ABSTRACT
Dalam skripsi ini saya menganalisis novel Spirit Ran Free karya Forest Hairston. Saya memilih pembahasan konflik. Adapun konflik yang dipilih yaitu konflik sosial yang terjadi antara orang kulit putih dengan orang kulit hitam dalam masa perbudakan di Amerika.
Novel ini bercerita tentang perbudakan yang terjadi pada Lyakenna dan anaknya Marcellus. Sebagai budak, mereka dihadapkan kepada kekejaman orang kulit putih. Lyakenna melahirkan seorang anak bernama Marcellus di tempat penampungan budak. Kemudian Lyakenna sadar bahwa ia dan Marcellus harus hidup dibawah hukum-hukum yang berlaku di Mississippi.
merasa bahwa hukum yang dibuat oleh orang kulit putih membuatnya tidak merasa sebagai seorang manusia karena ia tidak mempunyai hak untuk merasakan kebebasan yang diberikan Tuhan kepada setiap mahluk-Nya.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE………. i
TABLE OF CONTENTS………... ii
ABSTRACT………... iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Background of the study ……….…….. 1
Statement of the problem ……….. 3
Purpose of the study ………. 3
Methods of research ………. 3
Organization of the Thesis ……… 3
CHAPTER TWO: DISCUSSION ON THE SOCIAL CONFLICTS IN FOREST HAIRSTON’S SPIRIT RAN FREE ………. 5
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION ………. 16
BIBLIOGRAPHY ……….. 19
APPENDICES Synopsis of Spirit Ran Free ……… 20
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APPENDICES
SYNOPSIS OF SPIRIT RAN FREE
The story is about slavery in America. The great warrior, Prince Jaakeem and the beautiful Lyakenna of their West African tribe begins a dramatic experience where they are captured and through the middle passage from Africa to America. In America this young girl is faced with the cruelty of white people. She birthed Prince Jaakeem’s son in Savannah, Georgia. At a slavery camp, she then realizes that her son and her have lived under slavery that is created by white people with their Mississippi law.
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Marcellus often got into some really heated discussion with Master George about the basic ideal of freedom. He argues that slavery is the most atrocious act against human civil rights but Master George thinks that there is no law against Mississippi law. Marcellus feels that the law that is made by the white people does not make him as a human being because he has no rights to feel the freedom that is given by God for every human being.
In his quest for freedom for all his people, Michael Cartier who was his master befriends Marcellus. When Michael wants to free all his slaves and also Marcellus and his wife Joy, but the citizens of Mississippi forbid Michael to free all his slaves. Because the citizens of Mississippi consider that slaves are not part of American people; moreover, they are not considered as human beings.
BIOGRAPHY OF FOREST HAIRSTON
Forest hairston was born in Glen White, West Virginia. He was the son of a coal miner. During the turbulent PostWar migration from the south, his mother, Ruth Hairston, she was a single parent that had made a decision to move her eleven children from Beckley, West Virginia to Motor City, Detroit, Michigan, she hopes that it will give the positive opportunities for her children.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY:
To understand a story it is better if we read a novel, because it presents the
story clearly, and often presents important moral messages to the readers. Novel is a
genre of literature in the form of narrative or prose fiction ‘…it is a form of story or
prose narrative containing characters, action and incident, and perhaps, a plot.’
(Cuddon, 1979, 430-31). In a novel, a writer can give a more detailed description of
the flow of events, characters and setting than in other genres. This is why I am
interested in analyzing novel.
Among the post-modernist writers, Forest Hairston is one of the most talented
writers from America. It is proved by his winning a National Book Critics Circle
award. He is known primarily as a song writer, music producer, screen writer and
poet.
Spirit Ran Free is a major work of Forest Hairston. The story emotionally
unfolds its place in Black ambivalent history. A time from dire slavery to the
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I think that slavery is an interesting topic, since slavery brings sorrow to many
people, especially to Black people.
In writing this thesis, I choose to analyze the social conflict because it would
be interesting to reveal social conflicts of Hairston’s Spirit Ran Free. It is necessary
to put forward some theories related to conflicts, so that will make the readers
understand the aspect better. Conflict is the opposition of persons or forces upon
which the action depends in drama and fiction. There are three types of conflicts. The
first is elemental or physical conflict, which means a struggle between man and the
physical world. It represents man versus forces of nature. The second is social
conflict, which means a struggle between man and man, and the third type is internal
or psychological conflict, which means a struggle between desires within a person.
(Shaw, 1972:91-92).
It is important to analyze this novel because it has a message for the readers
to learn. This novel conveys its anti-slavery message; we can learn from history that
slavery only brings destruction for human civilization, especially for the black people.
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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:
The problems are stated as follows:
1. What conflicts do the characters experience in Forest Hairston’s Spirit Ran
Free?
2. What are the causes of the conflicts?
3. How are the conflicts resolved?
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY:
The purposes in studying and analyzing the novel are:
1. To analyses the conflicts in Forest Hairston’s Spirit Ran Free.
2. To find the causes of the conflicts
3. To discuss how the conflicts are resolved.
METHODS OF RESEARCH
The methods of research is library research. First of all, I begin by reading Forest
Hairston’s Spirit Ran Free. I also decide what topic is going to be discussed. I also
read some references, which are relevant to the topic to be discussed. Then I gather
some information from the Internet, which supports this research. The data collected
is used as the analysis from which a conclusion is drawn.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
The thesis is divided into three chapters, followed by the Bibliography and the
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Study, the Statement of the Problem, the Purpose of the study, the Methods of
Research and Organization of the Thesis are presented. In chapter two, the analysis of
the social conflicts of Forest Hairston’s Spirit Ran Free is presented. The thesis ends
with the Bibliography and the Appendices, consisting of the Biography and the
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CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
Having analyses the novel, I am of the opinion that the author has successfully presented the social conflicts. The author presents the black people ‘s suffering in the world of slavery.
Slavery becomes the worst thing in human being history. Because it takes people’s freedom so they cannot do anything because every slave could be bought and solely owned by their master. In this book, slavery happens to the Africans. The centre of this conflict is the Africans, who are sold, bought and used as workers and also they do not have freedom to have the rights to give the opinion, to speak, to live a normal life.
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that they have rights as human beings to have freedom. There are two different ideas that have created conflicts between the white as slave owners and the black people as slaves.
Slavery forbids a slave to have education because every slave at that times only a property of white people. So there is no law that allows them to have education. Moreover some slave owners sometimes raped and whipped the slaves as if they are harlot or animal. Sometimes they can kill their slaves easily. There is no certainty about their lives and rights.
In the novel there are many conflicts that are unsolved because it is very difficult to change the white people’s perception and law. It is very difficult for Marcellus and his fellow slaves to change their condition without willingness of the white to change the condition and realize their mistakes.
I can find in the novel that conflicts occur because of the slavery. I come to the conclusion that seeing from the result of slavery, it can be said that slavery has degraded one’s rights as human being. One has lost his or her r ights when they become slaves, and rights as a free human being.
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also become beggars. And sometimes the children received sexual abuse from their masters.
Having analyses the social conflicts in this novel, I come to a conclusion that the cause of the conflicts is slavery. Slavery has made people suffer and lost their rights to do anything as human beings. By presenting such conflict, the author wants to make the readers know that slavery is action of human degradation and the worst thing in human’s life, because slavery makes people suffer especially for the Africans. Slaves are human too but they do not have the rights to feel freedom, to have an education, to be treated equally and to receive fair treatment.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
Cuddon,J.A. A Dictionary of Literary Terms. London: Penguin Books, 1882 Kenney, William. How to Analyze fiction. New York: Monarch Press. 1996 Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McGraw. Hill, inc.1972
Online Personal Sites
Http://www.Black Village.com/spirit/spirit.htm
(Searched on March 27th 2006)
Primary Text
