The Class Struggle as the Impact of Oppression by Ruling Class as seen in Clifford Odets’ Waiting for Lefty

ABSTRACT 

      This study begins with George Lukacs argues that literary works have to voice class struggle in order to get real human freedom toward an unfair socio-economic production. With this perspective, the writer of this research decides to study a literary work that truly concerns on class struggle problem. The writer of this research finds it in Clifford Odets’ play entitled  Waiting for Lefty . The most interesting thing in the play is the characters. There are two type of characters, capitalist and proletariat. 

      In order to get a clear image about those characters, the first problem formulation will talk about them. After getting the clear image of them, the next problem formulation will focus on how proletariat characters being oppressed by capitalist characters. Moreover, the focus will move further to identify the impact of the oppression. 

      The method applied in this study is library research. Some steps applied in this study are collecting the data, doing  close reading,  gaining the data necessary for the problem formulation, reading and revealing the characteristics of characters, how the oppressed experienced by the oppressed characters, and how the effect of the oppression. To explore the oppression and its result, the writer of this research takes advantage of  Marxism approach. An approach of economic, social, and political philosophy based on ideas that view social change in terms of economic factors. 

      Through the analysis on the characteristics of characters, proletariat and capitalist are described clearly in the first problem formulation. In the next analysis, the writer of this research finds out how the oppression experienced by the oppressed characters portrayed before they try to make a struggle. Moreover, the oppression actions are the actions that trigger the class struggle.