Jurnal Penelitian Dan Pengkajian Ilmiah Sosial Budaya

Divergent is the first series of Divergent trilogy penned by Veronica Roth. As a work that tells a story about a supposedly strong female protagonist, the novel seems to uphold feminist values. However, upon a closer look, the pro-feminist worldview found in the novel operates merely on a cosmetic level. The long-standing patriarchal ideas about women still hold this novel captive, making it incapable of realizing its affirmative feminist aspirations. This study aims at proving that Divergent’s superficial pro-feminist stance is subverted by the underlying support it has for patriarchal ideas. The analysis is conducted by applying Margery Hourihan’s theory regarding three patriarchy’s archetypal conceptions about women—The Mother, Damsel-in-Distress, and The Witch. In gathering the data and conducting the analysis, this study employs qualitative methods. The result of this study shows that, while the novel appears to be a feminist fiction, it is still firmly grounded in patriarchal and misogynistic values that do not coincide with current feminist ideas about gender equality and female identity.


INTRODUCTION
The discourse of gender equality is manifested in many kinds of definitions, forms, goals, and actors, that is feminism (Pilcher & Whelehan, 2004, p. 11).In a broad sense, feminism is a range of ideas and movements related to female's rights, roles, duties and responsibilities.It is a critique of patriarchal and essentialist ideas about genders, which according to Walby (in Gordon, 1996, p. 18), construct particular structure that facilitates abusive and exploitative treatment of women by men.Tyson explains that the essential idea sees men as rational, strong, protective and decisive, while women are seen as irrational, weak, nurturing, and submissive (2006, p. 45).
He (2006, p. 48) adds that the idea about men and women as totally separate entities with fixed qualities is perpetuated through myriad of discourses and institutions, directly and indirectly.The direct and explicit cultivation of this patriarchal idea, such as the laws that deprived women of their suffrage, could be altered in a relatively simple way; by changing the laws.However, the indirect perpetuation of the idea is quite problematic and can take a long time to tackle.This is one of the reasons why after more than centuries of existing, feminist movements that struggle to fight patriarchy are still not exhibiting any sign of disbanding.
One of the most effective ways of perpetuating patriarchal ideas is through narrative.Literary works and films are fertile grounds for this.They often present certain representations of men and women in order to conserve patriarchal idea about both sexes.Some literary works unconsciously make certain assertions about society that are gender biased.Women play more roles as receptionists, secretaries, supporting characters, and oppressed individuals who need saving.Film directors often portray women as "crybabies" and inferiors (Gamble, 2010, p. 117).
However, with the popularity of feminist views that have been slowly entering the mainstream media, people have been made aware of the unfair depiction or representation of women on the big screen, television, newspapers, magazines, and a wide array of other media.In the last twenty years, feminist point of views about gender equality has been widely accepted and supported by a lot of people regardless of their genders.This support can be seen through community acceptance of women in fields that were previously only dominated by men, through writing and the media.
One example of a recent popular movies that is seen by a lot of people as a movie that supports feminist ideas is Wonder Woman, a 2017 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, distributed by Warner Bros Pictures.On the surface level, the film presents a brave, strong, and determined heroin Nevertheless, gender issues appear to be an eternal problem.The fact that capitalism does not care about promoting any ideology as long as the ideology is financially beneficial, the popularity and, more importantly, the trendiness of feminism have produced works that only appear feminist, yet fundamentally patriarchal, if not deeply misogynistic.
Despite the seemingly positive representation of women in Wonder Woman, it is actually one of movies that is in line with patriarchal ideas.Wonder Women only supports feminism on a cosmetic level.Diana, as Wonder Woman, only has magical powers.She is not a real human being; she is a descendant of a god, hence does not fully represent women.Moreover, in her struggles, she receives support from Steve, the main male character, who is depicted as a kind of mentor to her; someone who shows her the meaning of bravery and being a hero through sacrificing himself.Diana, for the most part of the film, is heavily indebted to Steve.This narrative structure compromises whatever feminist aspiration the film has.
How patriarchal values are hiding in works deemed as feminist is an intriguing phenomenon.Divergent, a young-adult novel written by Veronica Roth, is another popular work in which this phenomenon can be found.Despite presenting itself as a feminist work and being claimed as such by many, Divergent is still haunted by patriarchal spell at its core.
This novel tells a story about a 16-yearold girl named Beatrice (nicknamed Tris) who rebels against the government to get the rights she considers she deserves.Set in Chicago, this novel is the first series of the Divergent trilogy.It was published in 2011 by Katherine Tegen Books Collin.Divergent was able to get the title of the New York Times Best Seller in 2011.
The aspect of feminism in the main character of the novel is seen when Tris opposes the authoritarian Erudite government.She wants to rebel and demand equality like her male friends.Feminism shows that women can be equal with men and also may have authority over men.Women who are believed to have the knowledge, skills, be able to explore their own potential, cannot be controlled and cannot be underestimated by men are used as the feminist ideals by some people.Tris' action is in line with what women can be if given equal opportunity.This novel appears to present its women characters as strong, independent, passionate, determined, and brave individuals.
However, although Tris is the main character in the story, the roles of the male characters seem to be of a greater significance.In every moment and situation, she is always supported by male characters, such as Four, her brother, Caleb, and her other male friends.The powerful and the important role of male characters in this novel can overshadow Tris' role as the protagonist.
This pervasiveness of the male-centric story has made it so deep in our consciousness that any story must be based on the idea about the belief that the power and success belong to men.Stories that try to tell the opposite are doomed to fail.According to Hourihan (1997, p. 174), "in this very old story of male's courage, power, and success, women are the brides, mothers, and the witches".The Bride is a beautiful woman, most of them are white and skinny.She functions as the prize for the hero after completing his final quest.Another variation of The Bride is Damselin-Distress.The only difference between The Bride and Damsel-in-Distress is in their "screen-time".The Bride may be Damsel-in-Distress, meaning that the narrative is mainly about the hero's quest in saving her.However, she can also appear at the end of a story purely as the prize for the hero.
Then, there is The Mother archetype.The Mother is a good, nurturing, and saintly woman who often appears in the beginning and in the end of the story.The Mother always supports the mission of the hero until he comes back home safely.She always provides what a hero needs, but of course she only operates in a domestic sphere.
Finally, The Witch is a strong, dark, and dangerous woman who becomes the opponent of the hero.Unlike the other female stereotypes, The Witch often plays a major role in a story as the antagonist to the hero.She tries to prevent the hero from reaching his goals.But at the end of the story, her power will be destroyed or the hero will rob her power.These are the representations of woman in patriarchal narratives.They are only seen as secondary characters that are defined based on their functions to male characters.These archetypes of woman can be found in Divergent.This study applies the theory of Margery Hourihan, Moreover, the term 'patriarchal spell' in the title of this study is informed by the implication in Hourihan's work about the mechanism of the spread of patriarchal ideas.The term "spell" is also inspired by Butler's ideas about the power of performative acts.When something is performative, it produces a series of effects.An important aspect of performative acts is the repetitiveness of the acts that are being done (Butler 2011, xxi).For example, if many young boys start wearing dress tomorrow and they would continue to do so for enough time, it is very likely that our view of what is normal for young boys to wear will change.The acceptance is not logical and happens unconsciously.It has similar characteristics to the general concept of spell.Spell itself is something magical and happens without the knowledge of the receiver.Thus, the word "spell" succinctly describes the intensity of the internalization of patriarchal beliefs in Roth's Divergent.

Data Collection Method
The type of data collection method employed in this study is qualitative, which simply means that the collected data are not converted into numbers.According to several prominent qualitative scholars, qualitative research is intended to deeply explore, understand, and interpret social phenomena within its natural setting (Creswell 2002;Pope and Mays 1995;and Denzin and Lincoln, 1994).Arora and Stoner (2009, p. 35) explain that the purpose of qualitative research methods is to acquire richer information and more detailed picture of issues, cases, or events.
The technique used in data collection is observation technique, namely observing and recording documents or archives that are closely related to the study.This study collects the data and information that are relevant to answering the main problems.The data are the material object of the study and any sources, documents, or facts that are implied by the object.The material object of this study is the novel itself.The data and source were collected from the elements of the novel such as its themes, characters, plot, settings, diction, metaphor, metonymy, and connotation.The sources used are not only from books, but also from other media such as the internet (journals and electronic books that contain theoretical point of view on feminism and patriarchy).

Data Analysis Method
The analysis will start with showing why this novel is regarded a feminist novel.The discussion revolves around characters and their actions as well as the societal and cultural context that shaped the masses perspective on the novel.Then, it will relate to superficial thoughts about the characteristics of a novel that carries feminist idea.
Next, in order to prove the existence of the patriarchal spell in Veronica Roth's Divergent, there are several steps taken in analyzing the novel by using Margery Hourihan's thematic analytical theory.In terms of decoding the process of encoding in the novel, the first step is to do a close reading on the object (or novel).Next step is to classify and to categorize the data from novel based on Hourihan's idea.It is regarding how women are depicted and represented based on some stereotypes created by the system of patriarchy such as; The Mother, Damsel-in-Distress and The Witch.This step is done by finding out and explaining behaviors, manners, styles, and ways of communication of major main female characters and major main male characters.It can be seen through the utterance of the narrator or the thought of the characters as presented by the narrator.
Then, the next step is analyzing the condition of the society in the novel to find out their social status in the novel and compare it with the condition of society in the real world.This step analyzes major female characters' jobs, actions, and activities.Therefore, this step also uses quotations from the novel as the proofs which are related to this study.
Furthermore, after knowing their characterization and their social status, this study connects those results to the theory of representation by Margery Hourihan.In addition, observation is also applied by gathering the information about women problems against patriarchy and the data from several books in relation to the study.

Divergent
As has been discussed before, a novel considered as feminist simplistically has these characteristics; (a) The protagonist is female/heroine; (b) the heroine is strong, brave, smart, and independent; (c) the heroine is shown to perform as good as men, and even better in some cases, when given equal rights, positions, and treatments like her male counterparts.These characteristics seem to be the reasons of why some people categorize Divergent as a feminist novel.For instance, Cothran and Pricked examine Divergent with regard to identity construction and feminism.They called Veronica Roth as "the next YA and feminist superstar" (2013,(26)(27)(28)(29).
This section analyzes Divergent through its fictional devices in order to prove that it contains the superficial characteristics that can give the impression that a novel is a 'feminist'.
The first impression that makes critics and researchers regard Divergent as a feminist novel is because of the heroine.She thinks that she is not capable of being strong, powerful, and brave, but she always learns and changes.Every practice that she has learned makes her learn a lot about her power.It shows that the novel allows women to be able to become strong, powerful and independent, like men.Wardani (2013, p. 2) concludes that the portrayal of women characters in Divergent are considered as the picture of strong, brave, and intelligent women who have important contribution to the society.The women characters prove that they have courage.For example, they can make decision for themselves and are willing to sacrifice their lives for others whom they love.Second, the women characters are depicted as brilliant which makes men feels threatened and intimidated.Third, the women characters have physical, mental, and emotional strength that makes men feel threatened.The last, the women characters are depicted as having important role to contribute to the social development by helping others.From the explanation above, it can be concluded that some researches and journals are convinced that Divergent has feminist idea, based on the characteristic mentioned before.Yet, once more, it is merely a superficial impression.Definitely, a feminist novel cannot be judged entirely from those surface characteristics without observing the novel in a deeper and more serious manner.

Patriarchal Spell and Representations of Women in Divergent
The categorization of Divergent as a feminist novel is only based on superficial characteristics.A deeper reading of the novel actually proves the opposite.Divergent is plagued by considerable stereotypical representations about women; representations that are historically utilized to define women's being and confine them physically and psychologically.
It is true that representations of women in stories/novels have developed and changed with time that reflect the cultural and sociological changes in society.Women's lives in developed countries now are vastly different from in the middle of nineteenth century when, as reported by Walby (1990, p. 179), women were unable to own property and seek justice for violent treatment they received from their husbands.However, patriarchy's power is still present.It strives through assigning social meanings to biological facts and differences (Boynton, 2001, p. 2).Female stereotypes continue to appear in various media.In films, the stereotypes are perpetuated by placing women as the passive object of an active male gaze (Mulvey, 1975).Hence, representations of women are often defined by how men see women, which then becomes how society expects women to look and behave.Many representations of women concentrate on sexuality and emotions.Others focus on their relationships with their children or romantic partners.
In Divergent, some female characters are represented based on perpetuated patriarchal beliefs, which the author does not seem to realize.These female characters are categorized based on their acts and their functions in the story that relate to the concept of patriarchal archetypal representations of women by Margery Hourihan.They are; The Mother, Damsel-in-distress, and The Witch.

2.A. The Mother
According to Hourihan (1992, p. 192), The Mother used to depict as someone who always supports the hero.The Mother is willing to sacrifice her life for her children.Their lives and deaths are only for the hero.The Mother has the power, the skill and the ability to protect the children in her own way.However, her existence and identity are determined by her function as the hero's sidekicks.The Mother does not seem to have a true individual identity and personal desire.Although she might have something that she wants, it does not far from the hero's desire.
In this novel, the character that belongs to The Mother stereotype is Natalie, Tris's mother.Natalie is a mother who gives a lot of her love and care to her children in every condition.She can accept what her children want for their new faction.She can understand their choices.She still gives much care even though Tris decides to transfer to Dauntless, and Caleb decides to transfer to Erudite."I don't care what faction you chose," she says, touching her hands to my cheeks."I am your mother and I want to keep you safe" (Roth, 2011, p. 101) Natalie is also portrayed as a woman who is always faithful to her husband, Tris's father.She always supports every decision and argument stated by her husband.She appreciates and respect her husband extremely."I think my mother could be beautiful, in a different world.She loves my father in every condition."(Roth, 2011, p. 6) …Like my father, she works for the government, but she helps my father manages city improvement projects…Most of the time, though, she organizes workers to help the factionless with food and shelter and job opportunities."(Roth, 2011, p. 17) As we can see from the narration, Natalie is portrayed as a faithful woman who always supports her man.Although she has a good position in society, she is still in lower position than her husband.However, she still accepts it as a form of devotion to her husband like The Mother archetype who always supports and prays for the hero's desire.
The fact that she is only The Help for her husband shows that Natalie is not different from the classic patriarchal view about women.She is only seen as The Secretary; somebody who is incapable of independent thinking, devoid of initiative, and unable to be a leader.Her husband is the visionary (a person who gives birth to ideas), and she is a mere disposable vessel who could be replaced due to the inessential nature of her role and existence.
"I shouldn't speak again, but I can't help myself.I blurt out, "Why are they doing this?" "Why don't you take this opportunity to listen to your father, Beatrice?"my mother says gently.It is phrased like a suggestion, not a command."(Roth, 2011, p. 24) Natalie unconsciously gives the order to her daughter to listen and honor her father.She reminds her about women's position in relation to men.For her, women must obey their men.He submissiveness to men could not be overstated anymore.
Furthermore, Natalie might seem like hiding her true individual identity.Her intentions and passions are only described on the surface level.Her personal life is not important anymore since she is The Maid to her family.Though, in fact, formerly, she is a Dauntless.
"My mother was born Dauntless.And she still knows how to fire a gun and save her daughter from drowning."(Roth, 2011, p. 115) All of her identity and desire have already burned and now her life belongs to Tris's father.Her desire is not important due to her man's desire, as depicted in most patriarchal fictions.The Mother always sacrifices her own desire for the hero and the men around her.

2.B. Damsel-in-Distress
In a lot of stories and fairy tales, most of the main female characters are portrayed as pretty girl, good at doing their housework, and should wait for their prince to save them from the lives they are living.Those women are known as Damsel-in-Distress.
Damsel-in-Distress is a pretty, submissive, and helpless young girl whose salvation depends of a prince.Patriarchy values a woman who is depicted as Damselin-Distress only as an object of desire, the prize for the heroes.The hero will act as the savior for Damsel-in-Distress, then she will become his bride.The hero is motivated to safe Damsel-in-Distress because he is interested in her physical appearance, helplessness, dependence, and submissiveness.
Through the archetype of Damsel-in Distress, patriarchy naturalizes the powerlessness of women and their domination by men, and then presents this as a desirable trait a women should possess.It also functions as the means to infantilize women.It suggests to women who may be dissatisfied with their lives that all will be well when their prince appears.
The inclusion of the helpless and threatened female who is saved and rescued by the hero is compulsory in patriarchal fiction.The relationship between the hero and his girl is always profoundly unequal as he alone possesses power.Women are portrayed to have no power in order to elevate the role of the hero, hence the hero will perform his function and exhibit his power and his strength as the predicate of patriarchy.
In her book, Hourihan states that damsel in distress is the responsibility of the hero or the male character (1997, p. 197).The way that women are portrayed is not as surprising when we note that the stories were all created by men, men of different and outdated values.According to Joyce (2009, p. 31), "male authors created female characters who sleep through their lives; commonly flat, one-dimensional characters who come to life only through the action of a male character.
In the beginning of Divergent, Tris is depicted as a girl who has no ability, and she also has a small body with no muscles.Although she is the main character/heroine, she cannot be liberated from the male characters in her daily life.During her life as a member of an Abnegation family, her brother Caleb always accompanies her and protects her.
After dealing with the reality of being a divergent, Tris is nervous.She spends a great deal of her mental energy hiding both her difference and her fear from others.Although she is depicted as a strong and powerful girl as described by the researchers earlier, she cannot be liberated from the characteristics of patriarchal women.It is proved by the statements below: "As the fight goes on and my irritation fades, I start to get nervous.I would like to say that Peter underestimates me, but that would be a lie.I am as unskilled as he suspects.But I can't afford not to try." (Roth, 2011, p. 48).
"Follow me," says Four.I stay close to Christina.I don't want to admit it, not even to myself, but I can't lie to myself.I feel calmer when I'm near him.If Peter tries to taunt me, Four will defend me." (Roth, 2011, p. 54).
From the narration above, it can be concluded that Tris cannot be liberated from man's shadow.From the deepest of her heart, she always needs a man's help.She feels safe when she is near Four.So, it can be said that Tris is submissive to the male character.
Tris also learns to trust her skills and impulses as she grows closer to Tobias (Four).When she first realizes she's attracted to him, she's nervous that he will reject her for the smallest misstep during training.But when Four turns out to be supportive of her Abnegation traits as well as her Dauntless ones, she begins to realize she can be both brave and unselfish rather than forcing herself to choose between them.So, it can be seen that it is Four who is responsible for making Tris more confident and stronger.He is also responsible for protecting her and making her feel save.
Hence, there is a significant amount of trace of Damsel-in Distress archetype in Tris.She heavily depends on various males throughout her life.Without stronger and wiser male characters, Tris will certainly incapable of reaching her dreams.

2.C. The Witch
There are two kinds of women in a story: good and bad.The Goddess and The Witch.The Witch sole purpose is destroying the hero, often because of vanity and jealousy but also because of their hunger for power.Therefore, they will stop at nothing to see the hero destroyed.There is no such thing as redemption or forgiveness in the fairy tale and as Sylvia Henneberg remarks "doing away with important female characters reveals a deeply entrenched sexism" (2010, p. 126).
The male characters in the most stories are strong, heroic saviors and figures of authority.In contrast, the female is timid, weak, powerless and victimized.However, the other main female character, the evil witch, often resembles the male characters in many ways.Yet, since they are women, they need to be destroyed.The Witch in stories is in no way a redeemable character.It has been argued that they are embedded in a story as a warning of what happens if young women stray from the predetermined image of the perfect woman.In this way the patriarchy is protected.
Patriarchy asserted that The Witch constitutes the menace to society.If a female has power, then patriarchy will not hesitate to destroy her.Patriarchy believes that women and power are not compatible.The one who was suitable to have power and dominate society is man.
In Divergent, the female character that is depicted as The Witch is Jeanine.She is the leader of Erudite faction due to her high IQ score."Jeanine Matthews is Erudite's sole representative, selected based on her IQ score.My father complains about her often."(Roth, 2011, p. 25) She is a smart woman.She has an ability to lead the people, so she becomes the most powerful woman in her faction.She is very ambitious about trying to fix Abnegation government or Divergent people.
She wants to help people but in the wrong way.She loves her power and does not want anyone to take it away from her.In the Erudite faction, she makes a serum, which is injected to Dauntless members, to control people into killing off every Abnegation member."Of course.Eric said every Dauntless was injected by the serum yesterday.So now the entire faction is brain-dead, obedient, and trained to kill Perfect soldiers."(Roth, 2011, p. 213) By using the serum, Jeanine can control Dauntless member as her soldiers who will do everything she orders, but actually she feels threatened by the Divergent because she cannot control them by using simulation serum.So, she makes a new experimental serum that is only injected to Divergent people.
When Tris is face-to-face with Jeanine, Tris gives her summary judgment on Jeanine, which is stated in text below: "She is more machine than maniac.She sees problems and forms solutions based on the data she collects" (Roth, 2011, p. 38) She is incredibly intelligent, logical, and violent.Her depiction as a onedimensional evil character who is undeserving of her intelligence is actually not that problematic.There are many male characters who have been portrayed in similar fashion.However, in the context of the novel, when other major female characters-who are supposed to have agency-are depicted as submissive and in need of male's guidance, Jeanine's portrayal fits the motif of patriarchy's narrative about women.Powerful and independent women should either dedicate their life to men; be shown to be deeply indebted to men, or; simply evil.

CONCLUSION
Feminism has been around for more than a century.Unfortunately, the ideas that it opposes do not exhibit any sign of disappearing.While they are gradually viewed as irrelevant, illogical, unreasonable, and mostly unethical by many, patriarchal ideas are still popular to others.Patriarchy's reign as the only valid system that has governed how we live and think about sexes and genders for centuries cannot be erased in a relatively short amount of time.The proliferation of feminist ideas does not necessarily make patriarchy vanish without a trace.The beliefs cultivated by patriarchy are still conserved in what can be categorized as vulgar patriarchal narratives.Furthermore, and most importantly, they can also plague narratives considered as feminist.
There are many literary works and films that present themselves as sympathetic toward feminist ideas while are still cultivating the traditional patriarchal beliefs about women.As has been proven by the analysis of Divergent conducted in this study, a "feminist" novel with patriarchal beliefs presents its socalled emancipatory ideas about women by utilizing fairly superficial feminist characteristics.However, it harbors deeply problematic assumptions about women by unwittingly conserving old patriarchal stereotypes about women.
Divergent shows that its main character is a female who 'appears' to be strong, brave, and intelligent.It also seems to underline that its protagonist has equal rights and positions as males.Despite of these positive feminist aspects, Divergent could not escape the powerful indoctrination of patriarchy.The feminist characteristics found in it are merely operating on a surface level.Divergent could not free itself from using archetypical characters produced by pervasive patriarchal beliefs.In this novel, The Mother, Damsel-in-Distress, and The Witch are still the central force for its narrative.Women are still portrayed as lacking of agency and individuality, helpless, and unworthy of power.Thus, however "feminist" it might seem, Divergent is still under the spell of patriarchy.
This phenomenon emphasizes the complexity of how an ideology moves in a cultural discourse.Nevertheless, as a site of ideological contestations, a novel is never about one thing.While this study has presented an analysis on one cultural and ideological aspect of the novel, namely feminism, other aspects are yet to be explored.Ideas about class and identity in Marxist theories, especially Athusser's interpellation, could be a fertile ground for exploration by future researchers.
The main character of this novel is a female, named Beatrice 'Tris' Prior.She is a 16 years old girl who is born into an abnegation family.Divergent supports an idea that tells that a woman has an agency and bravery to choose her destiny.Tris can determine her role and be independent by choosing what faction she thinks best suit her.It can be seen from the following section of the novel: "I suggest," Tori says, "that you go home.You have a lot of thinking to do, and waiting with the others may not benefit you."I touch my forehead and stare at the floor as I walk out of the room.I can't bear to look her in the eye.I can't bear to think about the Choosing Ceremony tomorrow.It's my choice now, no matter what the test says.Abnegation. Dauntless.Erudite.Divergent."(Roth, 2011.4) Darmawanto (2018) concludes that Tris has the willingness to be independent.She does not accept what other people suggest and what the aptitude test says about her personality traits because she thinks she has the ability to think critically and choose what factions that fit her personality.Besides, Tris and her family have similar opinion on the matter; the test has no meaning in determining whether she is a dauntless, an erudite, a condor, or an amity.