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CHAPTER 2

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

There are two approaches in analyzing literary work, first is using intrinsic

approach and second extrinsic approach. Intrinsic approach is a way to analyze literary

work based on the text and the structural point. There are many elements that are used to

explain fiction works, such as novel and short story. Moreover, there is extrinsic

approach, which analyzes the relationship between the content of the literary work and

other disciplines of knowledge. One of school of thoughts in the extrinsic analysis is

Marxism, which talks about economy that are related with an issue of money (material),

status, class, power, domination, and marginalization. Many elements of Marxism

literary criticism can be found in the House of Mirth novel.

2.1 Intrinsic Elements

Intrinsic Element is an approach, which analyzes the literary work based on the

text and the structural points in it. The structural points on literary work can be divided

into five classifications, they are: Plot, setting, character, theme and point of view. The

purpose of structural points is to make the literary work becomes life and prevents the

reader getting confused about the role of the story. Intrinsic elements are focused on the

inside elements of the story. Diyanni (2001,p. 44) mentions that to get better

understanding in reading novel, it is not only important to understand what the story is

about, but also it is equally vital to understand its basic elements.

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2.1.1 Plot

According to Arp and Johnson (2006, p.45) Plot is the sequence of

incidents or events through which an author constructs a story. Rush (2005, p.35)

stated that plot refers to deliberate selection and arrangement of the incidents that

the playwright presents. So, it can be understood that plot is like a skeleton of the

story, which makes up the whole conflict found in a story.

Plot is like a map with a description and explanation, which is more

concern to the major events. Every good plot has conflict and suspense in it.

Conflict refers to a clash of actions, ideas, desires, or wills. There are some kinds

of conflicts; a conflict of person against person, conflict with external force and

conflict with internal force (elements in the character’s own nature). Conflict

brings out the extremes of human energy, causing characters to engage in the

decisions, actions, responses, and interactions that make up most stories. Conflict

is the major elements of plot because opposing forces arouse curiosity, cause

doubt, create tension, and produce interest.

Sometimes, when people read a book there is a feeling of curiosity that

makes them to continue their reading and finish the book. That kind of feeling is

called suspense. According to Arp and Johnson (2006, p.47), suspense is the

quality in a story that makes readers ask “What’s going to happen next?” or

“How will this turn out?”.

Diyanni (2001, p. 42) added that plot should have a significant causal

relationship, which means parts of the story’s plot consists of events that happen

before or after the others, an event becomes the indicator why other event

happened. Actually, the purpose of plot is to make the reader keep reading the

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story (Arp and Johnson, 2006) Plot is different with summary; in plot there are

five elements. They are Exposition, Rising Action (Conflicts), Climax, Falling

Action and Resolve (Denoument).

Furthermore, according to Rush (2005, p. 37), there are two ways of

understanding arrangement of plot. They are linear and nonlinear. Linear is the

well-organized plot; all sequence of events is written in present to present.

Meanwhile, Non-linear is patterns of plot that is written in present to flashback

and is ended with present.

Overall, plot is a structure of events in the story that has a causal

relationship between them. Plot is how the events are arranged by the author to

develop his basic idea.

2.1.1.1 Exposition

Exposition is the beginning of the story whereas the characters

and the setting firstly appear. It can be said that it is the introduction of

the characters and setting of the story. Exposition catches the reader with

enough interest and information to make the reader willing to continue

the reading.

“When we speak of the dramatic structure of a story, we refer to the exact way in which our emotional involvement in its plot is increased and relaxed. The first part of this dramatic structure is the exposition, which provides the reader with essential information-who, what, when, where-he or she needs to know before continuing.” (R.S. GWYNN, 2002: 8) In the exposition part, the author tells relationship between all of

the main characters in the story. Exposition shows the main characters’

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goals and what kind of person they are. The purpose of exposition is to

persuade the readers to believe something by presenting one side of the

argument. For example, in the novel “The BFG” (1982), the exposition

of this novel is when the narrator tells the readers that this is a story about

a girl named Sophie. She is an orphan who lived in England and she slept

with other children in the dormitory. One night, she could not sleep and

she felt an experience of witching hour. Witching hour was a special

moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up

was in a deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had

the world to them. This is the beginning of the story, when the character

and setting firstly revealed.

2.1.1.2 Rising Action

Based on the book A Student Guide to Play Analysis, Rush

(2005, p. 52) said that Raising action refer to the obstacles get in the way

of protagonist goal; she has to react to these setbacks, make new choices,

and deal with new situation. It happens between the exposition

(introduction) and climax. This is the part of plot when conflict and main

character are introduced. Rising action is a time when events in the story

getting complicated and the main character struggles toward conflict and

problem. Example of Rising action in “The BFG” novel is when Sophie

snatched by the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) and brought her to the giants

land. In that land, Sophie met the other giants who eat humans. Luckily,

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BFG did not eat human. BFG is a dream catcher who creates dream to the

children.

2.1.1.3 Climax

Based on A student Guide to play analysis by Rush (2005, p.

58), Climax is the point at which story turns in a major new direction

where the protagonist faces a final obstacle, and final choices are made.

While Diyanni (2001, p. 45) states that climax is the moment of greatest

tension in a story. It is the moment of highest tension and it is a moment

that all the readers’ questions are revealed. The climax usually shows the

conflict and struggle. It also reveals any secrets or missing points in the

story. Besides that, an anti-climax may occur, in which an expectedly

difficult event is revealed to be incredibly easy or of paltry importance.

Critics may also label the falling action as an anti-climax, or anti-

climactic.

In “The BFG” novel, the climax is when Sophie heard that the

other giants plan to eat human in England. The BFG and Sophie plan to

tell the queen of England about the attack by other Giants. BFG and

Sophie travel to England and plant a nightmare dream into the queen’s

head.

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2.1.1.4 Falling Action

Falling action is when the condition gets back to normal life after

the climax revealed the main problem, either it is solved or not.

According to Diyanni (2001, p. 45), falling action is the stage when the

tension calm down. This is the part when the protagonist or main

character should react to the changes that happened during climax of the

story. In this step, the readers will make a new adjustment to a new

situation. For example, in the novel “The BFG” falling action is occurred

when the queen realized that the nightmare dream was real and she

invited Sophie and BFG into her palace. Three of them planned for

defeating the Giants.

2.1.1.5 Resolution (Denoument)

Gill (1995, p. 172) defines resolution as experience we get when

all the issues of a novel have been brought to a satisfactory state. This is

the final outcome of all events in the story. The author often ties up the

loose ends of the story to have the plot reach a conclusion. Denoument is

a French word, which means the untying of knot or ending. Plots are like

knots, in that several elements have become confusingly connected. It is

the end of the story and the readers finally know what happened clearly.

Example of Resolution that occurred in the novel “The BFG” is when the

BFG leads a group of army and air force helicopters and jeeps to the land

of the giants to catch them while they’re sleeping. They nearly don’t

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succeed, but with Sophie’s help, they manage to catch all nine and bring

them back to England. There they are deposited in a huge pit and fed only

snozzcucumbers. The BFG, is rewarded by the Queen with a castle. And

Sophie decides to live with him.

2.1.2 Setting

In reading novels, the memorable things that readers remember are the

scenes. It might be in the form of verbal pictures of a place, and sometimes a

character is figured through a landscape or townscape. Diyanni (2001.p. 61) said

that setting is the world of story. Besides that, time (the time when the story takes

place) also support the verbal pictures itself. The place and the time that occur in

the story is can be made by the author or it can be a real setting in the world.

Setting helps the reader create the mood and feeling of the story. It also helps the

reader imagine the situation of time and place of the novel.

We can say that setting is the background of the story where is the story

taken place, and when the story happens. Sometimes, setting can be revealed the

historical and cultural content, which is brought influence to the plot of story.

Setting can be divided into physical setting and social setting. Physical setting

consist of location where the story taken place and the time when the story taken

place. On the other hand, social setting is connected to the environment and

society situation that occurs in the story.

Usually, the memorable things that readers will remember are the scenes.

It might be in the form of verbal pictures of a place, and sometimes a character is

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figured through a landscape or townscape. Besides that, time (the time when the

story is taking place) also support the verbal pictures itself. The place and the

time in the story are called Setting. We can say that setting is the background of

the story where is the story taken place, and when the story happens.

2.1.3 Theme

According Arp and Johnson (2006, p. 130), theme is controlling idea or

central insight of story. Theme can be referred as the result of general and

abstract thinking of a story. Theme of the novel usually relates to the meaning,

interpretation, explanation and significance in the literary work. Theme might be

formed by looking at other elements or parts of the novel, such as; character,

atmosphere, setting, plot, and so on.

In order to know the theme, the readers have to determine what the main

purpose of the novel is and relate it to the value of life. Not all stories have clear

theme, for example; the purpose of mystery story is to stimulate the reader to

solve the mystery in it and the purpose of comedy story is to make them feel

funny. Arp and Johnson (2006, p. 131) mentioned that theme exists when the

author seriously record life correctly or to reveal some truth about the life and

when the author put a unifying element like theory of life.

The theme of a story could be written briefly like its plot or it can be

explicitly written somewhere in the story by the author or one of the character in

the story. There are some principles suggested by Arp and Johnson (2006, p.

134); ffirst, Theme should be written in the form of statement with a subject and

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predicate. Second, Theme should be written in generalization about life, so that

do not use specific names of the character, place, or event. Third, do not make

the generalization larger than is justified. Prevent the words every, all, always;

change it with some, sometimes, may to make it more accurate. Fourth, Theme

should include all the major details of the story. The theme must be written based

on the data of the story instead of only assumption from experience. Fifth, do not

state theme in one way, it should presents view of life. We can state a theme not

in one way if we fulfilled all the four suggestion above. Sixth, prevent any

familiar statement that often used by people, such as; “Don’t judge a book by its

cover”.

Writing theme can be enjoyable but also can be tricky because wild error

can be occurred. Put yourself into the writer side to find the real meaning of the

story.

2.1.4 Character and Characterization

In general character is the actor and actress who play role in the story.

Character is very important elements in the story because they are imaginary

people made by the authors and convey the author message. Gwynn (2003, p.11)

said that;

“Every story hinges on the actions undertaken by its main character, or protagonist, a term drawn from crying an ancient Greek tragedy (literally “first debater”) that is more useful in discussions of fiction than such misleading term as hero or heroine. Additionally, stories may contain an opposing character, or antagonist, with whom the protagonist is drawn into conflict”.

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Furthermore, Arp and Johnson (2006, p.103) mention that describing

character is more difficult than describing plot because it is more complex,

variable, and ambiguous. There are two ways of the author describe their

characters. First, direct presentation is straight out, by exposition or analysis,

what the characters are like, or they have another character in the story describe

them. Second is indirect presentation where the author shows us the characters

through their actions; we determine what they are like by what they say or do.

Talking about character, usually people will begin to look the character in

the novel as a real person. Actually, the author of the novel is the one who decide

the characters’ personality, dreams and fears in order to fulfill the purpose in

mind. The characters goal, the way they achieve the goal, the weakness of the

characters and the values of the author should be found in order to understand

more about character in literal aspect.

Every character should have inner goal and active goal in order to reveal

what kind a person he is. Besides that, the strategies which are used to achieve

that goal is also use to reveal the personality of the character and the last is

identifying what is the weakness of the character and what values they brought.

Character can determine by seeing the four levels of characterization, like,

physical, social, logical, and moral. Physical level is the physical appearance of

the character such as sex, age, and size. Social level is the life of the character in

the society or environment, for example economic status, profession, religion,

family, and relationship. Psychological level is habitual responses, attitudes,

desires, motivation, and inner workings of mind, both of emotional and

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intellectual that leads to action. Moral level reveals the attitude of the character

when they face the conflict.

Based on characterization, there are two types of characters; flat character

and round character. According to Arp and Johnson (2006, p. 105), flat

characters is a character that usually have one or two predominant traits. From

the first until the end of the story this character is unchanging. Flat character is a

character that easy to predict and the reader will know exactly how this character

will react to face the conflict. Arp and Johnson (2006, p. 105-106) added that

round character is a character that having a complex and many traits. Round

character usually role as hero or heroic because they play dominate character in

the story. The readers cannot predict the reaction of the round character because

they always change and growth.

Based on the function of the performance, character can be divided into

protagonist, antagonist and companion Protagonist is a character that we usually

recognize as a main character. Protagonist is someone who has a responsible for

achieving the goals of the story (objective of the story). Antagonist is the

character that stands in opposition of the protagonist, and companion is a partner

of protagonist in pursuing the duty and struggle.

Moreover, characterization is the term to analyze the character besides

describing the plot and the other element of prose. Based on Gill (1995, p.135-

144), there are some types of the characters to identify the character in the story.

They are how character spoke, how they think, the appearance of character, how

they are dressed, the social standing of character, the names of the character, the

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company of the character, and what character did. In order to analyze this topic,

the writer will only choose four aspects out of eight; they are social standing of

character, the company of the character, how character thinks, and what character

do. it is because these four aspects have a strong relation to support the topic.

Rush (2005, p.69-70) wrote that social standing of character is talking

about who they were, what their wear, where they lived, when they born, and

how they lived. Social standing of character discuss about the social class and

social background of the character in society. After that, the company of the

character is the first event when the character was banished from the family

circle or when they left their family. It is based on how the reader sees the

character without relate them with their background matters. Meanwhile, Gill

(1995, p.135) written that another way to know about character besides through

their action is from the way their thinking and speaks. The character can be the

messenger to the reader through their action. The last is what characters do, it is

the way of character is showing their acting and reacting. The character action

and response can reveal the personality of the character, either is bad or good.

2.1.5 Point of View

Basically, every story has narrator to tell the story, but modern fiction

writers realize that there are many ways to tell a story rather than be more self-

conscious and tell the story by themselves. The way readers determined who tells

the story and how it gets told is called Point of view. There are some question

that we need to determine Point of view according to Arp and Johnson (2006,

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p.169). They are “Who tells the story?’, “How much is this person allowed to

know?” and, “To what extent does the narrator look inside the characters and

report their thoughts and feelings?”. Basically, Point of view is divided into four

classifications; Omniscient point of view, Third-person limited point of view,

First-person point of view and Objective point of view.

2.1.5.1 Omniscient Point of View

Omniscient point of view is a point of view, which is told by

narrator in the third person. Narrators has unlimited knowledge and

prerogative. They know everything and they can go wherever they wish,

including to appear inside the characters’ minds and hearts. They are able

to tell us the characters’ ways of thinking and feeling. Arp and Johnson

(2006, p. 171) mention that omniscient is the most flexible point of view

and permits widest scope. Because, the narrator may come between the

readers and the story, or the continual shifting of point of view from

character to character may cause a breakdown in coherence or unity.

For example in the novel The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen

King (1987) is told from the Omniscient point of view:

“Roland was neither loved nor hated in Delain. Sasha, however, was loved by all. When she died giving birth to the second son, the Kingdom was plunged into darkest mourning that lasted a year and a day. She had been one of six women Flagg had suggested to his King as possible brides. Roland had known none of these women, who were all similar in birth and station. They were all of noble blood but none of royal blood; all were meek and pleasant and quiet.”

The point of view of this novel is Omniscient point of view. The

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author moves from character to character, and acts as one who always

knows what each character is thinking or knowing and is able to move in

time with absolute knowledge of both the past, present, and future of each

of his characters.

2.1.5.2 Third-Person Point of View

Third person point of view is the way to tell the story using the

third person too. The difference is the narrator appears in the one or two

characters point of view. The story is being told by an outsider observer

(someone who is not in the story). Third person is a limited point of view

because it depends on these characters’ perceptions. The authors’

perspective can go outside and inside in the characters that they choose.

They will tell us what these characters see, hear, think and feel. They

could tell the characters thoughts and behavior because they knew

everything about the characters point of view. In third-person point of

view, the author can tell about the thoughts, actions, and feelings of the

other characters. The author uses the pronouns he, she, and they.

For example in the Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice

(1813), like many classic novels, is told from the third person point of

view:

“When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister how very much she admired him "He is just what a young man ought to be," said she, "sensible, good humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners! -- so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”

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This novel is told in the Third person point of view. The story is

told through Elizabeth, but not in first person. As the result, the emotions

of the novel cannot directly express to the readers.

2.1.5.3 First-Person Point of View

In this point of view, the narrator tells the story in first person

using one of the characters in the story. Arp and Johnson (2006, p.173)

added that the first-person point of view shares the virtues and limitations

of the third-person limited. Storyteller in the first-person point of view

uses I or we. In first-person point of view, readers learn about events as

the narrator learns about them. For example in the novel Agnes Grey by

Anne Bronte (1847),

“I sometimes think it might prove useful to some, and entertaining to others; but the world may judge for itself. Shielded by my own obscurity, and by the lapse of years, and a few fictitious names, I do not fear to venture; and will candidly lay before the public what I would not disclose to the most intimate friend. “

This novel is told from the first person point of view in the form

of a diary. Agnes Grey is the main character and writer of the diary. As

she is writing her diary, Agnes is able to tell the story only from her own

point of view. The thoughts and emotions that she puts into her diary are

her own personal feelings about what is happening to her and those

around her.

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2.1.5.4 Objective Point of View

In objective point of view, the narrators disappear into the kind

of sound roving camera, which is can move everywhere but they do not

know the characters’ mind or thoughts. They can hear and see but they

cannot feel, so that the readers should guess and interpret what the

characters’ feel themselves. Objective point of view can be called as

dramatic point of view. For example in the novel Of Mice and Men by

John Steinbeck (1937),

“The first man stopped short in the clearing, and the follower nearly ran over him. He took off his hat and wiped the sweat-band with his forefinger and snapped the moisture off. His huge companion dropped his blankets and flung himself down and drank from the surface of the green pool; drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse. The small man stepped nervously beside him. “Lennie!” he said sharply. “Lennie, for God’ sakes don’t drink so much.”Lennie continued to snort into the pool. The small man leaned over and shook him by the shoulder. “Lennie. You gonna be sick like you was last night “Lennie dipped his whole head under, hat and all, and then he sat up on the bank and his hat dripped down on his blue coat and ran down his back. “That’s good,” he said. “You drink some, George. You take a good big drink.” He smiled happily.” Of mice and Men using the objective point of view because the

readers cannot directly access to any of the characters' thoughts and

feelings. The readers will know those thoughts and feelings only by

means of what the characters do and say.

2.2 Marxism and Literary Criticism

Marxism was initiated by a German philosopher Karl Marx (1818-1883), and a

German sociologist Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) that working together in this

philosophy. It is about the economic and social system in the society. Marxism is a

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theory of economy that contains an issue of money (material), status, class, power,

domination, and marginalization. The study of Marxism is divided into three biggest

parts as a result of developed philosophy, social history and economics - Dialectical

Materialism, Historical Materialism and Marxist Economics. These are the famous

"Three component parts of Marxism" of which Lenin wrote

“Marxism is a materialist philosophy; that is, it tries to explain things without assuming the existence of a world, or of forces, beyond the natural world around us, and the society we live in.” (Barry, 2009:150)

Marxism theory is a theory that sees the struggle of the comparative power in the

social classes. It shows us that there is a competition in economic, social and political

life. In the modern industrial capitalism near nineteenth-century form, the rich is got

much richer and the poor got much poorer. The impact of this kind of situation is every

single thing in this world is calculated based on economic terms.

According to Barry (2009, p.151-152), there are two structures in the term of

Marxism; they are base structure and super structure. Base structure is the material

means of production, distribution and exchange. Base structure is a something concrete,

overt and manifest. On the other hand, Super structure is the cultural world of ideas, arts,

religion, law and so on. Super structure is something abstract, covert, and hidden. In

Marxism, the Basic structures usually shape the Super structure (directly or indirectly).

According to Hall (2001,p. 76-77), there are some key principles that people can

see in Marxism analysis. First, the material world is not far from production,

distribution, and exchange. How one literary work is produced to make a big economy

opportunity, beside that our engagement, attitudes and social change are also important.

Second, there is structure class, which talk about the class oppression. Third is social

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classes, which discuss about the interest differences through the each class. Classes is

divided into two parts, they are Elite group and Proletariat. Elite group is a capitalist

elements class of society; mean while proletariat is a group of working class. Forth is

ideology or belief. Ideology in this context is false consciousness (Karl Marx). By this

term of ideology we can see Marxism from the author side, what exactly the authors

want to tell the readers. Fifth, Marxism can be seen from the production and

consumption of text reflects class ideologies. Sixth, in the literary works, the readers can

see the ideology that the author wants to reveal. The last is to help the reader to clearer

the ideology of literary works using textual and extra textual.

Marxism usually talks about class struggle or the progression of society through

various historical stages. For example, there is a distinction or gap between two social

classes (rich and poor) in one society; it’s already containing Marxist theory. Many

people see Marxism as a theory that is difficult and complex in process. It tells us about

a struggle of a surplus wealth that created by the labor of the masses.

2.2.1 Historical Materialism

Historical materialism is a theory that studies about society, economics,

and history. This theory developed for the first time by Karl Marx (1818- 1823),

Historical materialism is trying to figure out the causes of developments and

changes in human society. For instance, human will produce their needs from

time to time in many ways. Historical Materialism is the application of Marxist

school of thought to historical development. Marx (1859n as quoted by

Carmody, 2009), in A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, the

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fundamental proposition of historical materialism can be summed up in a

sentence,

it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but, on the contrary, their social existence that determines their consciousness.

As the capitalism rose in Germany, it makes the opposition also develop

into aristocratic absolutism. Many bourgeois classes needed some changes in the

society in order to support their business. According to Profestas (2000) the

system of government does not supported the bourgeois class. It can be seen

from the heavy taxation and political censorship. The struggle between these

forces led to the revolution of 1848, as a symbol of republican movement. This

revolution was directly against religion and Hegelian philosophy. George

Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was one of the most influential philosophers of the

nineteenth century. His greatest achievement was the development of dialectics,

and his concept of alienation or estrangement (social alienation. Hegel was the

person who became the philosophical influence for Marx and Engels.

According to Profestas (2000), Hegelian philosophies create the

distinction between Idea and Spirit of existence in viewing the situation. Spirit

talks about freedom. Hegel’s Phenomenology and principle of history is a result

of the distinction between spirit and idea. This result approaches by Absolute

Knowledge. Hegel that quoted by Profestas (2000) stated that Absolute

knowledge is a self-realization which means that human are seen as the form of

spirit. So that, human is having a consciousness of freedom. The consciousness

creates the phenomenal existence as a result of spirit expression.

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On the other hand, Marx emphasized that activities of human that creates

phenomenon and spirit is a product of human (express by human). Marx as

quoted by profestas (2000); Man is alienated from the product of his work. For

example; under capitalism, labors cannot take benefit from the product that they

produce. This process brings them to alienate from their own nature as a

sensuous and social being. This situation makes the word work becomes

meaningless, because people are only used as instruments that work in order to

fulfill the owner satisfaction.

Supported Marx, Engels (1876) focuses on the posture transition from

ape to man, which consists the transition from non-using tool era to using tool

era. Posture of the human body makes human more depend on eyes than the

other senses. For example, hands are moved by the order of the brains through

the medium of the eyes. Engels is focused on the rise of the thought than the

importance of the thought itself.

In The Materialism and Historical Materialism, Engels (1942n as quoted

by Blunden, 2003) discussed about historical materialism:

“The great basic question of all philosophy, especially of modern philosophy, is that concerning the relation of thinking and being ... Those who asserted the primacy of the spirit to nature and, therefore, in the last instance, assumed world creation in some form or other – comprised the camp of idealism. The others, who regarded nature as primary, belong to the various schools of materialism”

American Journal discussed about a statement “Man proposes God

disposes”, for many theologians this statement told about the Almighty God. On

the other hand, the materialist disagrees with this statement and find that the

social effects of commodity exchange and competition happen between

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expectations and results. Many speculations came from politician, philosopher

and materialist about the commodity (materialism). Politician debates about

freedom and socialism, another hand philosopher said about essence of the

absolute time whether it was exists or not, last materialist also compares the time

to see if the two phenomena (time and material world) occur simultaneously, or

follow one another.

Basically, human can be defined as a social being. Human society is

being their real world, which is all the ideology and consciousness have their

own thoughts. Nature that role as a background of human society becomes the

place for society rests. This nature will change by the human, because of the

human experiences. Human will know the reality by those experiences in life;

same as external world can be felt by them through the senses. So, a

philosophical theory can be a basic of this principle and the material gives the

world reality, which determines thought.

Blunden (2003) said that as a biological organism, humans would keep

adapt to the world. They should adapt their capacities, abilities and activities to

the nature, for example; his power of thinking, the activity of the organ of

thought, the brain, and with thought itself. He also added that in every step in

life, man uses his power of thought that taken from his experiences, expectations,

and hopes to create a conclusion. All of them will express in what kind of life

that he is living and his efforts (actions) in living his life. However, false

conclusions may produce failure and destruction.

Over all, Life is an endless process of learning, adaptation, and

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development with practice as a test of the correctness of thinking. There is all

about the theory of historical materialism according to the development of

society, which is determined by its productive forces that make for a certain

mode of production.

2.2.2 Social Class

Life in the world is shaped by the society. Society in here talks about the

human life style and human itself. Both of them are changing constantly from

time to time. All complex society can be characterized by the differences

distribution of material and symbolic rewards that each individual gets or needs.

Object of class and stratification theorist is the causes and consequences of these

society inequalities. According to the book Class and Stratification, Crompton

(2008, p.8) states that sociological conception of class and stratification is the

idea that argued social and economic inequalities did not happen naturally but

emerge as a result of human behaviors.

The position of the economy can be determined by the number of the

material and cultural. There are some factors that influence this position, they are

social recognitions and esteem, gender, age, ethnicity, income and other material

sources, knowing how to behave and etc. Mostly, class is used to indicate

lifestyle, prestige, or rank. Rank is often indicated by lifestyles and

consumptions. Crompton (2008, p.15) also writes that three different meanings

of the class concept could be classified;

1. Class as prestige, status, culture or lifestyles.

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2. Class as structured social and economic inequality (related to the possession of economic and power resources);

3. Classes as actual or potential social and political actors. (Crompton,2008:15)

One thing that the society can prevent is there are a many levels of

wealth, material possessions, power and authority, and prestige that shaping the

inequalities access to education, healthcare, and leisure. Different resources,

power and authority are the main causes of it. Beside material things, status also

becomes one of the biggest reasons of inequality in society. Wright (2003) writes

that status represents another form of inequality, such as esteem, respect,

prestige, physical ability, intelligence, beauty, occupations. Occupation is very

important because it provides financial rewards, stability and benefits like

healthcare.

Wright (2003) stated that Marx divided class into three parts. First is the

bourgeoisie, this is a person who owns the means of production (machinery and

factory building) and whose source of income is profit. Second are landowners,

they are people who rent the land and the source of income is rent. The last is

proletariat who owns their labor and sells it for a wage.

Great concentrations of wealth keep increasing. People still constantly

compare themselves to others, and economic and social hierarchies are enduring.

Poverty is seen as a problem of ‘social exclusion; rather than outcome of class

processes.