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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background Of Study
In t his sect ion, the w rit er gives som e explanations about the reasons in w riting t he thesis. It can be seen from t he locus, focus, t empus and the
t heories, t hat chosen by t he w rit er in w rit ing t he t hesis. Not only those aspect s t hat m ent ioned in this sect ion but also the previous st udies. In this
background st udy, t he previous st udies are show n in brief elaborat ions. The previous st udies are also giving the sim ilarities and differences posit ion
bet ween t he past researcher and t he present researcher. This st udy focuses on t he cont ext orient ed approach. The cont ext
orient ed approach is one of t he t heoret ical approaches t o lit erat ure. The t heoret ical approaches t o lit erat ure are t he w ay t o int erpret at ion of t he
lit erat ure from several focuses such as t ext , reader, aut hor and cont ext orient ed. According to Klarer 2004:70 depending on the m ain focus of
t hese major m et hodologies, one can dist inguish bet w een t ext -, author-, reader-, and cont ext -orient ed approaches. The cont ext orient ed t heory is
t he t heory t o examine t he hist orical background, polit ical and social background in w rit ing a fict ion such as novel, dram a, poem , or short st ory.
As Klarer 2004:78 st at ed t hat cont ext ual approaches t ry t o place lit erary t ext s against t he background of hist orical, social, or political developm ent s
while at t he sam e t ime at t em pt ing t o classify t ext s according t o genres as well as hist orical periods. The cont ext approaches are also depending on
t he several m ovem ent s. Depending on t he m ovem ent , t his cont ext can be history, social and political background, lit erary genre, nat ionalit y, or
gender Klarer, 2004:94. In this approach has the main import ant lit erary t heory t hat is
M arxist t heory. An import ant school which places lit erary w orks in t he cont ext of larger sociopolitical mechanism s is M arxist lit erary t heory
Klarer, 2004:94. In t his approach also examine t he lit erary w ork in t he gender, class, and race. Since t he m echanisms of class, on w hich M arxist
t heory focuses, oft en parallel the st ruct ural processes at w ork in “ race” and “ gender,” t he theoret ical fram ew ork provided by M arxist crit icism has
been adapt ed by younger schools that focus on marginalized groups, including feminist Klarer, 2004:95.
The cont ext orient ed approach m erger w it h t he ot her approaches, such as t ext orient ed approach. The t ext orient ed approaches in t his t erm
are t he new hist oricism as deconst ruction in the perspect ive of M arxism . Klarer 2004:95 st at ed t hat t ext -orient ed t heoret ical approaches such as
deconst ruction and new hist oricism are also indebt ed to M arxist t hought , bot h for t heir t erm inology and philosophical foundat ions. The new
historicism builds on post -st ruct uralism and deconst ruct ion, w ith their
focus on text and discourse, but adds a historical dim ension to the discussion of lit erary t ext s. Klarer 2004:95 added t hat relat ed t o new
historicism, alt hough an independent m ovement , are cult ural st udies. The cont ext orient ed approach also invest igat es t he gender in t he fem inist
lit erary t heory. Klarer 2004:96 st at ed t hat the m ost productive and, at t he sam e t ime, most revolut ionary m ovem ent of t he younger t heories of
lit erary crit icism in general and the cont ext ual approaches in particular is fem inist lit erary t heory.
By using t his approach, the writ er t ries t o find, discuss, and present t he historical background and social background. From hist orical
background, the w rit er chooses ideologies and ideological conflict s that appear in t he lit erary w ork are w rit t en. From social background, t he w rit er
elaborat es t he aspect social when the author of lit erary w ork is live, such as t he sociological condit ion, the posit ion of w rit er in t he societ y, and ot her
aspect s. The Lord of The Rings
novel is t he locus in the st udy. The Lord of The Rings
is t he locus in t his st udy. The Lord of The Rings is w rit t en by t he philologist from the Oxford Universit y. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is t he
writ er or author t o The Lord of The Rings. The Lord of The Rings is an epic high fant asy novel w rit t en by English philologist and Universit y of Oxford
professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The st ory began as a sequel t o Tolkiens 1937
childrens fant asy novel The Hobbit, but event ually developed a m uch larger work. It w as w rit t en in st ages bet w een 1937 and 1949, much of it
during World War II. It is t he second best -selling novel ever w rit t en, w ith over 150 million copies sold.
The w ork w as initially int ended by Tolkien t o be one volum e of a t wo- volum e set , w ith the other being The Silmarillion, but this idea w as
dism issed by his publisher. It w as decided for economic reasons t o publish The Lord of The Rings
as t hree volumes over t he course of a year from 29 July 1954 to 20 October 1955, t hus creat ing t he now fam iliar Lord of the
Rings t rilogy. The Lord of The Rings is oft en mist akenly called a t rilogy
because it is published in t hree volumes. In fact , it is one long novel, divided into six books plus appendices, t wo of which appear in each
volum e. The t hree volum es w ere ent it led The Fellowship of t he Ring, The Tw o Tow ers
, and The Ret urn of the King. For publicat ion, the book w as divided into three volum es: The Fellow ship of t he Ring Books I, The Ring
Set s Out , and II, The Ring Goes Sout h, The Tw o Tow ers Books III, The Treason of Isengard, and IV, The Ring Goes East , and The Ret urn of the
King Books V, The War of t he Ring, and VI, The End of t he Third Age, plus six appendices. St ructurally, t he novel is divided int ernally into six books,
t wo per volume, w it h several appendices of background m at erial included at t he end of t he t hird volume. The Lord of The Rings has since been
reprint ed num erous times and t ranslat ed into m any languages.
The t it le of t he novel refers t o t he st orys main ant agonist, t he Dark Lord Sauron, w ho had in an earlier age creat ed t he One Ring t o rule t he
other Rings of Pow er as t he ult imat e w eapon in his cam paign to conquer and rule all of M iddle-eart h. From quiet beginnings in t he Shire, a Hobbit
land not unlike the English count ryside, t he st ory ranges across nort h-w est M iddle-eart h, following t he course of t he W ar of t he Ring t hrough the eyes
of it s charact ers, not ably t he hobbit s Frodo Baggins, Samwise Sam Gam gee, M eriadoc M erry Brandybuck and Peregrin Pippin Took, but
also the hobbit s chief allies and t ravelling companions: Aragorn, a Hum an Ranger; Boromir, a m an from Gondor; Gimli, a Dwarf w arrior; Legolas, an
Elven prince; and Gandalf, a Wizard. This st udy is using t empus on t he post world war approxim at ely at
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unt il lat e of Forties, because t he novel The Lord of The Rings is com e from t he English in t hose years. From t he t hirt ies onw ards, lit erat ure
becam e increasingly polit ically conscious Sikorska: 2002. M any w rit ers w ere direct ly or indirect ly involved w ith the w ar in Spain w hich w as the
harbinger of an even harsher conflict , the Second World W ar. While the t hirt ies are charact erized by grow ing awareness of the com ing polit ical
crisis, and both fascist and socialist movem ent s, t he lit erat ure of t he fort ies is dom inat ed by t he w ar. The fort ies w ere a grim and colorless
decade w ith lit erat ure reflect ing the general at mosphere of t error and t he scarcit y of alm ost everyt hing Sikorska: 2002. The t hem e of a heroic
past w as deem ed inadequat e t o properly render t he at rocit ies of London life during Germ an raids. The w ar period and t he years imm ediat ely aft er
t he arm ist ice are t ransit ional in relat ion to lit erat ure of t he fift ies, sixt ies, and aft erw ards Sikorska: 2002. The fort ies produced a lot of lit erat ure
t hat is a direct result of the w ar experience; of at tem pt s t o creat e a new philosophy, or syst em of values, to replace that had been dest royed.
Based t he t empus in the previous passage, t he w rit er t akeS t he conflict ideology is t o be t he focus on this research. In this research
analyze t he situation of ideology and the conflict, t he cause of ideological conflict and the effect of ideological conflict .
In this sect ion, theoret ical application is the applicat ion of the t heory in the analyzing the dat a. The w rit er merges t he cont ext orient ed
approach and represent at ion from the Roland Bart hes. So in the analysis of st udy t he w rit er w ill examine t he dat a into the schools of the cont ext
orient ed approach, such as sociological lit erary crit icism, ideology, and conflict s. The discussion will appear in each chapt er based on t he
problem st at ement s. Represent at ion is an essent ial part of t he process by w hich m eaning
is produced and exchanged bet ween m embers of a cult ure. It does involve t he use of language, of signs and im ages w hich st and for or
represent t hings and surly it is not a simple or st raightforw ard process Hall: 1997. According t o scholars in fact , lit erat ure reflect s t hose social
inst it ut ions out of which it em erges and is it self a social inst it ut ion w it h a part icular ideological funct ion M arx:1848. The t heory of ideology such
as belief and value by Eaglet on and Selliger is chosen by t he writ er t o invest igat e t he belief and value t hat appear in t he societ y of The Lord of
The Rings. The w rit er t ries t o represent t he belief and value in the World
War Era. The sim ple t heory t hat proposed by t he w rit er is t he ideology is a set of belief or doct rine in order t o const ruct of societ y by som e social
order from t he government such as roles in class societ y. In support ing t he analysis of ideology t he w rit er use Gram sci’ Ideology for dom ination
and M arx’s for consciousness aspect . The conflict t heory t hat proposed by Farley, a sociologist to elaborat e and invest igat e t he cause of
ideological conflict Before analyzing t he dat a by t he set of t heory above, t he w rit er
invest igat es t he hist orical background in The Lord of The Rings such as World War descript ion and the sociological background, such as the
sociology of Brit ain, t he sociology of J. R. R. Tolkien, t he process of w rit ing The Lord of The Rings and biography of J. R. R. Tolkien. It useful
for the analyze of t he represent at ion of ideological conflict. There are a lot of the st udy before t he recent st udy, t he previous
st udy are: Simonson, M artin Raúl M ont ero Gilet e. 2008 “The
Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of The Rings: similarit ies and
differences bet w een t w o children of the Great W ar” E Fabulat ions,
Vitoria: Universidad del Pais Press, Winegar, Ast rid. 2005. “ Aspect s of Orient alism in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings” , The Grey Book,
volume 1 page 1-10, West , John. 2001. “ The Lord of The Rings as a Defense of W est ern Civilization” , Inquiry, Volume X. No. IV. Seatt le:
Discovery Inst itut e, Arvidsson, St efan. 2010 “ Greed and t he Nat ure of
Evil: Tolkien versus Wagner” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Volum e 222 Sw eden:l Linnæus Universit y Press, Fim i, Dimit ra. 2007
“ Tolkien and Old Norse Ant iquit y: Real and Romantic Links in M at erial Culture” , Old Norse M ade New Essay On Post M edieval Reception of Old
Norse Lit erat ure and Cult ure , Page 83-100, London: Universit y College
London, M adil, Leanna. 2008. “ Gendered Identifies Explored: The Lord of The Rings
as a Text of Alt ernat ive W ays of Being.” The Alan Review . Wint er 2008 Edition. Victoria: Universit y of Vict oria, Lee, St uart D.
Elizabet h Solopova. 2005. The Keys of M iddle Eart h: Discovering M edieval Lit erat ure Through t he Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien
. New York: Palgrave. Enright , Nancy. 2007. “ Tolkien’ s Females and The Beginning of
Pow er” ProQuest Research Library.; Wint er 59, 2 pg. 93. Smol, Anna. 2004. “ Oh.. Oh.. Frodo: Reading of M ale Int imacy in The Lord Of The
Rings.” ProQuest Research Library.: 50, 4 pg. 949. The previous st udies have several similarit ies and differences, such
as: t he sim ilarit y is t he basic of t hinking’s Tolkien. Tolkien uses t he myt hology of Old Norse and Viking Cult ure and the post W orld War is t he
fact or t hat influencing t he w rit ing of The Lord of The Rings. The differences are t he first st udy is talking about t he historical background. It
is t aken place from t he World W ar History. The second st udy is t alking about the aspect of orient alist or racist t hat found in t he The Lord of The
Rings novel by using t he Old Norse M yt hology. The t hird study is t he
analysis of The Lord of The Rings has several t hemes t hat defense of w est ern civilizat ion. The fourth st udy is the bat t le of greed and evil pow er
in The Lord of The Rings in the perspect ive t he Old Norse m yt hology of t he Vikings. The fift h previous st udy is t he st udy of t he rom ant icism of t he
Old Norse myt hology in t he Tolkien w orks. The sixt h previous study is t he st udy of Romance and m yst ique of The Lord of The Rings and the aspect s
of m arginalizat ion of wom en gender in the novel. The sevent h previous st udy is the st udy of connect ion of the medieval lit erat ure such as old
English, M iddle English, Anglo Saxon, Poet ic Eda and Old Norse. The eight h previous st udy is t he st udy of the fem ale and t he pow er. The nint h
previous st udy is the st udy on t he m ale intim acy relat ionship in t he The Lord of The Rings
novel Thus present st udy w ill invest igat e t he represent at ion of ideological conflict in cont ext orient ed approach.
Based on the sit uation in the previous paragraph, t he researcher w ill w rit e t he st udy in t he t it le: “ Represent at ion of Ideological Conflict s in J. R.
R. Tolkien’s Trilogy The Lord of The Rings Novel 1937-1949”
B. Limitation Of Study
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