HEGEMONIC ANTAGONISTISM AS AN EMANCIPATIVE EFFORT IN DICKENS'S A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1843): A STUDY OF LACLAU-

This study aims to describe the dominant hegemony and antagonism or contestation of hegemony that occurred in the novel A Christmas Carol (1843) written by Charles Dickens. The method is descriptive qualitative with note-taking data collection techniques. The results of the study prove are (1) Scrooge, a banker who from the beginning was and acted egocentric, individualist, and likes to exploit his employee, is the representation of the dominant capitalist hegemony. This domination has become the enemy and triggered the existence of humanist religiosity, counter-hegemony, or the people which are a hegemony collaboration of discourses of anti-exploitation, anti-discrimination, anti-egocentrism, and anti-individualism represented through social order and figures around Scrooge. (2) Scrooge's identity and ideology which is dominated by Capitalism hegemony are not full and dynamic. The lack of identity fullness gives a possibility to the transformation of identity and ideology in Scrooge. This is reinforced by the presence of antagonism of dominant hegemony, capitalism, and counter-hegemony, humanist religiosity that has implications for changing the attitude of Scrooge to become a rich person who is generous, religious, friendly, humanist, anti-exploitative, and antiindividual. Thus, the figure of Scrooge has become the arena of antagonism of hegemony in which the presence of hegemonic antagonism is an emancipatory effort countering and undermining the dominance of capitalism.


Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguraikan hegemoni dominan dan antagonisme atau kontestasi hegemoni yang terjadi di dalam novel A Cristmas Carol
"On one occasion, he was asked for a do-nation by two men for poor people in London who also wanted to celebrate Christmas, but his response was very surprising." "If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. (Dickens, 1834: 8).
Scrooge agrees with the suffering of the lower classes in London. In his mind, they deserve to die to reduce the excess population on the earth. From these events, we can surely see Dickens constructing a satirical conversation with the London capitalists who often 'dance' over the suffering of the poor. In the story, Scrooge was aware of the shackles of the principle of the capitalist. This happened after three spirits visited him and portrayed events in the past, the present, and the future of him. It made him ultimately aware of the meaning of happiness which is not from possession of money, but togetherness, sharing empathy, living happily together with the poor.
Here, in the process of awakening Scrooge, Dickens presents dialectic antagonistic and agonistic. The belief and the truth of class identity can be prone to change to social dialectics. The character Scrooge represents the high social class with the principles of capitalism meanwhile the majority of society around Scrooge represents the low social class which is the domination of anti-capitalist principles. However, the presence of each of these antagonistic identities is not full and provides free space for dialogue. This space aims to reach an agreement between groups of people, to create a DOI 10. 22146/poetika.56533 ISSN 2338-5383 (print) ;2503-4642 (online) kind of tolerant space for two classes, so they can see humans as friends not opponents without discriminatory preferences.
Thus, this study uses the concept of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's antagonism hegemony. This concept is based on the contestation of politically agonistic argument in creating free space for each conviction cham- This antagonistic contestation led to the discovery where the subject of politics, which is a subject will never experience the fullness or will continue to have a lack in their social order. Laclau adopted the concept of the political subject from the concept of Lacanian psychoanalysis (Stavrakakis, 2007: 67 Vol. 8 No. 2, December 2020DOI 10.22146/poetika.56533 ISSN 23382503-4642 (online) jects without resorting to violence or subtle approaches (Hutagalung, 2008: xii).
In the Laclau-Mouffe conception, antagonism plays an important role in producing a shift in identity and dominant hegemony, that is, antagonism will produce political opponents who play a major role in constructing clear and dichotomic political boundaries (Haekal, 2019). Collaboration and integration of this opposition group can also be called the common people in fighting the common enemy. Thus, the antagonistic and agnostic space presented by Laclau-Mouffe will continue to produce emancipatory struggles, namely the eliminating dominant power, dominant identity, and fundamentalist and discriminatory discourse in agonistic conflicts.
To prove the renewal and to map the position of this research on existing research maps, the researcher conducted some literature reviews on previous related researches using Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol as a material object, including the following.
First, the article was written by Theresia Erwindriani with the title "Scrooge's Character

Development in Charles Dickens' A Christian
Carol". It aimed for investigating the character dynamics of the Scrooge character (Erwindriani, 2012

Scrooge Figures in the Grip of Capitalist Hegemony
At the beginning of the novel A Christmas Carol, the discourse or hegemony of capitalism seems so dominant. Thomassen "Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster" (Dickens, 1834: 2).
Scrooge, in the above quotation, is described as an old sinner who is greedy, solitary, and cold-hearted. He seems so egocentric with his wealth. His greed for money made him reluctant to socialize, thus turning off his empathic ability to see, understand, and respond to his poor social order, full of poverty and suffering.
This can be seen from the quotation below.
"Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller than it looked like one coal. But he couldn't replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part" (Dickens, 1834: 3).
The context of the quotation above is on a very cold Christmas Eve where everyone is ready to welcome Christian holidays by warming themselves and gathering with their family, but Scrooge still supervises his employee, Bob Crunchit, to keep working on that day. Not only that, the text above shows how stingy Scrooge was in spending his money. This is shown from the temperature of the fireplace which was so small, even the fireplace to warm Crunchit was no more than one small coal. Scrooge kept this supply of coal in his room so that his employee couldn't pick it up. "It's not convenient," said Scrooge, "and it's not fair. If I was to stop half-a-crown for it, you'd think yourself ill-used, I'll be Poetika : Jurnal Ilmu Sastra Vol. 8 No. 2, December 2020DOI 10.22146/poetika.56533 ISSN 23382503-4642 (online) bound? " The Clerk Smiled Faintly. "And yet," said Scrooge, "you don't think I'm ill-used when I pay a day's wages for no work." The clerk observed ed that it was only once a year (Dickens, 1834: 10). "What else can I be," returned the uncle, "when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer (Dickens, 1834: 4).
Not only the employees but also the cold treatment, insults, and discrimination was done by Scrooge against his nephew. The text above is a dialogue between Scrooge and his nephew, which is the highest ontological horizon of human discourse and construction, so that the lack of a subject is not completely negative, but also productive to identify something original, namely the lack of identity experienced by the subject (Laclau & Zac, 1994: 3).

Dialogue between Fred and Scrooge and
between Crunchit and Scrooge may have implications for the antagonism of hegemony.
This antagonism produces a shift in identity and dominant hegemony, that is, antagonism will produce political opponents who play a major role in constructing clear and dichotomic political boundaries (Haekal, 2019).

The hegemony of capitalism dominant shown
Scrooge is so self-centered, individualistic, exploitative, oppressive, and discriminatory against the discourse of humanism and religionism which are constructed by Crunchit and Fred. In this case, the capitalistic upperclass form Scrooge's identity formed by capitalism with dominant hegemony has become the common enemy for humanism and religiosity represented by Crunchit and Fred.

Emancipatory Struggle and Collapse of Capitalism as Dominant Hegemony
In this hegemonic contestation, religiousism or Christian belief is represented in the form of ghosts and spirits who succes-sively visit Scrooge on Christmas Eve. This begins with the presence of the ghost of his banker friend, Jacob Marley, pictured in the quote below.
"It is done to wander through the worldoh, woe is me! -And witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!" The specter raised a cry, and shook its chain, and wrung its shadowy hands. "You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?" "I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost (Dickens, 1834: 22). The presence of the Marley ghost here makes Scrooge scared, but it seems Scrooge has not been able to imagine and realize what he will face after death. Therefore, on the same night, he was again visited by three Christmas Poetika : Jurnal Ilmu Sastra Vol. 8 No. 2, December 2020DOI 10.22146/poetika.56533 ISSN 23382503-4642 (online) spirits at different times. The first spirit will bring Scrooge to look back on his past, the second spirit will bring Scrooge to the present and the third spirit will bring Scrooge to see what will happen in his future.
It opened before them, and disclosed a long, bare, melancholy room, made barer still by lines of plain deal forms and desks. At one of these, a lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire; and Scrooge sat down upon a form, and wept to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be. (Dickens, 1834: 33) The text above describes Scrooge's jour- After that, at different times on the same night, Scrooge is visited by the spirit of the present Christmas. The spirit brings Scrooge to visit the poor people around Scrooge. One of them is a home employee, Bob Cratchit with his family, Mrs. Cratchit, and six children. They were so poor with dull and shabby clothing. They ate mediocre food although they were still able to enjoy the simple happiness at Christmas.
"God bless us every one!" said Tiny Tim, the last of all. He sat very close to his father's side upon his little stool. Bob held his withered little hand in his, as if he loved the child, and wished to keep him by his side, and dreaded that he might be taken from him" (Dickens, 1834: 56).
They have been happily enjoying Christmas Eve together however, the Cratchit family has some worries. The quotation above depicts Cratchit's anxiety for one of his children, whose name is Tiny Tim, who is sickly and dying. All the events and sensations of the Christmas celebration at Cratchit's house were witnessed by Scrooge who was accompanied by the second spirit of Christmas. This gave the impression of Poetika : Jurnal Ilmu Sastra Vol. 8 No. 2, December 2020DOI 10.22146/poetika.56533 ISSN 23382503-4642 (online) Scrooge who hated Christmas and the poor before him.
"No, no," said Scrooge. "Oh, no, kind Spirit! say he will be spared. " "If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race," returned the Ghost, "will find him here. What then? If he is like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. " Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and become penitence and grief" (Dickens, 1834: 56).
After observing what happened, Scrooge, in the above quotation, immediately asked the Christmas spirit about the future that what happened with Tiny Tim. Then, the spirit replied, there is a gloom that will come to the Cratchit family, Tiny Tim will die when Cratchit's poor situation does not change. As quoted in Scrooge's previous statement, Tim's death was better at reducing the surplus population. Suddenly, this statement startled Scrooge and then touched his empathy which was filled with sadness and regret.
He regretted his actions that had exploited his poor employee, even on Christmas Day Scrooge still forced Cratchit to keep working, because he didn't want his money to go out for nothing. The sadness and regret here become a strong marker as a trigger for a shift from the lack of identity as a rich capitalist.
The dominant capitalist hegemony within Scrooge begins to be degraded by the presence of counter-hegemony (namely Christian discourse, anti-exploitative discourse, humanist discourse, and anti-individual dis-course) that is based on the unfortunate, touching, and empathic events that Scrooge witnessed at the Cratchit family home.
On the last Christmas spirit's visit, Scrooge is taken to a place with an atmosphere that is still unfamiliar to him, the situation that awaits him in the future. The events he witnessed seemed to be in an unknown city. It was the day a man had died, but he received a shocking response from many people who hated him because of his miserly, greedy, and anti-social attitude as long as he lived.
"He thought if this man could be raised now, what would be his foremost thoughts? Avarice, hard dealing, griping cares? They have brought him to a rich end, truly! He lay, in the dark empty house, with not a man, a woman, or a child, to say that he was kind to me in this or that, and for the memory of one kind word I will be kind to him. A cat was tearing at the door, and there was a sound of gnawing rats beneath the hearth-stone" (Dickens, 1834: 77).
The quotation above shows Scrooge witnessed the death of this person without anyone beside him crying over his departure forever.
No one, friends, children, wives, friends, even relatives attended and cared about his death.
As if his existence in the world does not mean anything to everyone around him. There were animals only who accompanied his body at a dark home without "an alive human". It certainly makes Scrooge more sacred and conscious of the life after death, not punishment is only given by God to travel around the world with a vision to remind those who live to repent like the ghost of Marley. However, Scrooge also realizes that his evil actions during life have conse-Vol. 8 No. 2, December 2020DOI 10.22146/poetika.56533 ISSN 23382503-4642 (online) quences for social punishment like the dead man, one of which is that no one cares about his death, even celebrating his death in happiness.
"Good Spirit," he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it: "Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life! " The kind hand trembled. "I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me" (Dickens, 1834: 84 "A merry Christmas, Bob!" said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. "A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I'll raise your salary, and endeavor to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very after-noon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!" (Dickens, 1834).