CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study
Nowadays the existence of the literature has the evolutionary changing. Some of
the facts, based on the increasing of writers in literature world and the writers who
are briefly to expose their imagination and idea about the reality in social life. If we
flash back to Victorian age, the writers were prohibited to expose the reality of
society naturally. They only allowed in writing the works which pointed to adore the
queen and government. Meanwhile at the age there were many situations which are
not fair for society: injustice, corruption, poverty, etc.
Related with the history, there is the need of literature in society life. Literature is
part of society in exposing the problems in society at that period. One of the
literature works which is as the tools for society is novel. Novel as elaborated in
Webster new encyclopedic dictionary, said that novel is an invented prose narrative
that is usually long and complex and deals with human experience through a usually
connected sequence of event.
A novel may have many characters and each character represents the human’s
character in our life. That is why the character in the novel can be understood and
received by the readers. Commonly, an author does not show the readers about the
characteristic of character in his work directly, but the readers can understand the
character from the action or dialogue between characters. As with ordinary human
or why they do the things they do. Nevertheless, their actions express their characters
(Robert, 1993: 135) in the thesis of Nova Riana Damanik (2008:1).
Character is the main element in writing novel. If there is no character, there is no
novel. The characters created based on the imagination of the writers. They are based
on the characters of human in reality. Dialogue and statement will help us in
understanding the human is. Furthermore in Koesnoesoebroto (1988: 66) says, “The
characters must clearly be motivated in whatever they do, especially when there is
any change in their behavior; we must be able to understand the reason for what they
do, if not immediately, at least by the end of the story we are interested to know that
characters act from known motives”
Literature and history are two studies which are related. Both of them enrich one
and others. When we study the literature, the stories which are written in the
literature works are close with the history inside it. And in other side, we also use
literature as the references for the reader in knowing and learning the history
happening.
This study focuses on the Nazi invasion in Poland which happened at 1st
September 1939. It was also called “September Campaign”. This is as the dark age
for the world especially Poland.There were many people died as long as this
invasion. Poland lost more than 20% of the populations. 66.000 people died, 133.700
suffered and 694.000 people arrested. Invasion happened caused the purpose of
Germany to create new Germany World. It would be populated by the chosen people.
The chosen people are people who have Aryan blood. Aryan is the ancient nation and
known as the superior races. Hitler believed that they were the generation of Aryan.
In addition to, they build around 20.000 concentration camps in which people
of Poland as the worker. It started 1933 until 1945. Poland was the greatest
concentration camp. It opened on December 1942. The concentration camp used for
various purposes such as force work, transit camp which is as the temporary train
station, concentration camp and the main purpose used to kill prisoners. All the
camps guard by the soldier. Most of people who entered into the concentration camp
are the Jewish, communist Germany, socialist, democrat social, gipsy, Jehova
witness, and all the people who are deviate attitude. Nazi built the gas room which is
full of poison gas to kill people inside it. Around 6.000 people each of the day die in
this camp. Many people jail and suffered insulting in the camp of Nazi. In some
camps, the doctors of Nazi did the experimentation toward the prisoners. There were
many the prisoner died because the exhausted, hungry and the extreme weather.
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel is one of the novels that depict the story
of people as long as invasion in Poland. It was written by Louise Murphy and
published on 2003. It gets the award of A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of The
Year. This novel depicts the survivor during the Nazi invasion and people who died.
This novel started with the story of two Jewish children that should be left by their
parents in the forest bialowieza. Bialowieza forest is one of the last patches of
primeval growth in Europe which there are many wild and unusual animals. Two
children should survive by their own selves without any one that they know before.
Two children wish that they were not born as Jewish. They were alone, frightened,
hungry and loneliness. They should change their identity by changing their names in
the aim to cover up their Jewish identity and start their new life as Christian and
survive in new stranger places without any one that they know. They walk in forest
alone and find Magda, an eccentric and stubborn old woman called the “witch” by
the nearby villagers. They see people dying because of violence, a mother should
separate with their baby, injustice law, a group of people who lose hope. In this
novel, there is a part when Gretel rape by two unknown people. She suffers physical
and mental. After the accident, Hansel as the younger one should be the older.
Magda cared for and protected the children till she die. She is determined to save
them, even as German officer arrives in the village with his own plans for the
children. She died horribly in the gas room. The end of this story is the meeting of
the two children with their father and they get back their memory.
All the situations which the children face during the invasion, like the pain as
the escapee, frightened, and oppressed are indirectly impact toward their psychology.
These can be analyzed by using the psychological approach. Based on Harjana
(1991: 60) psychology of literature can be meant as the way to analyze literature
based on psychology view and the assumption that literature always discuss about
the sequence event of human which as the reflection of human’s life and
understanding it in giving the response toward life. In this side the function of
literature itself to examine the human’s inner which is done toward the characters in
literature and in the point to know more of human life and the response. One of the
psychology disorders that portrayed in this novel is the Dissociative Amnesia. It is
characterized by inability to recall important personal information, usually of a
traumatic or stressful nature, that is extensive to be explained by ordinary
forgetfulness. (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder-IV, 2000).
memory but after the amnesia period end. In the end of the novel the two children get
back their lost memory after telling by their father.
Furthermore this thesis is focused on the suffering that the children face and
the psychological impacts toward the children during the Nazi Invasion in Poland
which portrait in the character, Hansel and Gretel in the Novel of The True Story of
Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy.
1.2. Problems of the Study
Based on the background above, there are two problems that we can get.
They can be formulated in questions below:
1. What kind of suffering did the children face during the invasion of Nazi in
Poland based on the novel, The True Story of Hansel and Gretel?
2. What are the psychological impacts of the Nazi Invasion on the children?
1.3.Objective of the Study
In relation to the problems mentioned before, this study aim to reach the
following objective:
1. To describe the suffering that the children face during the invasion of
Nazi in Poland as portrayed in the novel, The True Story of Hansel and
Gretel by Louise Murphy.
2. To describe the psychological impacts of the Nazi Invasion on the
1.4.Scope of the Study
In order to avoid the extensive problems and to limit the field that is going to
analyze, this study focuses on the suffering being the inferior during the invasion
and, panic, depression and dissociative amnesia which is as the psychological impact
by analyzing the psychology of the character, Hansel and Gretel in Louise Murphy’s
novel, The True Story of Hansel and Gretel.
1.5. Significance of the Study
This analysis expected to get the two findings which are theoretical and
practical. The theoretical, the reader will know the relation between psychology and
literature through the analysis of the impact of Nazi invasion toward the children.
