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 i I am + God = Enough (Mario Teguh, The Golden Ways) iv This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to My dearly loved parents & My beloved person v 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 x 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.