A Psychological Analysis of Altruism in Victor Hugo's 'Les Miserables', Exercises of Psychoanalysis

Download A Psychological Analysis of Altruism in Victor Hugo's 'Les Miserables' and more Exercises Psychoanalysis in PDF only on Docsity! 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Les Miserables is a novel written by Victor Hugo. It was published by Lacroix and Verboeckhoven in 1862. The novel was firstly published in Belgia. Les Miserables is translated into 9 different languages so all people in the world can read it. It consists of 1500 pages in English version editions, and 1900 pages in French. This novel becomes one of the longest novels in the world and the best novel along of nine-teen century. This novel also makes changes the government rule in that time. Les Miserables was adapted into movie, drama, and opera with the same title as its novel. The movie won some achievement, there are Laurence Oliver award in 2012, Laurence Oliver award in 1985, Tony award and Drama Desk Award in 1987. The author Victor Marie Hugo was born in Besancon, France, on 26 Pebruary 1802 and died on 22 May 1885. He had an original name, it was Avenue d’Eylau. His father, Joseph was an atheist republican and an influential officer in the army of Napoleon, while his mother Sophie was a staunch Catholic Royalist. Hugo requires nearly 20 years to complete this novel. Some characters in the novel were created by the writer who ever intersect with him. His other novels are Han d’Islande published in 1823, The Last Day of a Condemned Man (Le Dernier jour d’un condamne) 2 published in 1829, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (Notre-Dame de Paris) published in 1831. Les Miserables told a story of a main character named Jean Valjean, he is a Frenchman imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread. He spent nineteen years in prison. Once out of prison, it turns out no better life than in jail. People detest him caused of his status as ex-prisoner. Jean Valjean’s life changed after he met with a bishop named Mr. Myriel. The bishop helps him, but even so, he steals bishop’s cutlery silverware. Jean Valjean is arrested again by the police for theft. When confirmed by the bishop, however, the bishop says that the silverware was a gift. Valjean spared from prison, but the bishop asks him to help others with equal kindness. That Myriel’s kindness was able to open the hearts of Jean Valjean, so he decides to turn into a good person. After that, he became someone new and changed his name to Mr.Madelaine. He becomes mayor that he also maintains many successful factories. Jean Valjean also meets Fantine, the beautiful women who is suffering. She was abandoned by her lover when she is pregnant. She had to raise her daughter Cosette her-self. She entrusted her daughter to the Thenardier family so she could work and sent money to Cosette every month, but latter she knows that Thenardiers is a cruel family. They always squeeze a lot of money to Fantine. Fantine goes bankrupt so she could not provide the amount that Thenardiers want. To overcome that situation, she plungs into the world of prostitution. 5 entitled The Sacred Heart of Victor Hugo. He concludes that the story of Victor Hugos’s last time effects to his novel. Steven Alan Carr’s thesis (2002) entitled The Holocaust in the Text: Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables and the Allegorical Film Adaptation. He tells many movies are adapted from Les Miserables, and Hugo’s novel signals a resonance between the book and a modernist response to the Holocaust. The other thesis is from Mary Anne O'Neil (1999) with her thesis entitled Pascalian Reflections in Les Miserables. He concludes that Pascal and Victor Hugo are an abstract philosopher. The divinity Victor Hugo promotes in Les Miserables have in common with the some philosopher acknowledged by Pascal. C. Problem Statement Formulating problem statement is quite significant. It helps the researcher understands the research that will be conducted. Therefore, based on the background of the study, the researcher concerns to analyze how altruism of Jean Valjean is reflected in Les Miserables novel. D. Limitation of the Study In this research, the researcher focuses on the discussing of altruism based on the novel Les Miserables. The discussion only uses the theory of psychoanalytic by Sigmund Freud. E. Objectives of the Study The objectives of study are as follows: 1. To analyze the novel based on structural elements of the novel. 2. To describe altruism phenomenon based on psychoanalytic approach. 6 F. Benefits of the Study The result of the study is expected to give benefits as follows: 1. Theoretically, to the knowledge of the aspects of psychoanalytic literary study. 2. Practically, to enlarge knowledge and experience of the researcher and another students who have interest in literature. G. Research Method 1. Type of the Study The type of the study is qualitative research. 2. Type of Data and Source The sources of the data used in this research are catagorized into two namely primary data and secondary data: a. Primary data It is taken from the Victor Hugo’s novel Les Miserables (1862). b. Secondary data It is taken from the materials related to the study. The data are taken from website, dictionary, and some books which support the research. 3. Technique of the Data Collection The method to collect the data is by note-taking. The researcher involves some required steps: a. Reading the novel for several times to get deep understanding. b. Giving underline to the important information in the novel. 7 c. Determining the main issue of the novel. d. Determining the characters that will be analyzed. e. Reading some related books reference to find out the theory, data and information needed. f. Accessing to the internet to get several information and articles related to the object of the study. g. Taking note of important thing both primary and secondary data sources. h. Classifying and determining the relevant data. i. Classifying the material that has been selected to support in analyzing the novel. 4. Techniques of Data Analysis The technique to analyze the data uses descriptive analysis. The researcher collects the data which is relevant to analyze the novel. Psychoanalytic theory is used to analyze the novel to find psychological condition of the character in the novel. H. Paper Organization This research paper consists of five chapters. Chapter I is Introduction, which consists of background of the study, literary review, problem statement, limitation of the study, object of the study, benefit of the study, research method, and paper organization. Chapter II comprises of the underlying theory, which presents notion of psychoanalysis, major principle of psychoanalysis, notion of altruism, and structural alements of