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FEMINISM THOUGHTS IN DREAMS OF TRESPASS: TALES OF A

HAREM GIRLHOOD BY FATIMA MERNISSI

By:

MUDRIKA ANISAHRI

105026000983

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT

LETTERS AND HUMANITIES FACULTY

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY “SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH”

JAKARTA

2011





A Thesis

Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree of Strata One

By:

MUDRIKA ANISAHRI

105026000983




JAKARTA

2011



i

ABSTRACT

Mudrika Anisahri, Feminism Thoughts in Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem

Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi. A Thesis: English Letters Department. Letters and

Humanities Faculty, State Islamic University "Syarif Hidayatullah" Jakarta, 2009.

This research is aimed at analyzing a literary work which is written by

woman writer who has written about woman's experiences. It is novel Dreams of

Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi as the object of the

research. This novel is memoir about Fatima Mernissi's childhood in domestic

harem in Fez in the late 1940s recounts the life experiences of her female relativesand her own reactions to the world around her. The novel demystifies the harem

and puts a face on Arab Muslim women in a personal and highly entertaining

manner, exploring the nature of women's power, the value of oral tradition and the

absolute necessity of dreams and celebrations.

Within the novel described how the culture of the harem grows and

develops. Harem culture is considered as the causing of a patriarchal system

where women are restricted to do activities outside and they are required to follow

the rules. Obviously it is very detrimental for women including family of Fatima

Mernissi. However, there are some female characters who do not keep silent, infact they protest because they have been oppressed. They do not perform

movements around environment, but only within the home. They try to convey

some ideas of feminism thoughts to Fatima Mernissi with different manner. For

instance, Mernissi's mother gives the storytelling with the moral message inside,

her grandmother gives some advices and experiences and her aunt and cousin who

hold a theater show about the great women that inspire many women in the harem

to get the equality and the true of freedom.

Thus, it can be concluded that gender equality and freedom are the

feminism thoughts that appear through some female characters. Those are shaped by the various ways, such as by the storytelling, education and theater.



ii

APPROVEMENT



A Thesis

Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree of Strata One

MUDRIKA ANISAHRI

105026000983

Approved by:

Inayatul Chusna, M. Hum

Advisor




JAKARTA

2011



iii

LEGALIZATION

Name : Mudrika Anisahri

NIM : 105026000983

Title : Feminism Thoughts in Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood

by Fatima Mernissi

The thesis has been defended before the Faculty of Letters and Humanities’

Examination Committee on August 16, 2011. It has been accepted as a partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of strata one.

Jakarta, August 16, 2011

The Examination Committee

Signature Date

1. Drs. Asep Saefuddin,M.Pd19640710 199303 1 006

(Chair Person) _____________ _____________

2. Elve Oktafiyani, M.Hum

19781003 200112 2 002

(Secretary) _____________ _____________

3. Inayatul Chusna, M. Hum

1978 0126 200312 2 002

(Advisor) _____________ _____________

4. Dr. H. M. Farkhan, M.pd

1965 0919 200031 1 002

(Examiner I) _____________ _____________

5. Elve Oktafiyani, M.Hum

19781003 200112 2 002

(Examiner II) _____________ _____________



iv

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my

knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by

another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the

award of any other degree or diploma of the university or other institute of higher

learning, except where due acknowledgment has been made in the text.

Jakarta, June 2011

Mudrika Anisahri



v

PREFACE

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

First of all, the writer would like to thank Allah SWT for all His favor and

guidance in completing this thesis. All praises belong to Him, the Creator of

living things from being nothing to existence. Many salutation and benediction be

unto the noblest of the prophet and messenger, Muhammad SAW.

In this occasion, the writer also would like to express a special thank to:

1. Inayatul Chusna, M. Hum. as her advisor, for her guidance and contribution in

finishing this thesis.

2. Dr. H. Abdul Wahid, M.Ag. as the Dean of Faculty of Adab and Humanities.

3. Drs. A. Saefuddin, M.Pd. as the Head of English Letters Department.

4. Elve Oktafiyani, M.Hum. as the Secretary of English Letters Department.

5. All of the lecturers in English Letters Department who have taught and

educated her during her study in UIN Jakarta.

6. The beloved parents, her lovely dad "Karta Wijaya" and lovely mom "Siti

Khodijah" for their full-financial, attentions, prays, loves and all the

contribution. She loves them so much.

7. The great brothers, Wawan Kurniawan and his wife, Budi Hermawan and his

wife and Abdul Khotib for their supports, attentions, suggestions, and loves

ever after. They are the best brothers that she has ever had.

8. The big family, her grandfathers (Ba'o), grandmothers (Ma'o), uncles, aunts,

cousins, and all relatives for their supports, materials and prays. God bless

them.



vi

9. The best friends in communities, Persatuan Alumni Darul Abror (PADA'98),

all classmates of class-C in English Letters Department, Komunitas Restoe

Boemi (KRB) Indonesia, and all the best friends that she cannot mention one

by one for whole supports, new experiences, joy and fun they have shared

together. Let's keep fighting to reach all of dreams and to get the brighter

future.

Finally, the writer realizes that this thesis is not too perfect to read, but

shehopes that it can be used as well as possible.

Jakarta, June 2011

Mudrika Anisahri



vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................

APPROVEMENT ............................................................................................. ii

LEGALIZATION ............................................................................................. iii

DECLARATION .............................................................................................. iv

PREFACE ..........................................................................................................

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. vii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 1

A. Background of the Study .............................................................................. 1

B. Focus of the Study ........................................................................................ 7

C. Research Questions .......................................................................................

D. Objectives of the Study ................................................................................. 8

E. Significance of the Study .............................................................................. 8F. Research Methodology ................................................................................. 8

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS ...................................... 11

A. Feminism Theory .......................................................................................... 11

B. B. Feminist Literary Criticism Theory .......................................................... 14

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH FINDINGS ..................................................... 21

A. Data Description............................................................................................ 21

B. Data Analysis ................................................................................................ 26

a. Feminism Thoughts in Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem

Girlhood ................................................................................................. 26

b. The Ways of female Characters Shape the Feminism Thoughts in

Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood ................................... 34

CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ................................. 43

A. Conclusion ................................................................................................... 43B. Suggestion ..................................................................................................... 44

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 46



viii

APPENDICES ................................................................................................... 49

A. Appendix 1: Synopsis ................................................................................... 49

B. Appendix 2: Biography of Author ............................................................... 51



1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Since nineteenth century, the literary works have been becoming a regime

culture. It has the strong attractiveness to gender’s problems. Women as an

inferior and weak person and men as strong and a smart person always cover the

literary world. Up to now, the point of view which is difficult to prevent is

hegemony1of men to women. Most the entire literary works, men’s writing are

more predominant than women’s writing. The men’s figure keeps on becoming

the authority, and assumed that women considered as the second sex and the

subordinated person.2

A survey in America in 1960s indicated that literary canon of the country

was full of the men’s writing.3 Moreover, it was discovered that some of literary

works in history of American literature did not mention any women writers for

centuries. Of course, the result of the survey caused many American observers;

especially women wondered why it could be happened. Later on, there would be

some efforts to observe the variety of literary works of America to look for some

important women writers who did not record in the past. It might be caused of the

1The political, economic, ideological or cultural power exerted by a dominant group over

other groups. (See Definition of Hegemony, Definition from Wikipedia). 2 Suwardi Endaswara, Metodologi Penelitian Sastra (Yogyakarta: Pustaka Widyatama, 2003),

p. 143.3Soenarti Djayanegara, Kritik Sastra Feminis: Sebuah Pengantar (Jakarta: PT Gramedia

Pustaka Utama, 2000), p. IX.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_%28philosophy%29




2

only men’s authority that had a power to decide the quality of the literary of

works.

Therefore, there would be the movement in literary criticism field

following the previous feminism movement in women social that eventually we

know as feminist literary criticism. It is one of the variety of literary works based

on feminism ideology that would like to get the justice for looking the women

existence, it is either as the writer or the reader of the literary works.

Feminist Literary Criticism is the rebellion of the female consciousness

against the male images of female identity and experience. The concept of female

identity shows us how female experience is transformed into female

consciousness, often in reaction to male paradigms for female experience. It is an

ideology that opposes the political, economical and cultural relegation of women

to positions of inferiority. The critical project of feminist critics is thus concerned

with uncovering the contingencies of gender as a cultural, social and political

construct and instrument of domination.4

The emergence of feminist literary criticism certainly cannot be separated

from the feminist movement which began in 1700s. In general, feminism is

women’s Liberation ideology which is supported by all of the approaches that

indicate women to get unfairness because of the sex.5 This movement rises

because the woman is always supposed as the second sex and gets the

discrimination in the social life. It does not mean the extreme rebellion movement

4Shilpi Goel, Feminist Literary Criticism (Language in India: Strength for today and hope

bright for tomorrow, volume 10: 4 April 2010), p. 403.5Maggie Humm, Ensiklopedia Feminisme. Translator, Mundi Rahayu (Yogyakarta: Fajar

Pustaka Baru, 2007), p. 158.



3

of woman to man, but to opposite the social caste and the paradigm of static myth

in the social. Woman is not a weak creature because she has her own ability to get

the position in the society. In the other word, this movement is the awareness of

women about their identity to destruct the hierarchy that is harmful for woman’s

position, such as exploitation of woman, and also slavery from man.

The feminist movement occurred not only in America but also in almost

around the world including in the Middle East. The inequality gender in the

Middle East seemed after 15th to early 18th centuries, the condition of woman in

some countries in Middle East such as Turkey, Egypt, and Syria, had not been

different from centuries before. However, it seemed only a few of the growth in

selected areas. For example, by the end of 18th centuries, the woman had already

got reading subject at many schools and could continue to famous college to get

Moslem scholar status. But for other areas, woman had not got yet the place as

equal as men.6

Nawal el Sa’dawi, as a doctor and a defender of women’s right in Egypt

stated that women in the Middle East were oppressed not because they lived under

the rule of Islam or belonged to the East, but as a result of the patriarchal class

system which had dominated the world for thousands of years. In her view, the

struggle for women’s civil liberties, individual freedom, and secularism had no

significance. In this discourse, patriarchy was used as a blanket term to disguise

6Euis Amalia, Pengantar Kajian Gender: Feminisme: Konsep, Sejarah dan

Perkembangannya (Jakarta: Pusat Studi Wanita UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, 2003), p. 122.



4

Islam’s role in the oppression of women. Every aspect of women’s subordination

in the Middle East was inaccurately labeled as the result of patriarchy.7

The phenomenon about the oppression of women has happened until the

current decade. Finally, there are women writers who make the feminist protest

works related to those inequality genders. It can be seen from every description

that covers the plenty of literary world. A few of reality and sacrifice of women in

protecting their rights and freedoms are described by Fatima Mernissi through her

works. The significance of her contribution to the literary establishment lies in the

fact that the women writers have seen the female identity as a continuous process

of becoming and thus have reflected its flexibility.

Fatima Mernissi is one of productive Moroccan feminist who has written

about issues of inequality of gender in her many works. She has been getting

attention from the woman activists and enthusiast of gender until now through her

works. As one of the best known Arab-Muslim feminists, Mernissi's influence

extends beyond a narrow circle of intellectuals. She is a recognized public figure

in her own country and abroad, especially in France, where she is well known in

feminist circles. Her major books have been translated into several languages,

including English, German, Dutch, Japanese and Indonesia. She writes regularly

on women's issues in the popular press, participates in public debates promoting

the cause of Muslim women internationally, and has supervised the publication of

a series of books on the legal status of women in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

7Azam Kamguian, The Liberation of Women in The Middle East (Islam and Modernity, 2003)

Accessed on May 25, 2010. www.liberationofwomen.html

http://www.liberationofwomen.html/




5

Mernissi's works explore the impact of this historically constituted

ideological system on the construction of gender and the organization of domestic

and political life in Muslim society today. Mernissi's works also explore the

relationship between sexual ideology, gender identity, sociopolitical organization,

and the status of women in Islam; her special focus, however, is Moroccan society

and culture. As a feminist, her works represent an attempt to undermine the

ideological and political systems that silence and oppress Muslim women.

Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood (1994) is one of her

memoir that exposes the multiplicity of experiences faced by women living in

harem and talks about the confusion Mernissi’s experiences as a young girl in a

harem against the backdrop of Moroccan nationalism, Westernization, and the

nascent women's rights movements.

As a literary genre, a memoir is a piece of autobiographical writing which

is often shorter than a comprehensive autobiography. The span of time covered in

the memoir is often brief compared to the person's complete life span. A memoir

often tries to capture certain highlights or meaningful events in one's past. And it

usually has a particular focus of attention, focusing on the selected events from a

perspective that may not include other facts and details from the person's life. In

other words, the memoir is highly focused and selective in the memories it

includes.8

Dreams of Trespass is the story of Fatima Mernissi's girlhood and the

important women in her life; they are her mother, her aunts and cousins, and her

8 N. Zuwiyya, Definition of Memoir , Accessed on June 20, 2010,

http://www.Definitionsof_Memoir.htm.

http://www.definitionsof_memoir.htm/




6

grandmother and her co-wives. It is described from her view of life as a young girl

in the 1940's informed by an adult's understanding without losing the experiences

of a child's limited world view and attempts at understanding the world around

her. In addition, this memoir is an interesting glimpse of domestic life in mid-

Twentieth Century Fez. It is able to provide a very accessible view of the

important social and political changes of the time, such as the French occupation

of Morocco, World War II, Feminism thoughts, and Moroccan Nationalism.

Because the story takes place almost exclusively within the family circle,

domestic issues and day to day life figure prominently as well.

In the story, as the men hold on to tradition, most women argued for

equality and change and found some ways to express their desires. For example,

Yasmina, mernissi’s grandmother who influenced mernissi’s life in building rebel.

From her grandmother, Mernissi learned about the gender equality, the meaning

of confinement in harem, and a causal link between political defeats suffered by

the Muslims with the downturn experienced by women.

Another character, Mernissi’s mother is probably one of the most powerful

women in the story. Mernissi’s mother taught Mernissi how to do and to survive

as women. From her mother, she got the story that told about how to be smart and

wisdom. In addition, Mernissi confessed that both her mother and her

grandmother who supportd her to study in higher education so that women can be

independent.

Not only her grandmother and mother who transformed the feminism

thoughts to Fatima Mernissi but also both Cousin Chama and Aunt Habiba’s stage



7

elaborated plays celebrating famous women's lives with all the women and

children of the harem (and occasionally the young men) participate as members of

the production or members of the audience. These plays helped Mernissi to decide

that singing, dancing and sensuality were part of the feminists' lives and should

not be forgotten; sensuality was a refreshingly natural part of life throughout the

story.

So, we can see that Fatima Mernissi wrote the memoir that about the

cultural image of women in harem. She also described the best ways of her

mother, grandmother, aunts and cousins in delivering some feminist thoughts to

her as a young generation. Those are life experiences that might have been

experienced by other women.

According to brief explanation about memoir of Dreams of Trespass:

Tales of a Harem Girlhood above, the writer decides to analyze the feminism

thoughts that appear in the story used feminist literary criticism theory. Finally,

the writer determines this research under the title “Feminism Thoughts in Dreams

of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi”.

B. Focus of the Study

In this research, the writer focuses to analyze the feminism thoughts that

appear through female characters in Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem

Girlhood based on feminist literary criticism theory.



8

C. Research Questions

Based on both of the background of study and the focus of study above,

the writer makes research questions as:

1. What are feminism thoughts that appear in Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a

Harem Girlhood through the female characters?

2. How do the female characters shape the feminism thoughts in Dreams of

Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood ?

D. Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the study are to know the feminism thoughts in Dreams

of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood and how the female characters shape the

feminism thoughts analyzed by feminist literary criticism theory.

E. Significances of the Study

The significances of the study are to give information and to contribute the

feminist literary criticism to all readers. Later, the readers are expected to

recognize the feminism thoughts which are implied in Dreams of Trespass: Tales

of a Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi. Besides, the writer hopes that the result

of this research can enrich the treasure of literary works especially for student of

English Letters Department, Adab and Humanities Faculty, State Islamic

University of Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.

F. Research Methodology

There are some elements applied in using research methodologies, they

are:



9

1. Method of Research

This research analyzed by using qualitative research method. The

writer is the main instrument who read a literary works carefully, such in this

case is novel. In addition, the research is descriptively which is raveled in

words without numbers.

2. Data Analysis

In this research, the writer analyses the feminism thoughts which are

reflected in Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood . The writer

applies the feminist literary criticism as theory in this research.

Despitefully, to water down the procession of analyzing data and

supporting data accuracy, the writer applies some references such as books,

journals, websites, and the other data that relates to the object of research.

3. Research Instrument

Instrument in this research is the writer herself by reading the memoir

of Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi

carefully. Then, the writer makes the recording and the selection of data or the

reduction of data. Namely, the irrelevant data of the research will be left and

the relevant data will be given an emphasizing (underline/thickening) to water

down the writer for determining an indicator.



10

4. Unit of Data Analysis

Unit of data analysis in this research is Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a

Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi published by Wesley Addison Publishing

Company, 1994.

5. Time and Place of Research

This research started from January 2009 to June 2011 in State Islamic

University of Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.



11

CHAPTER 2

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

A. Feminism Theory

Etymologically, feminism comes from word femme (woman); it means a

woman (singular), struggling to get women rights (plural) as a social class.9

According to Ratna, feminism aimed to make a balancing of interrelation of

gender and it is movement conducted by women to refuse everything that

subordinated and margined by dominant culture either in political fields,

economics, or other social life.10

Recently, feminism is not only about women, but it is primarily the

activity of giving them a voice, an access to power hitherto denied appears to

capture the spirit of both academic and politic pursuits. However, this apparently

sample statement reveals multiple layers of complexity and contradiction. For

many women who indentify themselves as feminists, women’s access power is

achieved through action towards women’s right achievements in terms of

women’s suffrage, legislation for rights within marriage and in relation to children

and employment. Some feminists define themselves through their lifestyles, which

may involve seeking social change trough challenging patriarchal institutions, or

9Kutha Ratna Nyoman, Teori, metode, dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra (Yogyakarta: Pustaka

Pelajar, 2006), p. 184.10 Ibid, p. 184.



12

living without immediate reference to men. For others feminism involves the

development of scholarly critiques of accepted values and knowledge.11

Further, feminism is essentially a reaction to, and product of patriarchal

cultural and one of its significant roles has been to account for women’s

subordination. At the very least, f eminism seeks to contextualize women’s lives

and explain the constraints, attributed by some to biology within a social

framework. It may be that through such endeavors women’s beliefs about the way

their lives should be may be emancipated from the constraints of patriarchal

culture.12

Feminism, including in particular such notions as women's right to

equality and their right to control their own lives, is, with respect to the Middle

East's current civilization at any rate, an idea that do not arise indigenously, but

that come to the Middle Eastern societies from outside. To predict and direct the

future of that idea, and therefore the future of women in the Middle East, an

understanding of the development of feminism in the Middle East is crucial,

including its transformations transplanted to a Middle Eastern, predominantly

Islamic environment, and its different interpretations in the locally different

cultures of the Middle East. It swiftly becomes apparent, in considering the

history of feminism in the Middle East that two forces in particular within Middle

Eastern societies modify; hampering or aiding the progress of feminism. First

there are attitudes within the particular society, and the culture's and the sub-

11Paula Nicholson, Gender, Power, and Organization (UK: Taylor Francis Ltd, 1996), p. 20-

21.12 Ibid, p. 21.



13

culture's formulations, formal and informal, regarding women. Second and

perhaps as important, are the society's attitudes and relationship to feminism's

civilization of origin, the Western world.13

Moreover, feminism is an important concept that has advanced the social

standing and the cultural viewpoint concerning women throughout the world.

Feminism encompasses the notion that women are equal to men and should be

treated with respect, dignity and equal consideration. Young girls are especially

susceptible to societal standards of gender norms. It is important for them to

develop self-confidence to be strong girls that grow into strong women.14

There are many ways to deliver feminist thought, including through the

access of education, politic, economy, social, culture, and literature. Before

feminism movement is more progressive, writing is an effective way to develop

feminism thought. According to Cixous, writing is a privileged space for the

exploration of bisexual hierarchies. She believes that writing can be a place for an

alternative economy.15

Cixous adds, utterance is a very transgressive action for

women, and the writing is a privileged space for transformation.16

Cixous also

uses the theater as a space to develop her critiques of the subjectivity forms and

13Leila Ahmed, “Feminism and feminist movements in the Middle East, a preliminary

exploration: Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of Yemen”, Women‟s Studies International Forum, Vol. 5, Issue 2, 1982, P. 153.

14How to Teach Feminism to Young Girls, eHow Family, Accessed on March 5, 2011. http://www.ehow.com/how_2127025_teach-feminism-young-girls.html.

15Madan Sarup, Posstrukturalisme dan Posmodernisme: Sebuah Pengantar Kritis, Translator:

Medhy Aginta Hidayat (Yogyakarta: Jendela, 2007), p. 196.16 Ibid, p.192.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02775395




http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=PublicationURL&_tockey=%23TOC%235924%231982%23999949997%23324379%23FLP%23&_cdi=5924&_pubType=J&view=c&_auth=y&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=a3ae503fe0e8b0c6072ad9a4f44d281d

http://www.ehow.com/how_2127025_teach-feminism-young-girls.html#ixzz1FqazSc6B



http://www.ehow.com/how_2127025_teach-feminism-young-girls.html








14

representation that dominate the contemporary life. She believes that theater in the

past treats women as objects consistently.17

Thus, the focus needs to be put on the fact that the overwhelming majority

of Arab women are illiterate. It means that these women are cut off from all the

developments that are taking place in the world because they cannot read or write.

So, Arab women actually should play an important role in educational institutions,

which is extremely important to the women who have left the basic struggle for

survival and have reached a higher standard of living.

B. Feminist Literary Criticism Theory

1. Definition

Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist

theory or by the politics of feminism more broadly. According to Djajanegara,

feminist literary criticism began from desire of feminists to analyze the

women writers’ works in the past and to show the women image in men

writers’ works who presented the women as a creator that in some ways are

oppressed, misinterpreted, and underestimated by dominant patriarchal

tradition.18

Then, feminist literary criticism centers the analyzing and the attention

to women as reflected in men culture. Texts are read as culture of patriarchal

system. The pioneers look that actually the roles and status of women are

17 Ibid, p.196.18Soenarti Djayanegara, Kritik Sastra Feminis: Sebuah Pengantar (Jakarta: PT Gramedia

Pustaka Utama, 2000), p. 27.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_criticism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_theory


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism








15

determined by the sex, that’s why in sexual politic context need to consider

the relation between the text works and the sex of the writers.19

Meanwhile, Feminist literary criticism according to Annette Kolodny

in Djayanegara is: “It involves ex posing the sexual stereotyping of women, in

both our literature and our literary criticism and, as well, demonstrating the

inadequacy of established critical schools and methods to deal fairly or

sensitively with work written by women”.20

According to Kolodny, whoever that concerns literary field must be

realize that men, works and men’s writings usually presents women

stereotype as a loyal and devotion wife and mother, spoiled women, prostitute,

and dominant women. Those images are determined by literary fields and

traditional approaches which are not related to the real women condition

because the evaluations about women are not fair and detail. In fact, women

have private feelings, such as painful, disappointed or uncomfortable that only

described well by women themselves.

Finally, Yoder in Sugihastuti defines feminist literary criticism

differently, is not about the woman as a critic, a criticism about woman, or

female author. Still feminist criticism is a criticism that views literature with

the special awareness. This awareness is about confession that there is a sex

which has many relations to culture, literature, and our life. This sex makes

the difference between all of them and also makes the difference for the author

19Sugihastuti and Suharto, Kritik Sastra Feminis: Teori Dan Aplikasinya (Yogyakarta: Pustaka

Pelajar, 2002), p. 12.20Soenarti Djayanegara, (2000), Op.Cit . p. 19.



16

her or himself, the reader, characterization and the extrinsic aspect that

influence the situation in writing.21

2. Purpose

The main goal of feminist literary criticism is to analyze the

relationship of gender, where women are in men domination situations.

Through a feminist literary criticism will be described oppression of women in

literature.22

Humm also states that the authors of literary history before the

emergence of feminist literary criticism constructed by men fiction. Therefore,

feminist literary criticism reconstructs and re-reads these works by focusing

on women and the nature sociolinguistic and also describes women's writing

with special attention in using of her words in his writings.23

Kolodny in Djajanegara proffers some important purposes of feminist

literary criticism. One of them is we can reinterpret and reevaluate the whole

of literary criticism that was made many centuries ago.24

Beside, feminist uses

feminist literary criticism to help them to deconstruct patriarchy politic as

represented in language.25

Lisa Tuttle has defined feminist theory as asking new questions of old

texts. She cites the goals of feminist criticism as:26

1. To develop and uncover a female tradition of writing,

21Sugihastuti and Suharto (2002), Op, Cit . p. 5.

22Maggie Humm, Feminist Criticism: Women as contemporary Critics (Brighton: HarvesterPress, 1986), p. 22.

23 Ibid, p. 14-15.24Soenarti Djayanegara, (2000), Op.Cit . p. 20.25Maggie Humm, Ensiklopedia Feminisme Translator, Mundi Rahayu (Yogyakarta: Fajar

Pustaka Baru, 2007), p. 20.26Lisa Tuttle, Encyclopedia of Feminism. (Harlow: Longman 1986), p. 184.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Tuttle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Tuttle



17

2. To interpret symbolism of women's writing so that it will not be lost or

ignored by the male point of view,

3. To rediscover old texts,

4. To analyze women writers and their writings from a female perspective,

5. To resist sexism in literature, and

6. To increase awareness of the sexual politics of language and style.

In addition, the purposes of feminist criticism are to add our

knowledge about the experience of woman, her needs, and woman’s life, to

analyze woman’s literary work, and to understand the fiction of female author,

interpret and appraise it. So, feminist criticism reveals woman’s realm in many

aspects. From this criticism, the researcher knows about the ability and the

role of woman in the social life. Thus, woman is able to show the same right

in the social with their own special quality.

3. History

Feminist literary criticism is one of literary studies that emerged as

response of feminism development around the world. To understand the nature

of feminist literary criticism and its alternative approach to literature, we must

first understand its long history. The history of feminist literary criticism

properly begins some forty or fifty years ago with the emergence of what is

commonly termed second-wave feminism.27

The term was usually given to the

emergence of women’s movements in the United States and Europe during the

27Gill Plain, A History of Feminist Literary Criticism, Ed. Gill Plain and Susan Sellers (New

York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 6.



18

Civil Rights campaigns of the 1960s. Clearly, though, a feminist literary

criticism did not emerge fully formed from this moment. Rather, its eventual

self conscious expression was the culmination of centuries of women’s

writing, of women writing about women writing, and of women and men

writing about women’s minds, bodies, art and ideas.28

Feminist literary criticism is one of the major developments in literary

studies in the past thirty years or so. The history has been broad and varied,

from classic works of nineteenth century women authors such as George Eliot

and Margaret Fuller to cutting edge theoretical work in women's studies and

gender studies by third wave authors. In the most general and simple terms,

feminist literary criticism before the 1970s in the first and second waves of

feminism was concerned with the politics of women's authorship and the

representation of women's condition within literature.29

Feminist literary criticism became a theoretical issue with the advent

of the new women's movement initiated in the early 1960s. In fact, feminist

criticism started as part of the international women's liberation movement. The

first major book of particular significance, in this respect, was Betty Friedan's

The Feminine Mystique (1963) which contributed to the emergence of the new

women's movement. In her book, Friedan criticized the dominant cultural

28 Ibid , p. 2.29Feminist Literary Criticism, Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Accessed on March 14,

2009. Http://En.Wikipedia.Org/Wiki/Feminist_Literary_Criticism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Eliot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Fuller

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_studies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_studies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-wave_feminism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-wave_feminism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-wave_feminism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_literary_criticism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_literary_criticism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-wave_feminism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-wave_feminism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-wave_feminism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_studies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_studies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Fuller

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Eliot



19

image of the successful and happy American woman as a housewife and

mother.30

Feminist literary criticism has been very successful especially in

reclaiming the lost literary women and in documenting the sources. In this

respect, feminist criticism has successfully directed attention to the female

intellectual tradition. Many early works on women writers before the 1960s

usually focus on the female literary tradition. Literary women, then, are forced

to identify with men and male standards of writing, and yet they are, at the

same time, constantly reminded of being female writers.

4. Feminist Literary Criticism in the Middle East

Based on the phenomenon of the inequality men and women in the

Middle East, finally there are women writers who make the feminist protest

works related to the inequality genders. In the view of women writers, the

fundamentalist narrative's strongest claims for legitimacy are penned on the

female body in an ongoing process that has contained women, muted their

voices, and screened out their agency.

Egyptian jurist Qasim Amin, the author of the 1899 pioneering book

Women's Liberation (Tahrir al-Mar'a), is often described as the father of the

Egyptian feminist movement. In his work, Amin criticized some of the

practices prevalent in his society at the time, such as polygamy, the veil, and

30Vincent B Leitch, American Literary Criticism from the Thirties to the Eighties (Columbia

University Press, 1988). p. 308.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qasim_Amin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism_in_Egypt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygyny_in_Islam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_clothing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_clothing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygyny_in_Islam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism_in_Egypt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qasim_Amin



20

purdah31

, such as Sex segregation in Islam. He condemned them as un-Islamic

and contradictory to the true spirit of Islam. His work had an enormous

influence on women's political movements throughout the Islamic and Arab

world, and is read and cited today. The women's press in Egypt started voicing

such concerns since its very first issues in 1892. Egyptian, Turkish, Iranian,

Syrian and Lebanese women and men had been reading European feminist

magazines even a decade earlier, and discussed their relevance to the Middle

East in the general press.32

Another Arab women writers are Wardah Al-Yaziji (1838-1942) and

Zaynab Fawwaz (1850-1914) from Lebanon, Aishah Al-Taymurriyah (1840-

1902) and Malak Hifni Nasif (1886-1918) from Egypt, May Ziyadah (1886-

1941) from Palestine, until the contemporary writers in the end of 20 centuries

such as Layla Ba’albakki, Emilly Nasrallah, and Hanan Alshaykh from

Lebanon, Ghadah Al-Samman from Syria, Sahar Khalifah from Palestine, and

Khunathah Bannunah from Morocco.33

The significance of their contribution

to the Arab literary works establishment lies in the fact that the women writers

have seen the female identity and have shown their ability in writing as well as

men.

31Purdah is a curtain which makes sharp separation between the world of man and that of a

woman, between the community as a whole and the family which is its heart, between the street

and the home, the public and the private, just as it sharply separates society and the individual.

(See Understanding Islam, by Frithjof Schuon, p. 18). 32Farida Shaheed and Aisha L.F. Shaheed, “Great Ancestors: Women Asserting Rights in

Muslim Contexts, (London/Lahore: WLUML/Shirkat Gah, 2005). Accessed on May 20, 2011.http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Islamic_feminism.

33McKee, Elizabeth, Feminisme dan Islam: Perpektif Hukum Dan Sastra: Agenda Politik dan

Strategi Tekstual Para Penulis Perempuan Afrika Utara, ed. Mai Yamani. Translator, Purwanto

(Bandung: Penerbit Nuansa Yayasan Nuansa Cendikia, 2000), p. 155.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purdah


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_segregation_in_Islam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_world


http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Islamic_feminism





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_segregation_in_Islam




21

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH FINDINGS

A. Data Description

In this chapter, the writer tabulates the corpus data of feminism

thoughts and the ways the female characters shape the feminism thoughts

collected from the novel Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood by

Fatima Mernissi. The writer divides the data into two tables. The first is

feminism thoughts in Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood . And

the second is the ways of female characters to shape the feminism thoughts in

Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood . Following are those tables:

Table 1

Feminism Thoughts in Dreams of Trespass:

Tales of a Harem Gir lhood

No Feminism

Thoughts

Female

Characters Corpus Page

1 GenderEquality

Yasmina “Mecca was a space wherebehavior was strictly codified. The

moment you stepped inside, you

were bound by many laws and

regulations. People who entered

Mecca had to be pure: they had to

perform purification rituals, and

refrain from lying, cheating, and

doing harmful deeds. The city

belonged to Allah and you had to

obey his S hari‟a, or sacred law, if you entered his territory. The

same thing applied to a harem

when it was a house belonging to

61



22

a man. No other men could enter

it without the owner‟s permission,and when they did, they had to

obey his rules.

"A harem was about private

space, and the rules regulating it.

It did not need walls. Once you

knew what was forbidden, you

carried the harem within,

inscribed under your forehead

and under your skin.”

“ Everyone is equal. Allah said

so. His prophet preached the

same.”

“Maybe their rules are rut hless

because they are not made by

women… The moment women get

smart and start asking that very

question, instead of dutifully

cooking and washing dishes allthe time, they will find a way to

change the rules and turn the

whole planet upside down.”

61

26

63

2 Freedom Yasmina

Habiba

“And hugging and snuggling your

husband is wonderful... I am so

happy your generation will not

have to share husbands anymore.”

“When you happen to be trapped powerless behind walls, stuck in a

dead-end harem, you dream of

escape. And magic flourishes

when you spell out that dream and

make the frontiers vanish. Dreams

can change your life, and

eventually the world. Liberation

starts with images dancing in your

little head, and you can translate

those images into words. Andwords cost nothing.”

“The main thing for the powerless

is to have a dream. True, a dream

34

113

214



23

alone, without the bargaining

power to go with it, doesn‟ttransform the world or make the

wall vanish, but it does help you

keep a hold of dignity.”

Table 2

The Ways of Female Characters Shape the Feminism Thoughts

in Dr eams of Trespass: Tales of a H arem Gir lhood

No

Feminism

Thoughts

Female


1 Storytelling Mother "You have to learn to screamand protest, just the way you

learned to walk and talk..."

“As soon as she entered King

Schahriar‟s bedroom, she

started telling him such amarvelous story, which she

cleverly left hanging at a most

suspenseful part that he

couldn‟t bear to part with her

at dawn. So he let her live until

the next night, so she could

finish her tale. But on the

second night, she told him

another wonderful story, which

she was again far from finishing when dawn arrived,

and the King who had to let

her live again. The same thing

happened the next night, and

the next, for a thousand nights,

which is almost three years,

until the King was unable to

imagine living without her. By

then, they already had two

children, and after a thousandand one nights, he renounced

his terrible habit of chopping

off women‟s heads.”

9

16



24

Fatima

Mernissi

“I wanted to learn how to talk

in the night.”

19

2 Education Mother “Of course you will be happy!

You will be a modern educated

lady. You will realize the

nationalist‟s dreams. You will

learn foreign languages, have

a passport, and speak like

religious authority…as

illiterate and bound by

tradition as I am; I have

managed to squeeze some

happiness out of this dammed

life. That is why I don‟t want

you to focus on barriers and

frontiers all the time. I want

you to concentrate on fun and

laughter and happiness. That is

a good project for an

ambitious lady.”

“Who is benefitting from a

harem? What good can I do forour country, sitting here a

prisoner in this courtyard?

Why are we deprived of

education? Who created the

harem, and for what? Cananyone explain that to me?”

64

200

3 Theater Chama “Squeezed between the silence

of the Sahara Desert in the

south the furious waves of the

Atlantic Ocean in the West andthe Christian invaders‟

aggression from the North

Moroccans recoiled in

defensive attitudes, while all

the other Muslim nations have

sailed away into modernity.

Women have advanced

everywhere except here. We

are a museum. We should make

tourists pay a fee at the gatesof Tangier!”

128



25

Habiba “The main thing for the

powerless is to have a dream.True, a dream alone, without

the bargaining power to go

with it, doesn‟t transform the

world or make the wall vanish,

but it does help you keep a

hold of dignity.”

“Dignity is to have a dream, a

strong one, which gives you a

vision, a world where you have

a place, where whatever it is

you have to contribute makes a

difference. You are in harem

where the world does not need

you. You are in harem when

what you can contribute does

not make a difference. You are

in harem when what you do is

useless. You are in harem when

the planet swirls around, with

you buried up to your neck in scorn and neglect. Only one

person can change that

situation and make the planet

go around the other way, and

that is you. If you stand up

against scorn, and dream of a

different world, the planet‟s

direction will be altered. But

what you need to avoid at all

costs, is to let the scorn around you get inside. When a woman

starts thinking she is nothing,

the little sparrows cry. Who

can defend them on the terrace,

if no one has the vision of a

world without slingshots?”

“When you happen to be

trapped powerless behind

walls, stuck in a dead-endharem, you dream of escape.

And magic flourishes when you

spell out that dream and make

214

214

114



26

the frontiers vanish. Dreams

can change your life, andeventually the world.

Liberation starts with images

dancing in your little head, and

you can translate those images

in words. And words cost

nothing!”

B. Data Analysis

a. Feminism Thoughts in Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem

Girlhood

In Dreams of Trespass, Fatima Mernissi described her life

experiences when she was child. She was born in a harem in 1940 in Fez,

Morocco. She lived in the harem or domestic life with her extended

family. All about Mernissi’s childhood experiences which were written in

Dreams of Trespass is clearly described that the inequality of gender and

the other feminism issues emerged in the harem. However, the strong

cultures and traditions including harem makes women hard to express their

freedom and to deliver their aspiration of getting rights completely.

At this stage, it will perhaps be helpful to introduce a distinction

between two kinds of harems: the first is imperial harem, and the second is

domestic harem. The first flourished with the territorial conquests and

accumulation of wealth of the Muslim imperial dynasties, starting with the

Omayyad, a seventh-century Arab dynasty based in Damascus, and ending

the Ottomans, a Turkish dynasty which threatened European capitals from



27

the sixteenth century onward until its last sultan, Abdel hammed II, was

deposed by western powers in 1909, and his harem dismantled. We will

call domestic harem which continued to exist after 1909, when Muslim

lost power and their territories families, like the one described in this book,

with no slaves and no eunuchs, and often with monogamous couples, but

who carried on the tradition of women’s seclusion.34

There are some great women who have shaped Mernissi’s life

accidentally to be a critical and courageous person. They are her mother,

grandmothers, aunts and cousins as female characters who never give up

protesting against the patriarchal system. They are the strong female

characters who have struggled against some form of social barrier that

prevent them from entering the public sphere. They also try to voice their

feminism thoughts to Mernissi as next generation. They educate her to be

independent woman and shape her view of life, world and role with each

their ways even if traditions keep the women in domestic life. In addition,

they believe that situation will change and the woman’s fate will be better

in the future in all aspects such as education, social and cultures. It means

that Mernissi, as the representative of the next generation of women, is

subjected to all of their hopes for increasing equality and expected to

become educated woman and to make a better and more important life for

herself.

34Fatima Mernisi, Dreams of Trespass: Tales of Harem Girlhood (USA: Addison-Wesley

Publishing Company, 1994), p. 34.



28

In this analysis, the writer finds two feminism thoughts that appear

in the story through female characters, they are:

1. Gender Equality

In Dreams of Trespass, most women disagree with the gender

inequality that emerges in harem. Harem is a place where women are

oppressed and cordoned off the outside world. They are subordinated and

do not get their rights as well as men. According to the story, women who

lived in harem did not get high education so women were illiterate. They

were required to follow the traditions and cultures that were actually

emerged from the patriarchal system.

Mernissi’s grandmother, Yasmina said that the word harem was a

slight variation of the word haram, the forbidden, and the proscribed. It

was the opposite of halal , the permissible. She explained that Mecca, the

holy city, was also called haram:

“Mecca was a space where behavior was strictly codified. The

moment you stepped inside, you were bound by many laws and

regulations. People who entered Mecca had to be pure: they had to

perform purification rituals, and refrain from lying, cheating, anddoing harmful deeds. The city belonged to Allah and you had to

obey his S hari‟a, or sacred law, if you entered his territory. The

same thing applied to a harem when it was a house belonging to a

man. No other men could enter it without the owner‟s permission,

and when they did, they had to obey his rules. (Mernissi 1994, 61).

In addition, Yasmina explained more about harem and the idea of

an invisible harem, a law tattooed in the mind: "A harem was about private

space, and the rules regulating it. It did not need walls. Once you knew



29

what was forbidden, you carried the harem within…inscribed under your

forehead and under your skin.” (Mernissi 1994, 61).

Feminist, dreamers, and visionaries are all descriptions applied in

equal measure to Mernissi’s mother and maternal grandmother, who

shaped her from a very beginning into suppose to be independent woman.

One of the feminism thoughts that instructed Mernissi in many times is

equality, as her grandmother Yasmina said, that “everyone is equal. Allah

said so. His prophet preached the same.” (Mernissi 1994, 26).

Yasmina told Mernissi that the world had created a harem for

woman and in doing so, gave little or no consideration to the fairness of it

all. The world was not concerned about being fair to women. Rules were

made in such a manner as to deprive them in some way or another. For

example, she said, both men and women worked from dawn until very late

at night. But men made money and women did not. That was one of the

invisible rules. And when a woman worked hard, and was not making

money, she was stuck in a harem, even though she could not see its walls:

“Maybe their rules are ruthless because the y are not made bywomen…..The moment women get smart and start asking that very

question, instead of dutifully cooking and washing dishes all the

time, they will find a way to change the rules and turn the whole

planet upside down.” (Mernissi 1994, 63).

Then, the writer finds many of the ideas of Mernissi’s mother that

are very similar in nature to the nationalist groups working in Morocco in

the 1940’s. Meanwhile, all of nationalists especially women get the

freedom that cannot be found by women in harem. One aspect from the



30

very outset of the story, which effectively set the tone, is mother’s

insistence upon celebrating her daughter’s birth just as joyously as her

nephew Samir’s birth was earlier that day, in a long Ramadhan35

afternoon, with hardly one’s hour difference. Mother thought that the men

and the women did not need to be discriminated. She also claimed male

superiority was nonsense and anti-Muslim. Moreover, she accused women

who were in favor of harems and went along with the men’s decision were

more dangerous than men as being largely responsible for women’s

suffering.

Mother jumped on the chance for Mernissi as educated person and

kept fighting for her to be enrolled to a nationalist school when the

Moroccan nationalists began to encourage women’s education. It was

opportunity to learn and be educated in the manner of the Western system

that supported Mernissi to be a smart woman. This showed that mother

had adopted ideas that were more modern, and tried to change Mernissi’s

thought within the harem as best she could.

2. Freedom

The writer can see how the female characters tried to create the

freedom in harem. Optimistically, Mernissi’s mother believed that the

situation for her and her daughter would be different, that Mernissi would

be able to be educated, independent and happy. The restrictions of the

35Ramadhan, the sacred ninth month of the Muslim calendar, is observed by daily fasting from

sunrise to sunset. (See Dreams of Tresspass: Tales of Harem Girlhood, by Fatima Mernissi, p. 8)



31

harem do not present the problems that mother and Yasmina have had to

deal with. These ideals of freedom, of being able to live as free women

who are able to enjoy her life outside the harem and many of the

restrictions imposed upon women. These dreams and hopes are also

demonstrative of the efforts the female characters to earn and obtain rights

for Mernissi that allow her an equal place with men in society.

In harem, as the women identified the nature and limitations of

their power and the opportunities for change, they did not abandon their

dreams. The story told that the women dreamed of trespassing all the time

and that the world beyond the gate was their goal. But how they got that

world was an important part of achieving their goals: “Confronting Ahmed

(the gatekeeper) at the gate was a heroic act. Escaping from the terrace

was not, and did not carry with it that inspiring, subversive flame of

liberation.”(Mernissi 1994, 60).

There are several chapters in which talk about visiting Mernissi to

her maternal grandparents farm in the country, where several unusual

stories are related about the activities of her grandmother. In the story,

Yasmina was implied to be favored by her husband, who had several other

wives. She got away with such outlandish actions such as with reasoning

permission for washing the dishes in the river so they could go swimming

more often, with climbing trees and even with riding horses. Yasmina was

able to do so many of those things because she could make her husband

laugh. A grand accomplishment given that he was prone to moodiness.



32

From that case, the writer argues that the streak of independence that run

in mother and grandmother consistently encouraged and pulled out of

Mernissi.

Yasmina who lived relatively liberal and comfortable life had her

own definition of what it meant to exist in a frontier. She said that to be

stuck in a harem simply meant that a woman had lost her freedom of

movement. Other times, she said that a harem meant misfortune because a

woman had to share her husband with many others. Yasmina herself had to

share Grandfather with eight co-wives, which she had to sleep alone for

eight nights before she could hug and snuggle with for one. She hoped it

could stop in the future: “And hugging and snuggling your husband is

wonderful... I am so happy your generation will not have to share

husbands anymore. (Mernissi 1994, 34).

In this case, Yasmina’s situation posed a very perplexing question

to young Mernissi. Yasmina seemed enjoying much freedom, at least it

much more than most of the women she knew. And it could be seen that if

Yasmina were not free, Mernissi who lived in a physical harem would had

never expected to be free. And mother, aunt and cousin kept fighting for a

lost cause: “If Yasmina‟s farm was a harem, in spite of the fact that there

were no walls to be seen, then what did hurriya, or freedom, mean?”

(Mernissi 1994, 63).

At other points in the story however, Mernissi is unlike most of

children and reflect the influence of her education and adult mindset; such



33

as when she detailed the women embroidering in the courtyard. She told

about her mother and cousin Chama who both were more modern and

revolutionary in their views, and to express this, stitch a large bird in

flight. The other group of women, those with more traditional views,

would stitch tiny, delicate little birds that took a great deal of time to sew.

The traditional embroidery, called taqlidi, and those women who belonged

to it, argued that the „asri, or modern, embroidery was bid‟a, a violation of

the hudud . (Mernissi 1994, 207). This split is reflected upon a number of

other times by Mernissi, as a variety of occasions occur for her to express

her mother’s and cousin’s rebellions.

In addition, the story explains the beauty rituals practiced by

women in the harem, which includes a trip to the public baths, or

hammam, which are separated by gender. Mernissi was told that men and

women did not understand each other, and that when they were separated

by gender in the hammam, which results in “a cosmic frontier that splits

the planet into two halves. The frontier indicates the line of power…the

powerful on one side, and the powerless on the other.” (Mernissi 1994,

242). This told that if she couldn’t get out, and then she was powerless;

seemed to be an indication of the impetus that had driven Mernissi to earn

her education and to carve out a new and different place for herself in her

society.

Besides, the powers of the words which are very important to

Arab women appear in this story as it opens worlds, creates variety, and



34

provides sensuality and inspiration. Mernissi’s aunt, Habiba who could

take her listeners all over the world, said:

“When you happen to be trapped powerless behind walls, stuck in

a dead-end harem, you dream of escape. And magic flourishes

when you spell out that dream and make the frontiers vanish.

Dreams can change your life, and eventually the world. Liberation

starts with images dancing in your little head, and you can

translate those images into words. And words cost nothing.”

(Mernissi 1994, 113).

The writer finds that both of aunt Habiba and Chama transform

their feminist thoughts through the theater. They also always talk about the

freedom and having great dream as written by aunt Habiba: “The main

thing for the powerless is to have a dream. True, a dream alone, without

the bargaining power to go with it, doe sn‟t transform the world or make

the wall vanish, but it does help you keep a hold of dignity.” (Mernissi

1994, 214).

This desire of freedom, not to be powerless is part of feminism

thoughts that pushes the female characters to work for equality within their

society. It has driven to Mernissi, efforts to end racist inequities, and

struggles to have equal rights and liberties regardless of religion,

nationality, ethnicity or any other factor that differentiates one person from

another.

b. The Ways of Female Characters Shape the Feminism Thoughts In

Dr eams of Trespass: Tales of H arem Gir lhood

In Dreams of Trespass, some female characters create innovative

tactics to deal with those restrictions and sometimes to cross over into the



35

public sphere and gain some of the influence reserved for men. There are

several ways that they use to shape the feminism thoughts that finally

transformed to Mernissi as the young generation, such as through

storytelling, education and theater. Their purpose is to get equality and

freedom as well as men.

1. Storytelling

While growing up, Mernissi’s mother ceaselessly coached her

daughter, Fatima Mernissi on how to attain theoretical freedom within the

walled harem. Therefore, she taught Mernissi how to act and carry herself

as a woman: "You have to learn to scream and protest, just the way you

learned to walk and talk..." (Mernissi 1994, 9). For example, she told

Mernissi the story of how women should act wisely and sensibly such as A

Thousand and One Nights.

Mother told that story, regarding the Sultan who was very fond of

the story. It told about the King Schahriar who found his wife having sex

with his bodyguards. He was very angry and killed both of them. After that

he hated women and carried them to his bad habit, married women on one

night and then killed them in the following day. It was continually

happened and increased the death of many women. This practice was

finally stopped by a girl named Scheherazade, one of Sultan’s wives who

defeated him with her story that the Sultan always delayed his plans to kill

her:



36

“As soon as she entered King Schahriar‟s bedroom, she started

telling him such a marvelous story, which she cleverly left hanging

at a most suspenseful part that he couldn‟t bear to part with her at

dawn. So he let her live until the next night, so she could finish her

tale. But on the second night, she told him another wonderful story,

which she was again far from finishing when dawn arrived, and the

King who had to let her live again. The same thing happened the

next night, and the next, for a thousand nights, which is almost

three years, until the King was unable to imagine living without

her. By then, they already had two children, and after a thousand

and one nights, he renounced his terrible habit of chopping off

women‟s head s.” (Mernissi 1994,16).

Mother regularly tells of wisdom. Even so, it needs to highlight

how the little girl asked: "But how does one learn how to tell stories which

please king?" (Mernissi 1994, 16). Her mother, as if she was reflecting

herself, saying that it was a woman’s lifetime work. That reply didn’t help

Mernissi much, of course, but then she added that all she needed to know

for the moment was that her chances of happiness would depend upon how

skill she became with words.

Besides, one of Mernissi’s aunts, Habiba is also able to tell story as

well as mother. She knows how to talk in the night. Her tales make

Mernissi long to become an adult and an expert storyteller herself: “I

wanted to learn how to talk in the night.” (Mernissi 1994, 19).

According to above, mother and aunt have managed to remember a

great deal about the history, literature, and geography that they have heard

and have put all their energy into the freedom which only required their

imagination.



37

2. Education

Mother and grandmother are the large contributors to Mernissi’s

freedom by providing her with education, filling her head with ideals of

equality, and insisting on a future for her outside the confines of the

harem. A future filled with passports, education, and happiness is not a

traditional Arab woman. Mernissi’s access to novels, education, and the

progressive western world that her mother prepared for her had enabled

her to foresee herself as an educated woman. Mernissi admitted that her

grandmother and mother who supported her in getting a higher education

so that she could become independent:

“Of course you will be happy! You will be a modern educated lady.

You will realize the nationalist‟s dreams. You will learn foreignlanguages, have a passport, and speak l ike religious authority…as

illiterate and bound by tradition as I am; I have managed to

squeeze some happiness out of this dammed life. That is why I

don‟t want you to focus on barriers and frontiers all the time. I

want you to concentrate on fun and laughter and happiness. That is

a good project for an ambitious lady. (Mernissi 1994, 64).

In those days, there were many women that had been illiterate

including Mernissi’s Mother. However, she really wanted to go to literacy

classes that are offered by a few schools in her own neighborhood.

Unfortunately, it was not allowed by Lalla Mani, Mernissi's paternal

grandmother who was an extremely conservative. She considered that

schools were only for little girls, not for mothers, she also said, “It is not

our tr adition” (Mernissi 1994, 200). It was retorted by mother: “Who is

benefitting from a harem? What good can I do for our country, sitting here



38

a prisoner in this courtyard? Why are we deprived of education? Who

created the harem, and for what? Can anyone explain that to me?”

(Mernissi 1994, 200).

Most women in harem hoped that their daughters would not end up

in a harem like they did. The younger girls would be allowed a privilege

that the older women did not get the privilege of going to a western system

school with the boys. It was Mernissi’s mother who kept fighting to take

Mernissi into the new school. In the western style school she could learn

math, science, and other subjects that will help her to build a better life for

her. Although the older women were denied to learn and to read, they

found peace in smaller victories.

3. Theater

In the story then, there are other female characters that live in

harem enjoying little moments of freedom in their own precious ways;

they are aunt Habiba and cousin Chama. They are the high priestesses of

imagination. And they have a big dream about the freedom that they

express through their works. It can be an entertainment that is not only

entertaining but also encouraging other women inside the harem including

Fatima Mernissi.

Aunt habiba and Chama can apply their feminist thoughts through

the theater. They also never stop talking about the freedom and having

great dream. As written by aunt Habiba: “The main thing for the powerless

is to have a dream. True, a dream alone, without the bargaining power to



39

go with it, doesn‟t transform the world or make the wall vanish, but it does

help you keep a hold of dignity.” (Mernissi 1994, 214).

Some messages of the theater are below:

“Dignity is to have a dream, a strong one, which gives you a

vision, a world where you have a place, where whatever it is you

have to contribute makes a difference.

You are in harem where the world does not need you.

You are in harem when what you can contribute does not make a

difference.

You are in harem when what you do is useless.You are in harem when the planet swirls around, with you buried

up to your neck in scorn and neglect.

Only one person can change that situation and make the planet go

around the other way, and that is you.

If you stand up against scorn, and dream of a different world, the

planet‟s direction will be altered.

But what you need to avoid at all costs, is to let the scorn around

you get inside.

When a woman starts thinking she is nothing, the little sparrows

cry.Who can defend them on the terrace, if no one has the vision of a

world without slingshots?” (Mernissi 1994, 214).

Aunt Habiba is a woman who is discrete in her actions because of

her low status in the household (having been divorced). Ultimately, she

relies on the power of dreams, fantasies and often, Chama’s theatrical

performances to keep that feeling of freedom, however illusionist it may

be. Aunt Habiba certainly stated that all women had magic inside, woven

into their dreams:

“When you happen to be trapped powerle ss behind walls, stuck in



Dreams can change your life, and eventually the world. Liberation starts with images dancing in your little head, and you can

translate those images in words. And words cost nothing!”

(Mernissi 1994, 114).



40

Her ability to tell stories is indeed a blessing both for the children

that are allowed to enjoy the countless stories of a world they probably

never know and for herself. She also never threatens to withdraw her love

when she commits some unintentional minor or even major infraction.

There is one aspect of traditionalism that she respects and agrees with.

That is the one that has allowed her to move into this harem away from her

husband:

“Aunt Habiba, who had been cast off and sent away suddenly for

no reason by a husband she loved dearly, said that Allah had sent

the Northern armies to Morocco to punish the men for violating the

hudud protecting women. When you hurt a woman, you are

violating Allah‟s sacred frontier. It is unlawful to hurt the weak.

She cried for years.” (Mernissi 1994, 3).

In addition, Chama is one of the characters that are probably

endowed with the most freedom. Her affinity for dramatic performances

allows her to talk about the taboo of topics and is tolerated by the men of

the harem. She also successfully explains Mernissi the history of the

harem girlhood with her theory.

Chama frequently put on plays that challenge the harem and mock

traditionalism but often performs it in such a way that it is somewhat

acceptable:

“Asmahan wanted to go to chic restaurants, dance like the French,

and hold her Prince in her arms, She wanted to waltz away with

him all night, instead of standing on the sidelines behind curtains,watching him deliberate in endless, exclusively male tribal

councils. She hated the whole clan and its senseless, cruel law. All

she wanted was to drift away into bubble-like moments of



41

happiness and sensual bliss. The lady was no criminal; she meant

no harm.” (Mernissi 1994, 110).

Chama’s theater is very popular around the harem’s women and

inspiring. Both the story and the performance are interesting. And the

heroines most often portrayed in Chama’s theater are Asmahan, the actress

and singer; the Egyptian and Lebanese feminists; Scheherazade and the

princesses of A thousand and one nights; and some important religious

figures. Among the feminist or pioneers of women’s rights are Aisha

Taymor, Zaynab fawwaz, and Huda Sha’raoui. Meanwhile, among the

religious figures are the most popular Khadija, Aisha and Rabea al-

Adaouiya.

Moroccan women that are thirsty for liberation and change, have

to export their feminists from the east, for there are no local ones as yet

famous enough to become public figures and nurture their dreams. Chama

remarks from time to time:

“Squeezed between the silence of the Sahara Desert in the south

the furious waves of the Atlantic Ocean in the West and the

Christian invaders‟ aggression from the North Moroccans recoiledin defensive attitudes, while all the other Muslim nations have

sailed away into modernity. Women have advanced everywhere

except here. We are a museum. We should make tourists pay a fee

at the gates of Tangier!” (Mernissi 1994, 128).

Magic flourishes throughout this theater as it educates and

entertains the audience. It is wonderfully performed and has the power to

open Western eyes to a world often objectified and trivialized. In the

process, it creates a new appreciation and understanding for the varied



42

lives of Arab women. Then, the theater has influenced and has shaped

women including Mernissi to have a big dream because it will deliver

women to get what they want.



43

CHAPTER 4

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

1. Conclusion

Based on the analysis which is presented in the previous chapter, the writer

makes the conclusion dealing with the answer to the research questions regarding

the feminism thoughts in novel Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood

by Fatima Mernissi through female characters.

Dreams of Trespass is memoir of Fatima Mernissi that describes her life

experiences when she was a child. She was born in a harem in 1940 in Fez,

Morocco. She lived in the harem or domestic life with her extended family.

Harem is a place where women are oppressed and cordoned off from the outside

world and need to respect the hudud or the sacred frontier. The strong cultures and

traditions including harem make women hard to express their freedom and to

deliver their aspiration of getting rights completely.

Fortunately, Mernissi lives in harem among the great women who struggle

against some forms of social barrier that prevent them from entering the public

sphere. Those women are her mother, grandmothers, aunts and cousins as strong

female characters. They try to voice their feminism thoughts to Mernissi as the

representative of the next generation of women and educate her to be independent

woman.

In Dreams of Trespass, the writer finds the feminism thoughts regarding to

the harem life according the concept of gender inequality and freedom that are



44

shaped by the female characters. Those are part of feminism thoughts that appear

in the story.

Further, there are several ways that used by strong female characters to

shape the feminist thoughts in the novel. Those are storytelling, education and

theater. The ability of mother and aunt Habiba to tell stories is indeed a blessing

for the children that are allowed to enjoy the countless stories of a world they will

probably never know. Through the storytelling they teach how to be a strong

woman. Mother and grandmother also concern to encourage Mernissi to be a

smart girl, so they enroll Mernissi into high education. Meanwhile, aunt Habiba

and Chama present the theater inside the harem with some massages for women

that they must have big dreams about freedom. Finally, mother tries to express

Mernissi’s desire for equality by let her wear western clothing. Mother wants her

daughter at a young age to assimilate into the personal of a western woman to

escape the bounded life that she has experienced in the Moroccan Harem. Those

are several ways to get equality and freedom as well as men.

2. Suggestion

After finding the conclusion of the research result, there are some

suggestions regarding the analysis of Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem

Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi related to feminist literary criticism.

This research focuses on feminism thoughts based on feminism in the

Middle East as well that basically less analyzed about women according to

Islamic teaching. Meanwhile, the setting of the novel is in Morocco that has



45

strong culture and Islamic teaching. For further research, it is better for the

researcher to analysis based on Islamic Feminism theory.

Further, this research is analyzed by female perspective used feminism

theory. For the following research can be analyzed by male perspective. The way

the researcher analyzes the novel will be different and will be more challenging.



46

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

Amalia, Euis. Pengantar Kajian Gender: Feminisme: Konsep, Sejarah dan

Perkembangannya. Jakarta: Pusat Studi Wanita UIN Syarif

Hidayatullah. 2003.

Djayanegara, Soenarti. Kritik Sastra Feminis: Sebuah Pengantar . Jakarta: PT

Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2000.

Endaswara, Suwardi. Metodologi Penelitian Sastra. Yogyakarta: Pustaka

Widyatama, 2003.

Elizabeth, McKee. Feminisme dan Islam: Perpektif Hukum Dan Sastra: Agenda

Politik dan Strategi Tekstual Para Penulis Perempuan Afrika Utara, ed.

Mai Yamani. Translator, Purwanto. Bandung: Penerbit Nuansa Yayasan

Nuansa Cendikia, 2000.

Humm, Maggie. Ensiklopedia Feminisme. Translator, Mundi Rahayu.

Yogyakarta: Fajar Pustaka Baru, 2007.

_____________, Feminist Criticism: Women as contemporary Critics. Brighton:

Harvester Press, 1986.

Karmi, Ghada. Feminisme Dan Islam: Perpektif Hukum Dan Sastra: Perempuan,

Islam, Dan Patriarkalisme, Ed. Mai Yamani. Translator, Purwanto.

Bandung: Penerbit Nuansa Yayasan Nuansa Cendikia, 2000.

Leitch, Vincent B. American Literary Criticism from the Thirties to the Eighties.

New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.

Mernisi, Fatima. Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood . USA:

Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1994.

______________. Women‟s Rebellion and Islamic Memory. London: Zed Books,

1996.

______________. Beyond The Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim

Society. London: Saki Books Publisher, 1985.

Millet, Kate. Sexual Politics, the Second Chapter, Theory of Sexual Politics.

London: Granada Publishing, 1969.



47

Nicholson, Paula. Gender, Power, and Organization. UK: Taylor Francis Ltd,

1996.

Nyoman, Kutha Ratna. Teori, metode, dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra. Yogyakarta:

Pustaka Pelajar, 2006.

Plain, Gill. A History of Feminist Literary Criticism, Ed. Gill Plain and Susan

Sellers. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Sarup, Madan. Posstrukturalisme dan Posmodernisme: Sebuah Pengantar Kritis,

Translator: Medhy Aginta Hidayat, Yogyakarta: Jendela, 2007.

Schuon, Frithjof. Understanding Islam. USA: World Wisdom Books, 1998.

Sugihastuti and Suharto, Kritik Sastra Feminis: Teori dan Aplikasinya.

Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar, 2002.

Tuttle, Lisa. Encyclopedia of Feminism. Harlow: Longman 1986.

Articles:

Ahmed,

Leila. Feminism and feminist movements in the Middle East, a

preliminary exploration: Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, People's Democratic

Republic of Yemen, Women’s Studies International Forum , Vol. 5, Issue

2, 1982.

Badran, Margot. Islam, Patriarchy, and Feminism in the Middle East, Trends in

History, Vol. 4 (1), 1985.

Goel, Shilpi. Feminist Literary Criticism. Language in India: Strength for today

and hope bright for tomorrow, Vol. 10, 2010.

Websites:

http://www.Definitionsof_Memoir.htm. Accessed on June, 20 2010.

http://www.liberationofwomen.html. Accessed on May, 25 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony. Accessed on June, 20 2010.

http://En.Wikipedia.Org/Wiki/Feminist_Literary_Criticism. Accessed on March,

14 2009.









http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony

http://en.wikipedia.org/Wiki/Feminist_Literary_Criticism

http://en.wikipedia.org/Wiki/Feminist_Literary_Criticism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony









48

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Islamic_feminism. Accessed on

May, 20 2010.

http://www.mernissi.net/civil_society/portraits/fatimamernissi.html. Accessed on

May, 20 2010.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2127025_teach-feminism-young-girls.html. Accessed

on March, 5 2011.


http://www.mernissi.net/civil_society/portraits/fatimamernissi.html




http://www.mernissi.net/civil_society/portraits/fatimamernissi.html




49

APPENDICES

1. Appendix 1: Synopsis

Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood

Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood is a memoir of Fatima

Mernissi about her childhood recounts the life experiences of her female relatives

and her own reactions to the world around her. This rich, magical and absorbing

growing-up tale set in a little-known culture reflects many universals about

women. The setting is a domestic harem in the 1940s city of Fez, where an

extended family arrangement keeps the women mostly apart from society.

Dreams of Trespass outlines the story of the writer, Fatima Mernissi and

her reflections of growing up in a harem. The story starts out when Mernissi is

quite young, and ends when she is around nine years old. She discusses the

members of her family and their personalities, dreams, and hopes. Her work is

quite descriptive and contains many cultural allusions that are well described

http://lexicorient.com/e.o/harem.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Trespass-Tales-Harem-Girlhood/dp/0201489376/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-7831077-8352828?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186890512&sr=8-1


http://www.mernissi.net/










50

within the context of the story. In particular the incidents in the story are

connected with outlying concepts of freedom, feminism, and the purpose of

barriers, separation, and frontiers pertaining to harem life. Mernissi weaves her

stories together beautifully and there is a real sense of continuity between chapters

and a reflective sense of her own ideals.

Fatima Mernissi charts the changing social and political frontiers and

limns the personalities and quirks of her world. Here she tells of a grandmother

who warns that the world is unfair to women, learns of the confusing World War

II via radio news in Arabic and French, watches family members debate what

children should hear, wonders why American soldiers' skin doesn't reflect

Moroccan-style racial mixing and decides that sensuality must be a part of

women's liberation. This story not only tells a winning personal story but also

helps to feminize a much-stereotyped religion. The story also demystifies the

harem and puts a face on Arab Muslim women in a personal and highly

entertaining manner, exploring the nature of women's power, the value of oral

tradition, and the absolute necessity of dreams and celebrations.

This story provided a magnificent glimpse into a world that seems as strange to

women. And it certainly opened women’s eyes. At only 22 chapters and 242 pages,

women can learn how to be independent women who have a big dream. This story

finally ends with statement "If you can't get out, you are on the powerless side”. It

reflects the harem girlhood who lives in domestic life.









51

2. Appendix 2: Biography of Author

Fatima Mernissi

Fatima Mernissi was born into a middle-class family in Fez (Morocco) in

1940. In 1957, she studied political sciences at the University of Rabat, the

Sorbonne in Paris and Brandeis University (Massachusetts). She worked at the

Mohammed V University and taught at the Faculté des Lettres between 1974 and

1981 on subjects such as methodology, family sociology and psycho-sociology.

She has become noted internationally mainly as an Islamic feminist, Moroccan

sociologist and writer.

As an Islamic feminist, Mernissi is largely concerned with Islam and

women's roles in it, analyzing the historical development of Islamic thought and

its modern manifestation. Through a detailed investigation of the nature of the

succession to Muhammad, she casts doubt on the validity of some of the hadith

(sayings and traditions attributed to him), and therefore the subordination of

women that she sees in Islam, but not necessarily in the Qur'an.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_V_University

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_feminist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Muslim_societies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_philosophy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Islamic_philosophy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadith


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qur%27an

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qur%27an


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Islamic_philosophy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_philosophy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Muslim_societies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_feminist




52

As a sociologist, Mernissi has done fieldwork mainly in Morocco. On

several occasions in the late 1970s and early 1980s she conducted interviews in

order to map prevailing attitudes to women and work. She has done sociological

research for UNESCO and ILO as well as for the Moroccan authorities. In the late

1970s and in the 1980s Mernissi contributed articles to periodicals and other

publications on women in Morocco and women and Islam from a contemporary as

well as from a historical perspective.

Then, as a writer, she published several books on the position of women in

the rapidly changing Muslim communities in Morocco. Mernissi’s first

monograph, Beyond the Veil , was published in 1975. A revised edition was

published in Britain in 1985 and in the US in 1987. Beyond the Veil has become a

classic, especially in the fields of anthropology and sociology on women in the

Arab World, the Mediterranean area or Muslim societies in general. Her most

famous book, as an Islamic feminist, The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist

Interpretation of Islam, is a quasi-historical study of role of the wives of

Muhammad. It was first published in French in 1987, and translated into English

in 1991. For Doing Daily Battle: Interviews with Moroccan Women (1991), she

interviewed peasant women, women laborers, clairvoyants and maidservants. In

1994, Mernissi published a memoir, Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem

Girlhood , about her growing experience in the harem with other women. Other

works of Mernissi are Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World (1992),

Forgotten Queens of Islam (1990), Scheherazade goes West: Different Cultures,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Veil_%28book%29


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad%27s_marriages


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreams_of_Trespass:_Tales_of_a_Harem_Girlhood









http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO



53

Different Harems (2001), Islam, Gender and Social Change and Women's

Rebellion and Islamic Memory (1996).

In May 2003, Fatema Mernissi received the Príncipe de Asturias Award

for Letters. Mernissi is currently a lecturer at the Mohammed V University of

Rabat and a research scholar at the University Institute for Scientific Research in

the same city.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabat




THE SUMMARY OF THESIS

FEMINISM THOUGHTS IN DREAMS OF TRESPASS: TALES OF A HAREM

GIRLHOOD BY FATIMA MERNISSI

By:

MUDRIKA ANISAHRI

105026000983




JAKARTA

2011



1

FEMINISM THOUGHTS IN DREAMS OF TRESPASS: TALES OF A HAREM

GIRLHOOD BY FATIMA MERNISSI

A. Background of the Study

Since nineteenth century, the literary works have been becoming a regime

culture. It has the strong attractiveness to gender’s problems. Women as an

inferior and weak person and men as strong and a smart person always cover the

literary world. Up to now, the point of view which is difficult to prevent is

hegemony1of men to women. Most the entire literary works, men’s writing are

more predominant than women’s writing. The men’s figure keeps on becoming

the authority, and assumed that women considered as the second sex and the

subordinated person.2

Therefore, there would be the movement in literary criticism field

following the previous feminism movement in women social that eventually we

know as feminist literary criticism. It is one of the variety of literary works based

on feminism ideology that would like to get the justice for looking the women

existence, it is either as the writer or the reader of the literary works.

The emergence of feminist literary criticism certainly cannot be separated

from the feminist movement which began in 1700s. In general, feminism is

women’s Liberation ideology which is supported by all of the approaches that

indicate women to get unfairness because of the sex.3 This movement rises

1The political, economic, ideological or cultural power exerted by a dominant group over

other groups. (See Definition of Hegemony, Definition from Wikipedia). 2 Suwardi Endaswara, Metodologi Penelitian Sastra (Yogyakarta: Pustaka Widyatama, 2003),

p. 143.3Maggie Humm, Ensiklopedia Feminisme. Translator, Mundi Rahayu (Yogyakarta: Fajar

Pustaka Baru, 2007), p. 158.





2

because the woman is always supposed as the second sex and gets the

discrimination in the social life. It does not mean the extreme rebellion movement

of woman to man, but to opposite the social caste and the paradigm of static myth

in the social. Woman is not a weak creature because she has her own ability to get

the position in the society. In the other word, this movement is the awareness of

women about their identity to destruct the hierarchy that is harmful for woman’s

position, such as exploitation of woman, and also slavery from man.

The feminist movement occurred not only in America but also in almost

around the world including in the Middle East. The inequality gender in the

Middle East seemed after 15th to early 18th centuries, the condition of woman in

some countries in Middle East such as Turkey, Egypt, and Syria, had not been

different from centuries before. However, it seemed only a few of the growth in

selected areas. For example, by the end of 18th centuries, the woman had already

got reading subject at many schools and could continue to famous college to get

Moslem scholar status. But for other areas, woman had not got yet the place as

equal as men.4

Fatima Mernissi is one of productive Moroccan feminist who has written

about issues of inequality of gender in her many works. She has been getting

attention from the woman activists and enthusiast of gender until now through her

works. As one of the best known Arab-Muslim feminists, Mernissi's influence

extends beyond a narrow circle of intellectuals. She is a recognized public figure

in her own country and abroad, especially in France, where she is well known in

4Euis Amalia, Pengantar Kajian Gender: Feminisme: Konsep, Sejarah dan

Perkembangannya (Jakarta: Pusat Studi Wanita UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, 2003), p. 122.



3

feminist circles. Her major books have been translated into several languages,

including English, German, Dutch, Japanese and Indonesia. She writes regularly

on women's issues in the popular press, participates in public debates promoting

the cause of Muslim women internationally, and has supervised the publication of

a series of books on the legal status of women in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

Mernissi's works explore the impact of this historically constituted

ideological system on the construction of gender and the organization of domestic

and political life in Muslim society today. Mernissi's works also explore the

relationship between sexual ideology, gender identity, sociopolitical organization,

and the status of women in Islam; her special focus, however, is Moroccan society

and culture. As a feminist, her works represent an attempt to undermine the

ideological and political systems that silence and oppress Muslim women.

Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood (1994) is one of her

memoir that exposes the multiplicity of experiences faced by women living in

harem and talks about the confusion Mernissi’s experiences as a young girl in a

harem against the backdrop of Moroccan nationalism, Westernization, and the

nascent women's rights movements.

As a literary genre, a memoir is a piece of autobiographical writing which

is often shorter than a comprehensive autobiography. The span of time covered in

the memoir is often brief compared to the person's complete life span. A memoir

often tries to capture certain highlights or meaningful events in one's past. And it

usually has a particular focus of attention, focusing on the selected events from a

perspective that may not include other facts and details from the person's life. In



4

other words, the memoir is highly focused and selective in the memories it

includes.5

Dreams of Trespass is the story of Fatima Mernissi's girlhood and the

important women in her life; they are her mother, her aunts and cousins, and her

grandmother and her co-wives. It is described from her view of life as a young girl

in the 1940's informed by an adult's understanding without losing the experiences

of a child's limited world view and attempts at understanding the world around

her. In addition, this memoir is an interesting glimpse of domestic life in mid-

Twentieth Century Fez. It is able to provide a very accessible view of the

important social and political changes of the time, such as the French occupation

of Morocco, World War II, Feminism thoughts, and Moroccan Nationalism.

Because the story takes place almost exclusively within the family circle,

domestic issues and day to day life figure prominently as well.

In the story, as the men hold on to tradition, most women argued for

equality and change and found some ways to express their desires. For example,

Yasmina, mernissi’s grandmother who influenced mernissi’s life in building rebel.

From her grandmother, Mernissi learned about the gender equality, the meaning

of confinement in harem, and a causal link between political defeats suffered by

the Muslims with the downturn experienced by women.

Another character, Mernissi’s mother is probably one of the most powerful

women in the story. Mernissi’s mother taught Mernissi how to do and to survive

as women. From her mother, she got the story that told about how to be smart and

5 N. Zuwiyya, Definition of Memoir , Accessed on June 20, 2010,

http://www.Definitionsof_Memoir.htm.





5

wisdom. In addition, Mernissi confessed that both her mother and her

grandmother who supportd her to study in higher education so that women can be

independent.

Not only her grandmother and mother who transformed the feminism

thoughts to Fatima Mernissi but also both Cousin Chama and Aunt Habiba’s stage

elaborated plays celebrating famous women's lives with all the women and

children of the harem (and occasionally the young men) participate as members of

the production or members of the audience. These plays helped Mernissi to decide

that singing, dancing and sensuality were part of the feminists' lives and should

not be forgotten; sensuality was a refreshingly natural part of life throughout the

story.

According to brief explanation about memoir of Dreams of Trespass:

Tales of a Harem Girlhood above, the writer decides to analyze the feminism

thoughts that appear in the story used feminist literary criticism theory. Finally,

the writer determines this research under the title “Feminism Thoughts in Dreams

of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi”.

B. Theoretical Frameworks

1. Feminism Theory

Etymologically, feminism comes from word femme (woman); it means a

woman (singular), struggling to get women rights (plural) as a social class.6

According to Ratna, feminism aimed to make a balancing of interrelation of

6Kutha Ratna Nyoman, Teori, metode, dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra (Yogyakarta: Pustaka

Pelajar, 2006), p. 184.



6

gender and it is movement conducted by women to refuse everything that

subordinated and margined by dominant culture either in political fields,

economics, or other social life.7

Feminism, including in particular such notions as women's right to

equality and their right to control their own lives, is, with respect to the Middle

East's current civilization at any rate, an idea that do not arise indigenously, but

that come to the Middle Eastern societies from outside. To predict and direct the

future of that idea, and therefore the future of women in the Middle East, an

understanding of the development of feminism in the Middle East is crucial,

including its transformations transplanted to a Middle Eastern, predominantly

Islamic environment, and its different interpretations in the locally different

cultures of the Middle East. It swiftly becomes apparent, in considering the

history of feminism in the Middle East that two forces in particular within Middle

Eastern societies modify; hampering or aiding the progress of feminism. First

there are attitudes within the particular society, and the culture's and the sub-

culture's formulations, formal and informal, regarding women. Second and

perhaps as important, are the society's attitudes and relationship to feminism's

civilization of origin, the Western world.8

7 Ibid, p. 184.8Leila Ahmed, “Feminism and feminist movements in the Middle East, a preliminary

exploration: Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of Yemen”, Women’s Studies

International Forum, Vol. 5, Issue 2, 1982, P. 153.











7

2. Feminist Literary Criticism Theory

Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist theory

or by the politics of feminism more broadly. According to Djajanegara, feminist

literary criticism began from desire of feminists to analyze the women writers’

works in the past and to show the women image in men writers’ works who

presented the women as a creator that in some ways are oppressed, misinterpreted,

and underestimated by dominant patriarchal tradition.9

Meanwhile, Feminist literary criticism according to Annette Kolodny in

Djayanegara is: “It involves exposing the sexual stereotyping of women, in both

our literature and our literary criticism and, as well, demonstrating the

inadequacy of established critical schools and methods to deal fairly or sensitively

with work written by women”.10

C. Research Findings

1. Data Description

In this chapter, the writer tabulates the corpus data of feminism

thoughts and the ways the female characters shape the feminism thoughts

collected from the novel Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood by

Fatima Mernissi. The writer divides the data into two tables.

9Soenarti Djayanegara, Kritik Sastra Feminis: Sebuah Pengantar (Jakarta: PT Gramedia

Pustaka Utama, 2000), p. 27.10Soenarti Djayanegara, (2000), Op.Cit . p. 19.









8

Table 1

Feminism Thoughts in Dreams of Trespass:

Tales of a Harem Girl hood

No Feminism

Thoughts

Female


1 Gender

Equality

Yasmina “Mecca was a space where

behavior was strictly codified. The

moment you stepped inside, you

were bound by many laws andregulations. People who entered

Mecca had to be pure: they had to

perform purification rituals, and

refrain from lying, cheating, and

doing harmful deeds. The city

belonged to Allah and you had to

obey his S hari’a, or sacred law, if

you entered his territory. The

same thing applied to a harem

when it was a house belonging toa man. No other men could enter

it without the owner’s permission,

and when they did, they had to

obey his rules.

"A harem was about private

space, and the rules regulating it.

It did not need walls. Once you

knew what was forbidden, you

carried the harem within,

inscribed under your forehead

and under your skin.”

“ Everyone is equal. Allah said

so. His prophet preached the

same.”

“Maybe their rules are ruthless

because they are not made by

women… The moment women get

smart and start asking that veryquestion, instead of dutifully

cooking and washing dishes all

the time, they will find a way to

61

61

26

63



9

change the rules and turn the

whole planet upside down.”

2 Freedom Yasmina

Habiba

“And hugging and snuggling your

husband is wonderful... I am so

happy your generation will not

have to share husbands anymore.”

“When you happen to be trapped

powerless behind walls, stuck in a

dead-end harem, you dream of

escape. And magic flourishes

when you spell out that dream and

make the frontiers vanish. Dreams

can change your life, and

eventually the world. Liberation

starts with images dancing in your

little head, and you can translate

those images into words. And

words cost nothing.”

“The main thing for the powerless

is to have a dream. True, a dream

alone, without the bargaining power to go with it, doesn’t

transform the world or make the

wall vanish, but it does help you

keep a hold of dignity.”

34

113

214

Table 2

The Ways of Female Characters Shape the Feminism Thoughts

in Dr eams of Trespass: Tales of a H arem Gir lhood

No

Feminism

Thoughts

Female


1 Storytelling Mother "You have to learn to scream

and protest, just the way you

learned to walk and talk..."

“As soon as she entered KingSchahriar’s bedroom, she

started telling him such a

marvelous story, which she

9

16



10

FatimaMernissi

cleverly left hanging at a most

suspenseful part that hecouldn’t bear to part with her

at dawn. So he let her live until

the next night, so she could

finish her tale. But on the

second night, she told him

another wonderful story, which

she was again far from

finishing when dawn arrived,

and the King who had to let

her live again. The same thing

happened the next night, and

the next, for a thousand nights,

which is almost three years,

until the King was unable to

imagine living without her. By

then, they already had two

children, and after a thousand

and one nights, he renounced

his terrible habit of chopping

off women’s heads.”

“I wanted to learn how to talkin the night.”

19

2 Education Mother “Of course you will be happy!

You will be a modern educated

lady. You will realize the

nationalist’ s dreams. You will

learn foreign languages, have

a passport, and speak like

religious authority…as

illiterate and bound by

tradition as I am; I havemanaged to squeeze some

happiness out of this dammed

life. That is why I don’t want

you to focus on barriers and

frontiers all the time. I want

you to concentrate on fun and

laughter and happiness. That is

a good project for an

ambitious lady.”

“Who is benefitting from a

harem? What good can I do for

our country, sitting here a

64

200



11

prisoner in this courtyard?

Why are we deprived ofeducation? Who created the

harem, and for what? Can

anyone explain that to me?”

3 Theater Chama

Habiba

“Squeezed between the silence

of the Sahara Desert in the

south the furious waves of the

Atlantic Ocean in the West and

the Christian invaders’

aggression from the North

Moroccans recoiled in

defensive attitudes, while all

the other Muslim nations have

sailed away into modernity.

Women have advanced

everywhere except here. We

are a museum. We should make

tourists pay a fee at the gates

of Tangier!”

“The main thing for the powerless is to have a dream.

True, a dream alone, without

the bargaining power to go

with it, doesn’t transform the

world or make the wall vanish,

but it does help you keep a

hold of dignity.”

“Dignity is to have a dream, a

strong one, which gives you avision, a world where you have

a place, where whatever it is

you have to contribute makes a

difference. You are in harem

where the world does not need

you. You are in harem when

what you can contribute does

not make a difference. You are

in harem when what you do is

useless. You are in harem whenthe planet swirls around, with

you buried up to your neck in

scorn and neglect. Only one

128

214

214



12

person can change that

situation and make the planet go around the other way, and

that is you. If you stand up

against scorn, and dream of a

different world, the planet’s

direction will be altered. But

what you need to avoid at all

costs, is to let the scorn around

you get inside. When a woman

starts thinking she is nothing,

the little sparrows cry. Who

can defend them on the terrace,

if no one has the vision of a

world without slingshots?”

“When you happen to be

trapped powerless behind

walls, stuck in a dead-end

harem, you dream of escape.

And magic flourishes when you

spell out that dream and make

the frontiers vanish. Dreamscan change your life, and

eventually the world.

Liberation starts with images

dancing in your little head, and

you can translate those images

in words. And words cost

nothing!”

114

2. Data Analysis

In this analysis, the writer finds two feminism thoughts that appear

in the story through female characters, they are:

1. Gender Equality

In Dreams of Trespass, most women disagree with the gender

inequality that emerges in harem. Harem is a place where women are

oppressed and cordoned off the outside world. They are subordinated and



13

do not get their rights as well as men. According to the story, women who

lived in harem did not get high education so women were illiterate. They

were required to follow the traditions and cultures that were actually

emerged from the patriarchal system.

Feminist, dreamers, and visionaries are all descriptions applied in

equal measure to Mernissi’s mother and maternal grandmother, who

shaped her from a very beginning into suppose to be independent woman.

One of the feminism thoughts that instructed Mernissi in many times is

equality, as her grandmother Yasmina said, that “everyone is equal. Allah

said so. His prophet preached the same.” (Mernissi 1994, 26).

Yasmina told Mernissi that the world had created a harem for

woman and in doing so, gave little or no consideration to the fairness of it

all. The world was not concerned about being fair to women. Rules were

made in such a manner as to deprive them in some way or another. For

example, she said, both men and women worked from dawn until very late

at night. But men made money and women did not. That was one of the

invisible rules. And when a woman worked hard, and was not making

money, she was stuck in a harem, even though she could not see its walls:

“Maybe their rules are ruthless because the y are not made by

women…..The moment women get smart and start asking that very

question, instead of dutifully cooking and washing dishes all the

time, they will find a way to change the rules and turn the whole

planet upside down.” (Mernissi 1994, 63).

Mother jumped on the chance for Mernissi as educated person and

kept fighting for her to be enrolled to a nationalist school when the



14

Moroccan nationalists began to encourage women’s education. It was

opportunity to learn and be educated in the manner of the Western system

that supported Mernissi to be a smart woman. This showed that mother

had adopted ideas that were more modern, and tried to change Mernissi’s

thought within the harem as best she could.

2. Freedom

The writer can see how the female characters tried to create the

freedom in harem. Optimistically, Mernissi’s mother believed that the

situation for her and her daughter would be different, that Mernissi would

be able to be educated, independent and happy. The restrictions of the

harem do not present the problems that mother and Yasmina have had to

deal with. These ideals of freedom, of being able to live as free women

who are able to enjoy her life outside the harem and many of the

restrictions imposed upon women. These dreams and hopes are also

demonstrative of the efforts the female characters to earn and obtain rights

for Mernissi that allow her an equal place with men in society.

Yasmina who lived relatively liberal and comfortable life had her

own definition of what it meant to exist in a frontier. She said that to be

stuck in a harem simply meant that a woman had lost her freedom of

movement. Other times, she said that a harem meant misfortune because a

woman had to share her husband with many others. Yasmina herself had to

share Grandfather with eight co-wives, which she had to sleep alone for

eight nights before she could hug and snuggle with for one. She hoped it



15

could stop in the future: “And hugging and snuggling your husband is

wonderful... I am so happy your generation will not have to share

husbands anymore. (Mernissi 1994, 34).

In addition, the story explains the beauty rituals practiced by

women in the harem, which includes a trip to the public baths, or

hammam, which are separated by gender. Mernissi was told that men and

women did not understand each other, and that when they were separated

by gender in the hammam, which results in “a cosmic frontier that splits

the planet into two halves. The frontier indicates the line of power…the

powerful on one side, and the powerless on the other.” (Mernissi 1994,

242). This told that if she couldn’t get out, and then she was powerless;

seemed to be an indication of the impetus that had driven Mernissi to earn

her education and to carve out a new and different place for herself in her

society.

Besides, the powers of the words which are very important to

Arab women appear in this story as it opens worlds, creates variety, and

provides sensuality and inspiration. Mernissi’s aunt, Habiba who could

take her listeners all over the world, said:

“When you happen to be trapped powerless behind walls, stuck in



Dreams can change your life, and eventually the world. Liberation

starts with images dancing in your little head, and you can

translate those images into words. And words cost nothing.”

(Mernissi 1994, 113).



16

The writer finds that both of aunt Habiba and Chama transform

their feminist thoughts through the theater. They also always talk about the

freedom and having great dream as written by aunt Habiba: “The main

thing for the powerless is to have a dream. True, a dream alone, without

the bargaining power to go with it, doesn’t transform the world or make

the wall vanish, but it does help you keep a hold of dignity.” (Mernissi

1994, 214).

This desire of freedom, not to be powerless is part of feminism

thoughts that pushes the female characters to work for equality within their

society. It has driven to Mernissi, efforts to end racist inequities, and

struggles to have equal rights and liberties regardless of religion,

nationality, ethnicity or any other factor that differentiates one person from

another.

b. The Ways of Female Characters Shape the Feminism Thoughts In

Dr eams of Trespass: Tales of H arem Gir lhood

There are several ways that they use to shape the feminism

thoughts in the novel, they are:

1. Storytelling

While growing up, Mernissi’s mother ceaselessly coached her

daughter, Fatima Mernissi on how to attain theoretical freedom within the

walled harem. Therefore, she taught Mernissi how to act and carry herself

as a woman: "You have to learn to scream and protest, just the way you

learned to walk and talk..." (Mernissi 1994, 9). For example, she told



17

Mernissi the story of how women should act wisely and sensibly such as A

Thousand and One Nights.

Besides, one of Mernissi’s aunts, Habiba is also able to tell story as

well as mother. She knows how to talk in the night. Her tales make

Mernissi long to become an adult and an expert storyteller herself: “I

wanted to learn how to talk in the night.” (Mernissi 1994, 19).

2. Education

Mother and grandmother are the large contributors to Mernissi’s

freedom by providing her with education, filling her head with ideals of

equality, and insisting on a future for her outside the confines of the

harem. A future filled with passports, education, and happiness is not a

traditional Arab woman. Mernissi’s access to novels, education, and the

progressive western world that her mother prepared for her had enabled

her to foresee herself as an educated woman. Mernissi admitted that her

grandmother and mother who supported her in getting a higher education

so that she could become independent.

Most women in harem hoped that their daughters would not end up

in a harem like they did. The younger girls would be allowed a privilege

that the older women did not get the privilege of going to a western system

school with the boys. It was Mernissi’s mother who kept fighting to take

Mernissi into the new school. In the western style school she could learn

math, science, and other subjects that will help her to build a better life for



18

her. Although the older women were denied to learn and to read, they

found peace in smaller victories.

3. Theater

In the story then, there are other female characters that live in

harem enjoying little moments of freedom in their own precious ways;

they are aunt Habiba and cousin Chama. They are the high priestesses of

imagination. And they have a big dream about the freedom that they

express through their works. It can be an entertainment that is not only

entertaining but also encouraging other women inside the harem including

Fatima Mernissi.

Aunt habiba and Chama can apply their feminist thoughts through

the theater. They also never stop talking about the freedom and having

great dream. As written by aunt Habiba: “The main thing for the powerless

is to have a dream. True, a dream alone, without the bargaining power to

go with it, doesn’t transform the world or make the wall vanish, but it does

help you keep a hold of d ignity.” (Mernissi 1994, 214).

Her ability to tell stories is indeed a blessing both for the children

that are allowed to enjoy the countless stories of a world they probably

never know and for herself. She also never threatens to withdraw her love

when she commits some unintentional minor or even major infraction.

There is one aspect of traditionalism that she respects and agrees with.

That is the one that has allowed her to move into this harem away from her

husband:



19

“Aunt Habiba, who had been cast off and sent away suddenly for

no reason by a husband she loved dearly, said that Allah had sent

the Northern armies to Morocco to punish the men for violating the

hudud protecting women. When you hurt a woman, you are

violating Allah’s sacred frontier. It is unlawful to hurt the weak.

She cried for years.” (Mernissi 1994, 3).

In addition, Chama is one of the characters that are probably

endowed with the most freedom. Her affinity for dramatic performances

allows her to talk about the taboo of topics and is tolerated by the men of

the harem. She also successfully explains Mernissi the history of the

harem girlhood with her theory.

Chama frequently put on plays that challenge the harem and mock

traditionalism but often performs it in such a way that it is somewhat

acceptable:

“Asmahan wanted to go to chic restaurants, dance like the French,

and hold her Prince in her arms, She wanted to waltz away with

him all night, instead of standing on the sidelines behind curtains,

watching him deliberate in endless, exclusively male tribal

councils. She hated the whole clan and its senseless, cruel law. All

she wanted was to drift away into bubble-like moments of

happiness and sensual bliss. The lady was no criminal; she meant

no harm.” (Mernissi 1994, 110).

Magic flourishes throughout this theater as it educates and

entertains the audience. It is wonderfully performed and has the power to

open Western eyes to a world often objectified and trivialized. In the

process, it creates a new appreciation and understanding for the varied

lives of Arab women. Then, the theater has influenced and has shaped

women including Mernissi to have a big dream because it will deliver

women to get what they want.



20

D. Conclusion

In Dreams of Trespass, the writer finds the feminism thoughts regarding to

the harem life according the concept of gender inequality and freedom that are

shaped by the female characters. Those are part of feminism thoughts that appear

in the story.

Further, there are several ways that used by strong female characters to

shape the feminist thoughts in the novel. Those are storytelling, education and

theater. The ability of mother and aunt Habiba to tell stories is indeed a blessing

for the children that are allowed to enjoy the countless stories of a world they will

probably never know. Through the storytelling they teach how to be a strong

woman. Mother and grandmother also concern to encourage Mernissi to be a

smart girl, so they enroll Mernissi into high education. Meanwhile, aunt Habiba

and Chama present the theater inside the harem with some massages for women

that they must have big dreams about freedom. Finally, mother tries to express

Mernissi’s desire for equality by let her wear western clothing. Mother wants her

daughter at a young age to assimilate into the personal of a western woman to

escape the bounded life that she has experienced in the Moroccan Harem. Those

are several ways to get equality and freedom as well as men.



21



22



CURRICULUM VITAE

A. PERSONAL DATA

Name : Mudrika Anisahri Address : Jl. Pertamina B No: 34 jatiraden-jatisampurna BekasiPhone : 085 719192428Date of Birth : July 16, 1987Religion : Islam

Sex : FemaleMarital Status : SingleNationality : Indonesian

B. EDUCATIONS

MA Darul Ulum 1, Bogor, 2001-2004 English Letters Department, Faculty of Letters and Humanities , State

Islamic University “Syarif Hidayatullah” Jakarta, 2005-2011.

101191 mudrika anisahri fah

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