Background of the Study

3 not poor country, but Indonesia is still fighting with poverty, malnutrition, and children who cannot go to school because they do not have enough money to pay the school tuition. There are still many children who have to drop out of school because they do not have enough money to continue their school and then they have to work to suppor t the family‘s economy. Children who do not get good nutrition food because their parents do not have enough money to buy some, so they can get sick easily. The Indonesian government is trying to solve this problem by increasing health system in this country so the poor can get better treatment to increase their health. Literature has many branches. One of them is novel. Novel has a close relationship to human life. We can get a lot of experiences by reading a novel, for example about human characters, human cultures, human expressions, and human struggles to survive in their lives. Some authors have written about human relationships and the social life people have while others have written about human‘s love relationship such as a relationship between an intimate couple or platonic relationships such as friends, family and colleagues. One of the most famous Romantic writers is Victor Hugo, who is one of the best known French writers of the eighteenth century. Victor Hugo was born in 1802 at Besacon, France. He wrote Romantic costume dramas, many volumes of lyrical and satirical verse, political treatises and other journalistic publications, criticisms and several novels, the best known of which are Les Miserables 1862 and the youthful Notre Dame de Paris 1831. After he became committed social democrat during the Second Empire of 4 Napoleon Bonaparte III, he was exiled from France, and lived in the Channel Islands. He returned to Paris in 1870 and remained a great public figure until his death in 1885. Les Miserables is a romantic story which is set in the post-French Revolution period. Although it is considered as a romantic story, the novel cannot be separated from the country‘s condition at that time. When the income was low because of bad harvests, and two expensive wars depleted the country financially, big differences developed between the rich and the poor, resulting in widespread crime, poverty, malnutrition, and starvation. Most condemned criminals were someone who had to steal a loaf of bread because his or her family was starving. The novel keenly portrays this time of poverty and bad economy when, the character Jean Valjean and his family are starving and he had to steal a loaf of bread because his sister ‘s child was about to die. He was immediately imprisoned with a little hope of parole, since the Republican politicians of that time had no sympathy for the poor. In fact, French Revolution did not only bring big change to the country ‘s economy but also a bad effect the morals of the country. This novel depicts a miserable situation in the early 1800‘s in France where most of the people were poor and they were suffering because they were starving. In the example where Jean Valjean was imprisoned, he was forced to become a slave simply because he stole food to feed his sister‘s almost dead child. The point of view of the people about prostitutes was also very low, as was shown in the novel when Fantine‘s friends accused her of becoming a prostitute. They continued telling these lies 5 until finally she lost her job and because she had nothing left, she sold her hair, her teeth and did become a prostitute to pay the debt she had for the care of her daughter, Cosette. Since her husband had left them she had to be a single parent and sole provider for Cosette her only child by any and all means. In this thesis, the writer will explore the effect of the extreme poverty on the people in France at that time. In Toward Social Welfare written by Clair Wilcox 1969. she states that, ―Poverty has serious economic costs. It makes for ill health. The darkness and dampness of slum dwellings-the lack of fresh air and sunlight- contribute to respiratory diseases. Inadequate provision for sanitation and for the storage of food cause digestive ailments. Overcrowding and lack of immunization promote the spread of epidemics. Malnutrition causes skeletal and organic damage, checks growth in height and weight, and lowers resistance to disease. The poor are too sick more often and are afflicted more commonly with acute and chronic diseases than are members of the upper income groups. Ill health, in turn, results in impairment of strength and vitality‖ p. 37.

1.2 Problem Formulation

The following is the question that the writer formulated in this research to be analyzed using the Critical Theory approach. The question is: How is the poverty of early 1800‘s in France described through Fantine in the novel? 6

1.3 Objective of the Study

This study has one objective, which is to find out how is the poverty in the early 1800‘s in France described through the character of Fantine in the novel.

1.4 Benefits of the Study

This thesis may give some benefits to the readers. Therefore, this study states four benefits of the study, which the writer has already determined. First, for the readers, this thesis is expected to be a guide to understand the story, Les Miserables in the form of novel, which was written by Victor Hugo. This thesis can help the readers to understand what the author is trying to portray, including the poverty conditions after the French Revolution. As a result, readers can have a clearer image about the story, the setting, and the fictious events that happened in the novel. Second, for the English teachers of Romantic literature, this thesis will be beneficial since it is a literature thesis, and it can provide a reference in teaching about this literary genre especially Les Miserables to their students. The object that the writer expects to emphasize is the Play Performance class. Since it is already in the form of a play and movie, the students can use the drama as a reference or they can make an adaptation based on this novel. The students can decide whether they will make it more challenging by including singing which requires longer time to practice and create a performance or they could just perform it without singing. 7 Third, for the researchers who are interested in literature, especially in the genre of the novel, this study can also provide guidance for the future researchers who can use this thesis as a reference for their studies or encourage critical judgment to achieve their research goals in their studies. Literature study is very useful for the readers and also for the researchers because from the liter ature, the researchers can use other people‘s ideas as guidance or a reference in their study. For the readers, literature can enrich their knowledge in setting, characters, and story ideas through literary work in the form of novel, movie, and poetry. Literature study also helps the readers to better understand about the literary work.

1.5 Definition of Terms

In analyzing this novel, there are three terms that the writer would like to explain in order to avoid misconception and to provide an accurate analysis.

1. Poverty

According to Wilcox 1969, ―Poverty may be defined either in relative or in absolute terms. It has been proposed, for instance, that families in the bottom quintile of income scale or families getting less than half of the median family income be defined as poor. Poverty, it is said is a matter of social status. If one man gets less than another, he feels that he is poor; and if he feels poor, he is poor .‖ p. 25.