ABSTRAKTesis ini membahas representasi Freemasonry, strategi representasi dan pengaruhnya terhadap representasi ibu kota Washington, D.C. Penelitian ini menggunakan teori representasi dan semiotik Peirce.Tesis ini menunjukkan bahwa The Lost Symbol merepresentasikan Freemasonry melalui simbol dan ritual Mason, arsitektur kota, monumen, bangunan dan lanskap Washington, D.C. Dengan strategi oposisi biner, dialektika dan negasi afirmasi, Freemasonry direpresentasikan sebagai persaudaraan dengan rahasia, beriman pada Tuhan Yang Maha Esa, terbuka, toleran dan pluralis. Representasi Freemasonry berpengaruh terhadap representasi ibu kota Washington, D.C. sebagai kota kenangan (memorial city) dan kota sakral. Di samping itu, tesis ini juga menunjukkan posisi The Lost Symbol sebagai representasi tandingan dan respons atas gagasan konspirasi dalam konteks Amerika.

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Abstract

The thesis examines the representation of Freemasonry in Dan Brown?s The Lost Symbol. The thesis looks at the problems: how the Freemasonry represented in the novel, what strategy used in representing Freemasonry and how it influences the representation of the capital city Washington, D.C. This novel is analyzed carefully and accurately using the theory of representation and Peirce?s semiotics.

The thesis argues that The Lost Symbol represents Freemasonry through Masonic symbols and rituals, city architectures, monuments, buildings, and landscapes in Washington DC. The representation of Freemasonry as fraternal organization poses the secret, faithful, open-minded, tolerant, and pluralist modes. The analysis uses binary opposition, dialectics and negation-affirmation technique to show that representation of Freemasonry influenced the representation of Washington, D.C. as memorial and sacred capital city. Besides, the thesis argues that The Lost Symbol positioned as counter-representation and response toward the idea of conspiracy in American context.