The significance of Jake Brigance`s characteristics in his struggles against threats of racism reflected in Grisham`s A Time To Kill - USD Repository

  THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JAKE BRIGANCE’S CHARACTERISTICS IN HIS STRUGGLES AGAINST THREATS OF RACISM REFLECTED IN GRISHAM’S A TIME TO KILL AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

  Student Number: 054214063

  

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

EFRA TANIA NAINGGOLAN

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011

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  THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JAKE BRIGANCE’S CHARACTERISTICS IN HIS STRUGGLES AGAINST THREATS OF RACISM REFLECTED IN GRISHAM’S A TIME TO KILL AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

  Student Number: 054214063

  

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

EFRA TANIA NAINGGOLAN

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011

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You don’t write because

you want to say

something;

You write because you’ve

got something to say.

  F. ScoTt Fitzgerald PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI v

  

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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

TO MY FATHER AND MOTHER BROTHER AND SISTER AS THE WAY TO REACH THE BETTER LIFE IN THE FUTURE

  PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

  Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Efra Tania Nainggolan NIM : 054214063

  Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JAKE BRIGANCE’S CHARACTERISTICS IN HIS STRUGGLES AGAINST THREATS OF RACISM REFLECTED IN GRISHAM’S A TIME TO KILL Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan ini saya memberikan kepada kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk lain, mengelola dalam bentuk pangkalan data. Mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun royalitas kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

  Demikian pernyataan ini , saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Yogyakarta, 30 November 2011. Yang menyatakan, Efra Tania Nainggolan vi PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  This undergraduate thesis has been improved by the help and comment of many people who are kind enough to get involved during the writing of this undergraduate thesis. I would not be able to complete this thesis without the help of others, both direct and indirect. First of all, I thank you to God, for the blessing, love, and power which are given to me. My gratitude goes to Drs. Hirmawan

  

Wijanarka M.Hum., Harris Hermansyah Setiajid S.S., M.Hum., and Elisa

Dwi Wardani S.S., M.Hum. for the valuable assistance and patience in reading

  and correcting this thesis. I also thank you to the administrative staff of Department of English Letters of Sanata Dharma, Mbak Ninik, who has been so kind to help me. I thank you to the members of lecturing staff of Department of English Letters, Sanata Dharma, for the pricelesss education that has been given.

  I express my special thanks to my parents, R. Nainggolan and Maria S., my brother and sister, Christian Nainggolan and Shinta K.P.N., for the love, praise and the financial support. I thank you to the member of Sastra 2007:

Rohman N., Harry S., Martinus B.R. and Risang H., for the supports and cares.

  My gratitude is also dedicated to my friends Reksiana S. and Deva B.P.H., for supports during the process of finishing this undergraduate thesis. I also thank you to the most amazing and adorable boy of my life, Gest Antitank, for the care, opinion, and support. The last, I thank you to Mb. Marni and Lusi, the member of KOPMA, for the pray.

  Efra Tania Nainggolan vii

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................... i

APPROVAL PAGE ......................................................................................... ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE .................................................................................... iii

MOTTO PAGE ................................................................................................ iv

DEDICATION PAGE ...................................................................................... v

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ........................... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................. vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. viii

ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... ix

ABSTRAK .......................................................................................................... x

  

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1

A. Background of the Study .................................................................. 1 B. Problem Formulation ....................................................................... 5 C. Objectives of the Study .................................................................... 5 D. Definition of Terms .......................................................................... 6

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ................................................. 8

A. Review of Related Studies ............................................................... 8 B. Review of Related Theories ............................................................. 10 C. Brief Review of Racism in America ................................................ 14 D. Theoretical Framework .................................................................... 18

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY .............................................................. 19

A. Object of the Study .......................................................................... 19 B. Approach of the Study .................................................................... 20 C. Method of the Study ......................................................................... 20

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ........................................................................... 22

A. The Characteristics of Jake Brigance ............................................... 22 B. The Threats of Racism that Happen to Jake Brigance ..................... 31 C. The Significance of Jake Brigance’s Characteristics

  in his Struggle against Threats of Racism ........................................ 46  

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ...................................................................... 61

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................ 63 APPENDICES Summary of A Time to Kill .................................................................... 65 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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ABSTRACT

  Efra Tania Nainggolan (2005), The Significance of Jake Brigance’s

  

Characteristics in His Struggles Against Threats of Racism Reflected in

Grisham’s A Time to Kill, Yogyakarta: English Letters Study Programme, Sanata

  Dharma University.

  The backgrounds of this undergraduate thesis were first, practice of racism existed in American society and it was suffered not only by blacks but also whites. The second, practice of racism is suffered by whites indirectly, most of racism that happen to them were threats as the effect of racism. The third, whites, as the individuals could react upon certain condition that was threatening them.Those three backgrounds were found when the writer read a novel entitled A

  Time to Kill by John Grisham.

  The objectives of this undergraduate thesis are to describe Jake Brigance’s characteristics, to observe the threats of racism to Jake Brigance, and to find the significance of those characteristics in Jake’s struggles against threats of racism.

  This undergraduate thesis was conducted with a library research. It was done with searching the supporting data and source. The writer used theories of characterization to describe the characterirtics of Jake Brigance, the theory of racism to know the threats of racism to him, the brief reviews on racism in United States and the sociocultural-historical approach as the framework of understanding the socio-cultural historical context of society in the analysis of this undergraduate thesis.

  The results of this undergraduate thesis which were found by the writer were first, Jake Brigance’s characteristics. Jake Brigance’s characteristics were an early bird, a very organized person, a loving husband and father, and a close friend. The second result was, the threats of racism were experienced by Jake Brigance. These threats of racism were the anonymous phone-calls both in his house and office, the burning of cross, the dynamite, the murder, the burning of house and also the prejudices. The third result was Jake Brigance’s characteristics were significant in his struggles against threats of racism. This undergraduate thesis was hoped that the reader could understand the aims of writing this undergraduate thesis and got some moral values for their life after reading this undergraduate thesis. ix PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ABSTRAK

  Efra Tania Nainggolan (2005), The Significance of Jake Brigance’s

  

Characteristics in His Struggles Against Threats of Racism Reflected in

Grisham’s A Time to Kill, Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Universitas

  Sanata Dharma.

  Beberapa latar belakang dari penulisan skripsi ini adalah pertama, tindakan rasisme ada di dalam masyarakat Amerika dan tindakan ini dialami oleh tidak hanya kaum kulit hitam namun juga kulit putih. Kedua, tindakan rasisme secara tidak langsung dialami oleh kaum kulit putih, kebanyakan dari tindakan rasisme yang dialami oleh mereka merupakan ancaman-ancaman yang merupakan dampak dari rasisme. Ketiga, kaum kulit putih, sebagai individu-individu, sanggup bereaksi terhadap kondisi tertentu yang mengancam mereka. Ketiga latar belakang tersebut ditemukan ketika penulis membaca sebuah novel karya John Grisham yang berjudul A Time to Kill.

  Adapun tujuan penulisan skiripsi ini yaitu untuk mendeskripsikan sifat- sifat dari Jake Brigance, meneliti ancaman-ancaman dari rasisme yang dialami oleh Jake Brigance, dan menemukan pentingnya sifat-sifat Jake Brigance tersebut dalam usahanya melawan ancaman-ancaman dari rasisme.

  Skripsi ini disusun dengan metode studi pustaka. Studi pustaka dilakukan dengan mencari data dan sumber yang mendukung. Dalam analisa di skripsi ini, penulis menggunakan teori-teori tentang characterization untuk mendeskripsikan sifat-sifat dari Jake Brigance, teori tentang rasisme untuk mengetahui ancaman- ancaman dari rasisme yang terjadi padanya, ulasan singkat tentang rasisme di Amerika Serikat dan pendekatan sosial budaya dan sejarah sebagai batasan dalam memahami konteks sosial budaya dan sejarah dari masyarakat.

  Hasil- hasil yang ditemukan oleh penulis dalam skripsi ini adalah pertama, sifat-sifat dari Jake Brigance. Jake Brigance adalah orang yang menghargai waktu, sangat teratur, seorang ayah dan suami yang penuh kasih sayang, dan orang yang ramah. Hasil kedua, Jake Brigance mengalami ancaman- ancaman dari rasisme. Ancaman-ancaman tersebut berupa telepon-telepon gelap yang terjadi baik di ruimah maupun kantor, pembakaran salib, peledakan dinamit, pembunuhan, pembakaran rumah, dan prasangka. Ketiga, sifat-sifat Jake Brigance mempunyai peranan penting dalam usahanya melawan ancaman-ancaman dari rasisme. Penulis mengharap agar para pembaca dapat memahami tujuan dari penyusunan skripsi ini dan mendapatkan beberapa nilai moral untuk kehidupan mereka setelah membaca skripsi ini. x PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study The study of literature is different from other studies like math or

  science. Literature itself is a tool for authors to share about things or life phenomenon and also their expression on them. The authors create their works based on the ideas of what they see, hear, know, and feel about anything such as politics, social-life, love, life-philosophy, etc. The authors can share an idea of life phenomenon and their expression on life phenomenon with the readers through their works.

  Based on the wide ideas or things that the authors try to share through their works, the field of the study on literature itself can be various. It also can be said that readers who interpret and analyze literary works also have various interpretation or analysis. M.H. Abrams in The Orientation of Critical Theories, states that the work of art or literature has relation with universe, the audience, the artist, and the work of literature itself (Abrams, 1979: 6). In other words, the study of literature can be influenced by four aspects such as universe, the audience or readers, the artist or the author of work of literature, and the work of literature itself.

  There are so many ideas or things that become the topics for the authors to share through their work. In this undergraduate thesis, the topic about racism as the social-life phenomenon that happens in the world seems interesting to study.

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  This topic is interesting to study because racism that happens in the world influences the development of literary works in the world. Racism influences the elements that build the work of literature, such as the authors, the assumption of the readers, the characters inside the story, and so many others. In addition, the topic on racism is interesting to study in order to show that all the people in the world are equal and not different although they are physically different. In other words, the undergraduate thesis is truly hoped can open and even can change the environment’s point of view about the different physical characteristics that exist in the world.

  There are so many kinds of people in the world. They are created as human being with many special characteristics. Those characteristics make people physically different one to another. Language, culture, physical appearances, and places to where they live are the factors that make people physically different each other. People are created with great differences physically. These differences include height, weight, skin-color, hair-color, and many other physical differences.

  The special characteristics that people have in the world are different one to another. However, those special characteristics that make they look different one to another do not have meaning that they are also different on their status, values, dignity/prestige as human being. The special characteristics that people have in the world are varied but they are basically same one to another as human being. In other words, people who have different and special characteristics are equal no matter who he is or she, where they are come from, and what language

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  they speak, what skin colors they have, etc. The different and special characteristics that people have do not make them unequal one to another.

  The different physical characteristics sometimes cause a group of people to think that they are better than other groups of people, and they even call themself as the superior. In 18th century, people who claimed themself as whites, thought that they were better than Africans and they who are colored people. The Africans claimed to be uneducated, uncivilized, rough, and they do not work using brain but only with muscles. On the contrary, whites claimed to be more educated and better than African in social aspect, life, quality, etc. Whites called themselves as the superior compared to the Africans. This assumption comes because some reasons that mostly on physical differences. These differences include height, weight, skin-color, hair-color, and many other physical differences. Africans who mostly have dark-skin, black and curly hair, wide mouth and thick lips are physically different from whites who have the contrary physical characteristics from Africans.

  Amiram Goren in his book The Encyclopedia of the Peoples of the World says that the people of The United States of America constitute of a heterogeneous population of almost 250 million, live in a federation of fifty states extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans (and include the States of Alaska and Hawaii). Alongside the small indigenous population of native Americans, many ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups are represented, while several uniquely American cultural group have also emerge (Goren, 1993 :36).

  The quotation above states that people of the United States of America

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  are heterogeneous. United States of America, which is famous for its heterogeneous citizens, also underestimates the Africans who live in America in some aspects of life in 18th century. They underestimate the Africans in America not only by their skin-color and physical differences but also because of the Africans’ life-background history in America. The underestimation happens to the Africans in America because at the beginning the Africans came to America, they were the slaves of white people. This condition influences the whole life aspects of Africans who live in America, and this condition continues year to year. One of the most pressing-problem facing Americans in 19th century was the act of slavery.

  The act of slavery toward Africans that was done by whites causes the Africans experience the practice of racism. Racism toward Africans in America inspires not only colored but also white people who care and pay attention to the act of racism in America to write literary work. The suffering which was felt by Africans, inspires the artist of literature to write the story about them. John Grisham is one example of white who cares and pays attention to the act of racism that happens in America. He writes many novels related to racism and justice in America. John Grisham shares and expresses what he knows, feels, hears, and sees about racism in America. His famous novel that tells about racism and justice in America entitled A Time to Kill, is one example of his care and attention to the practice of racism in America.

  A Time to Kill becomes an interesting novel to analyze the practice of

  racism that happens in America society because this novel shows and reflects

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  racism happens in America society. The story shows that racism is not only oppressed the Africans but also whites who are not racist. The interesting character in the story is Jake Brigance who is known as white and does not racist. He even shows his struggle against threats racism in the story. Since the practice of racism that happens in America society from the novel is too abroad to analyze, the writer narrows the topic of this undergraduate thesis into the threats of racism that happen to Jake Brigance as the main character of the story, and his struggles against threats of racism.

  The finding analysis in this undergraduate thesis hopefully can stimulate readers to change their point of view about people who do not have same physical characteristics, and make they believe that all the people in the world are created equal.

B. Problem Formulation

  The writer finds some interesting problems to analyze in this undergraduate thesis. The problems are:

  1. How are the characteristics of Jake Brigance described in the story?

  2. What are the threats of racism that happen to Jake Brigance in the story?

  3. What is the significance of Jake Brigance’s characteristics in his struggle against threats of racism in the story?

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   Objectives of the Study

  This undergraduate thesis is aimed to answer the three problems stated previously. The first is to find how Jake Brigance’s characteristics are described.

  Second is to find the threats of racism that happen to Jake Brigance. The last is to find the significance of Jake Brigance’s characteristics in his struggles against threats of racism.

D. Definition of Terms

  In order to avoid a misunderstanding on some terms which are used in this undergraduate thesis, the writer gives some definitions of the related terms.

  The first term is racism. According to The New Encyclopedia Britannica, racism, also called as racialism, is a belief that some races are inherently superior to or different from others, based on the idea that inherited physical traits are accompanied by certain traits of personality, intellect, or culture. The phenomena of prejudice and discrimination between human groups are similar whether they result from racial or ethnic differences (1983:360).

  The second term is struggle. The definition of struggle according to The

  

Consolidated-Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary , struggle means to use great

efforts; to labour hard; to strive (1958:717).

  The third term is significance. According to Culler in Structualist

  

Politics , Structuralism Linguistics and the Study of Literature, significance is the

word used by the readers to look deeper at the meaning laid behind a work of art.

  It means that the word ‘significance’ completely appears from the readers in

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  responding a work of art. He also states that significance is easily defined as a form which has a meaning (Culler, 1975: 16-20). In addition, according to Keesey in Context of Criticism, significance means hidden meaning behind the novel. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies According to Vinnet, the novel entitled A Time to Kill is about Jake Brigance, the white lawyer who struggles to look after Carl Lee Hailey, the black

  murderer. Carl Lee Hailey kills the whites who raped his young daughter. Both Jake Brigance and Carl Lee Hailey must overcome the stigmas of the times centering on race, fight attacks from the KKK, and other such personal attacks.

  Jake Brigance as a white lawyer does his best to take after Carl Lee.

  Grisham's first novel centers around a white lawyer fresh out of law school and struggling to pay the bills comes to be council for Carl Lee, the father of a young girl, Tonya, who was sexually assaulted, raped, beaten, and left for dead by two backwoods hicks. Carl Lee decides to take the "law into his own hands" and eradicate the two criminals who are white and will most likely be let out with a small tap on the wrist. Throughout the novel, Jake and Carl Lee must overcome the stigmas of the times centering around race, fight attacks from the KKK, and other such personal attacks. (www.allreaders.com, 2011) According to Erica Jobman in her Literary analysis: Comparing To Kill a

  

Mockingbird with A Time to Kill, states that Jake Brigance is the southern lawyer

  who fight against racism in his hometown and as the professional lawyer who take on his respective case, he and his family get the impact of racism.

  The two characters are both southern lawyers and loving fathers who fight against racism in their hometowns. They are both driven by an inner strength, and both are deathly loyal to their families and principles. For example, when the lawyers took on their respective cases, their families became targeted by those that disagreed with what the lawyers were attempting to do. (www.helium.com, 2011)

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  In her Literary Analysis , Jobman also states that Jake Brigance tries to make the juries sure that Carl Lee Hailey is not guilty in the eyes of the court, because what he does to the two men is the act of a father who love his daughter and will do everything to them who hurt his daughter.

  Jake also has his own version of “walking in someone else’s shoes” theory. In his summation he had the jury imagine a horrendous crime that caused Carl Lee Haley to do what he did. He hoped that he could show the jury that Carl Lee Haley was not the only person that would have taken the law into his own hands after that act. In his summation he also highlights on the importance of finding the truth with the heart. Jake wants the truth to come from the heart because in the eyes of the court, reason will not win the case because Carl Lee Haley shot two men and killed them. However, Jake knows the exact reason why Carl Lee did what he did. He feels that Carl Lee Haley should not die because he felt that he would have done the same thing: kill the two men that had hurt his daughter.(www.helium.com, 2011) In addition, C, Nick in his book review on A Time to Kill, states that Jake

  Brigance, as the white lawyer of Carl Lee Hailey, faces huge odds because defending a black murderer who killed two white men. It can be said that Jake Brigance suffers racism because he defends his black client in the eye of court. Jake’s struggle against racism is shown in defending Carl Lee Hailey, as a result, Carl Lee Hailey is proven innocent and not guilty because Jake can persuade the juries by his amazing speech about Carl Lee Hailey as an ordinary father.

  Jake faced huge odds against him because he was defending a black man who killed two white men, but worst of all, is that he has to convince an all white jury, that his client was insane at the time he committed the crime. Just as you think Jake has no chance, he says this amazing speech, and sends the jury members on a journey, and tells them what Carl Lee?s daughter went through. He tells the court that he too, like most other fathers would have done the same thing to those two young men who raped Tonya. He gets some people on the jury to cry, he himself let a few tears go. I thought it was very moving. With that moving speech, the jury found the defendant innocent. (www.buildingrainbows.com, 2011)

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  Those reviews show how Jake Brigance suffers the practice of racism and how he helps his client. Those reviews have an important role in this undergraduate thesis because they help the writer to show the position of this undergraduate thesis and also highlight the topic of this undergraduate thesis to the reader that this undergraduate thesis is different from other studies that have ever been discussed before. This undergraduate thesis is different from those related studies because this undergraduate thesis studies about the significance of Jake Brigance’s characteristics in his struggles against the threats of racism.

B. Review of Related Theories

  Some theories are needed to support the analysis and to show this undergraduate thesis is relevant to read and study. Since the undergraduate thesis studies about the significance of character in his struggles against threats of racism as seen in Grisham’s A Time to Kill, the first theory to be reviewed is the theory of characterization, the second is the theory of racism, and the latest is the brief review on African-American in United States.

1. Theory of Characterization

  The creation of imagination person that exist the reader as a lifelike is called characterization. According to Rohrberger and Woods (1971:20), characterization is a process by which an author creates character.

  There are two principle ways that an author can characterize. The first is through a direct way. It describes the physical appearance. The second, he uses a dramatic event. It means that he places in situation where he should react in a particular way. His action must be motive in term that a reader can accept. (1971:20-21)

  11 Based on Holman and Hormon (1986: 81), characterization is divided into three fundamental methods, they are:

  1. The explicit presentation by the author of character through direct exposition.

  They can be placed in the introductory block or in the action throughout the work.

  2. The presentation of the character in action, with little or no explicit comment by the author, in the expectation that the reader will be able to deduce the attribute of the actor from the action.

  3. The presentation from within the character, without comment on the character by the author of the impacts of actions and emotions of the character’s inner self, with the expectation that the reader will come to a clear understanding of the attributes of the character.

  However, based on Henkle, characterization is: Characterization therefore is central to the factional experience, and the principle objective of the creation of characters in novels is to enable us to understand and to experience people. Characterization also appears to loose sight of fact. (Henkle, 1977: 86-87).

  Characterization is a helpful element of literary work for reader, besides; it also supports the literary work itself to become alive and a good work of literature.

  Characterization, according to Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods Jr. in Reading and Writing about Literature, is the process by which an author creates a character. There are two principal ways an author can characterize.

  The first principal ways is he or she can direct means to describe physical

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  appearance, intellectual, moral attributes, and the degree of sensitivity of the character. Second way is he or she can use dramatic means and place the character in situations to show what the character is by the way he behaves or speaks (Rohrberger and Woods Jr., 1971:20).

  Murphy in Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English Poetry

  

and The English Novel for Overseas Student also has classification that differ the

  representation of the character. There are nine ways in which the author presents the character. Those are:

  1. Personal Description, we can find out the nature of the character/s from the author's description about her/his character appearance.

  2. Speech, the character can give us the clue to his/her nature through his/her speaking, conversation with other people opinion.

  3. Conversation as seen by another. We know the character's nature through the other eyes and also comments on is/her nature.

  4. Reaction, the person's nature can be known by his/her reactions to different occasions.

  5. Direct Comments, the author can give comments on the person's character directly.

  6. Thought, the nature of the character can be known from what she/he is thinking.

  7. Conversation of others, the conversation of other people can be the way of the author to tell the reader on the person's character by showing the dialogue among other characters and other utterance on that person.

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  8. The past life, the author uses to tell the character's past life, by commenting out directly, describing the person's mind, person's dialogue, and the medium among another person.

  9. Mannerism, we can understand the character through the way he/she behaves, attitudes, and talks with the other people (1972: 161-173).

2. Theory of Racism

  The United Nations uses a definition of racist discrimination, and it is stated in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial and adopted in 1965:

  Discrimination

  Any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race color, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field public of life. (http://www.unhcr.ch.html, 2011) According to The New Encyclopedia Britannica, racism is closely related with race prejudice and racial discrimination (1983:360). Assuming that every individual’s character can be adequately determined by racial or ethnic stereotypes is called as race prejudice, and giving or withholding privileges based on such stereotypes is called as racial discrimination. Race and prejudice is the root of racism. It happens as the impact of social relation between different races that is influenced by economic, belief and political factors. Racism is a very controversial issue.

  According to Symmes Chadwick Oliver in his book, The Discovery of

  Humanity: An Introduction to Anthropology , racism is:

  14 A simple (and simple-minded) phenomenon, while the problem of human “races” is considerably more complex. Stripped down to its unsavory essence, racism is the attribution of behavioral or cultural characteristics- usually negative ones-to people on the basis of what people look like. (Oliver, 1981:10) Racism exists while the elements are fulfilled:

  a. The differences between group-differences in body and in mind are full due to hereditary biology, and nothing can change them. For example, Negroes are not as intelligent as whites, this is due to their heredity and can no more be charged than skin color.

  b. Habits, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and all the things we learn are determined for us before we are born. For example, Jews are born to be sharp businessmen and Japanese are born to act in an insincere manner.

  c. All differences between minority and the majority group are thought to be signs of inferiority.

  d. If there should be biological crossing of the groups, the children will be more degenerate than either of the parents’ groups (Rose, 1981:223).

  Since the first blacks who came to America were slaves; the white Americans underestimate the blacks and threat them unfairly. The White Americans threat them based on their biological appearance.

  One of the forms of racism is showed by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is one of several white-supremacist organizations in the Southern United States, which are dedicated to opposing civil rights for blacks,

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C. Brief Review of Racism in America

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  Jews, and other ethnic, racial, social or religious groups. They also formerly opposed Roman Catholic Church and its adherents and hierarchy as well as all foreign-born persons whether or not they had yet attained United States citizenship. The KKK was also prominent in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan in the 1920s and 1930s as an anti-Catholic, anti-French-Canadian, anti immigrant organization. The Ku Klux Klan has committed many acts of violence such as lynching and the burning of homes (http://en.wikipedia.org, 2011).

  Boyer in his book, The Enduring Vision, A History of the American

  

People says that rural and urban blacks alike endured extreme hardships. Not only

  did Southern black tenant farmers and sharecroppers frequently face eviction, but the jobless rate among black industrial workers far exceeded the rate for the whites largely because of deep-seated patterns of racism and discriminatory policies of unions intensified by fierce job competition in a depressed labor market. A 1936 study of employment patterns in Chicago reported “a prevailing sentiment that Negroes should not be hired as long as white men without work” (Boyer, 1990:908).

  Lynching and miscarriages of justice continued as part of the reality of American life for blacks as well, especially in the South. Twenty-four blacks died by lynching in 1933, the year that President Roosevelt took office. In 1931 eight black youths were sentenced to death by an all-white jury in Scottsboro, Alabama, on highly suspect charges that they had raped two white women in a freight car (Boyer, 1990:908).

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  Turner says that during the depression, black migration to urban areas was stopped, while both those in rural and urban areas were suffered enormously from unemployment and hunger. In the mid 1930s great masses of blacks received some form of public assistance, but even so, welfare allocations were differentially bestowed on blacks and whites (Turner, 1976:190).

  Economically, black, this minority group also experience racism. Blacks are still over represented in menial, farm, and service occupations; they are underrepresented in professional and managerial positions; black unemployment has remained at twice that of white unemployment, blacks tend to be unemployed longer than whites in equivalent job categories; they earn less in the same job as whites; college-educated blacks earn about the same amount of money as high- school-educated whites (Turner, 1976:191).

  State and private employment agencies still discriminate against black eligible (in terms o education) for white-collar work. Blacks are or assigned occupational classifications not commensurate with their skills, they tend to receive fewer referrals than whites to employers; they are rarely referred to openings in banks, loan firms, and other businesses. Blacks have been excluded from blue-collar occupations because of discriminatory policies of trade unions, including those of plumbers, carpenters, electricians, printers, metal workers, and machinists (Turner, 1976: 191).

  The lack of skill among black workers is a result of a historical legacy of discrimination by many unions; this lack of skill has been used by some unions to justify exclusion of black (1976: 192).

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  Educationally, blacks also suffer from educational abuses at college and university level. Thus, in terms of quantity and quality of education, blacks still lag behind whites, despite some educational gains-reflected by the fact that blacks are better than Chicanos and Indians in term of their educational attainment, but the incomes of blacks are lower than that of less-educated whites and Chicanos (Turner, 1976: 196).

  Housing discrimination has greatly contributed to racial segregation in the United States. Blacks have typically had to pay high rents for deteriorated housing. Given the large differences in family income for blacks and whites, blacks must devote a much larger proportion of their total income to secure housing, even substandard housing. Black families, then, must sacrifice such things as quality food, health care, and recreation to secure housing that on the whole is of poorer quality than that whites who can earn comparable incomes (Turner, 1976: 238).

  In the field of law and criminal cases, police discrimination and abuse, as well as disproportionally strong indictments and long jail sentences for crimes against whites, are typically imposed upon blacks by a legal system staffed predominantly by whites (Turner, 1976: 198).

  Today in American communities, minority group, individuals, can still accept to find that they are more likely to be viewed as “suspicious” by police than lower-class whites; they are more likely to be arrested than whites; they should be prepared to be charged with a more severe crime than a whites for the same alleged behavior, especially if the crime is against a white; because of their

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  poverty and inability to afford legal defense, they are more likely to be forced to “cop a plea” (even when innocent) and plead guilty to a lesser charge than are whites; and they can expect larger jail sentences than whites when they commit a crime against and Anglo (Turner,1976: 200).

  In sum, the history of black Americans’ treatment under the laws is one of the inequities. Unlike most minorities, blacks have experienced formally sanctioned discrimination. As a result, blacks have been segregated and excluded from all major social, spheres-a situation that forced them to the bottom rungs of the stratification system (1976:198).

D. Theoretical Framework

  The writer has mentioned two theories in theoretical review. Both theory of characterization and theory of racism are used to analyze the problem formulations that have been formulated in the previous chapter.

  Theory of characterization is used to analyze Jake Brigance’s characteristics as the first question. Theory of racism is used to analyze the second question about the threats of racism that happening to Jake Brigance as seen in the story. Theory of characterization is used again to analyze the third question about Jake Brigance’s struggles against threats of racism as the significance of his charateristics. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study A Time to Kill is a novel about racism which is written by John Grisham

  in 1989. The setting of place is on Clanton, Southern America. The setting time of the story is about 1980’s. It is published by Dell Publishing a division of Bantam Doubleday, Dell Publishing Group, Inc. New York. The novel consists of 515 pages and it is divided into 44 chapters.

  A Time to Kill is a novel that is begun with the situation when a 10 years

  old black girl is raped by two whites. She is dying after the white rapists try to kill her. She is found by the fisherman and they brought her to her house. The white rapists are finally arrested and they are going to be punished, however, her father named Carl Lee Hailey, decides to shoot them and finally they die. As a result, Carl Lee Hailey is arrested and he hires Jake Brigance, a white lawyer, to defend him. In the process of defending Carl Lee Haley, Jake Brigance suffers racism.

  Jake Brigance is threatened by the racist people such as the organization called Ku Klux Klan. His family and people surround him, including his secretary and his law-clerk, experience racism. After the hard and long struggle against the racist people, Carl Lee Hailey finally gets the sympathy from the juries and he is sentenced to be free after Jake Brigance’s amazing final-summation. Carl Lee Hailey’s freedom as the black murderer of two white rapists is the evidence of Jake Brigance’s struggle against racism.

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B. Approach of the Study

  In conducting the analysis, the writer will use the sociocultural-historial approach. Based on Reading and Writing about Literature by Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods, Jr.: