HARRY SUCIANTO. The Moral Values Revealed through Tom Rath’s in Solving The Problems in Sloan Wilson’s The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2014.
This thesis discusses Sloan Wilson’s novel entitled The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit. This novel tells the story of Tom Rath as the major character, a man who lives in suburban, has a wife and three kids. He also a veteran of World War II. After the war ends, he is back to his normal life as a husband that has a
responsibility to get money for his family’s life. On that process, he has several
problems that he has to deal with. With big efforts and patience, finally he can solve the problems.
In this thesis, there are three main questions to answer. They are (1) What are the problems faced by Tom Rath in the novel? (2) How does Tom Rath solve the problems in the novel? (3) What moral values are revealed by Tom Rath’s way in solving the problems?
The approach used for analyzing this literary work is moral-philosophical approach. The method of this study is library research. The primary source is the novel entitled The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson as an author. The secondary data are some critics and some books of theories.
The first result is Tom Rath faces financial problems, an affair with Maria
and war’s bad memories, and also too obsessed by money and having less time for
his family. The second result for solving the financial problem is Tom finds another job that can give him a bigger salary. And for solving the problem about
Tom Rath’s affair and his war’s bad memories is he tells his wife the truth that he
HARRY SUCIANTO. The Moral Values Revealed through Tom Rath’s in Solving The Problems in Sloan Wilson’s The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit Yogyakarta: Program
Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2014.
Skripsi ini mendiskusikan mengenai sebuah novel dari Sloan Wilson yang berjudul The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit. Novel ini menceritakan tentang kisah Tom Rath sebagai karakter utama, seorang pria yang tinggal di pinggiran kota, mempunyai seorang istri dan tiga orang anak. Dia juga merupakan seorang veteran perang dunia II. Setelah perang berakhir, dia kembali ke kehidupan normalnya yaitu sebagai suami yang mempunyai tanggung jawab untuk mencukupi kebutuhan hidup keluarganya. Dalam prosesnya, dia menghadapi beberapa masalah. Dengan usaha yang keras dan rasa sabar, pada akhirnya dia dapat mengatasi maslah tersebut.
Dalam skripsi ini, ada tiga pertanyaan utama yang harus dijawab. (1) Problem apa yang dihadapi oleh Tom Rath dalam novel? (2) Bagaimana cara Tom Rath menyelesaikan permasalahan di dalam novel? (3) Nilai moral apa yang terungkap di dalam cara Tom Rath menyelesaikan masalah tersebut?
Pendekatan yang dgunakan untuk menganalisis karya sastra ini adalah pendekatan moral-filosofis. Metode penelitian ini adalah metode kepustakaan. Sumber utamanya adalah novel yang berjudul The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit yang dikarang oleh Sloan Wilson. Data sekundernya adalah beberapa kritik dan beberapa buku teori.
i
WILSON’S THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
HARRY SUCIANTO Student Number: 07 4214 050
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
v
For
viii
The first and foremost, I would like to bestow my deepest gratitude to Allah SWT whom I believe always guides me through the finishing of my thesis.
My greatest appreciation goes to my beloved parents: Ruswati and Imam Darmanto for their unconditional love, prayer, patience, inspiring figure, and support. My thanks go to my sibling: Sally Septiani who never forgets to give her
spirit for me. My thank is also given to my nephew: Abiemanyu Fadhil Rahman
who always makes me happy.
I am heartily thankful to my advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum., whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final step enabled me to develop an understanding of the subject. Then my thankfulness
goes to my co-advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd, M.Hum. for her correction and suggestion. My thankfulness also goes for all the lecturers, secretariat staffs of
English Letter Department, and librarians of Sanata Dharma Library.
My thanks also go to my best-ever friends: Martinus Bangkit Riandito,
Rohmannursyawal S who always give their best wishes for me. Last but not least,
I would like to thank to the super lecturers, the kind librarians and all my friends in
English Literature department. I am proud to know them all who are always in my heart.
ix
LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... vi
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... vii
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ... 6
A. Review of Related Studies ... 6
B. Review of Related Theories ... 10
1. Theory of Character and Characterization ... 10
2. Theory of Moral Values ... 12
3. The Relation between Literature and Moral ... 17
C. Theoretical Framework ... 19
B. The Way Tom Rath Solves The Problems ... 29
C. The Moral Values ... 34
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 38
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 41
x
HARRY SUCIANTO. The Moral Values Revealed through Tom Rath’s in Solving The Problems in Sloan Wilson’s The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2014.
This thesis discusses Sloan Wilson’s novel entitled The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit. This novel tells the story of Tom Rath as the major character, a man who lives in suburban, has a wife and three kids. He also a veteran of World War II. After the war ends, he is back to his normal life as a husband that has a responsibility to get money for his family’s life. On that process, he has several problems that he has to deal with. With big efforts and patience, finally he can solve the problems.
In this thesis, there are three main questions to answer. They are (1) What are the problems faced by Tom Rath in the novel? (2) How does Tom Rath solve the problems in the novel? (3) What moral values are revealed by Tom Rath’s way in solving the problems?
The approach used for analyzing this literary work is moral-philosophical approach. The method of this study is library research. The primary source is the novel entitled The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson as an author. The secondary data are some critics and some books of theories.
xi
HARRY SUCIANTO. The Moral Values Revealed through Tom Rath’s in Solving The Problems in Sloan Wilson’s The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2014.
Skripsi ini mendiskusikan mengenai sebuah novel dari Sloan Wilson yang berjudul The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit. Novel ini menceritakan tentang kisah Tom Rath sebagai karakter utama, seorang pria yang tinggal di pinggiran kota, mempunyai seorang istri dan tiga orang anak. Dia juga merupakan seorang veteran perang dunia II. Setelah perang berakhir, dia kembali ke kehidupan normalnya yaitu sebagai suami yang mempunyai tanggung jawab untuk mencukupi kebutuhan hidup keluarganya. Dalam prosesnya, dia menghadapi beberapa masalah. Dengan usaha yang keras dan rasa sabar, pada akhirnya dia dapat mengatasi maslah tersebut.
Dalam skripsi ini, ada tiga pertanyaan utama yang harus dijawab. (1) Problem apa yang dihadapi oleh Tom Rath dalam novel? (2) Bagaimana cara Tom Rath menyelesaikan permasalahan di dalam novel? (3) Nilai moral apa yang terungkap di dalam cara Tom Rath menyelesaikan masalah tersebut?
Pendekatan yang dgunakan untuk menganalisis karya sastra ini adalah pendekatan moral-filosofis. Metode penelitian ini adalah metode kepustakaan. Sumber utamanya adalah novel yang berjudul The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit yang dikarang oleh Sloan Wilson. Data sekundernya adalah beberapa kritik dan bebrapa buku teori.
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of Study
Literary work such as novel is a very interesting object to study. There are so many ideas from novel that can be lifted as the topic to study further. The ideas can be taken from many fields such as the characters, the plot, the author of the story, etc. Literature is the book of life. Therefore it is also the reflection of the author’s life. In literature, an author writes about his or her own experience about time, place, people, etc. By reading literature we will get a lot of benefits from it. Reading literature is not only giving us pleasure but also educating and teaching us. Through literature, we are capable in understanding the nature of men with his problem and learning the values hidden in it. Literary work gives us the knowledge of human affairs; the truth about life and the understanding of man as human being. Literary work is an expression of author’s point of view on some life issues. This is supported by Little’s opinion in literature, Literature is also a chief art of mankind because it can effectively express one’s idea to others (Little, 1981:1)
The writer is interested to discuss Sloan Wilson’s The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. It is a 1955 novel that captured the mood of the post-World War II
suburban families dealing with the conformity and the sacrifice of family life seemingly necessary for the achievement of upward mobility in business and social position, and also this novel filmed in 1956. This novel reflects the issues in the American society that is values in postwar years.
In the postwar years during The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit was written, the American economy was chaos that was caused by the increase in the birth rate and inflation. Under those conditions, the writer believes that there existed some values, which are held by Americans, they are hard work, competitions, and materialism. The writer also believes that those values are reflected on Sloan Wilson’s The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit, especially on the main character of this novel who is Tom Rath.
By knowing the fact, which becomes the most interesting reason of choosing this subject, the writer tries to find out and to describe the main character’s characteristics. The writer also wants to find out how moral values reflected in the main character of the novel that that reflected on the characteristics of the main character.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the previous background, the writer finds some questions that are interesting to analyze further. These questions are formulated into three problem formulations which will be discussed in this undergraduate thesis.
1. What are the problems faced by Tom Rath in the novel? 2. How does Tom Rath solve the problems in the novel?
3. What are the moral values that Tom Rath reveals in the novel?
C. Objective of The Study
As the problem has been formulated before, there are three objectives to be achieved. The first is to find out and describe the problems that faced by Tom Rath in the novel. Second is try to explain how Tom Rath solves the problems that he faces in the novel to figure out the moral values revealed in Tom Rath as the main characters in The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit. Three is to reveal the moral values from the way Tom Rath solve the problems.
D. Definition of Terms
1. Problem
According to Merriam Webster dictionary, problem is something that is difficult to deal with, or something that is a source of trouble or worry. Another dictionary stated that definition of problem is something that has to be solved or an unpleasant or undesirable condition that needs to be corrected. Problem and values change over time, sometimes a good solution once doesn’t work anymore. There are several relevant factors that differentiate people’s problem; technical, social, and economy.
2. Moral Value
Garnett says the term moral is based taken as an exact synonym of “ethical” (1952: 14). However, he emphasizes the differences between moral and ethical. The only distinction is that one refers to theory and the other to practice. Ethics is defined as “the theory of obligations and duty”, and morality as “the practice of obligation of duty”, or more specifically, “conduct in accord with existing obligations”.
6 CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
In this chapter, there are three sub chapters; those are review of related studies, theoretical review, and theoretical framework. In the review of related studies the writer uses the similar topic as a review of related studies. Whereas in throretical review, the writer would like to write some theories related to the topic of the study. In this case, the writer tries to specify only on some theories that will be used to answer the problems mentioned in the problem formulation on the previous chapter. Then, in theoretical framework, the writer tries to explain the contribution of the reviews and theories mentioned before in solving the problem of the study.
A. Review on Related Studies
In this part the writer chose a review from Erick Homberger, this review published in newspaper The Guardian on Saturday, 31 May, 2003. He is an author from America. He states that much of the novel focuses on Tom’s experienced during World War II, and especially his extended stay in Italy while waiting to go to the Pacific war. (http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/childs1)
Erick Homberger also stated that money is constatntly on Tom’s mind. “Money, I need money,” Rath keeps reminding himself. Betsy is also unhappy with being unhappy in suburbia. (http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/childs1/Guide1)
In the writer’s opininon, the writer agrees with his statement. One of the biggest problem from Tom is about money. He works very hard in order to get a lot of money. Tom also gets a pressure from his wife that she wants a good house for his family.
The rest of Homberger’s review tells about the author’s life’ Sloan Wilson. He stated that after the success of this novel has a bad impacts. Wealth and celebrity status brings a destructive impacts. Wilson becomes alcohol addicts. This novel also have a sequel, in this sequel Tom and Betsy is divorce, but their divorce is a happy one.
The writer also use similar topic as review of related studies.
1. The moral Values Reflected in Doc’s Characteristics in John Steinbeck’s
Cannery Row By Naomi Elizabeth (2004)
helping his friends. The last characteristic of Doc is hardworker, he does his job totally. While the moral values which can be concluded in this thesis consists of two parts. They are friendship and love. The moral values from friendship are caring, loyalty, sharing, and patience. While the moral values from love are respect, forgiving, and responsibility. So, the writer can draw conclusion that friendship and love can maintain us to live happily.
2. The Moral Values as Seen in Harry Morgan’s Characteristics in To Have and
Have Not By Ernest Hemingway By Agus Tito (2001)
gives affection in friendship. The last moral value is we should loyal and respect our wives. Harry Morgan never makes his wife sad or feel down. His wife is the greatest gift from God
3. The Moral Values as Reflected By Gump’s Character in Winston Groom’s
Forrest Gump By Claudia Melieana Megawantie (1999)
The result of the analysis of this thesis shows the characterization of Forrest
4. Moral Values of the Daughter of Compassion Revealed through the
Character Development of Sr. Joan as Seen in Veronica Black’s a Vow of
Fidelity By Yovita Un Bria (2005)
This novel tells about the story of Sr. Joan as a nun. First, Yovita wants to explain about the characteristics of Sr. Joan. In this thesis, the characteristics of Sr. Joan divided into two parts. First is her characterization before becoming a nun and as a nun. For the first part, her characterization before becoming nun are friendly, artistic, selfish, loveable, diligent, and appreciative. After becoming a nun, her characterization changes. Her characterization becomes pure, poor, obedient, confident, open, honest, humble, grateful, helpful, faithful, trustworthy, smart, truthful, and brave. After explains about the characteristics, in this thesis Bria explains about the character development. In this novel, the character does not change in sudden way. Sr. Joan’s character development changes step by step, through the process of her life. After becoming a nun, Sr. Joan her whole habit. She roots her life based on the three basic vows which she has promised. She has to leave her love life and sex life. her efforts to live a chaste life is done by following Jesus Christwho frees her heart for loving God and people. And now it is time for explains the moral values that can be drawn from Sr. Joan’s character development. They are vow of chastity, vow of poverty, vow of obedience, and compassion for the needy.
way the main character solves the problems. In this thesis the writer does not explains the character and characterization in details, just the surface.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Since the writer wants to analyze the problems faced by Tom Rath to reveal the moral value inside, it is important to present theories of character and characterization.
Character is an important element in the story. In general, character is used in two ways (Abrams, 1958:23). The first way is the character designates the individual who appears in the story. Second, the character refers to the mixture of interest, desires, emotions, and moral principles that make up each of this individual and character also gives a certain situation or circumstances in the story because he or she shows his or her emotion on it. Abrams also states that in a story character either may remain stable or undergo his or her roles in outlook and disposition through a gradual development (1958: 23)
personalities, or outlooks from the beginning until the end of the story. The changes could be for better or for worse, maybe a large or a small one, but it is something important and basic, and more than a minor change in opinion (1986: 83)
Character and characterization are related and they cannot be separated each other. In real life, human sense of character naturally varies with their power of perception and understanding. C. Hugh Holman and William Horman states the characterization is the creation of the imaginary person or character. Therefore, characters exist for the readers as lifelike (1986: 81). In his book, Richard Gill stated that characterization is the way in which character is created (1995: 127). According to Oscar Braket, characterization can be found in four levels. The first level of characterization is physical and it concerned only with such basic facts such as sex, age, size, and colour. The second level is social. It includes a character’s economic status, profession or trade, religion, family relationship – all those factors that place him or her in the environment. The third level is psychological. It reveals the character’s habitual response, attitude, desire, motivations, like and dislikes the inner working of mine, both emotional and intellectual, with precedes action. The forth level is moral. More nearly than other kinds, moral decision differentiates characters because the choices they make when facing moral crisis show whether they are selfish hypocritical, or person of integrity (1974: 39-40)
Characterization therefore is central to the factional experience, and the principle objective of the creation of characters in novels is to enable us to understand and to experience people. Characterization also appears to loose sight of fact. (Henkle, 1977: 86-87).
Murphy in Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English Poetry and The English Novel for Overseas Student also has classification that differ the
representation of the character. There are nine ways in which the author presents the character. Those are:
1. Personal Description
The author can describe a person’s appearance and clothes (1972: 161). This characterization deals with physical appearance such as face, body, the facial expressions or the outfits she or he wears. It is important because each character has speifi appearance in the novel or play.
2. Speech
A person’s character is known through her style in speaking or the way she talks to other people or the way she gives an opinion. The author an give insight to the character of one of the person in the story through what the person says (1972: 164). Here the author gives the reader some clues in analyzing the character through the character’s conversation or opinion.
3. Conversation as seen by another.
also the sense of strangeness and mystery. 4. Reaction
It is the way to understand a person’s character by seeing at how the person in the reacts to various situations and events in his life. It gives some views to the reader to watch the character closely. The author can also give us a clue to a person’s character by letting us to know how that person reacts to various situations and events.
5. Direct Comments
The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly (1972: 170). This method gives direct explanation of the character briefly and clearly.
6. Thought
It is the way to know a person’s character through what a character is thinking about (1972: 171). The author guides reader to know what the person’s mind is and what the person’s feeling is. And sometimes he can tell about the mind of different character in the novel.
7. Conversation of others, the conversation of other people can be the way of the author to tell the reader on the person's character by showing the dialogue among other characters and other utterance on that person.
8. The past life, the author uses to tell the character's past life, by commenting out directly, describing the person's mind, person's dialogue, and the medium among another person.
attitudes, and talks with the other people (1972: 161-173)
2. Theory of Moral Values
Human being lives in the society, in that society we live together with the people around us. In every society there are always norms and values. They are made to control human’s attitude. There are so many values in the society. One of the values which will be mentioned in this part has connection with this analysis is moral values. This value is used to make judgment on the goodness of moral conscience in analyzing how Tom Rath faced the problems.
According to Longman Dictionary, moral first concerning or based on principles of right and wrong behavior and the difference between good and evil (1992: 862).
Chamber (1973: 606) states that moral is the principles of good and evil, or right and wrong in human’s life. It means that if we do good or right things it can be said that our moral is good but if we do evil or wrong things in our life it can be said that our moral is bad. Moral value is a value that differentiates between goodness and badness. Moral is a clue how to act in the society in the right way, moral is to differ what is good and what is not good. We can learn moral from a story or events in this world by knowing which is wrong action and right action based on the principles of good and evil.
wants or desire (1995: 118). It means that someone can be judged to have a good morality conscience if he or she does not have any purpose in helping another people.
Basically, moral is not just simply about to make a difference between what is good and what is bad. Moral has a deeper meaning. Cochrane, Hamm, and Kazepides (1997: 7), in their book The Domain of Moral Education, say that moral thinking is about the fundamental values by which we profess to live. They define the word “value” as the things we seriously believe to be worth pursuing, the ends which we think worth realizing and the action which we think worth doing or which we think important to refrain from doing. They also said that the basic from which moral thinking starts is that human actions are never done in vacuum but in context which directly or indirectly involves other persons. It means that what human act in their life affect either him or her and other persons.
A person can be judged to have a good morality conscience if he does not have any purpose in helping others. Rachel said that
The rule of goodness in moral is not that you ought to help people if you care of them or if you have some other purpose that helping them might serve. Instead, the rule is that you should be helpful to people regardless of your particular wants and desires. (1995: 118-119)
From the explanation above, it can be concluded that morality judgment must be based on the reason of action. There must be a reason why someone should or should not be done. The reason behind his or her moral action must be good since it will simply his or her own personal desires.
The great German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, believed that morality can be summed up in one ultimate principle, from which all our duties and obligations are derived. Kant believed that morality requires us to treat persons “always as an end and never as a means only” (1995: 128)
Immanuel Kant in his book Critique of Practical Reason, which was edited and translated by Lewis W. Beck, states two categories of Moral autonomy. First is heteronomy value. It is understood as an attitude when people fulfill his duty and it is not caused by his consciousness. It is accepted because they are oppressed, afraid of sin, or afraid of God’s rule (1993: 129). In this case, they do not accept the rule as their own, because they are not conscious to accept it. Heteronomy itself may come from religion, society, or government that gives rules to the members.
According to Kant, what is assumed as moral attitude sometimes has negative value because of its heteronomy of value. It means that sometimes people follow the rule is just for their own sake. They do not exactly understand the reason behind their action of following the rules. In the sense of Kant’s idea of morality, one should be conscious of his or her own action (Beck, 1993:132).
In conclusion, moral autonomy teaches us how to act based on our consciousness and freedom. Human has freedom to act what they want to do but they have to be conscious on what they to do.
3. The Relation between Literature and Moral
The study of literature comes from the creation of human feeling and sense. It is always connected with human’s daily life such as sadness, happiness, joy, friendship, love, anger, jealousness, hate, lost, freedom, loyalty, honestly, traits, etc.
Moody states that literary works always offer moral messages that connect with human’s noble behavior, struggle for the right and the dignity of human being. Those human noble behaviors can be displayed through characterization of attitudes and the behavior of the characters in the novel. Sometimes, the character will be found to fall into categories of good and bad, or sympathetic and unsympathetic, more often they will seem possess various degrees of goodness and badness for most human beings have at least some redeeming features, just no one is perfect (1971: 48).
always a connection between the author and his work with the reality of life in the real society such as moral value.
The author will try to give massage that can be about the moral values toward the readers by his or her literary works such as novel, plays, poem, etc. from the literary works, the reader will see a lot of characters’ behavior in various events and the readers will understand about the good behavior and the bad behavior. Therefore, the readers will catch the idea of moral values from literary works and be able to apply the moral values in their life as social creature.
C. Theoretical Framework
This thesis is entitled “The Moral Values Revealed through Tom Rath’s Way in Solving The Problems in Sloan Wilson’s The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit”. In this study the writer needs some theories to do analysis that the writer has explained before, such as theory of character and characterization, theory of moral values, and the relation between literature and moral. All of theories are used to answer three problem formulations that the writer has explained before.
20 METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the methodology in this study. There are three parts
namely the object of the study, the approach of the study, and the method of
the study. In the first sub chapter, there is the description of the data of this
study. The second part consists of the explanations about the approach that
will be used in this study.
A. Object of the Study
In this part the writer wants to describe everything which is relevant with
the object of the study. The object of this study is a novel. This novel is
entitled The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit which written by Sloan Wilson. It
was written in 1955 and published by arrangement with Simon and Schuster,
Inc. The novel was made into movie in 1956. The novel is also translated and
published in several languages and countries, but unfortunately I haven’t
found it was translated into Indonesian.
This novel has 288 pages which explore theme and issue happened in
America at that time. Issue that were risen in this novel are the chaos of
American economy after World War II, hard work, and competitions. Every
issue was presented by using dramatically story. We cannot also predict the
story easily, because Sloan Wilson played the plot beautifully.
This novel tells the story of Tom Rath as a major character, a veteran of
economic condition and the problem of Tom’s past memories. Conflicts are
described very beautifully as if the readers feel the same feeling’s as Tom.
B. Approach of the Study
In order to obtain a deep understanding about literary work, the writer
needs a certain approach to analyze it. The approach used to analyze this
literary work is philosophical approach. The writer chose
moral-philosophical approach because the approach will help the writer how moral
value can be revealed from solving a problem. This approach recognizes that
literature can affect readers, whether subtly or directly.
Guerin states that moral-pholosophical approach is approach that insists on
finding and stating what is exposed and taught (1979: 39). The statement here
means that the moral-philosophical approach achieves the moral quality
through what is seen and learnt from a character. The study is commonly
relevant with human life and experience. The writer needs intellectual and
rational ability to find the moral in human life.
C. Method of the Study
Since literary work is the focus in the study, the writer uses library
research to answer the problem formulations. Library research has a meaning
that books are very important for doing a research where the data are
author. This novel was published by Simon and Schuster in 1955.
The secondary data are some critics from theses and some books of
theories. Some of important sources which the writer used in this thesis are A
Glossary of Literary Terms that is written by Abrams, Understanding Unseens
by Murphy, How to analyze Fiction by Kenney, On Moral Fiction by
Gardner, A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature 4th edition by
Guerin.
There were some steps done to do this analysis. The first step was reading
the novel many times to get better understanding. the writer tried to
concentrate on the problems that faced by Tom Rath. By reading the novel
carefully, the writer will find the problems that Tom Rath deal with. The
writer decided to apply moral-pholosophical approach, which considered
appropriate to be applied in this study. The first part of the analysis discussed
about the problems of Tom Rath. The second part, the writer analyzed about
the way he solves the problems. And the third part, the writer analyzed about
some moral values that revealed from Tom Rath’s in solving the problem.
23 ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the analysis is divided into three parts. The first part is
analysis about the problems faced by Tom Rath, the second part is analysis about
the way Tom Rath solves the problems, and the third part is analysis on the moral
value revealed through Tom Rath faced the problems.
A.The Problems Faced by Tom Rath
Tom Rath is the major character of the novel and in this section the writer
wants to discuss about the problems that he faced. Before discuss it, the writer
wants to tell about Tom Rath’s background. First, Tom Rath is 33 years old and
army paratroop ofiicer during world war II. He has wife and three children. The
setting of the novel is in Westport, Connecticut around 1953. So this novel is
made after world war II. He is a veteran world war II who holds some secrets
from his experience. The war kept him from getting on with his life, but it also
gave him some help in living in civilian life. Actually it is not easy for him to
have a life after world war. He has deal with so many memories that haunted him
after world war. Sometimes the memories have bad effects on his life. Besides
that he has to find a good job to earn living with his family. It is a big efforts to
have a good payment at that time, because after world war the economy condition
The first problem in Tom Rath’s life is about financial. Living as a veteran
world war is not quite easy, especially in financial problem. Tom has to find
another job after world war. Everything in his mind is about to find money. With
three kids is not easy if Tom doesn’t find a good job. Any kind of job Tom will
accept it if the salary is good. This is the quotation from the novel The Man In the
Gray Flannel Suit that strengthens the point above.
“Betsy finished her drink and poured herself another. I’ve never thought of you as a public relatios man, she said soberly. Would you like it? I’d like the money, Tom replied.” (p. 6)
In another part, Tom Rath almost sells his grandmother’s house in order to
get cash money. He does not think clearly about the consequences if he sells it.
Maybe he can use the house to make money or something else, although the
house is inheritance from his grandmother. Luckily, the lawyer from his
grandmother tell him not to sell the house too fast, and in the end Tom agree
with his advice. The following quotation is a proof to this explanantion above
“I may need a cash,”Tom said. “I,m broke, and until the house is sold, things are going to be tough. Don’t sell it too fast,” Sims said. “Your grandmother has twenty acres of the bast land in South bay.” (p. 56)
2. An Affair with Maria and War’s Bad Memories
This affair happened in Italy during the war. Maria is a girl from Rome
that Tom met in Italy in 1944. Actually Tom had married before the war with
Betsy. But, With the chaos during the war, anything can be happen. Including
having an affair with a local girl. The following quotation is a proof to to the
Although Tom Rath tries to forget about Maria and the memories about
the war, suddenly a man named Caesar come up to his life. He is Tom’s friend
from Italy during the war, and brings a news about Maria. After meet him, Tom
become more curious about the news from Maria, so when Caesar wants to meet
him, Tom does not mind. He arrange a meeting while having lunch. The proof of
the explanantion above is written in this following quotation
“Caesar, he said, did you ever hear anything about Maria? Caesar looked down at the table. I did, he said. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. How is she? I haven’t heard anything lately, not for more than a year” (p. 146)
After meeting with Caesar Tom finally figures out about Maria. The good
news is that Maria has married, Tom pleased about that. But, the bad news is that
Maria has a son and Tom is his father. Tom does not deny about that shocking
news. He feels regret about the son. This is the quotation from Caesar whe tries to
explain about the story
“You knew she married that guy who had the bakeshop, Louis Lapa? No! Tom said. When? Caesar seemed embarassed. She married him about two months after we left. You knew she had a son? He said. She had a son alittle while later. No, Tom said. She’s got a boy, Caesar said, and things weren’t going well for them. You know Louis had a bad leg. I’m sorry to hear that, Tom said.” (p. 146)
Caesar wants Tom to send a little money to Maria and his son every single
month. But, Tom use a reason that he has a wife and three kids, and Tom can not
send anything to Maria without his wife finding about about it. It shows that
actually Tom is an honest husband. The following quotation is a proof for the
a little money you didn’t know what to do with..You don’t understand, Tom said. I’m practically broke and I never could send Maria much of anything without my wife finding out about it.” (p. 147)
The one thing that Tom always changes the topic of conversation with his
wife Betty is about the war. Tom never answers Betty’s question about the war.
The memories about the war really disturb Tom’s life. He would never have to tell
her anything about the war, not about Maria, not about Mahoney, not about
anything. The following quotation is a proof for the explanantion above
“Do you mind talking about the war? There are all sorts of questions i’m dying to ask. There’s not much to tell, he had said.” (p. 179)
“Did you ever kill anyone? Of course. I mean, did you personally ever kill anyone? You’re never talked to me about it at all. Right now I’m too tired, I want to go to sleep, Tom stirred restlessly.” (p. 130).
Mahoney is Tom’s friend in the army. They fight together against
Japanese soldiers in the Pacific. In the battle Tom throw a grenade to clean out the
the Jap mortar, unfortunately he throw the grenade too quick and Mahoney still
not in the safe position to cover. Tom feels guilty until now because of that
tragedy. That is why he never answer Maria’s question. The following quotation
is a proof for the explanation above
Tom is a hard worker. He will do anything to make money. Because he
has to take care for his family. Any kind of job he will take it i order to get a big
money.
“the sole reason he wanted to work for United Broadcasting was that he thought he might be able to make a lot of money.” (p. 10)
From the quotation above, the writer can say that Tom will not think about
the job description, the important thing is the salary that the company offered to
him. When the company where he works want held a special project that
completely unrelated to the company and Tom offered to join in it, he instantly
said yes, although he doesn’t understand what kind of project that he will do. This
is the quotation from Tom Rath when the company wants him to join with the
special project
“You would be working directly for Mr. Hopkins on an outside project completely unrelated to the company. What kind of program? Tom asked incredulously. We don’t know yet. Perhaps it will be a drive for better mental hospitals, or community guidance clinics. Sounds like a good idea, Tom said, realizing he was expected to register enthusiasm. Are you interested? I certainly am. Tom said heartily. I’ve always been interested in mental health. That sounded a little foolish, but he could think of nothing to rectify it.” (p. 25)
Join with the special project makes Tom a little bit busy. He has to go to
another city everyday with his boss, Mr. Hopkins. This new job makes him
separate from his wife and children. Even at the weekend he must work until
evening. Sometimes it makes him frustrated. He wants like other normal person
who has family that can gathered every weekend or have a holiday with a lovely
his priority
“I’m trying to be honest about this. I want the money. Nobody likes money better than I do. But I’m just not the kind of guy who can work evenings and week ends and all the rest of it forever.” (p. 261)
Another quotation that strengthen that Tom Rath need more quality time
with his family.
“I’ve been through one war. Maybe another one’s coming. If one is, I want to be able to look back and figure I spent the time between wars with my family, the way it should have been spent.” (p. 261)
B.The Way Tom Rath Solves the Problems
In this section, the writer wants to analyze about the way Tom solves the
problems that he deals with. They needed to be analyze further to reveals the
moral values behind them. First problem is about financial, second is about his
affair and war flashback, and the last is about less family time. Each problem has
its own solution.
1. Financial Problem
From the previous section, the writer has explained that Tom has financial
problem. At first, Tom works as an assistant to the director of the Schanenhauser
Foundation, an organization which an elderly millionaire had established to help
finance scientific research and the arts. But, Tom feels that his salary in this
company is not enough to raise his three kids, and Tom and his wife want a new
about the possibility of a job at the United Broadcasting Corporation. So Tom tells
his wife, Betsy about this golden chance.
“I heard about a new job today, Tom said. Public relations. United Broadcasting Corporation. How much does it pay? Probably a good deal more than I’m getting now.”
The main reason Tom wanted to work for United Broadcasting was that
he thought he might be able to make a lot of money there fast. After being tested
by the company, Tom finally accepted to work in the company. He tells his wife,
Betsy about this. The following quotation is taken from from the conversation
between Tom and Betsy.
“By the way, United Broadcasting hired me today. The salary’s nine thousand, and I’m on a temporary basis for six months. I’m supposed to start in a week.That’s wonderful, Betsy said.” (p. 60)
Although there are still a lot of things to do, but at least Tom has an efforts
to solve his financial problem. He manage this problem wisely, without cause
other people hurts or suffer. This good for his journey to the next level, he can
manage it well. Sometimes if one family have financial problem, a husband can
have a big argument with his wife, once in a while they can have a small fight, or
the worst possibility is they get divorced. But not with Tom, with his maturity, he
can think clearly, that this problem must be solved wisely.
2. Affair with Maria and War’s Bad Memories
During the war, when Tom still in the army, he met a girl named Maria in
Rome. From the introduction, their relationship continues. They lived together
his wife never meet during the war, it’s not totally wrong. The following
quotation is taken from Tom and Maria’s conversation
“My name’s Bill Brown, Tom had said, William T.Brown from Kansas City, Iowa. What’s your name? She had shrugged. Maria, she has said. How about a meal, Maria? Let’s get out of here and get a real dinner. You like champagne? Yes.” (p. 81)
When Tom get news that Maria Has a son from him, he’s a little bit shock.
He didn’t expect that Maria would come to his life again, But sometimes her
imagination always haunted his mind. So, sooner or later, he has to tell his wife
about this incident. But Tom waits until he finds the right time. After Tom
finds the right time, he finally tells his wife about his affair with Maria. For
Betty, this is a really bad news. The following quotation is conversation when
Tom Tells Betsy.
“There was an awkward silence which he realized must be painful to her. There was a child, he began. A child? During the war. In Rome. What child? A child of mine. You had a child? Yes.” (p. 273-274)
She is angry and shocked. Tom never talk about this before. Tom also
gave her a letter from Maria that also contain the photograph. Tom can not give
her a good explanation why he did that thing. The following quotation is a
proof from the statement above.
“He gave her a letter. Her face was pale but expressionless as she read it. Then she took the photograph out of the envelope and stared at it. Was this the woman? Yes. Did you love her? I can’t explain it. You can’t possibly have any idea what the war was like.” (p. 274)
Tom has purpose to support the child. He wants to send him a hundreds
everything to his wife. This following quotation is taken from theirs
conversation.
“What do you want me to do? I’m going to support this child, he said. I’ve thought it over, and I’m going to send him a hundred dollars a month. I guess what I want is your blessing.” (p. 274)
At first, it is not easy for Betsy to accept the reality that her husband had
an affair with other woman. After long explanation and patience from Tom,
Betsy finally understand, that this is not fully his foul. Everything could
happened in the war zone. Betsy agrees to support the child, finally Tom get
her blessing. It is quite enough for Tom to send the money without feeling
guilty. The following quotation is taken from Betsy’s spoken.
“Go ahead and send him money, she said. I’m not trying to stop you. You have my blessing.” (p. 277)
Sometimes when Tom feels lonely or feels depressed, his imagination is
about the memories when world war II. That’s why he also avoid when his
wife ask about it. On that night, Tom finally confess everything about his past.
He tells Betsy that he killed his friend, Mahoney. The following quotation is a
proof from the statement above.
“Do you know how a corpse grins? When you see enough of that grin, everything decent in the world seems a joke. The dead always have the last laugh-Mahoney, a man I killed, told me that once we were in Germany together.” (p. 276)
In this section, Tom faced his problem well. He does it honestly. That’s
the key for his success to convince his wife, Betty. If Tom still covers his lie,
he chooses different ways, the way that other man maybe avoid it. He chooses
a good ways with send Maria and her child money every month. It shows that
Tom is a responsible man.
3. Too Obsessed by Money and Having Less Time for His Family
Tom Rath is a hardworker. He works day and night, even in the weekend.
He’s really money oriented. Money is very important to Tom. Recently, he
wants to move his children’s school to the better one, and it’s not cheap to find
a better school, moreover a private school, it’s really expensive. So, to create
his dream to make more money, he joins withUnited Broadcasting Corporation.
Tom has faith that in this company he can make a lot of money, enough for his
family. The following quotation is the evidence when Tom joins the company.
“Why do you want to work for he United Broadcasting Company? Walker asked abruptly. It’s a good company...Tom began hesitantly, and was suddenly impatient at the need for hipocrisy.” (p. 10)
After joining with the United Broadcasting Company, Tom become super
busy. There’s no time for his wife and children. His boss also tell him that he is
kind of hardworker. Moreover Tom joins a special project with his boss, no
more holidays at the week end. Tom realize about this thing, he doesn’t want
his family lost a figure of a father. So he tells his boss that he doesn’t want to
join the special project anymore. He prefer works on a reguler schedule. This
can make Tom has a time with his family. The following quotation is a
ourselves. No more working every week end.” (p. 264)
With this moment, Tom can more focus on his family’s life. no more
distractions from his work’s problem.
C.The Moral Values
As human being, man learns some values from his own experience. Some
of those values teach him how to be a better person.In this section, the writer
wants to answer the last question from the problem formulation. Based on the
previous part, there are some values that can derived from Tom Rath.
1. Being Honest Brings a Good Effects
From the previous section, the writer has explained that Tom is an honest
person. He never worries about failure because of his honesty. As long as he tells
the truth, he believes that something good will happen.As a person who works in
the business world, honesty is one thing that help him to stay humble and stay
away from the troubles. The biggest honesty from Tom in this novel is happened
when she told his wife that he had son from another woman. That was really
amazing. He dares to confess about his mistakes in the past. Tom ready with all
risks that he will get.
as personal assistant business. Tom thinks that it is a great opportunity for him,
it’s a big step for his career. But, if he take the position, he will leave his
responsible at home, he needs to find place to live in Hollywood, it means that he
will loose his quality time with his family. So with all considerations, he refused
the position.He tells his boss the truth.
“I don’t think I’m the kind of guy who should try to be a big executive. I’ll say it frankly: I don’t think I have the willingness to make the sacrifices. I’m trying to be honest about this. I want the money. Nobody likes money better than I do. But I’m just not the kind of guy who can work evenings and week ends and all the rest of it forever”. (p. 261)
From the quotation above Tom speaks honestly to his boss about his
decision. He’s not afraid if his boss doesn’t like with it. Luckily his boss
understands about his decision. He doesn’t fired Tom, and Tom feels glad about
that. So, this is the power of honesty. Any problems you deal with, you have to be
honest.
2. Remembering the Past is not Always Good
As the writer explains in the previous section, Tom is a veteran world war
II. During the war, he has so many memories, bad or good. And now the war is
over, but Tom still can’t forget about the memories inside his head. When he has
pressure on his job, his mind always flashback to the memories. He remembered
when he had no intension killed Mahoney, his friend in combat. Sometimes, his
expectations, because he and Betsy had always expected so much.
“Everything would be perfect for them, they would be healthy, and they would do no wrong. Any deviation from perfection had seemed a blight which ruined the whole. But he and Maria expected nothing, they had started with hopelessness and had been astonished to learn that for a few weeks they could be happy”. (p. 181)
Tom also remembers about the number of enemies that he had killed. He
couldn’t forget the number, seventeen. It’s not a small amount. The following
quotation is a proof to this explanation above
“It was no longer fashionable totalk about the war, and certainly it had never been fashionable to talk about the number of men one had killed. Tom couldn’t forget the number, seventeen, but it didn’t seem real any more, it was just a small, isolatedstatistic that nobody wanted. His mind went blank.” (p. 13)
We can see that it is not good for Tom to remember his past. After flashed
into his past his mind is blank. He can’t focus to his job.
Another story about remembering the past is when Tom wants to go to his
office at the Schanenhauser Foundation he saw a man with leather jacket.
There’s no special about the jacket, but in his mind it says something. But,
Tom tries to put the jacket out of his mind. While he was waiting to cross the
street, suddenly a man besides him coughed painfully, and it’s kind of
distraction for him. Then Tom remembered about the jacket again, he
remembered everything about it. The following quotation is a proof for the
painfully. Then Tom remembered about the leather jacket – remembered everything about it as clearly as though he had never forgotten. It had been back in 1943, not many months before Germany started to disintegrate. Only he hadn’t known than that Germany would fall to pieces—it had seemed as though the war would go on forever. It had been in December, early in december, that he killed the man in the leather jacket, simply because he needed the jacket for himself.” (p. 72)
From the quotation above, the writer can see why Tom remembered about
simple thing, a leather jacket. His purpose is just want to take the jacket for
himself, it was in December, it is on winter season, jacket is needed. Why does
Tom just ask for the jacket? The answer is no. The man in the leather jacket
had been armed, he had been an enemy, the worst is he had been a German. So
killed him is legal. If he didn’t kill him, maybe Tom is killed at that time. The
following quotation is a proof for the explanation above
37 CONCLUSION
The story tells about life of Tom Rath, a World War II veteran living in
Westport with his wife, Betsy and their three children. Betsy’s desire for a better
house and neighborhood are her motives for asking Tom to advance his career.
When tom explains to Betsy that they are comfortable and should be thankful for
what they have, Betsy lashes out and accuses Tom of having no guts. Due to
pressure, Tom decides to pursue a new career. While interviewing for the job,
Tom has a flashback to his time in World War II.
Finally Tom lands the job with the broadcasting network, he finds himself
working for Mr. Hopkins, the president of the network. When Mr. Hopkins asks
Tom to share his opinion on a speech, Tom finds himself in a moral dilemma. He
wrestles with telling Mr. Hopkins the truth that the speech is terrible and risking
his job. In the end, with persuasion from Betsy, Tom decides to tell Mr. Hopkins
the truth about the speech. One day, Tom meets the man that had word from
Maria in Italy that she had given birth to Tom’s child ten years ago and were in
desperate need of support. Ultimately, he decides to send money to Maria and
explain the situation to Betsy. They will support Maria and her child by sending
one hundreds dollars each month.In this chapter, the writer wants to conclude the
result of the analysis as the answers of the problem formulation in the previous
chapter. The writer answers the questions sequentially so that the reader
Tom Rath in the novel? How does Tom Rath solve the problems in the novel?
What are the moral values that Tom Rath reveals in the novel?
The first problem formulation is about the problems faced by Tom Rath in
the novel. The writer finds out three significant problems in the novel. The first
problem is about financial. Tom Rath almost sells his grandmother’s house in
order to get cash money. He does not think clearly about the consequences if he
sells it. Maybe he can use the house to make money or something else, although
the house is inheritance from his grandmother. Luckily, the lawyer from his
grandmother tell him not to sell the house too fast, and in the end Tom agree with
his advice. The second problem is his affair with Maria and the war flashback, and
the third problem is his obsession with money and less family time. Although
Tom Rath tries to forget about Maria and the memories about the war, suddenly a
man named Caesar come up to his life. He is Tom’s friend from Italy during the
war, and brings a news about Maria. After meet him, Tom become more curious
about the news from Maria, so when Caesar wants to meet him, Tom does not
mind. He arrange a meeting while having lunch. The third problem is obsession
with money and less family time. After joining with the United Broadcasting
Company, Tom become super busy. There’s no time for his wife and children. His
boss also tell him that he is kind of hardworker. Moreover Tom joins a special
project with his boss, no more holidays at the week end. Tom realize about this
schedule. This can make Tom has a time with his family.
The second problem formulation is about his way to solve the problems in
the novel. In this section, the writer finds several solutions for each problems. The
first problem is about his financial problem in his family. Tom as a head of the
family has responsibility for his wife and kids. He feels that his recent job can’t
fulfill his daily needs. So he decides to find another job with higher payment.The
second problem is his affair with a girl named Maria and world war flashback. In
this problem Tom tells his wife the truth about his affair, and about there’s a child
from the affair. About the war flashback, finally Tom confess to his wife about the
story that disturbed his mind. He tells Betsy that he killed Mahoney with no
intention. The third problem is about Tom’s obsession with money and less family
time. Actually obsession with money isn’t wrong. His purpose is good. He just
want to make his family happy. To deal with this problem Tom decided to join
with United Broadcast Company. About his less family time, Tom finally reject
an offered from his boss about the special project that makes him can’t meet with
his family regularly.
The third problem formulation is about the moral values revealed from the
novel. The writer figure out two significant moral values from the novel. The first
moral value is being honest brings a good effects. In this novel Tom is described
as an honest person. He’s not rich, but he tries to be honest whrever he is. Tells
his wife about his affair is the biggest epic in this novel. He also tells his boss
They are affraid if honesty can make them suffered. The second moral value is
remembering the past is not always good, or sometimes people called it we have
to move on. Always remembering the past is not good for our mental. This
condition also happens to Tom, he remembered when he had no intension to kill
his friend, sometimes he remembered about Maria, the number of the enemies that
he killed in the battle, or when he killed a German just for the jacket that he
needed. This condition really disturb Tom’s mind. He had family and he had a
job, if he keep remember about his past, his life will be wasted.
So, through this novel, the writer believes that being honest can lead us
into the goodness. Whatever your condition, the writer asks the readers to be
honest to ourself and other people. The last, if you have a bad past or memories,
just forget it, you have to continue your life. That’s why the front mirror in the car
is wider than the rear mirror. If you keep looking the rear mirror, you will crash or
41
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Barnet, Sylvan, Morton Berman and William Burto, Literature for Composition, 2nd edition, Boston:Scott, Foresman, and Co., 1988.
Beaty, Jerome and Paul J Hunter, New World of Literature. New York: W. W. Norton and Company. Inc, 1989
Gardiner, Harold C. Norms for the Novels. New York: The American Press, 1953.
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43
Summary of the Sloan Wilson’s The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit
The story tells about life of Tom Rath, a World War II veteran living in
Westport with his wife, Betsy and their three children. Betsy’s desire for a better
house and neighborhood are her motives for asking Tom to advance his career.
When tom explains to Betsy that they are comfortable and should be thankful for
what they have, Betsy lashes out and accuses Tom of having no guts. Due to
pressure, Tom decides to pursue a new career. While interviewing for the job,
Tom has a flashback to his time in World War II.
Finally Tom lands the job with the broadcasting network, he finds himself
working for Mr. Hopkins, the president of the network. When Mr. Hopkins asks
Tom to share his opinion on a speech, Tom finds himself in a moral dilemma. He
wrestles with telling Mr. Hopkins the truth that the speech is terrible and risking
his job. In the end, with persuasion from Betsy, Tom decides to tell Mr. Hopkins
the truth about the speech. One day, Tom meets the man that had word from
Maria in Italy that she had given birth to Tom’s child ten years ago and were in
desperate need of support. Ultimately, he decides to send money to Maria and
explain the situation to Betsy. They will support Maria and her child by sending
