CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study Some concepts of the relation between
literature and society are rather straightforward.
Literature is regarded asa reflection of, as well as a force in, a society, or simply a separate part of
sociallife. Others argue that the enterprise of literature is more complex and
potentiallycaptures diverse forms of interaction between various parts of and players in a
society. Thus, according to Wellek the roles
of literature in a society and of society in literature remain open to debate.
That literature is best
understood only as aesthetic creation may silence the debate yet leaves many questions unanswered (in Huda,
2006:01) Literature reveals the interest
and values of the society and frequently gives intimate and unique glimpses of how
people lived. Literature preserves the memory
and fame of men and women who shape society. Literature also shows how people worked, played, relaxed, suffered,
etc. and every work of literature or every
part of literature has a meaning and has something of its own to say.
Indeed, the discussion aboutthe
relationship betweenliterature and society is departed from Kennedy’s statement that”
literature is an expression of society and
literature offers pleasure and illumination” (in Huda, 2006: 02) Literature also deals with human beings. It
concerns with human beings’ xiv effort
to make adjustment and change their society. In this respect, Faruk (1994:12) says that sociological approach on
literature is mostly carried out today to
put great attention to the documentary aspects of literature. This is based on
the idea that literary work is reflects
a certain condition of the society. This view contends that literature is a direct
reflection of various social structure, family relationship, class conflict, and social
change.
Literature and society cannot be
separated each other. Literature has close relation with society. Moreover, the authors
themselves are members of the society.
The story which they write is based on the historical event of their society.
They react on the changes of the
social condition of their society. They express their feeling and knowledge through literary
works. Literature, therefore, might function as a “mirror” of human beings’
life which reflects the authors’ point of view on social phenomena they meet in their
society.
Of several social phenomena or
problems occurred in the society, social stratification is probably the most common
one. According to Pitirim Sorikin (in Soemarjan,
1964:271) social stratification is the societal distinction on the hierarchical class. The implementation ofthis
is the appearance of higher class and
lower class in the society. Between the two classes, there is no balancing power because one group dominates the other.
The poverty and misery of the
lower class make them live in despair. The luxury of the rich group (this isto say the
higher class) just adds their jealousy. It attracts the rising of the ‘working class’,
which is frequently the members of the lower
class, movement that is promotedby a group of men who takes sympathy in xv the life of the workers. The movement is
called proletariats. They struggle for the life of the working classes that are kept down
under the foot of the capitalist class This
study explains, examines, and evaluates the origins and causes of social stratification, i.e. the system
ofpeople ranking based on their wealth, prestige,
or party. Most sociologists agree that stratification affects virtually every aspect of an individual’s life; it creates
inequality, and inequality profoundly affects
one’s life chances. Inequality is not a naturally-occurring phenomena; it is socially induced by some selective processes
that value something over others.
Stratification increases as
societies grow more complex; in fact, the greatest level of stratification is found in
industrial societies, such as during French
revolution. The French revolution occurred because of the suffering and pains of the lower people. They do not haveany
facilities to convey their need to government
because the government himself used the system of aristocracy and did not care much about the poor peopleonly a
people who have a lot of money the
government obey.
Money and others capital are the
first power to change the society of the public. Unfortunately, government is not tobe
means of lower class but to be a means
of capitalist to get what they like. So from this description between the government and the capitalist has close
relationship. Two basic types of stratification
systems exist in today’s world. They are a caste system, where in class is ascribed at birth, and a class
system, where in social level is defined in terms of wealth or status.
Related to the above cases, it is
very important to search the relationship xvi between a literary work and social reality
because, quoting Huda’s statement (2006:6),”Literature
reflects life;and the life itself is social reality.” So that, this study will analyze the relationship between
the literary work of Charles Dickens entitled
A Tale of Two Citiesand the social reality ofthe age in which it was written.
A Tale of Two Citiesis the only
Dickens’ historical novel, which tells about
the two cities, London and Paris, with their social problem. It is called historical novel because the story develops
from a historical background of the French
revolution. The French revolution occurred because of the suffering and the social problem in the society. The social
stratification, the economic classes, and
the oppression of aristocrats to the poor people were some factors which caused the problem. The situation in France
was very terrible, then. People suspected
each other. They were always careful about strangers because there was no certain rule or law that could be followed
by the society. (Atkitson, 2003:01) At
the beginning of the novel A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens once again expressed his concern to the social problemin
general –not only stratification but also
political condition of the society– and particularly those related to the poor people, or the condition of the poverty which
might provoke a mass reaction on the
scale of the French revolution.
The purpose of this study is to
find out the social stratification of the two cities especially in Paris stated in the
novel. Nevertheless, the researcher focuses more to the French revolution as revealed
inthe novel. In this research, the main topic
that will be discussed is about the conflict among the social classes. It is xvii related to the experience of the
characters and situation of the author’s age inspiring the work.
Prior to the researcher’s
decision to conduct this study, he has found two theses that are related to his topic of the
study. First, Wahab (1997) has analyzed a study on social condition in Charles Dickens
Oliver twistas the pictures of the industrial
revolution. He focused on the extrinsic elements and the politic aspect within the story.
Second, Syamsiyah (2003) has conducted a study
to elaborate the characters of Oliver
twistand the reality of the society,and she used genetic structuralism as the approach of her thesis.
In her research, she focused on the main
characters view of Charles Dickens as reflected in the novel. Indeed, she found that industrial revolution was
historically influenced by the political condition of that age.
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