Oleh: Muhammad Alif Faturrachman

It is widely acknowledged that literature is a reflection of society. On one the most general level, most literature portrays people engaging in social interactions. Thus, literature gives an image of society in words just as the bathroom mirror gives a reflected visual image of ourselves (Wofford, 2015). The way that literature reflects society through the work of many authors has represented all kinds of aspects in society such as social, political, ecological, historical, and many others through their works. The fact that literature itself is being composed with human emotion, activity, and experience during both good and bad social-politic condition, in this case, the authors themselves have proved that most literature works are the reflection of the society itself (Patva, 2017). Therefore, it is true that literature does reflect the condition of the society in its contemporary or even in the past and also it reflects how the author views these social condition through their works. Moreover, literature itself is not just a social ‘product’ that reflects the current society, but it is also a form of social criticism.

Because literature is considered a reflection of human society, it also has been used as a media of criticism to many issues that currently happen in the world. The issue in our society such as class division, abuse of power, feminism, cultural hegemony, and many others are being criticized through literary work. One of the issues that are being discussed to this day is the issue of cultural hegemony. According to Farda (2018), In a society, there will be a certain system that leads and controls in order to keep the balance and maintain the peace, thus, the system often emerges as a particular institution, for example, the government, which set the rules and limitation on how people in a society should act and behave. The system in which one is more superior than the other, thus the other should follow those who are more superior is called the hegemony.

In literary studies, the theory of hegemony is used to analyze the relationship between literature and society as well as analyzing the authors and society. Moreover, it is also used to see how social structures are constructed and represented by the literary works. In order to understand more about the concept of hegemony itself, According to Mambrol (2017), Hegemony was initially used as a term to refer to the dominance of one state within a confederation, however, it is now generally known as a concept of domination by consent. This complex definition was first proposed and popularized in the 1930s by an Italian Marxist known as Antonio Gramsci, who studied on the reason of why the ruling class was so successful in promoting its own interest, authority, and leadership in society.

For Gramsci, hegemony implies a situation where a ‘historical bloc’ of ruling class or the dominant factions hold the social authority and leadership over the subordinate or the inferior classes through a combination of force and consent (in Mambrol, 2017). Moreover, in order to keep control of the authority and leadership, the ruling or dominant factions might resort to a concept of dominating the whole aspects of its subordinate's life (Farda, 2018). One of many ways to assert control of the subordinate class is by inserting the dominant class or factions political views, norms, ethics, rules, and ideologies to the subordinate class to reform the whole society’s way of thinking. By doing this, the dominant class are able to assert control of the structured society, thus, the ideology that they insert to the society has formed it to a certain condition that the dominant class desired. This domination of society affects as far as it makes people follow the concept of "normality" in such ways as to how the dominant class has designed it. Their idea that they inserted and forced to the society are seen as legitimate and becomes the universally accepted norm without people questioning whether it is wrong or right. This sort of imposition is known as cultural hegemony.

The issue of cultural hegemony can be seen in one of the famous children's literary works entitled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by an American author L. Frank Baum and was published in 1900. A modern fairy tale with a distinctly American setting, a cheerful heroine, and notable fantasy characters, the story was enormously popular and became a classic of children’s literature. Moreover, the characters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with their own distinct identity are interacting in a way that they create a specific interaction pattern. The interaction patterns among characters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz have their own characteristics, depending on who is having the interaction. For example, the way that the creatures who live in the land of Oz held their own respect and fear toward several witches who are certainly more powerful than them, the way that the emerald city citizen faithfully adores the wizard of Oz who they deem to be the most powerful entity, and other more create a glimpse of how certain group or person had a dominative control over certain people or groups in the land of oz. Therefore, this study tries to discuss and analyze the interaction among characters, especially those which resulted in social inequality and cultural hegemony.

This study assumes that the interaction among characters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has shown a quite interesting example of hegemonic power portrayal among superiority and inferiority. This means that in the interaction between characters in the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, one side is superior to the others thus create a hegemonic effect in the society in the Land of Oz. This kind of interaction pattern is the main focus of this study. Using the theory of hegemony by  Antonio Gramsci, this study believes that an unequal interaction always indicates that some powers of hegemonic influence are involved in the interaction between said characters. Whether it is in a from of a explicitly power of domination or a implicitly hegemonic power that create consent among the society, it is still involved and represented in this literary work, therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze such portrayal of these hegemonic power in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is an American children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow, originally published by the George M. Hill Company in May 1900.  The story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is about the adventures of a young farm girl named Dorothy in the magical Land of Oz. Initially Dorothy lives with both her aunt and uncle in the state Kansas United States, however, one day a massive cyclone hit the area where Dorothy lives and took her to a mysterious land. After she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their Kansas home by a cyclone, they both set on an adventures to find out how do they get there and how to get home to Kansas.

 

“The cyclone had set the house down very gently-for- a cyclone- in the midst of a country of a marvelous beauty. There were lovely patches of greensward all about, with stately trees bearing rich and luscious fruits. Bank of gorgeous flowers were on every hand, and birds with rare and brilliant plumage sang and fluttered in the trees and bushes” (Baum, 1900)

 

L. Frank Baum himself has created the world of oz as a quite unique fantasy world. The Land of Oz is a magical country first introduced in the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Oz consisted of four vast regions, the Gillikin Country in the north, Quadling Country in the south, Munchkin Country in the east, and Winkie Country in the west. Each province has its own ruler, namely, these rulers are known as the witches of the respective region they own. From the narration itself, we can see that there are 4 witches in the land of oz that respectively hold their dominion from the north, east, west, and south. Other than that, there is also a place known as the emerald city which is being held by The Wizard of Oz as his own territory. These particular people is accounted for the use of hegemonic influence toward the citizen of Oz.

 

• ·      The Witches of Oz and Their Sphere of Hegemonic Influence

Upon Dorothy's arrival to the mysterious land of Oz along with her house and her pet dog Toto, she was welcomed by an unknown creature that she has never seen before. These unknown creatures introduced themselves as The Munchkin and welcomed Dorothy to the land of munchkin on the eastern part of the Land of Oz, moreover, they shows grateful toward Dorothy which they said has slain the Wicked Witch of The East and by that had freed the munchkins from her domination over the Munchkins.

 

"You are welcome, most noble Sorceress, to the land of the Munchkins. We are grateful to you for having killed the Wicked Witch of the East, and for setting our people free from the bondage" (Baum, 1900).

 

It can be clearly seen in the text that indeed, the Wicked Witch of the East had dominated the Munchkins who live in the eastern part of Oz. This form of domination over the society is in fact shows a relation of unequal interaction between two-party. The Wicked Witch of the East act as the ruling party in which she held complete control not just over the eastern region but also all of its inhabitants for many of years.

 

“She has held all the Munchkins in bondage for many years, making them slave for her night and day. Now they are all set free and are grateful to you for the favor” (Baum, 1900)

 

This domination also can be seen by the fact that it has become a hegemony for the Munchkins to the point that they are not able to fight back or to reclaim their rights to govern themselves until one day, Dorothy and her house came out of nowhere and stomp the Wicked Witch of the East to death, thus freeing the eastern part of the Land of Oz from the Wicked Witch influence, and also liberating the Munchkins in the process. This form of liberation from the dominating power is an example of the release of hegemony power in a society. The Munchkins has always been not fond of how they are being ruled by the authority that abused its power and influence, however, since that said authority held greater power than the Munchkins as its subordinate, the Munchkins can only obey the authority figure and follow everything that was told to them. This gap of power between two-party is seen as the reason of why, Hegemonic power prosper over the least powerful subordinate.

After meeting with the Munchkins, Dorothy have just realized that she also met with the other witch, namely the Good Witch of the North.  She explained that she came here as soon as she know from the Mucnkins messenger that the Wicked Witch of the East has been defeated. At first, Dorothy was afraid that the Good Witch of the North is also a wicked witch as she knows from her aunt that all witches are wicked.

 

"But I am a good witch, and people love me. I am not as powerful as the Wicked Witch who ruled here, or so I should have set the people free myself". (Baum, 1900)

 

 However, the Good Witch of the North explained that she also bend to the hegemonic power held by the Wicked Witch of the East although that both of them are quite powerful and rule over their respective dominion in the eastern and the northern part of the Land of Oz. The Good Witch of the North said that she is loved by the people and wanted to free the Munchkins from the bondage of the Wicked Witch of the East. Although that she held immense power and could easily dominate other who are far more inferior than her, she chooses to use her power and influence in a good manner but however, she has still had the hegemonic influence toward others even though that she does not employ forces to expand her hegemonic influence. It could be seen by the fact that as soon as Dorothy killed the Wicked Witch of the East, the Munchkins eagerly send the message and ask The Good Witch of the North to come. This act shows that the Munchkins themselves held respect toward the Good Witch of the North and even though that she does not command them to tell her about the situation, the Munchkins voluntarily told her as if it was their obligation to do so. This can be seen as a form of implicit hegemony power held by the Good Witch of the North.

 

After introducing herself to Dorothy, she provided information about the current political power situation in the Land of Oz. There are 4 witches who ruled over certain regions of The Land of Oz, as she explained below:

“Oh no, that is a great mistake. There were only four witches in all the Land of oz, and two of them, those who live in the North and the South, are good witches. I know this is true, for i am one of them myself, and cannot be mistaken, Those who dwelt in the East and the West were indeed wicked witches; but now that you killed one of them, there is but one Wicked Witch in all the Land of Oz- the one who lives in the west” (Baum, 1900)

 

       With this piece of information, a glimpse of political power in The Land of Oz could be seen. There is a faction of the Wicked Witch and also a faction of the Good Witch in the Land of Oz. Both factions use different forms of hegemonic power to assert influence on the people of the Land of Oz. Both through fear and through gratefulness, these witches are able to become the dominating person in the Land of Oz.

Later in the story, Dorothy and her party were forced to defeat the last Wicked Witch, namely the Wicked Witch of the West on behalf of the Great Wizard of Oz. She was known as the evil ruler of the Winkie Country on the western part of The Land of Oz. In the story, her dominion is far greater than other witches. It could be extracted from the text that she rules over wolves that even the wolves leader bow to her, crows that even the king of crows bow to her wills, a swarm of black bees who follow her command, and also the Winkies, the original inhabitants of the Winkie country which has become her slaves, and also the flying monkeys.

This is clearly a sign of her immense power and hegemonic influence that she was able to control and command a wide variety of different parties in society. All of these subject of The Wicked Witch of the West follows her command without hesitation, this shows a great example of hegemonic power a concept of domination by consent which was stated by Gramsci in his study. All subordinate of the wicked witch know and consent about the dominion of the Wicked Witch had over them, therefore, it is clear that following the command given to them is seen a normal things and therefore being an obligation for them to do so. Some of the hegemonic influence could be seen in these following citation:

 

“So she blew upon a silver whistle that hung around her neck. At once there came running to her from all direction a pack of grea wolves. They had long legs and fierce eyes and sharp teeth.” (Baum, 1900).

 

            From the text, the pack of wolves has a leader who actually held the hegemonic power of his pack. However, he or she is also bend to the greater hegemonic power held by the Wicked Witch of the West making it clear that the Wicked Witch has far more greater power in dominating these whole wolves.

“She blew her whistle twice straightaway a great flock of wild crows came flying toward her, enough darken the sky” (Baum, 1900).

 

From the text, the great flock of wild crows are actually led by a King Crow who is the one who held the hegemonic power in his great flock. However, the King Crow who was supposedly be the supreme leader of the flock is seen bow to the Wicked Witch wills. Thus making it clear that the Wicked Witch has far more greater power in dominating these the flock of crows and its king.

 

“Blew three times upon her silver whistle. Forthwith there was heard a great buzzing in the air, and a swarm of black bees came flying toward her” (Baum, 1900).

From the text, the swarm of black bees is seen to follow the Wicked Witch command as soon as they are being told to. Thus making it clear that the Wicked Witch has a complete domination over these swarm of black bees.

 

“The Winkies were not a brave people, but they had to do as they were told. So they marched away until they came near to Dorothy” (Baum, 1900).

From the text, it could be seen that the Winkies as the slaves of the Wicked Witch of the West had to follow her command even though that they are not a brave people who are able to carry such order. This shows that the hegemonic power held by the Wicked Witch of the West create such hegemony that the Winkies are forced to do the Witch wills even though they do know that it is beyond their ability.

 

“Whoever owned it could call three times upon the Winged Monkeys, who would obey any order they were given.” (Baum, 1900).

 

From the text, the Wicked Witch of the West own a symbol of ruler in form of a Golden Cap which she could use to command Flying Monkeys as her will. This shows her domination through the media of tools as a symbol of hegemonic power. With all of these facts gathered from the text itself, it could be concluded that the Wicked Witch of the West is able to force her influence not just to a certain single person but she is able to do so to a group or a community of different creatures all alike. Her immense authority is absolute to her subjects therefore she has become the symbol of ruler class herself.

Lastly, there is Glinda, the Good Witch of the South who is the strongest of all 4 witches. She is gladly helps Dorothy to go back to her hometown Kansas in exchange of the Golden Cap, a symbol of authority for the Flying Monkeys. Although that Glinda involvement in the story is quite a little bit significant, but she is also known as the Authority in the south, which mean that she also has her influence of hegemonic power in the Land of the Oz.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is indeed a quite representation of hegemonic power in the form of the ruling Witches in the Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern parts of the Land of Oz. While according to Gramsci himself hegemony implies a situation where a ‘historical bloc’ of ruling class or the dominant factions hold the social authority and leadership over the subordinate or the inferior classes through a combination of force and consent ( In Mambrol, 2017). 

From these characters, we can conclude that it is true that there is unequal interaction involving the powers of hegemonic influence among the interaction between said characters. It is true that these powers are shown in both explicit power of domination through force as it was shown by the Wicked Witch Factions (Eastern and Western) and an implicit hegemonic power that creates consent among the society (Northern and Southern), it is still involved and represented in this literary work, therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze such portrayal of these hegemonic power in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. 

In the end, these hegemonic power does drive the narration of the story and also create a believable setting that the World of Oz itself might have been a portrayal of our real world. Thus, the power of hegemonic might be used as a means to exploit others or to guide others toward a good way as it was portrayed by the Witches of the Oz. Moreover, it is also true that These particular people are accounted for the use of hegemonic influence toward the citizen of Oz.

 

REFFERENCES

Baum, L.F. (1900). The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. United States: George M. Hill Company

Farda. S.D. (2018). Cultural hegemony in J.K Rowling’s harry potter series. Retrieved from http://scholar.unand.ac.id/41486/

Mambrol, N. (2017). Hegemony. Retrieved from https://literariness.org/2017/10/10/hegemony/

Patva, D. (2017). Literature is the reflection of society. Retrieved from https://www.boloji.com/articles/49632/literature-is-the-reflection-of-society

Wofford, L. (2017). How is literature the mirror of society?. Retrieved from https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-literature-mirror-society-504064