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i
IN THE FILM ENTITLED SOMETHING THE LORD MADE
(Pragmatics Approach)
THESIS
Submitted As a Partial Fulfillment of Requirement For the Sarjana Sastra Degree of the English Department
Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts Sebelas Maret University
By:
NUNUNG PERMATA ISTIQOMAH C1307019
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY
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But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and
perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah
Knows, while you know not. (QS 02:261)
If the going is real easy, beware, you may behead down
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vi
DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to:
1. Allaah SWT
2. My ‘number one’ husband in the world Mas Ingsinyur Sigit Rais Raharjo and my Afifah Rais Kanataqiyya
3. My lovely grandmothers
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vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Alhamdulillahirabbil'alamin… All praise is due to Allah Azza Wa Jalla
who guides every step on my life that finally I can accomplish this thesis. Peace
and blessings upon His messenger, the Prophet Muhammad Shalallahu ’Alaihi
Wassalam. I realize that without supports from people surround me, I might not
able to accomplish this thesis. Therefore, I would like to extend a special thank to
those who have given valuable contribution.
1. Drs. Riyadi Santosa, M.Ed., Ph.D, the Dean of Faculty of Letters and Fine
Arts, for approving this thesis.
2. Drs. S. Budi Waskito, M.Pd, as the Head of English Non-Regular Program,
for for the big concern on his students.
3. Drs. Agus Hari Wibowo, M.A, Ph.D as my thesis consultant, for advices and
precious contributions to me from the beginning of the process of thesis
writing until the completion.
4. Dra. Rara Sugiarti, M.Tourism, as my academic consultant, who has helped
me during my academic years.
5. All of the lecturers of English Non-Regular Program who have taught and
provided me with valuable knowledge. Thank you very much for the amazing
experience you shared with us.
6. My beloved family for always believing on me and supporting every decision.
Especially for my grandmother and grandfather, mom and dad, my family in
law (bu’e, maslik, mbahuti, Iwi), sister Mimi, Ayin and Iyang. Without their
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viii
accomplishing my thesis. You are the best I ever have.
8. My “PMH”and “lascar TPA” thanks for togetherness, happiness, and sadness
with you all in such a great family. Be istiqomah in dakwah.
9. My family of English Non-Regular Program; De’ Ayuukk Nurwati (for her
generous time every time I need her), Alita darli, Fuyuu Dhian Dhilandy S.S,
(for the great friendship, love and support) Yume S.S, Arini Chan S.S,
Budosen Shoeshy_Nandi S.S, Indra, Ksatria Bisu “Dhika” (missing our
sms_short stories), ten angels (Mega and friends), class B (Hana and friends)
and many more. I hope we will maintain this friendship forever.
10.Everyone who loves and supports me in finishing the thesis.
I realize that this thesis is far from being perfect. Therefore, I look forward
to any supporting criticisms and suggestions. I hope that this thesis will be useful
for everyone who reads it.
Surakarta, March 6, 2013
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ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE……….. i
APPROVAL BY THESIS CONSULTANT………... ii
APPROVAL BY THESIS BOARD OF EXAMINERS………. iii
PRONOUNCEMENT………... iv
G. The Synopsis of the Movie Something the Lord Made... 19
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x CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Type of Research………... 23
B. Data and Source Data………... 24
C. Technique of Collecting Data……….. 25
D. Technique of Analyzing Data……….. 25
E. Technique of Coding Data... 26
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION A. Introduction……….... .. 27
B. Data Analysis………... 28
C. Discussion………... 62
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION A. Conclusion……… 70
B. Suggestion………... .. 72
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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xi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1. The type of speech act and the number of data…... 62
Table 4.2. The type of speech act and form of act………... 63
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xii ABSTRACT
Nunung Permata Istiqomah. C1307019. Speech Act Analysis of Anger in the Film Entitled Something the Lord Made. Thesis: English Department of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts. Sebelas Maret University.
The research is conducted to analyze the speech act of anger employed by the characters in the film entitled Something the Lord Made. The research explores the speech act to extend anger and the reason why the characters express the anger.
The research uses pragmatics study to analyze the types of speech act to deliver anger. The descriptive qualitative research is employed in this research. All of anger utterances in the film Something the Lord Made are taken as the data. There are 13 data which have been analyzed by using Searle’s theory of speech act.
The findings of the analysis can be seen as follows: First, there are five types of speech act employed by the characters in the film Something the Lord Made to extend the anger. The types of speech act are directives, representatives, declarations, commisives and expressive. Directive is mostly used by the participants in the film. There are eleven scenes which show that the speakers employ directive by conveying questions, commands and requests to extend anger to hearers. Speakers use representative in four data by giving explanations and claims to send anger. Speakers use declarations in four data by employing declaration to send anger. The speakers use commisive in two scenes by giving promise and threat. The last is expressive, the speaker uses this type once by swearing.
Second, there are four reasons which influence the speakers to extend the anger to hearers. They are legitimate power, close relationship, social distance relationship and expert power. The speakers who have legitimate power tend to use directive in delivering anger to the hearer. The choice of representative is influenced by the social distance relationship in expressing the anger. While the use of declaration is influenced by close relationship among the participants.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Research Background
People use language to communicate with others. Language is used to
express the idea and convey all messages. In attempting to express those, people
do not only produce utterances containing grammatical structures and words but
also perform actions via those utterances (Yule, 1996:47). It means that people
communicate each other to deliver message in verbal or non verbal language.
One of the utterances that often arouse in our daily life is anger expression.
Anger can give very positive functions when expressed properly. Some facts show
that anger can have beneficial effects on health, relationship and work of people.
Socially, many positive changes can happen from anger, for example, Indonesian
reformation in 1998 or the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Anger is important
among emotions that play an outstanding role in development of personality.
Anger is more frequently and easily aroused than other feelings. There are so
many ways to express our anger. Usually, we express out anger feeling by
speaking some utterances or an utterance in harsh intonation. Sometimes our
harsh intonation is followed by non verbal language like facial expression and
some attitude showing the anger.
In other words, it can be said that people have different ways to express
their anger. When the speaker delivers his anger straightforward to the hearer, the
hearer may lose his face. People often do many kinds of speech act due to their
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anger. Hence, the speaker needs to use certain kinds of act to deliver their anger so
that the expressions do not sound rude and the speaker will consider as a polite
person. Dealing with that occurrence, the writer takes a film entitled Something
the Lord Made produced by Joseph Sargent as the source of data.
In this section, the researcher will also explain about the reason of
choosing this film as source of data. The film Something the Lord Made is a film
based on the true story. It tells about the life of a white surgeon (Dr. Blalock) and
his lab technician (Vivien) who works together for years. In that era, the black
always got discrimination in all aspects in daily life. However, their relationship
as work partner leads them to achieve the greatest success in invention of cardiac
surgery. This film is very touching because in its era, the brilliant black (Vivien)
is almost never recognized for his invaluable assistance in that effort.
Beside the interesting story, the researcher uses this film as the source of
data because this film uses the language that represents the real conversation of
daily life. Even though this movie set in early 1940s, it still represents the validity
of using language in this era, especially the used of anger expression.
Based on the background above, the researcher is interested to conduct a
research in the form of thesis entitled Speech Act Analysis of Anger in the Film
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B. Research Questions
Based on the research objectives above, this research intends to answer the
following questions:
1. What speech acts are exploited by the characters in the film Something the
Lord Made to express the anger?
2. Why do the characters express the anger to hearer?
C. Research Objectives The objectives of the research are:
1. To identify the speech act employed by the characters in the film entitled
Something the Lord Made to express the anger.
2. To discover the reason why the characters express the anger.
D. Research Benefits
The research of speech act analysis of anger expression in the film
Something the Lord Made is expected to give contributions as follows:
1. English Department students
The research gives an input and understanding about how speech act is
extended during anger. By conducting this research, the researcher expects
that English Department students are more aware about the speech act
during the anger in everyday conversation so that the research will help them
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2. Other researchers
The research gives benefit for other researchers to conduct a deeper research
of related study. This research will help other researchers in the same topic
of speech act as a reference for further research.
3. Public
It will give more information about how to employ kinds of speech act. By
doing this research, the researcher expects that the public will have a
comprehension about how a certain act is exploited by considering the
context and situation during the anger.
E. Research Limitation
The research focuses on the scene containing anger expression. The
research identifies the kinds of speech acts used by the characters to extend the
anger expression and the factors influencing the characters to choose the kinds of
speech acts. To analyze the data, Searle’s theory of speech act of is applied in this
research. This research uses a movie entitled Something the Lord Made produced
by Joseph Sargent in 2004.
F. Research Method
This research employs a descriptive qualitative method. It intends to solve
problems by collecting data, classifying data, analyzing data, and drawing the
conclusion. The sources of data of this research are the conversations between
characters in the movie entitled Something the Lord Made. Purposive sampling
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extending anger and also the factors that support the use of each politeness
strategies. Further details of Research Method will be clarified in Chapter III.
G. Thesis Organization
The organization of this research is based on the following arrangement:
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION. It consists of Research Background, Research
Objectives, Research Question, Research benefits, Research
Limitation, Research Methodology and Thesis Organization.
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW. It provides the explanation of
Pragmatics, Speech Act, Context, Expression of Anger, Film
Theory, Review Related Study of Anger Expression and The
Synopsis of the Something the Lord Made.
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. It consists of the Type of
Research, Data and Source of Data, Sample and technique of
Sampling, Instruments of the Research, Technique of Analyzing
data, Data Coding and Technique of Analyzing Data.
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. It reviews and discusses the
result of the research findings.
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION. It presents the conclusion
of the research and recommends possible avenues for further
research
BIBILIOGRAPHY
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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
In analyzing the data, some theories are needed as basic requirements. This
chapter provides some theories related to the topic which covers the definition
Pragmatics, Speech act, Classification of Speech act, Expression of anger, Film
theory, Synopsis of film and related study.
A.Pragmatics
In this part, the researcher provides some definitions of pragmatics taken
from several linguists. Pragmatics is one of linguistic branches that is newly
developed by linguists. This study is discovered after previous study of linguistics
field such as phonology, morphology, semantics and syntax. It concerns with the
study of utterance meaning by the speaker and interpreted by the hearer.
Levinson (1983:24) states that pragmatics is the study of the ability of
language users to pair sentences with the contexts in which they would be
appropriate. The definition leads to the analysis that pragmatics cannot be
separated from context and principles of language usage. Therefore, to understand
pragmatics meaning of the speaker, people should consider the principles of
language used by the speaker.
Meanwhile, Thomas (1995:22) defines pragmatics as meaning in
interaction. He states that in understanding speaker‟s meaning, it involves the
negotiation of meaning between the speaker and the hearer, the context of
utterance (physical, social and linguistic) and the meaning potential of an
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utterance. It is because meaning in interaction relates to context and meaning
potential of an utterance. Hence, it is not something which is inherent in the words
alone or is produced by the speaker or the hearer alone.
Yule (1996:3) states pragmatics as the study of contextual meanings. This
type of study necessarily involves the interpretation of what people mean in the
particular context and how the context influences what is said. It also requires a
consideration of how speakers organize what they want to say in accordance with
who they are talking to, where, when and under what circumstance.
Yule (1996:3) develops the Thomas‟s definition and divides the definition
of pragmatics into four, pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning, pragmatics is
the study of contextual meaning, pragmatics is the study of how more gets
communicated than what is said and pragmatics is the study of the expression of
relative distance.
1. Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning
Pragmatics relates to the study of meaning uttered by the speaker and
interpreted by the listener. It analyzes the meaning behind what people say
rather than what the words might mean by themselves.
2. Pragmatics is the study of contextual meaning
People always consider to whom they are talking to, where, when, and under
what circumstances in the communication. It is because a particular context
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3. Pragmatics is the study of how more gets communicated than what is said
Pragmatic discovers how a great deal of what is unsaid is recognized as part of
what is communicated. Similarly, pragmatics is the study of „invisible
meaning‟.
4. Pragmatics is the study of the expression of relative distance
People will not say anything to anyone whom they do not recognize well.
Therefore, closeness whether it is physical, social or conceptual, implies
shared experience.
From many definitions above, it can be seen that pragmatics is a
significant field to study. A sentence can only be assigned the right truth
conditions if the context of a sentence is taken into an account. So, it can be
concluded that pragmatics is the study about language that is always related to the
context of the speaker and the hearer. In short, pragmatics stresses on the relation
between language and context. Thus the context has played a very important role
and it also has given many contributions either in spoken or in written language.
B. Speech acts 1. The Definition of Speech acts
Speech act is a part of Pragmatics. As Levinson (1983:27) defines, one of
the central topics of pragmatics is speech acts. This part will provide the definition
and the classification of speech acts. For the discussion of the definition of speech
acts, below is the quotation from John R. Searle and George Yule about speech
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According to Searle (1969: 16) the unit of linguistic communication is not
the symbol, word or sentence, but rather the production or issuance of the symbol
or word or sentence in the performance of the speech acts. Speech acts are the
basic minimal units of linguistic communication.
Meanwhile, Yule (1996:47) defines that speech acts is action performed
via utterance. In English, speech acts are commonly given more specific labels,
such as apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, request or any other
acts. She states that in attempting to express something, people not only produce
utterances containing grammatical structured words but also perform actions via
those utterances. Those actions, which are performed via utterance, are called
speech act. The action performed by producing an utterance will consist of three
related acts. Yule (1996:48) states that speech acts relate to three acts. They are
locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act.
a. Locutionary act
It is the basic of utterance or the literal meaning of the utterance. In other
words, locutionary act is the utterance of a sentence which determines sense
and reference.
b. Illocutionary act
The act is performed via the communicative force of an utterance. The
illocutionary act can be uttered both directly and indirectly.
c. Perlocutionary act
A simple utterance has a function to bring the effect from that utterance.
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is the result or the effect produced by the utterance. A speaker may utter
sentence on the assumption that the hearer will recognize the effect intended.
In short, a locutionary act is the act of saying something.
Those acts above will be explained with the examples below:
“ The music is so noisy”
The locutionary act is the meaning of utterance itself. It means that the
music is so noisy. While the illocutionary act is the speaker intends to say “I want
to have a silence situation”, and the perlocutionary act is that someone might turn
off the music.
2. The Classification of Speech act
There are various classifications of speech act which are conveyed by
linguists. The researcher will provide the discussion of speech act classification
from John L. Austin and John R. Searle.
a. Austin’s Classification
The first classification of speech act was provided by Austin (1962). He
divided utterances into five categories. They are veridicatives, exercitives,
commisive, behabitives and expositives.
1) Veridicatives.
It is typed by giving verdict, estimate, grade or appraisal. For example: He
is a good husband.
2) Exercitives.
This kind of utterance is the exercising powers, right and influence.
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3) Commisive.
It is typed by promising or undertaking and committing one to do
something.
For example: I will give reward to anybody who can find my earing.
4) Behabitives.
This category is related with such matters as apologizing, congratulating,
blessing, cursing, and challenging.
For example: Congratulation for your graduation!
5) Expositives.
This term is used to refer to how people make utterances fit into argument
or exposition.
For example: My sister studies in Jakarta, while my brother studies in Solo.
b. Searle’s Classification
Searle (1979) provides classification of speech act in what he calls “the
basic categories of illocutionary acts”. The categories are representatives,
directives, commisives, expressive and declarations.
1) Representatives
This is a kind of speech act that states what the speaker believes to be the
case or not. The speaker‟s purpose in performing representatives is to
commit him / her to the belief that the prepositional content of the
utterances is true. Statements are of fact, assertions, conclusions,
description, etc.
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2) Directives
The speaker‟s purpose in performing directives is to get the hearer to
commit him / her to the future course of action (verbal or non-verbal).
Usually directives are defined as all attempts by the speaker to get the
hearer to do something or not to do something. They are commands,
orders, request, prohibits, questions, suggestions, etc.
For example: Close the door!
3) Commisives
The speaker commits his/herself in varying degrees to some future course
action. On the other word, the speaker creates an obligation by committing
a certain future action. It is almost identical with Austin‟s commissives.
The direction of fit is “world to words”. They are promises, threats,
refusals, pledges, etc.
For example: I will buy you a present tomorrow.
4) Expressives
This type is to express a psychological state of the speaker. Thre is no
direction of fit, as the intention is neither to describe the world nor to exert
an influence on future events, rather the truth of the prepositional content
is taken for granted. They are flattering, giving compliment,
congratulating, welcoming, dislike, thanking, etc.
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5) Declarations
The point of declaration is to declare something. It has function to change
the world via their utterance. The direction of fit included “words to
world” and “world to words” as actual expression of the declaration that
brings about a change in reality. They are declaring, naming, marrying,
etc.
For Example: I name this cat Catty.
C. Context
Language and context cannot be separated. Context has the important role
in understanding the meaning of an utterance. In this part, the researcher provides
some explanations about the importance of context in pragmatics.
Levinson (1983:21) states that pragmatics is the study of relation between
language and context. To understand the meaning of an utterance, people cannot
ignore the context since it might cause different interpretation from what is
expected.
In addition, Huang (2007:13) refers context to any relevant features of
dynamic setting or environment in which a linguistic unit is systematically used.
Furthermore, context can be seen as a composition of three different sources. The
first type is physical context which refers to physical setting of utterance. The
second type is the linguistic context which refers to surrounding utterances in the
same discourse. The third is general knowledge context. This involves a set of
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Concerning the importance of context in any kind of language used,
Hymes sets the context of speech event into some factors abbreviated as
SPEAKING formula (in Fasold, 1996). The factors are the situation, the
participants, the ends, the act sequence, the key the instrument, the norms and the
genre.
1. Situation (S)
Situation is composed of the setting and the scene. The setting constitutes
physical circumstance in which speech takes place, including the time and
place. Scene refers to the abstract physiological setting or the cultural
definition of the occasion.
2. Participants (P)
Participants are persons who are involved in a conversation. Participants
consist of (a) An addresser, a speaker who produces the utterances. (b) An
addressee, a hearer who receives the utterances. (c) The audiences, the over
hearers may contribute to specification of the speech events.
3. Ends (E)
The ends can be divided into outcomes and goals. Outcomes can be described
as the purpose of speech based on the cultural point of view. Meanwhile, the
goal of a speech is a purpose of each participant during communication.
4. Act Sequence (A)
Act sequence comprises message form (how something is said) and message
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participants, whereas the message content deal with what the participants talk
about or it is simply called a topic of conversation.
5. Key (K)
Key refers to tone, manner, or spirit in which speech is carried out, whether it
is mock or serious, per functionary or painstaking. Key also refers to the
feeling, atmosphere, and attitude. Manner, feeling, and attitude are used in
reference to the participants, whereas tone and atmosphere are used in
reference to the situation. The more detailed aspects of the key will be seen
clearly as follows:
a. Tone: it refers to general spirit of the scene, such as brave, fierce, and
tearful.
b. Manner: it refers to the participant‟s way of behaving toward, whether it is
polite, impolite, formal, informal, intimate, distant, relaxed, serious,
mocking, respectful, etc.
c. Feeling: it refers to emotions indicating happiness, terror, excitability,
anxiety, shock, desperation, anger, neutrality, irony, uncertainty,
frustration, etc.
d. Atmosphere: it refers to the feeling that affects the mind in a place or
condition, for example good, evil, or solemn.
e. Attitude: it refers to participant‟s way of thinking and behaving toward a
situation whether it is sympathy, optimistic, pessimistic, resolute, serious,
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6. Instrument (I)
Instrumentalities include both channel and form of speech. Channel simply
means the way a message travels from one person to another. The most
commonly used channels are oral and written, but message can also be
transmitted by such means as telegraph, smoke signals, semaphore, and etc.
Hymes defines forms of speech as the actual of speech employed such as
language, dialects, codes, varieties, and registers that is chosen
7. Norms (N)
Norms of communication include both interaction and interpretation. Cultural
aspects of certain community determine both of them. Norms of interaction
refers to an underlying something of non-linguistics rules which governs
when, how, and how often speech occurs which is commonly have by all
communities and varies from one culture to another. Norms of interpretation is
more or less, what we mean by the expression reading between the lines. It
involves trying o understand what is being conveyed beyond what is in actual
words used.
8. Genre (G)
Genre refers to the categories like poems, prayer, riddle, myth, tale, proverbs,
lectures, commercial message, etc. In Hymes view, casual speech is not in the
absence of any genre but a genre of its own.
In summary, context has many roles in spoken and written language. If
people do not know the context of situation, they may interpret different thing
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in delivering and receiving meaning from hearer. On the other word, recognizing
the context of the situation is highly essential to understand the intended meaning
of the speaker in a conversation.
D. Expression of Anger
Anger is one of many reactions of human being in their life. Anger can
happen if there is an interaction between two or more people. Angry feeling is
human because man normally has experienced anger since he/she was a baby.
Based on the Encyclopedia of Experimental Psychology Vol.2, it is stated
that :
“Anger is a feeling that most typifies for striving for power and domination. Its purpose is the rapid and forceful destruction of every obstacle in the way of the anger person” (2004 : 533)
People usually use anger as the way to express their protest in a manner
that is very painful for everyone else (ibid :534). On the other words, anger is
expression of dislike with something as the result of the situation and condition
which are not suitable with the speaker.
Anger can vary widely (from mild irritation to intense fury) and can be
sparked by a variety of things (specific people, events, memories, or personal
problems). Anger is a natural and potentially productive emotion. However, anger
can get out of control and become destructive and problematic.
Rebecca (1992: 23) states that people get angry when their expectations
are not met -- whether those expectations are about the future, about themselves,
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control, unrealistically expecting all people to behave and all situations to turn out
as we think they should. Anger over these unmet expectations often leads us to
blame others and shift aggression towards them.
Anger is an emotion related to one's psychological interpretation of having
been offended, wronged or denied and a tendency to undo that by retaliation. The
external expression of anger can be found in facial expressions, body language,
physiological responses, and at times in public acts of aggression. Humans and
animals for example make loud sounds, attempt to look physically larger, bare
their teeth, and stare. The behaviors associated with anger are designed to warn
aggressors to stop their threatening behavior. Rarely does a physical altercation
occur without the prior expression of anger by at least one of the participants.
E. Film Theory
Film is one of the art works. Film is the illusion of reality in visual media.
It shows the audience images in illusory motion, which is represented on the
screen, acted by stars, has its own style, genres, and social events.
The study of the film has a close relationship with society. Allen and
Gomery (1998) give a discussion in the relation films and societies. The making
of the film also has a social dimension for several reasons. Film makers are
members of society and as such are no less subject to social pressures and norms
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In accordance with the relation of society and also reflects social
phenomena as stated by Allen and Gomery (1998)
“In fictional films, characters are given attitudes, gestures, sentiments,
motivations, and appearance that is in part at least based on social roles
and on worker, debutante, mother, or husband is supposed to act”.
From the definition above, it can be concluded that whatever the kind of
film, it is a reflection of social life. “Something the Lord Made” is a genre of
drama film that represents an American citizen‟s life which has problematic issue
in the society of American segregation era.
F. The Synopsis of the Movie Something the Lord Made
Below is the description of the source of data, a film entitled Something
the Lord Made taken from www.imdb.com.
Title : Something the Lord Made
Starring : Alan Rickman as Dr. Alfred Blalock
Moss Def as Vivien Thomas
Kyra Sedgwick as Mary Blalock
Gabrielle Union as Clara Thomas
Writer : Peter Silverman and Robert Caswell.
Director : Joseph Sargent
Genre : Drama.
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Here is the synopsis of the film taken from www.imdb.com. The movie tells about the true story of the extraordinary 34-year partnership which begins in
Depression Era Nashville in 1930, when Blalock hires Vivien Thomas as an
assistant in his Vanderbilt University laboratory to perform janitorial work. Alfred
Blalock is a young smart cardiologist who has high confidence and ambitious.
While Vivien Thomas, an African-American without a college degree who is a
gifted mechanic and tool-maker with hands finely skilled at surgery. Knowing the
Vivien‟s talent, Blalock asks him to be his lab technician. The drama starts when
they move in 1941 from Vanderbilt to Johns Hopkins, an institution where the
only black employees are janitors and where Thomas must enter by the back door.
Together, they boldly attack the devastating heart problem of Blue Baby
Syndrome, and in so doing they open the field of heart surgery. Blalock and
Thomas take on the challenge of blue babies and invent bypass surgery. After
many trials on dogs, their first patient is baby Eileen, sure to die without the
surgery. They succeed to save the baby‟s life through first heart surgery.
The film dramatizes their race to save dying Blue Babies against the
background of a Racial Segregation America, illuminating the nuanced and
complex relationship the two sustain. Thomas gets Blalock's respect, with Blalock
praising the results of Thomas' surgical skill as being "like something the Lord
made", and insisting that Thomas coach him through the first Blue Baby surgery
over the protests of Hopkins administrators. In 1941, in defiance of custom and
Jim Crow, Blalock brings Thomas into the surgery to advise him, but when Life
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relationship because Thomas feels disappointed with the situation. Thomas
decides to resign from his work and tries other jobs. However he realizes that his
passion is working in Johns Hopkins lab. Finally, he goes back to Johns Hopkins
to continue his work at Johns Hopkins training surgeons with Blalock until
Blalock‟s death. In the end of the story, in a formal ceremony, Johns Hopkins
recognizes Thomas' work and awards him an honorary doctorate. A portrait of
Thomas is placed on the walls of Johns Hopkins next to Blalock's portrait, which
has been hung there years earlier.
G. Related Study
In conducting the research, the researcher uses some related study to find
out the research gap:
Firstly is a research entitled “Expression of Anger Used by Characters in
the Play Desire under the Elm Written by Eugene O‟neill”. This research was
conducted by Veronika Sintha Saraswati (2001). In her research, she focused on
the forms of verbal implicit anger expression and the reason behind of those
forms. She used pragmatic approach in analyzing the data. The purposes of this
research are how the form of verbal implicit anger expression used by characters
in the play and why do the characters choose this forms to express the anger.
Secondly is a research entitled “An analysis on the expression of anger
employed by the characters in the film entitled Crash”. The researcher is
conducted by Tri Lestari (2011). The research was conducted to describe the form
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describe how the characters in the film used the expression of anger and to find
out the reason of the use of the expression of anger in the film. She uses
Socio-pragmatic approach as the way of the analysis. She focuses on the forms of
expression of anger into direct and indirect form and the reasons why do the
character choose the anger expression.
In those researches, they only focused on the form of anger expression, the
context of situation, and the reason why the characters used the expression.
Meanwhile, this research will study about the type of speech act used by the
speaker to deliver the anger which has not been researched by previous researcher
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the researcher presents the research method of this study.
The method is used to reach the objectives of the research which are stated in
chapter I. The researcher begins with the explanation about the type of this
research, data and the source of data and then continued with technique of
collecting data, technique of coding data, and technique of analyzing data.
A. Type of Research
The descriptive qualitative method is employed as the type of this
research. Wiersma (1994:12) states that qualitative research has its origins in
descriptive analysis and is essentially an inductive process, reasoning from the
specific situation to a general conclusion. Hence, qualitative research cannot be
separated from descriptive analysis.
Descriptive research means that the data are collected in the form of
words, sentences, or pictures having meaning other than merely number
(Moleong, 2001:6). Moreover, Bodgan and Taylor in (Moleong, 2001:3) state that
qualitative research is a research which presents descriptive data in the form of
written and oral words of human and human behavior that can be observed
For those reasons, this research belongs to descriptive qualitative research
since it focuses on the explanation of speech act used by the characters in the film
Something the Lord made to express the anger and the reason why characters send
the anger to hearers.
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B. Data and Source of Data
Sutopo (2002:47) states that qualitative research emphasizes inductive
analysis in which data are occupied as the basic modal of understanding not as
instrument to prove. Hence, the data play significant part in the research. The term
data refers to a collection of information. Subroto (1992:7) argues that in
qualitative research, the data may appear in the form of discourse, sentence,
clause, word or even morpheme. In this research, the data emerge in the form of
sentences from dialogues uttered by the characters of the movie containing anger
expression. All data are taken and then classified based on Searle’s theory of
speech act.
More detail, Schreiber (2008) affirms that qualitative data are generally
non-numerical but have a greater variety of sources. The data sources are
generally categorized as verbal and nonverbal. Nonverbal data sources include
items such as student concept maps, kinship diagrams, pictures, video, movie, art
and print advertisements. Hence, the researcher takes the movie entitled
Something the Lord made produced by Joseph Sargent in 2004 as the source of
data for this research. There are two reasons why the movie is taken as the source
of data:
1. The movie Something the Lord made represents daily life conversation which
tells about the partnership of two persons from different social background
and race. Hence, the researcher uses this movie as the source of data since its
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2. Something the Lord made pictures the best way how two characters from the
different race and social status can have the great partnership. However, they
often express anger one to another. So, it is interested in knowing the way the
character delivers anger to other characters by using certain of speech act.
C. Technique of Collecting Data
The data of the research are collected by doing the following procedures:
1. Replaying the movie Something the Lord made as the source of data by
computer for several times.
2. Searching and copying the transcript of the movie Something the Lord made
from the internet on http://www.script-o-rama.com.
3. Comparing the conversation of the movie with the transcript.
4. Editing the transcript of the movie to the dialogues of the characters in the
movie by adding or deleting words or sentences.
5. Copying the conversation containing the expression of anger
6. Classifying the data based on the Searle’s theory of speech act.
7. Giving codes on each datum.
D. Technique of Analyzing Data
The collected data were analyzed based on the following procedures:
1. Describing the context of situation based on the theory of context.
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3. Discussing the finding.
4. Drawing conclusion from data analysis and giving suggestions.
5.
E. Technique of Coding Data
In order to make the analysis easier, I give a code on each datum. The
coding is based on the order of datum and the exact time when anger occurs on
CD. The following is the example of coding:
Datum 1 CD 1/10.30” William : You know what my grandfather did?
Harold : It has nothing to do with me going out on strike.
William : I said ‘Do you know what my grandfather did?’
Harold : Yes. He picked cotton in Mississippi. You told me a hundred times
William : My grandfather was a piece of property. No better than that chair or table over there. His son became a free man at the age of 15. He raised me with hardly an elementary school education. Now I see my son graduate college and go on to teach school. So don't tell me things don't get better over time.
Harold : Things don't just get better. People got to change things, Pop. Make them better. If I don't do something, I'll be a dead man before I get paid like white teachers do.
The coding Datum 1 CD 1/10.30” means it is datum number 1 in the data found in the movie. The dialogue happens on CD 1 and it occurs in the
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter aims to answer the research questions which are mentioned in
Chapter I. This chapter is divided into two sub-chapters. They are analysis and
discussion.
The first sub-chapter is data analysis where the data of the research is
analyzed based on the theories presented in the literature review part of this thesis.
There are three steps in analyzing the data. They are:
1. The scene containing anger expression.
In this section, the researcher presents the scene containing anger
expressions. The previous or the following scene which relates to the data is also
included. This is done in order to make the readers understand the scene easily.
2. The description of the context.
This part describes the context of the data where the anger expression
happens. It includes the participants in the situation, the action of the participants,
and any other related features of the situation which support the analysis of anger
expression.
3. The analysis of anger expression.
The research questions are answered one by one in this part by following
steps:
a. The researcher describes what type of speech act used by the speakers
to extend their anger. The type of speech acts are analyzed using
Searle’s theory of speech act .
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b. The researcher defines the reason why the characters express the anger
to hearer. Here, the researcher explains the whole result of the analysis
to answer the research questions stated in chapter I. They are what type
of speech acts used by the characters to extend the anger, and the
factors that influence the choice of speech act.
A. Data Analysis
Datum 1 CD 1/10.30”
William : You know what my grandfather did?
Harold : It has nothing to do with me going out on strike. William : I said „Do you know what my grandfather did?‟
Harold : Yes. He picked cotton in Mississippi. You told me a hundred times William : My grandfather was a piece of property. No better than that
chair or table over there. His son became a free man at the age of 15. He raised me with hardly an elementary school education. Now I see my son graduate college and go on to teach school. So don't tell me things don't get better over time.
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black teacher rightly. He wants his son to stop his activity as activist that often
goes on strike to fight for the equality. Another participant of the conversation is
Harold Thomas. He is the oldest son in his family. He works as a teacher.
However, he does not satisfy with the race discrimination in which black people
do not get the same salary as white teachers. He wants to get the same right as
white by going on strike.
The conversation above takes place in their house, rightly in the living
room when William Thomas is reading a newspaper. Both participants have close
relationship as father and son who stay in the same house. However, they have
different roles of status. Father has superior status since he is the man who raises
Harold, while Harold has subordinate status as he is the son. Automatically,
Father has more legitimate power than Harold.
The film happens in 1930 when the black community is segregated.
Harold is the teacher as well as activist that often goes on strike to fight for black
right as teacher. He thinks that going on strike will help his community to get
better condition. However, William Thomas does not have the same opinion with
his son.
The Analysis of the anger expression a. Type of speech act exploited in the scene
The anger is extended by William Thomas to his son, Harold. They are in
a long debate in the living room. Harold thinks that his act of going on strike is
right. However, his father wants his son to thank their condition now that is much
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the same question to his son keeps “You know what my grandfather did?” Harold
does not answer the question, but then he says “It has nothing to do with me going
out on strike”. As the superior, William does not satisfy with his son’s answer.
William puts down the newspaper and then he repeats the question with higher
tone. Even though Harold answers rightly, Father is not happy with the statement
“You told me hundred times” in the end of his answer because it shows that his
father question does not give any effect to make Harold understand. William puts
down his newspaper and says, “My grandfather was a piece of property. No better than that chair or table over there. His son became a free man at the age of 15. He raised me with hardly an elementary school education. Now I see my son graduate college and go on to teach school. So don't tell me things don't get better over time” . He shows his anger by explaining about condition
of his family in the past and present. He emphasizes his anger in his last sentence
by saying command “So don't tell me things don't get better over time”. By saying so, William wants his son to understand that their family in the present is
much better that the past. From the analysis, it can be concluded that William uses
type of speech act Directives and representative to express the anger. Directives
includes act of questioning and commanding. Representative includes act of
explaining.
b. The reason why the characters express the anger
There are two factors that influence William Thomas to use those kinds of
acts in his anger to Harold. First is their close relationship as father and son. As a
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stubborn man. Next factor is that William Thomas has legitimate power to Harold
since he is the father. Hence, he has more authority to express his anger directly.
Datum 2 CD 1/13.01”
Took me seven years to save that money.
Harold : You're not the only one who had money in that bank. William : It's done! It's over with!
Clara : We still got each other, Viv. Harold : Yeah, we got each other.
That's all poor people ever have is each other.
The Description of Context
The conversation takes place in the living room of Thomas family. The
participants of the conversation are Mrs. Thomas, William Thomas, Vivien
Thomas, Clara and Harold Thomas. Mrs. Thomas, William Thomas, Vivien
Thomas and Harold Thomas have close relationship, as they are family who stay
in the same house. They are African-American family who live in the American
Segregation Era. Mr. Thomas is the head of the family who has two sons, Harold
and Vivien. Harold Thomas is the oldest son of Mr. Thomas. He works as a
teacher.
Vivien is the youngest son of the family without a college degree. He is a
gifted mechanic and toolmaker with hands splendidly adept at surgery janitor. He
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When the conversation happens, Vivian works as a lab technician of Dr. Alfred
Alfred. Previously, he works as a carpenter. Clara is Vivien’s girlfriend who also
has the close relationship with the family.
The conversation happens in the family room. They sit in the sofa with the
unhappy situation. Vivien and Clara just went back from the bank where Vivien
saves his money for his college study. Unfortunately, the bank is bankrupt and the
customer cannot get their money back. Thomas family is very disappointed of the
incidents because they save their money in that bank. It seems that they cannot
accept it.
In this situation, Clara tries to strengthen his boyfriend, Vivien. He feels so
disappointed to realize that his hard work for seven years is gone in a day. It also
means that he cannot realize his dream to study in university to be a doctor. He
delivers his disappointment by saying “Took me seven years to save that money”.
It shows that Vivien still cannot accept it because he has collected the money for
seven years for his study. Thomas, Vivien’s older brother, thinks that Vivien is
not the one only who lost his money so he does not need to say that.
The Analysis of Anger Expression
a. Type of speech act exploited in the scene
Mr. Thomas extends his anger to his sons when they quarrel over their lost
money. Mr. Thomas as their father is not happy with his sons that quarrel each
other. In fact, Mr. Thomas is annoyed by his sons who seem not to accept the fact
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declaring, “It's done! It's over with!”. Through his saying, Mr. Thomas wants his sons in order to make them stop debating about their money. Hence, Mr. Thomas
delivers the anger to remind his sons that they shall be able to overcome the
problems by forgetting it. Mr. Thomas wants his family to forget it because they
cannot do anything to take their money back. From the analysis, it is known that
Mr. Thomas delivers his anger using declarations by declaring that everything is
done and over.
b. The reason why the characters express the anger
There are two factors which influence Mr. Thomas to express his anger.
First is their close relationship as family. As they always stay in the same house,
Mr. Thomas knows his sons very well. Hence, he feels free to express his anger
to his sons baldly that his sons should stop talking about their lost money. Next
factor is that Mr. Thomas has legitimate power to his sons since he is the father
that raises both of them. Hence, he has more authority to express the anger to his
sons directly.
Datum 3 CD 1/17:15”
Dr. Alfred : Let's look at the record of our work. Where's the smoked drums? Vivien : I'm sorry?
Dr. Alfred : The smoked drums. You didn't set the smoked drums? Vivien : What is a smoked drum?
Dr. Alfred : That's a smoked drum. What the fuck is wrong with you? I record all the information I need on a smoked drum. Vivien : I did not know that.
Dr. Alfred : Is nobody listening to me?
God damn it! I have to do everything myself. A whole day's work goes down the toilet, and I have to start all over again. Do you have sawdust or just plain shit for brains?
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The Description of Context
The dialogue happens in Vanderbilt Experimental Surgery Laboratory
where Vivien does the experiment. The dialogue occurs between Dr. Alfred and
Vivien. Dr. Alfred is a young cardiologist who seems to be self-confident to the
point of arrogance. Vivien, an African-American without a college degree, is a
gifted mechanic and toolmaker with hands splendidly adept at surgery. When
Vivien comes to Dr. Alfred, he works as janitor. Then Dr. Alfred recognizes that
Vivien has the excellent memory. Therefore, he asks him to be his lab-technician.
They have not known each other very well since Vivien is a new lab
technician. Moreover, they have different role and status in their work. Vivien is
the black- lab-technician without college degree that has big passion to his work,
while Dr. Alfred is the white person who works as a doctor and the head of the
laboratory.
Dr. Alfred walks in to the laboratory where Vivien is preparing for the
experiment. When Dr. Alfred asks Vivien about the experiment tools, Vivien
answers that everything is ready for the experiment. After discussing some
method and theory of operating, Dr. Alfred asks Vivien to start the experiment,
operating a dog. He watches how Vivien operates the dog, he feels satisfied
because Vivien does all his instruction very well. However, there are some
misunderstandings between them.
After finishing the experiment, Dr. Alfred wants to see the record of the
experiment process from the beginning. Then he looks for something under the
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information during the experiment). Unfortunately, he does not find the smoked
drum. He recognizes that Vivien does not set the smoked drum.
The Analysis of the anger expression a. Type of speech act exploited in the scene
In this datum, Dr. Alfred sends his anger to Vivien. The anger occurs when Vivien
asks back to Dr. Alfred about what is smoked drum. Angrily Dr. Alfred throws a
tablecloth to the thing that he calls smoked drum and says, “That's a smoked drum. What the fuck is wrong with you? I record all the information I need on a smoked drum” The dialogue shows that Dr. Alfred uses explaining and questioning to send his anger to Vivien. Vivien tries to explain that he does not
know that he has to set the smoked drum to record all the experiment information.
However, Dr. Alfred gets angrier with Vivien and he continues to express his
anger by saying, “Is nobody listening to me? God damn it! I have to do everything myself. A whole day's work goes down the toilet, and I have to start all over again. Do you have sawdust or just plain shit for brains?” The
utterances show that Dr. Alfred uses questioning by saying “Is nobody listening to me?” and “Do you have sawdust or just plain shit for brains?”, swearing
by saying “God damn it!”, and explanation by saying “I have to do everything
myself. A whole day's work goes down the toilet, and I have to start all over again” . He delivers his anger by explaining that he has wasted the whole day
work because of Vivien’s mistake. He shouts and uses the rude words to blame
Vivien. In sort, Dr. Alfred uses Directives by questioning, expressive by swearing
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b. The reason why the characters express the anger
There are two factors which influence Dr. Alfred to express his anger to
Vivien. They are the legitimate power and the expertise power. Dr. Alfred has
more power than Vivien since he is the doctor who is also the head of the
laboratory. Here, Dr. Alfred has expertise power, as he has better knowledge
when it deals with the experiment. Dr. Alfred is a surgeon for years while Vivien
is a new lab technician who previously is a janitor. By having legitimate power
and expertise power, he has more authority to express his anger to Vivien
Datum 4 CD 1/18:30”
Dr. Alfred : Hold on a minute, will you?
Vivien : I was not raised to take that type of talk. Dr. Alfred : My apologies. I'm sorry I lost my temper.
Normally it takes assistants months to learn what you picked up in days. It won't happen again.
Please.
The Description of Context
The dialogue happens in Vanderbilt Experimental Surgery Laboratory,
exactly in the yard of the Laboratory. The participants of the dialogue are Dr.
Alfred and Vivien. Both participants have not known each other very well since
Vivien is a new lab technician, while Dr. Alfred is the head of the laboratory.
In the previous scene, Dr. Alfred says some rude utterances to Vivien. By
hearing that utterances, Vivien goes out from the experiment room to his locker
room to change his clothes. He seems disappointed with the rude utterances
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minute after Vivien gets out from the laboratory; Dr. Alfred recognizes that he has
misunderstood Vivien. He finds that Vivien notes all the information during the
experiment in a notebook that he puts on the table, beside the operating board.
Realizing that he has made Vivien upset, Dr. Alfred runs out the room for
Vivien. He finds Vivien in the laboratory yard walking out to the street. He tries
to stop Vivien and Vivien stops his walk. However, Vivien cannot keep his anger
to his employer. He express s his anger by saying the utterance that criticizes the
rude words from Dr. Alfred. The utterance shows that as a black lab-technician,
Vivien does not want his employer to look down at him by saying the rude words.
The Analysis of the anger expression
a. Type of speech act exploited in the scene
The anger expression in this datum is extended by Vivien to Dr. Alfred.
Dr. Alfred realizes that he misunderstands him. He confesses that he has made
mistake by saying rude words to him. Dr. Alfred runs after Vivien and he asks
Vivien to stop his walk. Vivien express s his anger to Dr. Alfred by explaining “I was not raised to take that type of talk”. The utterance shows that as a black lab-technician, Vivien does not want his employer to look down at him by saying
the rude words to him. By saying so, Vivien wants to give negative evaluation to
what Dr. Alfred has said to him. Vivien thinks that Dr. Alfred’s saying is really
hurting since he says impolite thing when he has done the best for the experiment.
Hence, Vivien delivers his anger indirectly by saying that he is not raised to take
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realizes that he is a sub ordinate. From the analysis, it is found out that Vivien
uses representatives by explaining in his anger to Dr. Alfred.
b. The reason why the characters express the anger
There only factor which influences Vivien to express his anger to Dr. Alfred
is social distance between them. Vivien realizes that he is sub ordinate because he
is only the lab assistant while Dr. Alfred is superordinate since he is a surgeon.
Datum 5 CD 1/25:21” we're gonna make it on that pay cheque and he got you serving drinks at his party just to make ends meet. Come on
Vivien : Try to understand. When I started at Vanderbilt I was a janitor. Dr Alfred saw what I could contribute, and he gave me a chance.
The conversation happens in the Vivien’s rented house. The participants
are Vivien and Clara. Both of them are black-African American couple who stay
in a new house. They have known each other very well since they have been
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housewife who takes care of her two children. In the case of appearance, Clara is a
beautiful black American woman. She always looks casual. While Vivien works
as lab-technician in Johns Hopkins Hospital with a low salary. Vivien has to move
from Nashville to follow Dr. Alfred who works on John Hopkins hospital.
The scene happens when Vivien just went back from Dr. Alfred house for
serving drink in Dr. Alfred’s party. Vivien goes in to the house in when Clara just
put their children to the bed. They have a light conversation; Vivien offers
devilled egg that he brings from Dr. Alfred house. However, Clara does not
respond his offer; she says that she wants to go home to his old house in Nashville
because she does not like to stay in this new house. Vivien said, it is their first
week, so it is still too early to decide whether she is happy or not. Then, she says
that in Nashville they already have a house with all the goodness for them. It
seems much better compared to their new rented house with Vivien’s low salary.
Vivien explains that he wants Clara to understand their condition. Vivien is sure
that everything will be better. He explains that when he started at Vanderbilt he
was a janitor. Dr Alfred saw what he could contribute, and he gave Vivien a
chance. He describes that his work is very important and he loves it. Hearing the
explanation, Clara feels more disappointed to his husband. He feels that her
husband is very egoist because he only thinks about how he feels without
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The Analysis of Anger expression
a. Type of speech act exploited in the scene
Clara extends the anger to Vivien when they are debating about their new
rented house. Vivien recognizes that his wife is unhappy with the condition. He
tries to please her by offering delicious food from Dr. Alfred’s party. Clara is
angry because Vivien seems to ignore Clara’s feeling. Clara responds Vivien’s
offer by delivering a request “I want to go home, Viv”. However, Vivien says
that it is their first week. He believes that this new place is good for his family.
Clara tries to remind Vivien by asking a question “Yeah, and you said if we
didn't like it, remember?” By asking the question, Clara wants to remind Vivien that they may go back to Nashville when they do not like the new place. Beside,
she gives the further explanation by saying “Our family's in Nashville. We had a home in a good neighbourhood. The schools were fine. Not living in this..I don't know how we're gonna make it on that pay cheque and he got you serving drinks at his party just to make ends meet”. By this explanation, she
tries to make his husband understand her feeling is right. However, Vivien does
not give the positive respond. Vivien even hopes that Clara will understand the
situation. He explains that his employer is very good and he really loves what he
is doing in his work. Hearing Vivien’s explanation, Clara is angry because he
feels that his husband only pays attention on his own happiness. She continues his
anger by delivering question “So it doesn't really matter how I feel, then, does it?”. Through the utterance, Clara wants to make sure whether her feeling is
