The Representation of Women’s Dependence on Men in Little Women Satri Asriyanti English Language Studies, Postgraduate Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia Burhanuddin Arafah English Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia Herawaty Abbas English Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia Abstract—This study aims to describe the representation of women’s dependence on men in Little Women. The descriptive qualitative approach was applied in this research. The data for this study were gathered from the talks of the characters in the novel’s Little Women. The data of this research are collected from Cinderella Complex syndrome through their actions and words. The research results showed the level to which characters are affected by the Cinderella Complex varies depending on how the Cinderella Complex influences their thoughts and behavior, either consciously or unconsciously. Meg's most dominant Cinderella Complex is Fear of losing femininity, and the most dominant factor is self-concept. Jo’s character showed only rely on man as the aspect and persona maturity as the factor. Meg and Jo were unconsciously reflected by Cinderella Complex syndrome. Index Terms—women, dependence, Little Women, Cinderella Complex I. INTRODUCTION The women's dependence on men or Cinderella Complex is a type of psychological dependence in which a woman has a great need to be cared for, to be protected by others, particularly males. Dowling describes her own experience, as well as the experiences of other women who assisted in the discovery of the illness, in her book, as proof that the Cinderella Complex may strike any woman (1982, p. 21). Cinderella Complex is the desire of women to always be protected by men so that women cannot and do not dare to take advantage of their brainpower and creativity and make themselves tend to be less independent. Women have stronger needs for prestige than for power. As a result, women living in this contemporary and immediate period are susceptible because they will feel pressured to meet the requirements of their inner urges (Hays, 2013). Literature can be defined as a piece of written work with artistic merits created by the author (Arafah et al., 2021). As a result of its limitless imagination, literature can build its own world ( Arafah, et al., 2021). Since literary works are often a representation of life at one time, there are numerous advantages to the reader's life (Arafah, et al., 2021). Therefore, literature is too important to ignore (Arafah & Kaharuddin, 2019). Literary works are referred to as social products with several life benefits (Irmawati et al., 2020). Literature may take several forms: it can be written (as in poetry and novels) or performed (as in theatre). Literary works, regardless of genre, include many useful lessons and are a dependable source of information about people's lives and values in society (Purwaningsih et al., 2020). Despite these challenges, literature thrives by utilizing the wealth of technical breakthroughs while also enhancing its quality. The information technology era has revolutionized the way people throughout the world think (Arafah & Hasyim, 2019). Several multidisciplinary theories, such as sociology of literature, anthropology of literature, and psychology of literature, have been developed as a result of this growth (Kaharuddin & Latif, 2017). Along with this development, changes in literary taste have been profoundly impacted by the periods (Afiah et al., 2022). This style includes the use of language in a literary work that is aimed to make the readers more interested in reading the literary works. Branding is required to add value to a product, and the same is true for literature. The author and his writing will become more popular with the correct branding, such as the use of beautiful language or the creation of a character with a writing style or literary work that addresses unique issues (Hasyim et al., 2020). ELITES saw literature as a culturally valued text reflecting human life (Arafah et al., 2020), similar to the Maccera' Bulung ceremony, which has cultural meaning and exposes some ideological and sociological values of the society (Sunardi et al., 2018). Readers may gain cultural information from reading a novel, for example, because the novel features characters from various socio-cultural backgrounds. The socio-cultural background from a literary work reflects how the condition of society at a certain t ime happened. It can reflect an author’s thoughts, manners, behavior, and attitudes throughout their works by analyzing the style of the author’s work (Fadillah et al., 2022). This kind of style includes the ISSN 1799-2591 Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 790-796, April 2022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1204.21 © 2022 ACADEMY PUBLICATION