The Absurdity of Tracy Whitney's life in if tomorrow comes by Sidney Sheldon.

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THE ABSURDIT

Submitted as Partial

English Department

FA

STATE ISLA

ITY OF TRACY WHITNEY’S LIFE INIF TO COMESBY SIDNEY SHELDON

THESIS

tial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Sarj

nt Faculty of Arts and Humanities State Islamic

Sunan Ampel Surabaya

By:

Lidia Ayu Purnamasari

Reg Number : A73213105

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES

AMIC UNIVERSITY SUNAN AMPEL SURA

2017

TOMORROW

arjana Degree of

ic University of

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ABSTRACT

Purnamasari, Lidia Ayu. 2017. The Absurdity of Tracy Whitney’s Life in If Tomorrow Comes by Sidney Sheldon. English Department Faculty of Arts and Humanities. State Islamic University Sunan Ampel Surabaya.

Advisor : Wahju Kusumajanti, M. Hum.

This study attempts to analyze about the life of the main character, Tracy Whitney, in If Tomorrow Comes by Sidney Sheldon based on Albert Camus’

absurdism. Absurdism is defined as the confrontation between human and the world. The condition of Tracy Whitney’s life that is changed from harmonious

life into miserable life becomes the main focus in this study. Tracy has lost everything she had in her previous life that makes her life in absurd situation. This study aims to describe about the characterization of the main character, the

portrayal of the absurdity in the main character’s life, and the consequence from the absurdity in the main character’s life. The researcher is using two theories in analyzing the study, absurdism as the main theory and new criticism as the supporting theory. The results shows that the main character has three characteristics; independent, courageous, and intelligent. The life of the main character that suddenly changes is found as an absurd situation. The feeling of hopelessness and alienated makes the life of the main character becomes absurd. Moreover, in the consequence from the absurd situation the main character chooses to revolt and becomes a thief.

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INTISARI

Purnamasari, Lidia Ayu. 2017. The Absurdity of Tracy Whitney’s Life in If Tomorrow Comes by Sidney Sheldon. Jurusan Sastra Inggris Fakultas Adab dan Humaniora. Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Ampel Surabaya.

Pembimbing : Wahju Kusumajanti, M. Hum.

Penelitian ini menganalisis tentang kehidupan karakter utama yang bernama Tracy Whitney dalam novel yang berjudul If Tomorrow Comes oleh Sidney Sheldon menggunakan teori absurdism milik Albert Camus. Kondisi kehidupan Tracy Whitney yang berubah dari kehidupan harmonis menjadi kehidupan menyedihkan menjadi fokus utama dalam penelitian ini. Tracy kehilangan semua yang ia miliki di kehidupan sebelumnya, yang membuatnya hidupnya berada dalam situasi absurd. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menjabarkan tentang bagaimana karakter Tracy, gambaran tentang kehidupan Tracy yang absurd, dan konsekuensi dari absurditas kehidupan pada kehidupan Tracy. Peneliti menggunakan dua teori untuk menganalisis, yaitu teori absurditas sebagai teori utamanya dan teori kritik baru sebagai teori pendukungnya. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa karakter utama memiliki tiga sifat yang menonjol, yaitu mandiri, berani, dan cerdas. Kehidupan karakter utama yang tiba tiba berubah digambarkan sebagai situasi yang absurd. Adanya perasaan putus asa dan terasingkan membuat kehidupan karakter utama menjadi absurd. Serta, karakter utama memilih menjadi seorang pencuri sebagai konsekuensinya dari absurditas kehidupannya.

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CHAPTER II LITERARY REVIEW...7

2.1. New Criticism...7

2.1.1. Character...8

2.1.2. Characterization...10

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2.2.1. Hopelessness...15

2.2.2. Alienation...15

2.3. Review of Related Literature...18

CHAPTER III ANALYSIS...20

3.1. Tracy Whitney’s Characterization...20

3.1.1. Independent...20

3.1.2. Courageous...25

3.1.3. Intelligence...28

3.2.The Absurdity of Tracy Whitney’s Life...30

3.2.1. Hopelessness...36

3.2.2. Alienation...38

3.3.The Consequence from the Absurdity inTracy Whitney’s Life...41

CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION...45

WORK CITED...47

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Every human being wants to get a freedom in their life. It is the right that

every human had and fight for. They have rights in order to maintain their life,

including the way of thinking, choosing, and making decision. Through freedom,

humans can choose what they want to be or to do in their life because there is no

determination to it. They are free to shape themselves and their lives and create

their own values through their decision in life (Sartre qtd in Maureen 11-12).

Indeed, they have to be responsible for the decision they have made, no matter if

it will make their life better or even worse.

However, not all people can reach the freedom itself. People who are not

getting the freedom in real life, will try to get it by creating another world. They

are making a world where they can express everything, such as; their thought,

their creativity, their opinion, their critique, and so on (Stephenson). Therefore,

they create their world in the form of writing, which is known as literary work.

Literary work is a writing which persistently and provocatively engages with the

aspect of experience, thought, and feeling (Bennet and Royle 35). Literary work

also considers as a mirror reflectinghuman’slife (Simma 03). It is the reflection ofhuman’s life since it istaken from the condition that happen around the author or experienced by the author.

Literary work is divided into three genres, those are; poetry, drama, and

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that creates the sense of harmony in every line (Cuddon 678). Drama refers to a

work which appeared in text or script which intended to be performed in the stage

and played by actors (Cuddon 237) and Prose is a spoken or written discourse

which is not patterned in lines, either in metric verse or free verse and its function

is to describe, to explain, to narrate, or to express the content of the work itself

(Abrams 246-247). There are two kinds of prose, those are; fiction and

non-fiction. Fiction considers as a narrative work which not written based on the

factual events. It is the creation from the imaginative thought of the author. While

non-fiction refers to a work which is written based on fact that happened in a

certain time (Abrams 94).

One of the prose fiction forms is novel. Novel is a writing that is organized

by the action, the narrative of thought, and the dialogue of the characters to the

artful pattern of plot (Abrams 286). The term novel is derived from Italian word

‘novella’ which means ‘tale’ or ‘piece of news’ (Cuddon 560). It is a narrative

writing which includes characters, actions, incidents, and plot (561). Novel can be

defined as an extended narrative that tells the dramatize story of human

experience or individual character. Thus, novel is an artful work which contains

plot, character, setting, theme, and others.

In this study, the researcher is using one of the novel from an author

named Sidney Sheldon. Sheldon was born in Chicago during the Great Depression

on February 11th, 1917. He was known as an author with crime fiction genre. Most of his works is come with woman as the main character. As what was

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he used woman as his main character because he wanted to change the myth of the

“dumb blonde”.He believed that woman is not only pretty in the face but also pretty in the brain. Moreover, he was inspired by the women in his life; his

mother, his old wife–Jorja, and his new wife–Alexandra, who had strong personalities and physically attractive. One of his novels which shows the figure

of a beautiful smart woman isIf Tomorrow Comes.

If Tomorrow Comestells about the freedom of a woman, named Tracy

Whitney, who was getting unfair treatment from people around her. Tracy lived in

a harmonious life before she was trapped by a gang of mafia. She was accused for

thievery and premediated murder, and being prisoned for fifteen years. No one

helped her, even her boyfriend, Charles, was ignoring and leaving her. Feeling

that her life was destroyed, Tracy felt hopeless and alienated by people around

her. Yet, Tracy did not want to give up. She tried to face her downfall by working

as a thief just like what she was accused before.

The condition that happen to Tracy can be categorized as a revolt toward

human’s freedomin showing his existence. Humans as a conscious being are thrown into the world which full of absurdity (Audi qtd in Cendana 15). They

exist without any explanation of why they live and what is their purposes. A

world without purpose, value, or meaning is literary senseless, worthless, and

hopeless. Mostly people, who were in an absurd situation, will choose to kill

themselves because they cannot cope with the absurd condition. However, by

killing or doing suicide to end the absurdity of life does not encounter the absurd

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that there are three consequences from the absurd; revolt, freedom, and passion

(Camus 42). These consequence are the truly freedom of human being from the

absurd situation.

From the background above, the issue that the researcher takes is about the

changing of Tracy Whitney’s life; from harmonic lifeinto miserable life. The researcher will be using absurdism as the main theory, since it is suitable for

evaluating the life of the main character. This study also applies New Criticism as

the supporting theory to describe about the character of Tracy Whitney.

1.2 Statement of Problem

From the background of the study above, the researcher is interested to

analyze these formulated questions:

1. How is the characterization of Tracy Whitney inIf Tomorrow Comes?

2. How is the absurdity portrayed in Tracy Whitney’s life inIf Tomorrow Comes?

3. How is the consequence from the absurdity inTracy Whitney’slife inIf Tomorrow Comes?

1.3 Objective of the Study

Based on the statement of the problem above, the objective of the study

has goals to reveal:

1. the characterization of Tracy Whitney inIf Tomorrow Comes. 2. the absurdity in Tracy Whitney’s life in If Tomorrow Comes. 3. the consequence from the absurdity in TracyWhitney’slife inIf

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1.4 Scope and Limitation

To get a focuses discussion, this study will be limited on the novel written

by Sidney Sheldon entitledIf Tomorrow Comes. It focuses on the characterization and the life of Tracy Whitney as the main character inIf Tomorrow Comes.

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study is expected to give valuable contribution in both theoretical and

practical.Theoretically, this study will enrich the readers’ knowledge in the

literary theory which is related to absurdism. It will also help the readers,

especially those who have interest in literature, to get the description of what

absurdism is and how it applied in the literary work.

Practically, it is hoped that this study can be used as a helpful reference for

other researchers who want to analyze using the same novel or other novel using

absurdism theory. While for common readers, this study is hoped to help them

understand how the absurdity in life is.

1.6 Method of the Study

In this section, the researcher discussed on how the data were collected

and how the analysis will be conducted. This study applies qualitative

methodology and uses library research. The qualitative methodology means that

the analysis will be presented in descriptive way. While the library research

means that this study is using books, journals, articles, and undergraduate theses

which are related to the subject matter that will be analyzed. The main source for

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published in 1985. Also the researcher will be the instrument in analyzing the

data. These are the following steps of the analysis:

1. Reading the novel carefully in order to understand the novel well

2. Selecting and collecting the data related toTracy Whitney’s characterization

and life.

3. Analyzing the collected data by dividing into three sections of analysis, the

first is analyzing the characterization, the second is analyzing the absurdity in

the character’s lifeand the third is analyzing the consequence from the

absurdity in the character’s life.

4. Making conclusion from the result of the analysis

1.7 Definition of Keyterms

There are some definition of keyterms used in this study. These are the

explanation of the keyterms:

Life-changing : An event experienced by a person that change because of some

factors–biology and the passage of time, self-generated, and the circumstance or fate. (Abigail Brenner via

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CHAPTER II

LITERARY REVIEW

This chapter discusses about the theories which are going to be used as the

guidance for analyzing the study. Since the researcher wants to reveal about the

main character’s characterizationand the absurdity of the main character’s lifein the novel, therefore new criticism and absurdism theories are chosen. New

criticism will be used to analyze the characterization, while absurdism will be

used to analyze the absurdity that occursin the main character’s lifeand how the main character encounters it. Futhermore, this chapter also discusses about some

previous studies to support the study completely.

2.1 New Criticism

New Criticism is a kind of movement in literary criticism which developed

in America around 1920s. The name of New Criticism itself was taken from a

book entitledThe New Criticismby John Crowe Ransom which published on

1941 (Selden et al 19). Other prominent writers who influence the development of

new criticism as a theory and practice are I.A. Richard, T.S. Eliot, Cleanth

Brooks, Robert Penn Warren, and many more (Abrams 180). New Criticism

discusses about the relationship between the ideas of text and its form. It examines

what the text says and the way it is said. New Criticism focuses on the text of the

literary work without considering the context outside the text, including the

historical, biographical, and intellectual background (Selden et al 19). It ignores

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political, and social implications (Cuddon 544). New Critics believe that the

author’s intention tells almost nothing about the textof the literary work. They assure that the text of the literary work has more meaning than the author realized.

Thus, the interpretation of text could be discovered through the text and the

language provided by the text itself (Tyson 148).

Seeing that New Criticism concerns only on what was on the text,

therefore reading in an exact and careful way are needed. This is known as close

reading methodology. Close reading is known as the way the readers examine the

text’s meaning carefully through all the evidence provided by the language of the

text itself, such as images, metaphor, point of view, character, setting, and so on

(Tyson 137). Close reading also considers as examining a piece of literary work

by understanding the structure and pattern that shape the work (Gillespie qtd in

Nevada 21). It means that close reading emphasizes on the elements inside the

text or intrinsic elements which readers should pay their attention to–such as

theme, setting, plot, character, and others.

Since the researcher wants to reveal about the description of the main

character in Sidney Sheldon’sIf Tomorrow Comes, then the researcher will

explain more about the character and the characterization.

2.1.1 Character

Character is defined as the life of literature; it is the object of curiosity,

fascination, affection, dislike, admiration, and condemnation (Bennet & Royle

60). Character is a person represented in a dramatic or narrative works who

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emotional qualities that shown through its dialogue and action (Abrams 32-33).

Character is created to help readers distinguish between fiction and non-fiction

works of literature. Character plays an important role in every literary works.

Without the presence of the character, the literary work will be as plain as food

without salt. Character attracts readers to feel what the character is feeling. Like in

romance genre, when the character is falling in love, it will make the readers feel

happy about it or when the character is having some problems, then readers will

also feel the feeling of having problems. Those things happen because the

character was created by the author as real as human.

Character can be defined as a life-like or character that resembles people in

real life when it is meet some requirements; the first is characters should have a

plausible name, they should saying and doing things that seems convincingly like

people say and do in real life. The second is a fictional characters should have a

certain complexity and a number of different traits. The third is the tensions,

contradictions, and multiplicities of the characters should cohere in a single

identity. It means that the traits, problems, and anything about the character

should appear in unity (Bennet & Royle 62).

In the book ofAspects of the Novel, Forster divided the character into two kinds; flat and round character. Flat character is refering to a character which has

only one trait. It means that the character will remain the same from the beginning

until the end of the story. Flat character is often described in a single sentence,

easy to recognize, and mostly remembered by the readers easily. While round

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complex, also it may changes along with the story (67). Round character is in

temperament and motivation and is represented with subtle particularity; such a

character therefore is as difficult to describe with any adequancy as a person in

real life, and like real persons, is capable of suprising us (Abrams 33).

According to Altenbernd and Lewis in their bookA Hanbook for Study The Fiction, character is divided into two types; those are protagonist and antagonist. Protagonist defines as a character who represents ideal norms and

values. Readers are sometimes giving sympathy towards the protagonist character.

Thus, it can be said that protagonist character is the hero in the story. Different

with protagonist, antagonist refers to a character who causes a conflict in the story

(Qtd in Rufqoti 13). Another way to know the types of character is by seeing the

position of the character in the story. If the character is always appear in almost of

the whole story, then, it is known as major character. Whereas, if the character is

only appear in some parts of the story and told less than the major character, then,

it is the minor character (Nurgiyantoro qtd in Rufqoti 13).

2.1.2 Characterization

In order to help readers understand about how the character in the story is

built, the author draws it through the characterization. Characterization is the

method that used by author in creating a fictional character through describing the

character’s actions, speeches, thoughts, physical appearances, and what the other

characters say or think about the character itself (Shaw qtd in Yulia 11).

Characterization also considers as the way the author creates or builds the

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Terms, there are two ways in creating a character in the literary work, those are; showing and telling. Showing means the author shows the readers about both

external and internal side of the characterthrough the character’sspeech, actions, inner thought, feelings, and response to events. Whereas telling means the author

describes and evaluates the motives and dispositional qualities of the character

(33-34).

Another way to characterize the character is by looking at the indirect and

direct presentation of the character itself (Holman 138). Indirect presentation

considers as the way the author describes the character viathe character’s speech

or action.It means that to get the depiction of the character’s characterization, readers should intepret from the way the character’s act, think, or say.Different with indirect presentation, direct presentation is the description about the

character which comes from the author as a story teller in the story or from the

other characters in the story. It means that the informations about the character are

directly shown to the readers.

Moreover, there arefour ways to know the character’s characterization in

the novel; the first is through the speech and thought of the characters, the second

is through what the characters do or act, the third isthrough other characters’

point of view, and the fourth is through the author as the narrator of the story

(Holman 139).

2.2 Absurdism

Absurdism was coined for the first time by Albert Camus, which concept

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philosopical movement which deals with humans condition and their existence

(Cuddon 294). It was originated from a Danish thinker, named Soren Kierkegaard,

which then followed by other existentialists such as Jean Paul Sartre, Albert

Camus, Friedrich Nietzsche, and so on. Existentialism became influential in the

middle of 1900s in which many people are faced with death and destruction. The

World War II which gave rise to widespread feelings of despair led to the idea that

people have to create their own values in the world. Existentialism also insists that

choice have to be made arbitrarily by individuals, who thus create themselves,

because there is no standards to determine their choices

(http://www.spirit-web.org/philosophy). Whereas absurdism, which influenced by the philosophy of

existentialism, was developed after the World War II. It started when the

absurdity was deeply felt by people who lived in the post World War II. They

were starting to questioning about the purpose of their existence. They felt that

their rights as a human being are not respected anymore, which can be seen

through the huge number of innocent people who were tortured, raped, and even

killed by other humans. These make the values of humanity that had already

existed become meaningless. It created a feeling that their lives were purposeless,

meaningless, and senseless, or in other word, absurd (Kostelanetz qtd in

Kurniawan 10).

The word absurd is considering as no purpose, no goal, or no objective. it

refers to the situation which is incomprehensible, uncertain, senseless, and chaotic

(Esslin qtd Kurniawan 08). Absurd also can be said as a condition in which

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and came toward the nothingness or in other word death (Abrams 01). Absurd is

known as the condition when a man desperately demands meaning and clarity of

the world around him, but he finds himself confronting a universe that is irrational

and meaningless (Camus qtd in Raskin 157). It is related to human condition in

which he faces with nothingness, that is,the encounter of human’s need and the

silence of the world (Camus qtd in Davachi 09). As what Camus stated inThe Myth of The Sisyphus and Other Essaysthat;

... man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this

confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world. This must not be forgotten. This must be clung to because the whole consequence of a life can depend on it. (20).

Camus also argues that the absurd arises because the world fails meeting

human’s demand about the meaning of life (Nagel 721).It is when a hope of a man does not go as he expected or hoped. To Camus, man is confronting his

obscurity in the world and since he cannot change it, then he rebels against it.

Hence, it can be assumed that absurdity is the confrontation between man and the

irrational world (qtd in Davachi 09).

Through his work,The Myth of The Sisyphus and Other Essays, Camus

described about the concept of absurdityin Sisyphus’ life. Sisyphus is the figure from greek mythology whom the gods condemned to rolling a rock to the top of

the mountain;“The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of the mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They

thought with some reason that there is no more dreadfull punishment than futile

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condition who is struggling hopelessly to achieve something. The punishment

which given by gods to Sisyphus is a kind of hopeless and futile action. Sisyphus

has to roll a rock to the top of the mountain, even though he knows that the rock

will always go back down. But Sisyphus does not surrender with the punishment

and still do it over and over again. In his action, Sisyphus finds that he is truly free

and the gods cannot control his thoughts. He can scorn the gods’ attempts to

punish him, to be authentic to his inner self and choose to be happy. Sisyphus

does not try to escape his absurd task, but instead resists suicide (Camus qtd in

Yasemin 05). However, the story of Sisyphus gives something to learn. Although

in his life, man is faced with many kinds of problems which make he feels

hopeless, disappointed, stress, even alienated, he must keep living his life and

avoid to do suicide. By avoiding the suicide, it means that he is respecting his own

existence in the world.

According to Camus, the depressing existential problems of a man,

including anguish, suffering, sickness, disease, anxiety, death, and so on, which

conspire to render human existence becomes meaningless. Therefore, living the

absurd means a total lack of hope, a permanent rejection, and a conscious

dissatisfaction (Lewis 13). Camus also writes in his essays;

Before encountering the absurd, the everyday man lives with aims, a concern for the future or for justification (with regard to whom or what is

not the question). He weighs his chances, he counts on “someday”, his

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From the quotation above, it can be seen that many people already think about

their futures–even their families’futures, but the futures that they have already

planned are not going as they want. Hence, they will feel hopeless, disappointed,

frustrated, alienated and other bad feelings.

2.2.1 Hopelessness

Hopelessness is the feeling of despair which happen when there is no hope

in life and find that life is not worth living anymore (www.differencebetween.net).

It is defined as the feeling of a person in which he does not have any confidences

and hopes in his life. As what Camus said in his essay;

If I were tree among trees, a cat among animals, this life would have meaning, or rather this problem would not arise, for I should belong to this world. I should be this world to which I am now opposed by my whole consciousness and my whole insistence upon familiarity. This ridiculous reason is what sets me in opposition to all creation (Camus 34).

It means that hopelessness is considered as the feeling of failure in

obtaining the hopes. The hopeless person will considers himself as a failure

because he cannot overcome the obstacles and difficulties in his life. The feeling

of hopeless occurs when a person thinks that his life is not going as he expected or

wanted.

2.2.2 Alienation

Alienation refers to the act or the result of the act in which someone

becomes strange to something or somebody around him. According to Keniston,

most usage of alienation share the assumption that some relationship or

connection that once existed that is ‘natural’, desirable or good, has been lost (Qtd

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... in a universe suddenly divested of illusions and lights, man feels an alien, a stranger. His exile is without remedy since he is deprived of the memory of a lost home or the hope of a promised land. This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, is properly the feeling of absurdity (Camus 06).

It means that a feeling of alienation happens because man cannot go back to his

old condition in which he still accepted in society. A man is feeling strange with

his surrounding and being estranged by the people around him. The feeling of

being alienated leads to the absurd situation. When a man feels alienated, he will

go and look for another life.

Generally, people who live in absurdity will choose to end up their lives

by killing their own selves. They believe with ending up their lives, they can

avoid the long painful and disease in their life. However, doing suicide is not a

solution to encounter the absurd. For Camus, suicide is a confession of a man that

his life is not worth living. Suicide is not an option, not a solution to facing the

absurd. He construing it as cowardly (Lewis 14), and for him suicide is

repudiation (Camus 37). Another choice is by doing religious solutions. Camus

defines this religious solution as a philosophical suicide. In this case, a man wants

to escape from reality and try to find a peace in his life. He chooses to get rid of

the world rather than himself (qtd in Yaesemin 03-04). Camus believes that to

adopt a religious or supernatural solution to the problem of the absurd is

destroying the reason of living, which is as fatal as physical suicide. For him,

suicide, either it is physical or philosopical, is not authentic or valid solution to the

problem of the absurd because doing a suicide means that human rejects the revolt

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solution to the problem of the absurd is accepting and embracing the absurd itself.

Since absurd is unavoidable, therefore the proper response is by accepting the

absurd courageously (Lewis 14).

Camus stated that the appropriate way to deal with the absurd situation is

by doing a revolt (qtd in Lewis 14). Camus argued that the existential authenticity

demands that people are admit to theirself that their plans and projects are for the

most part hopeless and vain. This is the existential revolt to affirm the absurdity of

life and continue living (qtd in Timrayner 04). Revolt is an attitude of heroic

defiance or resistance to anything that oppresses human beings (Simpson). It

considers as a refusal to accept the loss of human lives and a pressure on viewing

death as a scandal (Raskin 159). It is a constant confrontation between man and

his own obscurity (Camus 36). Through revolt, humans can challenge the world

for something new. No matter if the result is satisfying or not. The most important

point is the process of the revolt itself whichgives meaning in humans’ life. Just

like what Camus said in his essay;

It may be thought that suicide follows revolt–but wrongly. For it does not represent the logical outcome of revolt... Revolt gives life its value. Spread out over the whole length of life, it restores its majesty to that life. To a man devoid of blinders, there is no finer sight than that of the intelligence at grips with a reality that transcedens it (36).

It means that, doing revolt is better than suicide. Eventhough humans still do not

know about the result from their revolt but through revolt, humans can find their

meaning and values in life. They do not think about the upcoming condition from

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Therefore, Camus defines three consequences from the absurd, those are;

revolt, freedom, and passion (Camus 42). It means that, when human is revolting

towards the absurdity in his life, thus he will get his freedom which then becomes

his passion. Revolting the absurd does not mean escaping from the absurd, but

accepting the absurd itself. Humans will keep living the absurd because they

cannot go back to the situation before. From there, human will get his truly

freedom and enjoy his condition.

From the explanation above, the researcher will analyse the novel entitled

If Tomorrow Comeswritten by Sidney Sheldon by using two theories above. The

first theory is New Criticism which is used to analyzed the characterization of the

main character; independent, courageous, and intelligence. Meanwhile, the second

theory is absurdism which is used to analyze the life of the main character, that is;

the feeling of hopelessness and alienation. Also, it is used to analyzing the action

of the main character in facing her absurdity in life, that is; by doing a revolt.

2.3 Review of Related Literature

In order to enrich the knowledge, the researcher reviewed some previous

studies which have relation to this study in some aspects. Here are some previous

studies that have been done by other researchers before.

The first previous study came from Windi Astuti who analyzed the same

novel by Sidney SheldonIf Tomorrow Comes, but with different focus. She examined about the feminist ideas which represented inTracy Whitney’s

character. In her work, entitledFeminist Ideas in the Novel If Tomorrow Comes

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Tracy Whitney and the portrayal of feminist ideas in Tracy Whitney character.

From her analysis, she found that the feminist ideas were drawn in Tracy Whitney

character as an educated, independent, obstinate, heroic, struggle, courageous, and

decisive woman.

Another work came from Erni Nurhayati Soraya from Muhammadiyah

University of Surakarta. In her work, entitledWoman’s Rebellion in Sidney Sheldon’s Novel If Tomorrow Comes (1985): A Feminist Perspective, she

revealedabout woman’s rebellion through feminist perspective that portrayed in the novel by Sidney SheldonIf Tomorrow Comes. Soraya found that woman can

endure the oppression condition in life. Woman is struggling with her own effort

in order to get her right and prove that she can do what the man do. Soraya also

conclude that rebellion is the reflection of the feminism.

Similar to the two previous studies above, this research is also using the

novel written by Sidney Sheldon entitledIf Tomorrow Comes. This research also

focuses on Tracy Whitney character as the main object in analyzing the novel.

Whereas, the differences between this research and those two previous studies

above is this research concerns in the life of Tracy Whitney as the main character

and how Tracy Whitney lives her miserable life in her own. While the two

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CHAPTER III

ANALYSIS

In this chapter, the researcher analyzes about the portrayal of the absurdity

in Tracy Whitney’s life inIf Tomorrow Comes. This chapter will be divided into three sections. The first section is about how the characterization of Tracy

Whitney described inIf Tomorrow Comesand then the second section disscuses

about the background of Tracy Whitney’s life–start from her harmonious life to her miserable life, and connect it with the concept of absurdity in life. The last

section is about how Tracy Whitney encounters her miserable life and how is the

present life of Tracy Whitney.

3.1 Tracy Whitney’s Characterization

This section discusses about the characterization of Tracy Whitney, the

main character, inIf Tomorrow Comes. There are three characterization that have been found by the researcher, those are; independent, courageous, and

intelligence. Here are the brief explanation;

3.1.1 Independent

Independent is an attitude in which a person can do anything without

depending on or controlling by the other people. It is an ability of a person to face

his problems in a mature way. This attitude is described in the character of Tracy

Whitney as the main character inIf Tomorrow Comesbecause she is able to work and live in Philadelphia on her own. After graduating from university and getting

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mother, Doris Whitney, lives in New Orleans to take care of the family company

which left by her husband:

“I’m going to Philadelphia, Mother. I have a job at a bank there (44)”. By leaving from New Orleans to Philadelphia, Tracy shows that she is an

independent woman. She is capable to leave her comfortable zone with taking a

new experience by working out of town. Tracy is working in the cable-transfer

department in one of the bank in Philadelphia called Philadelphia Trust and

Fidelity Bank. Her job is transferring the money through computer to the other

banks in the world. Having a job is one of the form of self-independence, which

means that a person is able to show his ability and be responsible of his job.

Another attitude that showed Tracy as an independent woman is when she

wants to keep working after she is married. Tracy has a boyfriend named Charles

Stanhope III, who is going to marry her. Their relationship started when Tracy

met Charles at a financial symposium, where Charles was the guest speaker there.

Day by day, their relationship became closer, until finally Tracy had pregnant his

baby, and they decided to get married. Tracy who is really like her job still wants

to work and plans to keep working even though they are already married. It can be

seen in the quotations below:

“...’How is your job? Still enjoying it?’ ‘I love it. Charles doesn’tmind if I keep working after we’re married.’ (3)”

“Charles and I talked it over, and we agreed I’d be happier if I worked (10) “

From the quotation above, the way Tracy asks to keep working after the marriage

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will have her own salary, and with her own salary she will not burden or

troublesome her husband in fulfilling her needs. She also can purchase anything

she wants with her own money. Hence, Tracy will become independent in

financial.

Tracy’s independencecan also be seen when she has a problem with the

case of her mother’s death. At that moment, Tracy, Charles, and Charles’ family are already agree to celebrate Tracy’s and Charles’ marriage in a huge wedding

party. Both of Charles’ parentshave already prepare for sending a wedding invitation to their overseas relatives. However, in the next morning, when Tracy

has to meet Charles’ mother to talk about the wedding,Tracy is no longer in Philadelphia. Tracy, then, tells Charles that she cannot meet his mother because

she needs to take care of her mother’sdeath in New Orleans:

“... she wanted desperately to cry out the whole story about what they had

done to her mother, but she stoppedherself. It’s my problem, she thought. I can’t throw my burden on Charles.She said, ‘Don’t worry I’m all right, darling’ ‘Would you like meto come down there, Tracy?’ ‘No. Thank you. I can handle it. I’m burying Mama tomorrow. I’ll be back in Philadelphia on Monday.’ (22)”

From the evidence above, it can be seen that Tracy wants to tell Charles

everything about the death of her mother. Nevertheless, Tracy keep it for her own

self because she does not want to hinge or rely on other people in dealing with her

problem. She does not want to troublesome or burdening other people with her

problem. She also has a very big self-confidence that she can handle and

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Therefore, it can be concluded that Tracy Whitney is an independent

woman. She is able to undergo and undertake everything alone. She is also trying

not rely on other people, either in economic aspect or private problem.

3.1.2 Courageous

Courageous is an ability of a person to control his fear when he is facing a

new, dangerous, and challenging things. This characteristic is drawn in Tracy

Whitney’s character when she knows about the problem behind hermother’s

death from Otto Schmidt, one of the loyal employeein Whitney’s company.Otto Schmidt tells about how Doris Whitney, Tracy’s mother,trapped in Joe Romano’s

game. Joe Romano is known as the accomplice of Anthony Orsatti, the man who

controls New Orleans. Schmidt informs that Joe Romano had been taken

Whitney’s company and made a lot of debt to other companies. Romano also made Doris Whitney accussed for fraud. After hearing all the story about what

was actually happen to her mother before she was dead, Tracy has a plan to go to

Romano’s house and askhim to clean her mother’s name:

“’Tracy Whitney. I’m Doris Whitney’s daughter... Mr. Romano, the

district attorney believes that my mother was guilty of fraud. You know

that’s not true. I want you to help me clear her name.’...Tracy opened her purseand pulled out the revolver. She pointed it at him. ‘I’ll tell you what will make you feel better Mr. Romano. Having you confess to exactly what you did to my mother.’ (26)”

The quotation above shows that Tracy is doing something brave. She has a

courage to act in a riskful situation. During her lifetime, Tracy is never

threatening someone by pointing a gun towards them. This kind of act is a new

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by her for the sake of her mother. Therefore it can be said that Tracy is a

courageous woman.

Tracy’s courageous also showed when she is prisoned in the Southern Louisiana Penitentiary for Women. In the prison, the maximum numbers of

convicted criminal is four for every cell. In her cell, Tracy is treated in an

inappropriate way by the three of her cell mates. Her rib is broken, wrist is

fractured, she has many bruises, and she has lost her baby. However, after the bad

treatment from her three cell mates, Tracy is not afraid to come back to the same

cell again. Even though, the warden suggests her to move to the other cell, but

Tracy insisted to be in the same cell together with her mates:

“’I don’t want to be transferred.’ He looked at her in surprise, ‘You mean you want to go back to the same cell?’ ‘Yes,sir.’...Returning to her cell was the most difficult thing Tracy had ever done. The moment she stepped inside she was assailed by the horror of what had happened there (69)”

From the evidence above, it can be seen that Tracy is able to control the fear

inside herself. She is encouraging herself to be brave and back to her cell. She

does not care if there is another bad upcoming thing to her. She already prepares

for fighting back her cell mates, if in case they are attacking her again.

After Tracy back to her cell, both of her cell mates do the fight again. But

this time, Tracy is ready to fight back because she has already hide a piece of

metal under her bed to be used as her weapon:

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Tracy Whitney’s action above shows that she is really brave woman. She has a

big courage to fight back both of her cell mates. She also did not hesitate to harm

them with the metal that she hide. From that moment Tracy is never being hurt

again by her cell mates and they become friends.

The other courageous act is described in the way Tracy saved Amy, the

warden’s daughter,who slipped into the lake. At first, Tracy is planned to do her escape by persuading Amy to play a throwing ball’sgame–the one who throws the ball the farthest will be the winner. Tracy has her attempt to throw the ball

first, she throws it as far as she can, and run to take the ball with the intention to

escape.Unfortunately, Tracy’s escape plan is failed. She has to go back to save

Amy:

Tracy turned and began running as fast as she had ever run in her life... Her heart was pounding, and her lungs were bursting, and she pushed herself to run faster, faster. She reached the wall around the lake and vaulted on top of it; Far below, she could see Amy in the deep, terrifying water, struggling to stay afloat. Without a second’s hesitation, Tracy jumped in after her. And as she hit the water, Tracy thought; Oh, my God! I can’t swim... (115)”

Amy, who wants to see Tracy taking the ball, decides to climb the wall which is

surrounded by the lake. Amy who cannot keep her balance, suddenly slipped and

fell from the wall. Tracy’s action to come back running to the place where Amy

was fall is one of the courageous act. She is not afraid to take the risk that she will

lose the chance for escape. Moreover, even if she knows she cannot swim, she is

still jumping into the water and struggling to save Amy out of the water.

Another courageous act is can be seen in the time Tracy does a revenge to

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Judge Henry Lawrence. After getting out from the prison, Tracy immediately do

her revenge. She is not afraid dealing with the mafia again. With her courageous

act, Tracy succeeded to make them wary and get their punishment. Tracy is

satisfied with her revenge towards those mafia, even though they did not go to the

prison like her. She also send the flower garland to Anthony Orsatti to tell him her

victory:

“The more following morning Tracy stopped at a florist. ‘I want some flowers delivered to Anthony Orsatti. A funeral wreath of white carnations on a stand, with a wide ribbon. I want the ribbon to read: ‘REST IN

PEACE.’’ She wrote out a card. It said, FROM DORIS WHITNEY’S DAUGHTER. (157)”

By sending the flower garland and the wishing card to Anthony Orsatti, it will

make Orsatti realizes that he along with his team mates are already defeated by a

woman who had ever been played by them. A woman whose life had been

changed into a miserable life. Tracy showed her courage by revealing her identity

as the one who play cat and mouse with Anthony Orsatti and his gang.

From the explanation above, it can be seen that Tracy Whitney is a

courageous woman. She has a courage to act in a new and challenging things, the

things that she has not ever did before. She also has a courage to take the risk in

facing the danger.

3.1.3 Intelligence

Intelligence is an ability of a person to understand and solve something in

a quicker way. This characteristic is described in the character of Tracy Whitney

because it is shown in her ability to imitate some accents from different countries.

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elementary school. Her ability in imitating accents is increasing due to the

influence of her inmates in the prison. She often hear a various accents from her

inmates in the prison, which makes her absorbsthe accents’ styleeasily. Tracy is also able to understand and adapt with the prison’satmosphere in a fastest way:

“Tracy soon learned why inmates referred to a term in the penitentiary as ‘going to college.’ Prison was an educational experience, but what the prisoners learned was unorthodox. The prison was filled with experts in every conceivable types of crime... Tracy listened to an older inmate give a seminar on pickpocketing to a fascinated young group (83)”

From the quotation above it can be seen that there are so much things to learn

from the prisoner in the prison. The things that being shared and taught in the

prison, are learned by Tracy effectively because she has intelligence that help her

to process it in a good way. She also starts to understand how to do a good

thievery and robbery, and knows how to pretend to be a nice woman for doing

crime:

“In the recreation room the education continued. ‘I like the locker-key rip-off,’ a veteran said. ‘You hang around a railroad station till you see a little old lady tryin’ to lift a suitcase or a big package into one a them lockers. You put it in for her and hand her the key. Only it’s the key to an empty locker. When she leaves, you empty her locker and split.’ (84)”

With Tracy’s intelligence, she can understand what was explained by her inmates

easily. She has a good memory to rembember every single lesson that has been

taught. She also applies the lesson right after she is free from the prison, such as

transforming herself with makeup, using the ability of imitating the accents of

some countries, pretending to be an honorable and a nice woman, and others.

Hence, Tracy is an intelligence woman because she has an ability to catch any

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Another Tracy’s intelligence can be seen in how she is able to solve a

problem quickly. It is shown when she did her first thievery in Lois Bellamy

residence. She accidentaly rings the alarm and makes the polices come to

Bellamy’s house. However, Tracy has her own way to solve it. She is pretending

to be one of Bellamy’s relative who staysin Bellamy’s house, by wearing a

nightgown, having her face masked, and hiding her hair in the curler cap:

“As lieutenant reached for thebell for the thirdtime, the front door

suddenly opened. The policeman stood there staring. In the doorway was a woman dressed in a filmy nightgown... her face was covered with a

mudpack, and her hair was tucked into a curler cap... ‘I’m Ellen Branch. I’m a houseguest of Lois Bellamy. She’s away in Europe... As lieutenant Durkin watched, Lois Bellamy’s houseguest reached over to the alarm buttons, pressed a sequence of numbers, and the sound stopped (182-183)”

The way how Tracy act in solving the problem makes her spared frompolices’

curiosity. With her calm and relax attitude, makes the polices believe that she is

really the relative of Bellamy, and not a thief. It is described that Tracy is an

intelligence woman because she has a potency in solving the problem in a quick

and effective ways. Her pontency is what makes her always successful in her

thievery action.

From the explanation above, it can be seen that Tracy Whitney has a

natural intelligence. It is proved when she can directly act to solve the problems in

a fast way. Her strong memories of the knowledge that she has got can also assist

her in dealing with and solving the problems.

3.2 TheAbsurdity of Tracy Whitney’s Life

In this section, the researcher is going to reveal about the absurdity of

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of mafia destroyed and turned it into a life which is miserable. The changing of

Tracy Whitney’s life happens when she is looking ajustice for her mother, but unfortunately she is also getting trapped. The sudden change inTracy Whitney’s

life arouses the feeling of hopelessness and alienation. In the explanation below,

the researcher will describe about the harmonious life of Tracy Whitney and how

it turned into a miserable life.

InIf Tomorrow Comes, Tracy Whitney is described as a twenty-five years

old woman who is smart and beautiful. Tracy Whitney thinks that the life that she

had is already perfect, even though she had already lost her father a few years ago.

For Tracy, the definition of a perfect life is having a mother who loves her child

so much, having a promising job, and having a man that she loved, loves her back.

Tracy is very happy with her life. She feels like she is the most luckiest and

happiest person in the world. Everything that she wanted is going to be real, such

as her marriage with the man she loved:

“I feel like a princess in a fairy tale, Mother,” Tracy Said. “I never believed anyone could be so happy. Tomorrow night I’m meeting Charles’s parents.” She deepened her voice as though making a pronouncement... (02)”

“It’s indecent for anyone to be this happy, Tracy Whitney thought. I’m marrying the man I love, and I’m going to have hisbaby. What more could anyone ask? (04)”

From the quotations above, it can be seen that tracy is really happy with what

happen in her life. She feels that she had everything she wanted in her life. At

first, Tracy was in doubt if she can marry with Stanhopes’ family, a well-known family in Philadelphia. But then her doubt is faded when Charles is asking her to

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becomes the guest speaker. Tracy who does not agree with Charles’ opinionraises her hand and speak out her opinion. They both finally continue the discussion in

the dinner together. Tracy thought that Charles will be same with the other rich

man, but he is different. From there, the relationship between them is become

closer.

In her job, as the head of the cable-transfer department in Philadelphia

Trust and Fidelity Bank, Tracy is considered as the precious employee. Her ability

in operating the computer to move a huge amount of money from one bank to the

other bank in the world, makes her retained in the office. It is shown when

Clarence Desmond, an impotant executive, asks her to keep working in the office:

“... I assume you’ll be returning here to work with us. After the

honeymoon, of course. We wouldn’t want to lose you. You’re one of our most valuable employees (10)”

The quotation above shows that Tracy is one of the most wanted employee in the

office. She knows that the job she had is a promising job for her in the present and

in the future later. These things are making Tracy satisfied with what was owned

by her in her life. She will not lose her job, even if she will have a break from

work for honeymoon later. The job in Philadelphia Trust and Fidelity Bank will

always welcome her.

However,Tracy’s life did not go smoothly like she wanted. Her life starts

to change when sheheard about her mother’s death. Her mother was found dead

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Romano was the one who was behind it all. Even though Romano did not kill

Doris pyshically, but Romano mentally killed her. Doris Whitney lost everything

that she had, her company, her house, and also she had many debt that she cannot

pay. Moreover, she had an accusation of fraud:

“There’s more. The district attorney served your mother notice that he was

going to ask for an indictment against her for fraud, that she was facing a prison sentence. That was the day she really died, I think. (20)”

Tracy who was burn with emotion finally decides to come to Romano’s house. She wants Romano to clean her mother’s name. But before going to Romano’s

house, Tracy bought a thirty-two caliber revolver. Her plan is asking Romano to

clean her mother’s name in a peaceful way, if he rejects it, Tracy will treathening

him with the revolver:

“...The plan she had worked out was simple.She was going to reason with

Joe Romano, ask him to clear her mother’s name. If he refused, she would

threaten him with the gun and force him to write out a confession. She would take it to Lieutenant Miller, and he would arrest Romano, and her

mother’s name would be protected (25)”

Unfortunately, what was planned by Tracy is not going well. Romano who is

smarter in cheating and framing people can easily take Tracy down. The gun fell

from Tracy’s handand Romano begins to control Tracy. He wants to rape her but she grabs the gun on the floor and she accidentally pull the trigger. Before leaving

the house, Tracy is calling the ambulance for Joe Romano.

However, it is not that easy to release from Romano. Tracy is getting

under arrested in the airport when she wants to fly back to Philadelphia. Tracy is

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court, Tracy also tries to defend herself by telling the truth, but the public

prosecutor cuts Tracy’s explanation by reading theindictment of Tracy Whitney:

“Now was Tracy’s moment to explain to someone in authority the truth about what had happened ..., ‘Your Honor, it wasn’t murder. I shot him, but it was an accident. I only meant to frighten him. He tried to rape me and–‘ The district attorney interrupted, ‘Your Honor, I see no point in wasting the court’s time. This woman broke into Mr. Romano’s home, armed with a thirty two-caliber revolver, stole a Renoir painting worth half a million dollars, and whem Mr. Romano caught her in the act, she shot him in cold blood and left him for dead. (33)”

It can be seen Tracy did not get any chance to explain what is really happening.

She was innocent, but got an accusation of armed robbery and murder. She did not

know anything about the painting and she also did not meant to kill Romano.

Judge allows Tracy to hire a lawyer to defend her in the next trial. But, because

she does not have much money to hire a lawyer, then she agrees to use a lawyer

that chosen by the court. The lawyer which chosen by the court is Perry Pope. Just

like Joe Romano, Perry Pope is also the member of the mafia led by Anthony

Orsatti. Tracy who does not know about that thing, once again, entering the troil

of the mafia. Perry Pope is pretending to be on Tracy’s side. He is supporting

Tracy to defeat Romano as well as Orsatti:

“He said slowly, ‘I’m going to try. I’d give anything to put them all behind bars... There’s only one judge Orsatti has never been able to buy. His name isHenry Lawrence. If I can arrange for him to hear this case. I’m pretty sure I can make a deal for you... He hates Orsatti and Romano as much as I do. Now all we’ve got to do is get to Judge Lawrence. (36)”

Tracy is putting her hope and faith toward Perry Pope. She feels that only Perry

Pope who can help her out from the problem. It is only Perry Pope who puts

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some flower arrangements with a spirit card on it, which makes Tracy more

certain with him.

In the next day, Pope tells Tracy that he was succsess in getting judge

Lawrence as their judge but with a requirement. Tracy must accept the indictment

towards her, even if she did not do it. At first she was rejecting the requirement

because she does not want to admit the things that she has never done. But, Perry

Pope keeps persuading her slowly. Finally, it makes Tracy wants to do the

requirement that he told, that is admitting the false indictment of her:

“By pleading guilty... Judge Lawrence will sentence you to three months in prison... If they put you on trial for armed robbery and attempted murder

..., you could be sentenced to ten years... It’s your decision,’ he said. ‘I can only give you my best advice. It’s a miracle that I got away with this. They want an answer now. You don’t have to take the deal. You can get another lawyer and---‘ No’ She knew that this man was honest. ‘I’ll---I’ll take the deal (37-38)”

From the quotation above, it can be seen that Perry Pope is very good in

persuading someone. He knows how to take someone’s heart. Tracy, who is

already putting her hope and faith to Perry Pope, agrees with Pope’s suggestion.

She believes that Pope is a honest and a good man. He is a man who already gives

all of his strength just to help Tracy, someone whom he just met.

However, Tracy’schoice turns out failed. By admitting the accusation,

Tracy makes herself entering the jail. It means that the mafia does not need to

bother by throwing Tracy into the jail because she already walks herself into it:

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and for the first time, Tracy noticed that his fingernails were bitten to the quick(39)”

The quotation above shows that Tracy feels she was being fooled by the mafia.

How can she believes in people whom she just met in a short time. Now, Tracy

cannot do anything because she is already admitting all those false accusations

toward her. She is going to be the prisoner for the next fifteen years, her name will

be listed on bad record list, and she is not clean anymore. The princess’ life in the past now has changed into the monster’s life. Everything that she has planned for

the future is already gone. Her marriage with Charles will never happen, just like

her mother and her baby who will not back to life again.

From all of those incidents that she had experiences above make Tracy

feels different from the way she was before. She is now a criminal, instead of a

good citizen. She lost everything that she had; her mother, Charles, and also her

baby. Those things lead Tracy has a feeling of hopelessness and alienation.

Furthermore, the feeling of hopelessness and alienation can lead to the absurd

situation because what a person want does not go as he wanted to. It is similar

with what Camus has said that absurd was born from the confrontation between

the man’s desire and the world (Camus 20). The situation in which Tracy’s desire

isnot match with what the world’s want is called as an absurdsituation. It can be seen when Tracy is trying to look for a justice for her mother. Unfortunately

Tracy is also getting into the trap instead of get the justice that she wanted.

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Hopelessness is the feeling of despair which happen when there is no hope

and find that life is not worth living anymore (www.differencebetween.net). The

feeling of hopelessness can be happened when something is not going as the

person has expected. The condition of hopelessness is described in Tracy

Whitney’s life. Tracy, who has never become a criminal or commited a crime, is getting an accusation of an armed robbery and murder. Moreover, when she is

falling into the problem, she does not have anyone to support her. There is no one

who cares, listens, and helps her out from the problem. Even Charles, the man

who claimed that he loves Tracy, is not there for help:

“I can’t be locked up here for fifteen years, Tracy thought in despair. I want to die. Please, God, let me die. But I can’t die, can I? I would be

killingmy baby. It’s your baby, too, Charles. Why aren’t you here helping me? That was the moment she began to hate him. (52)”

The quotation above shows that Tracy’s hopelessnesshappens when she has to stay in the prison for the next fifteen years and when Charles breaks her hopes by

telling her“I never really knew you.. You’ll have to do whatever you think best

with your baby”(42). Tracy, who was sad because of the problem that strikes her,

needs someone to support her and to calm her down. But what she got is

something harm, something that breaks her mental and spirit. The way Charles

speaks to Tracy makes Tracy drown in despair. The feeling of hopelessness makes

Tracy thinks that her life has over, has already been destroyed. All that she wants

is death. She does not want to be in the prison for fifteen years long. However,

since she has a baby in her womb, her spirit to keep alive is still available. She

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Furthermore, the condition of the prison, which is very different with the

condition outside, makes Tracy uncomfortable living there. She was put in a cell

which contains four prisoners with a seatless toilet in the corner, a little table with

a cracked mirror over it, four lockers, and four bunks with a dirty and smelly

mattress:

“I don’t want to last, Tracy thought hopelessly. I want to die. How could

these women tolerate living like this? How long had they been here? Months? Years? She thought of the fetid cell and her verminous mattress, and she wanted to scream. She clenched her jaw shut so that no sound

would come out. (58)”

It can be seen that Tracy is covered by the feeling of hopelessness. The

hopelessness occurs when Tracy feels unable to go through for the next fifteen

years live in the prison. Not only the place which is smell and dirty that makes

Tracy uncomfortable living there, but also the system inside the prison, such as

the emergence of the forbidden love between the prison guard and the prisoner,

the prisoner and the prisoner, and also there is bullying towards the new prisoner.

Sometimes, there is also fight among the prisoners competiting to get the

domination and power in the prison.

Besides, Tracy is losing her chance to get her normal life back since the

mafia has already destroyed her life. Theyclosed all Tracy’sopportunities to live normal like she was before. By entering the jail, she will have a bad record in her

life which can ruin her reputation. This thing makes Tracy becomes hopelessness

of her life:

“It seemed to Tracy that the men upon whom she had exacted vengeance

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She had no idea how she was going to live, and for the first time she began

to have a feeling of desperation (168)”

Therefore, it can be concluded that the feeling of hopelessness happens

because the things that Tracy has planned is not going as she has expected or

wanted. Moreover, the injustice that she got when she was in the prison makes

her feeling of hopelessness bigger.

3.2.2 Alienation

According to Keniston, most usage of alienation share the assumption that

some relationship or connection that once existed that is ‘natural’, desirable or good, has been lost (Qtd in Saleem 70). Alienation is drawn in Tracy Whitney’s

life when she is accussed as a criminal. Tracy who was once free to do everything

that she wanted, now becoming a prisoner who has limited accses for things that

she wants. Becoming a prisoner is something which makes the life of Tracy

Whitney different:

“... Tracy looked at the faces of her fellow passengers. One was defiant, and another bored; others wore expressions of despair. The lives they had lived were about to come to an end. They were outcasts, headed for cages where they would be locked up like animals. Tracy wondered what crimes they had committed and whether any of them was as innocent as she was, and she wondered what they saw in her face. (44)”

“... Tracy thought numbly. I’m finished. I’m a number. Nameless, faceless (49)”

“... who are you?’ ‘I’m---I’m Tracy Whitney.’ She had almost said, ‘I was TracyWhitney.’ She had the nightmarish feeling that her identity was slipping away. A spasm of nausea swept through her, and she gripped the edge of the bunk to steady herself. (55)”

From the quotations above, Tracy feels like she is becoming another person, a

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being isolated from the world. She also feels alone with no one helps, cares, or

notices her. The feeling of being alienated grows stronger since she is never been

in jail before and now she has to be in jail for fifteen years long, and it makes her

feel strange with it.

Not only in the prison, Tracy also feels being alienated after getting out

from the prison. Tracy still has a feeling as an outcast, the feeling of being a

stranger. This thing happens because she has ever become a part of a jail’s

occupant. She cannot find any kind of jobs since her name is no longer clean. She

is now an ex-prisoner and everybody scared with an ex-prisoner. Even Clarence

Desmond, who ever said that Tracy is the best employee and he does not want to

lose her, is also rejecting:

“’Hello, Mr. Desmond. Well, I’ve come back,’ Tracy said brightly. ‘What for? ... You thought I’d give you back your old job?’

‘Well, yes, sir. I haven’t forgotten any of my skills. I can still---‘

‘ Miss Whitney ... I’m sure you can understand that our customers would not wish to deal with someone who served time in the penitentiary for armed robbery and attempted murder... I think it unlikely that given your background, any bank would hire you (159)”

Whereas, Desmond ever said to Tracy that she is the most valuable employee in

the office, but when she returns, Desmond rejects her. Tracy is no longer someone

desirable, she has lost something good on her just because she was an ex-prisoner.

Not only Desmond who rejected her, but the other jobs are doing the same:

(48)

Purnamasari 39

Also she ever get another accusation from the place that she worked. She was

accussed for doing a thievery in one of the hotel room when she was cleaning the

room. The manager accused her for stealing because she is the ex-prisoner. There

are many jobs that reject Tracy and it is only because she has a bad record in her

life. Tracy is becoming a stranger in both of her hometown, Philadelphia, and

New York. The societies know who Tracy is, and she always becomes the suspect

one if there is an incident related with criminality.

Therefore, from those explanations above, it can be concluded that the

feeling of being alienated happens from the gang of the mafia who destroys Tracy

Whitney’s life before. They have changedher into a criminal and make her had a limited accses to live normal in society.

3.3 The Consequence from The Absurdity in Tracy Whitney’s Life

This section explains about the consequence from the absurdity in Tracy

Whitney’slife. As what Camus has said that there are three consequences from the absurd; revolt, freedom, and passion (Camus 42). Revolting is known as

affirming the absurdity of life and continuing living (Timrayner 04). Revolting the

absurd does not mean escaping the absurd, but accepting the absurd itself. A

person chooses to do revolt because he knows he cannot go back to the situation

that he had be