Deconstructive Reading on The Portrayal of The Orient Characters in Doyle's 'The Sign of Four' and Haggard's 'King Solomon's Mine'.

PREFACE

This thesis is submitted to the English Department Faculty of Letters as a partial fulfillment to obtain the ‘sarjana’ degree.

In this thesis I would like to discuss the portrayal of the Orient characters in Doyle’s UThe Sign of FourU and Haggard’s UKing Solomon’s MineU by using

deconstructive reading method.

I want to express my gratitude to the Lord Jesus Christ for giving me inspiration in writing this thesis, and to my supervisor I, Mr. Anton Sutandio, for the ideas, correction and inspiration, also to my supervisor II, Mrs. Lies Hidayat for checking my grammar. I also want to give my gratitude to my family and my friends that I can not name them one by one here.

Bandung, May 2006

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE ……… i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ……….……… ii

ABSTRACT …………... iii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Background of the Study ……… 1

Statement of the Problem ……… 3 Purpose of the Study ……… 3

Methods of Research ……… 4

Organization of the Thesis ……… 5

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND……… 6

CHAPTER THREE: DECONSTRUCTIVE READING IN DOYLE’S UTHE SIGN OF FOURU……….. 8 CHAPTER FOUR: DECONSTRUCTIVE READING IN HAGGARD’S UKING SOLOMON’S MINEU... 18 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION……….……… 28

BIBLIOGRAPHY………..……… 31

APPENDICES Synopsis of UThe Sign of FourU………. 32

Synopsis of UKing Solomon’s MineU………

33

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Biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle………. 33 Biography of Sir Henry Rider Haggard ……… 34

ABSTRACT

Karakter Orient (orang non kulit putih) dalam literatur Barat (orang kulit putih) zaman kolonial sering digambarkan sebagai stereotip orang yang bodoh, kejam, sensual, pemalas, intuitif, miskin, dan semua hal-hal negatif lainnya. Penggambaran ini tampak dalam kedua novel yang akan saya bahas dalam tesis saya ini, UThe Sign of Four Udan UKing Solomon’s MineU.

Dengan menggunakan metode pembacaan dekonstruktif saya menemukan bahwa penggambaran karakter Orient dalam kedua novel di atas tidak konsisten. Pada satu sisi, pembaca bisa melihat bahwa dalam dua novel tersebut karakter Orient digambarkan sebagai stereotip, tapi pada saat yang sama pembaca bisa melihat bahwa karakter Orient dalam kedua novel di atas digambarkan sebagai non stereotip.

Ketidakkonsistenan penggambaran karakter Orient dalam kedua novel ini membuktikan anggapan kaum pasca strukturalis bahwa suatu teks memang tidak konsisten. Ketidakkonsistenan ini dapat pula dipandang sebagai usaha secara tidak sadar dari pihak penulis novel tersebut untuk mempromosikan karakter Orient.

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APPENDICES

A. SUMMARIES The Sign Of Four

Sherlock Holmes was asked by Ms Mary Morstan to help her in finding her lost father. Together with Dr. Watson, their investigation led them to the house of Thaddeus Sholto, son of Major Sholto, Ms Morstan’s father’s friend. There they found the truth that Ms Morstan’s father has died and left her the treasure. The treasure was hidden in the attic of Sholtos’ house. On arriving there, they found out that Sholto’s brother Bartholomew has died of a strange poison, and the treasure is gone.

Using his unusual method Holmes found out the thieves were Jonathan Small and his Andaman friend, Tonga. Small claimed the treasure belonged to him and his three Indian friends, because they got it after they killed the owner in Agra, India. But before they could enjoy the treasure, they were caught. With the help of Major sholto and Captain Morstan, the treasure was dug out. But Major Sholto took the treasure for himself.

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Some years later, with Tonga’s help, Small took the treasure back. But in the end, neither Small nor Ms Morstan could enjoy the treasure, because Small has thrown it to the Thames, together with Tonga’s body.

King Solomon’s Mine

Allan Quatermain was asked to accompany Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good RN, to find the lost brother of Sir Henry, who went to central Africa in order tofind King Solomon’s mine. Before their departure, they are met by an African, Ignosi who was willing to be their guide and servant without any payment.

Equipped by the map of King Solomon’s mine and arms, they finally arrived at an isolated village of Kukuana. This village was ruled by Twala the king and Gagool the witch. There they found the truth that Ignosi was the rightful king of Kukuana. With the help of the white, Ignosi regained his throne back and killed Twala. As a token of gratitude the whites were allowed to take diamonds from King Solomon’s mine. They got there led by Gagool, she tried to trap them but died of her own mistake. After that they left Kukuana through other way and met Sir Henry’s brother. In the end, they went back to England and became rich.

B. BIOGRAPHIES Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Born as Arthur Ignatius Doyle in Edinburgh, 22 May 1859. since a little boy he was educated in several Jesuit schools. After graduating, he entered Medical Faculty in Edinburgh University. After his graduation he became a ship surgeon in a

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ship travelling to Africa (1879-1881), a doctor in a ship which ravelled to Artic and a practical doctor (1881) and assistant surgeon.

Doyle is very fond of adventure and he has travelled to many ‘uncivilized’ country to fulfil his adventurous soul. Because of his writing in historical and fiction field, he was knighted by the queen. He died in 1930

Sir Henry Rider Haggard

Henry Rider Haggard was born in 1856. He lived in Africa for many years after his graduation. After that he returned to England to work as banister, but at the same time he tried to write about Africa. After UKing Solomon’s MineU his first novel which was

written to compete R. L. Stevenson’s UTreasure Island,U he wrote many novels about

‘uncivilized’ places. He was knighted by the Queen and died in 1925.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The 19P

th

P century has given birth to many types of new novels. If before

19P

th

P century there were only historical, religious, or heroic novel then in 19P

th

P

century new types of novels were born such as detective and adventure novels. Two of the 19P

th

P century writers who wrote adventure and detective novels

are Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sir Henry Rider Haggard. Although both of them wrote different stories, Sir Arthur wrote about detective stories and Sir Henry wrote about the adventure in the far end of the world, they have something in common, which makes me decide to analyse the works of these two writers.

First, both of them have enriched the English literature with their timeless characters, Sherlock Holmes and Allan Quatermain. Roger Lancelyn Green, in his introduction to UAllan QuatermainU comments, ‘Allan Quatermain, like Sherlock

Holmes,…seem to have stepped out the realm of fiction and won a place among mortal men by reason of their immortality’ (GreenU,U1995:13). From this quotation

it is clearly seen that both Sherlock Holmes and Allan Quatermain are considered

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immortal because they will never die, literally, since their stories have passed two centuries and are still reread and retold.

Second, both of them reflect the belief of their time that white people is superior than the Orient (coloured people). This belief is later analyzed by Edward Said in 20P

th

P century and termed orientalism. Orientalism is ‘a style of thought

based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between “the Orient” and “the Occident” ’ (Said,1979:2). The result of this style of thought is ‘the large mass of poets, novelists, accepted the basic distinction between East and West as starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social description, and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, “mind”, destiny and so on’ (Said,1979:2-3). In other word, orientalism creates the stereotyped Orient, which is cruel, sensual, lazy, poor, intuitive and all other negative thing contradicts with the positive side of The West (Webster,1997:120).

In Doyle’s UThe Sign of FourU and Haggard’s UKing Solomon’s MineU, like in

other 19P

th

P century writer’s works that portray the Oriental characters, I find out

that the oriental characters in these two novels are portrayed as uncivilized people. They are portrayed as slave, savage, intuitive and stupid. In this thesis I would like to analyze the portrayal of the Orient characters by using the post structuralism approach, deconstruction. By applying deconstructive reading on these two novels, I find out that the portrayal of the Oriental characters in the two novels is inconsistent. The ultimate meaning of those characters are never reached, because there are two contradicting portrayal that appears at the same time.

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Deconstructive reading itself is the movement that emerges in Paris in 1960’s. Its purpose is to reveal the contradictions, paradoxes in the text. By revealing these contradictions and paradoxes, deconstruction wants to show that a text is actually a disunity in itself. Further explanation about deconstruction will be included in chapter two.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1. How are the Orient characters in UThe Sign of FourU deconstructed?

2. How are the Orient characters in UKing Solomon’s MineU deconstructed?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

1. To show how the Orient characters in UThe Sign of FourU is deconstructed.

2. To show how the Orient characters in UKing Solomon’s MineU is deconstructed.

METHOD OF RESEARCH

I use library research to write this thesis. First I read the primary texts, after that I read some other books as references. Then applying the deconstruction method in reading the novels and finally draw some conclusion from the analyses that has been done.

ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

I organize this thesis into five chapters. Chapter one is Introduction which consists of the Background of The Study, Statement of The Problem, Purpose of The Study, and Method of Research. Chapter two is Theoretical Background.

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Chapter three is Deconstructive Reading in Doyle’s UThe Sign of FourU. Chapter

four is Deconstructive Reading in Haggard’s UKing Solomon’s MineU. Chapter five

is Conclusion. I also include the biographies of the two authors, the summaries of the works and the references books in Appendices.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References:

• Barry, Peter. UBeginning TheoryU. Manchester: University Press, 2002.

• Code, Lorraine, ed. UEncyclopedia of Feminist TheoriesU. London: Routledge World

Reference, 2000.

• Cuddon, J.A. UDictionary of Literary Terms and Literary TheoryU. England: Penguin

Group, 1992.

• Green, Roger Lancelyn. Introduction to UAllan QuatermainU. London: Collin Clear

Type Press, 1995.

• Guerin, Wilfred L. UA handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature 3UPU

rd

UPU editionU.

New York: Oxford University Press, 1992U.

• Said, Edward W. UOrientalismU. New York: Vintage Books, 1979.

• Webster, Roger. UStudying Literature Theory: an introduction 2UPU

nd

UPU editionU. London.

Arnold, 1996.

Primary texts:

• Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. USherlock Holmes: long storiesU. London: Butler and

Tanner Ltd, 1966.

• Haggard, Sir Henry Rider. UKing Solomon’s MineU. England: Puffin Group, 1994

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The 19P

th

P century has given birth to many types of new novels. If before

19P

th

P century there were only historical, religious, or heroic novel then in 19P

th

P

century new types of novels were born such as detective and adventure novels. Two of the 19P

th

P century writers who wrote adventure and detective novels

are Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sir Henry Rider Haggard. Although both of them wrote different stories, Sir Arthur wrote about detective stories and Sir Henry wrote about the adventure in the far end of the world, they have something in common, which makes me decide to analyse the works of these two writers.

First, both of them have enriched the English literature with their timeless characters, Sherlock Holmes and Allan Quatermain. Roger Lancelyn Green, in his introduction to UAllan QuatermainU comments, ‘Allan Quatermain, like Sherlock

Holmes,…seem to have stepped out the realm of fiction and won a place among mortal men by reason of their immortality’ (GreenU,U1995:13). From this quotation

it is clearly seen that both Sherlock Holmes and Allan Quatermain are considered

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immortal because they will never die, literally, since their stories have passed two centuries and are still reread and retold.

Second, both of them reflect the belief of their time that white people is superior than the Orient (coloured people). This belief is later analyzed by Edward Said in 20P

th

P century and termed orientalism. Orientalism is ‘a style of thought

based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between “the Orient” and “the Occident” ’ (Said,1979:2). The result of this style of thought is ‘the large mass of poets, novelists, accepted the basic distinction between East and West as starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social description, and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, “mind”, destiny and so on’ (Said,1979:2-3). In other word, orientalism creates the stereotyped Orient, which is cruel, sensual, lazy, poor, intuitive and all other negative thing contradicts with the positive side of The West (Webster,1997:120).

In Doyle’s UThe Sign of FourU and Haggard’s UKing Solomon’s MineU, like in

other 19P

th

P century writer’s works that portray the Oriental characters, I find out

that the oriental characters in these two novels are portrayed as uncivilized people. They are portrayed as slave, savage, intuitive and stupid. In this thesis I would like to analyze the portrayal of the Orient characters by using the post structuralism approach, deconstruction. By applying deconstructive reading on these two novels, I find out that the portrayal of the Oriental characters in the two novels is inconsistent. The ultimate meaning of those characters are never reached, because there are two contradicting portrayal that appears at the same time.

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

Deconstructive reading itself is the movement that emerges in Paris in 1960’s. Its purpose is to reveal the contradictions, paradoxes in the text. By revealing these contradictions and paradoxes, deconstruction wants to show that a text is actually a disunity in itself. Further explanation about deconstruction will be included in chapter two.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1. How are the Orient characters in UThe Sign of FourU deconstructed?

2. How are the Orient characters in UKing Solomon’s MineU deconstructed?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

1. To show how the Orient characters in UThe Sign of FourU is deconstructed.

2. To show how the Orient characters in UKing Solomon’s MineU is deconstructed.

METHOD OF RESEARCH

I use library research to write this thesis. First I read the primary texts, after that I read some other books as references. Then applying the deconstruction method in reading the novels and finally draw some conclusion from the analyses that has been done.

ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

I organize this thesis into five chapters. Chapter one is Introduction which consists of the Background of The Study, Statement of The Problem, Purpose of The Study, and Method of Research. Chapter two is Theoretical Background.

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Chapter three is Deconstructive Reading in Doyle’s UThe Sign of FourU. Chapter

four is Deconstructive Reading in Haggard’s UKing Solomon’s MineU. Chapter five

is Conclusion. I also include the biographies of the two authors, the summaries of the works and the references books in Appendices.

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

Universitas Kristen Maranatha

BIBLIOGRAPHY

References:

• Barry, Peter. UBeginning TheoryU. Manchester: University Press, 2002.

• Code, Lorraine, ed. UEncyclopedia of Feminist TheoriesU. London: Routledge World

Reference, 2000.

• Cuddon, J.A. UDictionary of Literary Terms and Literary TheoryU. England: Penguin

Group, 1992.

• Green, Roger Lancelyn. Introduction to UAllan QuatermainU. London: Collin Clear

Type Press, 1995.

• Guerin, Wilfred L. UA handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature 3UPU

rd

UPU editionU.

New York: Oxford University Press, 1992U.

• Said, Edward W. UOrientalismU. New York: Vintage Books, 1979.

• Webster, Roger. UStudying Literature Theory: an introduction 2UPU

nd

UPU editionU. London.

Arnold, 1996.

Primary texts:

• Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. USherlock Holmes: long storiesU. London: Butler and

Tanner Ltd, 1966.

• Haggard, Sir Henry Rider. UKing Solomon’s MineU. England: Puffin Group, 1994

Universitas Kristen Maranatha