GENDER NARRATIVES IN ANTHONY DOERR’S ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE: WOMEN IN AN AMERICAN WAR LITERATURE

Abstract

This research is aimed to prove and explain how (1) female subordination and (2) male  domination in Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See are narrated    by                 identifying           the    novel’s    gender   narratives.    The    theory   of poststructuralist  narratology  and  feminist  criticism  on  gender  and  war  are employed to analyze the problem.

It is a qualitative research. It employed textual analysis which focused on the narrative of the text. The main source of data was Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See. The data were in the forms of words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and paragraphs depicting or implying gender narratives. The researcher used five steps in analyzing the data. The data were gathered from  reading and re-reading the text, identifying those which embody gender narratives, categorizing them based on the research’s objectives, comparing them to the analytical constructs, and lastly  interpreting  them  by  using  feminist  narratology.  The  researcher  used triangulation and peer debriefing to obtain trustworthiness.

The results show that female subordination and male domination are found in  the   narratives  of  gender.  Females   are  narrated  as   figures  embodying vulnerability,                          fear,     irrationality,     emotional     instability     and    submissive characteristic.  Meanwhile,  males  are  narrated  as  figures  embodying  power, bravery,  rationality, intellectuality and heroic behavior. Those qualities embody the polarized gender narratives of men and women that endorse a patriarchal order and hierarchy. Females are seen as  inferiors from the beginning of their gender creation. The construction of this dualistic gender  shows the binary thought of patriarchal   society.   These   findings   conclude   that   gender   subordination   is embedded in the novel.

Key  word:  narratives,  poststructuralist  narratology,  gender,  feminism,  war, American literature