This study aimed to reveal the struggle of women to gain existence in the novel as a representation of social phenomena. The data source of this research was Isn't It Romantic drama by Wendy Wesserstein. This drama is about women who want to achieve their dreams without the participation of their parents. They want to live without any interference from their parents. To reveal the struggle for existence, the researcher uses the existentialism approach by Simone Beauvoir. Existentialists fight for the nature of human existence, especially for women who have been subordinated to the patriarchal system. The method used in this research is Descriptive qualitative method. The close reading data collection method is effective in tracing data relevant to research variables. The analysis method is carried out critically by using an existentialism approach. The researcher got three main analyses toward the novel, they are: independence over women, authority in making decisions, and lastly, the same existence as a human being.

Kepriyayian identik dengan status sosial seseorang dalam pandangan masyarakat. Priyayi dipandang sebagai orang yang memiliki status sosial yang tinggi dan terpandang. Bisa karena keturunan dari keluarga terpandang ataupun karena memiliki pekerjaan yang berstatus sosial tinggi. Dalam novel Para Priyayi makna yang ideal tersebut dijungkirbalikkan oleh Umar Kayam. Penelitian ini menggunakan cara kerja teori dekonstruksi Derrida dengan menemukan oposisi-oposisi berlawanan pada novel Para Priyayi. Hasilnya dapat dilihat bahwa Umar Kayam menunjukkan bahwa kepriyayian bukanlah sekadar gaya hidup maupun status sosial, namun lebih kepada kepribadian itu sendiri, bagaimana seseorang berguna bagi masyarakat. Hal ini menjungkirbalikkan esensi makna priyayi yang telah tertanam kuat di hati dan pikiran masyarakat bahwa kepriyayian yang sangat lekat dengan gaya hidup maupun status sosial.Kata Kunci: dekonstruksi, priyayi, derrida, umar kayam, para priyayi.

Dengar Keluhan Pohon Mangga (DKPM) is the story written by Maria Amin during the Japanese colonial era. The author uses the metaphor of "mango tree" to escape Japanese censorship to be published so that there are many hidden meanings in this short story. This study aimed to determine the author's unconscious condition through the language used by using Lacan's psychoanalytic theory. This study used a qualitative research method with a poststructuralism approach using Lacan's psychoanalysis. The data source of this research is a document, namely the short story DKPM by Maria Amin. The sampling technique used purposive sampling. In this study, the data were obtained through document analysis, and then the data were analyzed according to Lacan's psychoanalytic theory, which begins by describing the life of the author - in this case, is Maria Amin - to understand his work. After that, he explained the characters of the characters in the DKPM short stories. Furthermore, the analysis was focused on the short stories' language, which can be seen through the metaphor and metonymy phenomena in this short story. In this way, it will be seen how the author's subconscious is filled with a sense of lack and loss, so that the desire to cover up the deficiency appears. The results showed that the short story DKPM is a short story that reflects the writer's unconscious condition. It can be seen in the short stories he wrote that the Indonesian nation was expressed metaphorically by using the word "mango tree", the Japanese nation as "areca tree", and the Dutch nation as "the man". In this short story, the mango tree (the Indonesian nation) is on lacks condition. So that there is a desire to gain recognition for its existence as a subject.

Penelitian ini membahas kumpulan puisi Mata Air Di Karang Rindu karya Tjahjono Widarmanto menggunakan pendekatan semiotika. Pendekatan ini merupakan upaya mengungkap tanda yang terdapat dalam kumpulan puisi berupa simbol. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mendeskripsikan simbol budaya dan simbol sastra. Metode yang digunakan adalah deskriptif kualitatif dengan teknik pengumpulan data: mengumpulkan, membaca, dan mempelajari buku yang berhubungan dengan penelitian. Hasil pembahasan menunjukkan bahwa terdapat simbol budaya yang meliputi bahasa, benda, warna, dan tindakan. Simbol sastra berupa citra penglihatan, gerak, dan pendengaran. Simbol bahasa digunakan untuk menampilkan istilah-istilah dalam mempertegas dan memperjelas sifat religius. Simbol bahasa juga mengandung amanat selalu mengingat kematian yang pasti akan dialami semua makhluk hidup. Simbol sastra berupa citraan digunakan untuk mengimajinasikan kematian sehingga pembaca memiliki gambaran dalam pikirannya tentang proses kematian yang menjadi ketetapan dari Tuhan.

Balai Pustaka is the initial period of the emergence of modern Indonesian literature, so it is necessary to know more about the novels that have become milestones in the history of the emergence of modern Indonesian literature. During this period, many novels emerged with stories that had various similarities. This prompted the writer to find out what themes dominated the novels published in this period. In this study, the authors took six novel samples, namely Azab and Sengsara by Merari Siregar, Sitti Nurbaya by Marah Rusli, Salah Asuhan by Abdoel Moeis, Looking for the Thief of Virgins by Suman Hs., and Dian Yang Takdir Alisjahbana by S. Takdir Alisjahbana. The theory Robert Stanton is used as an analytical knife. In this theory, Stanton focused more on how to identify the theme of a literary work, where the theme is an aspect of the story that is parallel to the 'meaning' in human experience; something that makes an experience so memorable. The results of this study could be seen that the themes raised in the novels of the Balai Pustaka period have similarities, namely traditional issues, forced marriages, and the conflict between the old and young groups so that these novels have similarities in the issues raised.