Reactions towards racial discriminations seen from the conflicts in Richard Wright`S `Down By The Riverside

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REACTIONS TOWARDS RACIAL DISCRIMINATIONS SEEN
FROM THE CONFLICTS IN RICHARD WRIGHT’S
“DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE”
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters

By
Pinka Tsarina Wima
Student Number : 094214010

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2014

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REACTIONS TOWARDS RACIAL DISCRIMINATIONS SEEN
FROM THE CONFLICTS IN RICHARD WRIGHT’S
“DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE”
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters

By
Pinka Tsarina Wima
Student Number : 094214010

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2014
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“Everything you can imagine is real.”
Pablo Picasso

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To my wonderful mama and papa,
and also my younger sisters, Ikma and Olivia.
And for every person that cheers up my day...

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH
UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma
Nama

: Pinka Tsarina Wima

Nomor Mahasiswa

: 094214010

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

REACTIONS
TOWARDS
RACIAL
DISCRIMINATIONS

SEENFROMTHE
CONFLICTSIN
RICHARD
WRIGHT’S
“DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE”
Bersama perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan
kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan,
mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data,
mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media
lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun
memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai
penulis.
Demikian pernyataan yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta.
Pada tanggal: 6 February 2014
Yang menyatakan,

(Pinka Tsarina Wima)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I thank Jesus who blesses me so I still can feel the joy of life, for his blessing
so I can finish my undergraduate thesis that is useful for my brighter future.
I would like to thank my advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M. Hum. and Drs.
Hirmawan Wijanarka M. Hum for their time, guidance, patience, help, and supports
in correcting my thesis. I also thank all the lecturers and staff of the Department of
English Letters for all their guidance and help that lead me coming at this point.
I would like to thank my best family ever. I thank my papa, Ir. Putut Sumeru
Wijaya and my beloved mama Dra. Elionora Rinawati, for every love that they had
given to me since I was born until this time. I thank them for their patience,
protection, and guidance in taking care of me. For my lovely grandpa, I thank him
for always calling me, asking about the progress on my thesis, encouraging me and

telling me how much he is proud of me. For my younger sisters, Ikma and Olivia,I
thank them for always being so annoying like Spongebob andPatrick. They ruin and
cheer up my days at the same time.
Next, I would like to thank Mbak Oky who is always by my side when I
make many troubles in my life.I thank her for the patience and guidance, and
especially for lending me her laptop. Then, I would like to thank Vita who always
patiently corrects my grammar and does silly things together. My special thank goes
to her sister, Sylvia Ika, who helps me get the Pdf of Uncle Tom’s Children. Then I
would like to thank my roommate Mitha and also my dormitory’s friends Yuk er,
Paula, Opin, Prina, Rei, and Dita who always support and make me smile everytime I
felt like giving up. I also thank all my college friends, Dinda, Anik, Samsul, Sakha,

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Reva, Reta, Lolo, Feby, Pita, Etri, Vince that fullfilled my day for four years with
laughter, stupidity, care, and love. My special thank goes to Arum, Wawan, Dory,
Sonson, Mas Jentik that patienly correct my grammar. Then, I thank all friends who
in UKM Karawitan, Karawitan GKJ Sawokembar, and also Museum Affandi’s staff
for loving me as a family and make me feel like at home. For Mrs. Kuncoro who
always asks about my thesis and trusts me to teach her children, Dika and Rani, I
thank her for her care and support. Next, I thank my bro, Jeje, my partner in crime. I
thank him for adding more color in my life.
Finally, for those who I can not mention here, I thank them all for the help
and support in the process of writing this thesis. I love them all.

Pinka Tsarina Wima

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TI TLE PAGE. …

・1
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APPROVAL PAGE. … … … … … … … … …・…… … … … … … … … … … … …… … … … … … …・・11
ACCEPTANCE PAGE. … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ・… … … …i i i
MOTTO PAGE. … … … … … … …… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ……・・i V
DEDI CAT10N PAGE. … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … : . … … … … … … … … … …・・V
LEPI I BAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJ UAN PUBLI KASI I CARYA I LPI I AI I
UNTUK KEPENTI NGAN AKADEMI S. … … . 1=… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Vi
ACKNOWLEDGEDI I ENTS. … … … … … … … … … … … … …・ … … … … … … … … … … … …・V五
` ・

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TABLE OF CONTENTS。 … … . : . … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 破
ABSTACT. … … … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … X
ABSTRAK. . . : . … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … …… … … … … … … …・
・Xi

CHAPTERI : I NTRODUCT10N. …

… … … … … … … … … … … … …・…… … … … … … … … 1
A. Backgr ound of t he St udy… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ■
B. Pr obl cm Fo. . . l ul at i on. … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …・3
C. 助 CCt 市 CS Of t he St udy“ … … … …… ……・… … 。… … … … … … … ……・… … … … 。4
D. Def l l ni t i on of To■ l s. … ………………………………¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨・
・… ………………¨¨¨¨¨¨・ 4

CⅡ APTER I I : TⅡ EORETI CAL REVI EW. … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …6
A. Revi cw of Rel at cd St udi es. … … … … … … … …… … … … …… … … … … … … … … 6
B. Rcvi cw of Rcl at cd Thco五 es. … . … …. … ¨・… … … …… … ¨ … … … … …… …・……… 8
1. Theor i es of Conf l i ct . … …………………………
・
・………………¨…¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨………。8
of Di sc五 mi nat i on. … ………… ¨ …………………・
・¨…… …… …¨…¨。9
3. The r el at i on beh″ een Li t cr at ur e and Soci ct y¨ ………………¨ …¨¨¨ “ 10

2. Theo五 es

C. Revi ew of Ame五 can Soci et y i n 19t h Cent 岬. . … … … … … … … … … … …・H
D. Theor et i cal Fr al newor k. … … … ……… …… …… …¨ …・
・…… …… …… ¨… … …… … …… 18
CⅡ APTER I I I : Ⅳ I ETHODOLOGY. … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …・ 20
A. Ot t eCt Of t he St i l dy… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ……20
Bo Appr oach of t he St t dy… … …… … … … … … … … … … … … … …… …… 21
C. Me■ Od Of t he St udy¨ ¨… …… … … … …… … … … …… … … … … … …… 22

CⅡ APTER I V: ANALYSI S. … …………… ……………………・
・。
…………………………・23
A. Thc Conf l i ct s Descr i bed l i t he` ` Dow. l by t he Ri vcrsi de' ' . ¨ ¨………¨¨¨ 23
Bo Raci al Di sc五 mi nat i on Rcf l cct cd i n NI l am' s Conf l i ct s. … ………………… 35
C. Rcact i on t owar ds Raci al Di sc五 mi nat i on. … …………………………………・
・46
:・

CHAPTER V: CONCLUS10N. …
BI BLI OGRAPHY. …

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・: . … …………………………………・…………… 56
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APPENDI X. …

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summar y of ` ` Down byt he R市 er si de. … … ………… …………… ¨………… 。
……… 58

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ABSTRACT
PINKA TSARINA WIMA. Reactions towards Racial Discriminations Seen from
the Conflicts in Richard Wright’s “Down by the Riverside”. Yogyakarta:
Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2014.
“Down by the Riverside”, created by Richard Wright, is a short story about
the struggle of a black man towards discrimination by white people. The analysis of
this study focuses on the major character, Mann. He is a black man who is the leader
of his family. He struggles to bring his wife to the hospital although his environment
does not support him.
There are three problems to be discussed in this study. The first problem
deals with the conflicts described in the story. The second problem deals with racial
discrimination reflected from the conflicts. The third one deals with the character’s
reaction toward the racial discrimination.
To do the analysis, the writer did several steps. First, the writer took a library
research method on working on the subject. Then, sociocultural-historical approach
is applied as a means to analyze the problems. Next, some theories such as theories
on conflict, theories on discrimination. The relation between literature and society,
and also the review of America History is applied in 19th century are also employed
to guide the analysis.
The result of this analysis shows that Mann, the main character of this story
experienced many conflicts with white people. The conflict that Mann experienced
reflects racial discrimination that happened in that era. Mann is not only silence and
accepts his destiny as a black man that always treated badly, but he also shows that
he can deny white’s racial discrimination actions.Mann did his action because he
wanted to get his freedom as a black man who is free from slavery era.

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ABSTRAK
PINKA TSARINA WIMA. Reactions Towards Racial Discriminations Seen
from the Conflicts in Richard Wright’s “Down by the Riverside”. Yogyakarta:
Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2014.
“Down by the Riverside”, dikarang oleh Richard Wright, adalah sebuah cerita
pendek tentang perjuangan seorang lelaki kulit hitam dalam menghadapi diskriminasi
oleh orang kulit putih. Pembahasan skripsi ini difokuskan pada karakter utama,
Mann. Dia adalah lelaki kulit hitam yang menjadi kepala keluarga. Mann berjuang
untuk membawa istrinya ke rumah sakit meskipun lingkungan dimana dia tinggal
tidak mendukung akan hal itu.
Ada tiga permasalahan yang dibahas dalam skripsi ini. Permasalahan
pertama, berkaitan dengan konflik yang digambarkan di dalam cerita. Permasalahan
kedua, berkaitan dengan diskriminasi suku yang tercermin dari konflik.
Permasalahan ketiga, berkaitan dengan reaksi dari tokoh terhadap praktek dari
rasisme.
Dalam melakukan analisanya, penulis menggunakan beberapa tahapan. Yang
pertama, penulis melakukan studi pustaka. Kemudian sebuah pendekatan
sosiokultural-historikal diterapkan untuk menganalisa permasalahannya. Akhirnya,
beberapa teori seperti teori konflik, teori diskriminasi, hubungan antara sastra dan
masyarakat, dan juga resensi masyarakat America abad ke 19 juga diterapkan untuk
mendukung analisa tersebut.
Hasil dari analisa tersebut menunjukkan bahwa Mann, tokoh utama dari cerita
ini mengalami banyak konflik dengan orang kulit putih. Konflik yang dialami oleh
Mann mencerminkan diskriminasi ras yang terjadi pada masa itu. Mann tidak hanya
diam menerima takdirnya sebagai orang kulit hitam yang diperlakukan tidak adil,
namun dia menunjukkan bahwa dia bisa menolak tindakan diskriminasi suku dari
orang kulit putih. Mann melakukan aksi ini karena dia ingin mendapatkan kebebasan
sebagai orang kulit hitam yang sudah bebas dari era perbudakan.

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Reading the literary work can give the readers many beneficial values.
Reading a work of literature educates us as a human being and also entertains
us. We can enjoy the story and also enrich our knowledge and experience in
our life. Through literature we may understand the reality of life. The reality
happened in the past or when the author wrote the story. Wellek and Warren
in The Theory of Literature (1956 : 102) state that literary works can play the
role as a historical document that records social realities, which are
artistically portrayed by the author. That comes to the writer mind to think
about black people’s reactions in American society in the 1930s to face
inequality towards them.
Black people came from Africa, they came to America because they were
brought by white people as their slaves. This situation made black people live
in the lower status than white people in every situation. White people were
superior and black people were inferior. As stated in America’s History by
James Henretta et al.,
When Reconstruction came to an end in 1877, so did the hopes of AfricanAmericans that they would enjoy the equal rights of citizenship promised
them by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments. In education there was
strict segregation. Access to jobs, to justice, and to social welfare, was
racially determined and unequal (1993 : 597).
Black people were treated unequally and inhumanly, many of them even died
because of white’s brutality. Black people were not only white people’s slave,
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they were also the slave of society. When white people made a mistake, the
society forgive and forget it easily. On the other hand, when black people
made a little mistake, society judged them and punished them for a big
mistake. This situation made black people live under white’s oppression. They
have no choice to do harmful actions to protect themselves. They tend to live
like in the jungle with the slogan killed or to be killed. Thus, many cases of
white folks were murdered by black people because the black people had no
choice to do this action to protect himself or his family.
The 1930s was the era after the Civil war when there was no more slavery,
but the reality was that black people never lived in an equal position as white
people did. They even still had to live in sufferings and in lower status than
whites. Slavery in United States became legal constitution after Abraham
Lincoln declared liberty for black slaves. America a Narrative History by
Tindall stated that
The newly freed slaves suffered most of all. According to Frederick
Douglass, the black abolitionist, the former bondsman “was free from the
individul master but a slave of society. He had neither money, property,
nor friends. He was free from the old plantation, but he had nothing but the
dusty road under his feet. He was free from the old quarter that once gave
him shelter, but a slave to the rains of summer and the frosts of winter. He
was turned loose, naked, hungry, and destitute to the open sky.” (1984 :
671).
This made the work of Richard Wright, “Down by the Riverside.”
appropriate for learning about reaction towards racial discrimination seen
from the conflicts. Richard Wright was a Black man who was born in
Mississippi on 4 September 1908. He was grandson of a slave. His father was
a sharecropper and his mother was a school teacher. Richard Wright lived in

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the American South and experienced bad treatments from white folks. He
was one of the famous black authors who always criticizes discrimination
towards the blacks. In March of 1938, he published his collection of four
stories and one of them is entitled “Down by the Riverside” (2008 : 2-16).
This short story is about flood that happened in the American South. The
discrimination that black people experienced in this story can be seen
conspicuously. At that time, black people did not get help, even a black
woman died because she got no help for delivering her baby. The white
soldiers also still treated the black man like a slave. They were forced to
repair the levee and if they refused, the whites would shoot them. This made
black people lived in a difficult position. Lived under white’s oppression for
long time made them learn to survive and finally they were brave to speak
and act to protest white oppression. It could be seen that this was their
reaction towards injustice that happened to them. This was one of their
actions to reach their ‘real’ freedom. By discussing the topic about black
people’s reaction, the writer hopes that the thesis will contribute some
knowledge about the understanding of achieving for the justice and human
rights.
B. Problem Formulation
From the description of background of the study, the writer made problem
formulations to know about the aspect that was analyzed. Then, to support
the problem formulations, the writer needs to formulate some questions, and
the questions are formulated below.

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1. How are the conflicts described in the story?
2. How do the conflicts reflect racial discrimination?
3. How do the characters react toward racial discrimination?
C. Objectives of the Study
Based on the problem formulations, this part has a function to state the
objectives of the research. This analysis has three objectives. Answering the
question number one, the writer considered identifying the conflicts that later
represent the internal conflicts and external confllicts between Mann with
himself and Mann with his environment as revealed in Richard Wright
“Down by the Riverside”.
Those descriptions later continued to the question number two. The writer
wants to reveal racial discrimination experienced by black people in America
society in 1930s through the experience of characters as seen in the story that
was reflected from the conflict.
The third, the writer wants to find out the reaction of black people towards
racial discrimination. The conflicts happened because of white oppression
caused of struggle and black people’s striked against the white people. In this
case, the writer wants to understand about the black people’s reaction towards
the racism.
D. Definition of Terms
In this study, to avoid the misunderstanding the writer needs to explain
about the term that used on Richard Wright “Down by the Riverside”

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Conflict as stated in A Handbook to Literature by William Harmon and
Hugh Holman said that “The struggle that grows out of the interplay of two
opposing forces.” (2009: 123). In this discussion what is meant by conflict is
problem which is occur between the black and the white and also the black
with himself in order to react against white’s oppresion.
Racial Discrimination as stated in The New Encyclopedia Britannica is all
forms of differential behaviour based on race. Physical segregation by race is
the most notable form of racial discrimination, but there are many others such
as rules of etiquette between racial superiors and inferiors (1983 : 360).

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CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Richard Wright is one of the famous black authors who is brave to speak
about the reality that happened toward black people. He is one of black authors
who has contributions to African-American literature.
Wright’s development was marked by an ability to respond to the currents of
the social and intellectual history of his time. His most significant
contribution, however, was his desire to accurately portray blacks to white
readers, thereby destroying the white myth of the patient, humorous,
subservient black man.
(http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/wright_richard/)
“Down by the Riverside” is a short story that has been collected with other
short stories and published in the book entitled Uncle Tom’s Children in 1938 by
Harper Collins. This short story gives positive influences into his career. As it
stated in the biography.com that “the book proved to be a significant turning point
in his career. The stories earned him a $500 prize from Story magazine and led to
a 1939 Guggenheim Fellowship” (http://www.biography.com/people/richardwright-9537751).
This short story was written in the era when the civil war ended in America,
but the discrimination has not ended in that era especially in the American South.
Almost all of conflicts in this story show that black people experienced
discrimination.Wright who lived in the South and got bad experience from whites

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wrote almost all of his experience in his literary works. The undergraduate thesis
which is done by Deasy Setia Mayasari entitled The Influence of Richard Wright
Life upon the Main Character in Native Son states that “almost all of Wright’s
works are about Negro man. He tells the reality about the gap between the Whites
and the Blacks throughout his novels. It seems that his novels are the reflection of
the reality”(2002: 2).
Richard Wright was born and raised in the American South, it made him live
in the hard world. His life is full of violence and brutality that is caused by
white’s oppresion. As stated by Fredy Wijaya in his undergraduate thesis entitled
Psychopatic Personality as Seen in the Main Character of Richard Wright’s
Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth.
Along with the process to get a better life for them, the blacks have a lot of
self-conflict in their own life. It is affected in their personality, like what
happened to the main character in the novel. The main character in the novel,
which is Richard Wright himself, suffered from a kind of personality disorder.
This happened because in his childhood, Richard Wright experienced the life
that extremely hard for him as a child
(2007 : 3).
Living in the world full of violence makes him realize that he has to speak up
and fight against the whites to stop their bad treatments toward blacks. It is stated
in the A+E Television Networks that the more he read about the world, the more
he longed to see it and made a permanent break from the Jim Crow South. "I want
my

lif e

to

count

for

something,"

he

told

a

friend.

(http://www.biography.com/people/richard-wright-9537) It is shown to the reader

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that Wright wants the world see the injustice happened towards his people by
reading his works. Wright as a black man has a duty to speak up for his people.
As the conclusion, the study which is conducted by the writer is different from
both of the studies above. In the first study, Deasy Setia Mayasari focuses on
Influence of Richard Wright life’s to the main character in the Native Son. In the
second study, Fredy Wijaya focuses on the Psychopatic Personality as Seen in the
Main Character of Richard Wright’s Black Boy. Meanwhile, the study conducted
by the writer focuses on the reactions towards racial discriminations seen from the
conflicts in Richard Wright’s “Down by the Riverside”.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theories of Conflict
As stated in A Handbook to Literature by Hugh Holman and William Harmon
that conflict is the struggle that grows out of the interplay of two opposing forces.
Conflict provides interest, suspense, and tension. They also state that conflict
may be involved in four different kinds namely struggle against nature, against
another person, against society, and against destiny (2009: 123). It means to say
that conflict happened between two contrary forces and conflict mostly deal with
tension. Conflict is also divided into four different kinds. First is struggle against
nature. Next is the struggle against another person where a protagonist has a
conflict with another character. The conflict can happen between an individual
and another individual or an individual and a group of people. The third is
against the society, in this part the character’s action contrast with the values

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believed by the society where he lives. The last conflict is against destiny, the
protagonist character has to struggle for his own destiny.
In Stanton’s there are two kinds of conflict, internal conflict and external
conflict (1965:16):
a. Internal Conflict.
Internal Conflicts happened between two desires within a character. This
conflict is between Man Vs Himself. The character argues with himself to
decide something when he faces a problem in his life.
b.External Conflict
External Conflicts happened between characters or between a character and
his environment. This conflict happened when the character faces a problem
with other characters and fight against to other character.
Stanton also states that conflict is an important element of plot. Two
important elements of plot are conflict and climax. It meaning to say that conflict
have an important role of the literary works because it always deals with the plot.
2. Theories of Discrimination
As stated in International Encyclopedia of Ethics that “discrimination is
differential treatment based on physical and social affiliation. It has negative
impact on the human’s moral behaviour”(Roth, 1995 : 231). America can be a
representative country which has high discrimination inside. People who live in
America consist of many races and religion. There are many kind of
discrimination that can be found in the US. “The cruelest discrimination is the
discrimination against the African-Americans” (Roth, 1995 : 232).
According to Hernan Cruz in his book entitled Discrimination American
Style“ Discrimination is a subtle form of unequal treatment based on race that is

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entrenched in social custom” (1977 : 67). It includes segregation in living place,
financial institutions refusal, and the practice of low-paying job towards minority
group in this case is black people. “In the US, the cruelest acts of discrimination
spotted in the racial minorities. African American in the lowest status in the
society,

relative powerlessness, material deprivation, and sociopsychic

resentment”(1977 : 67).
3. The Relation between Literature and Society
As stated in Theory of Literature by Wellek and Warren that literature has
usually risen in close connection with particular social institutions and has also a
social function, or use, can not be purely individual (1956 : 94). Literature can
reflect the society happen when the literature is produced, because usually
literature set a certain society as the setting of the play. Graham Little in the
Approach to Literature: an Introduction to Critical Study of Content and Method
in Writing says that “literature is the principle of a culture”(1963 : 1).
The relation between literature and society are that literature is an expression
of the society (Wellek and Waren, 1956 : 95). “Literary works can play its role as
document that record social realities, happen in society, which is artistically
portrayed by the authors”(1956 : 102). Literature can be made for the outlines of
social history. For example, literature can be as a social picture of American life
(1956 : 103).

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C. Review of American Society in the early 20th Century
“Down by the Riverside” is set in the 1900-1930s in Mississippi, American
South. It is the era after the civil war ended in America. The North that won the
war wanted to abolish slavery. Unfortunately how the society behaved towards
black did not change as much. Black people who were free still could not live in
an equal position as the whites, they still had to respect white and treat white in
the highest place in the society. As stated in The Shapping of the American Past
by Robert Kelley that “though free, blacks were expected to show deference and
respect, by a host of small gestures and phrases, just as in the days of slavery”
(1986 : 357). The society still treated them as slaves even the blacks have to call
all whites man with “Mister”. John K. Roth in the Encylopedia of Ethics also
stated that “the end of slavery in the United States did not, and could not, bring
an end to discrimination” (1995 : 233).
Black people have been enslaved for a long time and people’s stereotype
about them have not changed yet. They still thought that black people are white’s
slaves.
They also have not experienced a society that does not prejudge them based
upon physical characteristics and stereotypes. It could be said that
discrimination continues to be embedded in the social, political, and economic
fabric of the United States (Roth 1995 : 233).
The quotation above showed that the discrimination towards black people can be
identified from many aspects namely social, economic, political, and law.

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1. Social Condition
Black people never get the equal treatment from society, although they are
free from slavery. White people always underestimated black people because
black people’s ancestor were slaves. That condition makes white people assume
that they are superior than black people. White people always think that black
people are less than human (Thernstrom and Thernstorm, 1997 : 27). Charles S.
Johnson in the America in Black and White by Thernstrom and Thernstorm stated
that:
They know you are a Negro and I know I am a Negro, and I know that there is
a certain way white people are going to treat a Negro. They want you to stay
in your place, and if you get out of it too much they are going to put you back
in it. I mean by this that the white man is the boss in the South and you got to
talk to him like he is the boss (1997 : 44).
The quotation above shows that the white people always wanted to be in the
upper class of the society. They wanted to show the black people that they used
to be the boss and were still their boss although the slavery era is over.
The whites discrimination can also be seen from the social condition in the
South. The place in the public facilities are separated into two section: white and
colored. The whites can pass through the colored section, but on the other hand
colored were not allowed to pass through the white sections. As stated in The
Shapping of the American Past, Blacks were segregated in almost all of public
facilities, such as schools, prisons, hospitals, churches, and even cemeteries
(Kelley 1986 : 359). The government made this rule to make them separate but
equal and to legalize the discrimination towards black. The “separate but equal”

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doctrine regards for the realities of southern lives, it is never made black and
white “equal” and the segregation place only to underscore the inferiority of
blacks (Henretta et al., 1993 : 599).
The brutality and cruel treatment still happened after the Civil War. In 1865,
an organization named Ku Klux Klan was first organized in Tennessee. This
group of people consisted of white people who intimidated black people. U.S
History for Dummies stated that
They used weird costumes and goofy rituals to intimidate blacks from
exercising their rights. When intimidation failed, they and other white mobs
and paramilitary groups resorted to violence. Hundreds of African Americans
were beaten, driven from their homes, or brutally murdered as a result of these
groups’ actions (Wiegand, 2009:180).
The inhuman treatment continued to happen towards black people. Many of them
died because of white’s brutality. In the Jim Crow South, white people seemed to
have a license to treat black people badly without any regard for law or morality
whenever they wished. It made the black people scared of white people for that
reason (Thernstrom and Thernstorm, 1997 : 46). America’s History stated that in
the South, the number of lynchings rose from forty-eight in 1917 to seventy-eight
in 1919. Several blacks were lynched while still wearing their military uniforms.
That condition became worse because of American imperialism and also black
service in World War I. The treatment of lynching black people increased in the
early 1930s where twenty black were lynched in 1930, and twenty-four in 1933
(Henretta et al.,1993:771). In the South, race hatred, manifested in a wave of
lynchings, and race riots in the public vilification of blacks became an accepted

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part of white’s lifestyle (Henretta et al.,1993: 599). This issue described that in
that era killing black people was so easy, even the law did not work properly to
protect black people. Black people had to fight against whites by themselves.
In several cities, black people fight against Jim Crow Law by themselves.
Henretta et al., in the America’s History stated that
Like the blacks of Grimes County, southern blacks in many places resisted
white oppression as best they could. When Georgia adopted the first Jim
Crow law applying to streetcars in 1891, Atlanta blacks declared a boycott,
and over the next fifteen years there were boycotts against segregated
streetcars in at least twentyfive cities (1993 : 599).
Black people are tired of living under white’s oppression. It is shown one of their
brave action to get an equality in the public places. They fight back against the
Jim Crow law that arranged separation of public places into two section between
whites and blacks. Although black people could be killed because of their action
they were not afraid because they wanted the better future for their next
generation.
2. Economy
In the economic condition, black people who is used to be slaves have to
compete with poorer whites to get a job. It makes the black life’s harder, they
have to save their life and survive by competing with poorer whites to get a job.
Thernstrom and Thernstorm in the America in Black and White stated that
The vast majority of southern blacks were poor because they were confined to
ill-paid, insecure, menial jobs—jobs that few whites would take. In
Mississippi, the most agrarian as well as the most heavily black state, over
two-thirds of African Americans were agricultural workers. Only one of eight
southern black farmworkers owned the land on which he worked, as

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compared with over 40 percent of the whites who worked in southern
agriculture. Most blacks employed in agriculture were either “sharecroppers”
or “laborers” (1997 : 34).
It is shown that only few of blacks can have their own land because the whites
did not want blacks to have their own land. They want black to continue working
for them. “Sometimes black men could own only rural property, sometimes only
urban.” (Kelley , 1986 : 359).
This condition became worse because Maulana Karenga in Introduction to
Black Studies 2nd Edition stated that
However, economically, Congress did not give Blacks the support they
needed and they were essentially reintegrated back into the southern economy
under semi-enslaved conditions as sharecroppers (1993 : 145).
Their life had always been hard and during the 1930s their life became harder
than before. It made them tired of living under poverty, but the situation changed
in the 1950s and the early 1960s, Black people started making their own move.
James Henretta et al., in America’s History stated that
Black’s new assertiveness alarmed many white Americans. They had been
willing to go along with the moderate reforms of the 1950s and early 1960s,
but they were wary when blacks started demanding immediate access to
higher-paying jobs, better housing in previously white neighborhoods,
integrated schools, and increased political powers (1993 : 957).
This is one of their reaction against economic condition because they want to live
in the better condition than before. They realize that they were no longer living in
slavery era and it made them want to change their fate and fight for their life to
make them live in the better future.

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3. Law
The law at that time did not work as it was supposed to be. The law still
worked in the white’s side. When there was a case that black people was
accused, the law would judge them and punished them for a big mistake. On the
other hand, when white people made any kind of crime towards black, the court
would punish them mildly and even forget it easily.
The courts, meanwhile, refused to prosecute whites accused of crimes against
blacks, which grew rapidly in frequency and violence. Nothing was more
disheartening to blacks, in fact, than their total inability to receive anything
like justice in the courts of the Southern states, even to bring suit or testify or
sit on juries (Kelley, 1986 : 357).
In all of cases between black and white, the blacks were not allowed to testify in
court unless the case involved other blacks (Kelley, 1986 : 359). This is another
proof that blacks could not get an equal treatment even from the law. Black could
not do anything because the whites point a gun at them. The black people who
made a mistake and were captured by the Southern police were not any better
than lynching. Their cases were brought to the Southern court and then the judge
would give them a death punishment. Thernstrom and Thernstorm in the America
in Black and White stated that
Southern police officers and southern courts were extremely harsh and
punitive in their treatment of blacks convicted of crimes against whites or the
white-dominated caste order (1997 : 48).
In the 1890s, the South became for the first time a fully segregated society by
law. Jim Crow is the racial legislation that made by government to legalize

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white’s discrimination towards blacks people and make them separate but equal.
(Henretta et al., 1993 : 599). After Jim Crow Law applyed in south, southern
blacks in many places resisted white oppression as best they could, even Atlanta
blacks declared a boycott and over the next fifteen years there were boycotts
against segregated streetcars in at least twenty five cities (Henretta et al., 1993 :
599).
In the middle of black oppression by whites, American South was attacked by
big flood that caused by Mississippi river’s damaged. It killed many people and
caused disadvantages for the citizen.
The Flood of 1927 was the most destructive and costly flood in Arkansas
history and one of the worst in the history of the nation. It afflicted Arkansas
with a greater amount of devastation, both human and monetary, than the
other
affected
states
in
the
Mississippi
River
Valley.
(http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entrydetail.aspx?entryid=2202)
The flood also brought black people in the sadness condition. Most of them died
because they were late to be helped. They were difficult to get shelter and boat.
When the flood is over, their suffering was not over yet, the black people were
forced to repair the levee under the white’s order. When the blacks refused, the
whites would shoot them.
In Mississippi, perhaps the most heated controversy of the 1927 flood occured
over the handling of black refugees in Greenville, and particularly over the
shooting
of
a
black
man
who
resisted
conscription.
(http://www.pipeline.com/~rougeforum/floodstories.html)

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Facts about discrimination that is faced by blacks shows that the freedom that
the Black people got is not the real freedom because they still have to live under
white’s oppresion in many kind of aspects and even they have to suffer more.
D. Theoretical Framework
In this study, the writer uses some theories that are used to answer all of the
problem formulations. The first is the theory of conflict by Hugh Holman and
William Harmon and also theory of conflicts by Stanton. There theory are used
because they can help to analyze the conflicts described in the story, both internal
conflict and external conflict. To use these theory the writer will try to understand
the conflict happened in the story. The internal conflict that happened between the
character himself and also external conflict that happened within the main
character with the other characters in the story and then relate it to the conflict
happened in the real life. The theory of conflict by Hugh Holman and William
Harmon and also theory of conflicts by Stanton will be used to answer problem
number one.
Theories of discrimination by Hernan Cruz and John K. Roth, the relation
between literature and society by Wellek and Warren, and also the reviews of
American Society in the 19th century are used because related to the study about
reactions towards racial discrimination. Because this analysis has a purpose to
find the racial discrimination that is reflected from the conflict, so the theory of
discrimination by Hernan Cruz and John K. Roth is needed. The relation between

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literature and society also needed because it is important to identify that literature
is the reflection from the society.
The review of American Society in the 19th century is also important because
it is used to see how American Society is reflected into the discrimination in the
story. The review is used to understand why the discrimination occured towards
the black people and also to understand the cause and impact towards the black
people. It is also to understand and see what the real condition between the black
and the white in that era and also give the reader a picture of their behaviour
toward each other. Because of that, the theories can be applied to understand how
the conflicts reflect racial discrimination. These theories are used to answer
problem formulation number two.
In the last problem formulation can be answered by using the review of
American society in the 19th century. Because by seeing the incidents from the
history, the writer can see the reality that Black people face and also their
reactions towards the reality that happened to them. This review is suitable to
answer problem number three.

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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study is a short story entitled “Down by the Riverside”
written by Richard Wright. This short story with four other stories were
collected in Uncle Tom’s Children that first published by Harper Collins
Publisher in 1936. “Down by the Riverside” contains of 62 pages. This short
story told about African-American men who reacted towards white oppression
to protect him and his family. This story took a place in America South in the
1930s. In that period, the society’s treatment between white people and
colored people were different. The colored people were always in the lower
position in social class in the society.
Mann was the major character in this short story who lived with his family
in the small house, they could not go anywhere because there was big flood in
the town and they had been trapped in their house for four days. Mann asked
Bob, his brother in law, to sell his old mule, so he could buy a boat for them to
escape. Bob came home with stolen boat from a white man. He said that no
white gives a proper price for his mule, and he could not buy a boat because
they gave a high price so that black people could not own the boat. Bob had
no choice, he had to steal the boat from Mr. Heartfield so he could save his
family from the flood. Mann had no choice to take the stolen boat and brought
his family to town, he had to go to hospital because his wife, Lulu, was
suffering to death because she could not deliver the baby.
On the way to the hospital, Mann met Mr. Heartfield and he wanted to
shoot him because he thought that Mann stole his boat. Mann tried to explain,

20

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but Mr. Heartfield did not want to listen, he put a gun to Mann and ready to
shoot him. Mann had no choice. He grabbed his own gun and shoot Mr.
Heartfield to the death. After that, Mann continued his journey to the hospital.
In the hospital, the doctor said that Lulu died because she was late to be
helped. The army took Mann’s boat and sent him to help the people who were
still trapped in their houses. Mann helped Mr. Heartfield’s family who were
trapped in their house, but after that they told the army that Mann stole
Mr.Heartfield’s boat and killed him. Mann could not testify anything in the
court, because black were not allowed to use their right to speak. The court
judged him as the accused then the army took him away. Mann ran to save
himself, but the army shot him to dead.
B. Approach of the Study
Since the story tells about the black men and his experience towards racial
discrimination that is seen from the conflicts, the writer uses the
sociocultural-historical approach to analyze this story. According to Mary
Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods, Jr. in their book Reading and Writing
about Literature, sociocultural-historical approach is an approach that has
something to do with analyzing civilization. It means that it focuses on the
historical background of the story and also the condition of the society (1971 :
9).
This criticism is chosen to analyze “Down by the Riverside” to see the
reactions towards racial discriminations seen from the conflicts. The writer
has an assumption that the short story is influenced by the condition of
society in that era because the short story has similarity to the real condition
that occurs when the story is made. By using this kind of approach, it will be

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easier for the writer to see the connection between the society and the story.
The criticism is suitable because the focus of the analysis is on the reaction
towards racism on black people. In addition, the study will also deal mostly
with the historical background of the story.
C. Method of the Study
The study of sociocultural-historical background in the “Down By The
Riverside” was a library research. The primary source was the short story
itself entitled “Down By The Riverside” by Richard Wright. The secondary
sources were taken from books, journals, articles, undergraduate thesis, and
also websites that contained the review of the story or related to the theory or
approach used to analyze this literary work.
There were several steps taken in analyzing this literary work. The first
step taken was reading the whole story. From the reading, the writer was
interested to see the reaction towards racial discrimination that could be seen
from the conflicts in the story.
The second step taken was collecting the data that had the relation with the
story or theory or approach that used to analyze the story. The data taken
from other books, journals, articles, undergraduate thesis, and also websites.
The last step taken was answering the problem formulations. This step was
done by using the theory of conflict, theory of racial discrimination, review of
American society in 19th century and also sociocultural – historical approach
to reveal the re