Abstract
Literature, as a form of social expression, conveys meanings and portrays the ideology of the author through diction and symbols either verbally or in written form. Symbols and keywords repeated and given special attention in literary texts convey an author’s personal conceptualisation of particular concepts. The objective of this study is to explore Abdullah Hussain’s views on poverty in his novel Interlock by using the Keywords Semiotic Model. This model is formulated by integrating the Semiotic Theory of Charles Sanders Peirce, a 19th century American philosopher with the Keywords and Conceptual Theory introduced in 2005 by Mohamad Mokhtar Hassan, a Malaysian scholar. The analysis and findings reveal that three different categories of poverty, i.e., physical poverty, emotional poverty, and internal poverty are discussed by Abdullah Hussain in his novel. Of these three categories, it is physical poverty and internal poverty that are accorded the greatest importance by the author and these dominates his conceptualisation from the perspective of the Keywords Semiotic Model. In other words, keywords and symbols are used as an instrument to highlight the various faces of poverty experienced by the novel’s main characters who represent the three most populous races in Malaya: the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians. Extrinsic factors such as the author’s background, past experiences, observations, readings, ideology, vision and aspiration influenced his conceptualisation of poverty. Keywords: Interlock, poverty, conceptualisation, symbol, diction, keywords, Abdullah Hussain
Highlights
This article adopts the point of view that literature and society are interlinked and interrelated
Through reading, studying and analysing the keywords and symbols used in the literary creation of a person, it is possible to create a mental picture of the thoughts, feelings and experiences of a particular race during a particular time
From the keywords and symbols used by Abdullah Hussain, it is evident that poverty does refer to poor living conditions and involves emotional distress and feelings of despair among victims of poverty as conceptualised by the author
Summary
This article adopts the point of view that literature and society are interlinked and interrelated. From the keywords and symbols used by Abdullah Hussain, it is evident that poverty does refer to poor living conditions and involves emotional distress and feelings of despair among victims of poverty as conceptualised by the author. He believes that an individual who lives in poverty does not have a peaceful mind and that his heart is often burdened with worries and regrets These are the experiences that the author shares through the character of Musa, Seman, Cing Huat and Maniam. He witnessed death when a cousin of his, who was living in the same house as him, died when he fell into a well and drowned (Solehah, 1998:329) This personal experience of the author is shared through the character of Wang Lung who committed suicide due to poverty. “A nation would continue in poverty and ignorance if the people did not change their attitude”
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