Deconstructing the Meaning of Beauty in Short Story “Gubrak!” by Seno Gumira Ajidarma

Abstract

This study explores the representation of female beauty in Seno Gumira Ajidarma’s short story “Gubrak!” through Jacques Derrida’s theory of deconstruction. The story centers on a woman whose extraordinary beauty triggers mass hysteria, social disorder, and urban collapse. The protagonist bears profound psychological burdens and experiences alienation as a result of society’s obsessive judgment of her physical appearance. The central concern of this research is how the short story dismantles conventional standards of beauty legitimized by patriarchal ideology and visual culture. Employing Derrida’s deconstructive framework, the analysis investigates how the text destabilizes the fixed notion of “beauty” attached to women’s bodies through binary oppositions. The study adopts a qualitative descriptive method and deconstructive reading techniques, identifying linguistic, narrative, and symbolic elements that reveal the instability of meaning. The findings indicate that beauty in “Gubrak!” is portrayed not as a sign of glory or happiness but as a source of suffering and destruction. The meaning of “beautiful” in the text is fluid, contradictory, and non-essential. Excessive beauty leads to alienation, social pressure, and collective chaos, thus challenging patriarchal ideals that equate a woman’s worth with physical appearance. Ultimately, “Gubrak!” serves as a critique of visual culture that objectifies women and demonstrates literature’s power as a space of resistance against dominant and singular meanings.