Enchi Fumiko's Komachi Hensoo and Toeti Heraty's Calon Arang: Kisah Perempuan Patriarki: The Recreation of Myth from Woman's Perspective

• Main Author: Rouli Esther PASARIBU
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Global Institute for Japanese Studies, Korea University 2018-12-01
• Series: Gwagyeong Ilboneo Munhak Yeongu
• Subjects: Recreation; Patriarchal Society; Women Writers; Women’s Anger
• Online Access: https://www.bcjjl.org/upload/pdf/bcjjlls-7-1-45.pdf
• ISSN: 2383-5222; 2635-4829

This study observes how the myths of Onono Komachi and Calon Arang are recreated and reinterpreted by a Japanese and an Indonesian woman writer, Enchi Fumiko and Toeti Heraty. By comparing Enchi’s Komachi Henso and Herati’s Calon Arang：The Story of A Woman Sacrificed to Patriarchy, this study aims to investigate universal values of patriarchy from different regions and explore how women writers attempt to rattle dominant discourses on how women should be positioned in society. This study applies the textual analysis method using a gender perspective, focusing on the process of recreating the myths of Onono Komachi and Calon Arang. Three key findings emerge from the analysis. First, in patriarchy-dominant discourse, both Onono Komachi and Calon Arang are depicted as bad and cruel women. They refuse to submit to patriarchal norms, and this refusal positions them at the periphery of society. Second, Enchi and Heraty recreate these legends by giving voice to a woman’s perspective. In Enchi’s Komachi Henso, Komachi refuses to submit to a Buddhist priest at the end of her life, instead seducing him eternally. This act can be read as a creation of a rebel woman questioning patriarchal values. In Heraty’s Calon Arang, the narrator explains how Calon Arang is treated unfairly in patriarchy society. The narrator attempts to highlight the socio-cultural conditions faced by Calon Arang. Third, it is found that the act of recreating stories is the author’s means to challenge the established myths of patriarchy. Women writers from different regions-in this case Japan and Indonesia-share similar experiences and strategies in voicing their perspective by recreating the established myths of their society.