renowned department stores are based in London including Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. The Mayfair district, which includes Bond Street, is home to many exclusive designer stores and boutiques. The famous street markets of
London, that shot to fame in the 1960s are also well known and include Carnaby
Street, Notting Hill and Camden Town. (http://www.smarter.com/fashion- books/fashion-world-cities-/pd-ch-1-pi-2279196html). The importance of fashion in London is also estimated by its participation of London in World’s Fashion
Week, the biggest fashion industry event which allow fashion designer to show their latest trend. Most importantly, it lets the fashion lovers know what is in and out for that season. The most prominent World Fashion Weeks are held in the fashion capitals like Milan, Paris, London, and New York City
(http://www.smarter.com/fashion-books/fashion-world-cities-/pd-ch-1-pi-
2279196html).
New shopping patterns develop, with the rise of the supermarket in the
1950s and the hypermarket in the 1980. By 1992, 16 per cent of total shopping space in Britain was made up of shopping centres, such as Brent Cross in North 18
London, Lakeside at Thurrock in Essex, The Glades in Bromley, Kent,
Meadowhall in Sheffield and The Metro Centre in Gateshead. They were molders of taste and spheres of purchasing and leisure activity at the centre of the consumer society (Black, 2000:233). As the development of shopping pattern,
London offers credits cards as easy way of payment. By using credit card, people can purchase things first and pay afterward. Credit cards are used by every segments of London society, from college students to retirees, from the unemployment to hopeful entrepreneurs, from poorest to the wealthiest, and across all race, sex, and ethnic groups. Women have also gained increased access to credit through credit cards, according to the data which collected by the Federal
Reserve Board in its survey of Consumer Finance more than 60 percent of all single women without children have credit cards. Each bank competes to give easiest procedures to propose credit cards, therefore over last thirty years credit cards have become increasingly available and are used more by most segments of society (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=653382).
The past 20 years have seen compulsive shopping, where people find they cannot control their buying habit, more than doubling and it is affecting more men and children than ever before, researchers told the British Association's science festival in Cardiff yesterday. An estimated 2.5 million people in Britain can be described as compulsive shoppers, with the rise being largely attributed to a 20 per cent increase in disposable income since 1979. The researchers also believe more people are suffering "self-image" problems which they attempt to remedy by purchasing goods that are specifically directed at boosting personal identity. A passion for fashion pushes women into shopaholic debt. Women have always loved to shop but a new survey published today reveals just how much, with the number of hard-core shopaholics in Britain now exceeding 750,000. The survey by uSwitch found a stark contrast between the average British woman who shops just 2.4 times a month and shopaholics who have to have a weekly fix. Cardiff took the number six spot in the top 10 biggest fashion-spending cities, with an average outlay of pounds 1,252 a year for each woman. (http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4922727.html)
19
Tillman Necthman in his article, Luxury, Gender, and Sexual Politic in
Britain in the Late Nineteenth Century explains that today’s society seems as though it is being taken over by consumerism. The term of consumerism is defined as a tendency of people to identify strongly with products they consume, particularly of name brands and status-enhancing products. With the marketing world growing larger by day seems more people are attracted to the advertised product and feel need to have them in order to satisfying their own self, keep in style with the society by expensive things. Women, they found themselves implicated in domestic conversations about luxury, consumerism, and material opulence. They made the arguments materially visible in Britain by wearing branded fashions and jewels(http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journal_of_womens_history/v018/
18.4nechtman.pdf). In the second half of 20th century, the trend of purchasing famous brand products grows stronger in London society. This trend causes a tendency of people to identify which products they consume, particularly of brands and status enhancing appeal. Formerly only wealthy people could afford to buy Chanel, Gucci, Dior or Louis Vuitton, but then as the market world going larger, more and more people are attract with a passions of famous brands. Those big name brand products indicated the status of a person than a personal taste.
Therefore, people feel need and interest to purchasing those products in order to keep in style with the society by expensive things or search for the membership in brand oriented society
(http://www.londonprogressive.org.uk/gale/newsletters/pdfs/fall2006.pdf#page=2
5).
20
The writer finds some characteristics of 20th century cosmopolitan London women from the description of the historical background. First characteristic, cosmopolitan London women are characterized as independent and expressive women. Cosmopolitan London women feel that in middle of 20th century their life is in changing because of the women’s movement. The 20th century cosmopolitan
London women need not to follow the conservative rules. They feel free to make their own decision about life. Second, London women are fashionable and stylish.
Fashions become the important part of the late 20th century London women, it happens because they are member of modish urban life, which concerns more in style. Third, because of the trend that causes a tendency of people to identify which products they consume and also the marketing world growing larger with the attracting advertisement high-class product, London women adore branded items. Lastly, 20th century cosmopolitan London women lifestyle has taken over by consumerism because of the economic changes and the impact of globalization. They are attracted to the advertised product and feel need to have them in order to satisfy their own self. Therefore shopping becomes the main activity of 20th century cosmopolitan London women.
D. Theoretical Framework
Firstly, understanding the theory of characters and characterization is important before analyzing the main character in the story. Characters have the idea that the author wants to inform the readers. Based on the theory of characters and characterization, the writer will analyze and write the characterization of the 21
main character in the story. Then, the writer will adjust the characteristics of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women.
Understanding the relation between literature and society is also important in this analysis. According to Wellek and Waren, the author gets some level of social acknowledgement and appreciation, and then presents his work to the readers because indeed literature has a close relationship with particular social issues (1956:94). The fiction world in literature, directly or indirectly has connection with the real world. The historical reviews are the fact about the condition British women, especially the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women lifestyle. This theory can prove to the writer that the main character in the story is the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women.
Next, by using the theory of surface representation the writer will analyze the comparison of Rebecca’s characteristic and the late 20th century cosmopolitan
London women’s characteristic to prove that Rebecca is the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. Theory of consumption is used to distinctive Rebecca’s lifestyle. Then, theory of satire is used to prove the subjects of satire revealed through the characterization of the main character. Since satire is one of the ways to criticize the literary work, therefore the satirical characteristics of the main character are used to criticize women lifestyle since the main character is the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. Lastly, the theory of depth representation is used to find out the idea brought up in that representation. Related to the use of theory of satire, the writer believes that through the representation of her satirical main character the author wanted to criticize the women lifestyle at her time.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The work that is analyzed in this thesis is Confessions of a Shopaholic, a
Brit chic-lit written by Sophie Kinsella, who was awarded as the one of New York
Times Bestselling Author, first published in 2003. Kinsella ‘Shopaholic’ novels are Confessions of a Shopaholic, Shopaholic and Sister, Shopaholic Take
Manhattan, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Shopaholic the Wedding and the last is
Shopaholic and Baby. Confessions of a Shopaholic was the first of six
‘Shopaholic’ novels, Kinsella’s best seller which has already been translated in some 34 languages and are a huge success among women in 20s and 30s
(http://likesbooks.com/cgi-bin/bookReview.pl?BookReviewId=3249).
Confessions of a Shopaholic tells the reader about Rebecca Bloomwood as main character who has satisfying life and high lifestyle. Actually she has a steady job as a financial journalist in Successful Saving magazine, but she does not realize it. Rebecca Bloomwood is a single twenty-five year old young woman.
She lives in a very trendy flat in London, has many socialite friends, and a closet of beautiful clothes. But Rebecca is not as well-off as she seems to others; just very well into debt. Rebecca has a serious problem with shopping far too much, and her credit cards are completely maxed-out, as well as her account being overdrawn at the bank. The only problem in her life is her expensive habit, shopping. She is a shopaholic, almost all of pages of the story tell about the
22 23
shopaholic activities. She is characterized as a modern stylish London woman.
She is one of modern stylish women who live in a very stylish society, London.
The rest half pages of the book contain how she deals with many problems because of her expensive habit.
B. Approach of the Study
In analyzing this work, the writer uses sociocultural-historical approach.
Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Wood in the book Reading and Writing about
Literature stated that the approach means an approach which locates the real work in reference to the civilization that produces it. It sees a work of literature as the result of the society social conditions through the author’s hand (Rohrberger,
1971:9).
Since the author is the member of society, her experience and knowledge will influence his work. The author’s background such as his birth, family, education, environment, will affect the kind of works she writes. Moreover, literature is not in a vacuum and embodies ideas significant to the culture that produce it (Rohrberger: 1971:9). According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of
Critical Approaches to Literature, sociocultural-historical approach is an approach that studies a literary work from its social milieu and literary work
(1979:272). It means that this approach is applied to see a literary work as reflection of and commentaries on something in certain society. There is an interaction between social milieu and literary work. The approach is appropriately used to analyze the topic because the writer employs the extrinsic elements of the 24
novel, the social and historical background of London women and their relationship with the lifestyle as they reference.
C. Method of the Study
In analyzing the main character, Rebecca, the writer used library research and internet, the library research means to get information needed in analyzing the text by reading books and references related to the study. While Internet was an electronic exploration to complete the information needed. The primary source of this study was the novel titled Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella and the secondary source were several books of theories, which relate to this study.
The articles about the author, historical background of cosmopolitan London society in the late 20th century, and Internet were used as secondary sources too.
There were some steps taken in analyzing the story. First, the writer read the story several times and understood the content of the story Confessions of a
Shopaholic. After that, the writer found out all of the characteristics of Rebecca.
In analyzing the characterization of Rebecca the writer used theory of character and characterization in the book Glossary of Literary Terms written by Abrams, and in the book Understanding Unseen by Murphy.
Second, the writer searched the books and sources that were needed to investigate the traits of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. The writer used the book A New History of England by Jeremy Black to understand the historical background. By understanding the historical background, then the writer found out the traits of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. In 25
this step the writer would apply sociocultural-historical approach in comparing the condition of London woman in the story written and the actual condition in the review on London women at that time.
Thirdly, by applying the theory of representation in the book Towards a
Postmodern Theory of Narrative written by Andrew Gibson, the writer compared and matched the characteristic of Rebecca with the characteristic of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. Next, by applying the theory of satire the writer elaborates the satirical characteristics of Rebecca as a device to criticize women lifestyle since Rebecca is the representation of women at that era. The theory of consumption is used to find the distinctive lifestyle of Rebecca that is criticized by her satirical characteristics. Then, by applying theory of depth representation, the writer found out the idea of criticism brought up in that representation.
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this chapter the writer will answer the problem formulations in the previous chapter. The analysis will be divided into three sections. First, the analysis will be focused on the characteristics of the main character, Rebecca, as presented in the text. Second, the writer will compare the characterization of
Rebecca with the actual condition of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. In this part, the writer will prove that Rebecca is the representation of the late 20th century London cosmopolitan women by comparing the characteristics of
Rebecca with the characteristics of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. Here the writer will apply the theory of surface representation. Third, the writer will investigate the second layer behind that representation, therefore in this part the writer will find out the idea of criticism behind the representation that the author wants to reveal by analyzing the satirical characteristics of Rebecca. Here the writer will apply the theory of depth representation.
A. The Characteristics of Rebecca in the Story
Character is the central focus when we read a novel. We will have curiosity to find out the whole story through the characters’ action as well their characteristics. The reader will try to find out who the character is, what kind of person she is and what happens to her. The character’s appearance and her life
26 27
experience will lead the writer to understand the image of a man that has been created by the author.
Sophie Kinsella, as the author of Confessions of a Shopaholic, uses
Rebecca as the narrator in the story. She creates the character of Rebecca in the story as the representation of what she wants to say to the readers. To answer the first problem formulation the writer applied the theory of character and characterization. The followings are Rebecca’s characteristics in general:
1. Independent
By applying theory of character and characterization, that of by analyzing the descriptions that the author gives and what the characters does, one of the characteristics of Rebecca that the writer wants to reveal is an independent woman. In the story, Rebecca Bloomwood, called Becky is described as a twenty- five years old single woman who has to take care of everything by herself. In
London, a big city with complex joy and entertainments that can be seen in every single area, Rebecca lives only with her roommate, Suze, while her parents live in
Surrey. It can be seen from the descriptions below.
This is why I love sharing a flat with Suze (pp. 33).
“No, ‘s’ OK,” I say, morosely picking up the TV guide. “I’m going to Surrey, visit my parents.” (pp. 38).
In the story, Rebecca is also described as a career woman. She earns money for a living by working as a journalist, to be exact as a financial journalist for Successful Saving magazine. At the beginning of the story, Rebecca tells us 28
about her job as a career woman in Successful Saving magazine. It can be seen from the description below.
This high-yield, 60-days access account offers tiered rates of interest on investments of over £2,000,” I type onto the screen, copying directly from a press release in front of me. “Long-term savers may also be interested in a new stepped-rate bond which requires a minimum of £5,000.” I type a full stop, take a sip of coffee, and turn to the second page of the press release. This is what I do, by the way. I’m a journalist on a financial magazine. I’m paid to tell other people how to organize their money (pp. 10).
The quality of Rebecca of being independent can also be seen from the way she solves her financial problems. Finally, at the end of the story Rebecca can finish her terrible financial problem by herself. She pays her debt with her own money which she gets from her Morning Coffee show.
The description of Rebecca that has been analyzed above reveals the traits of Rebecca of being independent. The other description that shows Rebecca as a career woman who earns money for her own living as explained above also proves that Rebecca is an independent woman.
2. Fashionable and stylish
In this part the writer will analyze the description of the condition that the author gives in the story. Rebecca is described as a fashionable woman. Rebecca has high taste in fashion and she really pays much attention in her physical performance from head to toe. She really concerns about the dress she wears. In the story, she often describes what dress she is wearing. She often itemizes all the dress she wears as though for a fashion page. She has been doing this for years 29
since she used to read Just Seventeen, a magazine for girl that was everything a girl could ask for about fashion or lifestyle
(http://www.magforum.com/glossies/teen.htm). She imagines that Just Seventeen will stop her in the street and take a picture of her then list all her clothes. It can be seen from the description that Rebecca does.
I’m wearing my black skirt from French Connection, a plain white T-shirt from Knickerbox, and a little angora cardigans which I got from M&S but looks like it might be Agnes b. And my new square-toed shoes from Hobbs. Even better although no one can see them, I’m wearing my gorgeous new matching knickers and bra with embroidered yellow rosebuds.” (pp. 14)
And I have to say, I agree. I’m wearing all black—but expensive black. The kind of deep, soft black you fall into. A sleeveless dress from Whistles, the highest of Jimmy Choos, a pair of stunning uncut amethyst earring. And please don’t ask how much it all cost, because that’s irrelevant. This is investment shopping. The biggest investment of my life (pp. 211).
In the quotation above, Rebecca has mentioned fashions brands such as French
Connection, Knickerbox, Whistles, and Jimmy Choos. Those are the fashion brands which are listed in the top fashion brands in London
(http://www.apparelsearch.com/Wholesale_Clothing/popular_brand_names_cloth es.htm). Beside giving comment to her own outfit, she also gives her comments on what the other characters wear, whether it is matching or not. Once again, fashion is something very important which she concerns fully.
They’re not wearing matching jumpers today, thank God, but Fenella’s wearing very odd red skirt made out of hairy tweed, and Tarquin’s double- breasted suit looks as if it were tailored during the First World War. (p. 87)
And she does look the part, I have to say. She wearing a bright red suit (Karen Millet, no doubt), and some really nice square-toed shoes, and her 30
hair’s tied back. The only thing I don’t go for is the earrings. Why is she suddenly wearing pearl earrings? Maybe it’s just to blend in with the others. (pp. 194)
The theory of characterization suggested by Murphy said that the author can describe one’s character through other character’s view or other characters view or the other character’s opinion. Therefore the characteristics of Rebecca can be seen based on what the other characters said about her.
Eventually Danielle gave me a funny look and said, “Well you obviously like clothes.” And then he gave me the job! (pp. 131)
Rebecca is also described as a stylish woman, she wears impeccably outfit when she goes to office or meeting or dating. She often takes a long time in mixing and matching an outfit to get her best performance. It can be seen from the description below.
It takes me all afternoon to decide on an outfit. There’s a lot of trying on, and mixing and matching, and suddenly remembering things at the back of my wardrobe. (I must wear those purple jeans sometimes.) but eventually I go for simple and straightforward. My nicest black suit (Jigsaw sale, two years ago), a white T-shirt (M&S), and knee-high black suede boots (Dolce & Gabbana) (pp. 333)
The quality of Rebecca of being stylish woman can be seen from the way she chooses a magazine. In her way to the press conference, she buys one essential thing that was the Financial Times. According to her the FT is by far the best accessories a girl can have. If a girl walk into a room with FT tucked under her arm, people will take her seriously and she can talk about the most frivolous things in the world. People will think that she is a heavy weight intellectual who has broader interest, too (pp. 13). 31
The story describes that Rebecca always wears impeccably outfit when she goes to office or meeting, wears world class brand cloths, shopping in the high- end shopping place and eats in exclusive places. Rebecca chooses having lunch or dinner in high-class café or restaurants.
That is turning into my perfect day. Shopping at Harrods, and lunch at Harvey Nicols. I mean, what could be better than that? (pp.119).
By applying the theory of characters and characterization that of analyzing what the character does, what other characters opinion and the personal description given by the author through the character itself, the writer is sure that
Rebecca is a fashionable and stylish woman.
3. Brand-minded
Here the writer will find out another characteristic of Rebecca that is a brand-minded woman. In this part the writer will analyze the description of the attitude that the author gives in the story. Rebecca is described as a brand-minded woman, considered that the author mentions several world-class brands such as
Emporio Armani, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein, Jimmy Choos, Hermes,
Elle, Dior, Denny and George, DKNY, etc, the option of Rebecca’s outfit spreading in the whole story. Rebecca is truly obsessed by world-class brands items. She feels prestigious not only by wearing world-class brand of outfit but also other world-class brand items. It can be seen from the quotation below.
As he nods, my grasp tightens round the bowl. I can’t believe it. I’m holding a piece of Elle decoration. How cool is that? Now I feel incredibly stylish and trendy (pp. 50).
32
It can’t be true. Denny and George can’t be having a sale. They never have a sale. Their scarves and pashminas are so coveted, they could probably sell them at twice price. Everyone I know in the entire world aspires to owning a Denny and George scarf (pp. 14).
Rebecca’s brand-minded way of thinking can also be seen from the way she mentions her outfit or her accessories. She prefers to mention those items by saying its brands.
I give my lashes another layer of mascara, spray myself in Coco Chanel, and walk into the sitting room for Suze’s verdict (p. 211)
World-class brands have totally impressed Rebecca. It can be seen from the way she admires an assistant of broker office where she has applied for a job. An assistant whom she sees is wearing very elegant trousers. It makes Rebecca amazed, since she is obsessed with world-class brands outfits.
I surreptitiously run my gaze over Amy’s trouser suit again – and I find my eye landing on an Emporio Armani label. I can’t quite believe it. The assistants wear Emporio Armani! So what Jill herself going to be in? Couture Dior? God, I Love this place already (pp. 162).
The description of Rebecca that has been analyzed above brings the traits of
Rebecca of being a brand-minded woman. The other description of Rebecca as a fashionable and stylish woman who often itemizes her own or the other character’s outfit, as explained in the previous part also proves that Rebecca is a brand-minded woman.
4. Shopaholic
The title of the story that the writer analyzed is Confessions of a
Shopaholic. The story mostly tells the readers about the purchase activities which have been done by Rebecca, the major character who lives in her own shopaholic 33
world. Through the character’s mannerism, in this part the writer will find out the traits of Rebecca of being shopaholic, someone who has strong desire and obsessions in shopping as the writer has defined in the previous part. Here, the writer will reveal the description of Rebecca of being extravagant in dealing with her shopping activities and spending money. In the opening Rebecca tells the reader her being panicky when she receives her VISA bill containing a lot of items she has bought in a month as the result of her habit of shopping and spending money easily.
The page is black with type. A series of familiar names rushed past my eyes like mini shopping mall. I try to take them in, but they’re moving so fast. I can’t possibly have spent all this money. Don’t panic! I yell internally. The key is not to panic. Just read each entry slowly, one by one, I take a deep breath and force myself to focus calmly, starting at the top (pp. 7).
Shopping is her hobby and true addiction for her. Almost the whole pages of the story tell the reader about the purchases done by Rebecca. Rebecca has a great desire for shopping. Moreover, as a shopaholic person, Rebecca is also impressed by the word sale. She feels rather sick, she feels her heart never beats as fast as it does when she sees sale in front of the shops. Therefore, she describes shopping as a “cardiovascular exercise” (pp. 29). For Rebecca, shopping is no longer an activity, but it is a highly pleasurable moment.
I almost want to cry out loud, the moment is so wonderful. That moment. That instant when your finger curl round the handles of s shiny, uncreased bag—and all the gorgeous all new things inside it become yours. What it like? It’s like going hungry for days, then cramming your mouth full of warm buttered toast. It’s like waking up and realizing it’s the weekend. It’s like the better moment of sex. Everything else is blocked out of your mind. It’s pure, selfish pleasure (pp.29-30).
34
Rebecca’s own description of the effects of shopping in the story tells the reader that her shopping rule is unbreakable. Shopping and her life is an inseparable unity. Even though Rebecca has decided to live in frugality and simplicity after she realized how much she has owed to her banks and Suze, she still excuses herself to do purchasing. Rebecca has her own positive side of shopping that is an investment.
It only costs forty-five quid. And I can put it on VISA. Look at it another way—what’s forty-five quid in the grand scheme of things? I mean, it’s nothing, is it? So I buy it. The most perfect little cardigan in the world. People will call me the Girl in the Grey Cardigan. I’ll be able to live in it. Really, it’s an investment (pp. 68).
Christmas shopping! I can do all my charismas shopping here. I know March is a bit early, but why not be organized? And then when Christmas arrives I won’t have to go near the horrible Christmas crowds. I can’t believe I haven’t thought of doing this before. And it’s not breaking the rules, because I’d have to buy Christmas presents sometime, wouldn’t I? All I’m doing is shifting the buying process forward a bit. It makes perfect sense (pp. 104).
From the quotation above, the writer analyzes that, once again, Rebecca has her own acceptable reason of shopping. She always thinks that shopping is a good investment for her life or she even always has some of her own reasons to do shopping.
Another condition that makes Rebecca that she cannot live without shopping shows when she pities herself to live miserably in frugality without purchasing. She feels dispirit to see the busy Oxford Street shoppers bring carrier bags while she only slump miserably in her office desk. The feeling of Rebecca that she finds her true life and happiness in shopping can be analyzed from the quotation below. 35
I look up, and I’m in front of Octagon. My favorite shop in the whole world. I’ve got my purse with me. Just something small, to cheer me up. A T-shirt or something. Or even some bubble bath. I need to buy myself something. I won’t spend much. I’ll just go in and… I’m ready pushing my way through the doors. Oh God, the relief. The warmth, the light. This is where I belong. This is my natural habitat (pp. 236).
Rebecca’s intolerable habit of purchasing leads her to the extravagant life.
On her shopping activities she often spends too much or even buys useless items in order only to satisfy her desire of shopping. When she realizes how much money she has spent or the importance of the items that she has bought, it is often too late, but she always tolerates every remorse in her shopping activities. It can be seen from the quotation below.
So I bought myself a great big bottle of Samsara perfume, and that gave me 150 extra points on my card—and then I got the heater roller set absolutely free! The only thing is, I don’t much like the Samsara perfume— but I didn’t realize that until I got home. Still never mind (pp. 67).
Her extravagant way of shopping can also be seen when she admires promotion at Clarins cosmetic counter. Rebecca loves any kind of sale and promotion as the writer analyzed previously. Again, Rebecca spends too much money for useless things in order to get a free beauty bag which is actually a bit smaller than she is expecting (pp. 73).
Another example that shows Rebecca as an extravagant woman can be seen from her decision to cook her own food as Rebecca’s cut-back project in order to save money. She decides to cook curry which she throws away later just because it is too spicy to eat. Actually, to make a curry it costs only £2.50, but the 36
actual expenditure for Rebecca is too much. In supermarket, she does not only buy the ingredients but also a Balti pan, electric grinder, blender and apron.
Rebecca Blomwood’s Cut-Back Project. Homemade Curry, Saturday 24th March. Proposed budget £2.50. Actual expenditure: Balti Pan £15.00, electric grinder £14.99, blender £18.99, wooden spoon 35p, apron £9.99, two chicken breast £1.98, 300g mushroom 79p, onion 29p, coriander seeds £1.29, fennel seeds £1.29, allspice £1.29, cumin seeds £1.29, cloves £1.39, ground ginger £1.95, bay leaves £1.40, chilli powder OH GOD, FORGET IT (pp. 114).
Because of her intolerable shopping habit, Rebecca becomes a money oriented woman. Her extravagant hobby of shopping leads her into terrible debt.
She needs money to her debt problems. In the story the author describes Rebecca as a client of some Banks who uses her credit card as often as she can. The author has also writes down some bills from different Banks to emphasize how Rebecca ruined in debt was. It can be seen from the quotation below.
Thank you for your payment of £10.00 received on 13 March. As I have pointed out several times, the minimum required was in fact £105.40. The balance currently overdue is therefore £95.40. I look forward to receiving your payment as soon as possible (pp. 184).
Knowing that she ruined in debt, it encourages Rebecca to get more money since she has not enough money to pay her all debt. In order to get more money,
Rebecca has done some efforts. First, she finds side job from Suze. In her desperate condition, Suze advises her to join Fine Frames family, a side job to make frames, but it does not work, Rebecca can not do well any frame that she made. After that horrible side job, Rebecca decided to find a new job since she thought that her career was stagnant. She should find a better job with better salary. 37
This is the answer. It’s easy. I’ll become the high-flying freelance journalist, just like Clare, and earn nine hundred quid a week. What I have to do is start networking and making contact at events instead of always sitting at the back with Elly (pp. 119).
Being inconsistent, to get more and more money, only for a few days Rebecca has changed her plan to be high-flying freelance journalist into fund manager or a merchant banker.
Maybe I should give up journalism and become a fund manager, too. Or a merchant banker. They earn a pretty good whack, don’t they? Maybe I could join Goldman Sachs or somewhere. They earn about a million a year, don’t they? God, that would be good. I wonder how you get job like that (pp. 129).
Again, the quality of being money-oriented woman can also be seen from her attitude toward Tarquin, Suze’s cousin. Actually Rebecca is not interested with Tarquin at all because he is an old fashioned man. But then, after Rebecca knows that he is the 15th richest bachelor with £25 million estimated wealth, she changes her valuation about him. Finally, Rebecca is willing to have a dinner with him.
I glance at myself in the mirror, take s deep breath, and turn to face the door, just as Tarquin appears. His head as bony as ever, and he’s wearing another odd-looking suits. But somehow none of that seems to matter anymore. In fact, I’m not really taking in the way he looks. I’m just staring at him. Staring and staring at him, unable to speak; unable to frame any of thought at all except: twenty-five million pounds (pp. 212).
The quality of Rebecca of being shopaholic can also be seen in her work time. In the story tells that one day Rebecca finds a Saturday side job as a shop assistant in Ally Smith. While she is working, she hides the item which the customer has chose, just because she wanted it for a long time and as soon as she has been paid she would buy it, because of doing that ridiculous thing she was 38
fired (pp. 130). From the description of Rebecca presented in the text above, the writer is sure that Rebecca is a shopaholic person.
B. The Representation of the Late 20th Century Cosmopolitan London
Women in the Characteristics of Rebecca
As explained before, in this part the writer will compare the characteristics of Rebecca in the story with the actual condition of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. Therefore the review on British in the late 20th century will be considered. By considering the characteristics of the cosmopolitan
London women in the late 20th century, the writer will find out the similarities of the characteristics of cosmopolitan London women in the late of 20th century and the characteristics of Rebecca in the story. Here are the characteristics of Rebecca in the story that represent the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women.
1. Independent
From the first part of the analysis, the writer has found that one of the characteristics of Rebecca is an independent woman. In this part the writer will match the characteristic of Rebecca as an independent woman with the characteristic of cosmopolitan London women in the late 20th century. Here, the writer will prove that the characteristic of Rebecca of being independent is the representation of the late 20th century London cosmopolitan woman. For British women, 1990s is identical with women’s movement which included pressure for changes in lifestyle, and social arrangements that put women’s needs and 39
expectations in a more central position. Job and lifestyle became more important than as aspiration for women, rather than replacing house and family (Black,
2000:282). Historically, seen in 20th century, the enormous advance in women’s right as some women in higher social spheres refused to obey the sex roles dictated to them. As they entered the workforce, women gained economic power as well. Law designed to protect women’s right were enacted including the Equal
Pay Act of 1970. Major actions on the women’s movement were done by feminists, who were active in advocating right for women, their actions and words often motivated and inspired such movements (Glencoe, 2000:876-877). The late of 20th century was the period of women’s liberation in Britain. The women feel free to show their aspiration and their existence. Many women decide to live independently therefore they work for money for their own living. London women choose to live independently to show their existence as a cosmopolitan London woman.
In previous part the writer has analyzed that Rebecca also has to face this kind of circumstances. In her age, Rebecca prefers to be a single woman who works as a journalist to earn money for her own living and she also has to take care of everything by herself. Therefore the writer finds outs the similarity between the characteristics of the cosmopolitan London women in the late 20th century and Rebecca in the text that of being independent. From this similarity, the writer is sure that Rebecca represents the late 20th cosmopolitan London women.
40
2. Fashionable and stylish woman
The second characteristic of Rebecca that the writer will try to analyze by matching it with the actual condition of cosmopolitan London women in the late
20th century is fashionable and stylish. From Rebecca’s characteristic that is fashionable and stylish, the writer analyzes the actual condition of the cosmopolitan London woman in the late 20th century. Attempt in the late of 1990 is suggested as modish urban life which concerns more on fashions, trends, and lifestyle (Black, 2000:300). At that time London has already been estimated as the biggest fashion city beside Milan, Paris, and New York and it is home for several famous world designers (http://www.smarter.com/fashion-books/fashion-world- cities-/pd-ch-1-pi-2279196html). The important of fashion in London also has estimated by its participation in the biggest fashion event, World’s Fashion Week.
World’s fashion week is the biggest fashion industry event which allow fashion designer to show their latest trend. Most importantly, it lets the fashion lovers know what is in and out for that season. The most prominent World Fashion
Weeks are held in the fashion capitals like Milan, Paris, London, and New York
City (http://www.smarter.com/fashion-books/fashion-world-cities-/pd-ch-1-pi-
2279196html). London offers a pick up place for latest designer collection and some of the world's most famous department stores are based in it including
Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols which are full by dozen of designer clothing stores ; therefore many citizens were accustomed to be fashionable and stylish person. London people were treated indirectly to be a stylish person as the result of the existence of living in London. 41
In the story Rebecca is described as a fashionable and stylish woman. She really concerns about her performance, especially about her outfit. She also expenses her outfit in those famous department stores mentioned above. Therefore the writer finds out the similarity between the characteristic of cosmopolitan
London women in the late of 20th century and Rebecca in the text that of being fashionable and stylish. From this similarity, the writer is sure that Rebecca represents the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women.
3. Brand-minded woman
In this part the characteristic of Rebecca that is brand-minded will be analyzed deeper related to the actual condition. In the late of 20th century, the trend of purchasing famous brand products grows stronger in British society. This trend causes a tendency of people to identify which products they consume, especially famous brand products. Formerly only wealthy people could afford to buy Chanel, Gucci, Dior or Louis Vuitton, but then as the market world going larger, more and more people are attracted with passions of famous brands. Those big name brand products indicated the status of a person. Therefore, people feel interested and think it is necessary to purchase those products in order to be in style with the society by expensive things or search for the membership in brand orientedsociety.(http://www.londonprogressive.org.uk/gale/newsletters/pdfs/fall20
06.pdf#page=25). By wearing famous brand products they seem to give impression that they are elite and hence their confidence or self-satisfaction is increased. 42
Rebecca also deals with this condition, in the story Rebecca is described as a person who gets obsessed with world-class brand products. She joins the ranks of the consumer of Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel or other famous brands by always wearing their products in order to keep in style and also catch the other’s impression. Based on the comparison between the characteristic of Rebecca in the story and the actual condition of British society at that time, the writer finds out that the similarity between them is being brand minded person. Therefore the writer believes that Rebecca is the representation of cosmopolitan London women in the late of 20th century.
4. Shopaholic
As explained in the review on Britain in late 20th century, the major shift of English’s urban constructions in the second half of twentieth century are the respond on increasing affluence and changes in the economic and industrial structure after Second World War. This condition gradually led to an increased interest in consumption as a cultural significant activity which constructs lifestyle and expresses status (Edgar and Sedgwick, 2002:80). At that time, the new shopping patterns develop with the rise of the supermarket and hypermarket to accommodate taste and spheres of purchasing and leisure activity of the consumer society. The facilities of credit cards as the easy way of payment also give big influence in shopping activity
(http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=653382). The past two decades have seen as compulsive shopping period, in which people cannot control their buying habit. It is considered to the result of a research that an estimated 2.5 43
million people in Britain can be described as a compulsive shopper. The condition of compulsive shopping happens because of more people suffering self image problems in society so that they attempt to recover by purchasing goods that directing to boost personal identity (http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-
4922727.html). The disorder of purchasing and spending money grows fast especially among London women. It happens because they live in a society taken over by consumerism, a tendency of people to identify strongly with products they consume, especially brands and status enhancing products
(http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journal_of_womens_history/v018/18.4ne chtman.pdf). Many women are attracted to the advertised products in market and feel need to have them in order to satisfying their own selves.
In the story, Rebecca is described as a shopaholic person who is trapped in
London shopping facilities; she has strong desire and obsession to do shopping.
The habit of Rebecca as a shopaholic person who is always attracted to advertised product and feel need strongly to buy them in order to satisfy her own self matching with the qualities of cosmopolitan London women in the late of 20th century who love to do shopping as the writer has described previously.
After considering the characteristic of the early 20th century cosmopolitan women, the writer finds out that there is a similarity between the characteristic of
Rebecca in the story and the characteristic of cosmopolitan London women of being shopper. Therefore, by that similarity the writer is sure that Rebecca is the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women.
44
C. The Criticism on Consumptive Lifestyle Revealed from the Satirical
Characteristics of Rebecca as the Representation of the Late 20th Century
Cosmopolitan London Women
In the previous analysis, the writer has analyzed the characteristics of
Rebecca that represent the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. The representation of London women which is brought by Rebecca, indeed, can give close insight about the women condition in cosmopolitan London in the late 20th century. The theory of the relation between literature and society stated that literature is a social creation which represents life or social reality (1965: 94-95).
Further, it explains that literary work can play its role as a document that record social realities, happen in society, which is artistically portrayed by the author
(1956:102). This theory stated that literature could be the portrayal of the social condition in society. Therefore, the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women through characterizations of Rebecca is not merely portrayal of the condition at that time. But, the representation also brings idea which the author wants to show to the reader.
In the previous problem formulations, the writer does not only analyze the characteristics that match to the characteristics of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women, but also it analyses the characterization of the character that can give the writer view to the women condition at that time. As the writer proves that the main character, Rebecca is the representation of the late 20th century Cosmopolitan London women and by the evidence of the representation, the writer elaborates the satirical characteristics of Rebecca. Character is an 45
element in representing the satire, especially indirect satire (Joan, 2001: 10). It is supported by Abrams who says that the most common form of a fictional narratives, in which the object of satire are the characters who make themselves and their opinion ridiculous by what they think, say, and do and are something made ridiculous by the author’s comments and narrative style (1977:155). The most modern satire is indirect satire, in which the satirist creates a story or play peopled with characters who speak and act in such a manner that they themselves are the targets of satire (http://www.cccoe.net/essaytutor/litterms/litterms12.html).
In this part of the analysis, the writer will display the subjects of satire that are revealed through the characterization of the main character. Since the novel tells about the life of Rebecca as a London woman means it portrays the women’s life at that time, the characteristic of Rebecca become the subject to be attacked by the author in order to reflect the woman’s life. Rebecca is the main character who plays an important role to show the satire, therefore the author often ridicules
Rebecca in the story that is obviously addressed to criticize women since Rebecca is the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. In the story Rebecca is ridiculed by her two characteristics. First, the author ridicules
Rebecca as a woman with a brand minded way of thinking. As explained in the previous analysis that Rebecca is a woman who is really obsessed by famous brand fashions. She loves wearing famous brand fashions. In the story, the author clearly mentions several world-class brands such as Dior, Channel, Louis Vuitton,
Emporio Armani, Jimmy Choos, Hermes, Mark and Spencer, Elle and others as the important part of Rebecca’s life. The author often ridicules Rebecca’s action or speech, which relate to her brand minded way of thinking. 46
In the story, Rebecca often shows her ridiculous action in having famous brand items. Rebecca emphasizes the effects of wearing those branded item on her.
She comes and drapes the scarf around my neck and I gape at my reflection. There is no question. I have to have this scarf. I have to have it. It makes my eyes look bigger, it makes my haircut look more expensive, it makes me look like a different person. I’ll be able to wear it with everything. People will refer me as the Girl in the Denny and George scarf (pp. 15-16).
As he nods, my grasp tightens round the bowl. I can’t believe it. I’m holding a piece of Elle Decoration. How cool is that? Now I feel incredibly stylish and trendy—and wish I were wearing white linen trousers and had my hair slicked back like Yasmin Le Bon to match (pp. 50).
Rebecca gives too much her own impression of wearing Denny and George scarf and having Elle’s bowl. Actually those impressions do not come from the beauty of that scarf but the impressions come because it is Denny and George’s scarf, so do the Elle’s bowl. Moreover, in order to get her Denny and George, Rebecca lies to Luke Brandon by saying that she need to owe ₤20 cash to buy a present for her sick aunt (pp. 26). Rebecca even lied in order to get her famous branded scarf. In the story Rebecca is characterized as a fashionable and stylish woman who often wears impeccable outfit. She has a ridiculous habit that is itemizing the outfits she was wearing and she never forgets to mention its brands.
It takes me all afternoon to decide on an outfit. There’s a lot of trying on, and mixing and matching, and suddenly remembering things at the back of my wardrobe. (I must wear those purple jeans sometimes.) but eventually I go for simple and straightforward. My nicest black suit (Jimmy Choos, two years ago), a white simple T-shirt (Mark & Spencer), and knee-high black suede boots (Dolce and Gabbana) (pp. 333).
47
I surreptitiously run my gaze over Amy’s trouser suit again—and I find my eye landing on an Emporio Armani label. I can’t quite believe it. The assistants wear Emporio Armani! So what’s Jill herself going to be in? Couture Dior? God, I love this place already (pp. 162).
From the quotation above, the author ridicules Rebecca’s thought in relation to branded fashion. Rebecca already loves her new office only because the office assistant wear Emporio Armani trouser. The characterization of Rebecca of being brand minded woman is so intolerable. It is ridiculous to have well educated woman gets trapped in her hideous obsession on branded fashions. Here, the author wants to show Rebecca’s disability in defining the need. Rebecca fails to differentiate what she needs and what she wants because of her consumptive habit. Actually, Rebecca needs clothe as a primary need which can protect her body, not the brand of that clothe, but since Rebecca lives in a society which the trend of purchasing famous brand products grows stronger and this kind of trend causes a tendency of people to identify which products they consume especially brands and status enhancing products. In the story Rebecca often imagines how people will be impressed by the branded fashion which she wears. Rebecca feels prestigious by wearing world-class brands of fashion; therefore she consumes world-class brand fashions. From the explanation above, the writer finds that the author wants to show what Rebecca actually consumes for. The author wants to show that Rebecca consumes the meaning of branded fashions as the way she expresses her status. Rebecca no longer consumes the real function of a dress, but she wants to make other people get impressed by wearing that branded dress. The lifestyle of Rebecca which consumes the meaning of famous brand fashions has been used to criticize the lifestyle of women at that time. Second, the author ridicules Rebecca by putting her character as a shopaholic woman. She is 48
characterized as a woman who really obsessed by shopping. She cannot control her expensive habit, therefore she gets into her financial problem. She has several credit card bills from several Banks which must be paid. Here, Rebecca is ridiculed by her thought about shopping. Rebecca has her own opinion about shopping. It can be seen from the quotation below.
I almost want to cry out loud, the moment is so wonderful. That moment. That instant when your fingers curl round the handles of a shiny, uncreased bag—and all the gorgeous new things inside it become yours. What’s it like? It’s going hungry for days, then cramming your mouth full of warm buttered toast. It’s like waking up and realizing it’s weekend. It’s like the better moment of sex. Everything else is blocked out of your mind. It’s pure, selfish pleasure (pp. 30).
Although she has decided to live in frugality and simplicity because she is in debt, she always has her own excuse to do shopping. Rebecca’s ridiculous thought about shopping is she always thinks that shopping is a good investment for her life although she does not really need to do shopping. It can be seen from the quotation below.
It only costs forty-five quid. And I can put it on VISA. Look at it another way—what’s forty-five quid in the grand scheme of things? I mean, it’s nothing, is it? So I buy it. The most perfect little cardigan in the world. People will call me the Girl in the Grey Cardigan. I’ll be able to live in it. Really, it’s an investment (pp. 68).
Rebecca’s intolerable habit of purchasing leads her in into extravagant spending. On her shopping activities she often spends too much or buys useless things in order to satisfy her desire on shopping. Although she faces financial problem in debt, she still cannot control herself to stop her expensive habit. In the story Rebecca is described as a woman who lives in London which offers various shopping facilities such as credit cards as the easiest way of payment, many exclusive designer stores, and hideous shopping places in London shopping street 49
which offer many promotions and sales. Rebecca is one who enjoys those facilities. She has several credit cards which she has used to shopping and enjoying sales in Harrods, Harvey Nicols, Selfridges, and several designer boutiques. Rebecca is characterized as a woman with strong desire in shopping who is supported by the shopping facilities which are given by the society, therefore Rebecca falls deeper in her own shopaholic world.
The above explanation shows the irony of Rebecca of being career woman who works as a financial journalist in Successful Saving magazine. As a financial journalist, Rebecca fails to control her own finance. She should be a good advisor for her readers, since her work is to give advices to the reader about how to organize their money. In fact, she has no knowledge about finance although she works for three years. As described in the story, in giving advices, she is only copying out the finance press release (pp. 10). This is the satirical part of Rebecca who described as a financial journalist but she faces her own financial problems because she cannot use her money wisely. Rebecca spends most of her time by doing shopping with her credit cards. For Rebecca, shopping is no longer an activity, but it gives her private pleasure more than anything.
Relates to the theory of satire which is explained before, the writer proves that Rebecca is satirical character that the author uses as a device to criticize the
London women lifestyle at that time which is trapped in compulsive shopping behavior. The satirical characteristics of Rebecca show the condition of London women from author’s point of view, and that is the author choice in presenting such characteristics of London women in the story. 50
The theory representation states that there are facts standing behind the representation. The fact will be found by piercing through the veil of visible to what the visible secretes or embodies (Gibson, 1996: 81-82). The representation through the characteristics of Rebecca does not only bring the similarities, but it also gives the writer idea to recognize the characteristics of London women at that time found in satirical characteristics of Rebecca of being brand minded woman and shopaholic. These satirical characteristics of women show the bad side of the women lifestyle at that time. Therefore, based on the characterization of satirical character of Rebecca as the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan
London women, the writer recognizes the satirical characteristics of Rebecca as the author’s device to criticize women lifestyle at that time which are taken over by consumerism, a tendency to continually consuming products which can mount up their status. The writer believes that the criticism is the idea that stands behind the representation of the late 20th century Cosmopolitan London women. Through the satirical characteristic of the main character which are brand minded and shopaholic, the author wanted to criticize London women consumptive lifestyle as the effect of consumerism.
The author may criticize her environment through her work. One way might be used is satire. London, the city in which the author comes from has been the object of her writing. Her intimate knowledge of the city reflected in her story,
Confessions of a Shopaholic which is largely set in London. In her Confessions of a shopaholic, the author presents women lifestyle at her time. In the second half of 20th century, the trend of purchasing famous brand products grows stronger in 51
her society. The big name brand products indicate the status of a person.
Therefore, people feel need and interest to purchasing those products in order to keep in style with the society by expensive things or search for the membership in brand oriented society
(http://www.londonprogressive.org.uk/gale/newsletters/pdfs/fall2006.pdf#page=2
5). As described in the story, the author puts Rebecca in this kind of circumstances. As the writer analyzed in previous part, Rebecca is satirically characterized as a brand minded woman who loves to have world-class brand fashions. Rebecca shows her existence as a London woman by wearing branded outfits. This kind of life style creates new indicator to indicate personal status. The more a person uses branded fashion, the more she is appreciated by the others. In this case many women become brand minded women, they compete to get impressions as much as they could by consume the branded fashions more. Using characterization of the satirical character of Rebecca of being brand minded woman as the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women, the author wants to criticize women consumptive lifestyle which concern more in increasing the consumption of branded fashions in order to be appreciated by the others.
Next, by using the satirical characterization of Rebecca of being shopaholic as the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women, the author wants to criticize the consumptive lifestyle which reflects on the women behavior. The society in which the author lives is full with fashions, brands and shopping places. London offers world's most renowned department 52
stores including Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols
(http://www.smarter.com/fashion-books/fashion-world-cities-/pd-ch-1-pi-
2279196html). The Mayfair district, which includes Bond Street, is home to many exclusive designer stores and boutiques. The famous street markets of London, that shot to fame in the 1960s are also well known and include Carnaby Street,
Notting Hill and Camden Town. They were molders of taste and spheres of purchasing and leisure activity at the centre of the consumer society (Black,
2000:233). It is impossible for London to have hideous shopping places without consumer society in it. London offers hideous shopping places, exclusive designer boutiques, and credit cards as the easy way of payment. Those facilities are provided to support its society shopping activities. Each bank in London competes to give easiness to propose credit cards, therefore over last thirty years credit cards have become increasingly available and used more by most segments of society
(http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=653382). However, the credit card which offers easiness in payment, shopping facilities, and advertisements is also a way to encourage people to be consumerist. The representation of women in the characterization of Rebecca of being shopaholic gives us description about women lifestyle in London which is trapped in compulsive shopping because of its shopping facilities. As described in the story, Rebecca is a shopaholic who could not control her desire on shopping. Rebecca is also described as a woman who has several credit cards and uses its facilities in shopping. Related to the
London historical background, the past 20 years have seen compulsive shopping, where people find they cannot control their buying habit 53
(http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4922727.html). In the story Rebecca is described as a financial journalist who faces financial problem because her extravagant shopping. As a financial journalist, she should be a good advisor for her reader since her work is giving advises to the reader who has financial problems. She fails to control her buying habit because she is trapped in consumerism which is supported by hideous shopping facilities, related to the late
20th London historical background which explains that London women seems taken over by consumerism(http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journal_of_womens_history
/v018/18.4nechtman.pdf) . This is the lifestyle of the late 20th century London women that the author wants to tell to the reader. It seems that the author puts
Rebecca with bad behavior in shopping to criticize London women consumptive lifestyle since Rebecca is the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan
London women.
By the above analysis, the writer proves that satirical characteristics of
Rebecca of being brand minded and shopaholic are devices used by the author to criticize the late of 20th cosmopolitan London women consumptive lifestyle, a lifestyle which is trapped in continual increase in consumption activities as the effect of consumerism.
54
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
From the analysis in the previous chapter, it can be observed that Rebecca as the main character in Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic has several prominent characterizations. In the story Rebecca is characterized as an independent woman. She is a high lifestyle woman who lives in the trendiest apartment in London. She is a fashionable and stylish career woman who always dresses implacably. Rebecca is a compulsive shopper who cannot control her desire on shopping, almost the entire story tells Rebecca’s shopping activity, that is why she is characterized as a shopaholic. Lastly, Rebecca is trapped in debts because of her extravagant hobby in shopping. She becomes a money oriented woman since she has to find money to pay her all debt. The characterizations of
Rebecca have some similarities with the characteristic of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. The similarities do not only become the description about the London women’s life, but these prove that the main character in the story is the representation of London women at that time.
Rebecca’s characterizations bring the characteristics of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. The first characteristic of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women found in Rebecca is her being independent.
Second, Rebecca portrays the London women characteristics at that time that is fashionable and stylish. Third, Rebecca is a portrayal of London women at that time whom has brand minded way of thinking. Lastly, Rebecca is the description
54 55
of a London woman who is trapped in compulsive shopping. The finding above is only the characterization of the main character which shows the similarities between the characterization of the main character and the characteristics of cosmopolitan London women at that time. This finding is only to prove that the main character, Rebecca is the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan
London women.
After proving that Rebecca is the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women, the analysis moves to the last problem formulation.
The previous problem formulation does not only answer how Rebecca represents
London women but it also analyzes the characterization of Rebecca which can reveal the negative side of women lifestyle which is presented by the author. By the evidence of the characterization of Rebecca as the representation of London women at that time, the writer elaborates the satirical characteristics of Rebecca from the story. The writer finds that the author wanted to show the subjects of satire that is revealed through the characterization of the main character, so the author often ridicules Rebecca in the story which is used as the subject to be attacked by the author in order to reflect the women condition. The writer finds two satirical characteristics of Rebecca, the first is brand minded woman and the second is shopaholic. The author ridicules Rebecca as a woman who is obsessed by world-class brand fashions. Therefore, from that characterization the author wants to reveal Rebecca’s ridiculous way of thinking. The writer finds that the author wanted to show that Rebecca no longer consumes the function of a dress, but she consumes the meaning of wearing branded dress. Then, the author 56
ridicules Rebecca by putting her character as a compulsive shopper who cannot take control on her own shopping desire. The satirical point is Rebecca who described as a financial journalist who yet fails to control her own finance because of her compulsive shopping. The analysis finds two satirical characteristics of
Rebecca which show the negative side of women lifestyle since Rebecca is the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women. Therefore, the writer recognizes the two satirical characteristics of Rebecca as the author’s device to criticize women consumptive lifestyle at that time. The writer believes that the criticism is the idea that stands behind the representation of the late 20th century Cosmopolitan London women. Through the satirical characteristic of the main character which are brand minded and shopaholic, the author wanted to criticize women lifestyle. The analysis shows that Rebecca is satirically characterized as a brand minded woman who loves to have branded fashions. This kind of lifestyle becomes the subject of the author’s criticism toward the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women lifestyle because brand minded way of thinking presented in the story creates new indicator to indicate personal status which different with the mass. The physical performance is more important to indicate the status of a person, therefore the more a person uses famous brand fashions, the more she is appreciated by the others. In this case many women become brand minded, and then they compete to get impressions as much as they can by consuming the branded fashions. Using characterization of the satirical character of Rebecca of being brand minded woman as the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women, the author wants to criticize 57
women which concern more in physical performance by wearing branded fashions in order to be appreciated by the others, therefore they increase their consumption on branded fashions.
Lastly, by using the satirical characterization of Rebecca of being a shopaholic as the representation of the late 20th century cosmopolitan London women, the author wants to criticize the consumptive lifestyle which is reflected on the women behavior. The representation of London women in the characterization of Rebecca gives us description about woman lifestyle in London which is influenced by consumerism. In the story, Rebecca lives in the centre of
London which is full with fashions, brands, shopping places and shopping facilities. She is also described as a financial journalist who fails to control her own finance because her extravagant shopping. In this case, the author wants to show the reader about women condition in London at her time, and then through the satirical characterization of Rebecca of being brand minded woman and shopaholic, the author wants to criticize women consumptive lifestyle as the effect of consumerism.
58
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Maria, K. Confessions of a Shopaholic: All About Romance, The Back Fence of Lovers of Romance Novels.
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APPENDIX
Appendix: Summary of Sophie Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic
25-year-old Rebecca Bloomwood called Becky is the main character in the story. She is a London career woman who ironically works as a financial journalist at Successful Saving magazine. Her job is give financial advises for consumers on personal savings and investment strategies. In contrary condition she is a shopaholic, shopping is her only hobby and a true addiction for her.
Rebecca has a fabulous flat in London's trendiest neighborhood, a group of glamorous socialite friends, and a wardrobe full with the must-haves famous brand item. Rebecca’s life is only about fabulous pair of new shoes for her foot; branded fashions, perfect little hand bag. The only trouble is that she can't actually afford it. Her job writing at Successful Savings not only bores and makes her to tears; it doesn't pay enough at all mix together with an unhealthy obsession for shopping, The only reason that makes her keeps going on work is her love of shopping. It also causes the many money problems which she has accumulated because of her passion of shopping. Lately Becky's been chased by miserable letters from Visa and the Endwich Bank, letters with large red sums that she can't bear to read and they were getting harder to ignore. She owes her friends money.
But she just can't stop spending because she loves things and she loves the rush she gets from buying them. Becky clearly cannot handle her desire of shopping, day by day she always buy something although she realize that those things were not really important for her. Becky is in more serious debt, but she is trying to
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figure out ways to get out of it. She tries cutting back; she even tries to make more money by trying to get another job. She finds one, a Saturday job working at Ally
Smith clothing store. She is very excited about working there, but when she finds a pair of pants on a sale rack and tries to hide them from a customer for herself, she is fired. None of her efforts to use money wisely succeed. Then, without another job, no money, bills and debt which are growing up, she agrees to a date with the wealthy bachelor, but they are not meant to be. Then Becky gives her parents' neighbors some bad financial advice by accident. Her life is a mess;
Rebecca doesn't know what to do with her life, as things go from bad to worse, the she returns home to avoid the whole messy situation she has made for herself.
Finally a story arises that Becky actually cares about, and her front-page article that transforms her life, she ends up writing a piece for a tabloid about the company that ripped off all her parents' neighbors and other customers. The article goes over well, and she ends up on a talk show called Morning Coffee. She is so popular that she gets a spot on the show that pays her enough that she can quit her other job and pay off her debt. In the end, she still commit with her habit on buying something.