CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study Literary criticism has come into an agreement
that there is no conventional definition,
as well as the function of literature, it commonly happens that a definition of literature given by one critic
will soon be debated, challenged, even
refused by others. An attempt of finding a conclusive definition, limitation and function of literature seems to
be an endless effort in the frame work
of humanistic studies.
But it does not mean that
literature does not have any definition. Here, the researcher tries to give one definition about
literature. According to Pradotokusumo,
literature is one of such ways to express the creativity in developing the view of civilization. There
would be always some messages, point of
view, and ideas that try to be delivered by the text of literature.
Something described in the text
is a part of illustration of the world in our imagination. These messages from our
imagination are related to the mind; feeling
and the ideas about something exist or can be existed (2005: 39).
A pleasure felt by the readers
during reading a literary work might arise due to the way the author uses the language.
This idea is in line with Culler’s opinion
concerning the relation between a literary work and the interest of the reader and audience. He states that the
attention of readers and pleasure on literature
are caused by its utterance which has a special relation to the world, the relation we call “fictional.” A literary
work, Culler argues, is a linguistic event
that projects a fictional world which includes speaker, actors, events, and an implied audience (1997: 31).
Literature is also essential
study for society in the whole world to learn its own culture. This thought is supported by
Graham Bell as revealed in his Approach
to Literature(1996: 1), “this is because the literature of people is the principal element of its culture. It
contains the record of the people’s values,
their thoughts, problem and conflicts, in short, their whole way of life.” Furthermore, Glickberg states that “all
literature, however fantastic or mystical
in content, is animated by a profound social concern, and this is true of even the most flagrant nihilistic work”
(1967: 75). A literary work is not only
built upon its intrinsic structures but also influenced by a socio-culture and historical background in which it is
produced (Seung, 1982: Viii). It means
that learning about literature, exactly analyzing a literary work is able to help a researcher that is going toknow
about a culture of a society.
In addition, literary work also
has important roles for society in particular time. Literary works are used as a data
source. As data source, a literary work has
function as a fiction and fact thatis divided in three genres, those are prose, poetry, and drama. The example ofprose
is a novel which is regarded as the most
dominant in covering social values. This one branch of prose is created to criticize the problem that happens
in a certain place and time. It is also
a collection of ideas that are given to solve the problem appears in the society. Beside that the literary work can be
used as a control of the life in society
(Ratna, 2005: 2).
Novel is not only a reading for
getting a pleasure and advertisement but furthermore it is also a reading for getting
knowledge. Novels give the reader many
perspectives about the real life. By understanding that perspective of real life, we can broaden our vision to see
the world, the environment and even our
own life.
Maggie: A girl of the Streets is
Stephen Crane’s first novel that was published
in 1893. This novel was a milestone in the development of literary naturalism and also considered a classic
example of American naturalism.
This literary movement really
affected Crane in creating his literary work.
Before writing this novel Crane
had learned about the real social phenomenon of New York with its big city life and bowery
which both of them give him much
material in writing this novel. This reason really affects the researcher to choose this novel. This novel tells about
Maggie as a main character that lives in
the tenements of the Bowery, a slum area of New York City.
For the researcher, Crane's first
novel is interesting, because the author really did the exploration about the condition
of slum society before writing this
novel. Slum life was a real condition of New York City in 1890s, and it was an image of social life that occurred in
lower class society of New York.
This condition became the cause
of some social problems that happened in New York slum society. And that is one of some
reasons why the researcher focuses the
analysis on it. So it could be concluded that this novel is a real representation of New York's social phenomenon
in 1890s.
New York City was one of the
cities which represented about the condition
of the United States from 1880 to 1900. In this two decades the population of the United States increased by
some twenty-six million people, nine million
of who were immigrants. These new citizens settled in urban centers instead of on the land as had
previously been the case. These people formed
their own ethnic communities within the cities. New York City’s population grew to three million people. As
the effect many people need for more
municipal services, housing, jobs, and educational facilities. The condition becomes more complicated when the
tension among the various groups’s
happened and causes some violence in society.
(www.speakpress.net/crane/).
In accordance with the
Glickberg’s statement, the researcher thinks that sociological approach is the appropriate
one to be used in analyzing this novel.
Beside the function of sociological approach itself, that is analyzing human being in a society. So, the purpose of
analyzing this novel is the researcher
wants to prove whether this novel really reflects the social condition of New York City in 1893 or not
because, according to the basic philosophy
of sociological approach. There must be some real interactions between literary work and society. The first,
a literary work which is created by the
author, and the author himself is the member of a society. Then, the author uses the facility of a society. And the
last, that literary work finally will be
responded by a society. So, by the definition above the researcher really hopes to be able to prove the relation between
the novel and the real phenomenon of New
York City.
Studies on sociological aspects
and sociological analysis have been much
conducted by some researcher, Istibsyaroh with her thesis under the title Poverty and Social Stratification on Victorian
Society in Charles Dickens Oliver
Twist(2008). On her thesis the researcher tried to explore the similarities between the conditions in England
at nineteenth century during Victorian
period based on the novel Oliver Twist with the real condition of Victorian Period, the time when this novel was
created. In this study the researcher
also explores the form of poverty as reflected on Charles Dickens's Oliver Twistsuch as the lack of sanitation,
health, hunger, orphanage, and also the
tragic condition of work house.
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