Analysis of Social and Inner Conflict in Pat Barker's 'Union Street'.

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Universitas Kristen Maranatha

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ABSTRACT

Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya menganalisis konflik sosial dan konflik batin yang terjadi dalam novel yang berjudul Union Street karya Pat Barker, seorang penulis wanita yang berasal dari Inggris.

Union Street adalah novel pertama yang dibuat oleh Pat Barker dan diterbitkan pada tahun 1982. Novel ini menceritakan tentang tujuh wanita yang harus menghadapi berbagai konflik kehidupan dan mereka berusaha untuk mencari jalan keluar dari konflik-konflik tersebut. Namun, dalam tesis ini saya hanya akan menganalisis tiga tokoh wanita yang bernama Kelly, Lisa dan Alice.

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iv dan akhirnya menghadapi kematian.

Barker ingin menunjukkan kepada para pembaca bahwa menjadi seorang wanita tidaklah mudah. Wanita yang mempunyai konflik sosial dan konflik batin harus membuat keputusan terbaik untuk kehidupan mereka dan tidak mudah menyerah.

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APPENDICES

Synopsis of Union Street

Union Street by Pat Barker is about seven neighbouring women who live at the same street in England. Its name is Union Street. All of them have different problems and they try to solve these problems.

The first, is Kelly Brown. She is eleven years old, her mother and her sister neglect her. One night, she is raped by a stranger. Three weeks later, she tells her mother about the rape but her mother still ignores her. Kelly becomes a loner and hates her mother. She also cuts her hair very short, wears a boy’s shirt and hurts herself. Nobody wants to accompany her and she is always alone.

Joanne Wilson is eighteen years old. She is pregnant. When she tells her boy friend about it, he is angry and blames Joanne. She is afraid of marriage because after getting married, her husband forbids her to work and she does not want to be a housewife and only takes care of the baby. In the end, they are forced to get married although they have not met Joanne’s mother yet.

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she does not want to have the third baby because of the low economic condition. Finally, she can accept and try to love the baby.

Muriel Scaife has a husband whom she loves. Muriel feels depressed because of the illness of her husband and he does not want to go to the doctor. Her husband dies and Muriel blames herself for it and she always feels haunted by her husband’s image. At the end of the story, she can accept her husband’s death and takes care of her children.

Iris King feels disappointed and angry with Brenda, her youngest daughter because of her pregnancy. Iris persuades and asks her daughter to have an abortion. Brenda refuses it but Iris still asks her to do it until she accepts her mother’s request. Iris almost changes her mind when Brenda aborts the baby. Finally, Brenda has undergone an abortion and Iris regrets asking Brenda to do it. Iris decides to love her other grandchildren with all her heart.

Blonde Dinah is sixty years old but she always comes to pub, waiting for a man who wants to be accompanied because she is lonely and poor. Nobody knows where her family is. She is always alone and feels lonely. Finally, she meets George. Dinah asks him to pay one pound to her for having sex with her because she needs the money.

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Biography of the author

Pat Barker is a novelist who is born on 8 May 1943 in Thornaby-on-Tees in Yorkshire, England. She is graduated from London School of Economics and Durham University. Barker also learns about International History, so she becomes a teacher of History and Politics until 1982.

She begins to write at her young age and she is supported to be a writer as her career by the novelist Angela Carter. Barker’s early novels are about hard lives of working-class women living in the North England. Her first novel is Union Street, which is published in 1982 and gets the Fawcett Society Book Prize. This novel is about seven neighbouring women who should face different problems and they try to cope with them. Her second novel is Blow Your House Down, which is published in 1984.

Barker is chosen as one of the 20 ‘Best Young British Novelists’ in 1983. She makes trilogy of novels about the First World War. Her first novel in trilogy is Regeneration (1991), which is made into a film in 1997. The Eye in the Door (1993) is her second novel in trilogy, which wins the Guardian Fiction Prize. The final novel in the series, entitled The Ghost Road (1995), ges the Booker Prize for Fiction.

Her last novel, Border Crossing (2001) is about the relationship between a child psychologist and a murderer. Her new novel is entitled Double Vision. This novel is about the atrocity of war.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

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Union Street by Pat Barker is a story that focuses on seven women who have different problems and how they try to cope with the problems. Kelly Brown, 11 years old, is raped; Joanne, 18 years old, is pregnant and is afraid of marriage because after getting married, her husband forbids her to work but she does not want to be a housewife and only takes care of the baby; Lisa, 22 years old, is married to an alcoholic and rejects the third child; Muriel, is marries to a man who has an illness and dies; Iris, has a problem with her youngest daughter who is pregnant before getting married; Dinah, 60 years old, is lonely; and Alice, 76 years old, who is waiting for her death. After reading the novel, I find that the novel has a unique content and it becomes the reason why I choose to analyze this novel for my thesis. However, I would only focus on three characters, namely Kelly, Lisa and Alice because they represent women in real life who might have to deal with similar problems and they also represent the beginning, the middle and the end of life.

Pat Barker is an author who was born in Thornaby-on Tees in Yorkshire, England, on 8 May 1943. Her early novels deal with the harsh lives of working-class women living in the North England. Her first novel, Union Street (1982) won the Fawcett Society Book Prize; The Eye in the Door (1993) won the Guardian Fiction Prize; The Ghost Road (1995) won the Booker Prize for Fiction.

(http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/)

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dominant element in this novel, I would like to analyze conflicts using formalist approach.

According to Harry Shaw, there are three kinds of conflicts: Social conflict – a struggle between man and man; inner conflict – a struggle between man and himself; physical conflict – a struggle between man and nature (1905:91-92). However, in this thesis, I would only focus on social and inner conflicts faced by Kelly, Lisa and Alice.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

After reading Union Street, the present writer states the problems as follow: 1. What are the conflicts experienced by Kelly, Lisa and Alice?

2. What are the causes and the effects of the conflicts? 3. How are the conflicts resolved?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Based on the statement above, the purposes of the study are: 1. To show the conflicts experienced by Kelly, Lisa and Alice 2. To show the causes and the effects of the conflicts

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

The method of research used in library research. First of all, I read the novel as the primary text. I apply Formalist approach to have better understanding of the conflicts found in the novel. I then gather and search information needed for the thesis from some references and materials from the Internet to support the analysis of the primary text. Finally, I draw the conclusion.

ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

I divide this thesis into three chapters, which are preceded by the Preface and the Abstract. Chapter One is the Introduction, which contains the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research and the Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two deals with the analysis of social and inner conflicts which are faced by three of the women in Pat Barker’s Union Street. Chapter Three is the Conclusion, in which I conclude my analysis of the conflicts in Union Street. The thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices.

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

After analyzing the social and inner conflicts in Union Street by Pat Barker, I would like to draw a conclusion. In the novel, I have found seven female major characters who have to face their own conflicts. In my opinion, Barker wants to show the reader how difficult it is to be a woman. Each character should struggle to cope with her conflicts in order to have a better life. By writing Union Street, Barker wants every woman who faces social or inner conflicts to make the best decision for life and never give up. From the seven female characters, I only focus on three of them: Kelly, Lisa and Alice.

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The next character is Lisa. She is twenty-two years old with two sons and she is pregnant of her third child. She experiences conflicts with her husband, who after being fired, becomes an alcoholic and often hits Lisa. Lisa feels disappointed with her husband’s behaviour. She wants her husband to look for another job and take care of the family. Lisa also experiences an inner conflict concerning her feeling about the baby. She does not want to have her baby who is a daughter because her daughter is different from her sons, but actually she also loves her baby. As a result, Lisa realizes that she cares for her baby and she tries to accept and love her own daughter.

The last character whom I have analyzed is Alice Bell. She is a seventy-six-year old woman who has a stroke. Her conflict starts when she is forced by her son to stay in the Workhouse: a convalescent home for old and poor people. Her son thinks that in the Workhouse, Alice will be safe and there is someone who will take care of her. However, Alice does not want to stay there because for her, the Workhouse is a terrifying place for her and she will feel uncomfortable there. Afterwards, Alice decides to run away from her house and goes to the park. In the end, she dies in peace in her own surroundings.

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The last character, Alice, represents women who face illness, old age and finally, death.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References

Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McGraw-Hill Company, 1905.

Internet Website

Pat Barker’s Biography. April 2006

http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/

Primary Text