A study on joseph conrad’s world view of ”european imperialism” as reflected in his novella, “heart of darkness” (a genetic structural approach) and its implication on teaching reading in SMA

Oleh :
Nur Arinal Baroroh - K2202039 - Fak. KIP

ABSTRACT This study is intended to analyze Joseph Conrad’s world view of “European Imperialism” in the late of nineteenth century as reflected in his novella Heart of Darkness. This study is focused on the analysis of the novella’s structural elements and socio-cultural background. The first is intended to see the unity of its structure i.e. if it is well unified or loose. The second is intended to see the social as well as cultural background of the novella creation, and the novelist’s world view. Besides those two things, the study is also intended to find its implication for teaching reading to SMA students. Based on those points, the problems statements put forward are: 1) How the structural elements and their coherence are arranged in the novella, 2) How Conrad’s world view of European Imperialism is reflected in his novella, “Heart of Darkness”, and 3) The implication of the result of the study for teaching reading in SMA. So the objectives of the study are: 1) to describe the coherence of the intrinsic elements that include plot, character, setting, point of view, tone and theme, 2) to describe Conrad’s world view of European Imperialism as it is reflected in his novella Heart of Darkness, 3) to use the novella as a reading material for teaching reading. The study is a type of descriptive qualitative research. The sample of the study is taken purposively. The sample can be divided into: 1) the structure itself, when it is viewed from the structural perspective, 2) the character in the novella, in this case Marlow and Conrad, when it is viewed from socio-cultural perspective. The instrument used is the researcher herself. The process of analyzing the data uses interactive model proposed by Miles and Huberman. The data are in the form of structural elements and historical background. The writer uses genetic structural approach which is proposed by Lucien Goldmann in analyzing the novella. The use of it is to describe the structure and the homology of the structure of the novella with the historical background of a society where the author lives in order to find Conrad’s world view of European Imperialism. The analysis involves two steps. First, the researcher should analyze the structural elements of the novella. Second, the writer should analyze the genetic factors as the origin of the novella and as the background in which the author lives. The analysis then finds three points. Firstly, the analysis of the structural elements finds the coherence among them. Secondly, the analysis of genetic factors as the background finds that there is a homology between the fiction and the historical facts. Thirdly, The result is then used to analyze Conrad’s world view of “European Imperialism”. The result of the study then gives implication to the teaching learning process, especially as reading materials. The novella can be used as a resource for teaching reading since it is very useful to the students in the sense they can develop their linguistic competence. But the use of literature in the teaching learning activities, especially in SMA should be well selected in accordance with their level of English competence. Therefore, the material should be selected by focusing on: (1) structure of the story, especially the plot (2) simplification of the language and story.