Gender Pedagogy: A Feminist Approach to Teaching Sexist, Women Solidarity, and Power in the Patience Stone

ABSTRACT


INTRODUCTION
The English Study Program (ESP) students at the University of Trunojoyo Madura (UTM) must enroll themselves to take a literature class.Literary criticism is a literature class of some literature classes provided by ESP in UTM.The general instructional objective of the subject is that the students can apply some approaches they have already learned in the literary works (Abdulrahman et al., 2020;Martins & Wangenheim, 2023;Simanjuntak et al., 2022).One of the approaches is the feminist approach, which will be learned in the class and used by the students when they analyze a literary work.With a feminist perspective, Hooks is selected to teach to the class for two reasons: as a proper feminist approach that gives a clear description of sexist oppression, women's solidarity, and power.The Patience Stone ( 2008) by Atiq Rahimi is chosen as the literary work to teach and analyze with a pair reason; the story shows three related gender issues and reflects gender differences problems in the surrounding (Shannon, 2019;Sáinz et al., 2021).
Gender pedagogy is a way to teach and learn gender set in education.Her perspective meets the study's intention to teach and learn the three related gender issues through The Patience Stone based on Hooks's perspective in the literary criticism class of the English Study Program at the University of Trunojoyo Madura.The students who enroll themselves in the class are asked to learn about gender revealed in the novel based on Hooks' perspective on three issues (Halter et al., 2022;Isler & Dedeoglu, 2019;McCauley & McHugh, 2021;Vanner & Almanssori, 2021).Those are sexist oppression, women bonding, and power, which are experienced, obtained, and exercised by the unnamed female characters.The available specific instructional objective writes that the students will able to analyze the novel based on the perspective after learning the feminist theory to criticize the novel (Dyches et al., 2021;Jazadi et al., 2023;Vossoughi et al., 2021).However, concerning gender education, the specific instructional objective is then directed that the students will be able to compare the issues to the surrounding gender phenomena (Lekhsmi & Vitus, 2023) and promote teaching gender equality (Pedrajas & Nove, 2023;Gordon, 2020;Graham, 2022).
Based on the background, the statement of the problems is formulated as the next.Firstly, it is questioning what are the gender issues as Hooks' perspective in The Patience Stone learned by the students.Secondly, it asks how the issues in The Patience Stone get responses from the students.To help the writer of the study conduct the study, the students who take the Literary Criticism class will learn the feminist approach of Hooks (1984).She explains that women with different backgrounds may create potency to sexist oppression against women.It is because men or women dominate, control, and oppress other women due to their different backgrounds in the economy, society, sexual preference, religion, and politics.Victimization should not be why women who get sexist oppression bond.However, sharing their sources should be why they build women's bonding to lead to the front unity.
Furthermore, women's bonding encourages them to be able to exercise their elemental personal power to resist male domination over them.Those are the three related gender issues of Hooks (1984) that show how women shifting from marginal to center will be learned.It will also increase the students' vocabulary related to gender, reading skills in recognizing gender in the novel, and critical thinking in responding to gender in the novel and real life (Adukia et al., 2023;Gruenbaum et al., 2023).
Some previous studies have analyzed gender inequality in The Patience Stone.Yawari (2020) in the article analyzed women in Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stone.It is written that the long-lasting devastation, pain, and sorrows that changed Afghanistan into a mountain of ashes made Afghan women suffer this extreme pain and hardship without speaking a word in a male-dominated society.Domestic Violence Against Women in Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stone examines the manifestations of domestic violence against women in the Afghan context through a textual analysis of The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi.There are three primary forms of domestic violence, namely physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, which are depicted in The Patience Stone through the female characters (Ardiansyah & Damayanti, 2022;Brambilla et al., 2023;Zabihzadeh, 2020), notably the main protagonist.The Patience Stone symbolizes the struggle of voiceless and veiled women under Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism, and patriarchy.
While gender pedagogy leads to building higher students' gender awareness by teaching a feminist approach to analyze the novel in the higher education setting, it has rarely been a concern, and at the same time it becomes the reason for the study conducted (Acai et al., 2022;Hinton-Smith et al., 2022;Morris et al., 2022;Naskali & Keskitalo-Foley, 2019;Norris & Welch, 2020).It is also the novelty of the research that focuses on describing the gender problem faced by the unnamed female protagonist and the students' critical response towards the problem as the implication of teaching gender in university that has never been researched before.The student's awareness of gender issues is required since there has been a significant raising of sexual oppression in educational places and society recently in their surroundings and globally in real life or virtually.

RESEARCH METHOD
The study notices the text in the novel, so the design applied in this study complies with the content analysis design.Content analysis establishes the attendance of particular words or concepts within texts or other media content, such as psychology, sociology, political science, ethnography, gender studies, literature, and so forth (Khaknejad & Maryam, 2017).That explanation meets the objectives of this study, which are to recognize and verify the presence of certain concepts of sexist oppression, women bonding, and power in the novel and accumulate evidence of how those concepts are described by the authors (Bergkamp et al., 2022;Guimarães et al., 2023).The instrument of the study is the writer herself, who collects, analyzes, interprets, discusses, and concludes the data.The data acquisition method in this study is selecting the author's narration, the monolog, and dialog in the novel showing the gender issues based on bell hooks' perspective on sexist oppression, women's solidarity, and power and asking thirty-five students in the class of their response concerning the issues.
Those are required to teach gender in higher education in terms of elaborating sexist oppression, women bonding, and power and to know the students' critical thinking towards the gender issues in the novel and their real lives.The data analysis method in this study is recognizing the data on sexist oppression, women bonding, and power; linking and matching the data with Hook's perspectives (Grabe, 2020) of those three gender issues; and interpreting and discussing the data based on the perspective; comparing the previous studies to the study to support the analysis and find the novelty of the study, and recognizing how critical thinking of the students towards the gender issues in the novel and their reality.The research phase includes data preparation, collection, and processing.The preparation phase is when the researcher finds the gender problem that happened in the novel that meets the problem in real life, finds the feminism theory to see and overcome the problem, and formulates the research questions.Collecting data is the next phase that leads the researcher to find the data in the novel concerning the gender issue determined (Braun et al., 2021).Processing the data is the last phase of the research, which makes the researcher interpret the data based on the feminism theory to answer the research question.The researcher also writes the critical students' responses to the problem in the novel and their surroundings.

Sexist Oppression
The sexist oppression elaborated here is organized into three issues based on the cause, the form, and the effect of sexist oppression experienced by the unnamed female character as those portrayed in the novel.

The Cause of Sexist Oppression
The cause of sexist oppression portrayed in Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stones is experienced by the unnamed female character.The religious hierarchy is one of the factors that cause sexist oppression against the unnamed female protagonist.It happens when the unnamed female protagonist obtains the mullah's humiliation and accusation.It is narrated in the novel that the unnamed female protagonist obtains the mullah's humiliation, which is that she does not take good care of her husband because the mullah sees that her husband still has not moved for more than two weeks.The following quotations show the unnamed female protagonist's monologue before her comatose husband, describing the mullah who humiliates her.
"I reach the seventy-second cycle, that cretinous mullah will come to visit you and, as always, will reproach me because, according to him, I can't have taken good care of you, cannot have followed his instructions, must have neglected the prayers …" (Rahimi, 2008).
The mullah who humiliates the unnamed female protagonist shows his capacity as the head of religion.The position holds the highest hierarchy in the society in which they live.Henceforth, it is a potential cause for him to give his lousy perspective over his followers when he visits the unnamed female protagonist's husband, yet nothing progress he will see.The phrase 'cannot have taken and followed' and the word 'neglected' as a monolog of the unnamed female protagonist in the novel shows the mullah authority as the head of religion who is influential in the society to control his followers.The next also becomes the cause of sexist oppression against the unnamed female protagonist due to the social structure, which indicates male domination.Atiq Rahimi describes the nuance of male domination clearly since the story's opening.
"The room is bare.Bare of decoration.Except between the two windows where someone has hung a small khanjar dagger on the wall, and above the khanjar a photo of a man with a mustache.He is about thirty years old.Curly hair.Square face, bracketed by a pair of neatly tended sideburns.His black eyes sparkle.They are small, separated by a hawk-like nose.The man is not laughing, yet it seems he is holding back a laugh.This gives him a strange expression, a man inwardly mocking those who look at him.The photo is in black and white, hand-colored in drab tones" (Rahimi, 2010).
A photo of a man on the wall shows that not only a man is the head of the family, but a man symbolizes the power of the family as well.It is strengthened by a small khanjar dagger under a photo of a man on the wall.A photo and a khanjar create a male center in society.No photo of the unnamed female protagonist is put beside her husband since it is not proper from the perspective of the social structure in Afghanistan at that time.A small khanjar is presented by Rahimi, emphasizing the strong position of a man in the family.Khanjar is the traditional dagger for hunting and personal protection that originated in Oman and is also used as a symbol of manhood and status.
Traditionally, men wear khanjar for most of the day since it is considered part of the day's uniform, including during prayers, and taken off when a man goes to sleep.In the story, a small khanjar dagger hanging on the wall under a photo of a man represents the masculinity of the female protagonist's husband and his status as the family leader who holds the highest hierarchy in the family structure.

The Forms of Sexist Oppression
The unnamed female protagonist experiences sexist oppression portrayed in Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stone.Physical exploitation and psychological oppression are forms that the unnamed female protagonist faces.Overloaded tasks that must be accomplished by a female protagonist herself in the home are designed along the novel's plot, representing sexist exploitation in terms of their energy, emotion, and thought.The story, which takes place in Afghanistan, narrates a female protagonist who must nurse a man lying on a bed mattress on the floor due to his shot neck that makes him neither move his body nor react to his wife's voice for more than sixteen days.While nursing her husband, she does prayers and recites the Koran silently beside her husband.It needs overwhelming energy and spirit to finish the number of prayers as determined by the mullah until more than sixteen days, so she is exhausted.Unluckily, her husband still does not respond or move his body, which makes her feel hopeless.She must also take care of their two children in the war situation.
The story narrates that besides concentrating on her husband' s recovery, she must be responsible for saving her two daughters since they also live in the war crisis.Therefore, her two daughters are brought with her when she must leave for the pharmacy to find the solution.Indeed, her ill husband aggravates her housework as a housewife.The following narration shows clearly a female protagonist's daily overloads taking care of her two daughters.At the same time, she must arrive on time in almost running out of the solution for her husband.
"A few moments later, she returns to check the solution l evel in the drip bag.There is not much left.She stares at the tube, noting the intervals between the drips.They are short, shorter than the intervals between the man's breaths.She adjusts the ow, waits for two drips, and turns around decisively...-I am going to the pharmacy for more solution.However, before her feet cross the threshold, they falter, and she lets out a plaintive sigh: -I hope they have managed to get hold of some.She leaves the room.We hear her waking the children, -Come on, we are going out,‖ and departing, followed by little footsteps running down the passage, through the courtyard …" (Rahimi, 2008).
All the attention of the unnamed female protagonist toward her husband has a consequence that must make her husband have a better condition as having been targeted by the mullah.This raises the risk for her in a difficult situation when she will not achieve the target set by the mullah.She has no medical background, and medical instruments do not support her.The target given by the mullah is that her husband must be better for two weeks.Unfortunately, after three weeks, the mullah visits her husband, and her husband' s condition remains the same: her husband still cannot move his body.It elaborates on daily life in oppressive situations and awareness of patriarchal politics from the unnamed female protagonist's life experience.
"They told me that after two weeks you would be able to move, to respond … But this is the third week, or nearly.And still nothing!Her body shifts, so she is lying on her back.Her gaze wanders, joining his vacant gaze somewhere among the dark and rotting beams (Rahimi, 2008)..She pulls the tube out of his arm with a quick, practiced movement.Takes of f the syringe.He cleans the tube, feeds it into his half-open mouth, and pushes it down until it reaches his esophagus.Then, she pours the contents of the glass into the drip bag.Adjusts the low, checking the gaps between drips.One drip per breath.And leaves" (Rahimi, 2008).
The following form of sexist oppression a female protagonist faces happens when the mullah says abruptly against her, and she cannot do anything except listen to him without any complaint.In other words, the unnamed female protagonist cannot give any single explanation regarding her husband, yet the mullah tells a straight negative statement against her.Besides, she must follow the mullah's instruction to pray for her husband in her loneliness and difficult situation to care for her husband and two daughters simultaneously.So, the mullah's instruction over her shows the sexist oppression regarding psychological burden.
"I reach the seventy-second cycle, that cretinous mullah will come to visit you and, as always, will reproach me because, according to him, I cannot have taken good care of you, cannot have followed his instructions, must have neglected the prayers Otherwise you would be getting better!She touches the man's arm.However, you are my witness.You know I live only for you, at your side, by your breath!It is easy for him to say, she complains that I must recite one of the ninety-nine names of God ninety-nine times a day for ninety-nine days!However, that stupid mullah has no idea what it is like to be alone with a man who.She cannot do the right word or dare say it and grumbles softly to be all alone with two little girls!" (Rahimi, 2008).
The form of sexist oppression is physical violence, which Atiq Rahimi describes the unnamed female protagonist experiences as he depicts a nameless heroine as a beautiful woman who has a small scar on her left eye that narrows the place where the eyelids meet and makes a strange wariness to her gaze.It may indicate the physical violence that worsens the daily oppression she experiences.Moreover, her pale, dry, and palm lips strengthen her exhausted physical condition as she must do the duty routinely without anyone's help.She must take care of her comatose husband and two children by herself in the war crisis.Additionally, she still must pray for her husband, well that is, ninetynine names of God, ety-nine times every day for two weeks as determined by the mullah.It shows that a nameless heroine lives in an oppressive situation.
"The woman is beautiful.At the crease of her left eye, a small scar narrows where the eyelids meet, lending a strange wariness to her gaze.Her plump, dry, pale lips are softly and slowly repeating the same word of prayer...A second little girl starts crying.She seems closer than the first, probably just behind the door.A small white bottle in one hand; the black prayer beads are in the other.She sits next to the man, opens the bottle, leans over, and administers two drops into his right eye, two into his left" (Rahimi, 2008).

The Effect of Sexist Oppression
The effect of the sexist oppression experienced by the unnamed character in Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stone can be seen from the following evidence.
"Far away, somewhere in the city, a bomb explodes.The violence destroys a few houses and perhaps a few dreams.There is a counterattack.The retaliations tear through the heavy midday silence, shaking the window panes but not waking the children.For a moment, just two prayer beads, the woman's shoulders stop moving.She puts the bottle of eye drops in her pocket.Murmurs "Al-Qahhar."Repeats "Al-Qahhar."Repeats it each time the man takes a breath.Moreover, with every repetition, she slips one of the prayer beads through her fingers.They told me that after two weeks, I could move to respond.However, this is the third week, or nearly.And still nothing!"Her body shifts, so she is lying on her back.Her gaze wanders, joining his vacant gaze somewhere among the dark and rotting beams.With an angry sigh, she suddenly stands up and repeats, shouting: I cannot take it anymore."(Rahimi, 2008).
The narration describes how complicated tasks a female protagonist must have.Her husband, whose condition can be considered to be nursed at the hospital, must nurse and pray for him well.It is beyond her capacity as a housewife.The Mullah who visits her husband periodically should help her to nurse her comatose husband.The Mullah pushes her to treat and pray for her husband's recovery.As the religious leader in the society, the Mullah seems to overstate their influence over a female protagonist so that she feels exhausted and frustrated.
"With a quick, practiced movement, she pulls the tube out of his arm.Takes of the syringe.He cleans the tube, feeds it into his half-open mouth, and pushes it down until it reaches his esophagus.Then, she pours the contents of the glass into the drip bag.Adjusts the row, checking the gaps between drips one drip per breath" (Rahimi, 2010).
It is a part of her daily routine of nursing her husband that leads her to the oppressive situation of doing something beyond their capacity as a housewife.It has been conducted for more than two weeks, with complete control and targeted by the Mullah, who visits her husband periodically to check her husband's health progress.All the nursing tasks she accomplished as if she were a skilled nurse.It is because she must nurse her husband by herself every day for sixteen days.Atiq Rahimi narrates a plot sequence representing that unnamed female protagonist obtaining an awareness of patriarchal politics from their experience.One of them happens when she presses her husband's wound on his neck, yet her husband does not give any response with his eyes or breath.Therefore, as she leans over her husband, she utters that her husband does not suffer and has never suffered.While very emotional, she states that she suffers and cries.How tremendous the suffering she experiences realizes her to the patriarchal system that may inhumanity against women.The diction suffers, and cries are chosen to convince that a female protagonist is sustained in having a relationship with her husband and to contradict herself to her husband, who has never sustained.
How priceless a female protagonist's husband is for her, so she declares that she has nothing without her husband, which means that he is the only one she has to support her life.The statement indeed shows a female protagonist's dependency on her husband.The female protagonist is fine, though she is nursing, her husband takes care of her children in the crisis, and no one helps her, including her brothers and motherin-law.What a female protagonist says in front of her comatose husband is the form of her unconscious condition that is triggered by her anxiety and depression.The following clauses, 'What will I' (a female protagonist) and 'do with them' (the two children), are chosen by Atiq Rahimi in his novel to support how strongly a female protagonist convinces herself that her husband is the one who earns her and the two children live so far.Thus, if her husband leaves them, she cannot imagine how she will earn her life and the two children.The confidence is embedded in her thought that she will not be able to be independent of the restriction of the rule in the society where she lives that only man is responsible for earning and supporting the family life.

Women Bonding
This part will show the sharing of strength and resources in Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stone.Eliminating the barrier that separates women is presented by Atiq Rahimi to describe a bond built by a female protagonist with her aunty.A barrier in terms of their relation in the family, that is, aunty and niece, can be eradicated by caring and loving.A female protagonist herself states that her aunty loves her and the two daughters.It becomes a strong reason for her to build solidarity with her aunty to support her over the severe problems in her marriage with her husband.
Atiq Rahimi elaborates on the unity between a female protagonist and her aunty since a female protagonist feels physically and psychologically.Because of overburdened housework and her sisters and husband's brothers who left her, "My sisters have abandoned me, and your brothers too …".The word abandon hits her since, at that stage, at the maximum suffering, what she requires is only her aunty she has who has left with whom she put her hopes to unite to help her overcome the problems she has.Therefore, she tries to find her aunt, "I have to go and see my aunt."It shows that though they are niece and aunty relationship, solidarity is built between them.A barrier in terms of the different positions in the kinship is eradicated.Moreover, the female protagonist loves her aunty, and she does not care about her husband's opinion of her aunty.It also shows that the solidarity between a female protagonist and her aunty is valuable for her to overcome the power over of domination by elites so that gender justice and women's rights can be attained.
Since it is the first time for a female protagonist to go to bed with her husband, whom she has never known before, she is scared of her husband, the bed, and the blood.She is frightened because she will meet and sleep with her husband for the first time after three years of marriage.Besides, she is afraid of not bleeding at the first marriage.The dread feeling is accumulated that makes her period come early.The fear was then switched to fine feeling due to a female protagonist's aunty's suggestion to keep quiet and not to say anything to a female protagonist's husband about her period.The aunty's suggestion is priceless to eliminate a female protagonist's anxiety, to avoid her husband's accusation against her that she is not a virgin, and even worse, the violation conducted by her husband.The aunty's advice to a female protagonist shows how sympathy in the form of true feelings arises.
"That was the kind of fear I was feeling, And it was growing in me every day, invading my belly, my guts.On the night before you arrived, it came pouring out.It was not a blue fear.No, It was a red fear, blood red.When I mentioned it to my aunt, she advised me not to say anything, so I kept quiet.That suited me fine.Although I was a virgin, I was terrified" (Rahimi, 2010).
The diction 'mentioned' and 'advised' are chosen and put side by side by Atiq Rahimi to show how the true fellow feeling of a female protagonist's aunty is built for a female protagonist since her aunty can feel the feeling of sorrow experienced by her Accordingly, her aunty directly gives her a solution to save her marriage and life as she mentions the difficulties she faces Here, the identical feeling between a female protagonist and her aunty is the primary reason for the aunty giving solving problem to show her sympathy towards a female protagonist regarding the problematic man's claim of virginity over a woman The identical feeling between a female protagonist and her aunty is happened due to the exact cause that is the male domination that creates sexist oppression.
"-I should not have had my period then.It was not the right time, but I was a week early; it must have been nerves a n d fear about meeting you.I mean, can you imagine-being engaged for almost a year and then married for three years to an absent man is not so easy?I lived with your name; I had never seen, heard, or touched you before that day.I was afraid, afraid of everything, of you, of going to bed, of the blood" (Rahimi, 2010).Actually, the blood to identify the virginity of a bride for the first night of marriage is a man's claim over the woman, which clearly shows the man's domination over the woman There is no bargaining for this kind of claim since it causes man's pride Nonetheless, a woman's opportunity to claim over a man to identify his virginity has never happened It is the underlying cause that brings a female protagonist's crisis of identity arises well that leads her apprehensive However, the claim may threaten her marriage and life In this case Atiq Rahimi uses the term 'catastrophe' to powerfully reveal that a female protagonist realizes that a man's claim over a woman's virginity as having first-night marriage is connected to the fate of the bride.

"I kept wondering what would happen if, by any chance, i did not bleed that night.
Her hand sweeps through the air as if batting away a fly.-It would have been a catastrophe I had heard so many stories about that i could imagine.Her voice becomes mocking.-Passing off impure blood as virginal blood bit of a brainwave, don't you think?‖She lies down right close to the man.-I have never understood why, for you men, pride is so much linked to blood" (Rahimi, 2010).
The phrase 'a catastrophe' and 'so many stories about that' is selected by Atiq Rahimi to boldly convince that the sexist oppression due to a bride's bleeding determines her fate is experienced not only by single bride but many brides experience the problematic claim The clause 'I kept wondering what would happen if by any chance I didn't bleed that night' is selected by Atiq Rahimi to clearly prove that is the common gender inequality phenomena realized by a female protagonist that makes her also wonder Therefore, a female protagonist comes to her aunty to tell her what makes a female protagonist scared and wonder and the aunty directly suggests her to solve her problem As a female protagonist tells her aunty what she faces, the process of transmitting emotional occurred At the same time, a female protagonist mentions what she experiences; unconsciously, she also transfers her feelings of fear and wonder At the same time, the aunty listens to a female protagonist and gives the female protagonist a solution directly There is no practical knowledge that lead the aunty to do such an activity just because transmitting emotional is happening.
A female protagonist does coalition with her aunty since her aunty as her teacher who teaches her how to read, to live, and to live with men The aunty is her father's only sister, with whom a female protagonist grews up so that she loves her aunty much more than her own mother She is a generous, very beautiful, big hearted That's why no wonder a female protagonist has strong reason to do coalition with her aunty The evidence supports the statement that coalition invites another one to come together for purpose of survival The coalition built by a female protagonist with her aunty has a purpose to survive from the sexist oppression she faces The coalition strengthens a female protagonist's goal to withstand from the layers of suffer due to the male supremacist she experiences A female protagonist uphold her decision to choose her aunty to consult all the suffering as a wife she bears since she can feel the warm attention and the glorious upbringing her aunty has for her Moreover, the difference between a female protagonist and her aunty in terms of class and ages which may be exist can be terminated since a female protagonist acknowledge well her aunty as a woman who has kind hearted that leads a female protagonist comfort and safe to tell all the secret she has and ask for solution over her giant problems.
A nameless heroine and her aunty are linked by blood ties since her aunty, who also has no name, is the only sister of the nameless heroine's father The blood tie may be a reason for a nameless heroine to build her coalition to her aunty Besides her aunty is the one with whom a nameless heroine grows up and feel how generous and extensive hearted her aunty is become the vital reason for a nameless heroine to decide to build her coalition with her aunty It thus makes a nameless heroine moves from a passive, frustrated, unfulfilled, unsuccessful to be strong-willed character A nameless heroine who was passive, anxious, scared, and frustrated to face her early period while her husband came after three years of separation, and they have not met each other It means that the blood of her period is against the blood of a husband's pride, or it can be said that her biological condition is against the male supremacy that causes a nameless heroine in the condition that is identified as the passivity of female character Having obtained the aunt's suggestion concerning the strategy to react to the gender injustice, the passivity switches to the non passive sufferer of violence (Shih & Ru-Jer, 2022).

Women Power
The following section presents research findings regarding the resistance performed by the unnamed character in Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stones.The basis for revealing resistance against sexist oppression is mainly taken from Hooks (1984) as she explains about changing perspectives on power.Power is defined as men's domination and control over women for condemning male exercise of power that leads to women's powerlessness.The perspective validates the concept of power as domination control and exercises it.It will support capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, and masculinity.The perspective should be reconstructed to be a different system from men, and it should exercise power in the interest of feminism.In other words, it is an alternative value system that includes new concepts of power.His new concept of power contains the struggle to resist sexist oppression.
A female protagonist with her aunty builds effective interaction to help her from the insecure situation Atiq Rahimi depicts in The Patience Stone.It is the exercise of essential personal power as the action of the resistance against sexist oppression.The evidence happens as a female protagonist is worried and panicked as she climbs the stairs from the cellar and notices her husband's bare wrist and finger... 'It is only later, when she comes back to change the man's sheet and shirt, that she finally notices his bare wrist and finger "Where is your watch, Your ring?"' (Rahimi, 2010) The watch and ring are lost, yet she has not heard anything since she has slept so deeply, which leads her to ask herself if someone come to the house... "What is going on?"She is worried, then panicked."Did someone come?" she asks, going to the window."Yes, someone did come!"... "And yet … I did not hear anything!"She backs away."I was sleeping; my God, how can I have slept so deeply?"Horriffied,.. (Rahimi, 2010).
She then concludes and states in front of her comatose husband that her husband moves to terrify her and make her man since no one comes to the cellar.Her husband makes no sound towards her, which makes her burdened."But they did not come down to the cellar.She collapses next to the man, grabs his arm, and cries, -It was you … you moved.You are doing all this to terrify me, To drive me mad.It is you!‖ Waits Still no sign, no sound...After a long burdened sigh" (Rahimi, 2020).
The trouble condition makes her scream, vomit, weep, and run around the house like a mad woman.She vomits, Weeps, and Runs around the house Like a mad woman.She panics and then decides to find her aunt no matter the cost: "I am leaving this place.I am going to find my aunt, Whatever the cost!"Her panicky voice fills the passage, the rooms, the cellar (Rahimi, 2010) It is not for the first time the female protagonist finds her aunty as she faces difficulties in her marriage to have solution The solution releases her from the problems and saves her life Living in a world that has never been kind to the unnamed protagonist, she has developed a sense of bonding to her aunty who has experienced several oppressive situations in her life It is only her purpose to survive in her marriage Unsurprisingly, she is immensely miss her aunty that then leads her miserable and confused as she cannot find her aunty to consult sexist oppression she faces that makes her burdened It indicates an effective interaction has already been built by a female protagonist with her aunty as she faces layers of sexist oppression in her marriage relation with her husband A female protagonist has already decided to have an effective interaction with her aunty since she has already acknowledged her aunty well how generous and kind hearted her aunty is and her aunty is the one with whom she grows up and the one who teaches her how to live with her husband Moreover, the solution she obtains from her aunty leads her to liberate herself from the threatening phase due to her husband's domination and control over her No wonder she tries her best as the dictions Whatever the cost!' are chosen by Atiq Rahimi in The Patience Stone to find her aunty who has leaved her without any message left.

Sexist oppression
Atiq Rahimi, who is the author of The Patience Stone, designs no specific names for all male and female characters He decides somewhere in Afghanistan as the setting of the story where the war is happening It leads the unnamed female protagonist to worse Besides, the patriarchal system with which she lives primarily makes her life difficult and causes suffering The world highlight that Afghanistan is the country where the series of war happened and the violation against women occurs in significant number, as well as the sexist action that is still considered as a great taboo there (Khan, 2017) Actually, Atiq Rahimi, who was born and raised in Afghanistan, took refuge in Pakistan for a year Then, after receiving a political asylum, he relocated to France in 1985 because of the Soviet invasion that let him flee Afghan It may be the reason, he narrates a female protagonist who can go through the harsh live she withstands due to the crisis happened in the country and the patriarchy system applied in the society since she obtains solidarity from her uncle and another characters to support her as having described in The Patience Stone, unluckily her struggle is defeated by a great power of her husband over her.
A thorough reading of The Patience Stone reveals gender stereotyping that relates to women, specifically women in Afghanistan.In this country, a multiethnic and mostlytribal society may become the reason for ethnic or class crises.Similarly, Afghanistan is a country where insecure and violent situations against women happening in huge numbers that invite the world to notice and give their hands to achieving better conditions, especially for women in Afghanistan The author presents women's issues, specifically women bonding and its related issues, beginning with sexist oppression as the primary cause of women's bonding and ending with women's resistance as the ultimate purpose of building women's bonding embedded along the plot of the novel and expresses them through a female protagonist, her aunty, and some others.
To be part of the whole, yet outside of the main body, is the position for the margin (hooks, 1984) The quotation clarifies the position of women that is at the margin and outside of the main body It means that women are considered a subordinate to society which obtains injustice, and it is in line with how society expects women to stay in the inferior class while men are in the upper one (Dueñas et al., 2020) As women are at the margin and outside of the main body, the center and inside of the body are set for men It means that men are considered as superintendence that have privileges It describes the hierarchy of the social structure that leads men to domination over women and causes injustice and oppression against women The phenomenon of the home decoration as the nuance of male supremacy is caused by the patriarchal tyranny which is also the most oppressive situation a female protagonist experience As Hooks (1984) argued, patriarchal tyranny is the political male domination that creates sexist oppression and exploitation There is a narration in The Patience Stone that highlights the case.
The unnamed female protagonist, who is blamed by the Mullah due to the unachieved target, indicates the position of a woman as marginal in the patriarchy society This meets what Friedan in Hooks (1984) argued that being a housewife creates nothingness since housewife role make them impossible to show their core self or identity without which whoever man or woman is not truly alive Nothingness is experienced by a female protagonist at the time what she has already done to fulfill the Mullah's instruction to nurse and pray her husband, yet the Mullah cannot see the recovery her husband has, so the Mullah accuses her that she ignores the Mullah's instruction This evidence shows that she is in difficult situation that brings her a risk to be one who does mistake and ignorance that leads her to have an emotional violence (Burke, 2023) The mullahs play a crucial role in people's everyday lives, and their influence is confined to religious and social aspects that lead to sexist exploitation against a female protagonist Consequently, she suffers a lot.
The cultural construction of feminity limits activities living in this world as women (Fernandez, 2018) and only allows them to handle something in the domestic sphere; it makes them obtain invisible problems of the load workhouse, which leads women to be the victims of sexist oppression This social control and isolation of women, unfortunately, are often not recognized as violence (Mas'udah, 2020) In some cases, society tends to build the prejudice that chores belongs to something easy then, women are forced to do something beyond their limit (Riaz & Ahmad, 2020) The opinion highlights what Atiq Rahimi portrays a nameless heroine in The Patience Stone who has problems in handling her tasks as a housewife The problems are the form and the intensity of housework she has beyond her capacity as a housewife However, the problems are not identified by her and the others since those are the housework as her duty She must be responsible to nurse her husband as if she is a nurse at the hospital who must check the solution, get and buy them at the pharmacy, and be able to find the alternative of the solution due the unopened pharmacy However, she is only a housewife and no medical background yet she must overcome to recover her husband at their house Additionally, without good medical facilities, she must conduct the task well Besides, she must recite the prayers several times for two weeks to support her husband's recovery.
However, she can only monologue as the secondary society to respond by calling the Mullah a foolish man; it shows the statement that being oppressed means the absence of choice (1984); the woman takes the children into the next-door room.One is crying, "I am hungry, Mummy."The other complained, "Why didn't you get any bananas?"Their mother comforts them: "I'll give you some bread" (p.16)A female protagonist is described by Atiq Rahimi as a mother who does her task well and full of responsibility She accepts the load tasks without anger and visible questions The phenomenon is identified by Hooks (1984) as victims of sexist oppression whose problem has no name due to the silent victims of such oppression and no power to change their condition Consequently, they are considered as if they do not exist The case strengthens the lens that sees women as marginal and victims of male authority (Kessel, 2022;O'Connor et al., 2021) A mullah as a male religious leader in Afghan has a crucial position in the society that is ordinary people will listen to him when he approaches them and this religious authority works under colonial patronage against the Pashtun interest Henceforth, the Mullah instructs the unnamed female protagonist to do prayer for her husband The Mullah, with his power, also accuses her that she does not obeying his instruction to pray for her husband because of nothing health progress showed by her husband The case that breaks the universal value of humanity to respect women becomes the following evidence of women as marginal.
The next factor that causes sexist oppression is the male hierarchy that leads the unnamed female protagonist to challenge sexist oppression.Here, a husband is the symbol of the family's dignity.Women are prohibited from showing themselves to the public, including their picture as home decoration as if women seem only as reproduction machines to bear children and are claimed as property owned by men (Yawari, 2020) traditionally they are also required to succumb the men including her husband, father, and other men in her family On the contrary, there is the only man portrait and a weapon as home decoration which both as the symbols of the family dignity (Oztabak, 2020;Riaz & Rafi, 2019;Shomirzayev & Yuldashov, 2021) Those also deliver to the public that only a husband is recognized his status to be a hero and responsible one in the family while a wife is not Similarly, women are not allowed to show publicly, and it designates an indirect sexist oppression against women.
According to Hooks (1984), sexism teaches women to be sex objects as an object, which means that a woman is valueless.A female protagonist experiences that she is considered valueless as she informs the Mullah that she had her period yesterday, like Eve makes the Mullah unhappy... "I told him that I have been impure since yesterday, that I am menstruating like Eve.He was not happy; I am not sure why, Because I dared compare myself to Eve or because I told him I was bleeding.He left, muttering into his beard" (Rahimi, 2010) Women are not permitted to talk about sexuality publicly, and under Taliban, women find it difficult to discuss sexuality openly, Including informing the period the Mullah is not appropriate, which makes the Mullah not pleased to hear it Actually, a female protagonist thought that the information would be informative since she could not cite the Quran, worship Allah, and pray as instructed by the Mullah to help the female protagonist's husband recovery.
Daily living in oppressive situations and obtaining an awareness of patriarchal politics from their experience are other sexist oppression a female protagonist faces.Atiq Rahimi narrates a nameless female heroine as a housewife without a medical background.However, one day, she is forced to have a nurse competency to feed her husband by pushing the tube of sugar-salt solution into her husband's throat to prevent dehydration throughout his comatose condition.Moreover, the diction 'esophagus' is chosen.Atiq Rahimi shows that it is a medical term for a part of the human internal body, and the activity that involves the esophagus requires a particular skill that a professional nurse usually does.

Women Bonding
This part discusses the women bonding depicted in Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stone Women bonding between unnamed female protagonist and her aunty is depicted in this sub chapter to present how her aunty shares her source to unnamed female protagonist as depicted in Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stone The relation between unnamed female protagonist and her husband is also depicted in this sub chapter to show attachment to sexism as the barrier to women bonding built The two different patterns of relation show different impacts on women's bonding built or not and provide as support system to stop sexist oppression or not Atiq Rahimi narrates some events along the plot of The Patience Stone that portray how solidarity is built between a nameless heroine and her aunty to strengthen their resistance struggle to end sexist oppression It is in line with the article written by Kumar and Smitha that the female bonding enables the unnamed protagonist to deal with the everyday pressure she faces in the male-dominated society in which they live Besides, the female protagonist also obtains sympathy from her father-in-law, who is identified by Hooks (1984) as a comrade The power of solidarity, which is initiated and demonstrated by a nameless heroine, her aunty, and her father-in-law in The Patience Stone, will be analyzed primarily based on Hooks (1984) Accordingly the following findings will be arranged to present the evidences that meet the idea of women bonding mainly from Hooks (1984) and then it may be supported by another references and based on the bonding built by a female protagonist to her aunty and her father in law.
Additionally, according to Hooks (1984), the monologue uttered by the unnamed female heroine to her commatose husband as she makes a confession, "-When I mentioned it to my aunt, she advised me not to say anything … and so I kept quiet That suited me fine" shows that her aunty offers her a solidarity to challange her husband domination over her Her aunty represents the value of Sisterhood since she is able to break attachment to sexism conducted by her niece's husband against her niece She is able to eliminate sexist socialization (Munawwaroh & Suci, 2022) that is male supremacist leading her niece face emotional oppression Hence, she is able to strengthen her niece's emotions, and she does not feel scared any longer though her niece has her period one week earlier It is happened since her niece is stress, panic, and afraid of her first night with her husband after long time not to see Furthermore, it is explained that when women bond and join their forces, their unity is strength, and women will obtain the positive effect of women uniting their forces through female bonding For example, women bonding is used as a driving force and a helpful initiative against gender violence and oppression to show the power of female bonding The violances against women are in the form of physical or direct violence, structural violence that originates in the assignment of hierarchy, in the institution, and in the uneven distribution of power (Londoño et al., 2021).

Women Power
While in Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stone, it will be shown in this part A female protagonist's sorrow as she misses her aunty aggravates her suffering most since, without her aunt's help, she understands well she will not obtain a solution to her problematic marriage caused by her husband's domination and control over her She suffers due to kinds of sexist oppression she obtains from her husband In this case, she needs a help from one she knows well that she will obtain a problem solving who is her aunty Her aunty whom she is looking for as she regrets her words telling the truth of her bleeding in front of her comatose husband and leads her scared and worried then as she thought her husband has moved that will threaten her life Here a female protagonist shows her strength to be able to go through the difficulties she faces, her guilty feeling because of telling the truth and she will face, her husband abuse over her because of telling the truth Here, she can exercise her personal elemental power to do resistance against her husband's oppression (Rima & Suci, 2022).
The unnamed female protagonist is described in the novel as the character that gets weight duty that leads her stress till she asks for her husband permission to see her aunty Even though she realizes that her husband cannot give any response, she waits for his permission before leaving him to see her aunty She understands well that her husband permission is crucial for her since she experiences in the agitation situation to leave her husband without his permission, "-I have to go and see my aunt She waits again … for permission, perhaps Her eyes wander I've lost my mind Agitated, she turns around and leaves the room" (Rahimi, 2010) It shows how a female protagonist is in the psychological problem In the other words, a female protagonist is as a victim of sexist oppression mentally The term agitation is chosen by Atiq Rahimi in The Patience Stone which refers to one of the two risk factors in the pathway to suicide and one of neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease Therefore, it is used to underline the psychologically unbearable condition of a nameless heroine due to the daily oppressive situation she has It is the portrait of women as second-class citizens who live in a conservative patriarchal society.
The aunty's advice to be silent not telling her bleeding to unnamed female protagonist's husband removes her scary and worry to have first night with her husband Additionally, her aunty advice supports her strength to be calm to face her bleeding at the time she must have very first night with her husband As the result, she is safe from her husband's anger at that night when he returns home after a few years left home Her silent is a form of resistance towards male authority in terms of demanding virginity over her The virginity of the bride is a must for the groom, and it is a pride for the groom to find the blood out of the bride from their first night That is the social value controlled by the patriarchal society in which they live That represents Hook's (1984) perspective about how the strong bonding between her aunty and the unnamed female protagonist leads to the unnamed female protagonist's resistance towards her husband's domination, who demands her virginity while she gets her period at night the time to have a very first night with her husband.
A female protagonist then needs to charge her energy to liberate herself from the sexist oppression she will experience by obtaining her aunt's problem solution.Moreover, she tries her best to find her aunty to obtain her suggestion so that she will be free from her husband's abuse, meaning that she will have a sense of accomplishment that will switch her from subordinate to center position as her life-affirming.Additionally, her best effort to find her aunty shows how a female protagonist with her aunty has already built an effective interaction.The interaction is not just as a niece and her aunty in the family relationship.However, beyond that, the interaction has given meaningful interaction to save her marriage and life from her husband's domination and control over her.It thus shows that a female protagonist exercises her power as an action to resistance against sexist oppression (Biana, 2020).
Unfortunately, the female protagonist cannot find her aunty, which makes her miserable,... "'My aunt … she has left the house … she has gone!' Her voice trembles Her throat tightens The tears flow" The present of her aunty is very important to her, so that she is very resentful for knowing no message was left by her aunty She, indeed needs her aunty to share her severe problems and give a rescue over her, she would have leftme a message, or come to rescue me She believes in her aunty as the only woman with whom she is bonding because she is very sure that her aunty loves her and the children, .'...she loves me…' she loves the children The evidence represents the idea of Ahmadgoli & Liath (2019) about the genuine union is more about ethic bonding with others as if their plights are common She can feel and know how her aunty loves her and the children even she can feel and know well how priceless her aunty's attention, care, support for them comparing to her husband who does not love them that lead her to unite genuinely to her aunty The bonding she creates with her aunty is required for her to face the multifaceted oppression she burden (Ahmadgoli & Liath, 2019) Henceforth, as she cannot find her aunty, the only one who can heal her suffer her i,n a depression situation The sobbing robs her of her voice She can't say it; it must be heavy, heavy with meaning, voice crushingly heavy.
The newness of the study in Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stone, the social hierarchy of the unnamed female protagonist as the wife of the soldier becomes the reason for the Mullah to do sexist oppression against her Emotional oppression she obtains from the Mullah who is considered more respectable in the society they live Those represents the sexist oppression explained by Hooks (1984Hooks ( & 2000;;Biana 2020) that the prejudices against women such class, religion, sexual preferences, any other prejudices become the underlying cause for the oppressors to do oppression against women Here, the issue is the newness of the research regarding the sexist oppression portrayed in the two novels (Goyal, 2020;Klein et al., 2021;Rekha & Manjula, 2022;Samalanathan et al., 2020;Willem & Tortajada, 2021) Besides, the issue of sexist socialization that has been discussed previously is the newness of the research As discussed, the term harami bastard, who is a humiliation against Mariam, is socialized by her own mother, Nana She means to lead Mariam to be conscious about her social status in the society they live The sexist oppression is institutionalized by the humiliation in the domestic area and uttered by a biological mother over her daughter so that she will be conscious and familiar with as well Based on the previous explanation, the newness of the perspective of Hooks (1984) in terms of sexist oppression is the intersection of sexist oppression occured The female characters of the novels of the Diaspora authors challange sexist oppression because they are women and the particular prejudices against them There is a social hierarchy applied in the society that the Mullah is the most respectable one in the society in which they live in The Patience Stone They receive double oppression then (Biana, 2020) The two terms are institutionalized through the societal norms.
In Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stone, the discussion regarding women bonding in which sources shared between the female characters is happened when the worry over the niece overcomed by the aunty In the part when the unnamed female protagonist hides her period from her husband at the very first time they have first night as a wife and husband The Patience Stone are undeniably two novels which contain their great richness of the gender issues throughout the stories (Akhtar & Khan, 2021;Grant, 2021;Khan & Khan, 2021;Yangsen et al., 2021) As seen in the previous discussion which are supported by the detailed explanations and arguments in the research findings in chapter four, these women issues are closely associated with sexism and encompasses almost three gender issues as proposed by Hooks (1984) These three gender issues are brought to the attention of the readers in such exciting and artistic ways by relating them to the real-life conflicts (Belbase et al., 2022;Broman et al., 2022;Gosse & Burkell, 2020;Heras et al., 2020;Ng et al., 2022;Sønneland, 2019;Veldkamp et al., 2020;Verschaffel et al., 2020) and occurences through which each issue is expressed in practical sense to show its high significance to a large variety of contexts within the novels including political, social, and cultural situations in Afghanistan where two stories are set in.
The presentation of each gender issue in such a practical way by connecting each issue to its real-life context through series of systematic and intriguing events in the novels can help the readers to better understand each respective concept of bell hooks's feminism Therefore, in the context of literary education, not only can this study help to accelerate the capabilities of the students of women and gender studies to understand the theory of feminism by Hooks but the also provide them with far more effective ways (Atenas et al., 2022;Grant, 2021;James-Gallaway & Harris, 2021;Nichols & Stahl, 2019;Tack, 2023) to arouse their more substantial interest to learn bell hooks'feminism, particularly sexist oppression, solidarity for women, and women resistance While the students of literature try to understand bell hooks' perspectives with higher interest for their own selfreflections of life, this approach can also guide them to grasp more intercultural knowledge and competence Moreover, the detailed research findings and analysis in this dissertation can also become new contribution to some more alternative learning materials for the students of literature Beside their awareness towards the sexist oppression against women can be grown, sharing source to build solidarity towards women can be created, and changing perspective on power can be socialized (Utomo & Teguh, 2018).

CONCLUSION Fundamental Findings:
In the novel the students will learn gender in terms of sexist oppression, women bonding, and power They will learn that the unnamed female protagonist faces sexist oppression The causes of sexist oppression occured are because patriarchal culture and religious hierarchy applied in the society The forms of sexist oppression faced are physical and psychological oppression The effect of sexist oppression experienced are physical and psychological suffering of the unnamed female protagonist The students will then learn that women's bonding is built between the unnamed female protagonist and her aunty Her aunty shares her advice to her niece so that she can be strong emotionally to handle her scared feeling of having her period as her first night with her husband and any other problems caused by husband's domination The students will also learn that women's power in the novel is elaborated through the verbal resistance of the unnamed female protagonist She talks in front of her comatose husband how she can be through the physical and psychological suffering of sexist oppression done by her husband and the mullah Implication: The students are not familiar with gender problems and need facilitation in an educating setting to be familiar with and improve their awareness of gender problems Limitation: The research is only conducted on bell hooks' perspectives on sexist oppression, women bonding, and power, and the research is only conducted in the students of English Study program of UTM who taking prose class Future Research: The researcher hopes that the following research will develop to other gender issue based on other feminists' perspectives in other literary works and widen to other classes to invite higher students' critical response towards gender issue in literary works and their surroundings.