The Asia-Pacific Research in Social Sciences and Humanities

Conference 2018—Universitas Indonesia

Jakarta, August 13—15, 2018

Conference Theme:
“Convention and Innovation in Disruption Era”

Conference Track:
Humaniora

Inung Imtihani (Universitas Indonesia),

Ari Prasetiyo (Universitas Indonesia)
The Power of Woman in Yusi Avianto Pareanom’s Raden Mandasia Si Pencuri Daging Sapi 1
Inung Imtihani

The Power of Woman in Yusi Avianto Pareanom’s

Raden Mandasia Si Pencuri Daging Sapi

Inung Imtihani
Universitas Indonesia
inung.imtihani61@ui.ac.id

Ari Prasetiyo
Universitas Indonesia
prastvalet@yahoo.co.id

Abstract

This paper discusses the power of woman in Yusi Avianto Pareanom’s novel,
Raden Mandasia Si Pencuri Daging Sapi (RMSPDS) that was published in 2016.
The present study aims to analyze the form of power, the efforts woman do to
gain power, and the impact of woman’s power in the novel of RMSPDS. Theory
about structure and concept about gender and power will be used in this study to
analyze woman’s power in the novel. This study shows that in RMSPDS, woman
is presented as the one who owns significant power toward men. Woman takes big
role in the public area, especially in the political power. RMSPDS novel sues the
stereotype that considers woman as weak, subordinate, and has no dominant
factor to make a change.

Keywords: woman, gender, power

1. Introduction
One of the unlimited thinking source and attention centre of literati in
Indonesia is about woman. Woman is identically facing the typical life issues. The
severe role of woman in patriarchy society, for instance, is one of the most
obvious issues raised in Indonesian literature. Woman’s life experiences deliver
many legendary stories. Woman is presented in different perspective that possibly
opposite time to time. The background is not only time; different culture is also
able to raise different meaning toward woman.
It is unavoidable that in a side, woman often seen as weak, inferior,
subordinate, and as “the other”. Woman is considered the one who does not have
power toward herself and vulnerable for objectification. They are seen as the thing
by not considering their dignity. While on the other hand, there are who put
woman in a noble and high position. Woman considered has its own power and
strength to subjecting male. What kind of possible power owned by woman? How

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does woman get the power? These matters always become interesting issue to be
discussed. It can be seen in the literature works. Literature becomes of how
society see woman.
One of the Indonesian contemporary literature works that present strong
female figures and have power is Raden Mandasia Si Pencuri Daging Sapi (for
the next will be written as RMSPDS). It is a novel written by Yusi Avianto
Pareanom that was published in 2016. Female figures presented by Pareanom in
RMSPDS have their own privilege. Using the feudalism society background, those
female figures could own big power toward male figures in the story.
RMSPDS won the award of the best prose on Kusala Sastra Khatulistiwa in
2016, the chosen prose of Tempo Magazine 2016, and the best fiction of Rolling
Stone Magazine Indonesia 2016. Beside writing RMSPDS, Pareanom—who is
also a journalist—wrote some works, some of them are short story collection of
Rumah Kopi Singa Tertawa (2011), Grave Sin #14 (2015), dan Ekspedisi Kapal
Borobudur: Jalur Kayu Manis (2005). Pareanom also published a work entitle
Muslihat Musang Emas (2017) and translated quite a lot foreign fictions, one of
them is Mimpi-Mimpi Einstein (2004) by Alan Lightman.
In RMSPDS, the writer presented some Java cultural aspect. The time and
place setting of the story has the similarity with Java in the Hindu-Buddha
kingdoms era. Yet basically, this novel used fictive name of places and did not
specifically pointing certain places in Java history. Name of places are used for
instance Kepulauan Rempah-Rempah (The Island of Spice), Kerajaan Banjaran
Waru (Banjaran Waru Kingdom), Kerajaan Gilingwesi (Gilingwesi Kingdom),
and Kerajaan Gerbang Agung (Gerbang Agung Kingdom). Meanwhile, one of the
Java aspect in the story is the presented of Prabu Watugunung with his two wives
and his 27 children. In Java’s culture, Watugunung story is a myth that become
the basic of wuku name in Java date system. Wuku is a part of Java date cycle. The
counting of wuku or pawukon has certain meaning for people of Java, mostly
related to the counting of luck in job, marriage and etc.
RMSPDS tells story about the journey of two guys, Sungu Lembu and Raden
Mandasia to Gerbang Agung Kingdom. Meeting in the gambling house
(mentioned in the novel as “rumah dadu” or the dice house) of Nyai Manggis,
those two guys did the journey by carrying different mission. Raden Mandasia
went to Gerbang Agung by hoping to meet Tabassum princess to avoid the war
between Gilingwesi Kingdom and Gerbang Agung Kingdom. Meanwhile, Sungu
Lembu did the journey with Raden Mandasia encouraged by Nyai Manggis. He
left with the willingness to meet Watugunung—afather of Raden Mandasia—and
took revenge to him. Beside presenting some of the Java’s culture, the story in
RMSPDS has intersexuality with treasure of story and tale various nations,
countries times and areas.
As mentioned before, female figures in RMSPDS have strong influence
toward male figures. One of them is Nyai Manggis. With all her power and work,
Nyai Manggis who has painful past story was able to collect her strength to raise
up and in the next day she set the planning to take revenge, and ruling male
figures to accomplish her mission. Yet, something needs to be analysed deeper, in
what matter actually woman has power? How does woman get the power and

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what is the impact of her power? By focusing on female figure named Nyai
Manggis, the writer will try to answer those questions above in this mini research.

2. Literature Review
This research will focus on how the power of woman is presented in RMSPDS
(2016). This novel is considered as one of the recent Javanese-tale-kingdom
novels. As far as I am concerned, there is no published research about this novel
yet. Thus, the paper should be the first one to discuss the novel, especially in
accordance to the woman issue and power. However, other than the object of the
research, there are several studies that concern about woman topics in literary
works with Javanese culture background.
One of the previous research important to noted is a dissertation of Ari
Prasetiyo (2015) about the role and position of Javanese women in a Java novel
written by Suparto Brata. The research showed that the main female characters in
Suparto Brata’s novels presented as the powerful, had many strength, and
dominating the family. Yet, those female figures kept upholding ethic by
respecting the man or husband as the social construction in Java’s culture. Man or
husband also very respect, even tended to obey, toward all the willingness or
decision of woman or wife.
The next research is from Bambang Aris Kartika (2009). By taking Perang
Paregrek novel by Langit Kresna Hariadi as the research object, Kartika exposed
that woman has essential role in the story, it is Biniaji, garwa ampil Prabu Hayam
Wuruk, showed certain strategy to build strength for her own in the middle of
Java kingdom life. She built the strength not by fighting the power, yet even
played in the strength arena itself, it is the strength arena that still hoping
woman’s domestic role as in soft, patient, calm, gentle and quite.
In contradiction with Kartika’s research, a research by Setyani (1995) only
caught the signs of Javanese female as an obedient, faithful, loyal and surrender in
the figures that are competed in the story and the puppet show (wayang). Women,
in this context, is competed for certain purposes and generally are to get husband
for them. In that time, woman is presented the one who only receive (nrima).
Based on research above, can be seen from Prasetiyo dan Kartika, Javanese
female figures presented in the contemporary novels are the women with power
and did not only seen as an object. Those women were in the important position
and had their own strategies to gain the power. Yet, research from Prasetiyo did
not study about female figures in the story with Java kingdom background at past
like the characters in RMSPDS novel. Meanwhile, research from Kartika that
focused on the story with kingdom background in Java at past, did not explain
detail how does the woman power presented in the story. The next is a research
from Setyani that told woman always obedient, surrender and loyal. Meaning,
those female figures are powerless. Yet, it is important to see that Setyani studied
female figure in puppet story (wayang) that of course had their own rule. Thus,
the research about woman power in RMSPDS novel hoped to complete the
previous research about woman in literature. This research hoped can contribute
to the more detail explanation about how the woman power presented in Indonesia
contemporary novel with Java kingdom background at past.

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3. Theoretical Framework and Research Methodology

The theory of structure, mostly related to character and characterization will
be the methodology based for this research. About the character definition,
Griffith (1986: 46) explained that, “characters are the people in narratives, and
characterization is the author’s presentation and development of characters.”
Regarding to E.M. Forster (2002: 48), character can be divided into two, they are
flat character and round character. Flat character as how mentioned by Forster,
can be explained in a sentence. The character is constant or has only little
changing. Flat character is very easy to know and remember. Meanwhile, round
character or complex character is the character that can appear with surprize,
contradictive and changing. Round character represents human in their real life
with all the complexity.
The next concept will be used is about gender. Oakley (1972: 158) mentioned
that sex is biological term, while gender is psychology and cultural. In line with
that, regarding to Saptari and Holzner (1997: 21), generally gender can be inferred
as the condition where a person was born biologically as male or female then gain
the social signature as male of female trough the attributes of masculinity and
femininity that often supported by values or symbolic system of related society.
The concept of power will also be used in this research. Handayani and
Novianto (2004: 22) mentioned that power is the ability to influence or decide a
policy from the process to the decision. Woman power, then can be defined as
woman ability to influence or decide a policy from the process to the decision.
As in detail, this research will be done by these following steps. First,
researcher will analyse the character and characterization of Nyai Manggis.
Second, researcher will analyse the power Nyai Manggis toward man and how
does Nyai Manggis get her power. Third, researching details the impact of Nyai
Manggis’ poser toward man and toward the story plot in a whole. Lastly,
researcher conclude the result of analysis.

4. The Overview of Woman in the History of Java

It has been mentioned before that RMSPDS is a novel contained by Javanese
Culture aspect inside the story. The whole story of RMSPDS has the similarity
with the era of Hindu-Buddha like when Majapahit was built. Almost the main
figures—including female figures—of the story lived in plot that resemble to
people in old Java (Jawa Kuna). Related to that matter, researcher thought it is
important to explain more about woman position in Javanese culture, especially
Java in the era of old kingdoms. This actually to show the context to the readers
related to woman in history of Java.
In the research by Nastiti (2009) was exposed that woman had important
position in people of old Java (Jawa Kuna). For instance, in politic, woman in old
Java had already become a queen up to the region leader. Nastiti (2009: 94)
explained that from 52 highest leader, the highest leader at old Java, there had
been 3 queen taken role as leader. They were Sri Isanatunggawijaya from Old
Mataram Kingdom (Mataram Kuna), also Tribhuwana Tunggadewi
Jayawisnuwarddhani and Dewi Suhita from Majapahit kingdom. Majapahit

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kingdom even mentioned by Putri (2017) as the Hindu-Buddha kingdom that had
most numerous female leaders. Nastiti (2009: 107) said that in Waringin Pitu
inscription (1447 M), were noted 14 kingdoms in Majapahit kingdom’s area. 9 out
of 14 region leaders were female.
Besides, it is important to mention Gayatri Rajapatni as a woman who played
big role in history of Majapahit. In preamble of her book, cited Negarakrtagama
chapter 48, Earl Drake (2012) explained that, “there were times the figure of
highness Rajapatni Gayatri, so they became world great leaders, unbeatable. Her
daughter, her son in law and her grandchild became queen and kings. She is the
one who created those leaders and supervise all those leaders deed.”. Gayatri was
the last daughter of Sri Krtanagara. Her marriage with Krtarajasa (Raden Wijaya),
delivered Tribhuwana Tunggadewi Jayawisnuwarddhani who then became a
queen of Majapahit in 1328 M. Tribhuwana Tunggadewi was leading for 22 years
then replaced by her son, Hayam Wuruk. Under Hayam Wuruk, Majapahit
reached its highest victory. The successful of Tribhuwana Tunggadewi and in
leading Majapahit could not be separated from Gayatri’s supervision. Gayatri was
also an important figure behind her husband, Krtarajasa, and his vice, Gadjah
Mada.
Woman in old Java mentioned having same position with man in all life
aspects. They had the same chance to actively took part and influenced people.
Woman could own big power both in domestic and public. The mentioned figures
above were women with vision, courage, wisdom and tenacity in pursuing their
goals. By then, they gained power and ruled people on that era.

5. The Figure of Nyai Manggis in Raden Mandasia Si Pencuri Daging Sapi

5.1. Nyai Manggis’ Characteristics
Nyai Manggis described as a woman with charm and strong allure toward
man. The charm of Nyai Manggis as if was able to make man who faced her
would easily fell for her. Her allure was not only on her physical beauty, but also
on her calm personality, her sweet act in dealing with man, and her deep insight.
She was mentioned able to serve her guess well. Her charm could be seen from in
some matters. For instance, demand of Nyai Manggis’ service was always high.
Some disagreements were happened sometimes in among the guesses in order to
get time to be with Nyai Manggis. Besides, Nyai Manggis’ allure could be seen
from Sungu Lembu’s reaction that was stunning for the first time meeting Nyai
Manggis in the house of gamble or the house of dice.
Nyai Manggis had honour attitude although she was the employer of house
of dice (previously she was a maid). It was obviously understood since Nyai
Manggis was born from a priest family. Priest is known as a holy person in Hindu.
Priest takes big role in religiosity. The priest usually becomes role model, advisor
and mentor of people. As a priest, father of Nyai Manggis owned a hermitage in
Banjaran Waru.
Nyai Manggis’ honour attitude could be seen from the way she speaks.
Sungu Lembu explained in the following citation.

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Dari cara bicaranya, Nyai Manggis terdengar seperti para perempuan

bangsawan Kotaraja Gilingwesi, hanya tanpa kecongkakan yang
biasanya menyertai. (p. 63)

Nyai Manggis also owned calm attitude. It can be seen, for instance, when
she is forcibly moved from Banjaran Waru to the house of Kemitir in Kotaraja
Gilingwesi. In Kemitir’s house, the young Nyai Manggis was never betrayed. She
kept calm and obedient in facing Nyi Kemitir who previously said bad words to
her. Her calm also can be seen when she dealt with her employer in the house of
gamble. Nyai Manggis’ calm and honour attitude make people feel respect to her,
including those who ever been her employer.
Beside her calm, Nyai Manggis owns strong instinct. That instinct accepts
the offer to join into the gamble house of Bandempo. It then finally raises Nyai
Manggis’ degrees —be an employer of the house of gamble and inherits
Bandempo’s wealth—and leads Nyai Manggis joining the resistance group of
Banjaran Waru toward Gilingwesi. Her strong instinct also gives Sungu Lembu
beliefs that he will save in the journey with Raden Mandasia. Nyai Manggis gives
Sungu Lembu beliefs that he will see the defeat of Watugunung and Gilingwesi as
describes in the following citation.

“Raden memang satriaku yang pemberani,” kata Nyai Manggis.

“Tapi, aku percaya Raden akan selamat setelah melihat bagaimana
Watugunung dan orang-orang Gilingwesi berkubang darah.” (p.
175)

As a woman, Nyai Manggis has painful past moment, all of her family
died because of the cruelty of Gilingwesi’s soldiers. Her bad past moment then
makes her having prolonged revenge and tends to make Nyai Manggis be a person
who hard in apologizing. That revenge finally gives her courage to raise up. Nyai
Manggis then is described by the writer as strong, independent, clever and rich
woman. By her wealth, she supports Sungu Lembu to take revenge toward
Gilingwesi. Her wealth even described is enough to live Sungu Lembu after Nyai
Manggis dies.
Nyai Manggis’ life experience forges her to be a persistent one. Her
persistency showed on her struggle to take revenge to Gilingwesi for her family,
herself, and people of Banjaran Waru. She is not easy to give up although she
experiences bitter life experience in her life: been raped alternatively by some of
Gilingwesi’s soldiers who came to her house, lost all of her family member, sold
as a maid and moved from one house of gamble to another house of gamble. Nyai
Manggis was patient, gathered her strength and wait for the exact time to do her
plan.
Her persistency in taking revenge to Gilingwesi towards Banjaran Waru, we
can see the comparison between Nyai Manggis and male officials of Banjaran
Waru. Nyai Manggis can be seen as more honour than those Banjaran Waru
officials that decided to surrender, with no fighting back to Gilingwesi. At the
same time, Banjaran Waru officials people submitted big amount of tribute to

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Gilingwesi and treated people of Banjaran Waru cruelty. It opposites Nyai

Manggis who hardly wants to take revenge to people of Gilingwesi. The possible
way to accomplish it is by dredging wealth completely of Gilingwesi’s people
who came to the house of gamble and create disputation among them. It describes
in this following citation.

Ia akan berusaha agar orang-orang Gilingwesi terus datang ke

rumah judi, menghabiskan harta mereka, dan syukur-syukur sering
timbul perkelahian di antara mereka sehingga nyawa mereka
tanggal bersamaan. (pp. 150—151)

The contradiction between officials of Banjaran Waru and Nyai Manggis

also shows that woman—are often positioned lower and weaker than man—
actually can own the higher position and more honour than man even with the
most honourable political position. Woman in this novel—especially trough the
character of Nyai Manggis—is deconstructed as the one who is abler to keep
dignity than the palace official men. By the strong ambition and persistency
showed by Nyai Manggis, it is not surprising that Sungu Lembu puts deep respect
to that employer of the house of gamble. Nyai Manggis allowed herself to sell
from one to another house of gamble. Yet, she would never be willing if her and
her nation’s honour and dignity are taken.
Although she has abundant wealth and always glorified by men, Nyai
Manggis has ever feeling ashamed because her job is in the house of gamble. That
feeling raised mostly when Bandempo will introduce Nyai Manggis to the people
of the resistance group of Banjaran Waru. Yet Bandempo did not consider Nyai
Manggis as the low class woman. So did the people of Banjaran Waru resistance
group. They even respected to Nyai Manggis. It implied that woman will not
necessarily be worthless only caused by her past or her job. The most essential are
dreams, insight, and the attitude.
Nyai Manggis tends to be presented as a person with no fear to face man.
Her calm attitude, as what mentioned before, at all once also contains of
braveness. To Bandempo—who becomes her husband—even just felt afraid once
when she would be introduced to the people of Banjaran Waru resistance group. It
is described in the following citation.

Nyai Manggis masih cukup lama merajuk sampai Bandempo marah

dan meninggalkan kamar penginapan mereka dari siang sampai jelang
malam. Baru kali itu Nyai Manggis merasa takut kepada suaminya.
Ia menyesal juga. (p. 160)

5.2. The Power of Nyai Manggis

Discussion in this sub section will little bit intersecting the previous sub
section. Considering to easy the reading and to detail the power of Nyai Manggis
toward man, this discussion needs to be separated from the previous sub section.
Nyai Manggis is a strong female figure and has significant power, mostly
toward the male figures in RMSPDS novel. One of the most stand out is Nyai

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Manggis’ power towards the female guesses of the house of gamble. Be glorified
by her guesses, she is also a very contestable woman. It implies that by her charm,
Nyai Manggis owns the power to rule men to keep coming to the house of
gamble.
In further, Nyai Manggis also mentionable owning the power toward her
male employer in the house of gamble and toward Kemitir, the employer who
took her from Banjaran Waru to Kotaraja Gilingwesi. Manggis’ power in the
house of gamble described in this following citation.

Beberapa tamu terkaya menawari Manggis menjadi gundik simpanan

mereka. Manggis menolak, bahkan ketika ia boleh menyebut apa saja
yang ia inginkan. Majikannya sempat marah-marah karena
penolakan Manggis berarti hilangnya mendapatkan setumpuk harta
sekali pukul. Tapi, kemarahannya mereda ketika Manggis berkata
begini, “Jika Tuan punya angsa yang bertelur emas sebutir setiap
hari, apakah Tuan akan memotongnya dengan berharap
mendapatkan beberapa butir telur sekaligus?” (p. 148)

Meanwhile, Manggis who at the end was more powerful than her ex
employer, Kemitir, described in this following citation.

Manggis segera mendusin bahwa Kemitir tak berani menatap

matanya. Bahkan, laki-laki yang pernah menjadi majikannya dan
membunuh salah seorang kakak kembarnya itu seperti ketakutan
ketika Manggis menyapanya. (p. 150)

Cita-cita barunya tak menjadikan Manggis kikir. Bahkan, atau justru

kepada Kemitir, ia sangat pemurah. Bukan tanpa alasan karena Manggis
sangat menikmati melihat Kemitir membungkuk-bungkuk
mengucap terima kasih kepadanya. (p. 151)

Based on those citations above, there are at least two points to focus on
related to Nyai Manggis. First, Nyai Manggis did rejection. The employer of Nyai
Manggis could not insist his will to Nyai Manggis. He followed Nyai Manggis’
words instead. It implies that there is Nyai Manggis’ power toward her employer.
Meanwhile, the second, Nyai Manggis made Kemitir felt afraid. It means that
Nyai Manggis’ power was quite significant toward Kemitir. Someone will only
feel afraid to those who have bigger power then her/him.
For the next, the other stand out power of Nyai Manggis is toward Sungu
Lembu. Nyai Manggis is able to make Sungu Lembu obeys and respects to her.
Not only that, Nyai Manggis even punished Sungu Lembu when he confessed his
love to Nyai Manggis. The punishment was given by ordering 2 unknown and
unwanted girls to have a coitus with Sungu Lembu. These are the following
citation that show the respect of Sungu Lembu to Nyai Manggis.

Aku sangat menghormati Nyai Manggis. (p. 53)

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Aku mendudukkan Nyai Manggis sangat tinggi karena ia memang

istimewa bagiku. (p. 54)

Aku sudah hendak bangkit dan menciuminya lagi tetapi Nyai Manggis
kembali menahan dadaku. Ia menggeleng, matanya galak seperti guru
yang jengkel atas kekurangajaran muridnya. Aku patuh berbaring
lagi. (p. 73)

5.3. The Way Nyai Manggis Gains Power

Based on the previous explanation, we can formulate some ways of what
Nyai Manggis did to gain power in the story. The main way is by tactical. Nyai
Manggis is described as a smart and intelligent woman and good in setting tactic.
Tactic in this context is to reach the goal and purpose. One of Nyai Manggis’
intelligence is described this following citation.

Aku memandangnya kagum. Ia sangat pintar, bahkan dalam

keadaan terluka parah seperti itu ia masih bisa berpikir jauh ke
depan. (p. 174)

The first tactic, Nyai Manggis maximize her body and kept working in the
house of gamble. She took care of her body and beauty as the way to mesmerize
and get her power toward her guesses, including to Sungu Lembu in the next day.
At first, Nyai Manggis worked in the house of gamble to serve men because of the
condition insisted her. She is sold by Kemitir to the owner of the house of gamble
and she could not easily to escape. However, she was fully realizing that her body
is valuable and has high price. By times she realized after working quite long the
house of gamble, she then positioned herself not lower than her male employer.
Inside her, there was a belief that she would not treat badly by her male employer.
This following citation describes it.

Kalau benar ia laku dijajakan sebagai perawan, ia bisa berpura-pura

demikian. Jika tak laku, ia tak mesti bekerja dan itu jelas tak
mengganggunya. Ia saat itu sudah tahu bahwa tubuhnya cukup
berharga sehingga majikannya tak mungkin akan mengasarinya. (p.
146)

[...] ia sekarang sudah tahu bagaimana membalas dendam kepada

orang-orang Gilingwesi, yaitu tetap bekerja di rumah judi.
Perkelahian di Bintaran yang menewaskan tujuh orang dan kesengsaraan
Kemitir adalah jawaban yang ia cari selama ini. (p. 150—151)

Nyai Manggis’s second tactic is by keep calm and be polite in speaking and
acting. It is described in this following citation.

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Anak itu memang tak pernah mengeluarkan kata-kata kalau tak

ditanya dan kalaupun keluar omongan selalu sopan pilihan kata dan
nadanya. Hanya saja, mata Manggis di mata Nyi Kemitir tak pernah
ramah apalagi menyerah sehingga kekesalannya timbul terus. (p. 133)

By keep being calm and polite, she manages everything still remains under
control. Nyai Manggis seemed realizing that she has no longer place to live in.
Being reckless in front of her new employer will only make her life worse. Thus,
it is understandable that Nyai Manggis chose to be calm and polite in front of her
employer. It is not for others but her self-goodness.
The third tactic is by inciting noblemen or the captains of Gilingwesi who
became her guesses in the house of the house of gamble. Nyai Manggis’ action in
pitting her guesses can be as her tactic to gain her power. Meanwhile, the success
of Nyai Manggis raising big disputation among them showed that Nyai Manggis
was successfully gaining power toward her guesses.

The fourth tactic of Ada satu hal lagi yang mulai dilakukan Manggis
dengan cermat. Kepada tamu-tamunya yang ia tahu adalah
bangsawan atau perwira kerajaan Gilingwesi, ia meniupkan api
cemburu ke telinga mereka. (pp. 151—152)

The fourth tactic of Nyai Manggis is by being persistent and patient to

pursue her purpose. These are the following citations that show persistency and
patience of Nyai Manggis.

Ia memang punya minat, satu saja, membalaskan nasib buruk

keluarganya kepada Kemitir. Tapi, ia belum tahu caranya, dan ia
berjanji akan bersabar karena hanya waktulah senjatanya saat itu.
(p. 132)

Mereka diminta menyiangi kebun belakang yang berisi banyak pohon

buah dan tanaman obat. Kebun itu hampir seluas arena pacu sapi. Tidak
sampai seperempat kebun mereka kerjakan, ibu Manggis jatuh. Manggis
yang merampungkan sisanya. Hari-hari berikutnya, pekerjaan yang tak
kalah berat dibebankan kepada mereka. Karena ibu Manggis tak
sanggup, lagi-lagi Manggis yang mengerjakan semuanya. (p. 132)

The fifth tactic of Nyai Manggis is being a good learner. Nyai Manggis tried
to learn fast all the knowledge that delivered to her and learn fast too from her life
experience. By that way then Nyai Manggis gained insight that she needed to
gain her power toward men. This following citation shows Nyai Manggis keeps
striving to be a good learner.

Manggis saat itu belum tahu apakah ilmu membuat lulur, pupur, dan
sebangsanya akan berguna mewujudkan niatnya. Tapi, itu tak
menghalanginya sungguh-sungguh belajar. (p. 138)

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Manggis belum tahu bagaimana hidupnya di rumah pelesiran bisa

membantunya membalaskan dendam, tapi ia mulai belajar tentang
hukum pasokan dan permintaan yang terbukti sangat berguna
kemudian. (p. 143)

"Pengetahuannya banyak sehingga percakapan dengannya bisa

berlangsung lama dan menyenangkan." (p. 54)

Nyai Manggis also tried to build and keep good relationship with people
around her. It was, for instance, by showing generous attitude. This matter made
her position save because the people around her will respect and felt that they
gained advantages by being close to Nyai Manggis. These are the citation that
show it.

Ia mulai mengajak orang-orang lama berteman. Atas izin

majikannya, persenan yang ia dapat dari tamu ia bagikan kepada
para pekerja lainnya. Ia juga membagi ilmu perawatan kecantikan
dan khususnya bagian kewanitaan kepada teman-temannya. Yang
terakhir inilah yang membuatnya diterima dengan baik oleh para
perempuan di rumah pelesiran itu [...]. (p. 144)

Especially to Sungu Lembu, the tactic of keeping good relationship was

done by Nyai Manggis more intensively so they became close to each other. Nyai
Manggis has purpose to—for the next day—deliver Sungu Lembu take revenge to
Gilingwesi. This following citation shows the moments when Nyai Manggis
asked Sungu Lembu to have journey with Raden Mandasia to accomplish its
revenge.

“[...] Selama ini Raden juga tak punya jalan mendekati Watugunung.
Bagaimana kita bisa membalaskan dendam? Jika bersama Raden
Mandasia, aku yakin Raden bakal dapat kesempatan berada dalam
jarak dekat dengan Watugunung atau petinggi-petinggi Gilingwesi
lainnya. Ia adalah peluang terbaik kita, Raden, malah mungkin satu-
satunya saat ini. Ini memang perjudian, kita bisa kalah besar. Tapi, hai,
bukankah aku ini memang majikan rumah judi?” (p. 174)

5.4. The Impact of Nyai Manggis’ Power

The effort of Nyai Manggis to get power toward men give certain impact for
the events and characters in the story. Below is the analysis explanation about
those impacts.
The first impact is, Nyai Manggis is specialized and respected by men,
especially in the house of gambles where she works. The special act will not be
happened if Nyai Manggis has no beauty and strong self-enchantment as
explained on the previous sub sections. On the other hand, Nyai Manggis is
respected because of her attitude, intelligence, and her insight. In the house of

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gamble, she is not only respected by the guesses, but also by her employer. Out of
the house of gamble, Nyai Manggis is also respected by people of resistance
group of Banjaran Waru. Nyai Manggis together with Bandempo—who had been
his husband—even get special tittle as “pasangan Jauhari dari Kelapa”. Besides,
Nyai Manggis also gets high respect and love from the main character of the
story; Sungu Lembu.
The next impact is the fighting that cause death of some officials of
Gilingwesi. Beside they competed to get the chance with Nyai Manggis, the chaos
is also because of Nyai Manggis’ provocation. Below is the following citation to
show it.

Sekitar setengah tahun kemudian, rencananya berbuah. Keributan

mulai timbul di rumah judi saat ada beberapa orang bersaing
mendapatkan pelayanan Manggis. Awalnya hanya kata-kata kasar
yang terlontar, lalu perkelahian. (p. 149)

Sebulan sesudahnya, salah seorang pelanggan Manggis terbunuh.

Sehari sesudahnya, orang yang dicurigai sebagai pelaku ganti
terbunuh oleh keluarga korban pertama. Bentrok antarkelompok
pun pecah dan belasan orang tewas. Manggis menerima berita itu
dengan gembira dan laparnya makin menjadi. Ia makin gencar
membakar hati tamu-tamunya. Perkelahian-perkelahian baru
menyusul dan korban pun berjatuhan. (p. 152)

The fighting to get Nyai Manggis is the gate to the big change in her life.
That fighting invited Bandempo to Nyai Manggis and then took her with him.
Related to that, the next impact of Nyai Manggis’ power is being the employer of
Bandempo’s house of gamble. Together with Bandempo, Nyai Manggis becomes
the main donator for the resistance group of Banjaran Waru. After Bandempo
passed away, Nyai Manggis is the one who has the authority for all Bandempo’s
wealth.
Another impact of Nyai Manggis’ power is that Sungu Lembu did the
journey with Raden Mandasia to the great gate (Gerbang Agung). Nyai Manggis
influenced and encouraged the main character in the story to be a part of her
revenge strategy to Gilingwesi. Below is one of the citations shows the influence
of Nyai Manggis toward Sungu Lembu.

Tapi, ada sesuatu yang berkata bahwa di Tlatah Baratlah aku akan
bertemu Watugunung. Mungkin aku ketularan keyakinan Nyai
Manggis sebelum ia meninggal. Tapi, kekasihku itu terbukti benar.
(p. 214)

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6. Conclusion
Based on the analysis of RMSPDS novel, especially on the character of Nyai
Manggis and its relation to the woman’s power, we can direct some conclusions.
First, woman can have the significance power to men. In RMSPDS novel, the
character of Nyai Manggis is constructed as a woman who is able to influence to
men’s mind and feeling. She influenced some of the men figures in the story to
take decision as what she plan before. Nyai Manggis has big power in public area,
in this context it is the house of gamble.
Second, Nyai Manggis used certain effort to reach her power. Her main way
was by having tactic. The most stand out tactic was by keep her physically beauty,
to mesmerize and put men down under her power. She also decided to keep
working in the house of gamble to take revenge to the people of Gilingwesi. The
next tactic was by being calm and polite. The third tactic was by provoking the
people of Gilingwesi as her customers in the house of gamble. The next tactic was
by being persistent and patient to keep struggling her goal. The fifth tactic was by
being a good learner. The sixth tactic was by having good relationship with people
around Nyonya Manggis.
Third, it can be concluded that Nyai Manggis’ effort to get the power
impacted certain part of the story. The first impact was that Nyai Manggis being
specialized and b being respected by men, especially in the house of gamble
where she works. The second impact was the fighting that caused the death of
some officials of Gilingwesi. The thirds impact was that Nyai Manggis became
the employer of the house of gamble owned that Bandempo. by the fourth impact
was the availability of Sungu Lembu to has long journey with Raden Mandasia in
order to take revenge to Watugunung.
It is important to note in generally; women often be considered as the weak
one. Yet, RMSPDS novel, woman is presented as the one who owns significant
power toward men. Woman takes big role in the public area, especially in the
political power. Thus, based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that
RMSPDS novel sues the stereotype that considers woman is weak, subordinate,
has no dominant factor to make change. Shortly, on the other words this novel
criticize toward the political power of men in public area.

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Author’s Short Biography

Inung Imtihani is currently a master’s degree candidate of literature studies

at Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia. Her research interests include
sociology of literature, gender studies, and comparative literature. She received
her undergraduate degree from Indonesian Literature Department at Faculty of
Humanities, Universitas Indonesia. She is now living in Depok and can be
reached through inung.imtihani61@ui.ac.id.

Ari Prasetiyo is currently a lecturer at Javanese Department, Faculty of

Humanities, Universitas Indonesia. He earned his doctorate in 2015 with a
dissertation entitled “Peranan dan Kedudukan Perempuan Jawa dalam Novel Jawa
Karya Suparto Brata”.

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