THE DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN CLASSES AS SEEN THROUGH THE RED AND SILVER FAMILIES IN VICTORIA AVEYARD’S RED QUEEN
THE DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN CLASSES AS SEEN THROUGH THE RED AND SILVER FAMILIES
IN VICTORIA AVEYARD’S RED QUEEN AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
LUISA NASTITI WIKANINGTYAS
Student Number: 134214131
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
THE DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN CLASSES AS SEEN
THROUGH THE RED AND SILVER FAMILIES
IN VICTORIA AVEYARD’S RED QUEEN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
LUISA NASTITI WIKANINGTYAS
Student Number: 134214131
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
Impossible is just an opinion.
(Paulo Coelho) For my beloved parents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There is no journey that is completely perfect, there is no road that is completely smooth, and so does thesis. It has been such a journey for me to pass through all the process of finishing this thesis from the beginning until now. I would like to express my gratitude toward God and Mother Mary for the blessing and grace so that I am able to finish my thesis. I want to state my biggest gratitude to my father, my mother, and my little sister who always be there to support me.
I would like to thank Mrs. Th. Enny Anggraini, Ph.D. as my thesis advisor for the guidance, support, and patience along my working process on this thesis so that I can finish this thesis in time. I would also like to thank Mrs. Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, M.Hum. as my co-advisor. I thank you for the very helpful advices. I also want to thank Van-Deventer Maas Stichting for supporting and helping me finishing my study at this college through scholarship. And last but not least I want to thank my greatest friends for the support help toward the process of finishing this thesis: Dayu, Desi, Donna, Disa, Rahel, Ula, Nino, Satya, and Halim. Thank you very much for the push and mental support.
Luisa Nastiti Wikaningtyas
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
THE DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN WIKANINGTYAS, LUISA NASTITI.CLASSES AS SEEN THROUGH THE RED AND SILVER FAMILIES IN VICTORIA
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, AVEYARD’S NOVEL RED QUEEN.
Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2018.
Victoria Aveyard ’s Red Queen is a story about two different classes of people who have completely different conditions. The higher class is Silver family and the lower class is Red family. Other than their physical differences which is the superpower owned by the Silvers, readers may find the other different conditions in the characters’ characteristics and the setting of place in this novel, and later on may find out whether these differences happen because of discrimination or not. This study specifically discusses the discrimination towards the lower class that is done by the higher class.
There are three objectives of the study. First of all, the study discusses about how the characters and characterization are described in the novel. Second of all, the study discusses how the setting of places are described in the novel. Lastly, based on the discussion of characters, characterization, and setting of places, it can be seen whether there is any discrimination in the novel.
Library research method is conducted in order to find the proper theories and the related studies. Moreover, theories from reliable websites are also collected to support the discussion of this study. The approach used in this study is Marxism. The Marxism approach is used in order to find out the discrimination between classes in this novel based on the intrinsic elements which are the character and the setting.
Discrimination is a condition where there is a group of people who are treated differently and poorly because they are considered as disgraced people that it leads to condition when they find difficulty to fulfill their fundamental needs. In this research, it is proven that the discrimination can be seen from the characters of Reds and Silvers. Red people have to go to conscripti on as soldiers for Silver’s war, they have to work for Silvers without enough payment to fulfill their needs, and they have certain hurtful and hatred feelings toward Silvers as the result of being treated badly, while Silvers get everything they need from their Red workers and they do not feel bad at all.
Discrimination also can be seen from the setting of places. While Red’s places are very improper to be lived, chaotic, messy, and prone to disease, Silver’s places are very luxurious, grandeur, and magnificent with all the facilities.
ABSTRAK
THE DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN WIKANINGTYAS, LUISA NASTITI.CLASSES AS SEEN THROUGH THE RED AND SILVER FAMILIES IN VICTORIA
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, AVEYARD’S NOVEL RED QUEEN.
Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2018.
Novel Red Queen yang ditulis oleh Victoria Aveyard adalah cerita tentang dua keluarga yang memiliki kelas berbeda dan hidup dengan kondisi yang sangat berbeda. Kelas yang lebih tinggi adalah keluarga Silver dan kelas bawah adalah keluarga Red. Selain perbedaan fisik mereka yang merupakan kekuatan super yang dimiliki oleh Silver, pembaca dapat menemukan kondisi lain yang berbeda dalam aspek lain, dan akan terlihat bahwa perbedaan ini mungkin terjadi karena diskriminasi. Studi ini secara khusus membahas tentang diskriminasi yang terjadi terhadap masyarakat kelas bawah yang dilakukan oleh kelas atas.
Dalam skripsi ini, ada tiga tujuan yang ingin dicapai. Pertama-tama, studi ini membahas tentang bagaimana karakter dan karakterisasi dijelaskan dalam novel. Kedua, studi ini membahas tentang bagaimana keadaan setting tempat yang diceritakan dalam novel. Dan terakhir, berdasarkan diskusi tentang karakter, karakterisasi, dan setting tempat, dapat dilihat apakah ada diskriminasi yang benar- benar terjadi dalam novel.
Studi pustaka dilakukan untuk mendapatkan teori dan penelitian terkait yang sesuai. Pengumpulan teori melalui situs yang terpercaya juga dilakukan untuk mendukung pembahasan pada skripsi. Pendekatan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah pendekatan Marxisme. Pendekatan Marxisme digunakan untuk menemukan adanya diskriminasi kelas dalam novel dilihat dari unsur intrinsik novel yaitu karakter dan setting.
Diskriminasi adalah suatu kondisi di mana ada sekelompok orang yang diperlakukan secara berbeda dan buruk karena mereka dianggap sebagai orang rendah dan kondisi ini mengarah pada keadaan di mana mereka menemukan kesulitan untuk memenuhi kebutuhan mendasar. Penelitian ini membuktikan bahwa diskriminasi dilihat dari karakter Red and Silver. Masyarakat Red harus pergi ke wajib militer sebagai prajurit untuk perang milik Silver, harus bekerja untuk Silver tanpa bayaran cukup, dan mereka juga memiliki rasa sakit hati dan kebencian pada
Silver karena Silver tidak memperlakukan Red dengan baik, sementara Silver
mendapatkan semua yang mereka butuhkan hasil kerja Red. Diskriminasi juga bisa dilihat dari segi setting tempat. Saat lokasi masyarakat Red sangat tidak layak untuk ditinggali, semrawut, berantakan, dan rentan terhadap penyakit, tempat-tempat masyarakat Silver sangat mewah dan megah dengan semua fasilitas yang lengkap.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study When reading a literary work, readers will be brought into their imagination
related to the work they read. Sometimes the story in a literary work can be related to the experiences of the readers, and sometimes it is not. If it happens to readers’ experience, then they can relate to the story easily – but when it is not, the readers will have their imagination as wild as it might be in order to get the story deeper. G. Armour Craig, Frank M. Rice, and Edward J. Gordon in
Literature said that:
We read, and we enter a mysterious world that is both near to us and remote from us. It is a world in which we sometimes find our own concerns —our own hopes and fears, loves and hatreds (1970: 2).
It can be understood that human beings as readers can relate to things happening to the literature they read. Even though things happening on the work has never happened to the readers, they still can relate it with their own concerns of their feelings.
One interesting fact about reading a literary work is that the readers can be brought into the things that has never happened to them, and later on it also can bring them to wider understanding on other aspects of life even though they never experience it before. It is written in Literature:
What is so inexhaustibly wonderful about literature is its power to awaken in us awarenesses of life that we did not know we had. We read a poem or a story or a play and discover that we knew more than we suspected we knew, about love and loyalty between men and women, about courage in the face of difficulties, about the desperation of men and women frightened by great events, about what it feels like to meditate upon a great idea, about the way in which comedy dissolves our anxieties and refreshes our presence of mind. When we understand a work of literature we discover powers of judgment and insight in ourselves that we had not known we possessed. We become aware of ranges of experience that we share with every imaginative writer who speaks to us in our language (1970: 2). By this explanation it can be seen that reading a literary work can bring readers into deeper understanding about life through awakening the unconscious knowledge the readers might already have. This happens not only in one aspect of life, but in many aspects
- – love, desperation, happiness through comedy, and so on.
As readers understand this consciousness inside the literary work through their imagination deeply, then they also can see these things in their daily life that is related to their social life. The function of literature that is very beneficial for human kind is its function on understanding the social life in daily life with people around the world. Raymond A. Mar and Keith Oatley on their journal entitled The
Function of Fiction is the Abstraction and Simulation of Social Experience said
that: Narrative fiction also creates a deep and simulative experience of social interactions for readers. This simulation facilitates the communication and understanding of social information and makes it more compelling, achieving a form of learning through experience (2008: 173).
By “simulation” it means that the readers can refer the story in two ways: the first is by their imagination of the story
- – they can give abstract imagination on the situation, the feelings of characters in the story, the settings, and so on; and the second is by knowing that the narrator writes the story set on the actual place
The imagination of the readers is significant to the effect on how they perceive the world based on their point of view that might be affected by the literature they read
- – how they see people from around the world that they never meet before, how they see cultures they do not know, how they feel the experiences of certain peop le with “specialty” (example: depression, discrimination, and so on) even though they never experience it themselves, believing into some stereotypes that is written on the literature, or otherwise realizing that the stereotypes that they have always believed are actually wrong because of the explanation on the literature they read. Furthermore, their mindset >– that is affected by literatures they read can lead to their behavior on the real life how they understand certain people and situation that leads into how they treat people and situations they are into. The readers will also begin to understand the social life in the different circumstances from them. Based on this explanation, it can be concluded that literature can be used as an entertainment and also for understanding the social life for both the author in her or his process of writing and for the reader in the process of reading it. The entertainment part of the literature can give stress relief for both the author and the readers. Other than the entertainment, literature also contributes to further understanding about the different condition of social life to the readers
- – giving them more understanding on situations happening at places they have never been before.
Red Queen is a story about two different families
- – or clans – living in the year of 302 after New Era. One of the families is the Silvers – demi-god people who have superpower, living in wealth and prosperity, with peaceful circumstance that they have. They are the noblemen of the world, the leader, the kings and queens. Their superpowers are various
- – they are the controller of land, air, water, fire, mind reader, and so on. Another family who live with the Silvers are the Reds – the common human being, without any superpower. The Reds live in a poor condition, without enough guarantees on foods, health, proper living, education, and other parts of life. They are the workers, servants, and soldiers in wars. Even they work at the Silvers’ cities without proper payment. The Reds fight for the victory of the Silvers – the Reds’ blood is spent, the victory of the
Silvers is gained. As stated in the novel, the main difference of the Silvers and the Reds is their blood; while the Silvers have a silver-colored blood, the Reds have a red-colored blood.
It is interesting to see the issue happening between the Reds and Silvers, to see how different their situation is. Some parts of the novel show the grudge felt by the Reds to the Silvers. For example, in Chapter I of the novel, there is a Silver competition between two different clans of Silver
- – the competition is held only as a show in an arena in the middle of Red buildings (2015: 4). Kilorn, one of the characters in this novel, is really interested to watch the show only to see the blood split from the Silvers – for there is never any Silver blood split for any things happen to them related to their superpower (2015: 6). The truth is that this show, which is called as Feats, is not made to contest the Silvers, but to show off
us. We are your betters. We are gods ” (2015: 6).
The case about discrimination between two classes in this novel is interesting because the issue of discrimination between classes case can be seen in daily life. To understand that issue, it is important to analyze what kind of differences happening between the Silvers and Reds and how these classes cope with one another – the higher class to the lower class and vice versa.
In Weber’s book entitled Economy and Society (1978), it is explained that a group of people can be linked into the same one class when they have similar or same chances on their lives related to economic interests with the same share of possession of goods and jobs, and is also represented under the conditions of the commodity or labor markets. It means that a class can be seen from its particular people’s strength in society – measured by how powerful and how rich they are, and then they will be grouped based on the level of their power and wealth. In the case of this novel, the class of the society divided with the Reds and the Silvers who has significantly different power and wealth.
In a book entitled American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of
Discrimination , Adalberto Aguirre stated that discrimination is an action when
superior group of people restricts the other group from getting and having their fundamental rights. Aguirre continued in his book that the member of the dominant deny the people of the different group who are less powerful, and restricts them from many necessary access like “jobs, income, education, health, prestige, power, or anything else that the members of a society value” (2010: 6-7).
These powerful people are actually able to give the less powerful people help or giving them ways to necessary rights, but they choose not to do it. Instead, these powerful people let the inferiors go lower.
In the novel Red Queen, the discrimination between classes happens at the Silvers to the Reds. The Reds live in a very different condition environment with the Silvers. While the Silvers live in proper condition and live as wealthy people, the Reds live in a very bad condition place with broken houses and mud without getting enough food to eat. Things they know is only how to survive in living in poverty, how to have enough money to eat, and how to serve the Silvers well so that they will not be punished. One of the characters, Gisa, works for the Silvers inside the Silver’s area without enough payment, representing a Red being enslaved by the Silvers. She works there because she has talent on tailoring. One interesting thing about the discrimination for the Reds working at the Silvers society is that when the Reds enter the gate of the Silv ers’, they will have a kind of temporary stamp on their skin as a sign of being Red, and this stamp cannot be detached until they are out from the gate of Silvers. This stamp is made as the reminder for the Reds that they do not come from the same world and are not the same family with the Silvers. They are workers, they are weak, and they are nothing for the Silvers. It also happens at the war. When the Silver is having a war with other kind of Silvers out there, they use the Reds to be the soldiers. It is the Reds’ blood that is split, the Reds’ lives that are gone. Only some of the Silvers become the commander but in fact they are not in the field. Even though many of them are prepared for the war, they only wait for the Reds in the camp, letting the Reds fight and bleed for them.
B. Problem Formulation In conducting the study, three problems are formulated as written below.
1. How are the characters and their characteristics described in the novel? 2.
How are the settings of place described in the novel? 3. How is the class discrimination revealed through the characters and the settings of place?
C. Objectives of the Study
To know and understand about the class discrimination happens on this novel, it is important firstly to know the characters and their characteristics.
Characters and characteristics are important in order to know the differences of the Reds and the Silvers' characteristics in facing things.
Besides the characters, the setting is also important to understand about the class discrimination between the Silvers and the Reds. The setting is important to understand how different the setting of place is between the Silvers and the Reds that is related to their classes
- – upper and lower class. After knowing the differences of the characters’ characteristics and the settings of the Silvers and the Reds, it can be seen whether there are any class discrimination between the Reds and the Silvers.
D. Definition of Terms
Definition of terms is important in order to give a deeper understanding for the reader about this study. The term class and discrimination is needed to be explained since this study is about this term.
In Weber’s Economy and Society (1978), he explained that a group of people can be linked into the same one class when they have similar or same chances on their lives, especially when it is related to economic interests with the same share of possession of goods and jobs, and is also represented under the conditions of the commodity or labor markets.
Adalberto Aguirre, Jr. and Jonathan J. Turner in their book entitled
American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination said that
discriminationis “the process by which an individual, group, or subpopulation of individuals acts in ways that deny another individual, group, or subpopulation access to valued resources” (2010: 6). Based on the explanation above, it means that discrimination is about the different and unequal treatment that was done by certain group of people to another group.
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE A. Review of Related Studies The novel Red Queen takes place in an imaginary place called Norta and is
more focused on The Stilts, the city where the Reds live. The division of class in this novel is divided into higher and lower class which are known as the Silvers and the Reds.
There are some studies that have similar topic with the researcher’s topic about class discrimination. The first study is from the undergraduate thesis by Kumala Dewi, the student of English Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University entitled
“The Class Discrimination in India as Seen through the Characters and Settings in Vikas Swarup’s Slumdog Millionaire”. This study proves the existence of class discrimination happening in India through the novel
Slumdog Millionaire . In her study it is stated that:
Class system divides the society members according to their economic prosperity. The difference of economic prosperity undeniably creates the gaps of the society. This gap is the most important factor influencing the existence of discrimination towards people from the lower classes (2011: 15). This explanation gives an understanding that the main reason of the existence of class discrimination in India lays on the difference on the economic condition of the people: the gap of the economic condition creates the gap on the society.
The second related study is an undergraduate thesis by Angelin Elizabet University entitled “Bhima’s Struggle against Class Discrimination in Thirty
Umrigar’s “The Space between Us””. In this study the researcher talked about the lower and upper class in this novel that happens between the servant and her mistress. The researcher’s study results in a conclusion that the discrimination happens because of Bhima’s uneducated society, and Bhima’s characteristics shows her struggle to face the problem of being discriminated by her society (2016: 44).
The third related study that has similar topic with this study is a study held by Anna Guðjónsdóttir from University of Iceland entitled ”Magical Minority:
Social Class and Discrimination in the Harry Potter Novels ”. In this study, she divided the class of the characters
- – wizards and witches – into upper, middle, and lower class that would help the researcher to find out where the power lied (2014: 2). She focused on the treatment between characters. It is stated that:
Muggleborn wizards and witches must struggle to prove their worth and fight to hold on to their right to practive magic after Lord Voldemort and his followers wish to eliminate all those that they deem unfit to use magic, that is, those that do not have the right blood. Two notable characters, the half- breeds Rubeus Hagrid and Remus Lupin, show the discrimination people out of the norm of the wizard community must face and how it influences their life and at the same time the story itself. The characters and the treatment of them gives the reader a deeper look into the society and how the wizard world works as it becomes evident that discrimination is a ruling power in the wizard community like in any society (2014: 23).
Here she explained that the discrimination on Harry Potter novels lays on the differences of the people who are “out of the norm of the wizard community”, meaning that there might be some norms and if there is something unfit to the norm then they will not be accepted to the society.
This research is different from three related studies above. While the first study focuses on the difference of the economic condition of the people, the second research focuses on the discrimination that happens because of different education given to the society, and the third research focuses on the different treatment between different class of the characters, this research aims to find out the proof of class discrimination happening on the novel Red Queen by focusing on the setting of place and on the characters. After taking a look at the characters and setting of place deeper, than it can be concluded whether there is a discrimination on class happening on this novel.
B. Review of Related Theories
In conducting this research, researcher uses some theories that are related to the study. Some reviews of the related theories are needed for deeper understanding about the theories used in this research.
1. Character and Characterization
Character is one important part in criticizing this novel as one intrinsic element. In A Glossary of Literary Terms, Abrams stated the definition of character:
Characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say
- – the dialogue – and what they do – the action (1993: 23).
By this statement, Abrams wanted to say that the character is the figure that is made by the writer to show the emotional qualities that will be interpreted by the readers which is brought by the character’s dialogue to other characters and their action in the events on the story.
Characters are always related to characterization. In his book, Abrams shows two alternative methods in characterizing as quoted below: a.
In showing (also called “the dramatic method”), the author simply presents the characters talking and acting and leaves the reader to infer the motives and dispositions that lie behind what they say and do. The author may show not only external speech and actions, but also a character’s inner thoughts, feelings, and responsiveness to events (1998: 34).
b.
In telling, the author intervenes authoritatively in order to describe, and often to evaluate, the motives and dispositional qualities of the characters (1998: 34). According to Murphy in his book Understanding Unseens: An
Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students , there
are some ways that the author does to make the characters become more understandable for the readers (1972: 161-173), which are: Personal description: the author describes the character by their physical appearance; Character as seen by another: one character describes another characters in his/her point of view; Speech: insight to the character as seen by his speech
- – when the character is in conversation, speech, or gives opinion; Past life: the character that is shaped by his/her past experiences
- – can be seen from the direct explanation from the author, his conversation, or the view from another character/person; Conversation of others: the personality of the character can be seen from what people or other characters talk about him/her; Reactions: the character seen through his/her reaction to certain events or situations happening around; Direct comment: the author directly explains or comments about the personality of a character;
These ten ways are helpful to determine the characterization of each character in the story. After the readers understand the personalities of the characters, they will understand why these characters give certain behavior to certain conditions they are involved into (Murphy, 1972: 161).
Getting to know better about what kind of a character described in the story and the way they are described helps the writer to make analysis about the class discrimination happening in the story.
2. Settings
Theory on setting is important in this study as setting is one of the intrinsic elements of a novel. In his book Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to
English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students, Murphy (1972)
stated that: The setting of the novel is the background against which the characters live out their lives. In some novels the setting is important, whilst in others it is less so. The setting can be concerned with the place in which the characters live and also the time in which they live. These have a great effect upon the personalities, actions and way of thinking of the characters. According to this statement, Murphy wanted to say that setting is the surrounding situation where the characters live. The setting influences the characters in many ways
- – their personalities, their decisions, and their opinions about many things.
Time, which are divided into three parts of time: Present time: the author writes his/her book based on his own lifetime that it makes the setting of time more familiar to the readers; Past time: the author writes his/her book based on the time before him/her (historical events or to attempt to recreate the past to the readers), Future time: the writer brings the readers to the futuristic image based on his/her imagination; and No specific time: there is no picture of when the story takes place, usually used in old fairy stories or first chapter begun with ‘once upon a time’.
b.
Place, setting of place is divided into three kinds: Familiar place: the author chooses places that are possibly familiar to most of his or her readers from his or her own nation, meaning that the author chooses the places for the novel which information is easily found by readers from his or her own nation, who can be said as the writer’s main market, in other sources such as newspapers, conversations, television, and so on
- – for example, if the writer is from England than the setting of place he uses is cities at England; Unfamiliar place: the author chooses places that are not familiar to the readers from his or her own nation
- – for example, the author is from England but the setting of place that is chosen is location at Asia or America; and Imaginary place: the authors chooses or creates his or her own places which are entirely from imagination and not familiar at all for rea
- – for
c.
Atmosphere, which is the surrounding situation of the characters. Murphy said that: A person might say, for instance, ‘The meeting between the workers and the management was conducted in a genial atmosphere.’ This means that the person considered that the general feeling he got from the meeting was one of geniality or friendliness. Thus we can talk of the atmosphere of a novel or of apart of it as being: gloomy, sombre, terrifying, evil, cheerful, happy, sordid pessimistic, optimistic, and so on (1972: 146). This means that atmosphere is the real situation about how the characters feel about certain condition happening on them, and furthermore, atmosphere is also about how the characters cope with the situation or condition they are within
- – whether it is related to their relationship with other characters, the setting of place, their own economic or social status or situation, their job, and so on.
Edgar V. Roberts in his book Fiction: An Introduction to Reading and
Writing explained that there are two types of setting (1987: 190-191), which are: a.
Natural, which is the outdoor place that is used by the author as the setting. Roberts stated in his book:
Nature herself is seen as a force that shapes action and therefore directs and redirects lives. A deep woods may make walking difficult or dangerous, or may be a place for a sinister meeting of devil worshipers. The open road may be a place where one person seeks flight, other face showdown, and still others may meet their fate. A lake may be the location where one person literally rescues another and also silently and unconsciously makes a direct commitment to the saved person (1987: 190-191). This means that the natural condition where the characters might live or pass will determine the plots and conflicts that is possible to happen to them. b.
Manufactured, which means the places built by the people in the story and this will reflect all people who make them and furthermore in will also explain the other condition of the people – the economic, politic, or social environment. Roberts stated:
A richly decorated house shows the expensive tastes and resources of the characters owning it. A few cracks in the plaster and some chips in the paint may show the same persons declining in fortune and power. Ugly and impoverished surroundings may contribute to the weariness, insensitivity, negligence, or even hostility of the characters living in them (1987: 191). This means that the condition of buildings made by the people can determine their condition in many aspects such as their fortune and power.
In his book, Roberts also explained about studying the uses of setting. He said that it is important to firstly discover all the details that might be a part of the setting, and then after that it can be determined how the author uses these details on the setting. Roberts also explained that
“the setting may be so prominent that it may almost be considered as a participant in the action” (1987: 191). There are many uses of setting, but this research will only use two of them, which are: a.
Setting and Character. In this part Roberts wanted to show that there is a part of the setting that might be intersected with the character that in the end will help readers understand the character deeper. Roberts explained to the story he referred to:
To refer again to Dr. Jenkins of “The Portable Phonograph”, we must realize that he has come to his present circumstances as a mature, sophisticated person. Amid the hostile surroundings, his strength, tenacity, and love of music emerge, so that he clings to the past joys of like as represented by his meager record collection. But it is also adaptable, and hence he arranges things in his cave so that he can continue to exist even though the conditions are so grim. Here the setting is clearly designed to help shape our ideas of This explanation shows clearly that the setting of place is related closely to the character and their characteristics and this fact will help readers to understand deeper about the character.
b.
Setting and Atmosphere. The atmosphere here refers to the mood of the story. Functional description of a setting is required to describe an action. Roberts said that the clear description of something like the trees, the shapes, the shadows, the animals, the winds, the sounds, different shades of colors used for the buildings or settings
- – “warm” colors for happiness or “cooler” colors for gloom – can be the fact that the author is trying to create certain moods for the action. He also explained that “the setting of a story on a farm or in a city apartment may evoke a response to these habitats that may contribute to a story’s atmosphere” (1987: 193).
Getting to know better about the settings of the story and the way they are described helps the writer to make analysis about the class discrimination happening on the story.
3. Theory of Discrimination
Theory of discrimination is important in order to reveal the discrimination between classes that happens on the story.
In a book entitled American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of
Discrimination , Adalberto Aguirre stated that:
In general, discrimination is the process by which an individual, group, or subpopulation of individuals acts in ways that deny another individual, group, or subpopulation access to valued resources (2010: 6). This explanation means that the discrimination happens to certain group of people done by another group of people that the superior group restricts the other group from getting and having their fundamental rights. Aguirre continued in his book that the member of the dominant deny the people of the different group who are less powerful, and restricts them from many necessary access like “jobs, income, education, health, prestige, power, or anything else that the members of a society value” (2010: 6-7). These powerful people are actually able to give the less powerful people helps or giving them ways to necessary rights, but they choose not to do it. Instead, these powerful people let the inferiors go lower.
It is also written in a book Compasito written by Council of Europe: To discriminate against someone is to exclude that person from the full enjoyment of their political, civic, economic, social or cultural rights and freedoms. Discrimination contradicts a basic principle of human rights: that all people are equal in dignity and entitled to the same fundamental rights (2009, 224). According to this explanation, discrimination gives different treatments for different people
- – discrimination restricts some people for having and enjoying their rights which supposedly can be enjoyed by all people in the world.
Compasito also explains about the elements on discrimination which are
explained on and summarized from many articles related to human rights (these articles are from Universal Declaration of Human Rights, European Convention of Human Rights, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women). Compasito summarizes it into three elements (2009, 224), which are: a. the cause of discrimin ation: the child’s or his or her parents’ or legal guardian’s race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth, or other status (social class, occupation, sexual orientation, or preferred language).
b. The action of discrimination: rejection, restriction, exclusion (a pattern of discrimination that denies members of certain group certain positions on some aspects such as in politics or economic or simply having the fundamental rights (Agguire and Turner, 2010: 9)) of a person or a group of persons, genocide (members of certain group are killed or exterminated), slavery (using certain group as workers or slaves without equal payment and right treatment), ethnic cleansing (related to genocidal behavior
- – which tries to get rid of a certain group) or religious persecution.
c. There are consequences in discrimination: this action can prevent people from having and/or enjoying the human rights which are their basic needs of freedom. Later on, discrimination leads to many impacts on society which are reinforcing prejudice and racist attitude.
These three elements go hand in hand, when one happens, the other follows.
According to Compasito , discrimination might happen because of people’s ignorance, prejudices, and negative stereotypes. When these things happen on people’s mind and still continue for sometime, then discrimination to certain situations is possible to happen.
“Because many people fear what seems strange or unknown, they react to suspicion or even violence to anyone whose appearance, culture, or behavior is unfamiliar” (2009, 225). Theory of Discrimination is important for this research in order to determine which action can be considered as a discrimination between the Silvers and the Reds.
4. Theory of Class
Theory of Class is important for this research. This theory will help in determining which one is the upper class and which one is the lower class seen in the differences of the characters and the setting of place happening in this novel.
In his book entitled The Communist Manifesto, Marx (1971) grouped the social class into two different divisions, which he called as the bourgeoisie
- – the owner, and the proletariat
- – the workers (1971: 80). As quoted in his book: By bourgeoisie is meant the class of modern Capitalists, owners of the means of social production and employers of wage labour. By proletariat, the class of modern wage-labourers who, having no means of production of their own, are reduced to selling their labour power in order to live (1971: 79). The bourgeoisie is the person who is on higher c
- – the owner, the boss, the ruler, the person who gives jobs for the workers. Marx also explained in his book:
The bourgeoisie has subjected the country to the rule of the towns. It has created enormous cities, has greatly increased the urban population as compared with the rural, and has thus rescued a considerable part of the population from the idiocy of rural life (1971: 84).
It means that the bourgeoisie has such a great power that it can be used to rule a country, from the development of the cities to the increasing amount of the people live there.
On the other hand, the proletariat is the working class or lower class
- – the
In proportion as the bourgeoisie, i.e., capital, is developed, in the same proportion is the proletariat, the modern working class, developed
- – a class of labourers, who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital (1971: 87). The proletariat really lives under the rule of the bourgeoisie
- – this lower class works for them. They are, as Marx determined them on his writing, the “commodity” for the bourgeoisie or things that are very important for the development and betterment of the bourgeoisie. The proletarians work so hard and are being exposed for the importance of the bourgeoisie while they do not get their life and economic condition better.