Demystifying Patriarchal Authority: The Politics of Women’s Oppression in Muna Masyari’s Damar Kambang

Abstract

Patriarchy is a social-cultural order in which men are the dominant entities in the social, political, economic, and family institutions, and women are the sub-ordinate and marginalized beings. Employing feminist theoretical approach proposed by Walby, this paper offers a critical examination of patriarchal power, and the politics of women oppression under patriarchal system as reflected in Damar Kambang by Muna Masyari. Damar Kambang is the story of patriarchal social order in which gendered power relations are legitimized by cultural norms, family structures and moral ideologies. It demonstrates how the social consent and cultural legitimacy reproduces gender inequality and challenges the issue of gender inequality as political by preempting the experiences of women living in oppressive structures. The novelist, Masyari, unveils the different degrees of female oppression which include forced silence, economic dependency and psychological oppression, all of which enhance male dominance. She does not only criticize acts of violence on a personal level perpetrated against women but also questions and critiques the patriarchal structure that allows this violence to thrive. The research findings reveal that patriarchy dominates the bodies, voices and life choices of women. And the novel is a powerful literary intervention that challenges the patriarchal hegemony and contributes greatly to feminist discourses of gender, power, and oppression.

Keywords: Muna Masyari, Damar Kambang, Patriarchal Authority, Women’s Oppression, Gendered Power Relations, Feminist Criticism