The Representation of Feminist Ideologies in Roald Dahl’s Matilda

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INTRODUCTION
Matilda is one of Roald Dahl's greatest works. In this novel, the titular character, Matilda, is described as a five-year-old girl Matilda with extraordinary ability, despite her unfavorable family. She was fortunate to meet a dedicated teacher, Miss Honey, who recognized her talents. As a novel focused on a girl's education, the novel has been analyzed both from education and feminist perspectives. From a feminist perspective, Matilda has been analyzed by (Putri & Retnaningdyah, 2018), who found literacy practices in Matilda. Erhart (2017) also analyzed the novel from educational perspectives and argued that the illustration in novels such as Matilda could help children succeed in dealing with anxiety. Beauvais (2015), Hansson (2012), Martens (2015), and Yeni & Ariska (2018) focused on the representation of heroism values in Matilda. In terms of feminism, it has been analyzed by Dickinson (2017), Maynard (2019), Pordadottir (2019), and Shaw & Fard (2018) with different focuses. Adhithya & Latha (1995) focused on the gender roles in the novel and found the representation of patriarchal practices in Matilda.
Feminism is defined as the efforts and struggles of women to get their rights to be recognized for gender equality between men and women (Jenainati & Groves, 2010). Society always treats women physically and intellectually underneath men, which is a crucial concern for a liberal feminist. For feminists, women should attain equality with men and freedom from the marginalizing binary dichotomies that assign women weaker adjectives than men (Blangsinga, Suwastini, Lasmawan, Adnyani, & Rusnalasari, 2021). Liberal feminists pay special attention to the notion that women should have the same opportunity in terms of education and workplace with the same legal rights (Suwastini, 2013). For liberal feminists, women should be androgynous. It means a woman should possess positive masculinity such as intelligence, independence, and strong while maintaining positive femininity such as kindness, affection, and loving (Jenainati & Groves, 2010;Tong, 2009).
The present study relates the popularity of Roald Dahl's Matilda and the importance of promoting feminist ideologies among children and young adults to raise awareness about gender equality. As a novel, Matilda is presented in an arrangement of intrinsic elements. A novel's generic structure consists of theme, plot, character, characterization, point of view, and setting (Boulton, 2013;Gill, 1995). The theme is the general idea of the story. The plot reveals the events of the story in a cause-and-effect relationship. A character is the story's subject, while characterization is the author's information about the character. The point of view presents how the author employs a narrator to present the plot. The setting provides the socio-cultural background, the place where the events take place, and the time when the incidents happen. Thus, the present study aimed to trace the representation of feminist ideologies in the novel's intrinsic elements. The study results are expected to provide examples of women's marginalization and the feminist efforts to fight patriarchal oppression among its readers.

METHOD
The present study focused on Dahl's novel, Matilda, as the subject of study. The novel was first published by Jonathan Cape in 1988. However, in the present study, the novel studied was the 2016 edition, published by Penguin Random House UK. The object of this research was the feminist ideologies reflected in the theme, setting, and characterizations of the major characters in the novel. The study was conducted as an interpretive analysis by employing McKee's textual analysis (2003) with the perspective of liberal feminism as explained by (Rosemarie Tong, 2009). The first step of the data collection included close readings of the novel to get a general idea of its intrinsic elements. This process included segmenting the plot into sequences and subsequences, following the method from ( Thompson, 2010). (Dewi, Suwastini, & Jayantini, 2021) assigned a sequence to an event, while the incidents of that event were called subsequences. The next step was to identify the representation of liberal feminist ideologies in the intrinsic elements. After the representations of the liberal feminist ideologies were identified, they were then elaborated to provide comprehensive arguments about the feminist ideologies represented in the intrinsic elements of the novels. Proofs from the novel were provided to support the arguments. From this elaboration, a conclusion was then drawn. The close readings were repeatedly conducted on the novel through Rosemarie Tong's feminist perspectives to reveal the liberal feminist ideologies represented in the novel.

Result
The present study aimed to identify the representation of liberal feminist ideologies in the intrinsic elements of Roald Dahl's novel. Through textual analysis, the study reveals that feminist ideologies are represented through the novel's theme, setting, and characterizations of the major characters.

Feminist Ideology in Matilda's Theme
The theme is the common idea of the story (Gill, 1995). In Roald Dahl's Matilda, liberal feminist ideologies repeatedly occur in the novel, which becomes a recurring theme in the main characters' interactions and the events that drive the plot developments.
The first liberal feminist ideology presented in the novel is the fight to gain equal access to education. It appeared in sub-sequence 2f when Matilda went to the public library after her family members left her at the house. She spent most of the day reading many books in the public library. It can be seen in the below excerpt.
Excerpt 1 "From then on, every afternoon, as soon as her mother had left for bingo, Matilda would toddle down to the library. The walk took only ten minutes and this allowed her two glorious hours sitting quietly by herself in a cosy corner devouring one book after another. When she had read every single children's book in the place, she started wandering round in search of something else." (Dahl, Matilda, 1988/2016 The narrator described Matilda as a young girl who was brave and independent by walking alone to visit the public library from the words "every afternoon, as soon as her mother had left for bingo, Matilda would toddle down to the library." Matilda passed a busy road to reach that library. Matilda acts as not frightened passed and crossed the busy road alone. Brave character is shown by people who are willing to do difficult things and not frightened to do it (Widasuari, Suwastini, Wahyuni, & Visestayati, 2020). Matilda's effort to find a place to educate herself even when her parents denied to educate her depicted her as having a brave character. Matilda's parents preferred to see their daughter playing and watching television because she was a girl and a kid. Matilda's aparents dismissed Matilda and her education simply because of her gender because, at the same time, they tried to teach Matilda's brother math and business lesson. Besides showing Matilda's bravery, it also showed Matilda's independence in managing herself to decide something as her desire without depending on her parents. It is in line with the research findings by (Utami, Suwastini, Artini, & Kultsum, 2020), who found that independent character is shown when people do not rely on others constantly. Matilda's act as being brave and independent depicted as having liberal feminism ideology. It is in line with (Danardana, 2019) who found that a brave and independent woman is depicted as a liberal feminist.
The words "in a cosy corner devouring one book after saanother" portrays Matilda as a bibliophilic who find her blissfulness while reading books. It is in line with (Putri & Retnaningdyah's, 2018) finding that Matilda did literacy practices related to her hobby of reading books and her blissfulnesssa when reading them. The words, "she started wandering round in search of something else," portrayed Matilda as an intellectual woman who has intelligence to finish reading all children's books and started to find another new book. Matilda's blissfulness when reading books is categorized as bibliophile child, that reading books as her eagerness. The research by (Utami et al. 2020) found that a bibliophilic person is enthusiastic about broadening knowledge through reading. People fond of books signify their intelligence by reading books to study (Payani, Suwastini, & Swandana, 2018). The intelligence of Matilda's brain correlates with being a bibliophile. Moreover, Wollstonecraft in Tong (2009) states that a liberal feminist should aim at being equal with men through education. One of them is by reading books as a medium to educate her/himself as Matilda did. It depicted Matilda as liberal feminism by being intellectual.
The second sub-sequence shows the notion of woman's freedom in the workplace. It emerges in sub-sequence 11b. It comes from a middle-aged woman called Miss Trunchbull. Miss Trunchbull worked as the headmaster in Crunchem Hall School, thus earning her financial independence. It can be seen in the below excerpt. portrayed Miss Trunchbull as independent and had a significant impact at the school. Miss Trunchbull was financially independent in earning money. It is in line with the findings from (Widasuari et al., 2020) that a working woman represented the ideology of independence. Miss Trunchbull also got a headmaster position that proves women can be equal with men in the workplace. Moreover, Miss Trunchbull's power to create a significant impact at the Crumchem Hall School depicted her as a strong woman. Strong means an ability to control others (England, Descartes, Collier-Meek, 2011). (Tong, 2009) also states that a woman's financial independence is a feature of liberal feminism. (Wollstonecrafst in Tong, 2009) adds that a woman should have a strong body and mind as a liberal feminist to gain equality. Thus, Miss Trunchbull's value as a working woman with power in her workplace is depicted as liberal feminism.
The third sub-sequence shows woman's independence in terms of education and the workplace. It appears in sub-sequence 11c. Miss Honey empowered herself as the teacher in Crunchem Hall School to work and to educate the students. Moreover, Miss Honey also shows her beauty through her physical appearance as her feminine. It can be seen in the following excerpt.

Excerpt 3
"Their teacher was called Miss Honey, and she could not have been more than twenty-three or twenty-four. She had a lovely pale oval madonna face with blue eyes and her hair was lightbrown. Her body was so slim and fragile one got the feeling that if she fell over she would smash into a thousand pieces, like a porcelain figure." (Dahl, Matilda, 1988/2016 The narrator described Miss Honey as a working woman from the words, "Their [teacher] was called Miss Honey." Miss Honey teaches the bottom class at Crunchem Hall School. Through her job in the educational field, Miss Honey earns money and survive by herself. Miss Honey's job depicted her as a woman who has intelligence through her education as a requirement to become a teacher. Meanwhile, the money she earned to survive portrayed herself as independent by empowering herself as a working woman. Miss Honey became financially independent through her job, which is another characteristic of a feminist woman (Suwastini,Banjar,Tienty,Sasmita,& Nitiasih,020). It is also supportd by (Tong, 2009), who argues that a liberal feminist is usually financially independent.
Furthermore, the words "She had a [lovely pale oval madonna face] with [blue eyes] and her hair was [light-bsarown]. Her body was so [slim and fragile] one got the feeling that if she fell over she would smash into a thousand pieces, like a [porcelain] figure" highlight Miss Honey's beauty. Miss Honey's physical attractiveness portrays her femininity as Tong (2009) stated that women's beauty is also necessary as part of femininity in family life. Miss Honey could be depicted as a liberal feminist through her physical appearance, such as her slim body and oval face like Madonna. Tong (2009) argues that in a patriarchal society, a woman's physical attractiveness will support her efforts in achieving her professional goals. Nevertheless, although Miss Honey had the quality of being very beautiful, she did notaz rely on her beauty to live. Miss Honey has her independence to survive as the value of liberal feminism.
The act to change the subordinate status of women in society is called feminism (Suwastini, 2013). Matilda's effort to educate herself and Miss Trunchbull's and Miss Honey's independence in empowering their-selves are examples of their movement to gain equality in terms of education and rights. As Tong (2009) states, the act to gain equality in terms of education and rights are the goals of liberal feminism. Thus, Roald Dahl's Matilda contains feminist ideologies as part of its theme.

The Representation of Liberal Feminist Ideology in the Matilda's Setting
Roald Dahl's Matilda presents feminist ideologies, where Matilda and Miss Honey fought against the patriarchal cultures in their family and society. Patriarchal culture is the culture that only prioritizes men's interests (Suwastini, 2013).
The first sub-sequence that shows Mr. Wormwood does the practice of patriarchal culture as Matilda's father. It emerges in sub-sequence 4d. This sub-sequence shows when Mr. Wormwood treats Matilda and Mike differently when he shares the secret of his successful business. It can be seen in the following excerpt. The narrator describes how Mr. Wormwood treats his children differently. The words, "[You couldn't]," the father said. "[You're too stupid]" depicted subordinate treatment for women. Then, the words "But I don't mind telling young Mike here about it seeing he'll be joining me in the business one day" portrayed the act of prioritizing man's interests. The practical of patriarchal culture is already practicedsa since Matilda and Mike were still young. It is in line with (Suwastini, 2013), who states that patriarchal culture occurred since it assumes that women are weak and cannot do as men do. It made Matilda change the subordination by developing her characterization that women can also be equal with men as the goal of feminism, specifically liberal feminism (Tong, 2009).
Mr. Wormwood also did the practice of patriarchal culture, as appeared in subsequence 9h. In this sub-sequence, Mr. Wormwood accused Matilda just because Matilda was so clever to do quick and arithmetic correctly. It can be seen in the following excerpt.
Excerpt 5 "Don't give me that rubbish!" the father shouted. "Of course you looked! You must have looked! No one in the world could give the right answer just like that, especially a girl! You're a little cheat, madam, that's what you are! A cheat and a liar!" (Dahl, Matilda, 1988/2016 Based on the excerpt above, the words "No one in the world could give the right answer just like that, [especially a girl]!" depicted the subordination of women. Mr. Wormwood never believed that his daughter could calculate quickly and correctly. Mr. Wormwood never wanted to admit Matilda's ability. He only knows that girls should not be seen because they are emotional, fool, and weak. He did not realize that Matilda was the exact opposite of the woman he imagined. It has happened since he was practiced the patriarchal culture. (Suwastini, 2013) mentions thsat patriarchal culture harms women because they were underestimated before being given the opportunity about what men can do. Feminism is a tool to make women and men equal in any aspect as its goal (Tong, 2009).
Sub-sequence 15j presents the patriarchal notion that a woman should not be educated. It can be seen in the following excerpt.
Excerpt 6 "Not particularly," the mother said. "I'm not in favour of bluestocking girls. A girl should think about making herself look attractive so she can get a good husband later on. Looks is more important than books, Miss Hunky …"The name is Honey," Miss Honey said "Now look at me," Mrs Wormwood said. "Then look at you. You chose books. I chose looks."." (Dahl, Matilda, 1988/2016 Mrs. Wormwood also practiced patriarchal culture. Mrs. Wormwood has the same thought as her husband that woman is under man. The words, "A girl should think about making herself look [attractive] so she can get a [good husband later on]," portrayed Mrs. Wormwood as a dependent woman. Since she believed that man is capable and strong, she relied on man's power. Mrs. Wormwood only paid attention to her looks and served her husband. She depended on her husband financially. Then, the words, "Looks is more important than books," also depicted Mrs. Wormwood as a traditional woman who has traditional thoughts about education. Education is only for men, she thought. It made her unable to empower herself since she was dependent and fool that always relied on her husband (Suwastini, 2013). In that sub-sequence, Miss Honey's explanation about the importance of education portrayed her effort to make Mrs. Wormwood realize the importance of education to achieve liberal feminism's goal in achieving equality in terms of education (Tong, 2009).
The point of view that always prioritizes man is called patriarchy. It disadvantages women. Women are not given opportunities to do the same thing as men. It made woman could not show their capability. Feminism itself has a goal to achieve equality between women and men. It could break up the oppression of women (Suwastini, 2013). The novel reflects these ideologies through Mrs. and Mrs. Wormwood's treatment of Matilda and Miss Honey. Nevertheless, the two main characters fought back and stood for their beliefs that they could stand together to fight the marginalization they faced. Thus, the social-cultural setting of Roald Dahl's Matilda represents feminist ideologies.

Representation of Liberal Feminist Ideologies in the Characterizations of the Major Characters in Roald Dahl's Matilda
The characters that represent feminist ideologies in Roald Dahl's Matilda are Matilda and Miss Honey. Matilda's characterization is called androgynous. Androgynous means possessing both positive masculinity and positive femininity.
The first sub-sequence shows Matilda's positive masculinity by being independent and intellectual. It emerges in sub-sequence 1h. This sub-sequence shows when Matilda conducts self-taught at her house to read. It can be seen in the following excerpt.
Excerpt 7 "By the time she was three, Matilda had taught herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines that lay around the house. At the age of four, she could read fast and well and she naturally began hankering after books. The only book in the whole of this enlightened household was something called Easy Cooking belonging to her mother, and when she had read this from cover to cover and had learnt all the recipes by heart, she decided she wanted something more interesting." (Dahl, Matilda, 1988/2016 Based on the excerpt above, the words, "[By the time she was three], Matilda had taught herself to read by [studying newspapers and magazines] that lay around the house," portrays Matilda as an independent and intellectual girl. Matilda was independent because she taught herself to prepare her food and to learn to read. It is in line with ) who argue that an intelligent person shows a tendency to teach her/himself. Widasuari, et al. (2020) add that independent character is shown when a person can undertake her/himselfalone without others' help. It portrayed Matilda's act as independence when she taught herself to read newspapers and magazines without others' help. Furthermore, Danardana's (2019) research found that independence is one of the characteristics of liberal feminists.
The narrator also described Matilda as an intelligent girl. The words, "she could [read fast] and well and she naturally began hankering after books," depicted her intelligence that could learn faster than the typical kids at the same age. Sternberg (2003) argues that the ability to learn something quickly is the characteristic of an intelligent person. Women with intelligence could make them develop their rationality to be equal with men. Matilda's intelligence in reading could be as knowledge and source to develop her rationality. Suwastini, Suprianti, & Fitrianti (2018) argue that a woman's intelligence could benefit herself through her strong mind. Hence, Matilda's independence and intelligence portrayed her as liberal feminism by possessing positive masculinity that could benefit her (Tong, 2009).
The second sub-sequence shows Matilda's positive masculinity by being intellectual and brave. It appears in sub-sequence 5f. This sub-sequence shows when Matilda's anger boiled up and her decision to punish her parents whenever her parents behave cruelly to her. It can be seen in the following excerpt. The narrator described Matilda as a mature young girl for her thought and action. The words, "[she lay in bed that night she made a decision]," "[get her own back in some way]" depicted Matilda's intelligence by thinking logically. Previously, the narrator already mentioned that many children like Matilda would cry when adults around them behaved rudely. Instead of crying, Matilda thought about avenging her parents because she knows that crying will not change anything. It is supported by Florea & Hurjui (2015) that the process of thinking logically is based on the relationship between cause and effect. Her intelligence influences matilda's decision. It was proved by how she punished her parents creatively, such as putting superglue in her father's favorite hat, scaring her family with parrot, and changing her father's hair tonic with her mother's hair dye. Matilda only gives punishment to adults that behave rudely to her. Matilda's intelligence presented her as having a liberal feminism ideology (Tong, 2009).
Meanwhile, the words, "she was still hardly [five years] old and it is not easy for somebody as small as that to score points [against an all-powerful grown-up]" portrayed Matilda's bravery. Matilda's bravery against adults, including her parents, who behaved cruelly portrayed as brave action. It is in line with Widasuari et al. (2020) that a brave person shows no fear in doing difficult things. Blangsinga et al. (2021) stated that bravery is a masculine trait usually possessed by men. Matilda's bravery reflects masculine traits that women should possess to get equality. Tong (2009) also stated that a woman with rationality and bravery are the features of liberal feminism. It proved Matilda has value as liberal feminism.
Sub-sequence 28k shows Matilda's positive femininity by being helpful. In this subsequence, Matilda planned to help Miss Honey by using her telekinetic ability. It can be seen in the following excerpt.

Excerpt 9
"Matilda pondered these answers very carefully. "Let me make sure I've got them right," she said. "In the house at home, your father was Magnus, Miss Trunchbull was Agatha and you were Jenny. Am I right?" "That is correct," Miss Honey said. "Thank you," Matilda said. "And now I won't mention the subject any more." Miss Honey wondered what on earth was going on in the mind of this child. "Don't do anything silly," she said. (Dahl, Matilda, 1988/2016 Besides having positive masculinity, the narrator also described Matilda as a helpful person as her positive femininity. The words, "In the house at home, your father was Magnus, Miss Trunchbull was Agatha and you were Jenny," portrayed Matilda's plan to help Miss Honey. Matilda wants to use those nicknames with her telekinetic ability to avenge Miss Trunchbull, who behaved cruelly and denied Miss Honey her rights. It is in line with Stevenson (2006), who states that a helpful person is willing and scarify to offer help. Matilda's action to decrease Miss Honey's suffering is portrayed as helpful traits. Tong (2009) stated that helpful traits are required to develop humanity, another tenet of liberal feminism. Therefore, Matilda's value as being helpful is also depicted as liberal feminism.
Betty Friedan suggests the quality of being both positive masculinity and positive femininity in Tong (2009). Friedan believes that being androgynous could make women and men equal in any aspect. Matilda is described to possess both positive masculinity and positive femininity. By being intelligent, brave, independent, and helpful, she was depicted as having the value of liberal feminism. Thus, the characterizations of Matilda, Miss Trunchbull, and Miss Honey represent feminist ideologies.

CONCLUSION
The analysis revealed that the theme presents feminist ideologies by presenting unequal treatment between son and daughter in the Wormwood family and Miss Honey's effort to help Matilda. The socio-cultural setting of the novel also presents feminist ideology by employing the "present time" of the novel's production, where liberal feminism was at its peak. The characterizations of Matilda, Miss Honey, and Miss Trunchbull as the three major characters in the novel also present feminist ideologies. Thus, as a novel for children and young adults, Matilda presents feminist ideologies to enlighten readers. The novel can be recommended as reading material that can promote awareness about gender equality and feminist ideologies among children and young adults.