Jane Austen’s view towards the materialistic lifestyle as reflected in Sense And Sensibility

Oleh :
Wahyu Wisnu Wardhani - C1304049 - Fak. Sastra dan Seni Rupa

ABSTRACT 2008. This research is a study of Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility. This research is a descriptive qualitative research in which the researcher had to analyze the data and then describe it. The main source of data in this research are taken from the novel Sense and Sensibility, published by David Campbell Publisher in 1992. The main data in this research are the dialogues and the sentences that support the problem statements, while the supporting data are taken from other sources such as essays, critical reviews and articles. The purpose of this thesis is to find out Jane Austen’s view towards the materialistic lifestyle as reflected in Sense and Sensibility. To achieve the objective of the research, the researcher employs Genetic Structuralism approach proposed by Lucien Goldmann. By employing this approach, it is expected that some essential points which answer the objective of the research will be found. To reveal Jane Austen’s view towards the materialistic lifestyle as reflected in Sense and Sensibility, it needs several steps. The first step is to analyze the portrait of materialistic lifestyle in Sense and Sensibility. The next step is to analyze the materialistic lifestyle of the eighteenth century English society as reflected in the novel. The finding of the previous analysis will lead the researcher to find out Jane Austen’s view towards the materialistic lifestyle as reflected in Sense and Sensibility. In this novel, Jane Austen criticized her society at that time in which the social standards were almost entirely money and snobbery. It is implied in her characters and her plots which are the reflection of the real condition of her upper-middle class society. Wealth or property was a very important thing to be considered in almost every matter in the society, including the marriage. The rich people in her time also liked showing off their belongings as their standard of values in life was based on the possession of materialistic matters. Jane Austen disagreed with this kind of view. She precisely highlighted that life cannot be measured only by money or wealth. She underlined that people’s destination in life did not only depend on money, but also love others was more meaningful, and she believed that money did not always secure people to reach the happiness in their life.