This research entitiled “Symbolism of three political powers in arok-dedes by Pramoedya Ananta Toer is aimed at finding the actor behind the act of taking over the reign. The three political powers fighting to take over the reign are military (Arok) collaborating with the dominating party Golongan Karya (Brahmana) to face the Old Order and the Indonesia Communist Party (Tunggul Ametung supported by King of Kediri). This research employs semiotic theory which results to the criticism to the Old and the New Orders. The smart and resourcefull Arok is a threat to his opponent and ally is the symbol of the authority of the New Order Soeharto, while Tunggul Ametung is the symbol of the Old Order Soekarno. The New Order rezim collaborates with Golongan Karya and the authority of the Old Order Lama collaborates with the Indonesia Communist Party which is anti to Islam. The political battle won by the military force supported by Golongan Karya directs Soeharto to his presidency as the second Indonesia President.
Social discrimination is a never-ending issue that happens not only in reality but also in fiction novels. It is described as perpetual inequality of people based on their disability, illness, sexual orientation, religion, or any other. Hence, literature as a cultural product has a potential to deliver social discrimination discourse. This research aims to discuss how the social discrimination depicted in Kiera Cass’ The Selection. The Selection is a story about an event to find a prince’s bride in Illéa. The caste system and absolute monarchy exist in Illéa’s kingdom. Depending on their jobs, people are divided into eight castes. In this research, the representation theory by Stuart Hall is applied. The study’s analysis is qualitative with the novel as primary data and other supporting sources as secondary data. The collected data are used to indicate how social discrimination between castes constructed in the novel, how it is related to the condition in the United States of America in 1900s, and where the author took a side with. The result of the research shows that social discrimination occurs as the absolute position of the caste and it is difficult to change this situation. The novel’s social discrimination is also related to the real condition of the United States of America in the early 1900s, which includes job, partner, and lifestyle aspects. The author appeared to position herself more on the side of the lower caste at first, but no solution is offered as a result of the lower caste’s work.
This study observed the form and mechanism of power of the New Order in Wiji Thukul’s poem to discover theoretical and factual novelty. This study applied sociology of literature as an approach to gain a strengthening basis about the relationship between Wiji Thukul’s poem and social context during the New Order. The theory of Power by Michel Foucault was used to overview and highlight the form and mechanism of power of The New Order, so that the model of the analysis was analytical descriptive. The object of this study was the antology of Wiji Thukul’s poem Nyanyian Akar Rumput. Based on the analysis, there found that the New Order was an authoritative, repressive, and oppressive government. His power performed through the relation of power and dominant discourse that were spread and legitimated through power networking established by the New Order. This characteristics of power had made Wiji Thukul consistently sacrificed and struggled to conduct a resistance by media of poem. From this study, there could be concluded that Wiji Thukul’s poem was fully loaded with intense and dominant sociological outlook.
This paper examines the representation of optimism during the American progressive era in the novel Pollyanna. The analysis focuses on discovering the discourse of optimism and the critical position of the author. The theory of representation by Stuart Hall and the discursive approach by Michel Foucault were used. The contextual background and the narrations in the novel are collaborated in the analysis process to find the discourse of optimism and the critical position of the author. The result of this research shows that this novel represents optimism through the glad game and the characters' personality alterations who always look at good sides on everything and make comparison of descending life events. The study also shows that as a writer, Porter positions herself as person who supports optimism as the response in the progressive era in America. Keywords: glad game, optimism, pollyanna, positive psychology.
United States of America is known as a country that promises its people or immigrants who come to America to become successful by providing ‘American Dream’ as the country’s national ethos. These people are given equal chances to bring out their dreams and aspirations. However, American Dream is not always the dream for everyone as experienced by the characters in Christina Henriques’ novel The Book of Unknown Americans. Issue of injustice shadows immigrants who are in search of this dream. Facing problems of injustice such as racism, different treatment of immigrants, and sexual harassment are inevitable for these Latino people when they first come to the United States. This study is aimed at discussing the failures and injustices that Latino immigrants’ characters of the novel must face when they attempt of achieving the American Dream. The method used in this study is qualitative method. The data of this research are in the forms of language and its discourse. Stuart Hall’s Theory of Representation is used to analyze the research data. The results of this study show that not all-American dreams can be fulfilled easily, in particular for Latino immigrant characters in the novel. What have been faced by these characters are significant experiences to learn for anyone who wants to pursue their dream in United States of America.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.