CONTRADICTORY GENDER STEREOTYPES IN ANDREA HIRATA’S AYAH: A CRITICAL LITERACY APPROACH TO LITERATURE STUDY

Abstract

Ayah is a novel that depicts a man’s extraordinary and long-lasting love and loyalty to one woman. These two inherently female stereotypes are not usually found in men. Andrea Hirata deliberately presents these contradictory gender stereotypes as the core development of Ayah. In an attempt to describe various forms of contradictory gender stereotypes in the novel, the current study used critical literacy analysis for exploring the motives or purposes of the author behind words, expressions, sentences, symbols that he used in the novel.  Data were collected in the form of words, sentences, paragraphs, symbols, ideas, expressions, or metaphors indicating contradictory gender stereotypes. Ayah by Andrea Hirata was the main source of the data. Data analysis was performed through content analysis using the NVIVO 12 Plus application. The steps of analyzing the data consisted of data coding, coding comparison, hierarchy chart composition, presentation of the result, and drawing the conclusion. The findings reveal five forms of contradictory gender stereotypes in Ayah that are contradictory gender stereotype of loyalty, patience, affectionate, specific roles, and multiple roles. Through Ayah, the author would like to convey that loyalty, patience, and affectionate are not only dominant in women, but also in men. In addition, men can also play domestic and multiple roles such as taking care of the children, doing household chores, becoming a father and a mother at one time and providing for the family.