The Social Setting of the Writing of the Novel

2.3. The Contexts of the Novel

In helping the analysis of the problems in this study, it is highly important to comprehend the context of the novel, both the historical context of the novel the setting of the writing and the setting or the context in the novel. It is of importance since in analyzing a text using Marxist literary approach, we see the text as not an independent object, rather, it is dependent on the historical situation that can affects the content of the novel.

2.3.1. The Social Setting of the Writing of the Novel

Maxim Gorky is one of the most popular writers in Russia and also a foremost figure in socialist movement. He has written plays, novels and short stories. Gorky was born as Alexei Maximovich Peshkov from a petit bourgeois family in the town of Nizhni Novgorod, Russia, on March 16, 1868. At the age of five, his father died and his grandfather raised him. His families were common laborers whole lives were hard. As a result, they treated the young Gorky sternly. He was forced by his grandfather to earn his own living early in his life, precisely at the age of eight. And at the age of ten, he became an orphan. He took whatever jobs to please his grandfather, including being an errand boy for an iconographer, dishwasher on a steamer ship, assistant to a shoemaker and so on. He was living in a miserable condition. Regular beatings from the employers and half starved were the stories of his childhood. As an orphan, he received all kinds of rejection and cruelty. He did not even receive formal education, unlike other famous authors. To escape from a PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI miserable life during his childhood, he became an enthusiastic reader De Laine, “Maxim Gorky”. Maxim Gorky is one of the imminent writers and Russia and a symbol of revolutionary movement. His novel, Mother, is said to be his single lengthy and phenomenal work. It was first appear in 1906 while he was visiting the United States. By the time of 1907, he was living in Capri, Italy, to escape from the dangerous situation in Russia. He was assisting revolutionary causes that criticize the government of Russia at that time. And as a result, his works, including Mother, were highly censored by the authority. The novel Mother itself was highly influential outside Russia. Despite the censorship, Gorky’s works were widespread among intellectual circles. And as Werbach points out, Gorky was the influential figure following the Bourgeois revolution in 1905, which installed a feudalistic regime Werbach, “Literary Models for Alternative Social Development in Russia”. Mother, which first appeared in English version in 1906, was as analysts say written in a clearly propagandistic aim. Gorky himself justified the assumption. He said that Mother was for “agitational purpose.” As a consequence, it underwent some revisions and appeared in merely small editions in Russia. According to Werbach, Mother implies a “model of social development.” At the time it was first appeared, Mother was highly abandoned by intelligentsia, but later during the Bolshevik revolution 1917, it became the pioneer of model of Soviet Socialist Realism genre of literature, and was highly praised by Lenin and Stalin. In addition, De Laine asserts that the novel was regarded as the prominent work, not only in the literary style, but also in the unique insight of dealing with the lives of Russian workers. As a consequence, Mother became the central model of proletarian literature De Laine, “Maxim Gorky”. In addition, Werbach maintains: In the years following the Bolshevik revolution, literature was subjected to state control and forced to follow certain conventions. Socialist Realism, which incorporated elements of traditional Russian culture as well as Bolshevik doctrine, became the only acceptable style for literature. Mother utilized and systematized many of these elements, and from a pre-revolutionary perspective served as a model for both literary and social development. “Literary Models for Alternative Social Development in Russia” Mother was based on real events, namely, a demonstration of factory workers near Nizhni Novgorod in 1902, yet, it was fictionalized. His narrative concerns on “the characters and their evolving social consciousness” rather than detailed description of the events. Characters in the novel, according to Werbach, are highly depersonalized which “reinforced this universalistic message”: By using sparse descriptive details, with formulaic characteristics to represent traits important to the revolutionary worldview, Gorky shifted the focus from extraordinary individuals to broader social forces. “Literary Models for Alternative Social Development in Russia” Although his works were received with much compliment by Lenin, yet later, his relationship with the Russian revolutionary figure was broken. It was because at the time he wrote Mother, Gorky maintains the belief of the idea of bogostroitelstvo, or God-building, a philosophy condemned by Lenin since it was in part based on Nietzsches philosophy. God-building means that God is built by the people rather than found after receiving revelation. And He recognized that Bolshevism was “a direct path to constructing God,” which was highly opposed to Lenin’s stance Werbach, “Literary Models for Alternative Social Development in Russia”. It is also opposed to Marx’s idea that religion and God is highly parasitical since it causes “illusionary happiness” Marx, “Contribution to the Critique of Hegels Philosophy of Law” qtd. in Marxist Internet Archive: encyclopedia page, from www.marxists.org. In addition to this opposition, Gorky also severely criticized the Bolshevik revolution and the way Lenin suppressed literature to be merely a tool for propaganda. It is no question that Maxim Gorky’s works received much censorship from the Lenin’s government since the literature had to be subjected to state control. This led to the bitter disagreement between Gorky and Lenin. He left Russia in 1921, and then lived in Italy again and did not return to Soviet until his sixtieth birthday in 1928. He accommodated himself with Joseph Stalin ever since until he was assassinated on June 14, 1936 De Laine, “Maxim Gorky”; Marxist Internet Archive.

2.3.2. The Social Setting in the Novel