Checking the academic level of our writing

 Y'ello folks, maybe it's useful for ye! Check it out:

Writing academic articles like journal in English is challenging to some people. We are often unsure whether our writing is already academic or not. 

Actually, there is one feature/test in ms.words that can answer our doubt. We can use it to check how academic our writing is. 

I wanna share the information as I believe it will be beneficial for my friends, especially for last year students. 

Here are the Steps: 

1. Click the File Tab, and then click Options. 

2. Click Proofing. 

3. Under When correcting spelling and grammar in Word, make sure the Check grammar with spelling check box is selected. 

4. Select show readability statistics. 

5. After you enable this feature, open a file that you want to check. Make sure the language is English US or UK. 

6. Highlight the texts or paragraph that you want to check. Then, click review tab > spelling and grammar. After that, click no when there is a pop up to check the rest of the document. 

7. When Word finishes checking the spelling and grammar, it displays information about the reading level of the document. 

Notes: The one that you should see on the information box is the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. For example, if your Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level is 7, that means your writing level is similar to 7th grade student's writing and suitable to be read by the same grade students. If you are a college student, the score that you are supposed to obtain should range from 13-16. That means your writing fulfills university writing standard and it's already academic.

The result can be considered accurate because the test rates text on U.S. school grade level. However, if you have non-English words in your writing or paragraph, the result might be slightly inaccurate. 

I'll give you an example. I used my thesis abstract to be tested with this feature. In my abstract, I have several non-English words like Balai Bahasa and Jawa Timur. The result that I got after using this readability test is 17.2. In my case, 17.2 is still considered okay and academic. I concluded that the result might be slighly inaccurate because some non-English words are present in my text. Nevertheless, if you get higher than 17 even 20, that means your writing is too complicated and complex, not understandable. 

In another word, your language mastery level is as same as Noam Chomsky. Too sophisticated until no one understands what you write. If you wanna remain ordinary human unlike Mr. Chomsky, consequently, you have to revise your text by simplyifing some sentences and breaking down your excessively long sentences (reducing the number of clauses in one sentence).

Thanks to my classmate for this tips .

To get kids interested in maths we have to make it real

this one is a nice post from a good friend from AUS, let's have a look .

I'll start by being upfront. I take a very pragmatic view of maths. I'm not a pure mathematician. I'm not a person who finds it inherently beautiful... Sure it can be cool, interesting, illuminating even sometimes exciting, but never beautiful (at least in my mind). Fundamentally, I see maths as a tool, not something that should be studied for the sake of it. And I think that one thing our maths education forgets is that most people would agree with me. Much of what we learn in maths is fundamentally useless, or at least it appears that way. And this is a problem...
In a time when the amount on people taking higher maths is rapidly decreasing, we still continue teaching the same irrelevant problems. Graphing x against y is, by itself, useless. In reality, professionals rarely graph x against y, and even more rarely for the sake of it. Finding the midpoint of a line is not inherently useful either, if that line is just a line on a page. And, let's be honest, it's not very interesting either.
However, if we give these mathematical applications physical meanings, we make maths interesting and relatable to our world. Now we are graphing a car's speed against its time traveled, or we are finding the midpoint of a railing we want to hang flowers on. The maths we teach our children is almost always useful in the real world, its just not taught that way; this leaves pupils wondering "when will we ever need to know this?" This shouldn't be the case, we should make it clear where this knowledge will serve our students in the future. Sure some teachers can do this, but many either can't or try to. If we make these applications a part of our syllabus we increase the resources available to teach these things. Essentially, if maths is viewed as something that is useful students will study it and more will study it at a high level. Education is becoming more career centered and we need maths to appear as a solution to the increasingly difficult job market to make it appealing and increase enrollments.

The Origin Name of February

Though February is the shortest month of the year, it often feels like the longest in cold, snowy climates. Why does the month have only 28 days? 

First here’s a little history of our calendar. The original Roman calendar only had ten months, because the winter was not demarcated. In the 700s BC, the second king of Rome Numa Pompilius added January and February to the end of the calendar in order to conform to how long it actually takes the Earth to go around the Sun.The two new months were both originally 28 days long. It is lost to history why January acquired more days, though there are various unverifiable hypotheses. At that time, March 1 became New Years’ Day. Later, in 153 BC, the beginning of the year was moved to January 1.

The word February comes from the Roman festival of purification called Februa where people were ritually washed. There is a Roman god called Februus, but he is named after the festival, not the other way around. Other months, like January, are named after Roman gods.
The interesting linguistic story, though, lies in England. Before we adopted the Latin name for the second month, Old English used much more vibrant names to describe it. The most common Old English name was Solmonath, which literally means “mud month.” It is pretty clear what they were describing. A lesser-used term was Kale-monath, which meant “cabbage month.” We can imagine that the English were eating a lot of cabbage in February in the 1100s.

What do you think of February?

a review of my first writing

i started to write a short story , a horror one, when i was 8 yo. i still remember, my brother bought me so many Goosebumps novels and i was so infatuated with them. RL stine is a great author, and i could say, he is one of my inspirations to write a novel when i was kid.

i loved to create fictional characters using my friends' names, or borrowing one of their prominent characteristics, or just secretly "spilled" their secrets in my stories, hahhaha. but this one i never forget is the novel i had created when i was 11 to 12 yo (during primary six to secondary one) about a vicious circle of love.

first of all, i wrote that novel was because i was inspired one of the movies i watched (i forget the title :/ it was a Hollywood - unpopular indie movie) and there was a character named Randy. Randy in that movie, was a popular and rich guy, and he dated most of girls in high school but he secretly loved a nerd girl but he couldn't reach a nerd girl he really liked, :/

from that moment, during the long holiday and nothing to do (because in 2002 i didn't have mobile phone, no laptop, and i was easily bored when i watched TV- TV sucks somehow-ah yes i know :/) that was the time i started writing my very first novel (it contains 102 pages btw :p)

the story is about Sabrina , a 14 yo girl who adored a cute lad (and also a football player) named Randy Montana (i swear, it happened before Hannah Montana itself exist!). Because Randy was very popular, Sabrina or Sabs was afraid to approach him, and only saw him from a far. and one thing changed Sabs' life when she lent Randy her homework. Randy thought that Sabs was cute and sweet girl and since then Randy always tagged along whenever she went. He called Sabs every night and asked her out to eat Ice cream together (it's a nice date for a junior high student, believe me :p). In fact, Randy never told her that he loved her, because he was too afraid and too shy to confess.

on the other hand, Mark, the smartest guy in the class, and also Sabs' good friend, felt jealous when he knew that Randy was in love with Sabs. He knew Randy's secret: Randy ever kissed a girl named Kate in the girls toilet :/ (i know it's suck hahahha). Mark told Sabs that Randy was a playboy and he was not good enough for Sabs, however, she didn't believe him. And suddenly Sabs witnessed Kate kissed Randy in front of his locker room. :o

Sabs was very angry and cried but she couldn't do anything, Randy knew it and chased her but he lost her. Randy apologized but she didnt accept it, "it's too late" she said. Randy told her that Kate forced him to do that thing.

Three days later, Sabs met Tom, a 17 yo high school student who played guitar at her school concert. Tom is mature and seductive, and he saw Sabs was alone in the canteen and he approached her, asked her name and her phone number. Later, Tom visited her house, brought a cute teddy bear as a present, and asked her for a date. They went out to watch movies, and they met Mary, Sabrina's good friend who was very excited and a fan of Tom. Mary thought Sabs flirted Tom and asked him for a date, and she was surprised when Tom explained to her that he wanted the date, not Sabrina. Mary was a bit sad, why wasn't her to have a date with Tom? but she only kept it and never spitted it out.

Later, on the way home, Tom kissed Sabrina in the car, it was her first kiss, Randy hadn't kissed her yet (too bad randy!), then Tom asked her to be his girlfriend. Unfortunately, Sabs couldn't answer it because she still had a feeling for Randy. Tom said, he could wait for the answer.

in the classroom, Mark felt pity about Sabs, because she looked pale, sick, and sad (it was because she was confused about choosing Randy or Tom). he asked why, and she explained all things that happened to her. Mark realized that there was no opportunity to get Sabs' heart so he decided to help her to reconcile with Randy.

Moreover, Randy knew that Tom tackled him, he dated Sabs and it made Randy furious. He came to Tom's school and punched him on his face, then Tom beat him too. In the final,  Tom won the fight (yeah, Tom was taller and more muscular than Randy :p).

Sabs knew that Randy was hospitalized after Tom beat him, and she looked after him and took care of him at hospital. Randy told her that he loved her so much and didn't want her to leave, he asked her to stay with him.

Then she said yes, she loved him too, since the very first time on the first day of school.

Sabs called Mark and told all about the recent story, Mark wanted to meet her at the basketball court. There, Mark confessed his feeling but it was fine if Sabs didn't want him too. Mark liked her  since second grade, and his feeling stayed the same. in the end of story, they remained good friend.

cheesy love story when i was just a kid, and well, i should re-write and publish it i guess :/

A FEMINIST ANALYSIS: MALE GAZE AND SILENCING TOWARDS SYBIL VANE IN WILDE’S THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

To every people who love themselves more than anything.

MALE GAZE AND SILENCING TOWARDS SYBIL VANE CHARACTER IN OSCAR WILDE’S THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY NOVEL:

A FEMINIST ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION

            When people talk about woman, there will be lots of perspectives, meanings, even judgments towards her. A woman is essentially inborn with her speciality, included her body, sex, gender, behaviour and attitude. For hundred maybe thousand years, women are oppressed by rules and conventional system which people called it a gender construction. Women themselves do not know about the advantages and disadvantages in obeying those gender rules which people make, or they could have been zipped by a patriarchal society that silence and them to do whatever men want.

            The word feminist itself is based on a word named “female” or “feminine” which shows both its sex and gender towards woman. All in this world are always have binary opposition, however, according to feminist theorists that binary opposition itself basically from the men’s point of view. Like the word strong/weak, sun/moon, man/woman, male/female, masculinity/femininity are considered as patriarchal thought that the first word which has a good meaning always put in first before the binary and it refers to men.

            The first wave of feminism mostly talks about an oppression towards woman who cannot fight against the patriarchal society in early eighteenth century. We can see from many novels which the authors usually are men, put the figure of woman as a weak, demanding, and irrational one. Men authors in the classic era are more popular than women one since the educated people at that time are usually men, like this famous novel titled The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

            This story tells about an over twenty years old boy named Dorian Gray who is born with perfection of his face and comes from wealthy society. A prosper boy like him belongs to people upper class society, too, which in the story are Lord Henry Wetton and famous artist Basil Hallward. Dorian Gray has many affairs with many women, but one can be noticed is his relationship with Sybil Vane, a young beautiful street actress who is dumped by him since Sybil has no longer show her charming. Not only because of loosing her charming, the reason why he breaks his relationship with Sybil because of Lord Henry’s bad comments about her that make Dorian feels ashamed to his friends.

            It shows that appearance and performance is very important among men. They will feel satisfied when a woman is in a good or beautiful perform and other men adore her, too; it is called a male gaze. This paper will analyze about Sybil Vane character that experience a male gaze and also becomes a victim in silencing women in nineteenth century.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

            How do the male characters show their male gaze towards woman especially to Sybil Vane character in Oscar Wilde “The Picture of Dorian Gray”?

ANALYSIS

            When Dorian Gray meets Sybil Vane, a young and beautiful but belongs to lower class and her job is a street actress, Lord Henry exactly says that she does not deserve Dorian Gray. Lord Henry actually is a wealthy man in his middle-age who never appreciates woman’s existence. He feels that marriage is just a symbol of “a duty”, it is showed from his say about his wife, “When we meet,—we do meet occasionally, when we dine out together, or go down to the duke’s,— we tell each other the most absurd stories with the most serious faces. (Wilde 7)”

            Lord Henry thinks that woman is absurd; he gives an example about marrying a woman will make man having a boring activity like he does. Most of women are represented as irrational and have no idea of what is in patriarchal mind. Men just give all what woman’s want and never ask in deep about what is on woman’s mind. Woman cannot understand what is in man’s thought and man actually does not give a chance to woman to speak up her thought.

            That is a why Irigaray posits that woman has only two choices, to keep quiet (for anything a woman says that does not fit within the logic of patriarchy. In addition, to imitate patriarchy’s representation of herself as if he wants to see her (Tyson 101). It means that woman’s words are meaningless and cannot reach a thing which man calls ‘a patriarchal thought’. This case is strengthen by Lord Henry’s Wetton comment to Sybil Vane after Dorian tells him about her appearance instead he never sees who is Sybil Vane actually,

“Never marry a woman with straw-colored hair, Dorian,’ he said, after a few puffs. ‘Why, Harry?’ .‘Because they are so sentimental.’ ‘But I like sentimental people.’

‘Never marry at all, Dorian. Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed (Wilde 54)”

            In arrogant way, Lord Henry says many things about woman’s existence in his eyes, his male gaze. We can see here, that Lord Henry is depicted as rich, powerful, influential and mature man than Dorian, however, Dorian is depicted as innocent boy who needs advice about life from the expert, including about woman. Sybil Vane becomes a sign of an image of woman’s in male eyes: a doll, a beautiful sculpture whenever man wants to see it, she can be a joy and satisfaction to man’s feeling. From Lord Henry comments about Sybil Vane when Dorian tells him that she is a genius in beauty, “My dear boy, no woman is a genius: women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. They represent the triumph of mind just as we men represent the triumph of mind over morals (Wilde 55).”

            It symbolizes that woman becomes a symbol of winning which is put the importance of man’s power to reach a triumph over woman. For Irigaray, the man looks the woman (subject) and the woman is looked at (object); that is a male gaze (Tyson 102). The more beautiful that man can get, the more he feels proud of himself among his friends, and this is one of reason why Dorian loves Sybil. Because when he looks her on stage, with all of her charm and beauty, he thinks that by loving Sybil, he can make other people feel jealous. All in men’s thought is about competition and power, and winning a beautiful girl can be one of condition that man must get in order to feel triumph.

            At the moment when Dorian shows his lover to Lord Henry and Basil Hallward in order to give him self-appreciation, Dorian has ‘inside’ purpose when he shows Sybil’s charm and beauty, he will win the competition, and he can make other men feel jealous about him. And actually, Lord Henry says that Sybil Vane is the worst artist he ever met and this comment makes Dorian’s feeling broken and directly dumps Sybil Vane.

            Dorian’s reason to break up the relationship cannot be accepted by Sybil Vane. Here, she portrays as mellow and irrational girl who loves Dorian too much. As we can see in Sybil’s utterance, “You came,—oh, my beautiful love!—and you freed my soul from prison. You taught me what reality really is (Wilde 93).” It seems that woman has no choice and stupid (from the sentence: ‘you taught what reality really is’). Wilde depicts the image of woman in less knowledge and less intelligence than man. For Simone de Beauvoir, man is considered as essential subjects or independent, while woman is considered as contingent being or dependent “creature” controlled by circumstances (Tyson 96). Woman is symbolized as dependant person, uneducated and powerless than man, and for patriarchal society, woman also a sign of ‘other’ which can not be compared to them.

            When Dorian Gray dumps Sybil Vane, he says that Sybil has made him proud in front of his friends, and when she cannot give what Dorian (his male gaze) satisfaction, he says he is boring and his friends do too. It is showed in his explanation to Sybil Vane,

“You used to stir my imagination. Now you don’t even stir my curiosity. You

simply produce no effect. I loved you because you were wonderful, because you had genius and intellect, because you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away. You are shallow and stupid. My God! how mad I was to love you! What a fool I have been! You are

nothing to me now (Wilde 95)”

            Dorian characteristic shows how a man needs appreciation and pride among his friends. He will feel satisfied when other men feel jealous towards what he has, including a woman. Woman only becomes a thing, or creature that can be a symbol of man’s power and satisfaction.

CONCLUSION

            In the nineteenth century, woman has become an object in satisfying man’s desire of pride and power. The male gaze that is explained by Irigaray has described what actually inside in most of man’s thought towards woman existence. First wave feminist also reveals about the silencing of woman’s words that she cannot speak up what she actually wants and decides or protests something, in addition, woman also portrays as lack of sense of logic (stupid), dependable and cannot think as well as man does. The character of Sybil Vane in this novel has been clearly exposed what is woman in the nineteenth century: only becomes a portrait of man’s desire and her silence.

WORKS CITED

Tyson, Louis. Critical Theory Today Second Edition. New York: Routledge. 2006

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. E-book.

Miss Vane and Mr. Gray

DORIAN GRAY AND SYBIL VANE

ROBERT BURNS: A RED, RED ROSE ANALYSIS

ROBERT BURNS’ LOVE STORY THAT INFLUENCES IN A RED, RED ROSE POEM

Theoretical background

A red, red rose is one of famous poem by Robert Burns, and was written to be sung. It talks about the romanticism of his “someone”. Someone here seems having a close relationship with the speaker, because he describes “The Someone” with hyperbolic and flowering words. By using the expressive approach, we assume to analyze the historical background of the poet why he wrote this poem. 

Robert Burns was born in Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland, on January 25, 1759, to hard-working farmer parents. He began helping his father with farm work at the age of twelve. The difficulty of the labor later had a crippling effect on his health. Although Burns's formal schooling was limited, he loved to read and for a time he was tutored by John Murdoch, who thoroughly educated him in eighteenth-century English literature.  (Notable Biography)

The family worked hard on the Ayrshire farm and at several others, but their lives were never made easier. Ongoing troubles with landlords and their agents fueled the rebellion that Burns felt against authority, which later became a major theme in his poetry. In 1784 his father died, and the family moved a few miles away to Mossgiel, Scotland. Here and in the nearby town of Mauchline, Scotland, the charming and attractive Burns began numerous love affairs, some of which extended to about 1790, by the end of his short life he was to have fathered fourteen children by six different mothers.  (Notable Biography).

 This paper will analyze how the speaker makes the poem with so much romantic words and by using expressive theory what things that motivated him and his love life which affects it at all.

Analysis

            Burns was famous with his love affair; the first time he writes the love poem is when he was fifteen years old. The poem was called "Handsome Nell" and was about his first love for a girl named Nellie Blair. Throughout his life, Burns was a charming and witty man, attracting the attention of numerous women. Burns, in a later comment on this poem, stated that he had "never had the least thought or inclination of turning poet till I got once heartily in love, and then rhyme and song were, in a manner, the spontaneous language of my heart." (Online)

            From the first and second line in A Red, Red Rose says:

O my Luve’s like a red, red rose .That’s newly sprung in June.

O my Luve’s like the melodie.That’s sweetly play’d in tune .

Burns wants to symbolize his love as a single red rose; newly sprung in June means two meanings; his love begins in June or the the best moment of his affection seems like a rose which blooms its petals on spring. Why a single red rose? Not the red roses (plural)? Because he conveys his love as one and only for the woman he loves, since there is no comparison for his love towards her. Red is the expected hue of the flower, the repetition of the adjective represents the fullest and most adorable thing of the general meaning of rose.

The third and fourth line have meaning that he depicts his love as a melody, a sound which makes him “dance” and follow the tunes and always makes him feel happy. It seems like all his sorrow has gone, the beautiness of the rose makes him forget his dreadful past however music could make somebody feels better and relaxes mind even for a while.

Rose can be captured as a manifestation of a woman; the question is “who is that woman?” . Many research tell that A Red, Red Rose might have given to Jean Armour, his lovely one. In 1786, at age 27, Robert Burns went through a major turning point in his life. He suffered a disappointing love affair with Jean Armour, who was pregnant with his twin sons. The local community and Armour's father were outraged by the affair and her father rejected Burns's offer of marriage. (Online)

Depressed, Burns made plans to leave Scotland and sail to Jamaica in the West Indies. To finance the trip, Burns submitted a volume of his poetry for publication. The publication of 612 copies in a simple, unbound volume was called "Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect," also sometimes known as "The Kilmarnock Edition." The poems were well received in Edinburgh by socialites who were enchanted by the poems and amazed that a poor farmer could write so well.

Instead of planning his escape to a new world, Burns planned a trip to Edinburgh. His confident manner, and his intelligence brought Burns popularity and admiration. Soon, a second publication of his work was executed in Edinburgh. During his live in Edinburgh, Robert Burns met printer James Johnson, who planned a project to print all of the folk songs in Scotland. This project forces Burns and embarked upon a journey throughout Scotland to collect as many folk songs as possible. Burns collected over 300 songs and wrote a few themselves, including "A Red, Red Rose."

Those are written in the fifth until ninth lines:

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,  So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my Dear, Till a’ the seas gang dry.

“ As fair as thou” means that he captures Jean as a clearly and bright creature, enlightens him so everything seems exciting. “My Bonnie lass”, means the good last or th last good for him, although he has many affairs and maybe he cheats from Jean, but at that time the speaker was so deeply in love with her.

And I will luve thee still, my Dear, means he will always love his darling even the distance separates them. We know that Burns had his first journey to Jamaica but he keeps his feeling still to Jean Armour, the sense of both affection remains him so much.  Till a’ the seas gang dry, he will always be into her until the seas going dry or the end comes to him by.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my Dear.

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun.

And I will luve thee still, my Dear,

We can see the repeatation of those lines Till a’ the seas gang dry, my Dear. And I will luve thee still, my Dear, means that he convinces his deep desire towards Jean, assures her to lock their love inside.  And the rocks melt wi’ the sun, has a mean that his journey to another world has no meaning, the speaker is suffocated because of he must leave his love behind.

While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only Luve!

   And fare thee weel, awhile!

And I will come again, my Luve,           

   Tho’ it were ten thousand mile!

O’ life shall run in the line eleven means that he proebly regrets his journey to Jamaica because he thinks he does not deserve a treatment like he got from Jean Armour’s father. Fare thee weel means that how far he goes or she goes that only counts a temporary distance, just for a while for say. And he promises to his own love that he would come back for a good reason and better future.

Conclusion

            One of the most famous songs that Robert Burns wrote for this project and first published in 1794 was "A Red, Red Rose." Burns wrote it as a traditional ballad, four verses of four lines each. It begins with a quatrain containing two similes. Burns compares his love with a springtime blooming rose and then with a sweet melody. These are popular poetic images and this is the stanza most commonly quoted from the poem.

            This poem is originally dedicated forthe speaker’s dearest woman in life, even though he gets many lover in his whole years but the speakers was truly deep in love when he made A Red, Red Rose. Her name is  Jean Armour, a native Scottish woman, whose affection and charmness will have made addiction to Robert Burns. Since her father was furious of the author, they had to separated their pure love in distance. But far away the speaker goes through the ocean, he keeps his feeling still.

            Another happy outcome of this turning point in Robert Burns's life is that he was able to return home and marry his beloved Jean Armour, now with the blessing of her family. Maybe it is because she born twin sons and the speaker finally finds his better future, and proves that he is not a poor man anymore. That is why this poem is very popular; because of the sad story of true love and it is hidden by the vigorous words which talk about the veracity of faithful love.  

References

Perrine, Laurence. Sound and Sense: A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns (page 111). New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World, Inc.

Robert Burns Biography - life, family, children, parents, death, wife, book, old, information, born http://www.notablebiographies.com/Br-Ca/Burns-Robert.html#ixzz1JsNwB4JZ

http://languageisavirus.com/articles/writing/poetry/20126.php

Twilight Novel in Feminist Perspective

Traditional Gender Roles of Bella's Character in Twilight Novel

Stephenie Meyer’s novel tells about an ordinary girl named Bella who does not really look attractive. She is a normal girl that discovers a whole new world that turns her life into a wild adventure since she is naturally born as weak, selfless, and clumsy. The fact that she is all of these things together makes her vulnerable and people feel the need to protect her.
And amazingly, a dazzling vampire named Edward falls in love unconditionally with her.

As the writer of the novel, Meyer did not state clearly the reasons why Edward fall in love to Bella in short time. Edward is portrayed as very handsome vampire, rich, and the fastest and strongest in The Cullen’s family also has ability to read people’s mind. There is no introduction and no flirting between the two, Edward has just loved Bella since he cannot read Bella’s mind and is attracted by Bella’s scent of body.  He always stalks whenever Bella goes, and watches her when she falls asleep.

Meyer succeeds to make the teenagers readers in all over the world really enjoy read this novel. Twilight represents women’s dream about male perfection. Bella is not a popular and very beautiful girl. She has no sex appeal or something interesting. In the opposite, Edward is charming, handsome, rich, and strong. The novel states in the early pages that Edward is hard to reach and doesn’t interest in any girls before Bella comes. This girl-ignorant boy suddenly falls in love to Bella, an ordinary girl. Like Jessica, a friend of Bella, comment about Edward: "That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." (Meyer pp 9)

            This phenomenon matches to every girl dream since in this novel, Edward acts like Bella’s protector. He considers Bella as a fragile and dependant girl so he hardly protects Bella from outside. Edward keeps looking after Bella everywhere and every time because he is mortal and does not need to sleep. These actions make Bella feels comfortable, safe and afraid of Edward’s leaving. According to her statement about her dream in it,

“In my dream it was very dark … I couldn't see his face, just his back as he walked away from me, leaving me in the blackness. No matter how fast I ran, I couldn't catch up to him; no matter how loud I called, he never turned. Troubled, I woke in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep again for what seemed like a very long time. After that, he was in my dreams nearly every night, but always on the periphery, never within reach.” (Meyer pp 31)

Edward is a patriarchal type, he assumes Bella as the inferior “creature”. Even Edward himself calls Bella as a creature, he considers Bella as a very weak person that he can destruct her any times. In addition, Edward also watches over and protects Bella because he knows that Bella is always doing recklessly. This novel represents Meyer’s idea about male perfection through Edward character. She puts her idea into Bella’s character that adores Edward too much and also considers him as the resemblance of beautiful sculpture.

            According to Cixous, patriarchal thinking believes that women are born to be passive while men are born to be active because it is natural for the sexes to be different in this way (Tyson 100). It means that Bella here is described as “the real woman” that man (patriarchal) society always thinks about. Meyer depicts the characters of Bella and Edward as binary opposition between the weak versus strong, since Coxius says it as patriarchal binary thought because man sees the world in terms of opposites.

            Patriarchal society actually needs a comparison, since man as common people know needs a competition to differ himself with another. Man needs a self-confession to be a good protector and always be there whenever and wherever the woman needs. Meyer creates Bella character seems to “satisfy” what man always looks for and dream of: a natural born girl who means she is pure, submissive, needs to be protected and weak. There must be a word weak because weak contrasts with strong which man always wants to.

            Meyer also brings the traditional gender role that woman must be weak, nurturing, submissive and irrational. It is showed very clear in Bella character and either with Edward character who captures the perfect image of patriarchal society (strong, fast, rational, handsome, and rich). The author seems give an idea that being a submissive girl, which according to Cixous, a girl is called a real girl or a good girl when she obeys the traditional gender role.

Bad girl means a girl who refuses man’s order and free to speak up about herself, however, Bella is a unconfident, a cry-baby girl and often to say “yes” when Edward ask her to do something. It is showed when Edward asks her to leave Forks when a vampire named James hunts for her to be eaten. At first, she refuses to leave her home, but when Edward yells at her and promises that her father is okay to be left (because he can read James’ mind that he would not hurt her father), Bella easily follows and obeys his command.

Overall, Meyer offers the example of being a good girl is the best way to catch a single young handsome, gentle and rich like Edward Cullen. In Twilight novel, woman is portrayed in benefit position when she obeys the patriarchal system and confers a thought that being a good girl is advantageous and “profitable” instead being a bad girl who always protests and resists to taking patriarchal shelter.