KONSTRUKSI MAKNA PASCAPERANG DALAM CERPEN WOLFGANG BORCHERT

Abstract

This study examines the representation of post-war life in five short stories by Wolfgang Borchert, namely Das Brot, Die Küchenuhr, Nachts schlafen die Ratten doch, Die drei dunklen Könige, and An diesem Dienstag. The research employs Stuart Hall’s theory of representation, which views representation as a process of constructing meaning through language, signs, and cultural codes rather than as a direct reflection of reality. Using a descriptive qualitative approach and literary text analysis, the data consist of narrative excerpts, dialogues, symbols, settings, and characters’ actions that function as signifying practices. The analysis is conducted by identifying the relationship between sign, concept, and meaning in each datum. The findings reveal that post-war life is represented through six dominant patterns of meaning: food scarcity, psychological trauma, loss, social destruction, moral shifts, and solidarity and hope. These categories are analytical classifications developed by the researcher based on recurring representational patterns and are not concepts proposed by Stuart Hall. The study also demonstrates that ordinary objects, domestic spaces, and everyday actions are transformed into cultural signs whose meanings are constructed through the historical and socio-cultural context of post-war Germany. Consequently, Borchert’s short stories represent post-war life not merely by depicting historical events but by constructing cultural meanings concerning suffering, survival, humanity, and collective memory through interconnected signifying practices. These findings reinforce Hall’s argument that meaning is culturally produced through representation rather than inherently embedded in objects or events.

Keywords: representation, post-war life, Trümmerliteratur

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