A.
Title
Critique upon Materialism in
Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince
B.
Background of the
research
Literature is a social institution,
using as its medium language, a social creation. They are conventions and norm
which could have arisen only in society. But, furthermore, literature
‘represent’ ‘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’. The poet
himself is a member of society, possessed of a specific social status; he
receives some degree of social recognition and reward; headdresses an audience,
however hypothetical (Wellek & Austin, 1956) .
Literary work is a place for expressing
ideas; a concept and thoughts with images of experience. Literature presents
inner experiences of the author to the reader of literary work (community).
Literature is not only social reflection but it also presents the idea of the
world and the idea of sociological reality in that time.
Historically, the people produce
literary work. They distinguish it into two types. They are classic literature
and modern literature. Through literature, the mindset of a person or group of
people may be affected. Because literature is part of culture, one element of
the culture is system of values.
As the product of literature, novel that
is only one of many possible prose narrative forms. It shares with other
narratives, like the epic and the romance, two basic characteristics: a story
and a story-teller. People are interested in the story like folktale, legend,
saga and fable.
The fable written by Antoine De
Saint-Exupery was very famous in the world. The novel is published in 1943 with
the original language France. Then, it spread in the world and translated into
many other languages. The story is very interesting. There are two characters
that communicate each other. The little prince often asks something to his
friend that is a pilot. He was an accident. His plane was in trouble on the
machine. The machine should be fixed, the pilot still try to fix it,
Nevertheless The Little Prince ask
something related to the some objects in the world.
It is good to grow up and become adults.
However, sometimes people become very excessive in becoming an adult and eventually
they forget how wonderful seeing and feeling the world if they look from the
children point of view. A life becomes too serious, too monotonous, and just
controlled the numbers. How do I see the world? The way of looking at that
would make us more sensitive around the world.
C.
Research questions
This study will attempt to answer the
following questions:
a. How
does critique upon materialism represent in this novel?
b. What
is the concept of materialism depicted in this novel?
c. How
is the statement which reflected materialism society in that era?
D.
Reseach objectives
The purposes of the study based on the
formulated problems can briefly be stated as follows:
a. To
explain how does materialism happen in this novel?
b. To
identify how is the materialism and hegemony presented.
c. To
describe how does the writer reform the social order of society through The
Fable Story.
d. To
describe materialism that was written in the novel.
E.
Benefits of the
research
a.
Theoritical and Practical Benefits
1. To
be able to apply theories gained during the time of the study and know deeper
about structure and meaning of gift giving culture viewed from semiotic
approach.
2. To be
able to gain knowledge about characteristic of materialism in The Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery.
3. To use as a
reference on literary research related to the topic.
F.
Review of Related
Literature
a.
Reviews of the
Previous Studies
Thierza Alkana Mokoginta
conducted her study entitled The
significance of Symbolism in Relation with Nostalgia for Childhood in Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince in 2002. This study
deals with semiotic theory. The symbols have different meaning especially for
the grown-up. The symbols discussed are related to the meaning of life.
Saint-Exupery’s nostalgia for childhood has a role to determine the
significance of symbolism in the story (Mokoginta, 2002) .
Axelle Chazal conducted her study
entitled Readers’ Opinions and Preferences in Two Translations of The Little
Prince. Many speakers of English will have come to know Saint-Exupery’s Le
Petit Prince through its initial translation into English published in 1943. In
1995, more than fifty years after the first, a new translation of this
much-loved childrenís classic was published. The blurb on the dust jacket
claims that this is a ìradical new translationî which has managed to capture
the ìlightness, the liveliness, the basic simplicity which is the essence of
childhoodî. In the preface, the translator, Alan Wakeman, describes the earlier
translation as ìponderousî (Chazal, 2003) .
b.
Theoretical Reviews
1.
Critique
Critique is a method of
disciplined, systematic analysis of a written or oral discourse. Although
critique is commonly understood as fault finding and negative judgments, it
can also involve merit recognition, and in the philosophical tradition it also
means a methodical practice of doubt. The contemporary sense of critique
has been largely influenced by the Enlightenment critique of
prejudice and authority, which championed the emancipation and autonomy from
religious and political authorities (Gasche, 2007) .
2.
Materialism
Materialism is the origin or nature of
everything, where the origin or the nature of everything is material. Therefore asks the
metaphysical Materialism, but its metaphysical is a metaphysical
Materialism. Materialism is a term in philosophy ontology that
emphasizes the primacy of the material factors upon the spiritual
in value theory, metaphysics, Physiology, epistemology, or
historical explanation. That is, a belief that in this world there
is nothing other than matter in in motion. At the other
extreme, materialism is a statement stating that the mind (spirit,
consciousness, and spirit) is the material that is being moved
(Bertes).
Materialism in philosophy is the view
that everything that exists is either composed of matter or depends on matter
for its existence. Materialism is generally contrasted with idealism, which
holds that ideas are real and stresses the importance of the mind and soul.
Materialists have generally believed that the only things that are real are the
things that a person can perceive through his senses and that all events in the
universe can be explained by scientific law. Basic to materialism is the denial
of the existence of a God who directs the universe and of the immortality of
the individual soul.
In this research the writer is trying to
analyze the novel written by Antoine De Saint-Exupery using materialism theory.
From the theory the writer is trying to analyze The Little Prince, especially
analyzing on statement and quotation that stated.
G.
Research Desain
H.
Objects of the Research
The object of the
study is a novel entitled The Little
Prince. It is written down by Antoine De Saint-Exupery in 1971.
I.
Research Instruments
In this study, the data is classified into
two types, the primary data and the secondary data. The primary data were the
object analyzed namely Saint-Exupery novel, the Little Prince. The data
available in this text were in the forms of phrases, sentences and the explicit
or implicit utterance found in this novel. The secondary data are taken from
books, dictionary, and internet websites which are related to the research.
J.
Data Collection
Technique
To obtain the necessary data, the
writer read the whole of the novel carefully and repeatedly. Then, the
writer could understand and get a deep comprehension. The next method is
folding the important pages which consist of the problem that will be analyzed
in study. Then, underlining and making a note for the main data that related to
the problem which will be analyzed by using some theories, concepts and approach.
These Techniques are used to help easier in analyzing later. The main data are
taken from the comprehension of narrative, dialogues, and thinking of the
author which is stated in The Little Prince.
After collecting the data, the data are
analyzed into three steps. The first step is classifying the data based on
the important data itself. The next step is interpreting the data whether the
data is suitable or not with my analysis. For the last step is analyzing the
data based on the theory and concept in theoretical framework and then, the
writer evaluates the data. After accomplishing all of steps the writer can
compile the conclusion.
K.
References
Bressler,
C. E. (1998). Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Chazal, A.
(2003). Readers Opinions and Preferences in Two Translations of The Little
Prince. Sydney: Macquarie University.
Gasche, R.
(2007). The Honor of Thinking: Critique, Theory, Philosophy. New York:
Stanford.
Mokoginta, T.
A. (2002). The Significance of Symbolism in Relation with Nostalgia for
Childhood in Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma
University.
Suhar, A. (2009).
Filsafat Umum. Jakarta: Gunung Persada Press.
Wellek, R.,
& Austin, W. (1956). Theory of Literature. New York: Horcourt,
Brace & World, Inc.
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