GENDER REPRESENTATION OF PERCY JACKSON & THE LIGHTNING THIEF IN ENGLISH AND INDONESIAN

Aina Khoirida, Haru Deliana Dewi

Abstract


Abstract: Children’s literature plays an essential role in shaping readers’ characters through the influence of the ideology implied in it. Children will learn and implement these ideologies as the target readers for their future lives. This study aims to find out the gender representation in one of the children’s literatures, Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. By applying corpus linguistics, the number of characters and their representations are examined and compared between the English version as the source text and its Indonesian translation. The results show that although male characters dominate the novel in terms of number, a deeper analysis of the collocation of body parts with verbs reveals that there was a shift in gender representation between the two versions of the novel that have different cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, it was found that the author depicted some characters with less fixation on their sex; male characters are less masculine, and female characters are more masculine than the prevailing gender stereotypes in society. In the translated version, the translator rectified the stereotypes by depicting the characters’ gender according to sex. These findings reflect broader cultural ideologies about gender for the millions of readers who enjoy this book. In addition, these findings imply the significance of parents' and educators' awareness and critical thinking regarding the selection of reading materials for children.
Keywords: children literature; corpus linguistic; critical discourse analysis; gender representation; translation


Full Text:

PDF

References


Abidin. (2020). Dasar-dasar korpus dalam ilmu bahasa. UIN Malang. http://abidin.lecturer.uin-malang.ac.id/2013/10/dasar-dasar-korpus-dalam-ilmu-bahasa/

Andersen, E. L. (2023). Exploring representations of gender roles in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief [Master’s Thesis]. Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.

Čermáková, A., & Mahlberg, M. (2018). Translating fictional characters – Alice and the Queen from the Wonderland in English and Czech. In A. Čermáková & M. Mahlberg (Eds.), The Corpus Linguistics Discourse In honour of Wolfgang Teubert (pp. 223–254). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.87.10cer

Čermáková, A., & Mahlberg, M. (2022). Gendered body language in children’s literature over time. Language and Literature, 31(1), 11–40. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/09639470211072154

Fairclough, N. (2001). Language and power (2nd ed.). Longman.

Fjelldal, H. U. (2022). Myths revisited: A literary analysis of Percy Jackson and the Olympians with a focus on gender [Master’s Thesis, Western Norway University of Applied Science]. https://hvlopen.brage.unit.no/hvlopen-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/3021992/Fjelldal.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Hayati, Y. (2016). Representasi gender dalam sastra anak di Indonesia. Percetakan Sukabina Press.

Huck, C. S., Susan Heple, & Hickman, J. (1989). Children’s Literature in the Elementary School. Holt Renehart and Winston.

Hunt, S. (2015). Representations of gender and agency in the Harry Potter series. In Baker, Paul, McEnery, & Tony (Eds.), Corpora and Discourse Studies: IntegratingDiscourse and Corpora (pp. 266–284). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137431738_13

Jackson, S. (2001). Happily never after: Young women’s stories of abuse in heterosexual love relationships. Feminism and Psychology, 11(3), 305–321. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353501011003004

Landers, C. E. (2001). Literary translation: A practical guide. Cromwell Press Ltd.

Newmark, P. (1981). Approach to translation. A Wheaton & co.

Nodelman, P. (2008). The hidden adult defining children’s literature. The Jhon Hopkins University Press.

Norton, D. E. (1983). Through the eyes of a child an introduction to children. Charles E Merryl Publihses co.

Nurgiyantoro, B. (2005). Sastra anak: Pengantar pemahaman dunia anak. Gajahmada Universiti Press.

Peterson, S., & Lach, M. (1990). Gender stereotypes in children’s books: Their prevalence and influence on cognitive and affective development. Gender and Education, 2(2), 185–202. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/0954025900020204

Qayyum, N., & Fatima, S. (2023). Gender representation in A Thousand Splendid Suns: A corpus-based Stylistic Analysis. Journal of Excellence in Social Sciences, 2(1), 20–36.

Santaemilia, J. (2011). Woman and translation: Geographies,voices, identities. MonTI. Monografías de Traducción e Interpretación, 3, 9–49. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.6035/MonTI.2011.3.1

Smith, E. (2008). Centering the home-garden: The arbor, wall, and gate in moral tales for children. In Children’s Literature. The Jhon Hopkins Univesity Press.

Stephens, J. (1996). Gender, genre and children’s literature. Signal, 79, 17–30.

Taylor, F. (2007). Content analysis and gender stereotypes in children’s books. Teaching Sociology, 12(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2307/3211327

Thompson, P., & Sealey, A. (2007). Through children’s eyes? Corpus evidence of the features of children’s literature. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 12(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.12.1.03tho

Wharton, S. (2005). Invisible females, incapable males: Gender construction in a children’s reading scheme. Language and Education, 19(3), 238–251. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/09500780508668677




DOI: https://doi.org/10.25134/erjee.v12i1.9299

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2024 English Review: Journal of English Education