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AN ANALYSIS OF MARXIST PERSPECTIVE IN ’S IMAGINE LYRICS

A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN RESEARCH PAPER

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By Albertus Adi Setyoko Student Number: 121214130

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2018

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

AN ANALYSIS OF MARXIST PERSPECTIVE IN ’S IMAGINE LYRICS

A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN RESEARCH PAPER

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By Albertus Adi Setyoko Student Number: 121214130

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2018 i

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ABSTRACT

Setyoko, Albertus Adi. (2017). An Analysis of Marxist Perspective in John Lennon’s Imagine Lyrics. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University

Literary works contain a message or ideology to be conveyed by their author. The singer and songwriter expresses their thought, feeling and ideology through their songs. Imagine which was written by John Lennon is one of the anti- war songs. Although the song is about protest against the war, Imagine lyric also has deeper meaning which can be seen from other perspective.

The objective of this study is to find out the literal and deeper meaning of John Lennon’s Imagine. There are two formulated problems in this study there are “What is the literal meaning of John Lennon’s Imagine?” and “what is the deeper meaning of John Lennon’s Imagine in Marxist Perspective?”.

This study uses Marxist Criticism approach to answer the formulated problems. Besides, the researcher also uses biography and history behind the song in order to figure out the deeper intepretation of the song. There are also the theories of poetry which are related to the study.

There are two conclusions of this study. The first is the literal meaning of the song which tells the reader to imagine the world without any border that may causing a war or conflict. The second conclusion of this study is the deeper meaning of the song in Marxist Perspective. The deeper meaning of the song reveals the class and power struggle between the powerful and powerless.

Keywords : Imagine, literal meaning, deeper meaning, Marxist

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ABSTRAK

Setyoko, Albertus Adi. (2017). An Analysis of Marxist Perspective un John Lennon’s Imagine Lyrics. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University

Sebuah karya literatur mengandung pesan atau ideology yang ingin disampaikan oleh penulisnya. Penyanyi dan penulis lagu mengekspresikan pikiran, perasaan dan ideologi mereka melalui lagu. Imagine yang ditulis oleh John Lennon merupakan salah satu lagu anti perang. Meskipun isi lagu tersebut merupakan protes terhadap perang, lirik dari lagu Imagine juga memiliki makna mendalam yang bisa dilihat dari perspective yang lain.

Tujuan dari studi ini adalah untuk mencari makna literal dan makna mendalam dari lagu Imagine milik John Lennon. Ada dua masalah yang diformulasikan dalam studi ini yaitu “Apa makna literal dari lagu Imagine milik John Lennon?” dan “Apa makna mendalam lagu Imagine milik John Lennon dalam perspective Marxist?”

Studi ini menggunakan pendekatan Marxist Criticism untuk menjawab permasalahan yang telah diformulasikan. Selain itu, penulis juga menggunakan biografi dan sejarah dibalik penulisan lagu tersebut untuk menemukan interpretasi yang mendalam dari lagu tersebut. Selain itu juga ada teori puisi yang sesuai dengan studi.

Ada dua kesimpulan dari studi ini. Yang pertama adalah makna literal dari lagu tersebut yang meminta kepada pembacanya untuk membayangkan dunia tanpa adanya batasan-batasan yang mungkin dapat menimbulkan terjadinya konflik dan perang. Yang kedua adalah tentang makna mendalam dari lagu Imagine milik John Lennon dalm sudut pandang Marxist. Makna mendalam dari lagu tersebut mengungkap bahwa terjadi perebutan kekuasaan antara orang yang berkuasa dan orang yang tidak memiliki kuasa.

Kata kunci: Imagine, literal meaning, deeper meaning, Marxist.

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DEDICATION PAGE

I DEDICATED THIS PAPER TO MY FATHER, MY MOTHER, AND MY SISTER FOR THEIR ENDLESS SUPPORT, PRAYER, AND

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THE DREAM YOU DREAM ALONE IS ONLY A DREAM. THE DREAM YOU DREAM

TOGETHER IS REALITY

-JOHN LENNON-

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Jesus Christ, my idol and inspiration, for His countless blessing in my whole life. He is the one who strenghtened me when I was down.

Then, I would like to thank my beloved family, my father Paulus Siswoyo, my mother Veronica Mujiati and my sister Brigitta Dwi Nilamsari for their endless support, patience, prayer and love. Their support strengthen me.

My deep gratitude goes to my paper adisor; Veronica Triprihatmini for her patience, guidance and advice so that I can finish my research paper. I also give thanks to Dr. Antonius Herujiyanto for helping me finish my research paper with his advice and guidance.

My gratitude is sent to my beloved friends; Patrick, Caco, Robert, Agnes,

Venny, Elma, Lintang, Rey, Ganang, Kadek, Gezha, Adip, Albert, Very,

Carlo, Ajik, Hapsara, Ricat, Vincent, Hanung, Andre, Ribka, Rossa, Dita,

Nova, Brillianisa, Agris, and Tiwi of whom I shared my stories, tought, laugh and tears during my study.

The last but not least, I would like to give my special thanks to John

Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr for inspiring me with their songs, especially John Lennon whose song is used in my research paper.

Albertus Adi Setyoko

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page TITLE PAGE ...... i APPROVAL PAGE ...... ii STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ...... iv PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAAN PUBLIKASI ...... v ABSTRACT ...... vi ABSTRAK ...... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... x TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... xi

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study ...... 1 B. Approach of the Study ...... 4

CHAPTER II. DISCUSSION A. Review of Related Literature ...... 6 1. Marxist Criticism Approach ...... 7 2. Theory of Poetry...... 8 3. Literal Meaning ...... 8 4. Deeper Meaning ...... 9 B. Analysis...... 10 1. Literal Meaning of John Lennon’s Imagine ...... 10 2. Deeper Meaning of John Lennon’s Imagine in Marxist Perspective . 14

CHAPTER III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. Conclusions ...... 21 B. Recommendations ...... 22

REFERENCES ...... 24

APPENDICES ...... 27

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of two parts which are the background of the study and the approach of the study. The background of the study provides some explanations and reasons in choosing the topic, investigated problems, the importance of the study and an overiew of the study strategy. The approach of the study consists of the approach that is used to answer the formulated problems in the study.

A. Background of the Study

Music cannot be separated from human’s life. Most people listen to music in their daily life. People tend to listen to the music because it has a lot of benefits such as lowering stress, reducing depression, improving health, increasing verbal intelligence, elevates our mood, strengthen learning and memory, and many more.

Apart from that, another benefit of music is to express the feeling, experience, and thought as stated by Wordsword in Peck and Coyle (1984) that poetry is spontanious overflow of power feeling and expression of emotion. The lyrics of the song can be considered as a poem. A song has the same elements as poetry as stated by Jackson (2010). He also said that poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhytmic language choices so as to evoke emotional response. For musicians and songwriter, music is the most effective way to express their feeling and thought

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2 about something. Sometimes, the lyrics of the song consist of the protest from the writer against the society or unacceptable decision by the government.

John Lennon is one of the most successful singers and songwriters of all time. He was born on October 9th, 1940 when the second world war happened.

Some of his songs and albums were on top of the music chart either in his days with the or his solo career. There are some awards given to him such as Grammy Award for Album of the Year (1982), Grammy Award for Song of the

Year (1967), Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1991), NME Award for Best

Album (1972) and so on. Although his career in music was outstanding, he also came with controversies. One of them is when he said that The Beatles was . John Lennon is also well-known as an anti-war activist with rebellious manner. During the last years with The Beatles and his last 10 years, he dedicated himself as anti-war activist and expressed his point of view about the war that still happened through his songs. He and his wife, Yoko, made several movements in protest of war. John Lennon wrote several anti-war songs such as

Happy Xmas (War is Over), Give Peace a Chance, and also the most famous one,

Imagine which will be analyzed further in the study.

Imagine is a song written by John Lennon in 1971, during the Vietnam

War and became the best-selling single in his solo career. One month after the song was released, it named number three on the Billboard hot 100 and became number one at UK chart two months later. The song has sold more than 1.6 million copies in the UK. Imagine accepted several awards and high appreciation in music world. The song was named the second best single of all time by Guiness

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World Record British Single Book while ranked Imagine as number three in their list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. Several artists have performed or recorded some versions of Imagine such as Madonna, Stevie

Wonder, Elton John, Diana Ross and many more. The song is also known as a peace hymn.

Through Imagine, John Lennon expresses his idea and thought about world peace. His idea about peace is a world without any borders and boundaries that will unite us as a human. John asks us to imagine a world without any country, posession and religion. The song itself was written during the Vietnam War which underlies him in writing the song. John Lennon also expressed his ideology through the song. It shows that the style and the themes in literary works are chosen based on the ideology and experience of the writer.

The song is very interesting to discuss because it is very influential.

Besides, Imagine is very controversial considering the war that happened when the song was written. Not only as the protest song, Imagine is also influenced by

Marxist perspective, which is not realized by many people. Therefore, the researcher wants to find out the deeper meaning of John Lennon’s Imagine in

Marxist perspective.

Based on the background of the study, there are two problems that need to be answered. There are :

1. What is the literal meaning of John Lennon’s Imagine?

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2. What is the deeper meaning of John Lennon’s Imagine in Marxist

perspective?

Although this research paper focuses on the social context, but it is also beneficial for educational aspects. In teaching literature, this study is useful to increase their knowledge about poetry. This research also makes us learn and see something from other perspectives or point of views. Besides, this study also can be used as a reference for future researchers.

B. Approach of the Study

Since the formulated problem is to find out the deeper meaning of the song in Marxist perspective, the approach of the study is Marxist Criticsm. Marxist

Critism approach is one of influential types of sociological criticism which is used to find out the meaning of literary work such as poem. The Marxist Criticism focuses on the economic and political element of arts and often emphasizes the ideological content of literature. As stated by Stefanson (2014), the aim of Marxist is to expose the underlying social and political leanings of the author as well as his work. This literary criticism emphasizes the class struggle between the powerful and powerless. The Marxist criticism is a literary criticism that involved the author’s life in order to get deeper understanding of the literary work. Therefore, biography of the author is needed as the information about the author’s life, the social, cultural, and political situation when the song was written.

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The library research was used to collect the informations in order to answer the formulated problems. There were two kinds of data sources in this study namely primary sources and secondary sources. John Lennon’s Imagine lyrics was the primary sources of this study. However, the secondary sources came from the books and internet sources which are related to the topic.

There were several steps used in this study. The first step was listening to

John Lennon’s Imagine and studying the lyrics. The second step was finding the information which was related to the study such as the information of the song, biography of the author, and the information about Vietnam War. The next step was finding the theories that were related to the topic. Then, the reasearcher found the literal meaning of the song. After that, the researcher found a deeper meaning of the song in Marxist perspective. For the last step, the researcher wrote the conclusions.

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CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

This chapter consists of three parts. The first part is review of related literature. The second part discusses the literal meaning of John Lennon’s

Imagine. The last part discusses the deeper meaning of the song in Marxist perspective.

A. Review of Related Literature

This subchapter consists of four parts. The first part discusses about

Marxist crticism approach that used to analyze the lyric of the song. The second part dicusses theory that is used in this study. The theory used in this study is theory of poetry from Jackson (2010) and Peck & Coyle (1984). The third part shows the definition about literal meaning while the last part shows the definition about deeper meaning.

There are three studies which are similar to the study. One of the studies conducted by Dewi Wihardja (2013) entitled “John Lennon’s Imagine as an Anti

War Campaign: How The Lyrics Are Intended Communicate Peace to the Public”

It is clear that the study uses historical approach although the writer herself did not mention the approach that used in her analysis. Another study also conducted by Kassidy Taylor (2011) entitled “Imagine World Peace: Protest Song Analysis”.

The study also used the historical approcah since it discusses the issue that happened when the song was written. There is also a study conducted by Pramata

Gerinata (2016) entitled “A Cultural Approach of John Lennon’s Imagine”. From

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7 the title itself, it is clear that the analysis uses the cultural approach. Those three studies have the same concern with the study which is John Lennon’s Imagine lyrics. However, in this study the researcher uses the Marxist criticism approach to find out deeper analysis of the lyric.

1. Marxist Criticism Approach

The Marxist criticism approach focuses on the class struggle. Therefore the biography of the author and the history of the song are also needed in order to find out the deeper analysis of the author’s work. Eagleton in Marxism and Literary

Criticism (1976) notes that, “Marxist citicism analyses literature in term of historical conditions which produce it; and it needs to be aware of its own historical conditions.” (p. v). He added:

Marxist citicism is not merely “ of literature”, concerned with how novel got published and whether they mention the working class. Its aim is to explain literary work more fully; and this means sensitive attention to its forms, styles, and meanings. (p. 3).

The Marxist criticism approach is used to find out the deeper meaning of the song. The aim of this approach is to expose the underlying social and political leanings of the author as well as his work as stated by Stefanson in 2014.

Therefore, this approach is used to conduct deeper analysis about the lyric.

Moreover, John Lennon’s Imagine lyric supports the idea of Marxist such as atheism and human equality. According to Oxford dictionary, Marxist is something related to the political and economic theories of Karl Marx and

Friedrich Engels. It can also be defined as a supporter of the political and economic theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Egels (p. 719). Marxist perspective

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analyzes a piece of literature by focusing on the evident power struggles and addresses the political-economic aspects of the work. Those aspects are analyzed to find out the deeper meaning of the song

2. Theory of Poetry

The lyrics of the song can be considered as a poetry. A song has the same elements as poetry. Jackson (2010) stated that poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhytmic language choices so as to evoke emotional response. According to Wordsword poetry is spontanious overflow of power feeling and expression of emotion (as cited in

Peck & Coyle, 1984). Therefore, the researcher concludes that musicians and songwriters consider that the music is the most effective way to express their feeling and thought about something.

As a musician, John Lennon expresses his feeling and thought through his songs. Through Imagine, he expresses his thought about world peace. This study conducts deeper analysis about John Lennon’s Imagine song lyrics. Through the result of the analysis, the idea, thought, and what messages that the writer wants to deliver will be figured out.

3. Literal Meaning

Literal meaning means the meaning that can be interpreted directly from the words used in the lyrics or text. Case and Marshall (2009) stated that a literal approach in learning is the tacit acceptance of information and memorization and does not promote understanding for long term relation of knowledge (pp. 9-18).

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Literal meaning is the meaning that has the same meaning as the original words, without any symbolism, metaphor, and exaggeration.

In this study the literal meaning is defined as the meaning that can be interpreted directly from John Lennon’s Imagine song lyrics. The lyric of the song is interpreted directly from the original words without any symbolism or deeper analysis about the lyric. Literal meaning analysis is used before the researcher conducts the deeper analysis about the lyrics.

4. Deeper Meaning

Deeper meaning is the meaning that is hidden or cannot be interpreted directly from the original words which sometimes has value for the readers. In literature, symbolism technique is used when some things are not taken literally.

Frederick in Adventures of Fiction (1969) notes that, “deeper meaning is the meaning which has value for the readers.” (p. 75). According to Case and

Marshall (2009), deeper learning involves the critical analysis of the new idea and promotes applications for life. Deeper meaning often consists the hidden message that the writer wants to deliver.

In this study, deeper meaning is the meaning that hidden or symbolized in the John Lennon’s Imagine lyrics. The lyrics of the song has hidden message that related to Marxist perspective which cannot be interpreted directly. Therefore,

Marxist criticism approach is used in order to find out the deeper meaning of the song.

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B. Analysis

This subchapter consists of three parts. The first part shows literal meaning analysis of John Lennon’s Imagine lyrics. The second part shows deeper meaning analysis of John Lennon’s Imagine lyrics in Marxist perspective. The researcher uses Marxist criticism approach to find out the deeper meaning of the song.

1. Literal Meaning of John Lennon’s Imagine

The aim of the study is to find out the deeper meaning of Jon Lennon’s

Imagine in Marxist perspective. In order to find out the deeper meaning, the researcher conducts the literal meaning first.

As mentioned in the introduction part, Imagine is a song about John

Lennon’s idea of peace. His idea about peace is the world without any borders, religions, nationalities, countries, and possesions that separate human being which he thinks will lead into conflicts.

The song was written into three-six line stanzas (sestet) and two-four line stanzas (quartrain). In order to find out clearer understanding about the lyrics’ literal meaning, the writer provides stanza by stanza analyses as follows :

The First Stanza Imagine there’s no Heaven It’s easy if you try No Hell below us Above us only Sky Imagine all the people Living for today

In the first stanza, John Lennon expresses his opinion about life after death concept. He asks us to imagine if there is no heaven in the sky, where God lives.

The place where good people will go after their death. He also asks us to imagine

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if there is no hell, where bad people will be punished for the bad things that they do while they are still living in the world. People who believe in heaven, hell and life after death concept, tend to do something good according to their religion in order to book a place in heaven when they are dead and avoid hell. Heaven is used as their motivation to do something good.

However, the line imagine all the people living for today expresses John

Lennon’s different way of thinking. Heaven and hell seem like a distraction from the present. He asks us to imagine how if there is no life after death. What he wants to say is that we should focus on what we can do today and not to be too concerned about what is going to happen tomorrow, or in this case is life after death. Even if there is no heaven and hell, we should do good things in our life.

In the line above us only sky he strengthens his invitation and argument in the previous line. In this line John Lennon invites us to believe the things that we can touch and see. Sky is something that we can see while heaven and hell are something that we cannot see but some of us believe that heaven and hell are exist.

The Second Stanza Imagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace

In the second stanza John Lennon asks us to imagine the world without countries and religion, they are two major classifications that separate us as a human. The world is divided and separated into some countries and religions.

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In the line imagine there’s no countries and nothing to kill or die for once again John Lennon expresses his different way of thinking. He thinks that if there are no countries and nationalities, there is no reason to war. Some people such as soldiers are willing to give their life to their country in the name of nationalism.

People do not need to kill other people or die for their country. They do not have to defend their own country by killing and dying in the war.

In another line, it mentions and no religion too. Beside country and nationality, religion is one of the causes of war. Basically, all religions preach goodness to their believers. However, some people perceived the religion wrongly. They misinterpret what their religion teach them. People who perceived the religion wrongly will overreact about something which they think it is wrong according to their religion and it can cause many problems. Some people think that other religions are bad. Some of them even do not want to be friends with other people from other religions believer. This kind of thing can be seen clearly in the current situation of our country. John Lennon thinks that if there is no religion, there is no reason for any conflict which can lead to murdering and killing other religions’ believers. People do not need to debate whether their God is bigger than the others or their religion is better than others.

The Third Stanza You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one

The first line of the stanza says you may say I’m a dreamer. This line illustrates that some people may think that John Lennon’s idea is nonsense.

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People think that it is impossible to live without any country because it differentiates a group of people with another group of people. Besides, most people think that religion is used as a moral controller of our behavior. Therefore, the conflict is almost impossible to avoid.

However, there are still some people who have the same idea and optimism as John Lennon as illustrated in the line but I’m not the only one. He invites us to have the same dream of bringing peace to the world. It is expressed in the line I hope someday you’ll join us. He believes that if the world is united and has the same desire to bring peace, then peace is not something that is impossible to achieve. By repeating this stanza twice, John Lennon wants to emphasize that if we can unite as one, we can achieve the impossible things.

The Fourth Stanza Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world

In this stanza John Lennon asks us to imagine if there are no possessions between us. Possession is something that we owned such as property or wealth.

In this era it is almost impossible to live without any possession. Possession is the most destructive of all. Possessions can make some people jealous to other people beacuse they do not have the stuffs that owned by other people. Besides, possession can lead someone to be selfish. They will not share some things because they are obsessed to own that things. In the line no need for greed or hunger expresses that possession can make people became greedy. Greediness, is

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14 one of the causes of the war. The country wants to posses the land or resources that owned by another country. The people in colonized country often live in hunger.

John Lennon thinks if there is no possession, there is no greediness so that we can share all things in a brotherly way as expressed in the line brotherhood of man. Besides, without any possession, there is no monopoly for some things between the rich and the poor, and the conflict can be avoided.

Based on the explanation above, it can be seen that literal meaning of the song is the idea of John Lennon about world peace. The war or conflict can be caused by several reasons. Countries, nationalities, religions and possession are used as the reason for some people to hurt, attack or even kill other people. John

Lennon thinks the world without any borders such as countries, religions and possession will be a better world and that can be achieved if we can unite as one.

2. Deeper Meaning of John Lennon’s Imagine in Marxist Perspective

After studying the literal meaning of the song, the researcher conducts deeper analysis of John Lennon’s Imagine in Marxist perspective. This study uses

Marxist criticism approach. As described before, this approach focuses on the class struggle. Biography of the author and the history of the song are also needed.

Imagine was written by John Lennon in 1971 during the Vietnam War. The war has taken so many lives. Imagine is known as an anti war song and hymn of peace Born in wartime England on October 9, 1940, Lennon was destined to be a transformative figure in the anti-war movement.

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John Lennon himself was known as a pop rock singer and songwriter. As mentioned by Bennett (2001), during 1960s to 1970s pop rock music was used as a movement and a strategy to express opinion to socio-politcal events. Many artists including singers and songwriters used their skill in writing songs to express their opinion about socio-political events.

In the lyric of the song, there are some lines in some stanzas that have a hidden or symbolic meaning related to Marxist perspective. In order to make a clearer understanding about the song’s deeper meaning in Marxist perspective, the researcher provides some stanza by stanza analyses as follows :

The First Stanza Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living life in peace

Karl Marx, the main figure of the Marxist theory is an atheist. Atheist can be described as a person who disbelieves the existence of God. The first stanza expresses the idea that there is no heaven, hell, and life after death. The first, third, and fourth lines clearly express the idea. Most of the atheist, do not believe in life after death. The survey made by The Austin Institute for the Study of Family and

Culture in 2014 reveals that only 32 percents of Americans who identified themselves as agnostics and atheists believing in an afterlife.

Most of them do not believe in heaven, the place where God lives and good people will go after their death and hell, where the bad people will be

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punished for the bad things that they did in their life. Staume in Atheist Afterlife

(2009) compares afterlife with dreaming. He states:

If afterlife exists, it would be the same as the dream state, with three qualifications: we won’t be waking up in the morning; it would be real as our life is now; and it would correlate with actual dream experience, rather than remembered dream experience. (p. 29).

In the explanation above it can be seen that atheist doubt the existence of an afterlife. Even if it exists, it is not about going to heaven as a reward or to hell as a punishment, but it is the same as our life now. The line imagine all the people living for today clearly illustrates the idea.

The Second Stanza Imagine there’s no country It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace

The second stanza illustrates the class struggle between the middle-class and lower-class. The bourgeoisie is the social class that came to own the means of production during modern industrialization and whose societal concerns are the value of property and the preservation of capital, to ensure the perpetuation of their economic supremacy in society. The upper-class bourgeoisie encouraged nationalism to secure their power. When the song was written, the Vietnam War happened. As described in the previous section, Vietnam War was the war between north and south Vietnam which involved some other countries such as

Soviet Union and their communist allies as the suporter of north Vietnam with

United States and some anti-communist countries as the supporter of south

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Vietnam. War affects the economic stability of a country. Moreover, upper-class bourgeoisie act as a nationalist and influence the government to monopoly some things.

In the stanza there is also a line which says ”and no religion too”. Karl Marx in A

Contribution of the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Rights (1843) states that religion is the opium of the people. Religion is an illusion. People who perceive religion wrongly tend to overreact about something that is wrong according their religion. It also leads to fanaticism. Fanaticism is unusual or even over-devotion to particular thing that might cause people to overreact and act into behaviours that are actually unnecessary to conduct.

The example of the conflict caused by different religions is the Israeli –

Plaestinians conflict. As described in the previous section, the conflict is based on the war to get their territories which they claim as their holy site. According to the

Israelis, the territories that they claim to be theirs are holy land given by God to them. However, these territories also include some sites considered as holy places for moslem Palestinians.

Sometimes religion is used to doctrine its believers to attack other people in the name of God. There are many examples of terrorism that happened based on religion doctrine such as terrorist attack in Bali, Paris and Manchester.

John Lennon was baptized as an Anglican but then he became an atheist throughout his life. Beside Imagine, another song entitled God also illustrates his religious view. In that song, there are some lines which say I don’t believe in

Jesus, I don’t believe in Buddha and I don’t believe in Bible. In the interview with

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Maureen Cleave in 1966, John Lennon said that The Beatles is more popular than

Jesus Christ. It can be seen that he is not belong to any religion. However, John

Lennon is also known as spiritualist whose is influenced by his journey with The

Beatles to India in 1968. It described with a line from the song entitled Across the

Universe which says Jai Guru Deva Om which means “I give thanks to heavenly teacher”.

Another atheist figure, Dawkins in his book The God Delusion (2006) argues that people do not need religion to be good. He also mentions that an atheist can be happy, balanced, moral, and intellectually fulfilled without any religion.

Religion also shows a power struggle between parents and their children.

Dawkins in his book states that children should not be labelled by their parents’ religion. Terms like “Catholic child” or “Moslem child” should make people cringe. He argues that parents should give freedom to their children in choosing any religions that they learn when they grow up or even refuse and reject any religions.

The Fourth Stanza Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world

Karl Marx believes that possessions can make human envy to each other because they have some luxurious things that other people do not have. Besides, possession leads to division that perpetuates the power struggle between the

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wealthy and the poor. The wealthy have the power to monopoly some things so that they can get everything that they want. The separation of social classes is believed to make people a materialist.

One of the Marxist beliefs in Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848) is that all men are equal. It is illustrated clearly with the line a brotherhood of man.

Through that equality, there is no more power struggle between the wealthy and the poor. Besides, no more monopoly of some things so that we can share all the world which leads to no more starvation and hunger as described in the stanza.

The Third Stanza You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one

Althought this stanza consists of four lines, the researcher wants to empashize the last lines. It says and the world will be as one. In Marxist perspective, that line expresses hope that someday the world will be together as one. There are no more social classes and power struggle. Both John Lennon and

Karl Marx think that if there is no classification and separation between us, then there will be a better world. In an interview quoted by The Rolling Stone, John

Lennon said that Imagine is virtually communist manifesto even though he is not particularly a communist and he does not belong to any movement. As it is known, in communism there are no social classes. This stanza is repeated twice which means the author emphasizes the invitation and hope of making the world as one unity. In the Marxist perspective, the deeper meaning of the song is entirely about class distinction and power struggle. The classification and separation of

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human being is causing some conflicts. Besides it also consists the hope that the world will gather as one.

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CHAPTER III

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter consists of two parts namely conclusions and recommendations. The conclusions part provides the conclusions of the sudy. The recommendations are aimed for English teachers and future researchers who will conduct the same research.

A. Conclusions

This part provides the conclusions of the study. It presents the answers of the two formulated problems. The problems are: “What is the literal meaning of

John Lennon’s Imagine?” and “What is the deeper meaning of John Lennon’s

Imagine in Marxist Perspective?” The answers to those formulated problems are the conclusions of this study.

The first answer is the literal meaning. As described in the previous chapter, literal meaning of the song is the idea of John Lennon about world peace.

The war or conflict can be caused by several reasons. In the first stanza John

Lennon asks xus to imagine a world without heaven, hell, and all the people living for today. The second stanza tells about the imagination of the author how if there are no countries and religions which may cause war and conflicts. The third stanza tells the author’s invitation to join him to make the world a better place for human beings although some people might say that he is a dreamer. The fourth stanza asks us to imagine a world without any possesions and share all the world in brotherly way so there are no more starvation and hunger.

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The second answer is the deeper meaning. The deeper meaning of John

Lennon’s Imagine in Marxist perspective is about class distinction and power struggle. The classification and separation of human being cause some conflicts.

Besides it also consists the hope that the world will gather as one. The first stanza supported the idea of Karl Marx’s atheism which described as no heaven, hell, and life after death concept. The second stanza describes the power struggle between middle class and lower class, the upper-class bourgeise encouraged nationalism to secure their position and once again supported Karl Marx’s idea that religion is the opium of the people. The third stanza describes the hope that class struggle will end. The fourth stanza describes the power struggle between the whealthy and the poor caused by possesions. Therefore, it is better to live without any possesions and share the world.

Besides, Imagine has the value that we should see everything from other perspectives. It also tells that we can start a revolution with our own way. Many people thinks that this idea is nonsense, but then a lot of people are influenced to follow John Lennon’s footstep to fight for peace to imagine

B. Recommendations

John Lennon’s Imagine is a very interesting song to discuss. This song tells about his idea of peace. The world without any border that separates human being.

This song is beneficial for English learning especially in literature. Besides,

Imagine can be analyzed in other perspectives or point of views.

For English teacher this song can be used as a teaching material especially literature. The structure of the song and the lyric are simple but meaningful. It is

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23 beneficial to be used in teaching poetry. Besides, it enlarges student’s knowledge in literature. The student nowadays may lack knowledge about classic songs.

For future researchers it is recommended to conduct analysis using other approaches. Biographical approach, historical approach, postmodernism and post- structuralism approaches can be used to analyze the song. Imagine’s lyric is meaningful and often leads to multi interpretation. Therefore, anyone can interpret the song differently based on their thought and the approach that they use. For future researchers who conduct the similar research, this study can be used as reference.

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REFERENCES

Bennet, A. (2001). Cultures of popular music. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Case, J. & Marshall, D. (2009). Deep and Surface Approaches to learning. In M. Tight & C. Morphew (eds.).Tthe Routledge International Handbook of Higher Education. New York: Routledge Falmer.

Dawkins, R. (2006). The God Delusion. London: Transworld Publishers Ltd.

Eagleton, T. (1976). Marxism and literary criticism. Bekerley: University of California

Frederick, J.T. (1964). Adentures in fiction. New York: Hart Court, Brace, and World Inc.

Gerinta, P. (2016). A Cultural Approach of John Lennon’s Imagine. Udayana University. Retrieved September 11, 2017 from https://www.reviewessays.com./English/A-Cultural-Approach-of-John- Lennon’s-Imagine/75295.html https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/imagine (Retrieved November 2, 2017) https://www.biography.com/John-Lennon.html (Retrieved November 2, 2017) https://hollowverse.com/john-lennon/#footnote_4_1309 (Retrieved January 28, 2018) https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/imagine-20011227 (Retrieved January 28, 2018) http://www.theskepticguide.org/one-third-of-atheists-agnostics-believe-in-an- afterlife.html (Retrieved November 1, 2017) https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Jai%20Guru%20Deva%20om (Retrieved January 28, 2018)

http://wisegeek.com/what-is-fanaticism.html (Retrieved Noember 1, 2017)

Jackson, E.L., Jackson, E.J. (2010). Poetically correct. Indianapolis: Dog Ear Publishing.

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Marx, K. (2009). A contribution of crtique of Hegel’s philosophy of rights. London: Cambridge University Press.

Marx, K. & Engels, F. (1906). Manifesto of the Communist Party. North Charleston: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.

Peck, J. & Coyle,M. (1984). Palgrave key concepts: Literary terms and ceiticism (3rd ed.). New York: Palgrave Mcmillan

Staume, D. (2009). Atheist Afterlife. Victoria: Agio Publishing House.

Stefansson, S. G. (2014). J.R.R tolkien: A marxist reading. University of Iceland.

Taylor, K. (2011). Imagine World Peace: Protest Song Analysis. Retrieved September 11, 2017 from https://kassidytaylor.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/imagine-world-peace- protest-song-analysis/

Wihardja, D. (2013). John Lennon’s Imagine as an Anti War Campaign: How the Lyrics Are Intended to Communicate Peace to the Public. Retrieved October 22, 2017 from http://www.academia.edu/8632979/

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APPENDICES

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Appendix 1

Imagine song lyric

Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today

Imagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die or And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace

You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world

You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one

Retrived from https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/imagine

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Appendix 2

Short Biography of John Lennon

John Lennon was born on October 9th, 1940 in Oxford Street Maternity hospital, to and when the scond world war was happened. He was raised by his mother’s older sister Mimi Smith. He is the founder of the most iconic band, The Beatles with Paul McCartney, George

Harrison and Ringo Starr. With Paul McCartney, John Lennon made a very succesfull songwriting partnership. He is one of the most succesfull singers and songwriters of all time. Some of his songs and albums were on top of the music chart either in his days with the The Beatles or his solo career.

In the late 1960s John began performing and making albums with his second wife; , as the beatles began to break up. There are some awards that given to him such as Grammy Award for Album of the Year (1982), Grammy

Award for Song of the Year (1967), Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1991),

NME Award for Best Album (1972) and so on. Although his career in music was outstanding, he also came with controversies. One of them is when he said that

The Beatles is more popular then Jesus. John Lennon is also well-known as anti- war activist with rebellious manner. During the last years with the beatles and his last 10 years, he dedicated himself as anti-war activist and expressed his point of view about the war that still happened through his songs. He and his wife; Yoko, made several movements in protest of the war. John Lennon wrote several anti-

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29 war songs such as (War is Over), Give Peace a Chance, and also the most famous one; Imagine.

In 1980, John Lennon released album featuring the hit single “(Just Like) Starting Over”. Tragically just few weeks after the album release, Mark David Chapman, a dengared fan, shot John Lennon several times in front of his apartment complex in New York city. Lennon died at New York

City’s Roosevelt hospital at December 8, 1980 at the age of 40.

Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/John-Lennon.html