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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
G. Background of the Research
Since the beginning of time, men and women have been social creatures; therefore, human beings are social animals who live together in groups. This
behavior is not usual from other animals, but what does distinguish man is the physical endowment of a complex brain. This has allowed him to create a system
of symbols that is used by him to construct various social structures for the purpose of survival.
1
And human has a social heritage that becomes part of culture, which emerges from soul to embody in the way of life, such as art,
religion, literature and so forth. The role of social heritage in human life seems to be important to the
progress of culture. Such as literature, that portrays human acts through a literary work. In a society, literature is seemed be to a social symptom that demands the
author to record the society’s event on that time.
2
Through that event, it will be seen the correlation “take and give” between the society and author. So, the
influence of literature in social world depends on the author, as long as the work portrays the social condition and it is received well by the society.
1
Clowers and Mori, Understanding Sociology Through Fiction, New York: McGraw- Hill, 1977, p.1
2
Jan van Luxemburg, et. al, Pengantar Ilmu Sastra, Diindonesiakan oleh Dick Hartoko Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 1992, p.23
50 Dealing with the research, in 2001 an American author; John Grisham
released a novel entitled “A Painted House”. The story is inspired by his childhood in Arkansas; thus, it is Grishams first major work outside the legal
thriller genre in which he established himself. Set in the late summer and early autumn of 1952, its story is told through the eyes of seven-year-old Luke
Chandler, the youngest in a family of cotton farmers struggling to harvest their crop and earn enough to settle their debts. An only child, Luke is introduced to
two migrant groups; the hill people and the Mexicans. His childhood is turned upside down when they interact with the Chandler family.
The novel portrays the experiences that bring him from a world of innocence into one of harsh reality.
3
The story begins to unfold as Luke and his grandfather Eli Chandler Pappy search for migrant workers to help them with
the cotton picking. They initially consider themselves lucky to hire the Spruill, a family of hill people, and a few of the Mexicans who annually come to the area
looking for work. Aside from working long hours under the hot sun in the fields, Lukes life
is fairly idyllic until he sees overly aggressive Hank Spruill; one of hill people attacks three boys from the notorious Sisco family, who is beaten so severely and
dies from Hank’s wounds. Hank arrogantly identifies Luke as a friendly witness who can expose his version of the event, and the fearful boy backs up his story,
although the adults in his life, including local sheriff Stick Powers, suspect hes too frightened to admit the truth.
3
Anonymous, A Painted House, Wiki. Accessed on April 24, 2007. http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiA Painted House, p.2
51 When Cowboy, one of the Mexicans murders Hank and tosses his body
into the river, he threatens to kill Lukes mother if he tells anyone what he saw. In the novel, Luke also learns that his admired Uncle Ricky, fighting in the Korean
War, who will come home at Christmas. His absence into the war and it is effect on a rural Arkansas society, and may have fathered a child with a daughter of their
poverty-stricken sharecropping neighbors. Grisham surrounds these dramatic moments with descriptive passages of
life in the rural South and the ordinary events that fill Lukes weekly routine. His hard work in the fields is preceded by a hearty breakfast and at days end hes
rewarded with an evening on the front porch, where the family gathers around the radio to listen to Harry Caray announce the St. Louis Cardinals games. Luke is
saving his hard-earned money to buy a team baseball warm-up jacket he saw advertised in the Sears, Roebuck catalog. Saturday afternoons are spent in town,
where the adults share idle gossip and serious concerns and the youngsters visit the movie house, while Sunday morning is reserved for church. A visiting
carnival, the annual town picnic, and Lukes introduction to television- to see a live broadcast of a World Series game - are additional bits of local color scattered
throughout the tale. The novels title refers to the Chandler house, which never has been
painted, a sign of their lower social status in the community. One day Luke discovers someone furtively has been painting the weather-beaten clapboards
white, and eventually he continues the job with the approval of his parents and the assistance of the Mexicans, even contributing some of his own savings for the
52 purchase of paint. The houses gradual transformation symbolizes the changes in
the boy and his family as they prepare to enter a new phase in their lives. And as young Luke watches the world around him, he unravels secrets that could shatter
lives and change his family and his town. Grisham’s work is really sophisticated, because the setting is reasonably
accurate, though historical accuracy should not be taken too seriously. One or two of the characters may actually have lived and breathed on this earth, they are
known only through family lore, which in Grisham family is a most unreliable source. Some of the events may indeed have taken place, though so many
different versions that known by himself.
4
In this research, the writer intends to analyze social, culture and economy of rural Arkansas society life that exists in Grisham’s “A Painted House” through
sociological analysis and mimetic theory by a Hungarian theorist, Georg Lukacs. Certainly, his opinion about “mirror” has been admitted in the literature world,
and he is the one who longs for extending of the literature tradition from 19
th
century.
5
Sociology analyzes human in society,
through the process of comprehension from society to individual. This analysis is to know the progress
of society, in which can be seen from particular aspects, such as social, culture economy and so forth. Sociological analysis explores the relationships between
the writer and society. Sometimes it looks at the sociological status of the author
4
John Grisham, Excerpt: ‘A Painted House’, Grisham Excerpt. Accessed on May 25, 2007. http:archives.cnn.com2001booksbeginnings0125grisham.excerptindex.html., p.7
5
Jan van Luxemburg, et. al 1992, Op. Cit., p.27
53 to evaluate how the profession of writer in the particular milieu affected in what
was written. Through this analysis, the writer expects that the research will be successful and it is necessary for all the people who interested in sociological
analysis.
H. Focus of the Research