CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study Many critics have many differences in giving
definition of literature. But, there is
a similarity between them. That “literature is the work of human’s creativity to make something beautiful by
using oral or written language” (Ratna, 2005:
7). It can come in the form of poetry, novel, even a drama.
Literary works, as it is stated
by Wellek (1993:109) is a representation of “life”, and “life” itself is consisting of
social reality, though literary works “adopts”
the nature or the world of human life. Then, literary works has a close relation to the situation of economic,
politics, social and human activities in certain time (Wellek & Warren 1993: 109).
Inother words, since literary works is a
portrayal of human life, someone can learn much about many aspects of life through it.
Therefore in dealing with social
context, the work of art is considered to have social themes, class division,
racialprejudice, discrimination, oppression and liberation. The writer brings social problems
to the readers. But most of readers are
not a real reader, they only read and read the novel to amuse them without thinking deeply to the novel message. Although
the novel leads them to the social problem
that is commonly found in their life.
One of social the problems that arises in
literature is racism. Discussions about
racial prejudice and discrimination are widely shown in many books, references, and literary works. In literary
works, it can be found in Uncle’s Tom Childrenand
Black Boyby Richard Wright, Invisible Manby Ralph Ellison, and Another Countryby James Baldwin that
represents the social phenomena. This issue
appears as common social topic, even today, it is commonly discussed not only in social studies but also in literature.
Racism has been used to justify
social discrimination, racial segregation and violence, including genocide.
(Hess,1985:223) Then the term racist, is used to describe someone who subscribes to do racism.
And for this reason the identification
of a group or person as racist is nearly always controversial.
Facing the above social problem,
some artists are motivated to respond to the racial issue. Many works of art including
literature are produced to criticize, respond
and try to describe this phenomenon. Some literary works are written to struggle for equality and against racism. In
this case, literature shows its function they are: reflecting the social phenomena,
becoming an effective tool to quote and transforming
the reality of human life.
Literary works with an idea for
equality and omission of racism are mostly
written from 1700s up to this period. Some of them are Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Beloved,and Playing the Dark.
And one name that should be mentioned
here is James Fenimore Cooper with his novel The Last of The Mohicans.
In this novel Cooper has chosen
multiple themes that raise a simple tale to grand significance. In The Last of The
Mohicans, Cooper suggests that interracial mingling is both desirable and dangerous.
Cooper tells the genuine and longtime friendship
between Hawkeye, a white man, and Chingachgook, a Mohican Indian.
Hawkeye and Chingachgook’s shared
communion with nature transcends race, which
enable them to team up against Huron enemies and to save white military leaders like Heyward. On the other hand,
though, Cooper shows his conviction that
interracial romances are doomed and undesirable. The interracial love of Uncas and Cora ends in tragedy, and the forced
interracial relationship between Cora
and Magua is portrayed as unnatural. Through Cora, Cooper suggests that interracial desire can be inherited; Cora
desires Indian men because her mother was
part black.
What can be inferred from James
F. Cooper’s The Last of The Mohicans is that he not only presents racism
against Native American, but also dreams an ideal “American” community built upon
equality. The novel not only reflects the social problem, but also offers an ideal
social relationship between races as it should
be. This novel has become the real mirror of social life. Thus, the novel deserves being deeply explored so that clear
description of racial stereotype, prejudice,
segregation, and discrimination can be optimally reached.
Many studies on racism as portrayed in a
literary work have been much conducted
by some researchers. Sri Hartanti (2005) wrote a thesis concerning racism toward Japanesse American as reflected
in David Guterson’s Snow Falling on
Cedars. Her research was aimed at revealing the Americans’ racist attitude toward Japanesse American during and after
World War II and clarifying the cause of
racist attitude toward Japanese.
Another study on Racism has also
been conducted by Miftahul Huda (2006).
He wrote Racism against Black American as portrayed in Ernest J.
Gaines’A Gathering of Old Menin
2006. His research is aimed at revealing White’s racist attitude against American Black
and clarifying the causes and the effects
of racism in Black society.
Although both works have the same
topic, that is about racism but they differ
to each other. Hartanti explored toreveal the Americans’ racist attitude toward Japanesse American during and after
World War II and clarified the cause underlying
the attitude as reflected on David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars.
While Huda explored racism
against American black. Meanwhile this research is aimed not only at describing the phenomena of
racism against Native American but also
revealing the cause of racism against them in the novel.
Finally, the researcher decides
to conduct a study on “Native American Racism
in James F. Cooper’s The Last of The Mohicans”, because first, race is one of the elements in determining social
placement in society. Second, racism is one of the sensitive social problems that
arise in a literary work. Third, America is a multiracial and cultural country that still
faces racism as its social problems.
Fourth, James Fenimore Cooper is
the writer that chooses racism as one of themes in his novel.
1.2 Statement of the Problems Based on the background of the study, this
research is intended to answer the
following problems: 1) How do the White treat the Native American in
James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of The
Mohicans? 2) How do the Native American respond the
White’s treatments in James Fenimore
Cooper’s The last of The Mohicans? 1.3 Objectives of the Study In relations to previous statement ofthe
problems, the objectives of this study
is formulated as follows: 1) to elaborate the way how the White treat the
Native American in James F. Cooper’s The
Last of The Mohicans.
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