Background of the Study

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

In recent years, Indonesia sustains moral degeneration. Arbi Sanit, an academic in Inside Indonesia online magazine writes that moral crisis is reaching its peak now. This crisis can be seen in various types of corruption. Some issues such as Century Bank, project of Hambalang, tax mafia are some cases of corruption. The report from Hong Kong ranking Indonesia as the third most corrupt in Asia only looked at a portion of the evidence, namely that government officials demand money from people in business. A much more common form of corruption again is political corruption. These corruption issues lead the moral degeneration. People do corruption only for satisfy their needs without think about others. Corruption is bad moral because it is not accordant with moral in the society. It shows selfishness. People live in society as social beings. Generally they keep up moral in the society. Moral is the distinction between right and wrong, or deals with goodness or badness of the attitude. People have good moral if their attitudes are convenient with moral in the society. But what is prohibited by society is really a bad thing? What is valued by society is really a good thing? Why should people do this? Why should people not do that? And do people have to be honest in all situations? These questions require critical and rational attitude in realizing moral. That is ethic. Ethic is branch of philosophy that studies about moral which determines attitude in the life. However, moral standard is not always same in each domain. Universitas Sumatera Utara Moral can be different or even be contrast in each country. So ethic makes critical reflection over the moral. Salam elaborates several theories of ethic. They are Deontology, Utilitarianism, Hedonism, Universalism, Egoism, Altruism, etc. Those theories definitely discuss about moral such as compassion, sacrifice, honesty, bravery, selfishness, unselfishness, virtue, humility, loyalty, and so on. Moral can be analyzed in literature by literary work. Literature is considered as the reflection of human imagination and reality. One form of literary work is novel work. Novel is fictional story in writing that has intrinsic and extrinsic elements. Novel portrays actions and characters deals with human life. Moral in the novel can be determined by analyzing character in the literary work. Barnet 1983:71 said that character has meanings as a figure in a literary work, and personality that is, the mental and moral qualities of a figure. In this thesis, the writer would like to discuss moral in novel The Lord of the Rings by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. This novel consists of three series or can also be called trilogy, but some editions combine the entire work into a single volume. The genre of The Lord of the Rings is fantasy, a branch of fiction, which is based on mythological and historical traditions with a grain of magic. This novel is chosen because the writer would like to investigate moral in literary work, even it can be learned in fantasy novel. The novel tells about nine companions called Fellowship of the Ring. Setting of the place is in Middle Earth. The companions Fellowship of the Ring do journey to a place named Mordor to destroy a ring. In this story, there is a ring which is powerful. If the ring is fallen to Sauron, the Dark Lord, the Middle-Earth will be controlled by evil and it means destruction of world. The companions the Fellowship of the Rings must Universitas Sumatera Utara face obstacle and temptation to Mordor. Frodo is one of the companions Fellowship that hold the ring. He does not choose himself to be a ring bearer but he is chosen. He accepts the decision as the ring bearer and must carry on an almost impossible mission. In this story, Frodo shows unselfishness. In the other hand, in this mission, many parties are involved and many things must be sacrificed. This novel also portrays about life which is full of sacrifice. The moral that found such as compassion, self-sacrifices and unselfishness are described through some characters. These moral are convenient with Altruism ethic. Altruism is an ethic that holds the moral value of people attitudes depend solely on the impact on other people, regardless of the consequence on that people . The compassion, self-sacrifice and unselfishness are epitome of good moral in this ethic. Otherwise the self-sacrifice and unselfishness can be classified as bad moral in Egoism ethic. Generally, theory of ethic has its own system to identify moral. Altruism is opposite with Egoism ethic. Nevertheless Altruism ethic is chosen as the theory of moral because in this novel, characters who reflect these moral are protagonists. They also do good things to many people. The writer also chooses altruism because it is good ethic as orientation of moral. In this thesis, moral is explained in literature, in this case novel can train moral in the society. It can help people to understand moral, especially compassion, self-sacrifice and unselfishness. Nowadays these moral are so rarely in society. People should be aware about the situation of moral in society. By understanding these moral, people can know and more understand the moral. Therefore people can be more respectful and care to others. This analysis is focused on moral base on some characters in The Lord of the Rings. Universitas Sumatera Utara

1.2 Problem of the Study