THE MEANINGS OF THE BENNETS’ STRUGGLES IN SOLVING THEIR LIFE PROBLEMS AS SEEN IN JANE AUSTEN’S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
THE MEANINGS OF THE BENNETS’ STRUGGLES
IN SOLVING THEIR LIFE PROBLEMS AS SEEN
IN JANE AUSTEN’S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education
By Rendy Oktavianus
Student Number: 091214024 ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
THE MEANINGS OF THE BENNETS’ STRUGGLES
IN SOLVING THEIR LIFE PROBLEMS AS SEEN
IN JANE AUSTEN’S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education
By Rendy Oktavianus
Student Number: 091214024 ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
I dedicate this thesis to My Lord, Jesus Christ My family My friends And, People who have the spirit to struggle
ABSTRACT
Oktavianus, Rendy. (2013). The Meanings of the
Bennets’ Struggles in Solving t
heir Life Problems as Seen in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Yogyakarta:
English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.This study analyzes a novel entitled Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. This nov el tells about the Bennets’ struggles in solving their life problems. The story takes place in England. The Bennets want to change their social class. The conflicts start to come out between Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, also between the Bennet family and Mr. Wickham. Each conflict makes the Bennets struggle to overcome their problems. In the end of the story, every problem can be solved and the Bennets live happily.
The aim of the study is to find the meanings of the Bennets’ struggles in solving their life problems. There are two questions to answer in this study. The first question is “How are the life problems of Bennet family described in the novel?” The second question is “What are the meanings of the Bennets’ struggles in solving their life problems?”
There are two sources that were used in this study. The primary source was the novel itself, entitled Pride and Prejudice. The secondary sources were books, journals, related texts, and the internet literacy. The theories employed to answer the research problems were Marxist theory and theory of power and powerless. The approach used to accomplish this study was Marxism.
Based on the analysis, there were three main conflicts faced by the Bennets. Jane Bennet had to face the conflict that occurred between Mr. Bingley, Caroline Bingley, and herself. Elizabeth had to face the conflict of her pride and prejudice to Mr. Darcy. The Bennet family had to face serious conflict when Lydia Bennet was running away with Mr. Wickham. The meanings of their conflicts were categorized into literal and true meanings. There were three literal meanings of their conflicts. Firstly,
Jane’s struggle to maintain her feeling and does not give up. Secondly, Elizabeth’s struggle is to stay strong when the society oppresses her. Thirdly, the Bennet s’ struggle which is a problem that cannot be solved and be done without a help from family, it takes trust and faith. After a deeper analysis by using Marxist theory and theory of power and powerless, the true meanings are discovered. First, the true meaning of Jane’s struggle is Jane’s social action which involves harmony and conflict, love and hatred, and struggle over the oppression. Second, Elizabeth’s struggle is not being under-controlled by the powerful people or society and she can overcome her conflicts. Third, the Bennets
’ struggle is the power to make the powerless obey them and the power of family in society to solve the conflicts together. This study provides some suggestions for future researchers. For future researchers who use the same novel, they can use Elizabeth Bennet as the main focus of the study or they can use the social class as the main topic of their study.
ABSTRAK
Oktavianus, Rendy. (2013). The Meanings of the
Bennets’ Struggles in Solving t
heir Life Problems as Seen in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Yogyakarta:
English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.Studi ini menganalisis sebuah novel yang berjudul Pride and Prejudice yang ditulis oleh Jane Austen. Novel ini menceritakan tentang perjuangan keluarga Bennet dalam menyelesaikan permasalahan hidup mereka. Berlokasi di Inggris. Keluarga Bennet berkeinginan merubah status kelas sosial mereka. Perselisihan mulai muncul antara Jane Bennet dan Tuan Bingley, Elizabeth Bennet dan Tuan Darcy, keluarga Bennet dan Tuan Wickham. Tiap konflik membuat keluarga Bennet berjuang untuk mengatasinya. Di akhir cerita, setiap perselisihan dapat diatasi dan keluarga Bennet dapat hidup bahagia.
Tujuan studi ini adalah untuk menemukan arti perjuangan keluarga Bennet. Terdapat dua rumusan masalah yang dibahas dalam studi ini. Rumusan masalah yang pertama adalah “Bagaimana permasalahan kehidupan keluarga Bennet dideskripsikan dalam novel?” Yang kedua “Apa arti dari perjuangan ke luarga Bennet dalam menyelesaikan permasalahan kehidupan mereka?”
Terdapat dua sumber yang digunakan dalam studi ini. Sumber yang pertama adalah novel berjudul Pride and Prejudice. Sumber yang kedua dari buku, jurnal, bacaan terkait, dan karya sastra dari internet. Teori
- – teori yang digunakan untuk menjawab rumusan masalah adalah teori Marxist dan teori
power and powerless . Pendekatan yang digunakan untuk menyelesaikan
penelitian ini adalah Marxism.Berdasarkan studi ini, dalam novel terdapat tiga perselisihan utama yang dideskripsikan. Perselisihan dari Jane Bennet, Elizabeth Bennet, dan keluarga Bennet itu sendiri. Jane Bennet harus menghadapi konflik yang timbul antara dia, Tuan Bingley, dan Caroline Bingley. Elizabeth harus menghadapi konflik antara dirinya sendiri dengan Tuan Darcy. Serta keluarga Bennet yang menghadapi konflik serius ketika Lydia Bennet kabur dengan Mr. Wickham. Dari konflik - konflik tersebut, arti dari perjuangan dapat dikategorikan menjadi arti secara harfiah dan arti sebenarnya. Terdapat tiga arti harfiah dari permasalahan mereka. Pertama, perjuangan Jane adalah menjaga perasaannya dan tidak menyerah. Kedua, perjuangan Elizabeth adalah tetap kuat ketika masyarakat kelas atas menekan dia. Ketiga, perjuangan keluarga Bennet adalah masalah tidak dapat diselesaikan tanpa bantuan dari keluarga, itu membutuhkan kepercayaan dan keyakinan. Setelah analisis mendalam menggunakan teori Marxist dan teori power
, arti sebenarnya dapat diketahui. Pertama, arti sebenarnya dari
and powerless
perjuangan Jane adalah tindakan sosial Jane yang mencakup harmoni dan konflik, cinta dan benci, dan perjuangan melawan tekanan. Kedua, perjuangan Elizabeth adalah tidak menuruti orang
- – orang yang berkuasa dan dia dapat mengatasi konfliknya dengan cara yang benar. Ketiga, perjuangan keluarga Bennet adalah kekuatan untuk membuat orang
- – orang yang lemah untuk menuruti mereka dan
Kata kunci: conflict, literal meaning, true meaning
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my Lord,
Jesus Christ, for His blessings and love so that I can do my best in everything
that I do in my life.Next, I am very grateful to Dr. Ant. Herujiyanto, M.A., for his patience, feedback, suggestions, and guidance during the process of finishing this thesis.
His guidance and advice along the process are really helpful to me. I also would like to thank all of my lecturers at the English Language Education Study
Program of Sanata Dharma University for sharing and giving me knowledge
and experience during the process of my study. My gratitude also goes to all
English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) secretariat staff,
Mbak Dhanniek and Mbak Tari and Sanata Dharma University library staff. I
thank them for the service, help, and kindness.I also would like to express my greatest gratitude to my beloved family. My father Jimmy Laksono Nugroho, my mother Susilawati, my brothers Willy
Dwi Nugroho and Rangga Tri Nugroho for their patience, love, support, and
prayer during the process of writing this thesis and my study in ELESP Sanata Dharma.
My gratitude also goes to all my friends in ELESP, for thesis help and being my greatest friend. I also thank Galih Prabaswara Paripurna, my senior
Yovita Felicia Hapsari, and Bonaventura Williartha for becoming my thesis being my best friend in thesis writing class and during my study in ELESP Sanata Dharma. My gratitude also goes to all of my friends in ELESP batch 2009, especially class A, for studying and gaining knowledge and experience together.
My gratitude is also given to Punakawan English Course (Bayu, Anggi, Mira,
Ine, Deta, Galih), for their support and prayer. I also thank Bayu Adi
Pamungkas, Wilda Prandika, Bayu Wibowo Setiawan, Antonius Wisnu
Yoga, Stephanus Dio, Romo Jack, Henricus Adhi, Yulianus Febriarko for
being my friends during my study in ELESP.May all of my family, friends, and lecturers will be blessed by Jesus Christ and they can live happily and successfully.
Rendy Oktavianus
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
TITLE PAGE....................................................................................... i APPROVAL PAGES........................................................................... ii DEDICATION PAGE.......................................................................... iv v STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY....................................
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI..................................... vi
ABSTRACT......................................................................................... vii
ABSTRAK ............................................................................................. viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................. x TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................... xii LIST OF APPENDICES...................................................................... xiv
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A.
1 Background of the Study........................................................ .
B.
3 Objective of the Study.............................................................
C.
3 Problem Formulation..............................................................
D.
3 Definition of Terms................................................................ .
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A.
6 Review of Related Theories...................................................
1.
6 Marxist Theory..................................................................
2.
8 Power and Powerless Theory............................................
B.
10 Theoretical Framework..........................................................
C.
11 Context of the Novel..............................................................
CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY A.
12 Object of the Study................................................................
B.
14 Approach of the Study...........................................................
C.
15 Method of the Study..............................................................
CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS A.
17 The Life Problems of the Bennets........................................
1.
19 Conflict between Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley.............
2.
21 Conflict between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy........
3.
23 Conflict between the Bennet family and Mr. Wickham..
B.
25 The Meanings of the Bennets’ Struggles...............................
1.
26 The Struggle of Jane Bennet...........................................
a.
26 The Literal Meaning of Jane’s Struggle..................
b.
28 The True Meaning of Jane’s Struggle.....................
2.
29 The Struggle of Elizabeth Bennet...................................
a.
29 The Literal Meaning of Elizabeth’s Struggle..........
b.
33 The True Meaning of Elizabeth’s Struggle.............
3.
35 The Struggle of the Bennet Family.................................
a.
36 The Literal Meaning of the Bennet Family’s Struggle b.
37 The True Meaning of the Bennet Family’s Struggle
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, and SUGGESTIONS A.
40 Conclusions............................................................................
B.
43 Implications............................................................................
C.
44 Suggestions............................................................................ REFERENCES.....................................................................................
46 APPENDICES......................................................................................
49
LIST OF APPENDICES Appendices Page Appendix A. Summary of Pride and Prejudice....................................
48 Appendix B. The Biography of Jane Austen..................................... ...
52 Appendix C. Lesson Plan.................................................................. ...
55 Appendix D. Students’ Worksheet.................................................... ...
58 Appendix E. Reading Material......................................................... ...
59
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the writer would like to give the introduction of the study. This chapter consists of four parts. The first part is the background of the study,
which explains why the writer chose Pride and Prejudice. The second part deals with the objective of the study. The third part presents the problem formulations.
The fourth part is the definition of terms.
A. Background of the Study
Pride and prejudice are two words that contrast with each other, but they also share the same thoughts. Pride is something that people are proud of, feeling of a satisfaction that people have. However, it can be both positive and negative. On the other hand, prejudice is an unreasonable dislike of a particular person or thing. There is a novel, which was written by Jane Austen, titled
“Pride and Prejudice. ” The writer chooses this novel as the primary data because the plotline
does not only present love and hatred in a relationship, but it also presents conflicts that happen between social classes and social struggles to overcome the conflicts.
In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austin successfully contrasted the differences in English social classes of 19th Century. In the novel, it is told that the Bennet family must face so many insults and poor relations. They have to overcome every Bennet, also have to struggle to solve their conflicts with Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy who become their husbands later on.
The story mainly talks about the Bennet family who want to change the family social status or social class by marrying off their daughters to wealthy men.
The story is getting more complicated when the Bennet family has to face the society and their life problems after Jane and Elizabeth meet Mr. Bingley and Mr.
Darcy.
Their meetings with Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy lead the Bennet family into the deeper conflicts with high class people. Jane Bennet has to face the conflict that is happened because of her relationship with Mr. Bingley. Jane also has to face Caroline Bingley and Mr. Darcy who do not agree with her relationship with Mr. Bingley. Elizabeth Bennet’s conflict is between herself, Mr. Darcy, and Lady de Bourgh. Ho wever, Elizabeth’s conflict is mostly about her prejudice about Mr. Darcy because of his pride when they meet for the first time. Meanwhile, the Bennet family hears the news that Lydia Benner is running away with Mr. Wickham. The news causes the conflict between the Bennet family and Mr. Wickham to arise. However, the Bennets can struggle and solve all of the conflicts. In the end, they can live happily ever after.
In this novel Jane Austen talks about how Bennet family has to face high class people that cause the conflicts. Especially, the conflicts faced by Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Bennet, and the Bennet family themselves. Moreover, the writer would like to find the meanings of struggles through the life problems that the conflicts which are caused by the society. For example, when Lydia Bennet is running away with Mr. Wickham and the Bennet family cannot find them anywhere. Thus, the meanings of struggles are discovered when the Bennet family is trying to face and solve their conflicts.
B. Objective of the study
The objective of the study is to find the meanings of the Bennets’ struggles in solving their life problems. In order to find the meanings of the
Bennets’ struggles, the formulations are made. Thus, two problem formulations are made.
C. Problem Formulation
This study would answer two formulated problems. They are:
1. How are the Bennets and their life problems described in the novel?
2. What are the meanings of the Bennets’ struggles in solving their life problems? D.
Definition of Terms
In order to avoid some misunderstanding about the terms used, in the beginning of this thesis some difficult terms will be defined. Thus, in this part the writer would like to present the definition of terms that I used in the study.
1. Conflict Conflict is struggle, fight or disagreements between two or more people.
status, power and resources in which the aims of the opponents are to neutralize, injure, or eliminate their rivals ” (as cited in Billings, 1976, p. 533). In this study, conflict means a struggle from low class people to fight against the oppression from high class people.
2. Literal Meaning Literal means following the original words exactly or lacking imagination.
The literal meaning means the meaning that following the original word. In another words the literal meaning is the meaning which appears or can be seen or noticed and it is not hidden. Case & Marshall in Deep and Surface Approaches to
Learning (2009) add that a literal approach in learning is the tacit acceptance of
information and memorization and does not promote understanding for long-term retention of knowledge (pp. 9-18).
In this study, the literal meaning is defined as the meaning which can be seen or noticed in the surface of the novel. After reading the novel, the writer can directly conclude about the meanings of the Bennets’ struggles in solving their life problems based on what is seen and noticed.
3. True Meaning True means being accurate, real or exact which is connected with the fact rather than things that have been guessed. Barnet et al. in An Introduction to the
Literature (1994) say that true meaning is the meaning which is told for our sake same opinion with Barnet. He says that the deeper meaning of the story is a meaning which has value for every reader (p. 75). Case & Marshall in Deep and
Surface Approaches to Learning (2009) also state that a deep learning involves
the critical analysis of new idea and promotes the application for life (pp. 9-18).From the former statements above, it can be concluded that the true meaning is the meaning which implies and promotes the application for life.
In this study the true meaning means the meaning which can be seen behind the symbols or utterances that are used in a novel. The true meaning usually does not appear or cannot be seen directly because it is hidden.
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This chapter is divided into three parts, namely, the theoretical description,
the theoretical framework and the context of the novel. The theoretical description discusses the underlying theories which are related to the meanings of the Bennets’ struggles in solving their life problems. The theoretical framework concludes all relevant theories which can help the writer to answer the formulated problems. The context of the novel presents the setting and some parts of the novel.
A. Review of Related Theories
In this part, the writer review the theories which are directly employed in the study. The meaning of struggle is the main focus of this study. The meaning of struggle will be presented in two ways; literal meaning and true meaning. Furthermore, the theories are used to support the analysis of the meaning of struggle.
1. Marxist Theory
Marxism's main concern is class. “The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles” (The Communist Manifesto, p.1). The key to understand Marx is his class definition. A class is defined by the ownership of property. In relation to property, there are two great classes of society. Karl The bourgeoisie is the upper class society which has power to oppress the lower class, while the proletariat is the lower class society which does not have any power to fight against the oppression from the bourgeoisie. McHenry (2005) states, “According to Marx and his theories, the bourgeoisie will take any means necessary to oppress the proletariat and remain in control.” The bourgeoisie will use any oppression to the proletariat to maintain their status, resource, and power.
Oppression, in other words, is not a relationship between individuals. Oppression is a social relationship in which capital benefits through the subjection of a certain group in society (McNally, 1983) It is based on a material interest. As long as there are social relations that produce oppressed beings, it will be needed and possible to attack these relations by fighting the oppression.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels focus much of their work on the differences between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Nevertheless, throughout
Pride and Prejudice there are continuous class differences present, and the
struggles between these different classes and the strong desire of upward social mobility is ever present. This is very natural according to Eagleton (1976), who states that
“the social mentality of an age is conditioned by that age's social relations. This is nowhere quite as evident as in the history of art and literature”
(p. 5) In other words, Jane Austen is describing the world as she sees it and all the social class es’ conflicts that the society of her time was subjected to.
In Marxist literary criticism, there are several fundamental terms and ideas. The most important part is the theory that a society consists of a base and a superstructure is the kind of state, the laws, and the politics, that exist to claim the power of the social class. In other words, the superstructure's important function is to claim that the power of the bourgeoisie is over the proletariat. The base and superstructure form society and in a society class, they act to keep the ruling class in power. However, the ruling class in power provokes class conflict to exist. Marx emphasizes class conflict as the dynamics of social change. Karl Marx explains that change is not random, but the result of a conflict of interests.
One of the Marxism followers, Gramsci, denotes the term struggle as a part of social classes. Gramsci uses the term hegemony to denote the predominance of one social class over others (Donaldson, 2008). In social classes, people will struggle to change their social class status. As Williams (1977) states, “in a class society, all beliefs are founded on class position, and the systems of belief of all classes . . . are then in part or wholly false” (p. 55). Therefore, social classes provoke social struggles to exist. Social struggles are provoked to exist because people from different social classes will struggle to make their social class become higher. Behind every social struggle, there will be social action. Simmel (1950) believes social action always involves harmony and conflict, love and hatred (p. 74). Thus, social action is the fundamental base of the existence of social struggles.
2. Power and Powerless Theory
Theory of power and powerless is a part of Marxism. Karl Marx states that those two classes, there will always be a competition and conflict. Before the writer goes further to the discussion of the theory of power and powerless, the writer would like to explain what is meant by conflict. Coser defines conflict as “a struggle over values and claims to scarce status, power and resources in which the aims of the opponents are to neutralize, injure, or eliminate their rivals
” (as cited in Billings, 1976, p. 533).
A conflict occurs because an economically powerful part of society (Bourgeoisie) and an economically powerless part of society (Proletariat) have different objective interests, while competition puts society easily falls until the dominant group gains control and stability through power. Moreover, competition and conflict will always become a part of social life that cannot be avoided. From here, the writer would like to discuss the theory of power according to some experts who are still related to Marxism approach. Karl Marx believes that economics have the great effect on the existence of power distinction in society. One of the experts, Max Weber, agrees with Karl Marx. Furthermore, Weber (1968) defines power as “the ability to impose one’s will on another, even when the other objects” (p. 72).
Furthermore, according to Mills, there are three types of power: 1. Authority: power justified by the beliefs of the voluntarily obedient.
2. Manipulation: power wielded unknown to the powerless.
3. Coercion: the “final” form of power, where the powerless are forced to obey the powerful. (as cited in Elwell, 2002.).
Coercion is a type of power that always exists in the conflict between bourgeoisie and proletariat society. Bourgeoisie society wants proletariat to obey them. Not only have to show their power, but bourgeoisie also wants something from proletariat society. Collins (1974) believes there are certain things that every group wants to pursue. Those are wealth, power, and prestige. Furthermore, Collins (1974) concludes
“coercion and the ability to “force” others to behave a certain way are the primary basis of conflict” (p. 56).
B. Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework contains the contribution of the theories to this research. This part presents two major topics. They are the theories of oppresion and the theories of power and powerless. Money and class are two of the most central themes of Marxism and they will infuse the entire analysis of the novel.
The theoretical framework is used to explain the contribution of theories in solving the problem of the study.
The approach that the writer uses is Marxism approach that relates to the Marxist theory and theory of power and powerless. Marxist
’s analysis of power is that power is used to further the interests of the powerful at the expense of the powerless. The powerful people seek to maintain their privileged position at the expense of the powerless people.
Theory of power and powerless and Marxist theory are used to solve the second formulated problem. Those theories are related to the social actions that overcome their life problems. Thus, those theories are used to analyze the characters’ social actions and to find the meanings of the Bennets’ struggles in solving their life problems.
C. Context of the Novel
This part presents the context of the novel. Culler (1997) in Literary
Theory says
, “Context is what determines meaning. To know the particular utterance means, you have to look at the circumstances or the historical context in which it figures
” (p.62). Based on this argument, it can be stated that the meanings of the Bennets’ struggles can be understood by considering the conflicts and the circumstances written. The first indication to be seen is the setting, where the story begins. The setting is divided into two parts, namely, the setting of the author and the setting of the primary data. Jane Austen lived in a world which was governed by strict social standards and where social class was of immense importance. She wrote Pride and Prejudice in Great Britain, in the late 18th and early 19th century.
Meanwhile, Pride and Prejudice takes setting in English countryside. In the setting of the novel, the social class is very important in every part of social life. The Bennet family is categorized as middle class family. They live in the culture that sees the high class is everything. In this case, the Bennet family has five daughters and the mother wants her daughters to get married with wealthy men. The purpose of her action is to maintain and to raise up the Bennets’ social
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY This chapter consists of three parts. The first part is the object of the study. The second part presents the approach of the study. The third is the method of the
study. In this chapter, the writer would like to describe the physical description of the novel, the approach that is employed in analyzing the work, and also the procedures of the analysis of the work.
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study is a novel entitled Pride and Prejudice. Pride and
Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The writer used the
copy of the novel. It is published by Rohan Book Company, copyright 2004.There are 61 chapters in the novel.
The writer would like to present what the novel is all about. The story is about the Bennet family. Mrs. Bennet intends to see her daughters, Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine, and Lydia Bennet, to get married to wealthy men. When Charles Bingley arrives at nearby Netherfield Park, she is excited by the prospect of introducing her daughters to him. She immediately sends her husband to visit him on the first day he arrives. When he arrives, Bingley comes with Mr. Darcy and his two sisters, Caroline Bingley and Mrs. Hurst. Elizabeth quickly realizes that Caroline Bingley seems to dislike the Bennet family and that she only for London and announce to Jane that they have no intentions of returning to Netherfield anytime soon. They also tell Jane that Bingley will marry
Mr. Darcy’s sister.
Jane goes to stay in London. She tries to see Bingley but she is rebuked by Caroline Bingley. Caroline Bingley does not want Bingley to know that Jane is in London and Jane slowly begins to accept the rejection. Elizabeth goes to visit Mr.
Collins and her friend, Charlotte. At that time, Elizabeth meets again with Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy proposes marriage to her, but she refuses. However, he gives her a letter explaining that Wickham has lied and that Jane has seemed to be disinterested by Bingley. Elizabeth calls back home quickly when she gets the news that Lydia has run away with Wickham. She returns home while her father and Mr. Gardiner are searching for the two in London. It is revealed that Darcy actually finds them eventually and helps to pay the dowry for Wickham to take Lydia in marriage. It is an act that impresses Elizabeth greatly.
Bingley reappears in Netherfield Park for a short while and resumes courting Jane while Lady de Bourgh arrives and acts rudely towards the Bennets.
She warns Elizabeth not to marry Darcy, as her daughter is supposed to marry him. A few days later, Darcy returns himself and reproposes Elizabeth that she now accepts. Jane and Bingley a re also engaged shortly before Elizabeth’s engagement. The two are married on the same day. Bingley and Jane move to Derbyshire in the following year while Elizabeth and Darcy live together in Pemberley.
This novel mostly tells about how the Bennet family as a middle class family has to survive against the high class people. Jane Austen gives a clear description about how the powerful people often use their power to oppress the powerless people. In the novel, the life problems of Bennet family mostly deal with powerful people. It is starts when the Bennets meet Mr. Bingley
’s family and Mr. Darcy. At the end of the novel, those two men become a part of Bennet family and the story ends in happy ending.
B. Approach of the Study
The approach of the study is Marxism approach. According to Slaughtrt (1975) Marxism is a set of social, economic, cultural understanding of the nature of reality, society and the individual, and political ideas in which its followers believe that it will enable them to interpret and change their world. It is moving towards at social change. Marxist wants to analyze social relation in order to change them, after what they see as inequalities created by capitalist economic relation.
Marxist explains in detail to change the world from a place of bigotry, hatred, and conflict due to class struggle into classless society where wealth, opportunity, and education could be accessed by all people. The writer uses Marxism approach because this approach deals with social classes and social struggles. Through Marxism approach, it helps the writer to seek the meaning of struggle as stated in the problem formulation.
C. Method of the Study In this section, the writer would like to present the method of the study.
This study is a desk research. Desk research is a research technique which is mainly acquired by sitting at a desk. It involves data collection from existing resources, such as data from the internet. The writers chose desk research because the writer explored, analyzed and discussed a novel as primary data. The primary data that the writer used was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
The first step that the writer took in the analysis was reading the novel. After finishing reading the novel, the writer started to find the related theories to support and help in answering the formulated problems. The theories were Marxist theory and theory of power and powerless. Those theories were related to social classes and social struggles that the writer mainly discussed in this study.
The next step was listing the life problems that were faced by Bennet family. In order to answer the research problems, the writer listed the important events and life problems of the Bennets as described in the novel.
After finding the theories and the Bennet s’ life problems, the next step was analyzing the meanings of the
Bennets’ struggles in solving their life problems. In the analysis, the writer needed to make an objective and reasonable analysis on the meanings of the Bennets’ struggles. Therefore, the writer should understand the whole context of the study. In order to get the right information of the theory about meaning, the writer used some supporting books. This analysis is done to is to find the meanings of the Bennets’ struggles in solving their life problems as seen in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS In this chapter, the writer presents the analyses of the novel in order to
answer the problem formulations. First, the life problems or the conflicts faced by the Bennets are described based on the novel. Second, the writer discovered the meanings of the Bennets’ struggles in solving their life problems. In this part, the literal and the true meanings are revealed based on the Bennets’ struggles in solving their life problems.
A. The Life Problems of the Bennets
In this part, the writer describes the Bennet s’ life problems that Jane Austen describes in her novel. Jane Austen describes the Bennet family as a middle class family. The Bennet family live in Longbourn, it is a county roughly thirty miles from London. The family consists of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their five daughters; Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine, and Lydia. In this novel, Mr.
Bennet is described as a wise and patient man who never forces his orders to his daughters, who also has a good sense of humor, and who is fond of many books.
However, his laziness causes the neglect of the education of his daughters. Mrs. Bennet is described as a woman who has weak understanding and strict mind, and she is very obsessed to marry off her daughters to rich men. In the novel, Mrs.
Bennet says, “Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!” (Pride and Prejudice, p.3) Moreover, she also has no concern for the moral education of her daughters.
Jane Bennet is the oldest daughter in the family. She is beautiful, good- tempered, sweet, humble, well-liked by everyone, and she refuses to judge anyone as a bad person. Elizabeth Bennet is the second oldest of the five sisters. She is good-looking, bold, and intelligent. She has pride in her ability to notice the truth of situations and people’s characters. Mary Bennet is the third oldest of the five sisters and she is strangely solemn and too concerned with unimportant details. She dislikes going out to society and prefers to spend her time studying. Catherine Bennet seems to have little personality of her own. In the novel, she is described as acting as a shadow to Lydia, following Lydia’s lead in whatever she does. Lydia Bennet is the youngest of the five sisters. She is foolish and she behaves towards someone else as if they are sexually attracted to her. She is also lazy, but she is the favorite daughter of Mrs. Bennet.
The family itself is a middle class family. Unfortunately, they have no sons. Thus their property is meant to be given to a male heir. The male heir is their relative, Mr. Collins. Therefore, Mrs. Bennet wants her daughters to get married to wealthy men. At that time getting married with someone who is in high class society is very important. As Williams (1977) states,
“in a class society, all beliefs are founded on class position, and the systems of belief of all classes . . . are then in part or wholly false” (p. 55). Social classes provoke social struggles to exist. It happens because people from different social classes will struggle to family. They try to make their social class becomes high social class. However, the struggle to make their social class higher is not that easy. They have to face the society that gives them conflicts. Jane Austen describes that people from higher class society always try to stop and insult them when they start to get closer to wealthy people.
1. Conflict between Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley
The conflict starts when Mrs. Bennet hears that someone who is very wealthy, Mr. Bingley, comes to their town. She wants one of her daughters to meet him and win his heart, so that she can change her family’s fortune. From this point,
Mrs. Bennet would like to change her family’s social class into higher social class. Jane Austen shows how people at that time depicted by the Bennet family, especially Mrs. Bennet, who is very eager to change her family’s social class and status.
However, her family has to face several conflicts when finally her daughter, Jane Bennet, can get closer to Mr. Bingley. Jane Austen describes that the first conflict that the Bennet family has to face is when Mr. Bingley’s sister, Caroline Bingley, judges Elizabeth as a low moral woman because Elizabeth cannot dress properly when she comes to see Jane, who is in Mr. Bingley’s house. Caroline Bingley says,
To walk three miles, or four miles, or five miles, or whatever it is, above her ankles in dirt, and alone, quite alone! What could she mean by it? It seems to me to show an abominable sort of conceited independence, a most country town indifference to decorum. (Pride and Prejudice, p. 31)
Caroline Bingley, as a woman from high class family, has a standard for anyone who is trying to get closer to her family. She cannot accept anyone who does not look like a high class person. The opinion also comes from Mrs. Hurst, who judges the Bennet family as a low-middle class family and they must not have connections with the Bennet family.
I have an excessive regard for Jane Bennet, she is really a very sweet girl, and I wish with all my heart she were settled. But with such a father and mother, and such low connections, I am afraid there is no chance of it. (Pride and Prejudice, p. 31) Elizabeth suddenly realizes that Caroline Bingley dislikes the Bennet family and that she also pretends to be friend with Jane. From that moment,
Caroline Bingley always tries to keep a distance from the Bennet family. Soon after, Bingley, his sisters, and Darcy depart for London and announce to Jane that they have no intentions of returning to Netherfield. They also tell Jane that Bingley will marry
Mr. Darcy’s sister. This is the only way from Caroline Bingley to stay away from the Bennet family.