34 published in 1949. Orwell had something to say about this book, It wouldnt have
been so gloomy, if I hadnt been so ill In 1984, Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four was honoured with the
Prometheus Award for its contributions to dystopian literature. This novel, which is Orwell’s last novel, consists of three parts with twenty-four chapters and one
appendix. The first part of the novel has eight chapters. The second one has ten chapters. The third part consists of six chapters.
In 2005, the novel was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. It was awarded a place on both lists
of Modern Library 100 Best Novels, reaching number 13 on the editors list, and 6 on the readers list. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 8 on the BBCs survey
The Big Read. The Times ranked him second on a list of The 50 greatest British writers since 1945. When first published, Nineteen Eighty-Four was generally
well received by reviewers. The first part deals with human life in Nineteen Eighty-four. It is a
miserable life under totalitarian party, a condition in which a party control all aspects of life and terrorise its citizens. In this part, the author presents his main
character Winston Smith and his life in the future under control of the ruling party. The second part of Nineteen Eighty-four depicts some efforts that Winston
does in order to change his life. Winston shows his ideal by having a love affair with Julia. The other one is by meeting O’Brien, a man he always thinks as the
enemy of the ruling party. The third part of the novel is concerned with Winston’s punishment. It shows how O’Brien brainwashes to the opponents of the ruling
35 party’s policy. This part also depicts the end of Winston’s struggle. The last, the
appendix is a part in which the author points out the description of Newspeak in detail.
B. Approach
Situmorang says that in order to be critical, a literary research should involve an approach or a theory. Situmorang writes that any approaches will only
focus on the matters it concentrates on 2009, p. 133. Therefore, the application of any approach depends and, in the same time, is ignited by certain aspect of the
literary work criticized. Realizing the situation, the writer chooses sociological approach applied in this literary research.
According to Kennedy and Gioia 1995, sociological criticism examines the literary work in the cultural, economic, and political context. It also explores
the relationship between characters and the society. Sociological critics emphasize the ways power relations are played out by varying social forces and institutions
pp. 97. The writer conducted this study by applying sociological approach because
it helped the writer to see deeply the society or social background and its systems as depicted in the novel and hence the writer could find the evidences of structural
violence that experienced by the main characters.
36
C. Method of Study
A library research was applied to conduct the study. It means that the data needed were collected from various references and other important sources. The
primary source used was the novel Nineteen Eighty-four, written by George Orwell. The secondary sources were books providing the discussions of literature,
totalitarianism, state and its apparatuses, and structural violence perspectives. In analyzing the questions as stated in the problem formulation, the
researcher took some steps. Firstly, the writer read carefully the novel to comprehend well the novel. Secondly, the writer decided the topic of the
discussion; it was structural violence perspectives, to formulate the problems. The next step was to find data on sociology in general, totalitarian state and structural
violence perspective from books, electronic books, and from other electronic sources compiled from the internet. These data gathered were to support the facts
that were wanted to be found. After the supporting data were collected, the writer reread the novel, underlined important parts found in the novel related to the
study, and took some important notes carefully. From the rereading, the writer found some facts related to the structural violence towards the citizen characters
live as described in the novel. The theory used in this study was sociology theories because structural
violence actions were put into sociology domains. Structural violence, therefore, were parts of sociological studies as they were phenomena found in a society and
its social structure. The conclusion, at last, was drawn based on the analysis of the
