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Social Criticisms As Reflected Through Characters’ Life Experiences in Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus

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Social Criticisms As Reflected Through Characters’ Life Experiences in Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus SOCIAL CRITICISMS AS REFLECTED THROUGH CHARACTERS’ LIFE EXPERIENCES IN VIRAMONTES’ UNDER THE FEET OF JESUS AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters By BERBUDI YUDOSUNU CANDRAJIWA Student Number: 024214008 ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009 ii iii iv To my family my mom Nunuk Supriyati, my dad Yudi Mulya, my brother Hapsoro Widi Wibowo, my sister Philia Sampaguita. In the Memory of my late father Soebijanto Wirojoedo v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to say thank you to someone over there who is always waiting for me in my search of faith. Mr. Jesus. I owe Him a lot and I would like to know Him better. I owe an enormous debt to Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum, for her outrageous counsel, encouragement, prayer, patience, and much more in guiding my in my thesis. My deep gratitude is for my family, my mom Nunuk Supriyati, my late father Soebijanto Wirojoedo, my dad Yudi Mulya, my brother Hapsoro Widi Wibowo, my sister Philia Sampaguita and my little hairy brother Bule, and all my relatives, thanks for being one. My sincere gratitude is for my beloved Mira, for being someone special in my life. Thanks for the encouragement, prayer and love that motivate me in finishing this thesis. My second family, Te’ Puji, Eyang Bantar, Mogi, thanks for the valuable support. My friends, Galang Wijaya, Jati ‘Kocak’, Andika ‘Jaran’, Tiara Dewi, Dyah Putri ‘Tiwik’, Gideon Widyatmoko, Budi Utomo, Ari ‘Inyong’, Dimas Jantri, Teguh Sujarwadi, Putu Jodi, Pius Agung ‘Badu’, Adi Ariep, Yudha ‘Cumi’, lilik, q-zer, Widi Martiningsih, Wahyu Ginting, Yabes Elia, Sugeng Utomo, Ditto, Frida, Bigar Sanyata, Nikodemus, Wahmuji, Anna Elfira, Tyas P Pamungkas, Prita, and all the names I have not mentioned here, that have shared vi great story, thought, and moments with me, thanks guys for the bitter-sweet story we made. Last but not least, I would like to give my gratitude for Mbak Nik, the lecturers, and staffs of Fakultas Sastra Sanata Dharma University. Berbudi Yudosunu Candrajiwa vii TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE…………………………………………………………….. i APPROVAL PAGE………………..…..………………………..……….. ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE……………………………………….…..……… iii LEMBAR PERNYATAAN……………………………………………… iv DEDICATION PAGE……………………………………………..…….. v ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS…………….………………………..….…… vi TABLE OF CONTENTS…........................................................................ viii ABSTRACT………………………………………………….……….….. ix ABSTRAK………………………………………………………..……… x CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION…………………………….………… 1 A. Background of the Study…………………………………....… 1 B. Problem Formulation……………………………………....…. 4 C. Objectives of the Study………………………………………... 4 D. Definition of Terms………………………………….….…..… 5 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW……………….…...……… 7 A. Review of Related Studies……………………………….…… 7 B. Review of Related Theories…………………………......……. 8 1. Theory of Characterization………………….….…………. 8 2. The Relation between Literature and Society………..…… 10 3. Theory of Class…………………………….…..……....…. 11 4. Theory of Race Discrimination………………...…….….... 13 5. Review of Chicanos’ Experience in California in 1900s.… 15 C. Theoretical Framework…………………………….…..……… 22 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY……………………….….………... 24 A. Object of the Study……………………………………………. 24 B. Approach of the Study………………………………………… 25 C. Method of the Study…………………………………….…….. 26 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS………………………………………...…… 28 A. The Chicanos’ Experience in California in the 1900s presented through the Characters Life Experiences in Under the Feet of Jesus………………………………………………………….. 28 B. The Social Criticism on the American Labor System Presented through Characters’ Life Experience...……………….……….. 44 1. Capitalist Exploitation toward Chicano Farm Workers…… 44 2. Race Discrimination………………………..………….…… 58 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION…….………….………………………... 64 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………….……..……… 68 viii ABSTRACT BERBUDI YUDOSUNU CANDRAJIWA. Social Criticisms as Reflected through Characters’ Life Experiences in Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008. This undergraduate thesis analyzes one of Helena Maria Viramontes’ novels entitled Under the Feet of Jesus. The writer focuses the discussion on the social criticisms as reflected through characters’ life experiences. The thesis discuses the Chicanos’ experiences in California in the 1900s. This undergraduate thesis analyzes two main problems. The first problem deals with the representation the Chicano experiences in California in the 1900s through the main characters’ life experience. The second one deals with the social criticisms that are reflected through the characters’ life experiences in the novel. To conduct this study, sociocultural-historical approach was employed. This thesis applied a library research to collect data from books and internet resources. Theories of characterization, representation, class, race discrimination, and the review on the historical background of Chicanos’ experience in California in 1900s are used to analyze the problems. The result of this study shows that Chicano farm workers in California in 1900s experience the poverty, exploitation from the capitalist, and race discrimination. They live in poverty and also deal with poor housing, child laboring problem, problem in education and problem in health care. Viramontes criticizes the capitalist’s exploitation which forces the labor to work in inhumane conditions; pays them with low wage and gives them fewer facilities. Moreover, she also criticizes the American society that puts the farmworkers under racial discrimination because they are considered to have lower status of race. ix ABSTRAK BERBUDI YUDOSUNU CANDRAJIWA. Social Criticisms as Reflected through Characters’ Life Experiences in Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2008. Skripsi ini menganalisa salah satu novel karya Helena Maria Viramontes yang berjudul Under the Feet of Jesus. Penulis menitikberatkan pembahasan pada kritik sosial yang direfleksikan melalui pengalaman hidup karakter-karakter di dalam novel tersebut. Skripsi ini membahas pengalaman hidup kaum Chicano di Kalifornia pada tahun 1900an. Skripsi ini menganalisa dua permasalahan utama. Permasalahan pertama berkaitan dengan representasi dari pengalaman hidup kaum Chicano di Kalifornia pada tahun 1900an. Permasalahan kedua berkaitan dengan kritik sosial yang direfleksikan melalui pengalaman hidup karakter-karakter didalam novel. Dalam proses analisa, penulis menggunakan pendekatan sosial budaya dan sejarah. Skripsi ini menggunakan metode kepustakaan untuk mengumpulkan data- data yang dibutuhkan dari pelbagai buku dan sumber on-line. Dalam menganalisa novel ini, penulis menggunakan teori perwatakan, representasi, kelas, diskriminasi ras, dan gambaran keadaan kaum Chicano di Kalifornia pada tahun 1900an. Hasil analisa menunjukkan bahwa kaum Chicano di Kalifornia pada tahun 1900an mengalami kemiskinan, eksploitasi dari kaum kapitalis, dan diskriminasi ras. Mereka hidup dalam kemiskinan dan harus tinggal di pemukiman kumuh. Mereka juga harus menghadapi masalah buruh anak-anak, masalah pendidikan, dan masalah kesehatan. Viramontes mengkritik eksploitasi kaum kapitalis yang membuat para buruh bekerja pada kondisi yang sangat buruk dan membayar gaji rendah kepada mereka serta tidak memberikan fasilitas yang memadai. Lebih lagi, Viramontes mengkritik masyarakat Amerika yang membuat mereka mengalami diskriminasi ras karena mereka dianggap datang dari ras yang lebih rendah. x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study “Literature is a social institution, using its medium language, a social creation” as Rene Wellek and Austin Warren state in their books Theory of Literature (1956:94). Graham Little says in Approach of Literature that literature functions “as a representation of the situation and the thoughts happening in a certain setting time and place,” (1963:1). Literature produces a path for us to understand about the social happenings, to be specific, about how people are being treated and how they deal with problem that they face under socio- economic roof. Another benefit of literature, according to Georg Lukacs, is that literature has a great social power to “depicts the human being directly and with the full richness of his inward and outward life […] is able to portray the contradictions, struggles and conflicts of social life in the same way as they appear in the mind and life of actual human beings,” (Lukacs, 1980:143). From literature, we can obtain not only pleasure but also many great findings concerning the human struggle in getting a mere life. The study of a culture that struggle under oppression can be a good lesson for the reader to be more critical and able to appreciate life. Authors often bring their own culture into novel to be a consideration for the readers to make a better life 1 2 One of the authors, who succeeded in delivering the reality of her culture face, is Maria Helena Viramontes. She is one of the key authors of the Chicano Literature. She was born in East Los Angeles, California, on February 26, 1954. She attended Immaculate Heart College, majoring in English Literature, and received her B.A. in 1975. It was in the college that she began writing, first poetry and then fiction. She won a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1989 and received the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature
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