THE INSUFFICIENCY OF REALITY IN SALMAN RUSHDIE’S THE SATANIC VERSES

THE INSUFFICIENCY OF REALITY

  

IN SALMAN RUSHDIE’S THE SATANIC VERSES

  AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

DEBORA WIENDA ROSARI

  Student Number: 024214079

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

THE INSUFFICIENCY OF REALITY

  

IN SALMAN RUSHDIE’S THE SATANIC VERSES

  AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

DEBORA WIENDA ROSARI

  Student Number: 024214079

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

  I won’t be made useless

I won’t be idle with despair ;[tÇwá „ ]xãxÄ< This is a dedication to my parents,

my P.R.U.E family,

and my “Bones”...

  @w@

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I initially would express my biggest gratitude to my Advisor Drs.

  Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. and Dra. Th. Enny Anggraini, M.A. as my Co- Advisor who have spent their time for reading, criticizing, giving valuable suggestions, as well correcting my thesis until I finished this thesis.

  I thank my beloved Mama and Papa for their patience and endless support although I often let you both down. Thanks for trusting me and giving me your unconditional love. I am sorry for keeping both of you waiting so long for seeing me wearing toga. My gratitude also goes to my big brother and his small family for their love.

  For a lovely name Anggit Baskara Yusena who prefers to be called Tulang, I thank you for urging me in my bad times restlessly, for being ready to “whip” me when laziness came around, and for being the person I consulted even debated in the time I was doing on my thesis. Thank you for the love we share.

  My biggest appreciation is dedicated to my “comrades” in English Letters 2002, especially class C, who have made my life in this university more colorful.

  In particular, I thank also to my P.R.U.E friends for their fabulous friendship (I’m looking forward to crazy reunion!). Special thank goes to my P.R.U.E girls: Dian for her bright idea when I was stuck on finding the topic for my thesis, Nana for encouraging me to see our Advisor and start working on my thesis, and Kartika for giving me the access to own The Satanic Verses as well as lending me her printer at my last moment of struggle.

  To my boarding house girls at Jl. Petung 33: Metta, Krist, Sefvi, Lala, and whose names I could not mention one by one, I thank you for our sisterhood, for backing me up whenever I was down and for showing the patience whenever I went out of control.

  At last but most importantly, I would like to thank to God for His countless blessings. I would not have finished this thesis without His mercy. May God always bless all these amazing people.

  Debora Wienda Rosari

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  2. The Koran, the Holy Book of Islam……………………………. 17

  1. The Plot in The Satanic Verses…………. ………….……......... 38

  

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ………………………………………... 32

A. Object of the Study…………………………………………………… 32 B. Approach of the Study………………………………………………... 34 C. Method of the Study……………………..……………….................... 35

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ………………………………………………… 37

A. The Portrayal of Submission in The Satanic Verses as Seen in Its Plot, Settings, and Characters………………………………………… 38

  D. Theoretical Framework………………………………………………. 31

  5. Muhammad’s Enemies and Companions………………………. 26

  4. The Condition of Mecca and its Society in Muhammad’s Era……………………………………….……………………… 22

  3. Muhammad the Prophet………………………………………… 19

  1. The Basic Meaning of Islam…………………………………… 16

  TITLE PAGE ……………………………………………….………………... i APPROVAL PAGE …………………………………………………………... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ……………………………………………………….. iii MOTTO PAGE …………………………………………………………......... iv DEDICATION PAGE ………………………………………………….......... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………..……… vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………………. viii ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………. x ABSTRAK …………………………………………………………………... xi

  C. Review on Islam and Its Society circa the Life of Prophet Muhammad…………………………………………………………… 16

  4. The Relation between Literature and Society………………….. 15

  3. Theory of Character and Characterization…….………..……… 14

  2. Theory of Setting…………………………………….…………. 13

  1. Theory of Plot…………………………...……………………… 11

  

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………….. 1

A. Background of the Study…………………………………………….. 1 B. Problem Formulation………………………………………………… 5 C. Objectives of the Study………………………………………………. 5

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ………………………………. 7

A. Review of Related Studies…………………………………………… 7 B. Review of Related Theories……………………..…………………… 10

  2. The Setting……………………………………………………... 42

  B. The Insufficiency of Reality in The Satanic Verses …………………. 72

  1. The Plot………………………………………………………… 72

  2. The Setting……………………………………………………... 75

  3. The Characters…………………………………………………. 78

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ...………...………….……………………… 95

BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………...……………………………. 98

APPENDICES ………………………………………………………………. 102

Appendix 1: The Summary of The Satanic Verses…………………….. 102 Appendix 2: Ayatollah Khomeini’s Fatwa on The Satanic

Verses …………………………………………………….. 104

Appendix 3: Terms in the Novel Quoted in the Thesis………………… 104 Appendix 4: Islamic Terms…………………………………………….. 105 Appendix 5: The Koran Surah 53: An-Najm (The Star)……………….. 106

  

ABSTRACT

  DEBORA WIENDA ROSARI (2007). The Insufficiency of Reality in Salman

  

Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters,

Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

  Religion is one of the most interesting issues in the world of literature, especially when it comes to a literary work that contains controversial topic which could be very sensitive and somehow has the probability to be offensive towards certain religion. The phenomenon does not happen only for one particular religion but it takes place within many scopes of religion. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie is one of the literary works which is considered offensive towards Islam. Since its description of the fictional prophet in the novel was considered too much offensive for common Muslims, The Satanic Verses received many objections and was considered as a blasphemy to Islam. What becomes the matter is that The

  

Satanic Verses is related, but lacks of relevancy with the religion Islam. This

  condition, however, encourages the writer to find out which depictions in the novel are not relevant with the religion and what are missing in the novel that create a lack of reality in the novel.

  To achieve a deep insight, especially on the absence of reality in the novel

  

The Satanic Verses , two questions are formulated to guide the analysis. They are:

  (1) How does The Satanic Verses portray Submission? (2) In what way the insufficiency of reality is found in The Satanic Verses? This thesis is using the sociocultural-historical approach, an approach which refers the content of the novel to the society where it is produced, since this thesis discusses the novel The Satanic Verses and its relation and relevance with Islam. In finding the data necessary for the study, library research is used. Therefore sources from books were taken as well as from the internet. The primary source of the study is Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. Some other books as well as several websites which contain literary critic and Islamic history are also discussed as the secondary sources.

  The finding of the analysis denotes two significant results. Firstly, it is found that The Satanic Verses portrays the religion similar to Islam by showing the similarity between the plot, setting, and characters in the novel with the history of Islam. Therefore, the novel proves that it has the reference with Islamic history. Secondly, the lack of reality is shown by the lack of relevancy which is found in the novel’s three intrinsic elements: plot, setting, and characters. By stacking Islamic experiences in just one year instead of in consecutive years, the plot of

  

The Satanic Verses shows the insufficiency of reality. The description of the

  desert of Jahilia is suitable with Meccan land, but the period of Jahilia inhabitants’ nomadic ancient lacks of relevancy. And lastly, the characters in the novel which are not depicted as their real traits strengthen the evidence that reality is

  

ABSTRAK

  DEBORA WIENDA ROSARI (2007). The Insufficiency of Reality in Salman

  

Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas

Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Agama merupakan salah satu tema menarik dalam dunia kesusastraan, khususnya ketika terdapat karya sastra yang mengandung topik kontroversial yang amat sensitif dan bisa jadi dianggap menghina suatu agama tertentu. Fenomena ini tidak hanya terjadi pada satu agama tertentu, tetapi terjadi pada bermacam-macam agama. Novel The Satanic Verses yang ditulis Salman Rushdie merupakan salah satu karya sastra yang dianggap sebagai hinaan terhadap agama Islam. Karena penggambaran Nabi fiktifnya yang dianggap berlebihan oleh umat Muslim, novel

  

The Satanic Verses menerima banyak protes dan dipandang sebagai suatu hujatan

  terhadap agama Islam. Yang menjadi pokok permasalahannya adalah bahwa novel tersebut mengacu kepada sejarah Islam, namun tidak sesuai dengan sejarah itu sendiri. Kondisi semacam ini mendorong penulis untuk menemukan mana penggambaran novel yang tidak sesuai dengan agama tersebut serta bagian sejarah Islam mana yang tidak terpapar di dalam novel sehingga realita tidak cukup tertampilkan dalam novel.

  Untuk mencapai wawasan mendalam, khususnya dalam menemukan ketidakhadiran realita dalam novel, diformulasikanlah dua pertanyaan sebagai batasan dalam analisis novel, yaitu: (1) Bagaimana novel The Satanic Verses menghadirkan Submission? (2) Dengan cara apa kurangnya realita dapat ditemukan dalam novel The Satanic Verses?

  Skripsi ini menggunakan pendekatan sosial budaya dan sejarah karena skripsi ini menganalisa novel The Satanic Verses dengan hubungan serta relevansinya terhadap Islam. Pendekatan sosial budaya dan sejarah memperlihatkan bahwa isi novel mengacu pada masyarakat dimana novel itu dibuat. Dalam memperoleh data yang diperlukan untuk studi ini, digunakan studi pustaka. Karena itu, sumber-sumber diambil dari buku dan internet. Sumber utama studi ini adalah novel The Satanic Verses oleh Salman Rushdie. Buku-buku lain dan beberapa website yang di dalamnya terdapat kritik-kritik sastra serta sejarah mengenai agama Islam juga digunakan dalam studi ini sebagai sumber- sumber pendukung.

  Penemuan dalam analisis menghasilkan dua hasil penting. Pertama, ditemukan bahwa The Satanic Verses menggambarkan agama yang menyerupai agama Islam dengan menghadirkan kemiripan antara alur, setting, dan penokohan dalam novel dengan sejarah Islam. Karenanya, hal ini membuktikan bahwa novel tersebut memiliki hubungan dengan sejarah Islam. Kedua, kurang hadirnya realita ditunjukkan oleh kurangnya relevansi yang ditemukan dalam tiga intrinsik elemen: alur, setting, dan penokohan. Dengan menghadirkan kejadian-kejadian berkesinambungan, alur novel The Satanic Verses menunjukkan kurang hadirnya realita di dalam novel. Penjabaran padang gurun di Jahilia memang sesuai dengan keadaan di Mekah, tetapi periode keturunan kehidupan pengembaraan masyarakat Jahilia tidak sesuai dengan yang sebenarnya. Terakhir, tokoh-tokoh dalam novel yang penggambarannya tidak sesuai dengan karakter asli mereka semakin memperkuat bukti bahwa realita yang ditampilkan dalam novel The Satanic Verses yang ditulis oleh Salman Rushdie tidak mencukupi.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Religion is one of the most interesting issues in the world of literature,

  especially when it comes to a literary work that contains controversial topic which could be very sensitive and somehow has the probability to be offensive towards certain religion. The phenomenon does not happen only for one particular religion but it takes place within many scopes of religion. Many examples of this issue are found from different parts of the world. The examples are including poem, short story, and novels.

  The Italian Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia, a type of allegorical religious poem which is translated as The Divine Comedy in English, is one example of literary works regarded offensive towards Christian religion. With its setting in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise in 1300 CE, the novel which conveys the pilgrimage of the character named Dante distracted Christians’ attention (www.divinecomedy.com/divinecomedy/inferno/astudyhelp.html).

  Another example is a short story “Langit Makin Mendung” by Kipandjikusmin which was published in Indonesia’s literature magazine, Sastra, in August 1968. The short story was objected by Muslims in Indonesia and as the result, the magazine was banned (Dahlan and Hermani, 2004: 17-41). The quotation below shows that the short story was not accepted in Indonesia and invited especially Indonesian Muslims to ask their government to ban the magazine which had published it and prosecute the writer of the story for the blasphemy.

  In "Langit Makin Mendung" (The Heavens Darken) a writer calling himself Kipandjikusmin satirized the late Sukarno period by describing a visit to earth by the Prophet Mohammad. Aside from depicting Mohammad humorously—pensioned-off in heaven with the other prophets—he depicts God himself as an old man with gold spectacles. These irreverences outraged many Muslims, who clamored for the story's withdrawal from circulation and called upon the government to prosecute its author under laws forbidding the defamation of religion (www.awardeeforpublicservice.org/hansbaguejassin/langitmakinmendung. html). Two other examples of literary works which are controversially acknowledged in the world of religion are the 1988’s novel The Satanic Verses by

  Indian-born Londoner Salman Rushdie and Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code which was released in New York in March 2003. Particular subplots in The

  

Satanic Verses are in reference but rather irrelevant with the events which

happened in Islam (http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/SalmanRushdie.html).

  Meanwhile, the novel The Da Vinci Code denotes a new reconstruction in Christianity as it explores the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene as suggested in Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting, “The Last Supper” (www.epiphanylc.org/daVinciCode.html).

  The four examples which have been mentioned above have something in common. These literary works are having somehow huge impacts towards the world of religion in which they include controversial themes and are considered offensive towards certain religion regardless what the religion is.

  Nevertheless, this thesis is not intended to explore all those mentioned Rushdie. The Satanic Verses was once a polemic around 1988-1989. As the novel was published in 1988 in Great Britain, soon it became controversial in the world.

  Following its publication, the novel spread its effect especially in Islamic nations. As denoted by Kepel, in his book Allah in the West: Islamic Movements in

  

America and Europe , Rushdie’s initial intention of writing the novel was to

  criticize Islamic religious leaders who had controlled the Muslim community in Britain. However, his description of the fictional prophet in the novel was considered too much offensive for common Muslims (Kepel, 1997: 128-129).

  But the language used by Rushdie in relation to Islam and the Prophet aroused the anger of a much wider Muslim population. By using ironic names for figures held in reverence by pious Muslims, especially the Prophet (referred to as Mahound, a name used by medieval Christian polemicists) and his entourage, and placing these characters in obscene or morally degrading circumstances, Rushdie alienated a great number of ordinary Muslims outside the inner circle of mullahs and Islamic association leaders (Kepel, 1997: 129). For that reason, The Satanic Verses received many objections and was considered as a blasphemy to Islam. The novel is considered offensive to the religion due to its content which in some part portrays a religion similar to Islam and the happening events which are not true according to Islamic history.

  Responding the objection, Iranian Muslim leader, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa or religious edict in February 14, 1989 as the comment of Islamic countries towards the novel. There was also a monetary reward for Salman Rushdie’s life from 15 Khordad Foundation, an Iranian religious foundation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_%28novel%29). The content of the fatwa was to permit all Muslims in any parts of the world to execute Rushdie is against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran” (Kepel, 1997: 129) and aware of its content. Following the fatwa, several havocs which were aimed at rejecting the publishing of the book happened; not only disturbing diplomatic relationship between Iran and the West, the book also caused several people killed and injured.

  The ensuing furor, conducted on an international scale, caused twenty-two persons to lose their lives and many scores to be injured in riots, a disruption in diplomatic relations between the West and Iran, book burning, and book banning, and a price of the head of Rushdie as a blasphemer of Islam (Levy, 1993: 558). Indeed The Satanic Verses contains several similarities with Muslim events, characters, and objects even though they are not the real events, characters and objects themselves. The contents of the novel indicate that it imitates, in this case, Islam in particular. In other words, the novel is in reference to Islam but The

  

Satanic Verses is not the religion itself. This indication comes along with what is

  coined from Reading and Writing about Literature (1971) by Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods, Jr. that literature takes civilization, or in other words: attitudes and actions of a specific group of people, as its subject matter (Rohrberger and Woods, Jr., 1971: 9). A specific group of people is included in the society; this somewhat proves that literature is connected with society although society itself has also become the subject of imitation by literature as pointed by René Wellek and Austin Warren in their book Theory of Literature:

  Third Edition (1956):

  . . . literature ‘represents’ ‘life’; and ‘life’ is, in large measure, a social reality, even though the natural world and the inner or subjective world of the individual have also been objects of literary ‘imitation’ (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 94).

  What becomes the matter is that The Satanic Verses is in reference, but lacks of relevancy with the religion Islam as said by Aamir Mufti which was quoted in Brian Finney’s essay “Demonizing Discourse in Salman Rushdie’s The

  Satanic Verses ”:

  …“in secularizing (and hence profaning) the sacred 'tropology' of Islam by insisting upon its appropriation for the purposes of fiction, the novel throws into doubt the discursive edifice within which Islam has been produced in recent years” (http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/Salman Rushdie.html). This condition, however, encourages the writer to find out which depictions in the novel are not relevant with the religion and what are missing in the novel that creates an insufficiency of reality in the novel.

  B. Problem Formulation

  To achieve a deep insight, especially on the insufficiency of reality in the novel The Satanic Verses, two questions are formulated to guide the analysis.

  They are:

  1. How does The Satanic Verses portray Submission?

  2. In what way the insufficiency of reality is found in The Satanic Verses?

  C. Objectives of the Study

  The aim of this study is to answer the problems that have been formulated above. The initial objective of this study is to discover how The Satanic Verses portrays Submission, which is the religion similar to Islam in the story. This first step is taken by scrutinizing the content of the novel which portrays the similarity with several aspects in Islamic tradition. The second aim is to find out the differences between the content of the novel with the actual tradition of Islam.

  This is done by consulting what are found in the first problem with the history on Islam to find the lack of relevancy in the novel. Therefore, the insufficiency of reality in the novel will be discovered.

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies The Satanic Verses is a novel which is famous for its controversy in

  religious aspects. The novel is considered as a blasphemy to Islam since its publication in 1988 for some of its subplots which portray the story of a fictional prophet who is similar to Islam’s Muhammad as well as his religion. Some essays which explore The Satanic Verses from different angles are consulted to see several reactions towards the novel.

  An article by Brian Finney, “Demonizing Discourse in Salman Rushdie’s

  The Satanic Verses”, is opposing the novel. The core of this essay is to explore the

  similarities with Islam that are found in the novel and proves that it is a novel against what-so-called fundamentalist Islam. In the essay, the novel is said as “one of the relatively few works of fiction to have made a significant and permanent impact outside the enclosed world of literature” (http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/SalmanRushdie.html). According to Brian Finney, Rushdie wrote the novel to oppose what he calls the “Actually Existing Islam” which refers to the fundamentalists Islam despite his secularist Islam.

  Rushdie believes that art, like religion, can produce a "flight of the human spirit outside the confines of its material, physical existence" (http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/SalmanRushdie.html). It means that religion, as well as art can bring human to explore their own mental excluding their physical body. The reason why The Satanic Verses is so threatening for the fundamentalist religion is “because fiction claims to incorporate those other discursive formations within its own discourse and in doing so to reveal the will to power underlying their will to truth” (http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/Salman Rushdie.html).

  Apart from blasphemy issue, Eng Oai’s essay “Finding One's Self Identity in Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses” investigates the novel from its characters. Oai argues that Mahound, the fictional prophet in the novel lacks of self identity “that he does not truly know what he represents, or who is” (http://www.geocities.com/quicsilver13/rushdieessay.html). Oai disputes that Mahound lost his identity due to his new attained religion; that he was so devoted to it and finally got sunken in it until he became the religion himself. “Mahound has devoted his entire life to his new religion, and he essentially has become that religion, leaving his previous identity behind” (http://www.geocities.com /quicsilver13/rushdieessay.html). Not only the fictional prophet, Oai notes that the followers of Mahound’s religion also “shed their former identities and become yet another piece of the ever growing religion” (http://www.geocities.com/quic silver13/rushdieessay.html). One person connected to Mahound who still preserved her self identity, Oai says, was Ayesha, one of Mahound’s wives. “Unlike her husband, Ayesha never fully submitted to Submission, as she always maintained a small piece of her self-identity with her” (http://www.geocities.com/quicsilver13/rushdieessay.html). Ayesha was the person who accompanied Mahound in his deathbed. As Mahound died, she informed his followers to grief if what they follow was Mahound “because both are dead” (http://www.geocities.com/quic silver13/rushdieessay.html); the prophet and the religion. Instead of grieving, Ayesha rejoiced for she knew God still alive thus she had faith in God. From the characters, Oai wants to show that self identity is important for human to continue their lives.

  Through the plights of the characters in The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie is trying to teach us a very important lesson in life. He is conveying the idea that if we don't have self-identity and don't understand our role in life, that we will be living only as society dictates. Without self- identity in our lives, we're just another useless product produced by our materialistic society and it is through this lack of self-identity that we will bring about an early death (http://www.geocities.com/quicsilver13/ rushdieessay.html).

  The essay “The Unity of The Satanic Verses” by Paul Brians tries to find the values in Salman Rushdie’s novel which many critics said as a mixture of disorganized plots, characters, and themes. Brians explore the postmodern idea in the novel by analyzing the fact that most characters in the novel who live in London are “immigrants: Indians, Bengalis, Pakistanis, Jamaicans, German Jews” (http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~brians/anglophone/satanic_verses/unity.html). As a postmodernist, Rushdie portrayed the immigrants as people who have exotic life and tradition rather than being oppressed by the Anglo-Saxons heritage. Rushdie only presented some minor Anglo-Saxon characters in the book; quite an irony remembering that one of the significant and primary settings of the book is in London. Brians also notes that The Satanic Verses questions the long existed convention which happens in the society as follows below:

  The entire novel strives to break down absolutes, to blur easy dichotomies, to question traditional assumptions of all kinds . . . High ideals can lead people to commit terrible crimes. Love can be mixed with jealous hate. Exalted faith can lead to tragedy. (http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~brians/

  Julian Samuel, a Pakistani-Canadian writer and filmmaker gives a rather sharp comment on “Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses” (http://www.indiastar.com/jsamuel.html). Samuel states that “There is a hidden agenda at work; there always is.” (http://www.indiastar.com/jsamuel.html) and there is no exception for The Satanic Verses. Samuel argues that censorship issue is nothing new for publishers so that the book to sell is recognized and remains in public mind which eventually will sell the book (http://www.indiastar.com/ jsamuel.html). Samuel criticizes the book sharply that it “does not represent any moral high ground” (http://www.indiastar.com/jsamuel.html). The blasphemy performed, Samuel says, is simply a sensation that aimed at reaching high selling on the book. “The book is empty. The precalculated anti-Islamic propaganda is a sales-pitch, nothing more.” (http://www.indiastar.com/jsamuel.html).

  Unlike the other essays above, this thesis is discussing the novel from other perspective. Knowing that The Satanic Verses is in reference but not relevant with Islam, this thesis is connecting the novel with the real condition of Islamic society in Muhammad’s era which the novel takes as the model. Therefore this thesis is aimed at revealing the lack of relevancy between the novel and the history and tradition in Islam around the life of the Prophet Muhammad so that the insufficiency of reality in the novel would be discovered.

  B. Review of Related Theories To analyze the novel further, the writer uses theory of plot, setting, character and characterization, also the relation between the literature and society.

1. Theory of Plot

  Plot is a series of tied-together events in the story (Koesnosoebroto, 1988: 28). The events in the story, however, are not limited only in “physical occurrences, like speech or action, but also a character’s change of attitude, a flash of insight, a decision – anything that alters the course of affairs” (Stanton, 1965: 14). In A Glossary of Literary Terms: Sixth Edition by M. H. Abrams, Aristotle gave the order of a unified plot which is “a continuous sequence of beginning, middle, and end” (Abrams, 1993: 161).

  The beginning initiates the main action in a way which makes us look forward to something more; the middle presumes what has gone before and requires something to follow; and the end follows from what has gone before but requires nothing more; we are satisfied that the plot is complete (Abrams, 1993: 161). Plot, which is placed firstly in writing by Aristotle, is said as “the imitation of an action” and also “the arrangement of the incidents” (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 377). Aristotle suggested that plot is the imitation of the actions in real life (http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.mb.txt). Furthermore, although imitating the universe, “plot does not include every incident that might happen to us in ordinary life” (Bate, 1952:14-15) but has its own characteristic distinguishes it from the reality in the universe. Still, Aristotle classified plot into two: dramatic plot and epic plot. Dramatic plot is “an artificial arrangement of incidents, the main purpose of which is to capture and hold the interest and provide an artistically satisfying conclusion.” (Yelland, Jones, and Easton, 1953: 147-148). Traditionally, dramatic plot usually divided into four divisions. The divisions are exposition, raveling or complication, climax, and dénouement or unraveling (Yelland, et al., 1953: 148).

  a. exposition The characters of the novel are introduced, the background sketched, and the problem stated.

  b. raveling or complication The raveling or complication shows that interest is quickened and suspense is created by the introduction of difficulties, which seems to stand in the way of a satisfactory conclusion.

  c. climax This is the point of greatest expectancy, which is the cumulative effect of preceding incidents.

  d. dénouement or unraveling In this section, the conclusion is finally worked out (Yelland, et al., 1953: 148).

  Meanwhile, epic plot is defined as: …a series of incidents or adventures given more-or-less in chronological order and not arranged in an artificial pattern, but unified by a central idea in the nature of a cause or quest of struggle in which the main character or characters are constantly engaged (Yelland, et al., 1953: 149).

  Consequently, it is impossible for a literary work of being under these two plots at once that a novel only has either dramatic or epic plot.

  Often, there is a subordinate or minor complication found within a fiction. This secondary plot has a direct relation to the main plot, contributing to it in interest and in complication and struggle. This minor complication is usually contain more than one subplot. There are two degrees in which a writer conveys the subplot: the first degree subplot is a subplot which is directly related to and giving impulsion and action to the main plot. Meanwhile, second degree subplot is a subplot which is less relevant to the main plot and play as the secondary story that enriches and assists the main plot (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 490).

2. Theory of Setting

  

According to A Handbook of Literary Terms, setting is “the elements that give

  the reader an abstract impression of the environment in which the characters move” (Yelland, et al., 1986: 184). As quoted by Koesnosoebroto, Connolly stated that setting is in a sense the time, place, and concrete situation of the narrative, the web of environment in which characters spin out their destinies (Koesnosoebroto, 1981: 79). For narrative or dramatic work, the setting usually is “the general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occurs” (Abrams, 1993: 192). In A Handbook to Literature: Fifth Edition, setting is said as “the physical, and sometimes spiritual, background against which the action of a narrative takes place” (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 465). In larger sense, quoted by Koesnosoebroto, Lostracco and Wilkerson stated that “setting refers to the conditions or total environment – – physical, emotional, economic, political, social, and psychological – – in which the characters live” (Koesnosoebroto, 1981: 80).

  According to Holman and Harmon, there are four elements making up a setting. They are: (1) the actual geographical location and such physical arrangement such as its topography, scenery, and such physical arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room; (2) the occupation and daily manner of living of the characters; (3) the time or period in which the action takes place, for example, epoch in history or seasons of the year; and (4) the general environment of the characters, for example, religious, mental, moral, social, and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 465).

3. Theory of Character and Characterization

  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 by what they do―the action (Abrams, 1993: 23). Characters are imaginary persons because characters are presented in dramatic or narrative works. “The creation of these imaginary persons so that they exist for the reader as lifelike is called characterization” (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 81). There are three basic methods of characterization in fiction: (1) the explicit presentation by the author of the character trough direct exposition; (2) the presentation of the character in action; and (3) the representation within a character (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 81). E. M. Forster divided character into two according to its complexity of quality: (1) flat character which is “built around “a single idea or quality” and is presented without much individualizing detail” (Abrams, 1993: 24) and (2) round character which is “complex in temperament and motivation and is represented with subtle particularity” detail, “in the round”, while the minor figures appear flat and somewhat lifeless” (Yelland, et al., 1953: 31).

  In addition, “a character may be either static or dynamic” (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 83). “A static character is one who changes a little if at all. Things happen to such a character without things happening within.” (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 83). Therefore, a static character may face even small changes which in fact do not change the character’s quality. “A dynamic character, on the other hand, is one who is modified by actions and experiences.” (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 83). Such character changes his or her traits during the development of the story.

4. The Relation between Literature and Society

  Literature is a social institution, or more exactly, a social creation; it is created by conventions and norms which occur in the society. In addition, literature is connected with society although society itself has also become the subject of imitation by literature and usually happened in close connection with particular social institutions (Wellek and Warren, 1977: 94).

  When we are talking about the relation between literature and society, it is not as simple as the assumption that literature mirrors the current social correctly; neither the only idea that literature depicts some aspects of social reality or that literature mirrors or expresses life (Wellek and Warren, 1977: 95). Society in the novel functions as an element in a structure that is self referential. It should be acknowledged that society in the novel is a concept and idea. Therefore society in the novel is not the straight reflection of the outside world. It is different from the society that exists in outside world as quoted from Elizabeth Langland’s book

  Society in the Novel:

  Society in novels does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside world in details of costume, setting, and locality because a novel’s society does not aim at a faithful mirror of any concrete, existent thing (Langland, 1984: 5).

  Society comprehends not only peoples and their classes. Society, in wider sense, also includes their customs, conventions, beliefs and values, institutions (legal, religious, and cultural), not to mention physical environment (Langland, 1984: 6). The role of society in literature, however, depends upon the literary work’s form and structure. Form, in this case, is the more general term which is in reference to value meanwhile structure considers the ways in which particular elements in fiction are presented, combined, and manipulated to accomplish the conclusion (Langland, 1984: 8).

C. Review on Islam and its Society circa the Life of Prophet Muhammad

1. The Basic Meaning of Islam Islam is a monotheistic religion that worships Allah, the one and only God.

  The word Islam is taken from Arabic (al-islam) which means at once submission and peace (Young, 1995: 353), or surrender to the will of Allah (Esposito, 1998: 254). In practical term, Islam means that its followers have the duty to create a just, even society where the poor and weak are treated appropriately (Armstrong, 1994: 142). Islam followers are called muslim, that means “one who submits”

  

Muhammadan rasulu Allah (“There is no God, but Allah; and Muhammad is His

messenger”) is the basis of Muslim belief and practice (Esposito, 1998: 68).

  Meanwhile, the way of life of the Muslims is compiled in the Koran.

2. The Koran, the Holy Book of Islam

  The holy texts of Islam were brought together in the Koran, or Al-Qur’an in Arabic, meaning “collected revelations in written form” (Gibb and Kramers, 1965: 273). The Koran consists of 11 chapters, 6,616 verses, 77934 words, and 323,671 characters (al F

  ārūqī and al Fārūqī, 1986: 100). The texts were delivered continuously during the fasting months for about 23 years in Arabian cities Mecca and Medina through the Archangel Gabriel (Djibril in Arabic) to Muhammad. Djibril or Gabriel is God’s angel whose “duty is to bear the order of God to prophets and to reveal His mysteries to them” (Gibb & Kramers, 1965: 79).

  The first revelation of the Koran was given to Muhammad while he was meditating on Mount Hira during the month of fasting. He was forty at that time.

  Since Muhammad was illiterate, he recorded all the revelations in his great memory to be retold loudly to his ummah afterward. Later on, the revelations were jotted down literately and compiled in the Koran. The principles and values of Islam contained in the Koran makes the Koran becomes the initial source of Islamic teaching (Esposito, 1998: 79).

  In one occasion, the Koran almost lost its genuineness due to Abdullah ibn Sa’id mistake. Being Muhammad’s scribe of the Koran, he changed the characteristic of Allah ‘alimun samiun (All Knowing and All Hearing) to be

  

‘alimun hakimun (All Knowing and All Wise) purposely then escaped to Mecca.