The first thought when I read the novel was that I had one question for this novel:
Who was Soeraja?
Gadis Kretek’s (in English: Cigarette Girls) novel explains that Romo (in Javanese, Bapak, Soeraja)was sick, and when he slept, he always dreamed about Jeng Yah. The children, Tegar, Karim, and Lebas, had a mandate from their father to look for Jeng Yah and came to M City in Central Java. The story was opened with some jokes from Lebas and Tegar. Moreover, I would use Bahasa Indonesia for the dialogues in this novel review.
“Aku enggak tahu Romo punya waktu beberapa lama lagi, gimana kalau keburu bablas?” Ucap Lebas.
”Bablas piye?” Tanya Mas Tegar.
”Ya bablas… Meninggal.”
”Astagfirullah, Bas, Lebas… mbok jangan ngomong jelek gitu!” Mas Karim mengingatkanku.
”Jelek gimana? Kan bener, semua orang hidup pasti mati.” Kedua kakakku diam saja dengan ucapanku.
First, the one thing I noticed from this novel when I read the novel was the usage of the Javanese language is good. Furthermore, we could imagine the dialogue that happened in our daily life as Javanese. The writer was good at writing the storyline, such as an adventure to go to M city and live with Soeraja’s Family, also living in the 60s era. Nevertheless, the meaning of the Javanese Language is explained at the end of every chapter.
Cigarette Girl appointed many issues, but the main issue is gender equality.
The first chapter explained Romo’s condition. In addition, the next chapter was a flashback to Tegar’s childhood — the CEO of Djagad Cigarette Company. Second, the thing that I noticed in this chapter explained the point of view of Tegar, which is related to daily life as an Indonesian. Tegar, the first child from Soeraja, already bore the company’s burden.
There is some masculinity about men. One of the examples is that men are not allowed to cry or explain their feelings and have to be strong every time. Alongside, Soeraja gave him the mandate to continue the company. It is well presented in this dialogue:
Nanti, kalau kamu sudah lulus kuliah, kamu ndak perlu mikir soal cari kerja, tinggal kamu ngurus pabrik ini dengan baik-baik. Orang lain harus keliling cari kerjaan, upahnya ndak seberapa. Pokoknya hidupmu bakal enak, kalau kamu bisa mengurus pabrik ini baik-baik.
Moreover, people always think that the first child must always be strong and provide for their family. In addition, it was represented in Tegar, who has a character as a perfectionist and is always serious. Tegar has the character because his father said he would continue the company. The children always feel that their father said they should accept it, and it is one of the burdens which has to bring for every child, implicitly making Tegar feel exhausted. As a result, Tegar was always mad when someone made a mistake when it was not their fault. It is represented in this sentence:
Suatu hari, orang-orang ini akan menjadi tanggunganmu, Gar. Kamu harus bisa menjual kretekmu untuk memberikan upah. Kamu harus bisa menyediakan fasilitas kesehatan bagi mereka, kamu juga harus membayar THR setiap hari raya tiba, yang berarti kamu harus mengeluarkan dua kali dari gaji biasanya. Mereka adalah tanggunganmu gar, se istri-istrinya, sesuami-suaminya, seanak-anaknya.
Nowadays, the stereotype that women are not angry and should remain graceful still exists in this world.
There were many stereotypes of women in that era. The stereotypes were not only to women but also to men. Nevertheless, the stereotype mostly happened to women. Women are always represented as a second class in society. Some examples are that women should not be mad at someone when someone makes them angry. Women do not allow to smoke, whereas men allow smoking. Besides, cigarettes have a bad impact on everyone. One of the stereotypes I hate the most is that women should be graceful in society.
Another stereotype is that women should be under their husbands, although men make mistakes. It was represented in Roemaisa and Indroes Moeria’s scene when Dasiyah’s placenta disappeared. Naturally, the men would say that was Roemaisa’s mistake because she cast out the men from Roemaisa and Inroes Moeria’s house. They said that Roemaisa was not an ungrateful woman because they accompanied her husband to take care of her husband. On the contrary, Roemaisa said they did not need to be noisy because she needed serenity for a while.
“Pak… apa bisa tolong temani suami saya nunggu ari-ari diluar?” Roemaisa mencoba menegur seorang bapak tetangga. Tapi si bapak tetangga itu bahkan tidak menengok padanya. Ia terus saja tertawa-tawa sambil mengobrol dengan orang disebelahnya.
“Pak…,” Tegur Roemaisa lagi tapi laki-laki paruh baya itu tetap menganggapnya tak ada. Tiba-tiba Roemaisa merasa marah, ia tak bisa lagi menahan emosinya dan berterika kencang sekali. Kini seluruh penjuru tertuju padanya.“Keluar! Keluar! Keluar semua!” Roemaisa kalap. Orang-orang seisi ruangan heran melihat Roemaisa. Idroes Moreia bergegas masuk cepat-cepat ke dalam, mendapati istrinya teriak-teriak.
“Ini rumahku! keluar semua!” Idroes Moeria lekas-lekas mendekap tubuh istrinya.
”Dasar tak tahu diuntung, sudah bagus mau menemani tujuh malam. Kalau bayimu digondol wewe baru tahu rasa!” umpat seorang bapak tetangga.
One of the double burdens in domestic is that women should take care of their households and cannot rest for a while. Furthermore, Roemaisa took care of her child, and she could not go somewhere because she should to keep Dasiyah’s placenta. Meanwhile, the men only chatted with each other and thought they already did their job and had a lot of the job. I remember the book I hate Men explained that men are too busy explaining to women that they are not like that, but they do not prove anything.
Moreover, when the placenta was gone, the men said it was the women’s mistake because they thought they had already accompanied Idroes Moeria even though they did not contribute to Roemaisa. It is categorized as gender inequality because women should not feel angry and remain graceful to everyone. They thought that women should ‘Okay, it is my mistake, not theirs (men)’ and accept everything that happens in this world as fate. It can happen because of the effect of the patriarchal system, where men think that he was more superior instead of women.
Do you realize people think that women are objects began from men?
Generally, people with the mindset ‘woman is an object’ begin from the patriarchal system built by society a long time ago. Whereas it negatively impacts them, society has not realized the impacts of the patriarchal system. One of the disadvantages of the patriarchal system is marriage, but the purpose of marrying someone is to escape the debt the family has to pay off while they cannot pay off with the money. Moreover, it can happen because people think that women are objects. Thus, they can do anything for their children, including marrying their daughter to pay off the debt. It explains in this dialogue:
“Mira itu tunanganku, ngerti kowe?”
“Mira itu punyak-khu! Ngerthi Kowe?”
”Iya Mas, saya ngerti.”
”Dia itu sudhah terikat sama akhu. Utange akeh!”“Berapa utang Mira?”
”Telung yuto setengah.”
The dialogue’s conclusion represents women as subjects and the practice still happening nowadays.
Dasiyah is the woman who represents that women can be independent person.
One of the reasons I said Cigarette Girl (in Indonesia Entitled: Gadis Kretek) not only represented women as a second class but also represented women can be as independent people in that era. Here is why I like to read a book, specifically a novel by a woman author. They not only presented women are weak but also presented women are independent and strong.
Moreover, the Cigarette Girl also represents that women are independent and strong. Dasiyah, the first daughter of Roemaisa and Idroes Moeria, represents it. Dasiyah represents the independence and courage of each other woman to learn something new. The writer showed in this story:
Gadis itu mendapat kecerdasan dari ibunya dan keuletan kerja dari ayahnya. Selain itu, karena sikap Idroes Moeria yang cenderung memberikan kebebasan bagi putrinya, telah menjadikannya gadis yang mandiri, berani berpendapat. Sebuah kombinasi yang cukup unik untuk perempuan di zaman tersebut.
Furthermore, in the 60s, women were not allowed to leave home. Besides, her father gave her freedom, Dasiyah became an independent woman, and she could be a leader for her company someday. Over and above her intelligence, she could help her father to move forward with the company. Dasiyah is represented as an intelligentwoman in this sentence:
Dasiyah muncul dengan senyum mengembang, dan tak takut menatap lawan bicaranya, wajahnya menyimpan segala pengetahuan, semua tahu ia perempuan cerdas. Ia memesonakan seisi ruangan dengan cara yang berbeda namun menimbulkan kekaguman yang sama.
Moreover, Dasiyah applied gender equality based on her cigarette brand, ‘Cigarette Girl,’ and offered her friends to work with her. On the contrary, women in that era were paid a small salary. Afterward, she paid her friends the same as a man. In addition, this novel not only represents gender inequality but also represents gender equality in that era.
Dasiyah punya ide, daripada memperkerjakan penjaga laki-laki, ia memperkerjakan para gadis teman-teman Rukayah. Dasiyah memberi mereka upah layaknya penjaga laki-laki untuk menawarkan Gadis Kretek. Sesuai namanya, Kretek Gadis ditawarkan oleh gadis-gadis pula
It represented that Dasiyah was a smart and independent woman. She could manage the marketing for her product till the product sold out in the cigarette market. The story showed that Dasiyah was different from other girls in that era from her parents. Nevertheless, she was the same as other women when she fell into Soeraja.
The writer used flash-forwards and flashbacks for the story, and the story was eased to understand. We would get a lot of perspectives from many points of view of the character in the present. The main character is Lebas, but he doesn’t look like the main character because this story is focused on his parents’ past. In addition, this story explains the story that happened in the 60s.
Ratih Kumala is good at writing stories. Furthermore, the reader can imagine the scene that happened in the 60s, how they find out Jeng about Yah, and how Soeraja’s family became rich because of cigarettes. The writer uses casual language that makes the reader enjoy reading the novel even though I was emotional because of Soedjagad.
Nonetheless, I could not read this novel quickly because I was mad because of Soedjagad. Furthermore, this novel has 270 pages and could end in one day. The writer examined well the conflict between Soedjagad and Idroes Moeria. Unfortunately, at the novel’s end, the writer does not explain how Dasiyah fought Soeraja using a petromax lamp as Dasiyah’s disappointment to Soeraja. Afterward, I was curious how Dasiyah healed herself after the accident at Soeraja’s wedding.
The novel is good, and I recommend that you read the novel. The series will be as good as the novel. Cigarette girl will show on Netflix in 2023.
