Dicussion of Social and Inner Conflicts in Sue Miller's 'While I Was Gone'.

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ABSTRACT

Skripsi ini ditulis untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat kelulusan program sarjana di Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Kristen Maranatha. Saya menganalisis konflik sosial dan konflik kejiwaan sang protagonis dalam novel While I Was Gone. Novel ini ditulis oleh Sue Miller, seorang novelis Amerika, yang menceritakan kehidupan seorang wanita dengan banyak konflik sosial dalam rumah tangganya dan konflik kejiwaan dalam dirinya sendiri.

Konflik sosial dan konflik kejiwaan tersebut dialami oleh Jo, seorang wanita dewasa yang mendapat sukses dalam karirnya sebagai dokter hewan dan mempunyai keluarga yang mengagumkan serta kehidupan yang bahagia. Akan tetapi, kadang-kadang dia merasa tidak puas dengan kehidupannya yang sekarang dan mencoba untuk mencari hal lain yang bisa membuatnya lebih bahagia. Saya menyimpulkan bahwa konflik ini bisa teratasi jika dia sadar bahwa hidup ini memang tidak selalu memuaskan. Jo akan merasa bahagia bila dia mensyukuri apa yang telah dimilikinya dan akan lebih bijaksana bila ia memikirkan dulu apa yang akan dilakukannya.

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APPENDICES

Synopsis of While I Was Gone

In the summer of 1968, Josephine Norris Becker or Jo Becker makes her decision to leave her house and gets married to a young man, named Ted Morris. Unfortunately, her parents get angry as they do not approve of the marriage. In fact, they want Jo to finish her college education first. They feel Jo does not appreciate them as her parents, so they do not want to contact Jo again.

The marriage turns out to be a failure and they get divorced. After that, Jo comes back home because her parents have already forgiven her. She regrets what she has done to her parents and decides to continue her studies to the Cambridge University. Because she is ashamed of her past life and willing to begin a new life, she changes her name from Josephine into Felicia. At Cambridge, she has a roommate named Dana, who is close to her. In addition, she also has a friend who attracts her, whose name is Eli. One day Dana is found lying dead in her room and nobody knows who has killed her. Although the police have interrogated Dana’s friends, they cannot accuse any of them as Dana’s killer.

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her daughters, especially when she tries to give some advices to her second daughter, Cass. This becomes a reason for Cass to hate her mother. Thirty years later, suddenly she meets Eli again. Eli is now the husband of Sadie’s teacher. Jo thinks he is the right person to fill her emptiness. They occasionally meet each other and finally think to have an affair. Unpredictably, Eli makes a confession which surprises Jo. He admits that he is the person who has killed Dana. He begs Jo not to tell the police. But, as a good citizen, she reports his confession to the police. Unfortunately, the police do not believe her, so they do not arrest Eli. After that, Jo and Eli do not make any contact and they pretend not to know each other. Her report to the police also causes problem between her and her daughter, Sadie. In the end, Jo returns to her husband, and Daniel forgives her betrayal. They try to rebuild their life.

Biography of Sue Miller

Sue Miller was born in Chicago in 1943. She is the second of four children in an academic and ecclesiastical family. She went to a college at Harvard, and at twenty she got married, shortly after she graduated. She had held a series of odd jobs until her son, Ben, was born in 1968. She separated from her first husband in 1971, and for thirteen years had been a single parent in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There she worked in a day care, learned to play the piano, and wrote stories with increasing focus.

Miller’s first story was published in 1982. Since then, she has taught in various writing programs in Boston area. During 1983-1984, Sue Miller had won a

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Bunting Fellowship and Radcliff, which led her to publish her first book The Good Mother in 1986, which was quickly followed by a collection of short

stories. In the 90’s she published Family Picture, For Love, The Distinguished Guest, and While I Was Gone. In 1985 Miller married Douglas

Bauer, a writer, but later they got divorced. After living in Boston for 12 years, Sue Miller returned to Cambridge, which has been referred to as the land of many bookstores. Up to the present time, she still lives there.

Adapted from Book Browse (n. d.) A Profile of Sue Miller: Sue Miller’s biography plus multiple book reviews and one or more book excepts by

Miller. Retrieved on March 29, 2007 from

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Novel is a form of literature that is widely used by a writer to

express his or her feelings and thoughts. I have decided to discuss novel as

I find novel is the most interesting among the literary genres. According to

Harry Shaw in his Dictionary of Literary Terms (1905: 257), a novel is

“…a lengthy fictitious prose narrative portraying characters and presenting

an organized character, action, plot, setting, and theme.” Sue Miller’s

While I Was Gone vividly portrays the character of the protagonist, Jo

Becker.

In a novel, there are more detailed descriptions of the events and

characters than in a play or poem; therefore, readers can understand the story

better. I also find that a novel is easier and more enjoyable to read. Those are

the reasons why I decide to discuss a novel.

Sue Miller is an impeccable American writer who delivers the

portraits of everyday life in her novels. One of them, While I Was Gone,

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protagonist, Jo Becker.

In my opinion, this novel is interesting because the story can

happen in real life and it shows how hard an adult woman tries to solve her

complicated conflicts in her family, career, and sometimes in her

relationship with other people.

In the analysis, I would like to reveal the social and inner conflicts

in Sue Miller’s While I Was Gone because those two conflicts are the most

prominent aspects in this novel to show the complexity of men’s life and

how they face and solve their problems. Shaw (1972: 91) defines social

conflict as “a struggle between man and man” and the inner or

psychological conflict as “a struggle between desires within a person.”

In this novel, I use the method of formalism. My analysis will show

how Jo Becker, the protagonist, tries to solve her conflicts, while she is

actually doubtful and confused about her future, family, and her relationship

with her husband, Daniel. She also has problems with her ex-boyfriend, Eli,

and some other people around her.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Based on the reasons above, I formulate the statement of the problem as

follows:

1. What are the social conflicts and inner conflicts in Sue Miller’s While I

Was Gone?

2. What has caused the conflicts?

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1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

After the statement of the problem is formulated, I determine the purpose of

the study as follows:

1. to show the social and inner conflicts in Sue Miller’s While I Was Gone;

2. to show the causes of the conflicts;

3. to show how the conflicts are solved.

1.4 METHOD OF RESEARCH

In analysing the thesis, I apply the library research. First, I read

Sue Miller’s While I Was Gone as the data source of my analysis. Then, I

read several references about the novel and the biography of the author,

and explore some Internet sites to get some relevant information to support

my thesis. Finally, I analyze the conflicts, which are social and inner

conflicts, and conclude my analysis.

1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

I divide the thesis into three chapters, which are preceded by the

Preface, the Table of Contents, and the Abstract. In Chapter One, I present

the Introduction, which contains the Background of the Study, the Method

of Research, and the Organization of the Thesis. It is followed by Chapter

Two, in which I present the analysis of Sue Miller’s While I Was Gone. In

Chapter Three, I make my conclusion. The thesis ends with the

Bibliography and the Appendices, which consist of the biography of Sue

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

Having discussed the social and inner conflicts in Sue Miller’s While I Was Gone, I would like to draw the conclusion of what I have analyzed in Chapter

Two. The protagonist has experienced social and inner conflicts which have to do with her immaturity. This is evident from the author’s description of her ways of thinking and behavior since her young age until her being a mother of three teenagers.

Josephine already has had a conflict with her mother since she is a young girl. She does not obey her mother’s advice to continue her study as she feels her decision is more important than her mother’s advice. She chooses to marry young just because her erotic relationship with Ted Morris. She decides to follow her own happiness while her decision makes her mother angry at her. She never thinks about her mother’s feeling. Predictably, her impulsive decision and the wrong reason for getting married result in her unhappiness. Her attitudes show her shallow thought that makes her fall into her hard life. Soon, Josephine and Ted get divorced and Jo returns to her mother. Although the conflict between Josephine and her mother is not really solved, they are finally reconciled.

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conflict. She has to talk very carefully about herself to her new friends in order to hide her true identity while she wants to be honest. Her lies and selfishness also leads her into a social conflict between her and Dana, her best friend. Fortunately, she decides to tell the truth about herself and this solves both her inner and social conflicts.

Her immaturity is also shown when she impulsively decides to marry Daniel. She marries him because she does not want to live alone and lonely. It seems that she has not learnt from her previous marriage failure, which is caused by her impulsive decision. Having no strong foundation, her second marriage tends to break up. Her unhappiness leads her to an affair with Eli, her ex-boyfriend. She feels bored with Daniel, who is so busy with his job that they cannot communicate well. She is willing to complain to her husband about her problems but she does not have the courage to do it. Her immaturity makes her give up easily, so she is unable to solve her problems. Fortunately, the conflict is solved when Jo realizes that she is now a wife and a mother, and finally she returns to Daniel.

Her immaturity also makes her unable to communicate with her daughters, especially Cassie. She is too afraid to have a negative response from her. As a mother she actually could give advice to Cassie, but she does not dare to do it. She depends on her husband to solve her problems. Fortunately, Daniel can persuade Cassie to listen to her mother. However, although Cassie has talked to Josephine, it seems that the conflict is not completely solved.

Previously, during her affair with Eli, she gets her inner conflict concerning Eli’s confession that he has been the murderer of Dana. Her inability to solve her problems and her impulsive decision makes her afraid to tell the

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police, because her affair will be revealed. To get free from her inner conflict, she decides to tell the secret to the police. Meanwhile, her inability to talk to her daughters leads her into a social conflict with Sadie, the eldest one. She is afraid to talk about what is going on. This makes Sadie hate her. Although Josephine tries to apologize by writing a letter to Sadie, the conflict is not really solved. In my opinion, Josephine is not the only one to be blamed for all her mistakes. She gets bored with her life and tries to run away from it. However, her action brings her great problems and she becomes depressed. Because of her past failure, she is afraid to communicate with others. That what makes her become an introvert person. She has to improve her personality to have a happy life. Only with the help of people who love her, can she finally overcome her problems and solve her conflicts.

From the analysis above, it is evident that Josephine is immature although she has become a mother. All her conflicts, both inner and social ones, happen because of her immaturity. As a result, when trying to get a happy life, she often chooses the wrong decisions, which cause her to have both inner and social conflicts. Josephine would be happier if she was able to feel grateful for what she has had and she would be wise if she carefully thought before deciding anything important in her life.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References

Cuddon, J. A., Dictionary of Literary Terms. London: Penguin Books, 1991 Kenney, William. How to Analyze Fiction. New York: Simon&Schuster Inc.

1996

Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: Megraw-Hill Book Company, 1972

Internet Source

Book Browse. A Profile of Sue Miller: Sue Miller’s biography plus multiple book reviews and one or more book excepts by Miller. (n. d.) Retrieved March 29, 2007 from

<http://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm?author_number=279>

Data Source

Miller, Sue. While I Was Gone. New York: Ballantine Books Inc: 2000