The Representation of Class Struggles in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian

(2013) from Marxist Perspective

By:

Luh Putu Cornea Arya Tienty (1612021149)

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION

LANGUAGES AND ARTS FACULTY

GANESHA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

SINGARAJA

2019/2020
 Table of Contents

Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ i

List of Tables ....................................................................................................................... ii
List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... iii
I. Introduction
1.1 Research Background ............................................................................................... 1
1.2 Problem Identification .............................................................................................. 4
1.3 Limitation of the Study ............................................................................................. 5
1.4 Statements of Research Question .............................................................................. 5
1.5 Purpose of the Study.................................................................................................. 6
1.6 Definition of Key Terms............................................................................................ 6
1.7 Significance of the Study........................................................................................... 7
II. Literature Review
2.1 Empirical Review ...................................................................................................... 11
2.2 Theoretical Review ................................................................................................... 14
2.3 Research Model ........................................................................................................ 26
III. Research Method
3.1 Research Design ........................................................................................................ 27
3.2 Subject of the Study .................................................................................................. 27
3.3 Object of the Study.................................................................................................... 28
3.4 Instrument of Data Collection.................................................................................... 28
3.5 Method of Data Analysis........................................................................................... 30
3.6 Research Trustworthiness.......................................................................................... 33
3.7 Research Procedure.................................................................................................... 33
3.8 Research Schedule..................................................................................................... 35

References

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 List of Tables

Table 3.1 Sequence Segmentation of Crazy Rich Asians (2013) .......................................... 29

Table 3.2 Class Difference and Class Struggles Identification ............................................. 29
Table 3.3 Supporting Data of Class Difference Issues ......................................................... 30
Table 3.4 Supporting Data of Class Struggle Issues.............................................................. 30
Table 3.5 Research Schedule ................................................................................................ 35

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 List of Figures

Figure 1. Data Analysis Scheme: Interactive Model ............................................................ 25

Figure 2. Flowchart of the Research Procedure .................................................................... 34

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 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Background

Literary criticism is recognized as an essential part of English language

teaching (ELT) in which the functions are very beneficial both for the teacher and
learner. Literary criticism takes significant role to elucidate literature in a way that
the result will help the reader to increase their comprehension of a certain literary
work that being analyzed which means that literary criticism can help readers to
grasp not only the usual or most basic sense of literary text but also its meaning
beyond the text (Curlette, 2018). Bearing in mind that it has such a prominent role
in the process of transitioning readers’ fluency of English from ‘literal’ into
‘metaphorical’ stage, Curlette (2018) as a course developer and experienced
English teacher claimed that the result of literary criticism can be used by teachers
as one of the material in ELT to help learners in the process of their target
language acquisition. Moreover, the utilization of literary criticism in ELT also
brings another benefit in which the frequent use of it gives learners more exposure
to the target language through literature. In fact, literature brings so many
potential advantages to the learners’ language acquisition process. Khan &
Alamsari (2018) explained that literary text takes part as an essential role in the
process of ELT that it can help the learners to enhance their communication
competence, generate their motivation, as well as raise their cultural awareness
(Khan & Alasmari, 2018). Literature has a special characteristic which is
containing the fun story and artistic value compare to other learning media such as
essays, articles and printed textbooks so it will be more engaging for the learners
(Febrika, 2013). Besides, Shawal (2015) explained that the employment of literary
criticism does not merely help English language learners in the process of
language acquisition but also enhancing their social value especially by using the
Marxist literary criticism theory.

Marxist literary criticism theory views literary works as the economic and
ideological description which shows the interaction between people from different

1
social classes within the society of specific time or era in which that literary work
was produced (Abraham, 1999). From the perspective of Marxist theory, literary
work is being analyzed beyond the form and structure which also make this
Marxist literary criticism theory has been so critical with the formalism theory of
literary criticism that considers literary work as an independent peace of entity
without considering the influence of social, political, and historical background
(Panda, 2015). The process of literary criticism from the perspective of Marxism
theory which includes an act of analyzing problematic power within the society
can help people to enhance their awareness of inequality issues within the society
(Tyson, 2015). Moreover, based on the implication of research which conducted
by Jensen (2016) the result of literary analysis from the perspective of Marxist
criticism can be used in the English language learning process especially in a
discussion section to encourage the students' critical thinking related with
inequality issues in their surroundings. It can be said that the employment of
Marxism literary analysis does not merely play a significant role in the process of
target language acquisition but also awareness of social problems especially
inequality issues during the English language teaching process. 

The idea of inserting moral and social values in the teaching and learning
process has been globally recognized by several stakeholders in the education
field as an important aspect in producing a good quality of output. The aim of
national education based on UUD 1945 of Republic Indonesia Number 20 article
3 at 2003 mentions that the national education aimed at producing good quality of
output which not only have great competence in the cognitive aspect but also have
such an excellent moral and social value so they will be fully prepared to be
placed among the society. The United Nation (UN) also supports the idea of how
any educational system needs to insert in moral and social values in the teaching
and learning process as one of the four current and future education pillar stated
by its organization UNESCO obligate that learner need to learn how to live
together with the various type of people within the society. Furthermore, the
current Kurukulum 2013 has been launched as the realization of the aim of
national education mentioned before in which this curriculum is expected to play
a significant role in preventing moral deterioration through combining learning

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content with moral and social values (Hermawayati, 2014). 

However, despite the fact that the government have already shown their effort
to insert in the moral and social values in education, Hermawayati (2014) claimed
that there is an occurrence of moral degradation in Indonesia which seen through
issues like corruption, illegal logging, parking, plagiarism, gratification, and drugs
abuse that have been taken as culture in which it is very common to see people do
that behavior in Indonesia. One of the reasons of that problem might be caused by
the lack of material which is contained moral and social values. According to the
result of a study conducted by Setiawan (2017) toward the moral values revealed
in the narrative texts of English textbooks for senior high school students
published by the Ministry of Education and Culture shows that they only focus on
showing kindness, while fairness as another important issue in society only
revealed explicitly throughout the narrative text in those textbooks. It means that
the English textbooks which currently still recognized as the main sources for the
teacher to deliver the materials including moral and social values are not
representing the inequality issue in society.

In line with Cariney (2010) who stated that literature has a vital function to
build a rich personal and textual histories so people can connect their life to the
society, a novel as one of the most popular form of literary work can be used as
learning media in delivering moral and social values especially fairness within the
society by conducting an analysis from the perspective of Marxism literary
criticism. One of the best options that teachers can take in choosing the main
resource in the English learning process is the novel Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin
Kwan published in 2013 as it not only recognized as a very popular novel but also
a representative for inequality issues in society. It is considered as a very popular
and successful novel from the fact stated by Lee (2018) that the novel was adapted
to a movie by the infamous film production Warner Bros which remarked the
history as the first all-Asian cast movie produced by that label since 1990. The
novel told about the main character, Rachel Chu’s summer trip to Singapore
where she was introduced to her boyfriend’s super-rich family whose lifestyle was
fragrance and mind-blowing that Rachel as someone from middle-class family

3
background could not ever relate. It might sound like a typical romance storyline
but it appears that there are so much more about that in which according to Rauch
(2014), by analyzing the storyline from perspective of Marxism literary criticism
the readers can understand the class struggles encountered by the major characters
as a direct reflection of inequality issues in today’s society.

In this study, Kevin Kwan’s novel Crazy Rich Asians will be analyzed from
the perspective of Marxist literary criticism. There are a lot of points of Marxism
which contained in the novel. The existence of social classes in society is
evidenced by the presence of the suppression of inter-group differences in the
social class where it is represented by the plot of this novel where there are some
conflicts arises among the characters from different social classes. It is believed
that analyzing that significant element using the Marxism approach will help a lot
of people to understand and aware of how is a society ruled by a certain class of
social structure. This study is especially important for education where the teacher
can use this novel as well as the result of this study to provide the students not
only good authentic material as the source of English learning process but also
give the students wider point of view to see the relationship between people from
different social class through the interpretation of this novel using the perspective
of Marxist literary criticism.

1.2 Problem Identification

Related to the background of the study, this research has some problems that
can be identified as follows.

Based on the research background, the idea of inserting moral and social
values in the teaching and learning process have not successfully applied in the
education field of Indonesia as according to Hermayawati (2014), there is an
occurrence of moral degradation in Indonesia which seen through issues like
corruption, illegal logging, parking, plagiarism, gratification, and drugs abuse.
One of the factor that considered to be the reason of this problem is the learning

4
material that fail to provide important issues in society including the inequality
issue as according to Setiawan (2017), the English textbooks which currently still
recognized as the main sources for the teacher to deliver the materials including
moral and social values are not representing the inequality issue in society. The
significant role of literary criticism from Marxist perspective on a novel can help
the teacher to provide a relevant material that not only can provide a good
example of the structure and function of the target language but also can help the
students to grasp the idea of important social problem like inequality issues. The
novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013) is one of the options that can be a good source in
the English learning process since there is a lot of important point of Marxism
theory reflected in this novel. It is believed that by analyzing this novel from the
perspective of Marxist literary criticism, people will have wider point of view to
see the value of literary work which at the same time also can make them gain
more knowledge about how people from different social classes interact and what
kind of relationship that connects those social classes.

Furthermore, In the process of English teaching and learning, the teacher

needs to provide as much as possible opportunities for the students to engage with
the target language. The material which comes from textbook often considered as
the material that cannot provide the students with a relevant topic which makes
the students only focus on the structure of the target language instead of the
functional use of it. So many scholars and experts have recommended that the use
of authentic material will be the best solution to give that opportunity for the
students to interact with the target language as well as gain knowledge about the
culture of where the target language is spoken. One type of authentic material
resource which can help the students explore more about the target language is
literature. The literary text also has an advantage from the other kind of authentic
material as it not only can help language learners to improve their language skills
but also enrich their knowledge about society and provide entertainment.

1.3 Limitation of The Study

This study is limited to the analysis of the class struggles represented through
the major characters of the novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013) by Kevin Kwan. The

5
study is focused on intrinsic element of this novel such as theme, setting, plot
development, characterization, and point of view. Those element will be used to
reveal the social issues like class difference and class struggle faced by the major
characters in the novel.

1.4 Statement of Research Questions

In this study, the writer identifies two problems that aimed to revealed
throughout the process of analysis. That identification of problems is proposed by
the writer in the following statement of the problem:

1. How class difference represented in Kevin Kwan’s novel Crazy Rich Asians
(2013)?

2. How class struggles represented through the major characters of Kevin

Kwan’s novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013)?

1.5 Purpose of the Study

Related with the statement of the problem of this study, the purposes aimed
by the writer in conducting this research are as follows:

1. To identify class difference represented in Kevin Kwan’s novel Crazy Rich

Asians (2013).

2. To identify class struggles represented through the major characters of Kevin

Kwan’s novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013).

1.6 The Definition of Key Terms

1.6.1 Marxist Theory

The Marxist theory is the result of Karl Marx’s reflection on the

situation of the society after the outbreak of the Industrial Revolution in
England to create a clear description of the inequality issues at that time in
hope that there will be a movement to against that system of capitalism
(Gonde, 2009).

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 1.6.2 Class difference

According to Marx & Engels (1948), class difference is one of the

social issue that arise because of the social class classification that divided
society in to two sides which are the bourgeoisie and proletariat. The class
difference issues comes from the overuse of power by the bourgeoisie class to
oppress the people who belong to the proletariat class.

1.6.3 Class Struggle

The class struggle is defined as the movement that conducted by the

proletariat class to against the capitalism. Besides, the class struggles could
also happen when the proletariat class do some revolutionary act to stop or
even attempt to take the bourgeoisie position or power in the structure of
social class so the people from the upper class will likely to unite to prevent
those revolutionary act come from the lower class.

1.6.4 Novel

Novel is one of the most popular literary work in which The main
focus of a novel is developing the characters as relevant as human being in a
society as well as building the plot based on what usually happen in real life
(Agustina, 2013). A novel is considered as a reflection of the human
imagination and experience which arranged in the form of narrative units.

1.7 The Significance of the Study

The significance of the study is related to the theoretical and practical

contributions of this study. The significance is divided into theoretical
significance and practical presence.

1.7.1 Theoretical Significance

This study gives a contribution to three different theoretical aspects such as

literature learning, language learning, and society.

1. Literature Learning

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 One of the theoretical significance of this study is to improve comprehension
of literary work especially novel as the object of this analysis. According to the
result of a study conducted by Khatib (2012), the employment of literary work as
learning material, especially in the comprehension section, can help learners to
improve their reading skills. Through the process of literary analysis which
requires a great reading skill, the learner can improve their ability to shape the
way of how they should think in order and structurally so they can fully grasp
what is contained in a literary work.

2. Language Learning

The result of this study is expected to give contribution to the field of

education especially in the learning process of English both as the second and
foreign language. According to Collie and Slater (1990), the employment of
literary work in the language learning process is a very important event that there
is no particular assessment requirement in that class. It is mentioned that literature
has four aspects which can be the reasons why it is very beneficial for the learner
to use literary work as one of their learning media. Those four aspects are valuable
authentic material, cultural enrichment, language enrichment, and personal
involvement.

3. Society

The contribution that can be made is to provide not only a relevant topic in a
form of authentic material as the source and media during the learning process to
give the students more opportunity to engage with the target language. According
to Duhan (2015) through the process of literacy learning, learners can take a look
at history which also means that they can experience politics and society, manners
and customs, culture and learning, as well as philosophy and religion. It means
that this study can help learners to broaden their point of view to see the
relationship between people from different classes in society so they can do a
reflection which can encourage the awareness of the existing issue in society. To
sum up, the result of this research is expected to help the students gain both of the
knowledge about the target language as well as the social value that represents

8
current society.

1.7.2 Practical Significance

The practical significance of this study is expected to give a contribution to

several different groups of people including teachers and lecturers of English both
as Second and Foreign language learners (ESL and EFL Learners) as well as the
students and other researchers.

1. Teacher and Lecturer

The result of this research is expected to help the teacher and lecturer in
designing an effective language learning process as well as providing the
authentic media as the resource which also relevant in real life. Literature and
language are two things that cannot be separated as they have interconnected
relationships with each other (Ansari, 2013). The teacher needs to include
literature in a language learning process to make the students get a whole unit
of knowledge. Based on the implication of research which conducted by
Jensen (2016) the result of literary analysis from the perspective of Marxist
criticism can be used in the language learning process especially in a
discussion with a topic of inequality issues in society. By using the result of
this study in the discussion session, the teacher and lecturer also can include
the important points of Marxism theory so it can encourage the students to
think critically about their surrounding which can help them to do a reflection
about the social interaction that they find in real life. With the help of that, the
English learning process will be more fun and meaningful because it is
related to real life.

2. Students

The current study is aimed to help the students to understand more about
how important literature to be the thing that they need to consume every day.

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By using a lot of literary work as well as its criticism as the authentic material
source in the English learning process, the students are expected to improve
their interest in reading so they will have such a board knowledge and open-
minded thought because they know a lot of thing from reading literary
criticism. According to the result of a study conducted by Tsai (2012), it is
proved that the use of novel in the language learning process encourages
students' interest. Therefore, from the help of the result of this research, the
students are expected to gain both of the knowledge about the target language
and social value that represent current society as well as to improve their
interest in reading to broaden their point of view of life.

3. Other Researcher

The present study also expected to give a contribution to further related

research as a reference. Several previous studies focus on analyzing a variety
of literary works from the perspective of the Marxist approach. Yudharis
Octian in 2015 conducted a study which use Marxist basic theory to analyze
the characteristics of different social class in the film In Time as well as
revealing the class conflict which represented in the film. Muhamad Faizal
Hira in 2017 also conducted research using the Marxism approach to analyze
the elements of the movie Cinderella (1950). The study was focused on
revealing the social class, class struggle, and false-consciousness represented
throughout the film. Therefore, the current study is expected to help further
researcher by providing detailed information on how to conduct a related
study.

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 CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter covers the detail explanation about the related literature
which used as the supporting argument of this research. There are two parts of
this chapter which explain both of the previous study as well as the various
theories related with the topic of this research. The first sub chapter is empirical
review which formed by some previous related study about social class, class
conflict, and analysis on the novel Crazy Rich Asian from the perspective of
Marxism approach. The second sub chapter is theoretical review which covers the
theories of prose fiction and Marxist criticism of literary work including social
class and class conflict.

2.1 Empirical Review

This sub chapter of the theoretical review covers previous related researches
that employ the same subject, approach, and method. Several related researches
which have similar implication with the present study are also covered to support
the analysis and argumentation in the implication this current study. Those
researchers have great contribution on this study in term of consideration in
analysis and reference.

The first review covers the related study about the significant role of using
literature as authentic material for the source of English learning process. In 2014,
Richard C. Ihejirika conducted a study entitled “Literature and English Language
Teaching and Learning: A Symbiotic Relationship” which focus on analyzing the
relationship between literature and English language teaching and learning. The
aim of the study was to reveal what kind of relationship that unite literature and

11
language learning. The result of the study shows that both of literature and English
language learning are connected by this close tie called symbiotic relationship.
There are some suggestions made by the writer to make the involvement of
literature in English teaching process effective, one of them is to make sure that
the teacher both mastered the material in English language training as well as
literature. Another related study was conducted by Tsai in 2016 entitled
“Students’ Perceptions of Using a Novel as Main Material in the EFL Reading
Course”. The purpose of the study was to find out the possibility of employing
novel as the main sources and material of an English learning class. The result of
the study shows that the employment of novel as the main media in English
learning process can improve students’ interest in the learning process. It also
mentions that the choose of the novel is one of the important strategies that the
teacher needs to consider because it also influences students’ involvement in the
learning process which use novel as the main media. In that study, a popular novel
which already adapted into movie was used so the result shows a significant
improvement in students’ interest for participating in the learning process.
Another study related with the use of novel as a media in English learning process
entitled “A Marxist Reading of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath
Highlighting Inequality Issues Through Critical Literacy in the ESL Classroom”
conducted by Olof Jensen in 2016. The study focused on analyzing the novel The
Grapes of Wrath from perspective of Marxist theory of literary criticism which the
result can be used by teachers in EFL classroom especially for a discussion
session with the topic of inequality issues. The result of the study shows that the
result of a critical analysis of a novel which can reveal social issues among society
like the novel The Grapes of Wrath can give practical implications for the teacher
especially in informing the students about inequality among society in a
discussion session.

The fact that those previous research shows how the employment of novel as
media in English learning process is very beneficial such as improving students’
interest in reading as well as helping the teacher to inform students about
inequality issues among society make it clear that further study about critical
analysis of novel from perspective of Marxist theory of literary criticism much

12
more needed. The following part of empirical review is addressed some related
studies which used the same novel as Crazy Rich Asians (2013) and the same
approach as Marxist literary criticism theory.

The current study aims at analyzing the popular novel Crazy Rich Asian
(2013) by Kevin Kwan in which the plot development of the novel will be used to
reveal the social class difference and class struggle based on the theory of Karl
Marx. The same novel also used in in the several previous studies although that
the employed approach and method are different. There are two previous studies
in which the object of the research was the characterization of the Singaporean
upper-class woman characters in the novel Crazy Rich Asian (2013). Those two
researches entitled “Stereotype and Prejudice in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy rich
Asians” conducted by Maharani and Dharma (2019) and “Capitalist Patriarchy
in Singaporean Women’s Work and Consumption: Towards a Radical Discourse
in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians” conducted by Ho (2019). The first research
revealed that there is a representation of Singaporean women stereotype toward
the other group of people in the characters of the novel Crazy Rich Asian. Those
gender and ethnic stereotypes are leading them to establish the prejudice.
Furthermore, the second research showed that the capitalist patriarchy system
does affect the Singaporean upper-class women subjectivity which leads them to
be defined as a minor in the society. There are also two related studies which
focused on revealing the social class issues in the same novel. Those two studies
entitled “Family Conflict Reflected in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians (2013): A
Sociological Approach” and “The Revelation of Authorial Ideology Through the
Class Structure and Class Conflict Represented in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich
Asians”. Each of those researches are conducted by Rohmawati (2018) and Galant
(2015). The result of those both studies revealed that the class difference that
triggers the internal and external conflict between social classes in the society is
represented through the plot development of the novel in which the description of
class difference issue is used to reveal that Kevin Kwan is part of the bourgeoisie
class.

Some previous studies which used Marxism theory to analyze various novels

13
are covered in this section of empirical review. Asti Amri Yani Yaris (2014) and
Urfiani, Suwargono & Adiana (2015) conducted studies entitled “Class Struggle
in Capitalist Society in Ally Condie’s Novel Crossed” and “The Reprefentation of
Class Struggle in John Steinbeck's The Pearl”. Those studies used the theory of
Marxist criticism especially the theory of class difference and class struggle to
describe the condition of the society and how the two different classes which are
upper and lower class interact with each other. The result of those studies both
showed that there is a class distinction which divided the society into upper and
lower classes reflected in the novel of John Steinbeck's The Pearl and Ally
Condie’s Crossed. It also influences the exploitation faced by the lower class
which causing a struggle to people who belong to that class. Rubiyanto & Arini
(2016) and Noviyandini (2016) also conducted researches entitled “Social Class
Conflict Presented in “The Kite Runner” Novel Based on Marxism Theory” and
“Class Struggle as Represented by The Character Eloi and Morlock in Hebert
George Well’s The Time Machine” which used the theory of class struggle from
the perspective of Marxist literary criticism. Both of the result showed that the
social issue of class difference and class struggle faced by the proletariat class is
clearly reflected in both of the novel.

The difference of the present study from the previous ones is that this
study will analyze Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians (2013) by using Marxist
literary criticism by Karl Marx in which the focus of the study aims at revealing
the class struggle faced by some of the major characters. In this analysis, the
researcher focus on the plot development of the novel in order to reveal the class
struggle represented by the major characters. Based on the previous studies, there
is no such study conducted yet, which concerns on the revelation of class struggle
represented by some of the major characters. This reason makes this study needed
to be conducted as it has a novelty from the previous studies.

2.2 Theoretical Review

This sub-chapter discuss the related theories and information which

reacquired on conducting this study. Those theories and information are divided
into three part namely prose fiction, intrinsic elements of prose fiction including

14
character and characterization as well as plot, and Marxist literary criticism theory
including the definition, social class, and class conflict and struggle.

2.2.1 Kevin Kwan and Crazy Rich Asian Trilogy

Kevin Kwan is the author of the international best-selling trilogy novel Crazy
Rich Asians. According to his own official website, Kevin Kwan was born and
raised in Singapore the same place where the main setting of his first novel Crazy
rich Asians took place. He spent his childhood attending Anglo-Chinese School in
Singapore until the age of eleven when he moved to The United State. After
getting his first degree in creative writing from the University of Houston as well
as his BFA from Parsons School of Design, he started his carrier in the industry of
creative design as a worker for Martha Stewart’s Living and Interview magazines.
The next stage of his carrier was in the year of 2002 when he decided to open his
own creative design studio in which the focus of his creative consulting firm was
producing high profile visual projects for clients such as the New York Times, the
Museum of Modern Art, Rockwell Group, and TED.com. However, Kevin Kwan
passion was not only in the field of creative design. After ten years working in the
creative design industry, he published his first ever novel Crazy Rich Asian which
became the international best-selling book of 2013.

The novel Crazy rich Asian was published as the first part of Kevin Kwan’s
debut novel trilogy followed by the second and third book entitled Crazy Rich
Girlfriend and Rich People Problem which released in the year of 2013, 2015, and
2017 respectively. In the first book, the author was setting the expectation of
overall storyline of the novel trilogy by introducing the main character Rachel
Chu who was taken to Singapore by her boyfriend Nicholas Young to be
introduced to his family. However, the family of Young is not a common
Singaporean. Young family was known as one of the wealthiest family in Asia. In
the plot development, the readers can see how the social class structure was
reflected throughout the storyline in which the main character Rachel Chu who
belong to the lower class was being treated harshly to be accepted as the new
family member of Young who turned to be the upper class. The problems that
appeared in this novel clearly reflected class struggle faced by the main character

15
Rachel Chu. Moreover, in the second series of the novel trilogy the storyline was
twisted. The book Crazy Rich Girlfriend revealed that Rachel Chu who previously
known to be the member of lower class family was actually the daughter of one of
the wealthiest politician in mainland China. The treatment received by Rachel
Chu in this book was totally different from the previous one. It shows the
influential of someone social class to be treated equally. While for the last part of
the novel trilogy, the author focus on the internal conflict occurred in the upper
class family who already have big power and position in society but at the same
time still fight for it despite being in the same social class even in this case they
are all family.

2.2.2 Literature, Prose Fiction and Novel

Literature has developed a lot during the past centuries and becomes one of
the important element in human life. It is shown from the fact that there are so
many scholars and expertise who has created variety kinds of definitions to
explain the meaning of literature which can be found in many books and
encyclopedias. However, there are still a lot of people who cannot fully grasp the
sense of it because of the fuzziness of the usage as well as lack of substance in
some definitions of literature which resulted by fail attempts to define it (Klarer,
2004). In order to create a clear boundary in defining literature, Ihejirika (2014)
stated that there are two different meanings which often used to refer the term
literature where the first one is defining it as any written or oral material formed
by the reflection of human experience and imagination while the second one is
referring it as a school subject.

As for the first sense of literature, Eagleton (2005) explained that it is a

production of human’s imaginative creativity which represents the reflection of
their history, emotion, thought, and life through their expressions and feelings.
Furthermore, Klarer (2004) defined Literature as a whole unit of written
expressions with an exception that certain qualifications need to be fulfilled to be
categorized as one. Those qualifications acquire the artistic and aesthetic side of
any written work to differentiate them from the usual text. However, literature not
only can be expressed through written form as explained by Onuekwusi (2013)

16
that literature is a work of art produced by human which created imaginatively and
beautifully in form of oral or written in which the function is to provide
entertainment, information, education and excitement to its readers and viewers.

The other meaning of literature which is referred as a school subject

comes from the idea of how students in the process of learning English both as
foreign and second language will be helped a lot by the use of authentic material
to achieve a great level of fluency in target language. According to Collie and
Slater (1987) the idea of including literature as one of the media in English
learning process will help the teacher to provide valuable authentic material that
can encourage the personal involvement of the students in developing their own
cultural and language enrichment. Literary text also has an advantage from the
other kind of authentic material as it not only can help language learner to
improve their linguistics skills but also enrich their knowledge about society and
provide an entertainment. As for the enrichment knowledge of society, Cariney
(2010) stated that one of vital function of literature is to make people connect with
the society as they share an experience of literature which help them to build their
rich personal and textual histories so it can connect their live to others.

Through the development of literature along with the growth of every aspect
in human life, it is almost possible to find people who are not familiar with
literature. More people enjoy literature both as author and reader. The authors get
a platform to express their idea and creativity while other people feel entertained
by several types of literary works, one of them is prose fiction. Prose fiction is a
genre of literature that consist of fictional work arranged in a form of narrative
form (Chuck, 2018). Not every written literature is classified as prose fiction.
There are some characteristics that need to be fulfilled to be classified as one.
Prose fiction is different from any other genre of literature as it has the word
“fiction” and “narrative” that make it different (Iwuchukuw, 2010). As for drama
and poetry, it is also genre of literature which can be made by fictional work.
However, both drama and poetry are not presented or arranged in a form of
narrative.

Since there is a huge development of technology in various sector of human

17
life, there is also a big development in literature especially prose fiction. Along
with that improvement, there are variety forms of prose fiction including novel,
novella, and short story. Short story and novella are created in way shorter than
novel by arranging the elements of prose fiction to make a one single effect that
affected the readers in significant. However, the fact that the length of novel is
way longer than novella and short story does not mean that novel cannot be as
enjoyable as both of them which according to Klarer (2014) novel has become one
of the most popular form of literary work. The main focus of a novel is
developing the characters as relevant as human being in a society as well as
building the plot based on what usually happen in real life (Agustina, 2013). It
means that although a novel has a very long volume compare with the other type
of prose fiction, the author can build the audience interest in the process of plot
development by giving such relevant, interesting and impressive narration and
description so they will keep up with such a length storyline.

2.2.3 Elements of Novel

In creating a whole unit of novel, the author need to consider the elements of it
which connected with each other by their own relationship in purpose of building
a good storyline. It means that those elements of prose fiction have an important
role to build the overall form of prose fiction so the author need to do a good job
in creating each of the elements to make such a good prose fiction. Each of the
elements need to related and coherence with each other so they can build a good
prose fiction that can be enjoyed by the audience. According to Ariani (2017)
those elements are divided into two parts which are intrinsic and extrinsic
elements of novel. The extrinsic element is outside factor of element that
indirectly influenced the creation of the novel itself while the intrinsic element is
the structural form which build the overall body of the novel. This part will focus
on defining the intrinsic element of novel which consist of theme, plot, character
& characterization, style, setting, plot development, and point of view.

2.2.3.1 Theme

The first idea of creating a whole unit of novel comes from the theme of the

18
whole storyline. The first step of setting the theme for a novel helps the author to
build the whole storyline as explained by Rusyana (1998) that theme is an
important element of a novel which represents the author idea or life concept to
build the storyline. There are several important aspects that the author need to
know in building up a theme for the whole storyline according to Perrine (1974)
who explained in his book entitled Literature: structure, sound and sense that
those aspects in building up the theme need to be followed by the author in order
to create a good storyline. The first aspect is that a theme need to be written in a
sentence not word. A theme should represent the main concept of life which
defines key terms of the whole storyline. It is also mentioned that a theme should
be clear enough that it can show and explain the purpose of the story. It is possible
for the author to state the theme throughout the storyline along with the flow to
represent the story. The last important aspect is that a theme should be unique
because it represents the main concept of life in the whole unit of the novel.

2.2.3.2 Character & Characterization

One of the element of prose fiction is the character and characterization in

which Kennedy (1983) explained that character is defined as person or thing that
already personified which occupy the story. Those people or already personified
things are responsible in the action and thought of the whole storyline. The idea of
character in prose fiction also explained by Edgar (1987) who defined character as
a human representation in form of verbal who become the core aspect that create
the story itself. The characters in a novel are divided into two parts which are
major and minor character that categorized based on the amount of portion they
are contributing to the storyline. The major characters are those whose idea and
act are significantly influencing the storyline while the major character only has
little influence but still needed in building up the story. The appearance of
characters in a novel is done by two different techniques namely direct and
indirect character revelation techniques. The direct technique uses the narration of
the story as the media or tool to reveal the character while the indirect one uses
another tool which are the character act, speech, appearance, and its effect for
another character.

19
2.2.3.3 Setting

The other important element of novel is setting where the storyline takes
place and time. There are three kinds of setting in a novel namely time setting,
place setting, and social setting in which the function of it is to represent the sense
of time when the characters do their actions, place where those are taking place,
and situation of how those are done in the storyline (Kennedy & Gioia, 2007). In
this element, the readers can grasp so much more understanding about the
storyline if they are pay attention to the setting of the novel. It is because setting is
so influence to the development of the storyline in which the function is to give
additional information which also make sense to the storyline so the readers can
feel the consistency of the author in building up the storyline (Ariani, 2017). It
means that the author can build a trust relationship with the readers by providing
good setting which has an important role to strengthen the clarity of the characters
and the storyline of the novel.

2.2.3.4 Point of view

The last important element of novel is point of view in which the author
need to be precise and consistent about the way how the story is being told.
Boulton (1975) explained that point of view is how the story is being told from a
perspective of someone who related with the story itself that can be the author or a
character in that storyline who become the narrator. According to Abraham
(1999), point of view is divided into three point of views namely third person
point of view, first person point of view, and second person point of view. The
third person point of view sees the storyline from the perspective of someone who
comes from the outside of the storyline which can be omniscient means that the
narrator knows everything about the characters including their mind while it also
can be limited omniscient means that the knowledge of the narrator limited only
for the thing that can be seen through five sense of human.

2.2.3.5 Plot Development

Plot is one of the important element in prose fiction. There three types of plot
according to Friedman (1975) which explained that those three types of plot are

20
plot of fortune, plot of thought, and plot of character. The storyline which has plot
of fortune as its type of plot shows the growth of story which caused by the other
aspect outside the main character and it has nothing to do with the act and thought
of the main character itself. While for the two other type of plot, the flow of the
story is made by considering at the way of act and nature of its main character.
Several literary theorists have identified the elements of plot in prose fiction
including Dube, Franson, Parins, and Murohy (1983) which identified that there
are six elements in the plot structure namely exposition, point of attack,
complication, climax, resolution, and conclusion.

In the exposition, the author gives a first impression about the basic unit of
story including the characters, setting, and circumstance. In this part of plot
development, the author introducing those basic unit story in order to give an
insight of what is actually going to be happened in the novel. In this part also
where the author set the expectation for the readers so they will have an idea
where the story will be going. Based on those important point, the author need to
create a good exposition so the readers will have enough curiosity to stay and read
the whole story.

After introducing the basic unit of story in order to set an expectation and
give an insight of the story for the reader, the story will be started in this part of
plot development. The point of attack is very crucial as it is the part of plot
development where the first problem of the storyline occurs. That problem is the
trigger of the whole issue of the storyline. The first problem will be appearing as
the point of attack that become the start of the following series of problem that
build the storyline.

While the first problem as the trigger will be appear as the point of attack, the
following problem as continuation of that trigger which have not been resolved
called as the complications. In this part of plot development, the problems that
will be appeared tend to more complicated and have more tension than the trigger.
This compilation of problems show how the main character face the series of
conflict whether the issue which come from their selves or the outside. The
conflict which comes from the inner self of the character named as internal

21
conflict in which the problem occurs due to struggle with own soul, physical
limitation and, choices. The conflict who comes from outside of the character
named as external conflict in which the problem comes from the outside force
such as the other character, nature, and society.

After a series of conflict which appear as the complication, there is a single

event which consider as the biggest problem in the storyline. That single event
called as the climax in which the that problem become the turning point of the
overall story. In this part of plot development there is a three-fold phenomenon
which shows how the main character receive the information about the problem,
how the problem being accepted, and how the main character will act toward the
problem.

In this part of plot development, the biggest problem which occur as the
climax of the storyline is being resolved. In this part, the author reveals all of the
information regarding the previous problem including those in the complication in
which the problem has not resolved before. The tension that have been built up
since the event in the point of attack will be falling as the resolution is being
revealed.

The last part of the plot development is conclusion where the author shows
how the storyline ended. However, this part is not always appearing in a novel. It
is a preference whether the author wants to provide the conclusion or just finish
the storyline until the resolution part. This case happens usually in the series novel
where the storyline still has a continuation in the other novel. But it is not rare to
find a series novel with a clear conclusion in a series novel as the author wants to
make it flexible to the readers that a series novel can be read as a single unit of
novel or not in order.

2.2.4 Marxism Theory

Marxism theory was introduced for the first time by a German philosopher
named Karl Heinrich Marx (1818-1883) along with his friend George Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel (Helemejko, 2012) The main reason of how this theory of
Marxism is proposed was actually the outbreak of the Industrial Revolution in

22
England and started to spread around the Europe in the year of 1870 until in the
latest eighteen century (Gonde, 2009). According to Gonde (2009), Industrial
revolution created a huge change in almost all of the human life aspect in which
the system of capitalism was appeared. The system of capitalism opened the
opportunity for the people who come from the upper-class of society to oppress
the people from the lower-class (Gonde, 2009). As the reflection of that situation,
Karl Marx proposed the theory of Marxism in his writing to create a clear
description of the inequality issues at that time in hope that there will be a
movement to against that system of capitalism.

2.2.4.1 Social Class Structure

Marxism theory believes that the society is divided into different social
class structure which produced by the base and superstructure of the realities.
Those determination of social classes is a result of the previous situation of
economic conflict which already exist in society. Therefore, based on the
Marxism theory there are two social classes which are known as the bourgeoisie
and proletariat class (Marx & Engels, 1948). Those two social classes are the
upper class who own the capitalism which also known as the bourgeoisie class
and the other one is the lower class also known as the proletariat class which has
no wealth and power to win against the oppression done by the owner of the
capitalism.

The upper class or known as the bourgeoisie class from the perspective of
Marxist theory is the class who rule the capitalism in the society. According to
Gingrich (1999), Some of the characteristics which often used to define the
people who belong to this class are the status of capital ownership, the behavior
of purchasing and exploiting labor power, as well as the tendency of attempting
to keep the ownership of capital moreover to expand it by using the wealth
power. From the perspective of history, the nature of the bourgeoisie class is the
significant development of industrial, merchant, finance, and landed capital. Due
to their significant role in subverting the previous hierarchical, the people who
belong to this class are given even more freedom to expand the authority for
marketing their product and other economic activities. However, the wealth is

23
not the only factor for people to be defined as part of the bourgeoisie class. The
active use of those wealth which also combined with the social power in order to
do an oppression to the people who belong to the lower class is another
important characteristic that can define certain person belong to the bourgeoisie
class.

In contrast with the bourgeoisie, the lower class or also known as the
proletariat class has no wealth and power to survive in the society. Due to the lack
of those two important elements, the people who belong in this class only have
labor power which means that they have no choice to use their body and mind to
fulfill their needs as human being in order to survive in live (Gingrich, 1999). The
situation is even worst since the people from the upper class tend to do
exploitation as well as oppression to them which is creating the exploitative social
relationship within the society. It is almost impossible for the people who come
from the proletariat class to upgrade their social position as part of the bourgeoisie
since the exploitative social relationship is recreate gradually along with the
development of economic sector ruled by the owner of capitalism.

2.2.4.2 False Consciousness

One of the main concerns in this Marxism theory is false consciousness

which defined by the classic Marxism theory as the distortion of idea that shaped
the thought of the bourgeoisie class about the things that can be done by their
power that they got in the society (Eyerman, 1981). However, Eyerman (1981)
claimed that the idea of false consciousness proposed by the classic Marxist
theory was still has a limitation as it considers false consciousness as the same
entity with the ideology of bourgeoisie and not including the proletariat class who
also believed to be the one who also suffer from class consciousness. After being
through a lot of expansion by some social theorist and Karl Marx’s followers, the
theory of false consciousness is equipped by the explanation of Lukacs as cited in
Eyerman (1981) that the bourgeoisie class is not the only social class that
experience false consciousness as he believes that without considering which
social classes people belongs to, they can suffer from class consciousness if they
have a problem in their perception and knowledge about their position in the

24
society.

Furthermore, Dobie (2008) explained that the bourgeoisie class

misconception idea about their power encourage them to oppress the proletariat
class without concerning their humanity aspect in order to achieve their own
interest. The similar case also happens with the proletariat class who suffer from
false consciousness that they accept the unfairly treatment done by the ruling class
as they do not have any awareness about the justice that they should have receive.
In the other word, the emergence of class issues including class difference and
class struggle that driven from the classification of social class based on its
socioeconomic aspect are caused by the false consciousness held by both of the
bourgeoisie and proletariat class.

2.2.4.3 Class Difference

Class difference encourage several issues including discrimination and

exploitation that considered as the result of the determination of social class
structure as well as the false consciousness held by both social classes.

The existence of social class structure that encourage class difference issue
is the main reason of how discrimination is hard to avoid in such a capitalism
society. According to Gordon Allport’s theory, discrimination is claimed as an
expression that resulted from someone’s prejudice where that particular person try
not to give a person or group of people in an equal right to access certain types
of political rights, employment, residential housing, recreational opportunities, or
other social institutions (Maharani & Darma, 2019). Furtheremore, Theodorson
(1979) explained that the people who face a discrimination are often come from a
certain gender, flaws, origin, race, religion, and sex preference that considered as
inferior in society. Through discrimination, the covert and overt expression can be
seen when the hate and anger are restrain the access of one group‘s opportunity.
Based on Gordon Alloport’s theory, there are two kinds of discrimination which
are direct and indirect discrimination (Maharani & Darma, 2019

The other class difference issue that arise in society is exploitation in which
according to Weeks (1981), exploitation is a social phenomenon that occurs in

25
society where the amount of work that someone need to do is not in accordance
with the remuneration. Week (1981) explains that the exploitation that occurs in
society is a result of capitalism in society in which capitalism itself is an economic
power dominated by the bourgeoisie as the owner of capital in charge of the
means of production by utilizing the power of the proletariat through the provision
of labor wages to seek maximum profits. Furthermore, exploitation is explained as
the act of treating people unfairly in order to benefit from their efforts or labour
(Ghosh, 2017). In other words, those people who make benefit of the value of
other people’s effort try to utilize that for their own interest.

2.2.4.4 Class Struggles

One of the main issues which often being concern in the literary criticism
from the perspective of Marxism theory is the existence of class conflict which
also resulting the struggle of one side of the social structure in society. Karl Marx
believe that the struggle of people who belong to a certain class is actually a part
of the society change and development history (McLellan, 1977). In The
Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels stated a detail statement about their
ideology that believe class struggle do exist in society and it is hard to end such an
antagonistic relationship between different classes in the society (Marx & Engels,
1948). According to Eagleton (1967) there are two important points that
considered as the main reason of the class difference and class struggles issues
from the perspective of Marxism theory.

The first point is how influential one class in the structure of social class if it
is compared with the consciousness as well as the morality of the people in
society. Both of the upper and lower class position in the society are defining
whether the class conflict and struggle will happen or not. When the bourgeoisie
class as the owner of the capitalism decided to use their wealth and power to show
the antagonistic relationship between those social classes by exploiting the
proletariat class, the class struggle probably happen as the lower class will likely
try to against the capitalism. In contrast, the social conflict and struggle could also
happen when the proletariat class do some revolutionary act to stop or even
attempt to take the bourgeoisie position or power in the structure of social class so

26
the people from the upper class will likely to unite to prevent those revolutionary
act come from the lower class.

The second important point that considered as the reason of the class
struggles issues is how the bourgeoisie and proletariat class have different goals
or interest. As the owner of capitalism who rule the society, the bourgeoisie class
has a characteristic of conservative people who like to keep their high position
and status in society whatever act they need to take in order keep them save. In
the other hand, the proletariat class as the people who have nothing beside labour
power is desperate to change their live so they tend to do a lot of revolutionary act
in order to have better live which also means to have more wealth and better
position in society.

2.2.5 Marxist Theory in Literary Criticism

After its first introduction, the Marxism theory had become a big influence in
some of the human life aspect including the field of literary criticism. According
to Marxist, the people who believe and follow the ideology of Karl Marx, literary
works as the product of literature are actually owned by the superstructure which
also the result of the base realities (Tyson, 2015). The theory believes that there is
a strong relation between people in society especially the people who come from
different social class structure which reflected in literary work. Marx & Engels
(1948) stated that those relations between people from different class in society
are antagonistic where one class act as the dominant side who tend to oppress the
other class who has nothing to against the dominant class. There are three main
factors that can be revealed from literary work through the perspective of Marxist
literary criticism. Those three are including the determination of social class
structure, the existence of domination and oppression between class which
resulting a class conflict or struggle, and the last one is the potential factor or
motive behind a production of literary work (Panda, 2015).

2.3 Research Model

This research will use qualitative research as the model of the research in
which the collected data will be analyzed based on the interactive data analysis

27
model by Miles, Huberman, and Saldana (2014) in order to reveal the class
difference and class struggles issues represented in the novel Crazy Rich Asians
(2013) by Kevin Kwan. According to Miles, Huberman, and Saldana (2014),
qualitative research is the process of gaining a meaningful explanation in a form
of chronological flow that shows what kind of consequence that can be preserved
from a certain event by analyzing a qualitative data in a form of text, picture,
record, transcript which consider as the reflection of human process. There are
four steps based on this data analysis model which are data collection, data
condensation, data display, and drawing conclusion and verification in which the
whole process of this qualitative research will be done in a cycle. The figure
bellow shows the process of this research.

Figure 2.1 Component of Data Analysis by Using Interactive Model (Miles,

Huberman, and Saldana, 2014)

Data Data
Collection Display

Data Conclusion
Condensation Drawing/
Verifying

Based on the interactive model of data analysis by Miles, Huberman, and

Saldana (2014), this qualitative research will be done in a cycle. In other words,
there is no chronological order of steps conducted in this research. All of the
components in this qualitative analysis are conducted repeatedly and
simultaneously in order to gain the consistent pattern of data. In the qualitative
research model, the researcher is expected to have early conclusion of the
analysis. Furthermore, it will be the start of this qualitative research model in

28
which the researcher will conduct the whole process of qualitative research
namely data collection, data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing
to support the argument of the previous early conclusion.

In this qualitative research model, the process of data condensation is required

in order to filter the obtained data from the process of data collection. During the
process of data condensation, the obtained data is processed again to make it more
specific and focus on the object of the research. Writing, coding, and making
cluster are some of the techniques that can be applied in the process of data
condensation. Since this research model is in a cycle, the data condensation is
done throughout the research until the finals step of the thesis writing (Miles,
Huberman, and Saldana, 2014).

The other component of this qualitative research model is data display. During
this step, the previous data that already simplified is concluded and being
displayed in a various way such as table, chart, and graph (Miles, Huberman, and
Saldana, 2014). This process of data display helps the researcher to understand
more about the obtained data and to decide whether it can be taken into the further
analysis or not. In other words, the process of data display is important to make it
easier for the researcher to take a decision in the process of analysis.

The conclusion drawing and data verification will be conducted to make a

clear explanation of the result of the data analysis. In this step, the researcher as
the main act of the qualitative research has the responsibility to do the whole
process of the research repeatedly until the obtained data is satisfying so the result
of the analysis will be more valid (Miles, Huberman, and Saldana, 2014). The
process of conclusion drawing is not conducted once, the researcher can
comeback at the previous steps again to make sure that the obtained data create a
consistent pattern to answer the research questions.

According to Miles, Huberman, and Saldana (2014), the quality of qualitative

research need to be tested to confirm its validity. There are three tactics that can
be used to confirm the validity of the qualitative research namely checking for
representativeness, checking for research effects, and triangulating. Out of those

29
three tactics, triangulating will be used to support the trustworthiness of this
current research. Triangulating means that the researcher need to do at least three
measurements that shows an agreement to confirm the validity of the result of the
qualitative research. There are several component that can be considered to do a
triangulation namely data source, method, researcher, and data type.

30
 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

In this chapter, the explanation about the current research’ method will be
covered in which the sub-chapter will be divided into eight parts including the
research design, research subject, research object, instrument of data collection,
method of data analysis, research trustworthiness, research procedure, and
research schedule.

3.1 Research Design

This current research design is arranged based on the qualitative research

theory of Miles, Huberman, and Saldana (2014). This study will analyze a novel
entitled Crazy rich Asians (2013) written by Kevin Kwan as the subject of the
study to reveal the social issues of class difference and class struggles based on
the Marxism theory of literary criticism in which the triangulation concept by
Miles, Huberman, and Saldana (2014) will be applied to support the
trustworthiness of the research.

3.2 Subject of The Study

The subject of this study is a literary work especially prose fiction in a form
of novel entitled Crazy Rich Asians (2013) by Kevin Kwan. The e-book version of
the first edition that can be accessed from the web page of Internet Archive will be
used as the subject of the study. This novel was written by Kevin Kwan and its
first edition was released on June, 11st 2013. Crazy Rich Asians (2013) consist of
three chapter in which the each of first and second chapter consist of eighteen
parts while the third chapter consist of twenty parts with 402 total number of
pages.

3.3 Object of The Study

The object of this research are the class difference as represented throughout
the storyline of the novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013) as well as the class struggles
faced by the major characters of the novel. There are two main focus in the issue

31
of class difference which are the determination of social class structure into two
sides namely the bourgeoisie and proletariat class as well as the oppression done
by the bourgeoisie class. The issues of class difference and class struggle will be
analyzed from the characterization, setting, plot development, and point of view
of the novel as the supporting object of analysis.

3.4 Instrument of Data collection

The instrument of data collection that will be used to collect the data of this
research are the researcher and table. According to Miles, Huberman, and Saldana
(2014), the researcher act as the main instrument since the whole research will be
conducted by the researcher itself in order to gain a holistic overview of the
obtained data. The process of collecting the data will be done by intensively
reading the novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013) as the subject the study, arranging the
segmentation of the novel, and identifying the segmentation of the novel based on
the object of the study.

The researcher who act as the main instrument will use several tables
including table of sequence, table of class difference and class struggles
identification, and tables of class difference and class struggle supporting data.
The table of sequence will be used to show the arrangement of the sequence while
the table of class difference and class struggles identification will be used to show
the classification of class difference and class struggles issues obtained from the
table of sequence. Furthermore, tables of class difference and class struggle
supporting data will be used to show the supporting data shown from the
characterization, setting, theme, and point of view. The tables that will be used to
collect the data are presented as follows:

Table 3.1 Sequence of the Segmentation of the Novel Crazy Rich Asians
(2013)

No. Segmentation
1. Name of sequence
a) Explanation (1a)
b) Explanation (1b)

32
 c)
So on
2. Name of sequence
a) Explanation (2a)
b) Explanation (2b)
c)
So on
So on

Table 3.2 Class difference and Class Struggle Identification of the

Novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013)

No Segmentation Description
Class Difference Class Struggle
1. Name of sequence
a) Explanation (1a)
b) Explanation (1b)
So on
2. Name of sequence
a) Explanation (2a)
b) Explanation (2b)
c)
So on
3 so on

Table 3.3 Supporting Data of Class Difference Issues Represented in the

Novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013)

33
 Description
Class
No Difference Class Difference
. Representa Point of
tion Character Characterization Setting View
Bourgeoisie Proletariat
Sequence

1 a) Explana
. tion 1a
b) …
2 a) Explana
. tion 2a
b) …
3 a) Explana
. tion 3a
b) …

Table 3.4 Supporting Data of Class Struggle Issues Represented in the Novel
Crazy Rich Asians (2013)

Description
Class
No Struggles
. Representa Point of
tion Character Characterization Setting View
Class Struggles

Sequence

1 c) Explana
. tion 1a
d) …
2 c) Explana
. tion 2a
d) …
3 c) Explana
. tion 3a
d) …

34
3.5 Method of Data Analysis

The method that will be used in analyzing the data is the interactive model
of qualitative data analysis by Miles, Huberman, and Saldana (2014) which
includes the process of data collection, data condensation, data display, and
conclusion drawing.

In this current research, the data collection will be done by inclusively

reading the novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013) to find out the issues of class
difference and class struggle as the main focus of this analysis. Along with the
process of inclusive reading, the researcher will do the process of note taking at
the same time in which the plot development of the novel Crazy Rich Asians
(2013) will be arranged in a form of segmentation which consist of sequences.
The specific even in the novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013) that representing the
issues of class difference and class struggle will also be noted. This process will
help the researcher to conduct the further step of analysis as the main issues of this
current research are presented in the form of segmentation.

In this current research, the process of data condensation will also

conducted along with the other component of data analysis. It means that in the
process of arranging the segmentation of the novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013), the
researcher take a look again at the finished one and decide whether a change will
be needed or not. In the process of rearranging the segmentation, the researcher
might found that a certain sequence need to be put together or separated with each
other. This process of data condensation is also required to make sure that the
obtained data from the classification of class difference and class struggle
represented in the novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013) is already focused and
simplified.

The process of data display is also conducted along with the other component
of data analysis. In this research, the obtained data from the novel Crazy Rich
Asians (2013) will be displayed in the form of tables namely, table of
segmentation, table of class difference and class struggles identification, and
tables of supporting data. Meanwhile, the further analysis of the data displayed in

35
the previous table will be displayed in the form of paragraph. The process of data
display is important and need to be conducted as a part of data analysis in order to
provide a compatible form of data.

The other step of the data analysis is the conclusion drawing and verification.
All of the obtained data from the other step of data analysis will be analyzed in
order to reveal the class difference and class struggles issues that represented in
the novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013). The process of data analysis which started
from the data collection, data condensation, data display, and data verification will
be completed by conducted this step, the conclusion drawing. However, despite
being the final step of the data analysis process, the conclusion drawing is not
conducted once. The researcher will repeat all of the previous data analysis
component until the obtained result is satisfying in which all of the research
questions are answered consistently.

3.6 Research Trustworthiness

In order to support the trustworthiness of this current research, the

triangulation tactics by Miles, Huberman, and Saldana (2014) will be applied. The
researcher as the main instrument of this current research will check the validity
of the result by considering the theory of class difference and class struggle from
the perspective of Marxism theory, checking the previous analysis of related
studies, considering the research method, and confirming with the expert in this
field of qualitative research. In order to gain the research trustworthiness, the
researcher will conduct the repeated process of the whole research procedure
including the inclusive reading of the novel, recheck of the theoretical and
empirical review, as well as analysis on the elements of novel namely theme,
setting, point of view, plot development, and characterization.

3.7 Research Procedure

In coherence with the qualitative analysis model by Miles, Huberman, and

Saldana (2014), this research will conducted by four components namely data

36
collecting, data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing in which the
process of this research is in a cycle that the researcher will repeat the whole
component of the research until the obtained data is satisfying. The flowchart of
the research procedure is presented as follows:

Figure 3.2 Flowchart of the Research Procedure

37
 The Sequence
READING Segmentation
of Kevin
DATA Kwan’s Crazy
COLLECTION Rich Asians
NOTE-TAKING
(2013)

The Class
Selecting, Difference and
Focusing, Class Struggles
Simplifying, Issues
Abstracting, Identification of
Kevin Kwan’s
DATA and/or Crazy Rich
CONDENSATION Transforming Asians (2013)
The Data.

The Table of:

Sequence
Segmentation
Organizing and Class Difference and
Class Struggles Issues
Assembling
DATA DISPLAY The Data.
Identification
Supporting Data of
Class Difference and
Class Struggles Issues
The Extended Text

Draw The
CONCLUSION Conclusion Representation of
DRAWING/ Class Difference
VERIFYING
and Verify
and Class
It. Struggles Issues in
Kevin Kwan’s Crazy
Rich Asians (2013)

The process of data collection in this current research will be conducted by

reading and note taking. The inclusive reading of Kevin Kwan’s novel Crazy rich

38
Asians (2013) is the important component of this current research. The deep
reading of the every pages of the novel is aimed at gaining an understanding of
the whole story of the novel that will be used as the subject of the research.
During the process of deep reading, the researcher specifically look for the class
difference and class struggles which displayed throughout the novel as the object
of this current research. The other important component in this current research is
note taking. The important part of the novel that gained during the process of deep
reading is noted in this process. Since the object of this current research is the
class difference and class struggles issues represented in the novel Crazy Rich
Asians (2013), the researcher will specifically focus on the part of the novel that
related with those issues. Based on those note taking process, the researcher will
make the segmentation of the novel in which the events in the novel is describe in
sequences and sub-sequences.

Data condensation is also required to be conducted in this research procedure

in which the previous finished segmentation of Crazy rich Asians (2013) will be
identified. The sequences of the segmentation will be identified to classify the
class difference and class struggles issue represented in the novel. Furthermore,
the result of this data condensation will be used in the further step of the analysis
in which the issues of class difference and class struggles can be seen through the
elements of novel namely theme, setting, point of view, plot development, and
characterization.

The other important component of this research procedure is the data display
in which the obtained data will be put together in the tables. In this process of data
display, the researcher will reveal the obtained data about class difference and
class struggles issues in the form of tables. The table 3.1 will be used to display
the sequence segmentation of the novel Crazy rich Asians (2013). The identified
issues of class difference and class struggle in that novel will be displayed in the
table 3.2. Meanwhile, the supporting data that includes the identification of
intrinsic elements of novel namely theme, setting, point of view, plot
development, and characterization will be displayed in the tables 3.3 and 3.4. The
extended text will also used as the media to display the obtained data in those

39
tables.

The obtained result of analysis will be used to draw a conclusion about the
representation of class difference and class struggle in the novel Crazy Rich
Asians (2013). However, this step is not done once. The researcher will repeat all
the research procedure until the obtained data is considered as satisfying that it
shows a consistent pattern to answer the research questions.

3.8 Research Schedule

The proposal preparation is considered as the start of the research schedule

meanwhile the submission date of the thesis will be marked as the end. The
research procedure is important to give the detail information about the timeline
of the research. The table of research schedule is presented as follows:

Table 3.5 Research Schedule

No Activity Month of 2019 Month of 2020

9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7-
12
1 Collecting related literature
2 Dividing the story into
segmentation
3 Selecting the appropriate
sequences that indicates the
class difference
4 Selecting the appropriate
sequences that indicate the
class struggle
5 Analyzing the class
difference and class struggle
data from the data collection.
6 Presenting the result

40
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