The poem is a litany of contrasts between “we” – the poets, prophets, and
musicians wh o “fill the hands of the Angels with the seeds of our inner
selves”38 – and “you” a pronoun representing the social, political, and eccl
esiastical supporters of the status quo, the “sons of the pursuit of ‘earthly Gaiety’ ”, who “place your hearts in the hands of Emptiness.
From the quotation, the narrator in this poem is the people who claim themselves as “the poet, prophet, and musicians”. It is can be said that Kahlil
Gibran as the poet, who writes the poem “We and You”, has involved in the poem that is included in “We”. Thus, this poem can be considered as the way Gibran
tells about the discrimination in the society. As Bushrui and Jenskins have said, most of Kahlil Gibran’s works including “We and You” are the expression of the
social protest in which Gibran stands to voice the idea of suffering people in society.
D. Theoretical Framework
This study focuses on the class struggle that is shown through the existence of figurative language and allusions. The theory of figurative language,
allusions, capitalism, social stratification, social classes, class struggle, the relatedstudies, and the review of social background of poet and the poem are
needed in order to develop this study. Those explanations are significant for the analysis of this study.The contribution of figurative language and allusions
theories are used to understand the figure of speech and the allusions in Kahlil Gibran poems, so that the researcher can make a good interpretation for each
oftheir meanings. The figurative language and allusions found in “We and You” are used to
find out the idea of class struggle in the society. Theories of capitalism, social
stratification, social classes, and class struggle are used in order to give the concept of Marxism perspective toward the problems among two different classes
in society. Marxist approach is used to conduct the analysis of a literary work, in this case Kahlil Gibran’s “We and You”, with respect to the Marxist theory
explaination, so that the idea of class struggle which is presented in the figurative languagecan be revealed. Review of related background is used to give some
information about the poet’s social background and social condition when this poem was written so that the analysis of the idea of class struggle can be proven.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter contains the methodology of the study. It includes the object of the study which is used in this research, the approach and the method of the
study.
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is a poem of Kahlil Gibran entitles “We and You”. This poem is one of selected poems from Kahlil Gibran’s book Secret of the
Heart. Secret of the Heart is a compilation of Kahlil Gibran’s literary works. It contains 23 items of Gibran’s collection of prose tales, parables, and poems. Most
of them talk about the problems occur in the society. Secret of the Heart was published by Carol Publishing Group in 1947.
“We and You” itself is a long poem which consists of 28 stanzas. It has been mentioned in the previous part that “We and You” was written in 1911 and it
first published on January 6, 1911 in the emigrant newspaper Mir’at al-Gharb Mirror of the West. The reason why the researcher chooses this poem is because
this poem stands as a critic to the system in the society and seems to be relevant to criticize the society in this era. Through this poem, Gibran wants to gives a
description about the people are lived in the different condition in the dramatic way.
B. Approach of the Study
The relation between Marxism and literature can be seen in the explanation of base and supersturcture. According to Karl Marx, society is divided
into two part, base and superstructure. Base is related to means of production or any economical thing. Superstructure includes all social and legal institution,
political and education system, religion, art, and literature. Bressler 1994: 220 states, “because literature is part of a society’s superstructure, its relationship to
the element of the superstructure and to the base becomes the central focus in varying Marxist literary theories”. He continues by giving an example,
If a Marxist hold to the reflection theory corcerning the relationship of the base to superstructure, then this theorist posits that the economic base
directly determinis literature. For such a critic, literature mirrors the economic base. On the other hand, if a Marxist theories believes that
elements of supersturcture have realities of their own and affect each other and also affect the base, a text may be responsible for altering not only
other elements within the superstructure and base Bressler, 1994: 220.
Moyra Haslett 2000:8 explains the relationship between Marxist theories and literature as a part of art. “For Marxist theorists the economic mode of society
is crucial here because it is the economic system which frequently, though not always, determinis how art will be so constructed”. Haslett also say “the
‘economic’ sphere includes the social relation of people, and the ‘literary’ is marketed and bought like any other product”.
To support the analysis about class struggle in Kahlil Gibran’s poem, the researcher uses Marxist approach. In a simple way, Marxist approach can be
defined as a criticism which focuses on the social, politic, and economic ideas in a literary works. Charles E. Bressler 1994: 221 explains, “as an approach to
literary analysis, Marxism’s methodology is a dynamic process declaring that a proper critique proper being defined as one that agrees with socialistic or Marxist
beliefs of a text cannot be isolated from the cultural situation from which the text evolved”.
This approch is used as the guide to the analysis. It sees the issues in society of the poem from Marxism point of view especially the conflict of two
different classes and the struggle among the people in lower class in society. As Bressler 1994:221 also adds that “a Marxist approach seeks to exposethe
dominant class, to demonstrate how the bourgeoisie’s ideology controls and oppresses the working class, and to highlight the elements of society most
affected by such oppresssion.” Accorrding to Bressler the study of literature and the study about society
are related to each other. He says, Necessarily, Marxist argue, the study of literature and the study of society
are intricately bound. Such a relationship demands that a Marxist approach to a text deal with more that the conventional literary themes, matters of
style, plot, or characterization, and the usual emphasis on figure of speech and other literary devices Bressler, 1994: 221.
Since this analysis focuses on the contribution of the figurative language to reveal the class struggle, therefore Marxist approach is relevant to this analysis.
C. Method of the Study
This study uses library reaserch method to find the supporting sources and references that help the researcher to make the analysis. There were several steps
in order to develop the analysis. First, the researcher collected the figurative language and allusions from the poem. Second, the researcher categorized them
