Cynicism toward Pregnancy in Short Story “Pregnant” by Anna
Gavalda
Lia Indri Hapsari
Ilmu Susastra, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia
Keywords: Women, Pregnancy, Feminism, Radical-Libertarian Feminist.
Abstract: Pregnancy is one experience which can be experienced exclusively by women only. Even though in some
cases pregnant is a miracle and grace for women, but some other women believe it is a curse for them. Anna
Gavalda is a France author which chooses pregnant as main topic in her short story, Pregnant. This study
discusses how the narrator in the short story expresses its cynicism toward pregnancy. Radical-libertarian
feminism is the theory chosen to analyze this short story. The analysis in this study uses feminist lens and
approach. This study finds that the omniscient narrator in the short story does not believe pregnancy as a
miracle for women. It believes that pregnancy only bring sorrow to women and confine women’s activity.
1 INTRODUCTION
Pregnancy is one of women's natures that cannot be
replaced by men. In many cases, pregnancy is a
miracle and an invaluable gift. This process is also
very eagerly awaited by many women. In 2009, the
pregnancy rate in the United States reached 6.369
(Pregnancy Rates for U.S. Women Continue to
Drop, 2013). Pregnancy which is a natural nature of
women is not fully acceptable to every woman. This
statement can be proven by high abortion rate in the
United States, which is 1,152 in 2009 (Pregnancy
Rates for U.S. Women Continue to Drop, 2013).
Abortion is one way to abort the fetus in women’s
womb forcibly. Rejection toward pregnancy is not
can be seen through abortion act, but also illustrated
in the literature works. One of them is a short story
by Anna Gavalda entitled II G or translated into
English as Pregnant by Karen L. Marker. Anna
Gavalda is a successful French writer. II G is a short
story collected in a short stories collection entitled Je
voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque published
in 1999 (Gavalda, 2014).
Pregnant is chosen to be the corpus in this study
because rejection toward pregnancy can be found in
the story. The cynicism and rejection of pregnancy is
displayed by the omniscient narrator’s narration in
the short story. This narration is the focus in this
study. This research uses qualitative research
method by means of descriptive analysis. Feminists
are the approach chosen to analyses Pregnant short
story. Specifically, it refers to a feminist radical-
libertarian which is a second wave of feminist
movement. Radical-libertarian feminists, Shulamith
Firestone, argue that natural reproduction imposed
on women is a subtle oppression to women
(Firestone, 1970). As long as natural reproduction
still exists, women will not get the same status as
men in society because natural reproduction will
waste women’s time and energy. Women will have
no time and energy to contribute in society (Tong,
1998). The use of a feminist approach in Pregnant
encourages the researcher to highlight and interpret
women represented in literary works. With all the
limitations, the previous studies about Pregnant have
not been able to be found. However, by 2015 Beauty
Dewi Sofranita examines Roche's Feuchtgebiete by
using the radical-libertarian feminism approach. She
found that Helen's character brought a radical-
libertarian feminist spirit through his actions and
thoughts. It is different from the norm in her
surrounding community. She believes that abortion
is a good idea for women to be freed from patriarchy
norm.
2 METHODS
This study analyse Anna Gavalda’s short story
called “Pregnant”. Anna Gavalda is a France author
464
Hapsari, L.
Cynicism toward Pregnancy in Short Story “Pregnant” by Anna Gavalda.
DOI: 10.5220/0007169304640468
In Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference
on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017) - Literacy, Culture, and Technology in Language Pedagogy and Use, pages 464-468
ISBN: 978-989-758-332-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

which chooses pregnant as main topic in her short
story. This study focused on discussing how the
narrator in the short story expresses its cynicism
toward pregnancy. Radical-libertarian feminism is
the theory chosen to analyse this short story. The
analysis in this study uses feminist point of view and
approach.
3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The short story, Pregnant, by Anna Gavalda uses a
third point of view through the omniscient or
implicit narrator. In this short story, all characters
are not labelled by name. The main character in the
story is "She" who suffered a miscarriage in the sixth
month of her pregnancy. The attempt to generalize
women's opinions is seen through the narration is
used in the story. The omniscient narrator has
expressed the rejection toward pregnancy that
revealed by radical-libertarian feminist. This can be
seen from the omniscient figure of the narrator who
does not use the "I" pronoun when expressing his
opinion about pregnancy experienced by She,
"they're nuts, these women who want a baby. Nuts"
(15). This quotation could be evident that the
narrator does not experience pregnancy. The
quotation also can be very meaningful. The narrator
who disallows pregnancy tries to classify women
who allow pregnancy to be fool, nuts, crazy, and
unbelievable women.
Women are grouped into two broad categories.
The first group is a group of women who accept
pregnancy and willing to have a baby. The second
group is a group of women who do not want to get
pregnant. Based on the above quotation, it supports
the presumption toward narrator as the radical-
libertarian feminist who does not have the desire to
be conceived. The narrator is the opposite of the She
character in the story who can be categorized to
women who approve pregnancy. The opening
sentence cited can affirm the hypothesis of this
analysis that rejection of pregnancy is the idea of
this short story and the narrator as the bearer of the
radical-libertarian feminist’s idea in Pregnant.
3.1 Unstable Emotion during
Pregnancy
Rejection of pregnancy is conveyed to the reader
through cynicism of the narrator. Narrator of the
story has an important role in the delivery of the
rejection message. This statement can be proven
through how the author only give voice to the
narrator and silence any different opinion from
women and men character in the story. The narrator
has the full right to reveal its opinion as someone
who rejects pregnant experience. Narrator's cynicism
of pregnancy which experienced by She is seen from
the beginning to the end of the story, "they're nuts,
these women who want a baby. Nuts" (15). This
scorn sentence is repeated by the narrator by
grouping She into a group which consist of women
who accept to be pregnant, "She is like the rest of
them" (15). This statement shows that the narrator
does not agree with the principle of women who
have a desire to become pregnant and have baby.
Narrator’s cynicism toward She’s pregnancy leads
the allegation that the narrator brings radical-
libertarian feminist’s idea which believe pregnancy
is an oppression for women. As Tong explained,
radical-libertarian feminist believes that natural
reproduction, in this case women as fetus carrier, is
an oppression act (Tong, 1998).
The idea of pregnancy as oppression is presented
to the reader through narrator voice. The narrator as
the only voice in the story tries to make it clear the
reason why pregnancy can be oppression toward
women. The narrator opinion about She is woman
who was less consistent with her decision since the
beginning of the pregnancy phase, "She says to
herself: I'll wait two more days and I'll do the test.
Of course, she does not wait" (15). Women who
want to be pregnant are reflected as women who are
less powerful in restraining their emotions, and this
affects decisions that are considered inconsistent by
the narrator. According to Tong (1998), radical-
libertarian feminists believe that a happy pregnancy
for many women is a great trick of the patriarchal
system in society. In Pregnant, the narrator who
brought the radical-libertarian feminist idea agrees
with that. This opinion is supported by the emotional
acts of women affected by pregnancy presented in
the story.
In the story, She is illustrated as women who
very curious about her pregnancy test result. She
tries to deny this curiosity but failed. The curiosity
She feels is an impact of the excitement of her
pregnancy. Even though She feels curious, She kept
putting off her curiosity to do a pregnancy test for
the sake of the flutter feeling She experienced. The
narrator denounces She is less rational, delaying for
the unnecessary thing, "She waits. She prolongs the
exquisite agony. The test is there, in her bag on the
table in the entryway, and as for her, she's a bit
restless. She remains the master of the situation"
(16). The narrator's cynicism tone expressed in this
quotation. The narrator believes her actions to delay
Cynicism toward Pregnancy in Short Story “Pregnant” by Anna Gavalda
465

her pregnancy test even though she was so curious
and wanted to make sure of her hunch is a nonsense
act. A test done several hours after delay does not
change the test results. But the nervous feeling that
brought pleasure seemed to be favoured by She. The
narrator use “She remains the master of situation”
to make the reader see what the narrator sees about
the nonsense act when a woman gets pregnant.
In “Pregnant”, the restless and curious feelings
that She enjoys are repeated during fifth month of
her pregnancy. She who can immediately know
about the sex of fetus by asking the doctor feels
confused whether she should ask the doctor or not.
In spite of the fact that the problem she is facing is
so simple, she still put the deep thinking, "Should
they, yes or no, ask whether it's a girl or a boy? ... at
work, she has a lot of worrisome problems to solve
and decisions to make every other minute. She
makes them ... but this ... she does not know" (23).
This easy decision was portrayed as more confusing
to her mind than the problem of her work. In the
story, the narrator tries to bring the comparison and
proof how her confusion about her pregnancy is an
obstacle for her productive day. The narrator
compared the problems of work that she manages
with this problem. After deciding not to ask his
obstetrician, she did not feel relieve, "She wants to
grab him by the shirt and shake him so that he'll tell,
but no. it's a surprise" (24). Pregnancy is illustrated
as the obstacle for woman. The narrator describes
how pregnancy is capable of disrupting a woman's
mind through this condition.
Not only show how pregnancy can take over
women emotion controller, the omniscient narrator
attempts to show the reader that pregnancy only
takes a woman's time and energy, "she'll never think
about anything else ... not one minute goes by in
those nine months that she's not thinking about her
baby" (18). The narrator shows that a nine-month
pregnancy experienced by women will only
confiscate women's minds. The narrator tries to
show the reader women cannot concentrate in doing
other work while She is busy with her pregnancy
and her baby. Women's minds which is taken over
by the pregnancy and the baby will make women
unproductive person. This lack of productivity
certainly causes women's opportunities to be
underestimated in the eyes of patriarchal system.
This possibility is strongly opposed by radical-
libertarian feminist.
Pregnancy that take over She’s mind also affect
her productive activity. The narrator sees that the
pregnant woman will spend more time doing
unimportant things like looking at a picture of a
fetus that has not even been fully formed, "... she'll
spend a few times looking at these photos and while
she's learning them by heart, you won't hear the
sound of her breathing" (21-22). She's excitement
that grow from this looking unformed fetus activity
is ridiculed by the narrator. Her love for her
pregnancy seemed to cause She feel amazing and
did not remember that she needed to breathe. For
She, this activity is so amazing and breathe taking.
But in narrator’s point of view, this is a ridiculous
action. The narrator looks so cynical about She's
actions that are so emotional to her pregnancy.
3.2 Physical Problem Faced by
Pregnant Women
Narrator's cynicism to She’s pregnancy does not just
stop at emotional issues. The narrator also
concerning physical problems that changes during
the pregnancy, "weeks have passed and her belly's
gotten bigger. Her breast too. Now, she wears a
36C. Unthinkable" (22). Pregnancy certainly not
only affects the mental development of the
prospective mother. Physical change is also a natural
thing happening to pregnant women. The narrator
shows how this is so absent will be enjoyed by
women. Physical changes certainly disturb and cause
inconvenience for women. One of the discomforts
experienced by women who are pregnant is the
discomfort when summer comes, "In the
summertime, a huge belly, it keeps you warm" (24).
This is not a good thing. In the summer, the pregnant
woman's body temperature is described to remain
warm and effect to women’s convenience. The
warm temperature will cause swelter effect to
pregnant women. This discomfort is not stop during
the day. At the sleeping time, women with a growing
belly cannot find a comfortable sleeping position,
"Not to mention the nights. You sleep so badly; no
position is comfortable. But fine" (24). The cynicism
of the narrator implied with the diction, but fine. The
narrator tone is trying to mocking how women push
their body to accept the inconvenience they feel. The
change She experienced also effect to her pee
frequency. It is more than usual and She cannot
escape from this experience during pregnancy. "She
really has to pee. As usual" (22), this quotation
shows the reader how pregnant women will not
escape from this experience.
Many physical changes that occur to a woman's
body during pregnancy is not free from side effect.
The changes impact on women's daily activities.
Women find it difficult to do the things that they
usually do. It is because She is disturbed by their
CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
466

physical changes. "She offers to take care of the
bouquets. It's the perfect job for a cetacean like her"
(24). Pregnant women cannot do much work
especially physical work of their own, "They'll put
her right in the middle of things, the boys will bring
her what she needs and she'll make it all as beautiful
as can be" (24). The level of independence of a
woman decreases during her pregnancy. It shows
through the sentence which is quoted. In this quote,
the narrator emphasizes that the man will help her to
get something she needs. Pregnant women will be
considered weak by the society and need to be
helped by man.
3.3 Society Reaction towards
Miscarriage
The narrator tries to emphasize the deficiency of
pregnancy for every woman through the narration in
the Pregnant. The happiness presented by She
character is not the main narrative of the story. The
Narrator in Pregnant not only tells of pregnancy and
highlights the discomfort during that time. The
narrator also tries to lead the reader to consider the
decision to conceive and point out the possibilities
that can occur during the nine months of pregnancy.
One of the worst possibilities conveyed by the
narrator is the possibility of miscarriage. Miscarriage
experienced by She in the sixth month of her
pregnancy.
Miscarriage experienced by She is something
that may happen to any pregnant woman. In
Pregnant¸ the narrator accentuated the public
reaction around She. The reaction of the people
around her who received her during a miscarriage
was unexpectedly, silent and unfriendly, "He places
the monitor in another position but his movements
are brusque and his face is old all of a sudden ... he
answers: there's a problem, the fetus is not alive
anymore" (27), "He tells her: 'We're about to spend
some not-so-fun moments together'" (27). The
quotations illustrate how the doctor delivered bad
news to She half-heartedly. There is no
apprehension that showed by the medical personnel.
Layne (2014) stated that miscarriage is taboo, cold,
and unpleasant for women who experienced it. Not
only that, doctors and other medical personnel are
often silent when asked about the cause of
miscarriage. Layne (2014) also explained that when
women experience miscarriage, the whole world
seems to be silent. In accordance with Layne's
(2014) research, She also felt and received the same
reaction from the medical when she miscarried. He
did not receive the proper condolences for the loss.
Miscarriage experienced by She gave so much
pain. A series of stages to empty her womb from a
dead fetus had to be experienced. Disappointment
experienced She was described so deeply by the
narrator. Disappointment she felt not only because
the pain but also the loss of prospective baby. She
felt the disappointment at the attitude of the medical
personnel around her that did not seem to care about
her emotion after lost her baby, "The only thing that
she will not be able to figure out is why he said 'we
are about to spend some not-very-fun moment ... '"
(28). The doctor only interests in how to handle the
dead fetus, not She's emotion and feeling. This is so
disturbing to She. She’s disappointment got deeper
as She realized there was no condolence She should
have received from society around her.
In addition to the disappointment of the medical
reactions that deal with her miscarriage, She also felt
strong pressure when she had to go to her brother's
wedding. In that happy atmosphere, She decides to
not announce the tragedy she has just experienced,
"For the sake of the others, her grief can surely wait
two days" (29). The bitter experience that She face
was a poison for her. The sad news of the
miscarriage of a child in his womb cannot be said
even to her family. This is considered as taboo, the
miscarriage, but to keep it by herself is so torturing.
The narrator gives a very tragic and ironic portrayal
of women who decide to be pregnant. The story
closes with a heart-breaking irony. A young woman
approached She and stroked her belly, "'May I? ...
They say it brings luck ... What did you want her to
do? She tried to smile, of course" (30). She as a
woman who chooses to conceive in the end cannot
cry even after her miscarriage just to fulfil the
wishes of the social community.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Pregnancy for radical-liberal feminists is an obstacle
in achieving equality between men and women.
Radical-libertarian feminist choose literature to
spread their idea about pregnancy and its oppression
effect. This is very clearly conveyed by the narrator
in the short story by Anna Gavalda entitled
Pregnant. The presumption of pregnancy as a pebble
by feminist radicals is not without reason. Pregnancy
causes many changes in women physically and
mentally. Changes as a result of this pregnancy are
such as women will look weak and need a lot of help
from men around her. This is what the radical-
feminist want to avoid. This is the message from the
“Pregnant” short story that want to share to the
Cynicism toward Pregnancy in Short Story “Pregnant” by Anna Gavalda
467

reader. Through this short story, the reader will see
why radical-libertarian feminist avoid pregnancy. It
can be the oppression used against women.
Pregnancy which has a risk of miscarriage can be
a boomerang for women. The social societies
approve and believe miscarriage as a bad thing.
They will not show their condolence to women who
experience miscarriage. This action causes a double
burden for women who experience the miscarriage.
Miscarriage is certainly a great loss and very sad
ending for pregnant women. However, women are
required to comply with all the provisions
established by the patriarchal system that has existed
for a long time. The narrator in the story becomes a
story taller for radical-libertarian feminists to
proclaim their rejection toward pregnancy.
Pregnancy is considered a trap built by the
patriarchal system.
REFERENCES
Anna Gavalda., 2014. Retrieved on 20/05/2017 from
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/26826.Anna
_Gavalda.
Sofranita, B. D., 2015. Pemikiran dan tindakan tokoh
Helen dalam feuchtgebiete karya Charlotte Roche.
Identitaet .
Firestone, S., 1970. The dialectic of sex. New York:
Bantam Books.
Layne, L. L., 2014. Breaking the silence: an agenda for a
feminist discourse of pregnancy loss. Feminist Studies,
pp.288-315.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013.
Pregnancy rates for U.S. women continue to drop.
Retrieved from:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db136.h
tm
Tong, R. P., 1998. Feminist thought: pengantar paling
komprehensif kepada arus utama pemikiran feminis.
Yogyakarta: Jalasutra.
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Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
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