Fetishism of Commodities as Reflected in the Novel Confessions of a Shopaholic Analyzed Using Marxist Perspective

ABSTRAK Aprilanita, Rahmawati. 2011. Fetishism of Commodities as Reflected in the Novel Confessions of a Shopaholic Analyzed Using Marxist Perspective. Thesis. Department of English Literature, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang. Advisor: Mochamad Nasrul Chotib, M.Hum. Keywords: Value, Commodities, Fetishism, Need, Demand, False Consciousness Shopaholic is a form of fethisism commodities. To do so, this thesis uses Marxist perspective to analyze shopaholic as a form of commodities as reflected in Kinsella’s novel Confessions of a Shopaholic. This thesis discusses Marx’s idea of mystification which has materialized in a culture of commodities fetishism. Nowadays, it is more popular known as Shopaholism. Shopaholism is a compulsive shopping behavior and is difficult to stop. Next, George Lukács in his writing, History and Class Consciousness (1923), has developed his own notion of commodity reification based on Marx's notion of commodity fetishism being the key obstacle to class consciousness. The objective side of commodity has shown its reification where a human with all his awareness and knowledge cannot control and resist the urge to purchase the product that he does not actually need. Rebecca, as the main character in the Kinsella’s novel Confessions of a Shopaholic is in her state of false consciousness. She sees her relation between people as the relation between products’ images through media such as television. This thesis is mainly questioning about how capitalist constructs shopaholic culture in the Confessions of a Shopaholic the novel, using Marxist perspective. Subsequently, shopaholism can sustain capitalist’ power. The study of Fetishism of Commodities as reflected in the novel Confessions of Shopaholic analyzed using Marxist perspective finds that mysterious about commodities has made labor falsely see their relation as their products relation. Subsequently, the products which the men made have estranged from them. As the result, the relation between things has led the human to be in the state of false consciousness in which they see their image through the products relation. Henceforth, the shopaholic is born. Rebecca as the shopaholic has sustained the control and power of capitalism. It is because such behavior is important for the capital. Rebecca as the proletariat needs to work harder to meet the society demands, to earn money to meet their own and to spend it to capitalist. Therefore, proletariats like Rebecca are oppressed since they have to work harder to fulfill their needs and later to spend their money on capitalist’ products. Thus the victory of the capitalist has been successfully sustained since the proletariats like Rebecca need to give their labors to the capitalist while at the same time they should sacrifice more to get less happiness from commodity they purchase