Comparison Essay : Between Education and Feminism

Between Education and Feminism
by Fadhila Eka Ratnasari
209221416623

Several months after his debut novel series, Laskar Pelangi, was published; Andrea Hirata soon published Padang Bulan series. People expect that the second novel series will be as popular as the previous one. It is because they consider that both novel series are very similar in almost every aspect. Beside the same progressive plot, both novel series also set on the amazing Belitong Island. Only a few people understand that those two novel series are clearly different due to several reasons. If you give a very close attention, you will see that those two novel series have their own characteristics. I can say that Laskar Pelangi and Padang Bulan series are different with respect to the story theme, point of view, and language use. If you are a fan of Andrea Hirata, those features will lead you to a better understanding of Laskar Pelangi and Padang Bulan.

First of all, Laskar Pelangi and Padang Bulan series are different in term of their story theme. Laskar Pelangi is recognized as a fabulous tale since it tells an inspiring story of education. The story ensures us that education is everyone’s right and has nothing to do with poverty. In Laskar Pelangi, you will see that whether you are poor or not, you will always get access to education. Unlike Laskar Pelangi, Padang Bulan series tells us about how to pursue dreams in another way. By emphasizing feminism issue, Padang Bulan tells about someone who fights against patriarchal domination. Andrea Hirata writes that poor society of Belitong commonly underestimates women. That is why Andrea Hirata creates a character who tries to strengthen the women position in Belitong society. Indeed, Laskar Pelangi and Padang Bulan tell a story about Belitong society in two different major themes : education and feminism.

Laskar Pelangi and Padang Bulan series also differ in term of point of view. Laskar Pelangi brings the reader into the story by first point of view. The narrator of the story in Laskar Pelangi is the main character himself. The four books of Laskar Pelangi focuses on how the main character, Ikal, pursues his dreams until he gets scholarship to study in Sorbonne University. By first point of view, Laskar Pelangi subjectively leads the readers into the main character’s feelings. It is subjective because the way the narrator tells the story in Laskar Pelangi is influenced by his own view and his personal value about every single thing. In contrast, Padang Bulan series is told by third point of view. The narrator of this story –again, it is Ikal– is not the main character. Maryamah, the main character of Padang Bulan series, is told as a tough woman who fights against male domination in Belitong society. By using the third point of view, the narrator objectively guides the readers to guess Maryamah’s feelings about her life. It is objective because the way the narrator tells the story in Padang Bulan is not influenced by any personal value. At a first glance, both novel series are nearly the same since they state Ikal as the narrator. Actually, Padang Bulan series only tell about Maryamah’s life. That is why I can say that Laskar Pelangi and Padang Bulan series are not similar since they use the different point of view.

Lastly, we have to consider about the different language use in Laskar Pelangi and Padang Bulan series, especially in term of figurative language. In Laskar Pelangi, Andrea Hirata mostly uses metaphor. For example, because of his passionate feeling to A Ling, Andrea Hirata directly compares her to Michelle Yeoh, a famous Asian actress. He also compares his old school building with a great architecture. Sometimes, Andrea Hirata uses scientific language to emphasize the nature of education in the story. Whereas, in Padang Bulan series, Andrea Hirata uses a language that is much simpler. He rarely uses figurative language because he wants to emphasize the simplicity of the main character in Padang Bulan. Once, he uses irony to express that tin miner is a part of Belitong culture. Actually, he only wants to emphasize the hard life of tin miner by stating the opposite meaning. Considering the different language use in those two novel series, you can see that it is caused by the different story themes in Laskar Pelangi and Padang Bulan.

In accordance with those features of Laskar Pelangi and Padang Bulas series, I can not decide which one is better. Both novel series are a great story with their own specialty, in term of the story themes, point of view, and language use. By comparing those two novel series, hopefully, you will have a clear understanding of Laskar Pelangi and Padang Bulan.

Yosi Founisce – 209 221 416 628

Similarities between Elephant and Whale

There are many animals in this great world; Starting from the biggest animals to the tiniest animals, from the wild ones to the tame ones, from the cutest ones to the ‘beast-like’ ones. They all exist in this world. By this large number of animals, of course they have their own characteristic, to distinguish one to the others. Even there are differences of the animals which come from the same class, like sea mammals and land mammals. Of course, there are so many kinds of mammals, especially sea mammals and land mammals. Both of those animals are mammals, right? So, absolutely, they have similarities even though they seem different. It is caused they live in different habitat. For example, elephant as land mammals and whale as sea mammals are different, but they are similar in physical characteristic and the existence nowadays.

First, the elephant resembles the whale in size. Like elephant, whale is considered as one of the largest animals. The elephant is the largest animal in the land and the whale is the largest animal in the sea. Both of them are the greatest mammals in the world. In addition, some kinds of them has the same typical skin, too. They have gray-colored skin and have body hair also. Then, like the other mammals, the whale also has lungs to breathe air, although it lives on the water. They also have four-chambered heart. Besides those organs, the elephant and the whale is classified into mammals because they are warm-blooded animals. They maintain a high body temperature. Moreover, as mammals, both of them give birth their young and also have mammary glands with which they nourish their babies. Mother whales cares for their calf for an extended period of time. Usually, they care their babies at least a year, feed them with nutritious milk and protect them.

Next, the more amazing is they are also held in cultures, mythology, and religion in humans life. For whale, it takes places in mythologies around the world, like in China, Austria, New Zealand, Canada, Africa, and even in bible. It very famous in the part of the bible when Jonas being swallowed by a whale for three days and three nights in the whale’s belly. For elephant, it very significant in India and related to Hindu Buddhist religion. There are Ganesh, who an elephant-headed Hindu deity, Airavata which an elephant ridden by the Hindu god Indra and Erawan, the Thai version of Airavata. In Sanskrit, it is called Gaja. Both of them, seems really enormous in those historical part of humans life.

Unfortunately, these mammals are endangered and going to extinct nowadays. They have been hunted for decades, even centuries, by humans. Humans hunt them for commercial uses, like sell the elephant’s ivory and the whale’s meat. Humans also use them to get profit, humans use them in industrials, put them in zoos or circuses and even for foods. These hunting has bad effect to their populations, it will decrease their number of populations. By then, there will be only a few of elephants and whales in the world and our next generation will not know what the elephant and the whale are. These marvelous creatures will become a history.

Thus, even though these animals they have differences, they still have similarities. Those similarities make the world more beautiful and the differences can also complement each other. It makes the ecology and the life of the world balanced. Since we know about it, we should keep this balance by preventing hunting of animals, supporting the organization which protect them and keeping them from extinction.

Resita Sofiani

A Battle between Wizards and Vampires

Time by time, people are interested in reading fiction books. There are two reasons why people adore reading it. Some people say, when they read a fiction book, they can visualize the characters as someone else based on their imagination. Other people say that a fiction book builds their world of imagination because there are some mythical creatures which are created in the book. Some fiction books magnetize people with their astounding imagination world and they become very popular. There are a lot of bestseller fiction books in the world through the eras, but it is only a little number of them which becomes phenomenal. Lately, there are two books which are booming and successful. They are Harry Potter and Twilight. As the most popular books, Harry Potter and Twilight not only have similarities in some aspects, but they have also dissimilarities in genre of story, characters, and readers.

First, both Harry Potter and Twilight are similar in some aspects. Harry Potter and Twilight are series books although they have different number of series. Harry Potter consists of seven books while Twilight consists of four books. However, both of them grip a lot of people’s attention around the world with their fantastic and wonderful story. They had been sold for more than 100 million copies worldwide until March 2010. Besides, Harry Potter and Twilight were filmed and it was being success. Presently, their fans are waiting for their final movies which will premiere next year. Yet, we cannot say that Harry Potter and Twilight are the same because they still have some differences. The genre of story, characters, and readers are three aspects which make those two books dissimilar from each other.

First of all, the differences between Harry Potter and Twilight are in their genre of story. We know that both of them are fiction series books, but Harry Potter is a series of fantasy books. Harry Potter’s story is the adventure of an adolescent wizard, Harry Potter, and his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. All of them are the students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry Potter is also about mystery and death because in each book Harry Potter character has to battle with Voldemort, who killed Harry Potter’s parents, or some of Voldemort’s followers, the Death Eaters, with the stakes a matter of life and death. In each of the final four books, some characters such as Cedric Diggory, Sirius Black, and Dumbledore are killed by Voldemort and Snape one by one. One of the special things from Harry Potter books is about magic. The characters do everything with magic which shows the strength of fantasy genre of this series book. In contrast to Harry Potter, Twilight is a romance-fantasy series book. The story is about a girl, Isabella Swan, who falls in love with a 104-year-old vampire named Edward Cullen. On the other hand, there is Jacob Black, a werewolf, who falls in love with her. Their triangle love builds the story romantically. The main conflict in this book is about Edward and Jacob. They hate each other because of their forefathers’ agreement that they cannot come to each other’s territory. From the genre of the story, we can notice that those two series books are distinctive.

Another difference between Harry Potter and twilight is in the characters. In Harry Potter books, the characters are growing naturally; for example Harry Potter was still a child in the first book, but he grew up in the final book and he became an adolescent. Besides, most of the characters in Harry Potter books are human although there are also some mythical creatures in this series book. Moreover, some of the characters die just like a human. Different from Harry Potter, Twilight has some immortal characters who have strength to stay alive, cannot grow up, and become old. Edward, a vampire, physically looks like a 17-year-old man, an age when he became a vampire, although he was born 104 years ago. This immortality also happens to Jacob as a werewolf. Indeed, the characterization is one of some factors that makes those two series books become very different.

Then, Harry Potter and Twilight are different from the age of the readers. Harry Potter is read by all ages, children to adult. Harry Potter’s story which is about adventure and friendship make this series book appropriate to be read by everyone. Children love to read Harry Potter because of its fantasy aspect. On the other hand, adult adore reading Harry Potter because of its moral value about family, friendship, and love. Compare to Harry Potter, Twilight has an age bracket of its reader because Twilight is a romantic series book and there are some parts which are not appropriate to be read by children. The age bracket allows everyone who is above 13 years old to read this book. Based on the author of Twilight, teenagers are the main focus readers because the characters of Twilight are senior high school students. The differences of Harry Potter’s and Twilight’s readers are another thing that makes them dissimilar to each other.

In conclusion, the similarities between Harry Potter and Twilight series books do not make them become two similar series books because they still have some differences. Although both of them are phenomenal-bestseller books and have a big number of fans, they are diverse in the genre of the story, characters, and readers. All of those differences build a unique story and strong enchantment for their readers. Besides, they give options for the readers to choose which one they love. Are they curious about an adolescent wizard’s adventure story with a lot of magic and amazing world or a vampire love story and immortality?

Enemy is not Always Different; Commonalities between Aremania and Bonekmania

by Khoirotul Amanah/109221422444

“Salam Satu Jiwa!” “Salam Satu Nyali!” Those are greetings from two hostile football supporters in Indonesia, Aremania and Bonekmania. Aremania are the supporters of Arema Indonesia Football Club (FC), while Bonekmania are Persebaya Surabaya’s great fans. The reason why they are discordant to each other is unclear, but still, those two bunches loathe one to another until now. As two wrestling group, they are very different in many things, such as in coalition partners, anarchism, and attitude. Take for an example, Aremania have at least three supporter friends; Persija Jakarta’s Jakmania, Persis Solo’s Pasoepati, and Persela Lamongan’s La Mania. On the other hand, Bonekmania have only one comrade; The Viking, the supporter of Persib Bandung. This is just one of the differences. Actually, there can be more dissimilarity to talk about from the two groups; yet as we observe them without prejudice, actually they have several commonalities.

Firstly, their similarity is in anarchism aspect. Most people recognize that Bonekmania are anarchist supporters, but we cannot say Aremania are not anarchist either. Aremania were the most terrifying troop for society in 90’s because of their rude deeds; fighting, looting anything, etc. The last defacement by Aremania came about two years ago. In 2008, Aremania defaced Brawijaya Stadium, Kediri; one of the supporters ran down to the field and hit the referee, before the crowd of Aremania followed him down and burned the goal. Although the position as the most terrifying bunch is taken by Bonekmania lately, Aremania are still acknowledged as radical supporters. Similar to Aremania, Bonekmania are not better in brutality. Nowadays, Bonekmania are one of the most unwelcomed groups in the society. They do the same thing as Aremania do; defacement. The last Bonekmania’s tour to Bandung is the example. In that tour, they take away anything in any shops in the station without paying. Besides, they did not buy the train-tickets and broke the train facilities like the seats, windows, and toilets. Therefore, PT. KAI got about Rp300 million loss; a big financial loss.

Secondly, it deals with attitude aspect; the two supporters are bad-mannered fans. In the stadium, Aremania and Bonekmania always yell swear words. They do not only offend the opponent in that particular match, but also their true rival; Bonekmania for Aremania, and the other way around. Take for instance, when AremaFC is having a match versus SriwijayaFC, Aremania would not shout their backing to their club or sing hostile songs to Sriwijaya FC only; yet, they are also yelling anti-Bonekmania and Persebaya words. This is the same as what Bonekmania always do. They affront AremaFC and Aremania all the time, no matter what team is playing against Persebaya at that time. Moreover, when the supporters converge with their comrade in one stadium, as in Persebaya-Persib or AremaFC-Persija match, their yell will become more discourteous.

The third is their loyalty aspect. Aremania and Bonekmania are both very loyal to their club. They show their fidelity by many actions; the easiest one is by wearing the club’s attributes like T-shirt, scarf, cap, and other attributes in ordinary days. When you are in Malang, Arema and Aremania attributes will dominate the surroundings; in the same way, when you are in Surabaya, you will easy to find people wear Persebaya or Bonekmania T-shirts. That is just a simple thing. However, they have behaviour, which is more fanatic as supporters; tour. When their club has away match in their comrade’s zone, they will escort it there. Bonekmania have yearly tour to Bandung when Persebaya has away match versus Persib. Like Bonekmania, Aremania also have a same yearly tour; the tour is to Jakarta and entitled as Aremania Tour de Batavia. What very interesting about the tour is that each year, many supporters are killed because of travel-accident like train accident or street crush, but still, those aficionados want to get involved in the tour to support their club. Those are the examples how loyal supporters are.

Even though Aremania and Bonekmania are well-known as antagonistic bunches, if we look them impartially without preconception, we can recognise several similarities of them. They are both anarchist, bad-mannered, and very loyal. Their anarchism has been proved in some occasions and their bad manner can be seen in every matches. About their loyalty, we should not hesitate about it anymore; they not only sacrifice their money, but also their lives. All in all, I think they are not that different.