Background of the Study

1. Discrimination

The terms of discrimination, based on the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 508, is the practice of treating one particular group in society in an unfair way. Banton says that it is not possible to determine that an action is discriminatory without indicating the basis of the differential treatment Banton 19. Since there are some definitions about discrimination, the writer defines discrimination as the practice of treating one particular group or person in society in an unfair way in this case in front of the law that was made by a group of people based on an agreement among them. Paradise portrays the discrimination that happens within an Afro American community in a small town named Ruby. One family name that is the Morgan family treats the other families in an unfair way in the basis of the law that was made by the community of Ruby itself.

2. The Afro-American

According to the The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 53 the Afro American refers to a black American person. In this study, the writer specify the term of the Afro American. Thus the Afro American here refers to the Blacks American people who live in America because of slavery trading. They live in a community of black people and after the slavery era, they try to maintain their own life in order to protect themselves from the Whites.

3. The Caste System

Here, the caste system refers to the rule of blood that was maintained by the Blacks and the Whites in order to protect them from intermarriage. This system was implemented by the Whites to emphasize the inferiority of the Blacks. The Whites said that all Negroes were alike and must be treated as the lower class people. Myrdal uses this term in his book because the term “class” is liable to blur a significant distinction between the lower class and the upper class so, a term to distinguish the large and systematic type of social differentiation from the small and spotty type is needed Myrdal 667. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 7

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter includes theories and reviews on related literature that support the analysis of the novel. It consists of the theoretical review, the socio- historical background, and the theoretical framework. The theoretical review consists of critical approach, theory of social class, power and status relations, theory of stratification, and theory of discrimination. The sociocultural-historical background consists of the Afro-American history after the slavery era in 1960s - 1970s, the American class and caste system, Negro community after the slavery, classes in the Negro community, distribution of Afro American people, and Afro- American Church. The theoretical framework will explain how the theories mentioned answer the problem.

A. Theoretical Review

This part contains the literary theory related to the study. The theory is the theory of critical approaches.

1. Critical Approaches

According to Rohrberger and Woods Jr in Reading and Writing about Literature Rohrberger and Woods Jr 3, there are five approaches that can be applied to analyze a work of literature. They are the formalist approach, the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI