CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study Literature is a
term used to describe written or spoken material. Broadly speaking,
"literature" is used to describe anything from creative writing to
more technical or scientific works. The term literature is most commonly used
to refer to works of the creative imagination, including works of poetry,
drama, fiction, and nonfiction (Esther, 1999 : 88).
Literature represents a language
or people: culture and tradition. But, literature is more important than just a
historical or cultural artifact. Literature introduces us to new worlds of
experience. We learn about books and literature; we enjoy the comedies and the
tragedies of poems, stories, and plays; and we may even grow and evolve through our literary
journey with books.
Ultimately, we may discover
meaning in literature by looking at what the author says and how he says it. We
may interpret the author's message. In academic circles, this decoding of the
text is often carried out through the use of literary theory, using a
mythological, sociological, psychological, historical, or other approach. A
novel is a fictional narrative in prose. A novel writer may employ plot, character,
setting, point of view, style, tone, language, theme, and symbolism (Hernadi,
1978: 4). Novel belongs to literary work that portrays complicated problems
about real life. Novel also presents a documentary picture of life.
Alongside the fact that novels
look at society, the other major characteristic of the genre is that novels
tell a story.
An autobiographical novel is novel based on
the life of the author. The literary
technique distinguished from an autobiography or memoir by the stipulation of
being fiction. One of the first great autobiographies of the renaissance is
Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), written between 1558 and 1556, and entitled by
him simply Vita (Italian : Life). He declares at the start: No matter what sort he is, everyone who has to
his credit what are or really seem great achievements, if he cares for truth
and goodness, ought to write the story of his own life in his own hand; but no
one should venture on such a splendid undertaking before he is over forty These
criteria for autobiography generally persisted until recent times, and most
serious autobiographies of the next three hundred years conformed to them.
Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
is popular autobiographical novel
in 1800s. It tells about the life of Frederick Douglas, a leading spokesman of
African-Americans in the 1800s who was born as slave and who later became a
noted reformer, author and orator who devoted his life to the abolition of
slavery and the fight for black rights.
The 1800s were a time of
revolutionary change in American race relations, change that was, to a
significant degree, reflected in the literature written during those years by
ethnic-American authors. In this thesis, the researcher argues that the
increasing political activism of marginalized cultural groups in the United
States during the mid-twentieth century was associated with another process
that is also reflected in the literature of the times.
It is important to preface this
discussion that the problems of existence and struggles over racism began from the moment of
colonization and continued through the
work of abolitionists. The desire for self-esteem, self-verification, group identity, relationships, and the buffer
that self-esteem plays in the identities of African American individuals and
characters is evident in the texts to be considered in this research.
This research also looks at
African American literature from existentialism perspective. On Frederick Douglass narrative,
group and individual identity are related to the conjunction with a high level
of self-esteem. The critical factor is determining the successes achieved by
individual and literary characters in the African American literary tradition.
The researcher articulates the existential motives that inspired Frederick
Douglass not only denounce his slavery but also to publicly announce his subjectivity and his
freedom. Black existential thought builds upon problems
of existence generated by the complex history of black peoples. The word
existence comes from the Latin exsistere, which means to stand out. The
problems of existence that emerged for black peoples in the New World are
primarily but not exclusively radicalized slavery and anti black racism.
Together they posed the problem of black suffering and the sustained black
concern with freedom, liberation and what it means to be human (Smith, 1987).
Black theoretical reflection on
existence can be found in the writings of Frederick Douglass, most of which
constitute a constant meditation on freedom and the meaning of being human. In
the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass forms his existence
that verifies his identity to seek his freedom. He continually seeks out his
identity, separates from his community and senses himself to be lonely. As a slave in
Baltimore, prior to his escape to freedom in New York, he describes the anguish he felt
at leaving his warm-hearted friends. I had a number of warm-hearted friends in
Baltimorefriends that I loved almost as I did my life, and the thought of being separated from them forever
was painful beyond expression. It is my opinion that thousands would escape from slavery, who now
remain, but for the strong cords of
affection that bind them to their friends. The thought of leaving my friends
was decidedly the most painful thought with which I had to contend Douglass'
narrative indicates his independence from other individual. He is a man who is able to keep a sense of
self-esteem and identity throughout his hard life. His sense of identity gives
him power to cope with his master and help him to survive. His triumph over Mr. Covey became the
turning point in his career as a slave. It revived his sense of manhood. It
recalled the departed self-confidence and
inspired him again with a determination to be free. This even brought Douglass
to the resolution which he recorded as follows: I now resolved that, however long I might
remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be slave in
fact (Douglass, 1845 : 88) Douglass was
well on his way to become the literate slave, whose vast readings convinced him
that liberty was the natural condition of human being. He also realized that
education was the only way to improve the status of his race.
White people considered that
Negroes could not absorb educative experiences because they were not fully
human. That was why Douglass wanted to prove that Negroes were also human, that
they could also learn as well as the Whites, that the slave's literacy testified to his humanity.
There he was forced to fight to
defend his self identity. As a human being he did not want to be treated tyrannically,
that was why he fought the white men.
Even though it was not his fault
there was nothing he could do to defend himself because no white man would
volunteer his testimony on his behalf, and against white man. Here it could be
seen how injustice was the law at that time. A negro had no voice in the law
court; he could not testimony. "If I had been killed in the presence of a
thousand colored people, their testimony combined would have been insufficient to have arrested one of the
murderers" (Quarles, 131) There are
good reasons for choosing Douglass' search for identity as the subject matter
to be discussed in this research. The principle reason is readers can find one of the central themes of White
American ideology, that is the self-made mans rise to fame and fortune. The more
interesting is that the person who reiterates the theme is an ex-slave who is
once considered as a piece of property, a chattel personal by his masters. His effort
started from the lowest level of a human existence and ended up as a respected
diplomat. He is the important figure in antislavery movement. His achievement
seems to confirm what has been believed by many Americans to fabulous wealth
and fame through his own hard life. In this research, Douglass's struggle on
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave will be
analyzed. Furthermore, to support some ideas that will be discussed, the
researcher applies autobiographical approach which insists on the aim was to
find references to the author's life, education and sociocultural environment
in literary work. The researcher also uses existensialsm theory by Jean Paul Sartre to support the
research.
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