Abstract

This article discusses the work of Victor-Marie Hugo entitled Le dernier jour d'un condamné " (1829). This novel tells about a death row inmate (the "I" character) who experiences an inner struggle about his desire to be free. The power of discourse and dialogue carried out by the character in the novel is the focus of analysis in this paper. The concept of power of discourse refers to Michel Foucault's thoughts and dialogical concepts adopted from Mikhail Bakhtin. This study seeks to dismantle hidden ideas as social criticism presented by the “I” character. The words that describe the anxieties of “I” seem to form a dialogue between the text and the reader. Literary readers are invited to take part in the struggle of my character's thinking about his freedom. The meaning dispute of freedom discourse that wrestles in thought becomes a condition for the formation of dialogue between the reader and the text. Therefore, the dialogic perspective makes a social literary text so that the discourse is not isolated in structure.

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