THE INSTILLATION OF IDEOLOGY IN NAOKI
URAZAWA’S MONSTER
THESIS
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Widowati 112008024
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
THE INSTILLATION OF IDEOLOGY IN NAOKI
URAZAWA’S MONSTER
THESIS
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Widowati 112008024
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
THE INSTILLATION OF IDEOLOGY IN NAOKI
URAZAWA’S MONSTER
Widowati
English Department
Faculty Language of Literature
Satya Wacana Christian University
Salatiga
[Abstract]
As a work of art which mirrors real life, literary work contains ideology because life itself cannot be separated from ideologies. As a result, reading literature exposes readers to ideologies portrayed in the work, which in turns helps them to face life better. As a product of literature, Naoki Urawasa’s Monster also contains ideology besides an intricate plot. Therefore, this study would discuss what ideology was implied and how they were instilled in Monster. through Marxism, particularly Ideology by Althusser point of view. The finding shows that institution pictured in the novel, the orphanage, raised the orphans to be perfect warriors who were brute, compassionless, nameless and love danger and risking their live have roles to help defend communism. To realize it, they used ideological as well as repressive state apparatuses.
Keywords: ideology, ideological state apparatuses, repressive state
1. Introduction
Life consists of ideologies. For example, how men and women should look so that they
will be considered good-looking is ideological. What people eat and do in their spare time is
also ideological. Even what people think contains ideologies because ideas and thoughts are
reflected in what people do, say, write and how people view things. As a product of mind,
literature should also express ideologies, especially because literature mirrors real life with its
complexity.
Therefore, reading literature introduces readers to the ideologies in the literary works.
Because of this, reading literature is important. By knowing about the ideologies and learning
from the characters’ attitudes, readers know what to do when they are in a similar situation.
In other words, reading literary works helps readers decide what to do when they have similar
experiences in real life.
Reading literature is also important because people generally do not realize how
ideologies are strongly held by the society. People may not realize either how they are
influenced so that they also adopt the ideologies. Therefore, it will be interesting to examine
how ideologies in the forms of beliefs and values are inculcated. It will also be interesting to
find out the way people influence and suggest other people that what they believe is true.
As a form of literature, manga, the Japanese equivalence of graphic novel, contain
ideologies. Manga is selected to be the object of this study because it is not only widely read
in Japan but also in many countries. Even in the United Kingdom, the Catholic Church uses
manga to recruit new priests (Daniel H. Pink, Japan, Ink: Inside the Manga Industrial
Complex). It shows that manga is a serious and meaningful work. In particular, manga author
the interactions of the characters are well-woven. With the intricate and engaging story, he is
able to create good mysteries. Moreover, he is also able to show the ugly and beautiful sides
of humans being because of his ability to focus more on character’s development and
psychological complexity (www.bastardbooks.blogspot.com, myanimelist.net,
www.goodreads.com). Urasawa’s talent and ability has been widely acknowledged as he has
received three Shogakukan Awards, two Ozamu Tezuka Cultural Prize, The Kodansha
Manga Award, and The Japan Media arts Festival Exellence Award . He is also academically
acknowledged with his acceptance of guest teacher post at Nagoya Zokei University in 2008
to deliver manga course (Error! Hyperlink reference not valid..net, www.goodreads.com,). In
www.myanimelist.net it is written that Urasawa is also involved in the world of academia.
Urasawa’s work entitled Monster is particularly selected to be discussed in this study
because it has a complex plot and involved activities of instilling an ideology. It is full of
sharp intrigues and rich of ideas. It is praised for its incredible cohesion
(www.themanime.org). In 2008, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Junot Diaz
praised Monster and Urasawa Naoki as a Japan’s treasure (www.goodreads.com). Monster
has also been nominated twice for Eisner Award in America. Besides in the form of manga –
the graphic novel, Monster has been visualized in the form of anime – the manga cartoon.
Based on the above discussion, this study would like to analyze what ideologies are
implied in Monster and how they are inculcated. To find out the ideologies discussed in the
works and how they are instilled, Marxism, particularly Althusser’s ideology would be used.
Marxism is chosen because it discusses ideology and how ideology may be instilled in
individuals. Reading this study report, readers will learn about ideologies implied in the
society. In turns, readers will not be easily provoked so that they will be able to face life
better.
My search for previous study on Monster brought no result excepts comments for
Monster in general. Most comments on Monster say that its readers enjoy reading it
(comics212.net, arifin.wordpress.com, fitrianr.blogspot.com, papario2.wordpress.com,
vgpress.com). According to one of them, it is full of intrigue and mystery
(papario2.wordpress.com). They always want to read Monster further. One of the readers
says that Monster is serious work and suitable for adults (arifin.wordpress.com).
2. Theoritical Framework
Ideology
Ideology comes from Greek words, ‘idea’ and ‘logy’ which means ‘systematic set of
ideas, doctrines’ (www.etymolonline.com). This ‘idea’ and ‘logy’ comes in different
definitions. Marxism recognizes three common versions of what ideology is. First, it refers to
systems of beliefs characteristics of a certain class or group, which means each class or group
in a society has beliefs or system of beliefs which are different from each other (Williams
55). Ideology also points to a system of illusory beliefs – false ideas or false awareness –
which can be contrasted with true or scientific knowledge (Williams 55). This false awarness
applies to both dominant and subordinate classes; ideologies do not only convince the
oppressed groups or subordinate peoplet, but also convince the ruling group that exploitation
and oppression is an action of universal needs.
The first and second concepts can be effectively combined and they have
relationship. The first concept which discuss the particular group which has a system of
or false awareness – can be mixed and brings a conclusion such as a system of belief of
particular group or class which is actually false awarness (Williams 55).
Regarding ideology as an imaginary idea, Althusser mentions that:
‘In ideology men... express, not the relation between them and their conditions of existence, but the way they like the relation between them and their connections of existence: this presupposes both a real relation and an ‘imaginary’, ‘lived’ relation. Ideology... is the expression of the relaton between men and their ‘world’, that is the (overdetermined) unity of the real relation and the imaginary relation between them and their real conditions of existence’ (Althusser 233-4 in Storey 71).
Only a ‘scientific’ field or knowledge (Althusser’s Marxism) can see the ‘truth’ of ideology
which is compared to the real life in the world (Storey72).
Ideology represents the imagination that connects with the individuals’ real condition
of life. People are common to think religious ideology, ethical ideology, legal ideology,
political ideology, etc., as ‘world outlooks’ or world view. Therefore, people do not live one
of these ideologies as the truth (e.g. ‘believe’ in God, Duty, Justice, etc.), yet these ‘world
outlooks’ are largely imaginary, which means do not ‘correspond to reality’, but illusion.
Even though ideology is an imagination, people make the imagination to reality, which
means people should find the meaning oftheir imaginary ideaswhich is linked to the reality of
Last, it is the general process of the production of meanings, ideas,sign, and value in
social life (Williams 55, Eagleton 1). This is the process of how meanings, ideas, sign, and
values in social life are produced.
Ideology is organized by these two kinds of institutions; i.e. ideological and repressive
state apparatuses. Ideological State Apparatuse (hereafter ISA) is organized by what Gramsci
called ‘organic intellectuals’, which means all men and women have the capacity for
intellectual endeavour and they are differentiated by their social function since only certain
men and women who have the function of intellectuals in society (Storey 81). The organic
intellectuals function to shape and organize the reform of moral and intellectual life. The
organic intellectuals are the Religous ISA (the system of different religious institutions), the
educational ISA; i.e. the system of different public and private ‘schools’), The family ISA,
the legal ISA, the political ISA (the political system, including the different parties), the
trade-union ISA, the communications ISA (press, radio, and television, etc), the cultural ISA
(literature, the arts, sports, etc). ISA function predominantly by ideology, secondarily by
repression (Althusser 143-145). The other institution which organizes ideology is Repressive
State Apparatuses (hereafter RSA). The doers of Repressive State Apparatuses consist of the
army, the police, the prison system, etc (Storey 81). The Reppresive State Apparatuses
function massively and dominantly by repression or violence, and secondarily by ideology
(Althusser 143, 145).
Besides, RSA and ISA are differentiated based on their domains and functions. RSA
belongs entirely to public domain, the country which rules over all its people, while ISA
belongs to private domains; such as religious organizations, parties, trade unions, families, or
schools. RSA functions to assure how their influence are kept (cohesion) and the ‘values’ or
discipline and give ultimatum the followers whether they obey the rules or values or accept
the consequences of disobeying.
Both RSA and ISA are related and used in turns to maintain the existing values or
ideologies in the society (Althusser 144-145). Ideology is made by humans based on their
thinking which is connected to the reality, and becomes humans’ belief. Ideology rules how
humans think and behave. Ideology ought to obey, unless humans can get consequences for
disobeying. In each aspect of human life, ideology is always involved.
3. Data Analysis
The events in Monster take place in Germany and Czechoslovakia, two neighbouring
countries that used to be led by communist rulers. Under the communist authorities, the
Germans and Czechs lived in frustrating, reppresive living condition and dismal days
(www.private-prague-guide.com, history1900s.about.com). It was only in 1989 that East
German and West German decided to leave communism when the nations were reunited and
the Czechs were no longer under communism authorities. Therefore some characters in the
manga are depicted to live under two political regimes.
Monster depicts how the communist defenders, the military police who fought for
establishing one communist world, intended to revive communism and created perfect
warriors as communism defenders. The Czechoslovakian military officers forced a program
in which their soldiers were to give birth to the best babies. These babies were declared the
chosen children, who would then be trained to be compasionless and brute soldiers (Urasawa,
Father and Mother. 140.6). Sharing the same idea about perfect warriors, the East German
prisoners captured for fleeing, and or they whose parents were accused of civil unrest or
espionage (Urasawa, 511 Kinderheim. 19.12) and set up an orphanage which functioned as
the chosen children’s basecamp. They nurtured the children with pessimism and negative
thinking or fear ( Urasawa, 511 Kinderheim. 19.13), as reflected in the conversation between
Dieter, a parentless boy who lived with an ex East German orphanage officer, and Tenma, a
doctor who gained information about that orphanage, below:
Dieter : I’m scared of the hospital.
Tenma : Don’t be scared, the doctors will help you.
Dieter : It hurts... Mr. Hartmann always helps me to get better. I’m scared... the world today is full of bad things... that’s why I have to get stronger. Stronger...
Tenma : Is that what he told you?
Dieter : the world... is all darkness. Tommorow... is pitch black. (Urasawa,
Plan. 20.5-6).
By stating his fright of the hospital and the world, Dieter expresses his pessimism and distrust
attitude (fear to face tomorrow). His opinion that the world is all dark and that the next day is
totally dark also reflect that he is a pessimist.
Dieter’s opinion that ‘the world is dark’ was taught by his caretaker, Mr. Hartmann,
as reflected in the following statement.
Mr. Hartmann : Dieter, tommorow is darkness. It will be for you, if you don’t resemble Johan at all. (Urasawa, A Meager Experiment. 21.16)
The above quotation implies Mr. Hartmann is instilling pessimistic trait in Dieter. Moreover,
what he says implies a threat which puts Dieter, the boy in his care, into the corner. If Dieter
fails to be like Johan, his future will be dark, meaning that he will have a difficult life. Johan
was known for his monstrous charisma, shrewd pragmatism, ability to convince, and
leadership, etc. (Urasawa, A Meager Experiment. 21.13, 15). Therefore Mr. Hartmann
What Mr. Hartmann does is influential. Dieter, who neither have parents nor relatives
and who is looked after by Mr. Hartmann, must see himself as if he were Mr. Hartmann’s
child and Mr. Hartmann as his parent who took care of him when he was sick, feeds him,
reliable and trustworthy - just like children generally view their parents. What Mr. Hartmann
did to Dieter and how well it is instilled in Dieter show how Ideology State Apparatuse
(hereafter, ISA) works well in the family, in parent-children interaction (Althusser 143),
eventhough Mr. Hartmann was not Dieter’s biological parents. It is an effective way to train
Dieter to be either being a pesimistic person if he can not be like Johan or compasionless
because he can be like Johan.
Unfortunately, Dieter could not be as compassionless and influential or charismatic as
Johan was. Knowing that his ISA did not work, Mr. Hartmann urged Dieter to be a perfect
warrior by torturing him (Urasawa, 511 Kinderheim. 19.22-23, A Meager Experiment.
21.10). The mistreatment that Dieter experienced made him believed that his world was
really dark. Dieter was not the only child who suffered from violence. The children in 511
Kinderheim, where Mr. Hartmann worked as a children psychologist, were terated as
prisoners and violence (511 Kinderheim. 19.12-13). The mistreatment was done as an
experiment project (Urasawa, Plan. 20.15-16) to create perfect warriors without compassion
(A New Experiment. 81.8) and made them as guinea pigs, as it was confirmed from these
conversations below:
Mr. Hartmann : 511 Kinderheim was indeed an experiment. A project to see if we could raise orphans to be perfect soldiers. Looking at it now, it was a meager experiment. (Urasawa, A Meager Experiment. 21.14)
By doing massive violence and instilling ideology to Dieter and other children, Mr. Hartmann
utilizes Reppresive State Apparatuse (hereafter, RSA) (Althusser 143-145) as a tool to defend
the communists. However, the above dialog shows that Mr. Hartman is actually also used by
Petrov to do his experiment. Because Mr. Hartman fully supports Petrov’s idea, he is also a
victim of Petrov’s ideology. It can be said that Mr. Hartman is actually not different from the
children: he is an individual with Petro’s-created personality.
The splendid personality Petrov creates is perfectly reflected in Johan, who was a
favored figure for both German military and the Czechs military. He was known for his
shrewd pragmatic and charisma (Urasawa, Professor Geidlitz. 27.13); as he was compared to
Hitler and Jesus Christ for his great charisma by one of the founder of right wing
organizatrion – an organization which had purpose to reform and purify German nation
(Urasawa, Be My Baby. 26, Professor Geidlitz. 27). He was also known as a great leader and
decision maker at a big money laundering organization (The Men’s Dining Table. 45.12-13).
Besides, he liked to observe how people could be burned by anger, as it was confirmed in
these quotations below.
“As if he was experimenting in adult’s game of money. Like a child destroying a line of ants.” 1(The Men’s Dining Table. 45.16).
“I threw a scrap of cloth doused in oil onto an open flame” 2(A Meager Experiment. 21.13).
He was also described as a person who was dare to play with his fear (Urasawa, Prince on A
White Horse. 10.18), which means that he likes to play with danger which requires him to
risk his life. In chapter 55, 63 and 64 he is also depicted as a person who gets along well with
children and one whom children trust.
1
It was an afternoon when Heckel, Dieter, Tenma, and a man who was helped and healed by Tenma sat together at dinning table talking about a young man who was the leader and decision maker at a big underground money laundering and suddenly left and his followers were against each other for the rest of the money
2
Since Johan was able to get along with children and get their trust and sympathy, he
could easily transfered his ideasand belief. One of his teachings was to conquer the world. To
do it, the children should be bad guys, as mirrored in the dialogue below:
Child 1 : the evil empire plotting world domination cannot be defeated so
easily. Fwah fwah fwah fwah fwah.
Child 2 : You’re supposed to fall down when you’re kicked!!
Johan : How is the world domination proceeding?
Child 2 : Johan, he won’t fall down!!
Child 1 : Fwah fwah.
Johan : What kind of world would you create? But once you conquer the
world, then comes the hard part.
Child 1 : I don’t care. I’ll just wreck everything up.
Children : What? If you get to wreck stuff, then I wanna do that too. Forget the
rainbow rangers. I’m on the bad guys team now!!
(Urasawa, Johan’s Journey. 55.1-2)
The above dialogue pictures the children in something like a role-play, where they had play
the role of a bad guy (roleplay to conquer the world) and enjoy it. The bad guys to conquer
the world was the dream of the communist defenders. Indirectly, Johan intended to make the
children the communist followers and introduced to them his communism ideas, so that they
would be proper communism defenders. The roleplay seems to be an easy way to educate and
inculcate ideas to the children in a fun way because they might consider it a game. Using
games or other fun ways to instill ideas may be categorized as a cultural ISA, a work of
human’s idea and creation (Althusser 143).
The rest of Communism defenders look for not only the chosen people to be their
a homogenous society through ideology inculcation to shape the chosen children to be strong
and brutal warriors, who will kill anyone who fight against them, and also there is another
hidden aim, as it is confirmed in the dialogue below.
Milan : In 1989, when the communist regime in Czechoslovakia had fallen,
he escaped to this country. Capek become a German teacher here in
Frankfurt. He would gather the children of immigrate, Turks and
Vietnamese, and teach them German. He was a quiet, calm man. But
after a while the children that went to his class began to change. The
children who attended his class began to commit suicide, one after
the other. They also started to behave extremely violently. Untill the
day that they began to riot, as if they were trying to kill each other. In
Juvenile hall thatdays, I went to see the boy who was the ringleader.
He said to me, ‘I want to go back to the seminar.’ (Urasawa, Over the
Roofs. 132.9-12)
The boy’s desire to return to the seminar shows that the seminar is an interesting activity. The
‘seminar’ here meant ‘reading seminar’, which some children gathered around and listened to
a person read a story book for them. Capek opened a learning together course for immigrant
children from Turkey and Vietnam and offered Germany class. For immigrants, it should be
interesting since they should need to acquire German. The above dialogue reflects how the
educational ISA is used and works (Althusser 143). This showed that a teaching and a teacher
could be part of educational ideological state apparatuses because teachers who delivered
knowledge and values lookedsmart so that they weretrusted. As a result, an education could
be an effective means of ideology inculcation (Althusser 143).
Moreover, Capek’s calmness and quietness were a good image to show to other
people that he was not a bad man and trustable as a teacher course. There must be something
behind Capek’s gathering immigrant children and teaching them German. That he gathered
and committed suicide or turn to be violent implies that Capek could not have taught them
German only. Teaching Germany perhaps is only a camouflage. He may have used German
and reading texts to instill the ideology of pessimism and compassionless. Since Capek
gathered and taught only children of immigrants Turks and Vietnamese, and he did not do
anything when his students committed suicide and behave violently, he must be against the
presence of Turk and Vietnamese immigrants in German. In other words, brutal children who
kill their friends help communists kill non-German races. Therefore, he makes use of his
German class to keep German homogenous, as Milan said in the quotation below:
Martin : The next day time he appeared, he was a different man. Capek disappeared from town after the incident. Running an underworld organization in frankfurt, aligned with the extreme right-wingers. I don’t know exactly what it was he wanted to do to this town. But the pinnacle of his violence came, and he used them to begin purging this neighborhood of the Turks and other immigrants, with the burning of the Turkish quarter in 1996.
(The picture drew a place which was burning with fire)
Tenma : ...
(Urasawa, Over the Roofs. 132. 11-13)
The inculcation of certain ideology to the real condition of life (facts) could be
explained as an addition of ideas of ideology holder to the real existence of life (William 55).
The addition of ideas brought the receiver to the point of believing what the ideology holder
said. Williams writes that ideology is a false consciousness or idea that ‘can be contrasted
with true or scietific knowledge’ (55). This false idea is reflected in the conversation below:
The dialogues above shows that what Johan said is true that all creatures in this universe
would die or nothing last forever in this world. However, Johan used the fact about ‘death’ as
something proper for useless and unwanted creatures. In other words, Johan shares his belief
to a child and the child sees that what he saw fits Johan’s statement. Milosh looked around
him that was full with a crying man, dying drug user, sad and desperate woman, prostitutes,
prostitute who got mistreatment from her customer for his sexual desire and a man with
abnormal behavior sex, mocking person, etc (Urasawa, The Border Town. 99.2-12). What he
saw in his surrounding ensured Milosh that the universe was full of dead useless and
unwanted people: prostitutes, drug user, desperate woman—who are all losers (Urasawa, The
Border Town. 99.2-14).
What Milosh learns from the environment is strengthened by Johan’s statement and
question below:
Johan : You’ll recognizeher when you see her and she’ll recognize you when sees
you. But if no one calls out to you that means nobody wanted you. And then
what will you do? What will you do? (The Most Cruel Thing. 98.18-19)
On the way to find Milosh’s mother, Johan told how to recognize his mother in prostitution
area. However, later Milosh found out that in that place, nobody called him and recognized
him as her child (Urasawa, The Border Town. 99.2-14). This disappointing fact and what
Johan previously stated about the universe and death made Milosh understood what Johan
said to him, agreed with him (The Border Town. 99.14) and going to kill himself because he
was also unwanted and useless (The Border Town. 99.16-17). What Johan did to Milosh
made it natural for the unwanted and useless people to die—as if it was a common sense,
Similarly, Martin believed that ‘the world is so boring and stupid’ (Urasawa, 63.9).
As Johan told Martin, to overcome and conquer the world, someone should be a chosen
person. A chosen person survives death many times, as it is confirmed from the dialogue
below.
Martin : You wanted to know if I was scared when I fell off the building.
Dieter : Oh... Yeah.
Martin : I wasn’t scared. Cause it was a game.
Dieter : A... Game... ?!
Martin : It’s fun. It’s a game.
Dieter : But... But lot’s of people have died from it!!!
Martin : We go up to the roof of an abandoned building, then stand facing each other on the edge... Close our eyes and take step after step. It’s a battle! Whether you fall or not, the survivor is the winner.
Dieter : But why would you do that?
Martin : It’s a wager of fate. Whoever wins is chosen.
(Urasawa, Child’s Sight. 63. 13)
Martin has already been inculcated by the ideology of the communism defenders because he
believes that facing danger is fun. Someone who falls from a high place may feel pain, be
physically handicapped or die. However, if the person survives although s/he feels the pain or
be physically-handicapped, s/he will look like a chosen child, no matter how the child
suffered.
Since Johan easily makes friends with children, they believed Johan. It was actually a
chance for Johan to begin inculcating idea softly and accepted by the children. Meanwhile,
the children did not realize what Johan tell them actually leaded them to death, as it has
written in the dialogue below.
Johan : You seem pretty bored... I’ll bring something in for you.
Johan : If you can’t read comics, how about a picture book?
Child : Psh... Picture book. That’s so dumb. Hey, when is that super game
you were talking about gonna happen? The one where you said you
were gonna be shot! It’s exciting. When’s he gonna come? When’e
that japanese guy gonna be shot! Tell me, Johan!! (Urasawa, Fortune
of Humanity. 64.3)
The dialogue reflects that for the children death is not something frightening or terrible, but
exciting. They thought committing suicide, killing or being killed is a pleasure and an
advantage after Johan said so. Johan tried to inculcate his belief more to a child with a picture
book, from which his personality is developed (64.3,10-19, 31.1, 99.16-17, etc). Literature
can be one of ways to implant an ideology attractively since it is attractive and gives
messages to the readers. Althusser classifies literature as cultural ISA (Althusser 143).
Moreover, Johan had built close friendship with the child that simplified the inculcation his
ideology. Friendship made everybody comfortable to share everything and sympathy to each
other, even to rust each other.
On the other hand, some characters did not want to live as brute or compassionless
figures. They felt compassionless was lifeless, a normal human being who had feeling and
instinct, as it is shown from the dialogue between Grimmer – who ever lived in orphanage,
the place East German trained its perfect warriors to be – and Tenma when they avoided
Milosh to jump to the river below.
Grimmer : Is this the right way to feel Dr. Tenma?
Tenma : ...
Grimmer : Or should I be crying?
Grimmer : I never learned to express any emotion as difficult as this. (Urasawa,
The Border Town. 99.18)
Grimmer finnaly could express his emotion for a child that he loves. The dialogue shows that
before he was free like that moment, he could not feel and express his sympathy for other
people. Some the characters who experience ideology inculcation from institutions are told
that they forget their identities (119.12, 93.9). Emotion and identity seem very important and
they are related to each other. The quotation below is a proof how identity clearing is done:
Grimmer : Day after day of those weird lectures would make your memories
fade... until you couldn’t even remember your own name. (Urasawa,
Memories of Cocoa. 93.9)
What Grimmer says shows how the lectures are used to brainwash the students so that they
forget all they have remembered, even who they really are. Again, education is used as an
Ideological State Apparathuses (Althusser 143). Those strange lectures lead the children to
develop the strange behaviour that is expected by the institution. The children should be
emotionless and nameless since they would be tools for communism defenders and be
controlled by communist leaders. If they know their identities, they will know their selves. If
they know their selves, they will go home, know the strength and the weakness of their
selves; if they know these all, presumably they will know how to interact to other people
which requires emotion. Being tools, they do not need emotion and identities, the most
important thing is doing what is instructed.
Identity and emotion are related. Identity differs one from the others, and this show
that the person exists as a human being and lives as human, which consists not only the body,
but also a living soul who has emotion as stated in the following quotation
General Wolf : Say my name... it is proof that I lived. (Urasawa, What Johan Saw.
In contrast, Johan and his followers do not have names that give them an identity.
General Wolf : The children I found wandering the Czech border... freezing to
death...
Little Nina : I’m... so cold... I’m so hungry... I can’t walk. Tell me... are
we going to die? Please say my name... call me.. by my name.
Little Johan : We don’t have names.
Little Nina : Say my name... My name... (Urasawa, What Johan Saw. 119.11-12)
If Nina feels the need to have a name, Johan does not. He even reminds Nina that they do not
have names. Johan, who has the perfect personality the institution expects, does not have the
same need for a name as Nina does. As a perfect warrior, Johan is brutal and compassionless
so that he is like the nameless monster in the books he has read. A monster does not feel fear,
pity or anything. In short, it is emotionless so that it is also fearless, compassionless and
brute. In other words, by making the children have no name, the institution tries to create
monsters who will do what the institution wants them to without fear and compassion.
Conclusion
The discussion on Monster reveals that an institution, such as the orphanage set up for
children of parents with problems, may be used to instill a certain ideology to its
subordinates; in this case the children. Because the children trust the adults working for the
orphanage or the reading seminar, they accept the ideology without offense: accept, believe
and do what or according to the adults’ said, and do not have different thought from the
The ideology instilled shapes the children’s behavior. Because the children are raised to
be perfect warriors to defend communism, they are trained to be brute and compassionless,
lifeless, nameless and those who think that facing danger and risking their life are exciting. If
they do not have the characteristics of a perfect warrior, they should be pessimistic because
their future will be dark. Besides, the adults who take care of the children as substitute
parents, the orphanage uses classes, a child who has acquired the characteristics, classmates,
teacher as the ideological state apparatuses as well as threats and torture as the repressive
state apparatuses to instill the ideology. In short, it can be said that institutions in general is
Acknowledgement
I cannot do all these things without they who have helped me in great parts with their supports and love, and cheered me up in boredom. They are:
The Owner of the Universe, God who is Almighty. To whom I have an ideology.
My parents who support me in financial, prayers, and loves.
‘Ibu Mertua’ who supports me with her prayers, love, food, and medicine. And also Bapak.
Bapak Fajar Riyatno & Ibu Iswati Pierenika with their kindness and loves
‘Mas Gedhe’, with his honest love, prayers, patience. Everyday is with him.
The best friends who do not stop to support me, accompanying me in good and bad times with their honest love and care: Rizkarina Henning Angrenani, Rinukti Widiasih, Mozes Kurniawan, Chandra Arifin Windarto. And some good friends who ever cheered my life, Monica Selesi, Immanuel Permadi Sri Kusumo, Dwi Sartica, Evi Wisudawati Boru Tobing. Sister who is kind to me, Mbak Keke. Mas Gunarto who is my oldest good friend.
Ririn Kristina who is kind to me. And I feel so sorry for every inconvenience I caused you. And also Bunga Respati Ayu for her presence.
Ibu Lany Kristono, she cares for me, reminds me, cheers me up, and her great help. She is also very patient with me.
Ibu Suzana Maria, my second reader who reads this thesis and casts her power for it.
‘Masnya’ the rental attendant and ‘Om’ the owner of Dino, book rental, who understood my long lateness of returning the comics and gave me discount for the fine.
Ibu Purwanti Kusumaningtyas who kindly lent me her book.
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