SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN ANDREA HIRATA’S NOVEL ORANG ORANG BIASA

Abstract

Abstract This study aims to reveal the social problems described in Andrea Hirata's novel Orang Orang Biasa. The social problems that become the focus of this research are poverty, education inequality, and crimes, which include corruption and money laundering, robbery, theft of money and motorized vehicles, bribery and crimes using social media. This research is considered important and feasible to do because it is an effort to convey social criticism to the government and related parties on various social problems that are often faced by society, especially related to problems in the world of education where not all levels of society can receive education equally. Poor people, although they have a high level of intelligence, are very rarely able to study at the Faculty of Medicine because the cost of studying at the Faculty of Medicine is very high. This research is a descriptive qualitative research and applies the sociological theory of literature put forward by Laurenseon and Swingewood (1972) to understand and evaluate literary works by considering social aspects. The findings of this study indicate that social problems such as poverty, educational inequality, and crimes, which include corruption and money laundering, robbery, theft of money and motorized vehicles, bribery and crimes using social media and the internet are found in this study. These various types of social problems stem from one problem, namely poverty, both material poverty and moral poverty. Keywords: poverty; education inequality; crimes, corruption; money laundering; robber; theft; briber; social media