Discursive Violence and Gendered Language: Textual Representations of Women’s Oppression in Tempurung by Oka Rusmini

Abstract

Violence against women remains a deeply rooted issue in Indonesian society, manifesting not only in physical and psychological forms but also through linguistic practices that reproduce gendered subordination. This study examines the representation of women’s oppression in Oka Rusmini’s acclaimed novel Tempurung, a work that poignantly depicts the intersection of gender, caste, and cultural expectations in Balinese society. Positioned within literary sociology and guided by Alan Swingewood’s concept of literature as a selective reflection of social reality, the research applies a qualitative textual analysis to explore how physical, psychological, and discursive violence are constructed and normalized in the narrative. Textual excerpts from the 2017 edition of the novel were coded and thematically categorized to identify patterns of verbal humiliation, silencing, emotional manipulation, and metaphorical entrapment, which were then interpreted alongside national reports on gender-based violence. The findings reveal that oppression in the text operates through intertwined structures of physical harm, emotional degradation, and linguistic domination, with silence emerging both as a mechanism of control and as a subtle form of resistance. By bridging literary representation with documented real-world data on violence against women, this study demonstrates how fiction can illuminate social realities and challenge patriarchal ideologies. The study contributes to gender-based literary criticism by foregrounding language as a site of power, and offers broader implications for critical literacy, cultural awareness, and advocacy for gender justice within Indonesian literary and social contexts.