Analysis of Social and Inner Conflicts in Annie Proulx's 'Brokeback Mountain' and Edward Morgan Forster's 'Maurice'.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dalam penulisan skripsi ini, saya mengangkat isu penerimaan homoseksualitas pada masyarakat yang heteronormatif. Saya membahas dua buku yang berjudul Brokeback Mountain _danMaurice_{karena kedua buku tersebut menunjukkan adanya isu} mengenai hubungan homoseksualitas dan heteronormativitas. Pembahasan dilakukan dengan menganalisis konflik sosial yang terjadi, sekaligus konflik internal yang dialami oleh para tokoh-tokoh homoseksual pada kedua buku.

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APPENDICES

SYNOPSIS OF BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist are two male ranch workers. They meet at

Brokeback Mountain to work as sheepherders one summer. They share a tent and

spend time up in the mountain together. In addition, they finally realize their deep

affection towards one another. The attraction between them leads to a casual love

atmosphere and they have sex without considering there is any sexual

disorientation.

Summer leaves and they soon get separated. In December, Ennis marries

his fiancée and has two lovely girls from their marriage. The same thing happens

to Jack; he marries a Texan girl and has a boy from her. They lose contact with

each other but their lives seem to be difficult, as Ennis and Jack still love each

other. The fourth summer since they left Brokeback Mountain, Jack writes to

Ennis, and later, Jack visits him. They cannot hide their feelings when they meet.

They kiss and have sex at a motel. At one point, Jack and Ennis do not know what

has happened to them, but they know that they cannot live together since people

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but they still keep in touch and spend some time together so that they can show

their affection towards each other. After many years, Ennis hears bad news about

Jack, that Jack experiences an accident that results in death. Ennis believes the

accident had been arranged by the cowboys in order to eliminate gays from their

society.

SYNOPSIS OF MAURICE

Maurice Hall enters university, where he is introduced to homosexuality

by Clive Durham. Clive, an aristocratic Englishman, suddenly pronounces his

love to Maurice. At first, Maurice is shocked to hear the love declaration of love

from Clive, but he later starts to feel affection towards him and kisses him

passionately. After two years of having a relationship, Clive considers that his

homosexuality has a risk of being exposed, so he leaves Maurice and marries

Anne. Maurice is in pain because of his passion to Clive and he tries to cure

himself by going to a psychiatrist; instead of being cured, he has to face rejection

and disappointment. He also has therapy with Mr. Lasker Jones. This also does

not work. In the end, he meets Alec Scudder, Clive’s gamekeeper, and they feel a strong attraction to each other. Unexpectedly, one night, Schudder comes to

Maurice’s room and they have their first night. Being afraid of what have

happened between them, Maurice visits his therapist again, Mr. Jones, and asks

him for help. Mr. Jones knows the therapy will not work on him and is unsure

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that moment, they realize their love for each other. Then they experience another

night together. Maurice and Schudder then intend to live together.

BIOGRAPHY OF EDNA ANNIE PROULX

Edna Annie Proulx was born in Norwich, Connecticut, United States, in

August 22, 1935. She is an American journalist and author. Proulx graduated cum

laude from University of Vermont in 1969 and received a Bachelor of Arts in

History. Later, she attended Sir George Williams University (now Concordia

University) and got her Master of Arts in 1973.

Proulx is thought to be a successful writer as she has got many literary

awards and prizes. Her first work of fiction is The Customs Lounge, a science

fiction work published in September 1963. By that time she had written many

works. Her outstanding novel appeared in 1993, and was acclaimed as National

Book Award winner. Its title is The Shipping News, which was later filmed in

2001. Moreover, her “Brokeback Mountain” was written in 1997, which won a

Pulitzer Prize-winning in 1998 and was also filmed in 2005.

Annie Proulx is a daughter of an English mother and French Canadian

father. She has married and divorced three times. She has three sons and a

daughter. She used to live in Vermont, but in 1994 she spent half a year in

northern Newfoundland then moved to Wyoming.

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BIOGRAPHY OF EDWARD MORGAN FORSTER

E. M. Forster was born in January 1, 1879, in Marylebone, London,

United Kingdom. He is a son of Alice Clara nee Whichelo and architect Edward

Morgan Llewellyn Forster. He grew up at Rooksnest and attended the Tonbridge

School in Kent County. After that, Forster went to King’s College, Cambridge, to study history, philosophy and literature. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in

1900. While he was studying at King’s, he joined a group known as the

Cambridge Apostles where later he and many of the members formed the

Bloomsbury Group. Forster was a writer of novels, short stories and essays, and

was famous for his ironic and well-plotted works. One of his short stories and

essays are “The Machine Stops” and “What I Believe”. The subjects of most his

works were about class difference, gender and homosexuality.

Forster published his first five novels in his lifetime, and his sixth novel

was published after his death. His first novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread, which

was published in 1905, was adapted into a film by Charles Sturridge in 1991. His

other novels were The Longest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908),

Howard’s End (1910), and A Passage to India (1924). A Passage to India was

considered his greatest work, taking a subject of the relationship between East and

West. Maurice (1913) was published posthumously in 1971 and gained

controversy, as the novel is about homosexual love set in England.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Heteronormativity holds norms that people are divided into distinct genders, which are men and women, with their natural roles in life. This simply tells us that the most natural sexual orientation is heterosexuality. According to Emily Gray, “Heteronormativity is a term used by social theorists in order to discuss the way in which gender and sexuality are separated into hierarchically organised categories” (Gray). Moreover, she says that the heteronormative society

marginalizes the homosexuals from social life (Gray). That means the homosexuals are always discriminated against and denied in the society.

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Forster. Proulx is a well-known American writer whose works have won several book prizes. Besides, she is considered a successful writer because her story of Brokeback Mountain_{is adapted into a film}. Steve William states that, “Brokeback Mountain_{stands c}hief amongst them as a story of note,” which shows that Brokeback Mountain_{is a great novel. Moreover,}Brokeback Mountain is “lauded as her best work, Brokeback Mountain_{is a master-piece and it is a story in which} all the elements that make Annie Proulx an exceptional writer…” (William). These statements prove that Annie Proulx is successful in her writing career.

Edward Morgan Forster is also a famous writer who has written some well-written books. There is no doubt that Forster has written his works brilliantly, as stated by Malcom Bradbury, “Forster is a major English author of the twentieth century, a writer of great technical and intellectual significance whose work is sufficiently complicated and dense to deserve close study and analysis” (Bradbury

1). In addition, he also wrote novels about homosexual people, which, in his era, was rejected.

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Maranatha Christian University STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1. What social and inner conflicts are experienced by the major characters of the novels Brokeback Mountain_andMaurice_?

2. What are the causes of the social and inner conflicts? 3. What are the resolutions of the social and inner conflicts?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

1. To show the social and inner conflicts experienced by the major characters in the novels of Brokeback Mountain_andMaurice_.

2. To show the causes of the social and inner conflicts. 3. To show the resolutions of the social and inner conflicts.

METHOD OF RESEARCH

In writing this thesis, I use the method of library research. First, I read Proulx’s and Forster’s novels as the primary texts. Then I read several reference books and the Internet sources that are relevant to the topic to support my analysis for additional information. Finally, I draw some conclusions of what is discussed.

ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

After analyzing the conflicts of the two novels of Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain_andForster’s Maurice_{, I would like to draw a conclusion. The social} and inner conflicts in the two novels are related to the issue of homosexuality in a heteronormative society. The social conflicts happen between people having two opposing ideas, which are heteronormativity and homosexuality. The first is presented by the society or the representative of the society, or it can be people who are merely under the influence of heteronormativity. The second is only presented by the homosexuals. In addition to the social conflicts, the inner conflicts happen to the homosexuals in both novels. The inner conflicts are all about their sexual orientation.

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society kills one of the homosexuals. The second one happens between Ennis del Mar and Jack’s father. This is about Jack’s will to be buried in Brokeback

Mountain after his death. This social conflict also shows implicitly the issue of the acceptance of homosexuality in the heteronormative society. The third social conflict happens between Ennis and Alma Beers. This is about Ennis being a homosexual. The last social conflict happens between Jack and Ennis and is about their living together. In addition to the social conflicts, there are also inner conflicts which happen to the homosexuals. They are Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar. Both of them experience the same inner conflicts twice about their sexual orientation. This is because they believe in heteronormativity, but this is totally different than their homosexual experiences.

In Forster’s Maurice_{, I found five social conflicts and three inner conflicts.} The first social conflict is between Maurice Hall and Clive Durham. This is about their homosexuality. The second one is also between Maurice and Clive, showing they have different ideas about the nature of homosexuality. The third social conflict happens between Maurice and Dr. Barry. This is also about the existence of homosexuality. The next social conflict happens between Maurice and Mr. Borenius and is about the acceptance of homosexuality. The last social conflict happens between Maurice and Alec Scudder. This is about their living together as the homosexuals. Furthermore, the inner conflicts happen within the homosexuals, who are Maurice Hall and Clive Durham. They are all about their sexual orientation.

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27 other sexual orientation except heterosexuality. Consequently, they disagree with the idea of homosexuality and always discriminate against the homosexuals. In America in the late 20th century, homosexuality was considered immoral (Dancing). In addition, in 1978, Harvey Milk was the first openly gay elected official in the States; however, he was assassinated (Roney). This proves that the heteronormative society could not give any tolerance towards homosexuality. This also happened in England in the early 20th century. According to Levy, by 1900s, gays would have been prosecuted by law (Levy). The society thought that homosexual relationship were punishable; therefore, this shows how homosexuality could not be accepted (Levy).

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Both of the societies in the novels show certain social punishment of homosexuals. In Brokeback Mountain_{, the social punishment is presented clearly} as an actual punishment action against the homosexuals. They are mocked and killed by the society. In Maurice_{, the social punishment is only spoken; the author} does not show that it actually befalls any of the characters.

The homosexuals in Brokeback Mountain_{, who are Jack Twist and Ennis} del Mar, are unable to decide whether to live together or not. This leads them to a sad ending. They meet in several places over twenty years but never plan how to stay together; later, the society finds out and kills one of them. The homosexuals in Maurice_{, who are Maurice Hall and Alec Scudder, decide with confidence to} live together and leave the neighbourhood; therefore, it leads them to a happy ending. This is because they finally have life that is in accordance with what they expect.

After analyzing Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain and Forster’s Maurice_{, I}

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I conclude that the value of heteronormativity, which the society believes in, restricts them to accept the other sexual orientation. This causes the homosexuals to be discriminated against. Moreover, they will be punished mentally and physically if they do not change or convert to the society. In fact, the society can murder the homosexuals. I think this social gap between the society and the homosexuals happens because the society considers homosexuality as sexual immorality and as an orientation that harms their comfort zone, yet the homosexuals think that the society does not understand homosexuality if they simply discriminate against them. Nevertheless, homosexuality is something different which needs a process to find acceptance by the society, as can be concluded from the different settings in the novels.

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BIBLIOGRAHPHY

Primary Texts

Forster, Edward Morgan. Maurice. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1971.

Print.

Proulx, Annie. Brokeback Mountain. New York: Scribner, 1997. Print.

References

Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to Writing About Literature. London: Batsford

Academic & Educational. 1986. Print.

Bradbury, Malcolm, ed. ForsterA Collection of Critical Essays. U.S.A.:

Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1966. Print.

Dancing, Ted. “Homosexuals as Second Class Citizens in 20th Century America

and Today.”associatedcontent, 2006. Web. 5 May 2011.

Gray, Emily. “What is heteronormativity?”. GEAGender and Education

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“The Half-Skinned Steer: Annie Proulx Biography.” Enotes, 2010. Web. 22 Apr.

2010.

Levy, Michael. “Gay Right Movements.” History, 2009. Web. 5 May. 2011.

Merriman, C. D.. ”E. M. Forster.” The Literature Network, 2007. Web. 22 Apr.

2010.

Roney, Sharon. “Gay Rights Movement In America.” EduBook, 2009. Web. 6

May. 2011.

Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. United States of America:

McGraw-Hill, 1972. 91-92. Print.

William, Steve. ”Close Range by Annie Proulx Reviewed.” suite101, 2009. Web.