CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter deals wi th
background of the study, statement of the probl ems, obj ect ives of the study,
significance of the study, scope and limi tati on of the study, and defini t i
on of the key terms.
1.1 Background of the Study Based
on the soci ol ogi cal li terature, li terary work is a reflect i on of the
real life. A li terary work is a wi tness of history that can tell readers the
soci al condi t i on at the time i t was wri tten. A li terary work can be
created because of the soci al condi t i ons that have happened in a soci et y.
Endraswara (2004: 77) stated that a good work i s one which can reflect i ts
era.
There are many li terary works
whose i dea called for equali t y of Black and Whi tes Americans and the except
i on of Racism are wri tten by Blacks f rom 1700s up to thi s peri od. Most of
works are admi tted of having great contri but i on to the Bl ack Americans
struggl e to establish the new future which are f ree f rom enslavement,
oppressi on, injustice, inequali t y, discriminat i on, and expl oi tat i on (Karenga,
1993: 416).
This phenomenon proves that li
terary works can be the mirror of the soci al life. The main concept of soci ol
ogi cal li terature is mi rror concept. It means that soci ol ogi cal li terature
vi ews a work as a refl ecti on of the real soci al life. Li terary work is a
human life expressi on which can’t be separated f rom the real soci et y.
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Li terary work i s a reflect i on of the soci
al cul ture which forms deflect i on between the wri ter and soci al si tuati
on. It al so can be the expl anat i on of a di alectical history which is devel
oped in li terary works (Endraswara, 2004: 79).
Every wri ter through his work
has purposes of wri ting. Fi rstly, he wants to give pleasure. This means that
he wants to amuse his reader through the medium of l anguage. Secondly he wants
to portray probl ems of life. He portrays ei t her his own probl em of life or
the probl ems that happen in the soci et y. Soci et y refers to a group as
consist ing of a number of peopl e’s. People activi t ies such as thinking, laughing,
emoti on, thei r interest and thei r rel at i on to others are described by the
author in the works of li terature.
In li terature, human beings are
described as an individual and a group of soci et y who can not be separated f
rom the probl ems of life. They face the big probl ems of life such as war,
death, the problem of ri ght and duty, and the probl em in thei r soci al group
such as family problems. Those probl ems are concerning wi th social and
psychol ogi cal problems that can be devel oped into li terature i tself .
Michel Zeraffa in his book The
Novel and Social Reality says that: “In the soci ol ogy of the novel , soci ol
ogy is dealing wi th art. True narrative fict i on contained language and i t
takes most of i ts own character f rom i t ; form and content of the novel
derive more direct ly f rom soci al phenomena than to those of other arts,
except perhaps cinema, novel of ten seem bound wi t h the parti cular moments
in the history of soci et y”.
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Based on the above statement, i t can be said
that some li terary works are more than works of arts in which the li terary
works contain a parti cular moment in the soci al life such as war or nati on
rebel . The history of the soci al life in a certain time can be used as the
source of li terary works besi de human daily act ivi t ies.
Furthermore, li terature
represents human life which is arranged in such a way that the soci al life in
the story is considered to be true.
Li terature depi cts some aspects
of soci al reali t y; in other word li terature funct i on as mirrors, the
expressi on of life. It means that the author shoul d be aware of specific
social si tuat i on such as poli t ical si tuat i ons or economic si tuati ons
of the country at the certain time.
Actually the rel at i onship
between li terature and soci et y is classified into three kinds of problems as
i t i s described by Rene Wellek and Aust in Warren (1977: 95) namely: The
social background of the wri ter, and the professi on and inst i tuti on of li
terature. The probl em of the social content, the implicat i ons and soci al
purpose of the work li terature themselves. Then, the probl ems of the audi
ences, and the soci al influence of li terature.
These three probl ems will show
how far the li terature is actually determined by or depended on the wri ter
soci al background and devel opment. Si nce every wri ter i s a member of a
soci et y, he can be studi ed as a social being. The author’s bi ography is the
main source, but the study of the author can be widening into the lives f rom
which he came and in which he lived. It will be possible to accumulate informat
i on about the soci al provenance, the family background and the economical
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can be studi ed not only in this wri t ing but
al so in bi ographical documents. The author has been a ci t i zen who has his
judgment of the soci al and poli t ic importance, taking a part in the issues
at hi s time. The graph of a book’s success, survival, and the author’s
reputati on, are the main soci al phenomenon. The author reputati on is a
matter that has interrel ated wi th the reader cri t i cs. The relati onship between
the works of li terature and the public can be seen by accumulat ing edi t i on
and copi es which had been sol d. The author i s not only influenced by his soci
et y but his li terary work is also influenced by his social background.
The rel at i on between li terary
studi es and cul tural studi es is in i ts broadest concept; the proj ect of
cul tural studi es is to understand the funct i on of cul ture parti cularly in
the modern worl d. How cul ture producti ons work and how cul ture ident i t i
es are constructed and organi zed, for individual and group, in a worl d of divers
and intermingled communi t ies, state power, media industri es, and mul t inat
i onal corporati ons. Cul tural study includes and encompasses li t erary studi
es, examining li terature as parti cular cul ture practi ce. But what ki nd of inclusi
on is that? Is a cul tural study a capaci ous proj ect which li terary studies gains
new power and insight? Or will cul tural studies swall ow up li terary studi es
and destroy li terature? To grasp the problem we need a bi t of background
about the devel opment of cul tural studi es (Jonathan Culler, 1997: 44).
The relati on between li terature
and soci o-histori cal events tends to be more acceptable today in terms of
humanist i c studi es. None of human life aspect stands al one wi t hout any
dependency on others. Thi s view i s also applicable to the case of li
terature. The influence of social condi t i on where the author lived on
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