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A STUDY OF MORRIE’S PERSONAL VIEWS ON AMERICAN VALUES AS PORTRAYED IN ALBOM’S TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Anneis Nutfatilah Kusumaputri Student Number: 061214091
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, March 9, 2011 The Writer
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH
UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertandatangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Anneis Nutfatilah Kusumaputri
Nomor Mahasiswa : 061214091
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
A STUDY OF MORRIE’S PERSONAL VIEWS ON AMERICAN VALUES AS PORTRAYED IN ALBOM’S TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (jika ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan ke dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepantingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta izin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 9 Maret 2011
Yang menyatakan
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ABSTRACT
Kusumaputri, Anneis Nutfatilah. 2011. Study of Morrie’s Personal Views on American Values as Portrayed in Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
This study analyzes a novel written by Mitch Albom entitled Tuesdays with Morrie. This novel tells about a dying professor, Morrie Schwartz, who suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and is eager to share his dying experience to his student, Mitch Albom. Hence, Mitch visits him every week on Tuesdays and interviews him. In the interviews conducted, Morrie talks about his views in life: how to have a meaningful life and how to be satisfied with our own lives.
The objectives of this study are to know the American values shared by the society as seen in the novel and to know Morrie‟s personal views on the American values. To do so, two problems are formulated, namely: (1) how are American values described in Albom‟s Tuesdays with Morrie? (2) what are Morrie‟s personal views on American values?
This study uses sociocultural-historical approach because it deals with cultural aspects. Two sources are used in this study, namely primary and secondary sources. The primary source is Albom‟s Tuesdays with Morrie. The secondary sources are books on literature and culture, related articles in websites, and previous studies which use the same novel. There are some theories applied in this study. They are the theory of critical approaches, the theory of character and characterization, the theory of culture, and the theory of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
vii ABSTRAK
Kusumaputri, Anneis Nutfatilah. 2011. Study of Morrie’s Personal Views on
American Values as Portrayed in Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Studi ini menganalisa sebuah novel karya Mitch Albom, yang berjudul Tuesdays with Morrie. Novel tersebut menceritakan tentang seorang profesor yang sedang tidak berdaya karena menderita Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis dan berkeinginan untuk menceritakan pengalamannya itu kepada muridnya, Mitch Albom. Oleh karena itu, Mitch mengunjunginya setiap minggu di hari Selasa dan mewawancarainya. Dalam wawancara, Morrie bercerita banyak tentang pandangannya terhadap kehidupan; bagaimana caranya memiliki kehidupan yang berarti dan bagaimana untuk puas terhadap kehidupan kita sendiri.
Tujuan dari studi ini adalah untuk mengetahui nilai- nilai Amerika seperti yang digambarkan di novel dan untuk mengetahui pandangan pribadi Morrie mengenai nilai- nilai Amerika tersebut. Untuk itu, dua permasalahan dirumuskan, yaitu: (1) bagaimana nilai- nilai Amerika digambarkan pada novel karya Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie? (2) apa saja pandangan pribadi Morrie tentang nilai- nilai Amerika?
Studi ini menggunakan pendekatan sosiokultural-historikal karena studi ini berhubungan dengan hal-hal budaya. Metode yang digunakan adalah studi pustaka. Ada dua sumber yang digunakan untuk studi ini, yaitu sumber utama dan sumber kedua. Sumber utama adalah novel karya Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie. Sumber kedua adalah adalah buku- buku mengenai literatur dan budaya, artikel- artikel yang berhubungan dari website, dan studi- studi terdahulu yang menggunakan novel yang sama. Ada beberapa teori yang diterapkan dalam studi ini. Teori- teori itu adalah teori pendekatan kritikal, teori karakter dan pengkarakteran, teori budaya, dan teori Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My first gratitude goes to Allah Subhannahu Wata’allahu, for giving me time to enjoy every part of my life and to learn from it, for His guidance, and for His “hugs” during the process of working on my thesis.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my Major Sponsor, Drs. L. Bambang Hendarto Y., M.Hum. for his guidance, support, kindness, and willingness to read and suggestions during the process of finishing this study. Also, I express my gratitude to lecturers and secretariat staffs of English Language Education Study program, and library staffs of Sanata Dharma University for their support and assistance in finishing my thesis.
My great gratitude goes to my beloved and irreplaceable family: Bunda Penny for the unconditional love, for always praying for me, and for the greatest support I have ever received in my life. I would also like to thank my sister, Vinka, for her support and her prayers. My gratitude also goes to Enik Nen, my beloved grandmother for her love and prayers she has given to me. Also, I would like to thank
Enik Ira, Pakdhe, Budhe, Uwak, Om, Tante, and all of my cousins for the prayers and for giving me spirit to finish my thesis.
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Riskisari and Erlina “Mak Er” for giving a positive impact to me in our friendship. I thank them for the great friendship.
I would like to thank my boarding house friends: Mbak Rani “Mami”,
Monik “Mon-Mon”, Wulan “Wul-Wul”, Rizka “Boi”, and Mbak Irpi “Bo” for
the great support and help during writing my thesis in the boarding house, for the chatting we always do, and for the great friendship.
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I dedicated this thesis to:
Allah Subhannahu Wata’allahu,
My late Bapak,
My dearest sister,
and…
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CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE………. 7
A. Theoretical Review………... 7
1. Critical Approaches………...7
2. Character………...8
3. Characterization………... 10
4. Culture………... 12
5. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis………. 19
B. Review of Related Studies……… 21
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A. The American Values as Descibed in the Novel………... 27
1. Value of Rational Approach to Life………. 28
2. Value of Progress………. 30
3. Values of Individual Success………... 31
4. Value on Working……… 32
5. Value of Freedom for the Individual………... 34
6. Individualism Value………. 35
7. Value of Measurable Achievement……….. 36
B. Morrie‟s Personal Views on American Values……….………... 38
1. Value of Rational Approach to Life………. 39
2. Value of Progress………... 41
3. Values of Individual Success………... 42
4. Value on Working………... 43
5. Value of Freedom for the Individual……… 45
6. Individualism Value………... 46
7. Value of Measurable Achievement………... 47
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS……… 50
A. Conclusions………... 50
B. Suggestions………... 53
1. Suggestions for Future Researchers………... 53
2. Suggestions for Teaching Learning Activity Using the Novel Tuesdays with Morrie………... 54
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Page APPENDIX 1: THE SUMMARY OF ALBOM‟S TUESDAYS WITH
MORRIE……… 59
APPENDIX 2: THE BIORGRAPHY OF MITCH ALBOM……….. 63
APPENDIX 3: LESSON PLAN OF TEACHING PUBLIC
SPEAKING I……… 65
APPENDIX 4: LEARNING MATERIAL……….. 67
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of five parts. The first part is the background of the study. This part discusses about reasons of choosing the novel for the study. The second part states the problem formulation, in which two questions are raised as the major issues in this study. The third part reveals the goals of the study. The fourth part clarifies the benefits of the study. Finally, the last part conveys definitions of terms that are used in this study.
A.Background of the Study
As part of a society, we live within a culture as a result of the existence of a society. A culture constitutes behavior of the society which has regularity and uniformity. The culture that has been created is transmitted to the next generations. Every generation will learn to behave just as the culture expects.
One aspect of the culture is called values. These values are norms or standards of behavior patterns (Fichter 297). It means that values have an effect in making uniformity of people’s behavior.
Tuesdays with Morrie, a novel by Mitch Albom, tells a story of a professor of sociology in Brandeis University, Massachusetts, named Morrie Schwartz. He teaches mostly about being human and relation to others. One of his favorite students is Mitch. They have an intimate relationship since they often talk about everything, about school lessons or a fatherly conversation. On Mitch’s graduation day, he promises to keep in touch with Morrie. Unfortunately, he breaks the promise. After graduating from the university, Mitch works in Detroit as a columnist in Detroit Free Press and never visits Morrie. He becomes very busy and also buries himself in his work.
The story begins when Mitch hears the voice of a famous presenter of “Nightline”, Ted Koppel, saying the name of his lecturer, Morrie Schwartz. From this
TV talk show, Mitch understands that Morrie suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ASL), a disease that causes degradation to dysfunction of human muscles. Affected by this condition, Morrie is dying.
Knowing the condition of his former lecturer, Mitch finally visits Morry at his home for the first time since their last meeting sixteen years before. On their first encounter, Mitch learns that instead of giving up to his condition and getting depressed, Morrie wants himself to be an object of a study. He, with a disease that settles in his body, considers himself as being in a bridge between life and death. Since then, Mitch often visits Morrie. On one of Mitch’s visits, Morrie asks him to have questions concerning life. Mitch makes his questions and conducts several interviews with Morrie which he records using a tape recorder.
personal views of the American culture, especially its values. He also says that their culture does not make people feel good about themselves. Thus, Morrie tells Mitch about his personal views of American values from many aspects for the society to practice.
This novel is chosen since it tells the lessons of life and knowledge about a culture. From Morrie’s personal views on death and of many aspects of life such as regrets, family, money, and love, we can learn many good values that can make our lives more meaningful. From the interviews with Morrie that Mitch conducts, the readers can learn Morrie’s positive attitudes of facing his death in which he makes the best of his dwindling time instead of withering up.
Furthermore, the novel presents Morrie’s point of views about values of life. Also, from reading the novel, we may obtain knowledge of American culture which directs to achievements of material things. In addition, we may apply the values which Morrie has proposed to make our lives more meaningful.
B.Problem Formulation
This study focuses on two problems which are formulated as follows: 1. How are American values described in Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie? 2. What are Morrie’s personal views on American values?
C. Objectives of the Study
D. Benefits of the Study
This study gives some advantages to both the readers and the thesis writer. This study is expected to enrich the readers’ knowledge of values in a culture,
especially those in American culture. Furthermore, through this study, hopefully the readers may obtain wisdom about values of their cultures so that they will have a broad point of view about various values that exist in a culture. In addition, the study will facilitate the readers in comprehending the novel Tuesdays with Morrie.
As for advantages for the thesis writer, this study enriches the thesis writer’s knowledge about the culture in American society and its values. Furthermore, this study improves the critical thinking of the thesis writer about different views of values in a culture.
E. Definition of Terms
There are some terms that need to be clarified to avoid possible misunderstanding. These terms are as follow:
1. Culture
The term culture is defined by many anthropologists. The first anthropology who defines culture is E.B. Tylor. Tylor, as quoted by Miller (129), defines culture as something totally complex in which there are knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, any other capabilities and habits. These complexities are obtained by a man as a member of a society.
phenomena. The first phenomenon is acts which constitute patterns of behavior. The second phenomenon is objects which contain tools and things made with tools. The third phenomenon is ideas in which belief and knowledge are included. The last phenomenon is called sentiments which contain attitudes and values (129). Both of the definitions of culture are in accordance with this study.
2. View
According to Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition © & (P)2009 Microsoft Corporation. 2009 (http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861734 112/view.html), view is somebody’s opinion or judgment on something. In addition, it can also be defined as a personal belief or attitude about a situation or a subject (http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/view). In this study, the term personal view refers to Morrie’s personal opinion, belief, and attitude about something, namely about American values.
3. Values
Values as a part of a culture have various meanings. According to Stewart (16-20), values are almost the same as assumptions. Assumptions are the reason of people’s actions. Meanwhile, values more direct to “oughtness” in behavior. Both
values and assumptions may be used to describe people’s behavior in a cultural environment. Different cultures may happen because of different assumptions which the people share. Another description of values is conveyed by Ficther (293-294). He says that values exist in everything which is useful, admirable, and which makes people want to possess it.
something that may have different standards which are considered useful, admirable, and make him/her want to possess it.
4. American Culture
Based on the definition proposed by White which is quoted by Merrill (129), a culture contains four phenomena, namely acts, objects, ideas, and sentiments. These phenomena contain patterns of behavior of the people, tools, things made with tools, belief, knowledge, attitudes, and values.
Hence, it can be inferred that American culture means the whole things of the four phenomena which happen in America. Since values are included in the four phenomena, they form the American culture. These values are going to be discussed in this study.
5. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter consists of three parts. The first part is the elaboration of theories used in this study. This section conveys the theory of critical approaches, the theory of character and characterization, the theory of culture and American culture, and the last is the theory of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The second part is a review of the preceding related studies. The third part is the explanation of the used theories in this study conveyed before.
A. Theoretical Review
This section is divided into five parts. The first one deals with approaches that may be used in analyzing a novel. Character and characterization will be explained in the second and the third parts. The fourth section discusses the theory of culture and the theory of American culture which become the setting of the novel Tuesdays with Morrie. The last part explains about the symptom which Morrie suffers from, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
1. Critical Approaches
biographical approach, the sociocultural-historical approach, the mythopoeic approach, and the psychological approach.
The formalist approach sees the work of literary work as a whole without any consideration to other aspects of the work, such as the background of the author or the genre. It considers only the esthetic value of the work.
In the biographical approach, the work of literature is seen as a reflection of the author’s personality and idea. To understand the work of literature, a reader must
learn about the life and the development of the author.
The sociocultural-historical approach sees a literary work as a result from civilization. This approach believes that behaviors and actions from particular society affect the production of the literary work.
The mythopoeic approach tries to understand a literature work toward repeated patterns of human thought. These repeated patterns became the basic of expression in ancient myths and folk rites.
As the mythopoeic approach, the psychological approach analyzes the periodic patterns of human thought. The difference of this approach is that it highlights the psychological aspects of the characters in a work of literature through their words, thoughts, and behavior.
2. Character
a. Definition of Character
novelist and are given names and sex. After having given names and sex, the novelist gives the characters gestures and makes them speak by giving the inverted commas. It is possible for the novelist to make the characters behave just as he expects.
A character is created to fulfill certain purposes. Henkle (86) states “And the principle objective of the creation of characters in novels is to enable us to understand, and to experience, people.” Hence, by reading a novel, we can learn
about people’s personality, attitudes or behavior through its characters.
b. Types of Character
Henkle (88-96) uses the terms of major characters and secondary characters to differ kinds of character. A major character is the more eminent than the other one. This character is more often being talked by the other people in the novel. Furthermore, the major character is signified by the recurrent appearances in the story. An understanding to the major character may indicate an understanding to the novel.
A secondary character is created to inhabit the world of the novel. As Henkle (94) states, “Since fiction presents human contexts, the secondary characters establish that context.” Here, the secondary characters help in presenting a sense of human being. The understanding of time and milieu in the novel may be attained by observing the character’s regular basis activities.
While a round character is a character that should be surprising in a particular time due to his inconsistency of what he has said. For this character, life is unpredictable and so his behavior undergoes changes as response to things happen.
Holman and Harmon (83) categorized the kinds of characters into static character and dynamic character. The static character does not experience changing in his personality traits even though things happen to this character. The character is not intended to describe his response to things. On the contrary, the dynamic character shows changes in response to things happen.
3. Characterization
a. Definition of Characterization
Murphy (161) explains the definition of characterization as ways of an author reveals his character’s personalities toward attitudes presented by the character.
Characterization constitutes factors which enable authors to tell the human qualities in their novels. The factors guide the readers to obtain understanding of the human themes of the novels (Henkle 86).
b. Ways of Characterization
There are nine ways of characterization suggested by Murphy. They are personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation of others, reactions, direct comment, thoughts, and mannerism.
Character as seen by another is the second way to characterize a character. Instead of what a character presents, readers may understand the character through another opinion to the character.
The third way of characterization is speech. The character is described with what he says. Anything that the character says, whether it is an opinion or a conversation may give clue to his personality.
The fourth way of characterization is past life. Using this way, the person’s character is portrayed by a description of his past life experiences. The past life may reveal through the person’s thoughts, through his dialogues, or through other people.
Conversation of others is the fifth way of characterization. Readers of a novel might be able to understand the personality of a character by the conversation of other people. In this way, other people talk about the character in which we can conclude the character’s personality.
The sixth way of characterization proposed by Murphy is reactions. Readers may obtain an understanding about a character’s personality by the revelation of the
character’s response to many things happen. Direct comment is the next way of
characterization. Through this way, an author gives his comment directly on a person’s character.
The eighth way is thoughts. A feature that makes a novel special is that the readers are able to know what a person in the novel thinks. Through the thoughts of the person, the readers may know the character of him.
The last way of characterization is mannerism. In this way, the readers may attain knowledge of a person’s character from habits, manners, or extraordinary trait
4. Culture
This sub chapter is going to explain the definition of culture, qualities of culture, values, and American culture. The American culture then is explained into three parts that are history of American culture, characteristics of American culture, and values of American culture.
a. Definiton of Culture
Tylor as quoted by Merrill (129) defines culture as a complexity which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, habits and capabilities obtained by man as a member of society. Another definition of culture is proposed by White quoted in Merrill (129). She states that
Culture is an organization of phenomena- acts (patterns of behavior); objects (tools, things made with tools); ideas (belief, knowledge); and sentiments (attitudes,’values’) – that is dependent upon the use of symbols. Culture began when man as an articulate, symbol-using primate, began. Because of its symbolic character… culture is easily and readily transmitted from one human organism to another.
The history of culture, then, becomes the history of human being. From time to time, culture has been transmitted to the next generation. In so doing, some symbols in culture have been changed by adding and losing them. This constitutes an ongoing process.
b. Qualities of Culture
Adapted from Murdock, Merrill (135-136) suggests that culture has its characteristics that have a role in understanding the concept of culture. Merrill also has clarified the characteristic of the culture in terms of its qualities. They are the learned quality, the transmissive quality, the social quality, the ideational quality, the gratifying quality, the adaptive quality, and the integrative quality.
The first quality is the learned quality. This quality suggests that culture is not endowed to human being. Instead, culture needs to be learned. Culture itself constitutes expected behaviors from society and is learned by a man so that uniformities of behavior are created. The uniformities of behavior are called culture.
The second quality is the transmissive quality. This quality clarifies that culture is able to be transmitted from one generation to other generations. The transmission process of culture is cumulative. It means that a man in one generation may develop what has already been existing from the previous generation.
Another quality, the third quality, is the social quality. In this quality, culture is explained to have a normative quality. The normative quality constitutes behavior expected by people in society. This normative expectations yield uniformities behavior.
The fourth quality is the ideational quality. This quality explains that the uniformity behavior which becomes habits and constitutes the culture has to be an ideal for the society, so that the society may view, learn, and adapt themselves to the culture.
also be the sociocultural needs such as falling in love and marrying. The next quality is the adaptive quality. This quality means that culture has to be able to adapt itself to its different aspect that may be changed, that is the geographical aspect. This quality has to exist to defend the presence of the culture itself.
The last quality is the integrative quality. This quality suggests that culture has inclination to form a consistent whole. Every culture has its quality although this quality may seems obvious or not in any culture. The integrative quality of a culture is very obvious in a simple society where the people do not change significantly. On the contrary, integration is not really obvious in a complex and heterogeneous culture where the people are change constantly.
c. Values in a Society
Values, as a part of a culture, determine our behavior as human beings. Our behavior is much determined by values which prevail in a society. According to Stewart (16-20), values, as well as assumptions may be used to describe behavior. Assumptions are the reason of people’s actions, even though, not all of the assumptions govern the actions. For example, a person who has assumptions on himself as an individual, cooperation with others is needed, and his goal is to be a successful person, does not have to be a businessman. A group of people who have the same assumptions may create “reality” which then forms a culture. Different cultures in different areas happen because the people have different assumptions. Meanwhile, values more direct to “oughtness” in behavior. They emphasize on what
the people ought to do.
are acted by people repeatedly to describe or justify their actions. These are called cultural norms.
Another description of values is conveyed by Ficther (293-294). He says that values exist in everything which is useful, admirable, and which makes people want to possess it. Through this idea, values in every person may be different since he might have different assumptions of what are considered useful, admirable, and so deserve to be possessed.
Values which give meaning to a culture and a society have some characteristics. The first characteristic of values is that values are shared. It means that a group of people agree to the values. The second characteristic of values is that values are taken seriously. People are attached to the values in order to maintain the common welfare and to satisfy the social needs.
The third characteristic of values is that values involve people’s emotions.
They compel people to sacrifice or even die for the sake of the highest values. The last characteristic is values may be abstracted from various valued items because values constitute agreement among many people.
However, there is a different idea of values that is proposed by Henry (13-15). According to him, value is associated with good things. These constitute actions which are expected by people in our surrounding to show. Values can be found in family or friendship and they constitute the idea of good human relations.
d. American Culture
1) History of American People
to move to a place where they could be released from bad conditions in their origin country. The Englishmen then called America as a New World where they were able to be free from the lack of their origin country. Also, the Englishmen thought that this New World would give opportunities that could make them happy.
The Englishmen, then in 1750 called Americans, developed certain characteristics that were different from Englishmen in England. There are three reasons underlie the differences of characteristics between the Americans and the Englishmen. The first reason is because the Americans were different. They did not inherit general character of Englishmen. The Americans were more not satisfied with their origin and more adventurous.
The second reason is that the Americans adapted and developed some particular elements of English in the New World where everything was strange. The last reason is that American culture constitutes many different cultures originating from Europe and Africa. This is because in the eighteenth century, there were many people from many countries who came to America such as from Africa, Holland, Scotland, Ireland, and from other countries in the European continent. Besides from Europe and Africa, the different cultures also came from Asia and Latin (Gordon 39). The process of becoming Americans has led them to develop certain characteristics which become typical characters of American people. Since culture is the result of the existence society, the characters of American people, thus, form the American culture.
2) Characteristics of American Culture
and drives. American people associate values with good things, such as love, honesty, fun, and relaxation. They exist in family and friend relationships. On the other hand, drives are associated with things which are able to make people want them more and bigger. Drives lead people to expansiveness. Drives are found in occupational world and move many activities which direct people to getting ahead, rising in the social scale, outstripping others, just as in business activities.
American culture is a driven culture. American people are driven by achievement, competitive, profit and mobility drives, security, and by a desire to a higher standard of living. These kinds of drives direct people to expansiveness. Drives are easily found in occupational realm where competition with colleague often happens. Moreover, this realm indeed requires people with drives. Many jobs set goals that can be achieved toward achievement, competition, profit, mobility or even a higher standard of living.
In America, people can easily get job opportunities if they are moved by drives. Henry states that
It is no problem at all to locate jobs requiring an orientation toward achievement, competition, profit, and mobility, or even toward a higher standard of living. But it is difficult to find one requiring outstanding capacity for love, kindness, quietness, contentment, fun, frankness and simplicity (14). If people are moved by values, they have to really search the jobs because the jobs underlain by values are very rare. Moreover, the jobs with values usually will only yield small amount of money and is low prestige.
3) Values in the American Culture
some values which are shared by the people and are called “an ultimate core” of values. Those values are the value of rational approach to life, the value of progress, the value on individual success, the value on working and the value of freedom for the individual.
The first value, that is the value of rational approach, makes American people reasonable in thinking or acting. They always try to be as effective as they can in using time and making efforts. The scientific ways are preferable to Americans in solving problems. The second value is the value of progress. It leads American people to have faith in the future and so they are ready for changes and welcome experimentation.
The third value is the value of individual success. This value is a description that success is not only measured by economic and business realms. A self-made man or woman such as a professional dancer or a highly paid singer may also be a measurement for success. The next value is the value upon working which is highly valued by American people. It determines a man’s worth toward his function to society. Working yields material comfort, leisure, and success and so American people put emphasize on getting things done and are in a hustle and bustle circumstance.
Regarding to the value of individual freedom, Stewart (70-71) conveys that to Americans, children have already been taught to be autonomous since in the early age. Hence, a child or a person is expected to be able to face the world using his own way such as developing his own opinions and view the world from his own point of view. These behaviors are in individualism value. This value then underlies people to have an emotional effect namely self-reliance which actually unrelated to nowadays technological American culture. This self-reliance motivates people to look for autonomy, self-actualization and personal growth. The value of self-reliance is emotionally perceived by American people.
Stewart (41-42) also suggests another American value namely measurable achievement. This value is related to the people’s activities or actions in their daily life which only admit achievements with visible achievements. In consequence, this value leads American people to seek for a sensation in achieving something, for personal triumph, or for visible achievement.
5. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
There are many diseases that have terminal effect, one of them is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). According to What is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis?(http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/amyotrophiclateralsclerosis/detail_am-yotrophiclateralsclerosis.htm.), ALS is a neurological disease that attacks neurons which control voluntarily movement of our bodies. This disease is signaled by progressive degradation of motor neurons and the death of the neurons.
speaking, and difficulty in chewing and swallowing. The part of the body which is affected by the disease depends on which muscles attacked first by the disease. In some cases, the disease will attack leg muscles first which make the patients often stumbling or tripping when they are walking.
The disease spreads to other parts of the body and causes weaknesses. The patients then will develop problems with moving, swallowing, and speaking. As the diseases progresses, the patients will also experience difficulty in breathing since the muscles of the respiratory system become weak. The patients then lose the ability to breathe without support from ventilator. Most of ALS patients die from respiratory failure, and are able to survive for three to five years from the beginning of the symptoms.
There is no drug found yet to cure ALS. However, there is a drug namely Riluzole that has been approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce damage to motor neuron. This drug is beneficial for ALS patients in terms of prolonging their life and of extending the time before they need ventilators to help them breathe.
To improve quality of patients’ life, role of health care professionals are needed. The health care professionals may consist of physicians, pharmacists, physical, occupational, and speech therapists, nutritionists, social workers, home care, and hospice nurse. They may help the patients both physically and psychologically.
avoid patients from fatigue and depression. The role of occupational therapist lies on suggesting the use of devices to help patients remain mobile, such as the use of walkers and wheelchairs.
Caregivers may cooperate with therapists and nutritionists in case of providing the nutritious meals. Social workers, home care, and hospice nurses are able to help ALS patients in a sense of emotional condition of patients and families and also of financial matters. Support from many aspects for ALS patients is needed to maximize quality of their life.
B. Review of Related Studies
The novel Tuesdays with Morrie has attracted a lot of people in the world. Many people are touched by the story of Morrie’s struggle. Since the story contains
good values, it was made into a movie and was presented on ABC- TV in December 1999 (http://mitchalbom.com/d/node/3729).
Two researchers from the English Language Study Program, Sanata Dharma University had used the novel for their studies. The first writer was Sri Murni Lestari whose study entitled The Influence of Morrie on Mitch’s Personality Development as Reflected in Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie. The second writer was Lissa
whose work entitled A Study of Morrie’s Self Actualization as Seen in Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie.
Lestari’s study discusses the changes in Mitch’s personality. Through psychological approach, she reveals how Morrie can change Mitch’s personality into
himself. It is presented that Morrie has characters of self-actualizing people, namely an efficient perception of reality, a general acceptance of nature, others, and oneself, spontaneity, simplicity and naturalness, a focus on problems outside themselves, a need for privacy and independence, autonomous functioning, a continued freshness of appreciation, mystical, or “peak” experiences, social interest, interpersonal relations,
a democratic character structure, discrimination between means and ends, between good and evil, an unhostile sense of humor, creativeness, and resistance to enculturation.
These two previous studies have become sources for this study in understanding the characters in novel Tuesdays with Morrie.
C. Theoretical Framework
In this study, six theories are applied to obtain a profound understanding of the novel. The first theory is theory of critical approaches which helps the writer to determine an approach to use in analyzing the problem formulation. From this theory, the cultural-historical approach is applied.
The second theory is theory of character. This theory is used in order to obtain a better knowledge of the main character, Morrie. This knowledge supports the analysis to answer the formulated problems. As well as the theory of character, the theory of characterization also contributes in a sense of understanding Morrie, as the main character, who has his own concepts of culture.
since it discusses the culture which is used in the novel as the setting. Furthermore, this theory is used as an attempt in applying the sociocultural-historial approach.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
There are three parts which will be presented in this chapter. The first part focuses on description of the novel as the object of this study. The second part talks about the approach applied to answer the previous formulated problems in this study. The last part is the explanation of procedures which are undergone for this study.
A. Object of the Study
This study uses a novel entitled Tuesdays with Morrie as the object of the study. This novel was written by Mitch Albom and was published in 1997 by Broadway Books in New York, United States of America. This novel has 192 pages in 27 chapters. In the same year, the novel was taken in New York Times bestsellers list. This novel was adapted into a movie, produces by Oprah Winfrey in 1999 and received some Emmy Awards (http://mitchalbom.com/bio).
Tuesdays with Morrie tells a story of the “last lecture” held by Morrie Schwartz, a sociologist, with the one and only student named Mitch Albom. Morries suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and he is going to die. Despite his terminal disease, Morrie decides to accept his condition and deal with it instead of mourning all day long.
about his thoughts of life and death. He wants Mitch to record everything he says about life and death and calls it as the “final paper” that Mitch should finish. Hence, they decide to meet every Tuesday since they believe that they are Tuesdays people.
In many meetings that are held, Morrie talks much about American culture. He has a deep concern of the values applied by the society. Morrie says that people are too busy with themselves and are sank in accomplishment. Morrie thinks that by doing so, people will seem half- asleep. It is convincing that Morrie does not agree with this value. He says that this kind of culture does not make people feel good about themselves. Instead, Morrie has his own personal views on the American values which become his values in life.
His personal values emphasize on human relationship. Morrie believes that love does make differences. His love to others is expressed by his attitudes. What he likes to do are, for example, communicating with others, showing his affection to them, having time together with his discussion groups and reading books instead of getting busy with the television programs. By doing such activities, he creates a “cocoon” of human activities.
B.Approach of the Study
questions concerning American values and Morrie’s personal views on American values that should be applied in the society.
C.Method
There were some steps that were done to answer the problems that had been formulated. The first step was reading the novel Tuesdays with Morrie as the major source of this study as well as the object of this study. The novel was read many times to get the best understanding about the issues discussed.
After getting view of what the novel told about, two problems were formulated based on the thesis writer’s attracts to the issue. In answering those formulated problems, some data were gathered from many sources, such as previous studies on the same novel, books and websites.
The next step was underlying the related theories, the approach used in this study, and the previous studies, to answer the two main problems; the American values described in the story and Morrie’s personal views on American values. In this step, analysis on how American culture is, especially its values, was undergone. This analysis was aim to answer the first problem. The next step was answering the second problem. In this step, the thesis writer analyzed Morrie’s personal views of American
values.
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter explains the answers of questions that have been formulated in the chapter one. The first analysis is about the description of American value as described in the novel. The second analysis is about Morrie‟s personal views of American values. The analyses are going to be explained using the related theories stated in the chapter two.
A.The American Values as Described in the Novel
Culture as stated by Tylor (qtd. in Merrill 129) means a complexity which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, habits and capabilities obtained by man as a member of society. Thus, society‟s actions described in a novel can be classified into a culture because they depict knowledge, belief, morals, and habits of the society. Furthermore, the novel portrays the values that the society holds.
According to White‟s which is quoted by Merrill (129), values are contents of
a culture. He explains that culture is an organization of phenomena. The phenomena are acts, objects, ideas, and sentiments, in which the sentiments phenomena contain attitudes and values. On the other words, the novel may depicts a culture that is shared by the society through its values.
says that values exist in everything which is useful, admirable, and which makes people want to possess it. Through this idea, values in every person may be different since he might have different assumptions of what are considered useful, admirable, and so deserve to be possessed.
According to Fichter (308-310), American people, who consist of various ethnic groups and cultures, share the values that are called “an ultimate core” of values. The values are the value of rational approach to life, the value of progress, the value of individual success, the value on working and the value of freedom for the individual. Other values in American culture are proposed by Stewart namely individualism value (71) and the value of measurable achievement (41).
Values in a society are in actions of the society itself. Some values are used by the society to justify their actions. Thus, actions from a society may reflect values that their share (Stewart 17-19). In this study, actions from a society containing American values are going to be explained. The American values portrayed in the novel are explained in detail as follows:
1. Value of Rational Approach to Life
American people are described to share the value of rational approach to life. It is conveyed when Mitch and Morrie talk about death. Morrie says that the society has been afraid of dying without really understanding it (Albom 11-12). When a death happens, the society tends to make a commotion of it. It happens because they think that human is something above nature, instead of becoming part of the nature. He says, “The fact that we make such a big hullabaloo over it is all because we don‟t see
ourselves as part of nature. We think because we‟re human we‟re something above
value has led the American people to think in reasonable ways so that they feel apart from the nature. Also, they choose scientific ways in life, such as for solving their problems (Fichter 309). These scientific ways of thinking make them have no idea of death.
One day, Morrie says to Mitch that nobody believes in death even though everyone knows that they are going to die (Albom 80). This constitutes Morrie‟s view of his society. Morrie adds that the society faces death as if it is contagious. He tells a story about how people facing death that when someone dies in a hospital, they cover the body immediately with a sheet and put it in a chute. He says, “I read a book the other day. It said as soon as someone dies in a hospital, they pull the sheets up over their head, and they wheel the body to some chute and push it down. They can‟t wait to get it out of their sight. People act as if death is contagious” (Albom 172).
Another thing that makes the people afraid of death is that they do not have a peaceful idea of dying. Whereas, by having a peaceful idea of dying, they will make peace of living as well, which is a hard thing to do.
“That‟s what we‟re all looking for. A certain peace with the idea of dying. If
we know, in the end, that we can ultimately have that peace with dying, then we can finally do the really hard thing.”
Which is?
“Make peace with living.” (Albom 173)
2. Value of Progress
American people share the value of progress which leads them to have faith in the future. This attitude affects them in having readiness for changes and welcoming experimentation (Fichter 309). However, this value may drive people to expand everything they have. This is portrayed in the story when Morrie tells that the society tends to want something for over and over. They have a view that having something for more and more is good and thus the people do not know what actually important for them are.
“We‟ve got a form of brainwashing going on in our country,” Morrie sighed. “Do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and
over. And that‟s what we do in this country. Owning things is good. More
money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good. We repeat it – and have it repeated to us – over and over until nobody bothers to even think otherwise. The average person is so fogged
up by all this, he has no perspective on what‟s really important anymore
(Albom 124-125).
This is in accordance with the characteristic of American culture as proposed by Henry. He says that American culture is a driven culture. The American people are driven by achievement, competitive, profit and mobility drives, security, and by a desire to a higher standard of living. These drives lead them to expansiveness (Henry13-14).
It is described in the novel, in his life, Morrie always meets people who always want to grab something new. They want to have new cars, new pieces of property, and the latest toys. These people like to say „Guess what I got? Guess what I
got?‟ (Albom 125). However, this behavior, which becomes a culture, confuses
people. “There‟s a big confusion in this country over what we want versus what we
Furthermore, Morrie adds that because of this culture, everyone seems in a hurry. They run all the time looking for the next car, the next house, and the next job (Albom 136).
The value of progress has also driven Mitch in his occupational world in terms of reaching more and more material things.
I jotted some of the things Morrie was saying on a yellow pad. I did this
mostly because I didn‟t want him to see my eyes, to know what I was
thinking that I had been, for much of my life since graduation, pursuing these very things he had been railing against – bigger toys, nicer house. Because I worked among rich and famous athletes, I convinced myself that my needs were realistic, my greed inconsequential compared to theirs (Albom 127).
Mitch has already been moved by drives in his working world since graduation. According to Henry (13-14), drives exist in occupational world. Goals in many jobs have to be achieved through achievement, competition, profit, mobility or even a higher standard of living. The drives have influenced Mitch to convince himself that it is normal to have bigger toys and a nicer house because he works among rich and famous athletes.
In conclusion, American people share the value of progress, which may lead them to have the drives of expansiveness. It moves American people to have a view that owning things more and more is a good thing. Furthermore, this value makes people not know what really important for them are and makes them trapped in a confusing situation over what they want and what they need.
3. Value of Individual Success
Besides, he writes books about sports, conducts radio shows, and gives opinions about sports programs on television. Hence, he is able to buy a house and cars. Also, Mitch is able to invest in stocks and has a portfolio (Albom 16).
On one of Tuesday meetings, Morrie and Mitch read a newspaper which
writes “I DON‟T WANT MY TOMBSTONE TO READ „I NEVER OWNED A
NETWORK‟”. These words are from Ted Turner, a founder of CNN who fails in
having CBS network and feels upset (Albom 123). Furthermore, this value seems to have an impact in emerging a sense of being threatened if someone loses his job which means a losing of individual success.
“People are only mean when they‟re threatened,” he said later that day, “and that‟s what our culture does. That‟s what our economy does. Even people who
have jobs in our economy are threatened, because they worry about losing them. And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture.” (Albom 154) From the evidence above, American people share the value of individual success in their society. This value is very important to them and may cause disappointment if it is not achieved. In the story, a value of individual success may cause people to be egoistic because they look out only for themselves and so this makes them vicious to other people to reach their individual success.
4. Value on Working
According to Fichter (309), working can determine a man‟s worth through his
Mitch works very fast like a fifth gear and he also works on a deadline. He says, “I was cranked to a fifth gear, and everything I did, I did on deadline” (Albom 16). When he gets married with Janine, he tells her that one day they will start building a real family but that never happens because Mitch is too busy to realize that (Albom 17). To Mitch, working is something he can control of. Besides, he feels that working is sensible and responsive (Albom 97). In his working life, Mitch buries himself in accomplishments because according to him, he could control things with accomplishments. Thus, he feels happy through accomplishments (Albom 17).
Fichter (309) says that from working, we can obtain material comfort, leisure, and success. The convenience that working brings about makes people work ambitiously and may neglect other aspects of their lives, such as death. In one of the interviews that Mitch carries on with Morrie about death, Morrie tells him that most of people walk around as if sleepwalking and thus, do not live to the fullest. Morrie says, “…. most of us all walk around as if we‟re sleepwalking. We really don‟t
experience the world fully, because we‟re half-asleep, doing things we automatically
think we have to do” (Albom 83). Here, Morrie tells that the impact of getting busy of doing things, such as working, is that we cannot experience things that make us happy and satisfied in our lives. Furthermore, because of his activities, Mitch has ignored his promise to his wife, Janine, to build a family (Albom 17).
5. Value of Freedom for the Individual
American people have a value of freedom for the individual. Fichter (310) says the freedom directs a man to moral responsibility, his inviolability, and his dignity. This value is expressed in Brandeis University, a university where Morrie teaches. One day, the Faculty of Sociology maintains this value well for antiwar actions. In the year 1960, the faculty is attended by radical students. This is because the campus gets involved in real actions instead of simply teaching. The faculty chooses to hold discussions instead of lectures and experiences instead of theory. From this policy, the students are taught to express and experience their individual freedom such as doing protest marches in Washington (Albom 111-112).
The value of freedom for the individual also appears when the union of newspaper where Mitch works goes on strike to demand rise for their salary. His office is shut down and Mitch loses his job (Albom 44).
Sometimes, this value is violated as described in the story. In their daily lives, American people are fond of watching news of O. J. Simpson‟s trial on televisions. Many people are absorbed by this show, even though they do not know who O. J. Simpson is and do not know people involved in his case. They put too many interests
in another person‟s life (Albom 42). This, actually, constitutes a violation of
someone‟s dignity, in this case, O. J. Simpson‟s dignity because his private life is
exposed and enjoyed by other people through television broadcasting.
When Morrie‟s illness has become worse, he loses his ability of a human to do
“I‟m an independent person, so my inclination was to fight all of this – being helped from the car, having someone else dress me. I felt a little ashamed,
because our culture tells us we should be ashamed if we can‟t wipe our own
behind.” (Albom 115-116)
Morrie feels ashamed because the culture tells that if someone cannot do something for himself, it destroys his dignity which causes a sense of being ashamed. Thus, the culture they share violates Morrie‟s freedom for the individual, in this case,
violates Morrie‟s dignity as a human.
In conclusion, American people share the value of freedom for the individual. This value supports American people to voice their mind and idea about anything. However, this value sometimes is violated and thus violates someone‟s dignity.
6. Individualism Value
As Morrie‟s legs become stiff because of the disease, he has to use a cane for walking. Besides, he needs to use a beaker to urinate since he is not able to go to the bathroom anymore by himself. Also, he needs someone to hold the beaker while he fills it. Mitch, then, thinks that most of people would be embarrassed by these
limitations, especially at Morrie‟s age (Albom 11). Mitch thinks it that way because
American people have individualism value. The value underlies people to have an emotional effect that is self-reliance (Stewart 70-71). Regarding this value, American people are also described to get used to self-help, “America had become a Persian bazaar of self-help” (Albom 65).
dependency. Someone wiping your bottom” (Albom 49). This limitation makes Morrie feels that he cannot rely on himself anymore and Morrie feels bothered of it.
Morrie‟s behavior is related to Stewart (70-71) who states that the value of
self-reliance is emotionally perceived by American people.
The self-reliance motivates people to look for autonomy, self-actualization and personal growth. Affected by this value, Morrie feels that he does not have autonomy and cannot actualize himself anymore. Also, he feels ashamed of his dependency, “I‟m an independent person, so my inclination was to fight all of this – being helped from the car, having someone else dress me. I felt a little ashamed, because our culture tells us we should be ashamed if we can‟t wipe our own behind” (Albom 115-116).
From the evidences presented above, it can be inferred that American people share the individualism value. This value leads American people to have emotional effect namely self-reliance. The self-reliance represents the independence that a man has. When someone cannot do anything for himself and has to depend on other people to help him, he becomes a dependent person and he will be ashamed of it.
7. Value of Measurable Achievement
passes, this advice has been forgotten by Mitch and he buries himself in his works and accomplishments (Albom 16-17).
Since graduation, Mitch is sunk in pursuit of material achievements such as pursuing bigger toys and nicer house, something that is contrary with Morrie‟s view of achievement which can bring about a meaningful life (Albom 127).
Mitch behavior constitutes a consequence of the value of measurable achievement because according to Stewart (41-42), this value leads American people to seek for a sensation in achieving something, for personal triumph, or for visible achievement.
Having measurable achievement as a value, American people do not get used to reflect or evaluate their lives in order to know what they really want in their lives. Here, Morrie conveys his idea that the culture they have focusing on the pursuit of measurable achievements does not make the people evaluate their lives. The business they create to achieve visible things make them not have time to think about what they really want in lives (Albom 64-65).
Furthermore, Morrie says that they are involved in achieving materialistic things which can not satisfy them. It comes to a conclusion that their society lack of
what Morrie calls as “spiritual development”.
“Mitch,” he said laughing along, “even I don‟t know what „spiritual development‟ really means. But I do know we‟re deficient in some way. We are too involved in materialistic things, and they don‟t satisfy us. The loving
relationships we have, the universe around us, we take these things for
granted,” (Albom 84)
know what they really want in lives. Furthermore, this value may lead people to lack of spiritual development.
B.Morrie’s Personal Views on American Values
Morrie, a professor of Sociology in Brandeis University, suffers from a deathly disease called ALS. Because of this disease, he cannot drive, swim, and dance any longer. As the disease develops, he cannot walk and dress up for himself. Even, he needs help to go to the bathroom and to have his bottom wiped by someone.
Morrie‟s concern to the prevailing values is moved by his ALS disease. His
disease makes him think much about his surroundings including values in the culture which he and the society share. He imagines if one has to endure such a kind of disease, that one cannot survive with the culture they hold. It is because the culture is full of egoistical things without investing relationship to other human beings.
Through his thought, Morrie comes to a conclusion that the society puts their values in the wrong ways which lead them to very disillusioned lives (Albom 123-124). He thinks that their culture does not make people feel good about themselves. Hence, Morrie says, if the culture does not work, people should not „buy‟ it. It means that they should not follow the culture. Instead, they have to create their own culture. However, many people cannot do it so that they become unhappy (Albom 35-36).
Before suffering from the disease, Morrie has developed his own culture by joining discussion groups, walking with friends, and dancing to his music in the Harvard Square church. He has created „a cocoon‟ of human activities.
people could receive mental health services. He read books to find new ideas for his classes, visited with colleagues, kept up with old students, wrote letters to distant friends. He took more time eating and looking at nature and wasted
no time in front of TV sitcoms or “Movies of the Week.” He had created a
cocoon of human activities – conversation, interaction, affection – and it filled his life like an overflowing soup bowl (Albom 42-43).
Morrie‟s culture is also affected by his past life. When he is a child, he has a
bad relationship with his father who is a Russian and does not talk much with his children. After the death of his mother, Morrie is longing for a figure of a father to talk to him and give him affection. However, he never gets it. His father is too busy with himself and is never pay attention to Morrie. One day, his father brings Morrie to a wool fabric, a place where Morrie can possibly get a job. Instead of being happy, Morrie feels terrified because of the situation at the fabric where the boss shouts loudly to the workers to have them working continually. Since then, he promises to never work in a place where human is exploited. As time passes by, Morrie chooses to be a lecturer and develops human relationship (Albom 73-78). Also, he promises to raise his children in loving and caring environment (Albom 92-93).
1. Value of Rational Approach to Life
Having known that the society has been afraid of death, even does not believe in death, Morrie has his own view on looking death. Morrie thinks that people are part of the nature and death is something natural. This is against an assumption of the society that human is above nature. Due to this assumption, the society makes a commotion over death.
“It‟s natural to die,” he said again. “The fact that we make such a big hullabaloo over it is all because we don‟t see ourselves as part of nature. We
think because we‟re human we‟re something above nature.”
He smiled at the plant.
“We‟re not. Everything that gets born, dies.” He looked at me (Albom 173).
In response to his own death, Morrie has a good idea to face it by learning to prepare to die. Every day, he does what the Buddhist does that is having a little bird on his shoulders and asks, “Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?” (Albom 81). Using this method, Morrie is able to reflect his life, to think of things he wants to do and to be the person he wants to be in his dwindling time. Furthermore, through this way, Morrie makes use of his time to make his life meaningful.
