ABSTRACT
NINGRUM, RETNO LESTARI SURYA. Reasoning against the Absurd in Mitch
Albom’s The Timekeeper. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2015.
The Timekeeper is a novel which portrays the idea of relative concept of time by Mitch Albom. Since times and the absurd are closely related, this novel becomes a good medium to analyze existentialists ideas in literary work. With its unique plotline and fairytale-like story, this novel also explains some moral values and ideas which are related closely with the reason of human existence. However, instead of analyzing the novel in the form of formalistic analysis, this novel is interesting to be critically analyzed in the important examination of the human struggle with absurdity to find meaning in existence.
There are two main questions to discuss. The first one is to analyze the characters and their inner conflicts, and the second one is to analyze how the conflicts
are related with existentialists’ ideas about the struggle against the absurd.
The method used in conducting this research is the library research method. The writer used both books and internet references to collect the data, analyze the data and drawing conclusions. The approach used is moral philosophical approach since this approach is the most suitable one for an existentialist study.
ABSTRAK
NINGRUM, RETNO LESTARI SURYA. Reasoning against the Absurd in Mitch
Albom’s The Timekeeper. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2015.
The Timekeeper merupakan sebuah novel karangan Mitch Albom yang menggambarkan tentang konsep relativitas waktu. Karena waktu dan absurditas berkaitan erat, novel ini menjadi alat yang baik untuk menganalisis ide-ide eksistensialis dalam karya sastra. Dengan alur ceritanya yang unik dan ceritanya yang mirip seperti fairytale, novel ini juga menjelaskan tentang nilai-nilai moral dan gagasan-gagasan yang terkait erat dengan alasan dari keberadaan manusia. Akan tetapi, dari pada sekedar menganalisis novel ini dalam bentuk analisis moralistik, novel ini lebih menarik untuk di analisis dalam bentuk pengamatan penting mengenai perjuangan manusia dengan absurditas untuk menemukan alasan dari keberadaan manusia.
Terdapat dua pertanyaan untuk dibahas. Pertanyaan pertama adalah pertanyaan untuk menganalisis para karakter dan konflik-konflik batin mereka, dan pertanyaan kedua adalah pertanyaan untuk menganalisis bagaimana konflik-konflik tersebut berhubungan dengan gagasan para eksistensialis tentang perjuangan melawan absurditas.
Metode yang digunakan untuk melaksanakan riset ini adalah metode studi pustaka. Penulis menggunakan referensi dari buku-buku dan internet untuk mengumpulkan data, mengolah data dan membuat kesimpulan. Pendekatan yang digunakan merupakan pendekatan moral-filosofis karena pendekatan ini merupakan pendekatan yang paling cocok untuk sebuah studi eksistentialis.
REASONING AGAINST THE ABSURD IN MITCH ALBOM’S
THE TIMEKEEPER
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
RETNO LESTARI SURYA NINGRUM
Student Number: 114214100
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTEMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
REASONING AGAINST THE ABSURD IN MITCH ALBOM’S
THE TIMEKEEPER
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
RETNO LESTARI SURYA NINGRUM
Student Number: 114214100
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTEMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
REASONING AGAINST THE ABSURD IN MITCH ALBOM’S
THE TIMEKEEPER
By
RETNO LESTARI SURYA NINGRUM
Student Number: 114214100
Approved by
Paulus Sarwoto, S.S., M.A., Ph.D. Advisor
A B Sri Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D. Co-Advisor
June 24, 2015
A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
REASONING AGAINST THE ABSURD IN MITCH ALBOM’S
THE TIMEKEEPER
By
RETNO LESTARI SURYA NINGRUM
Student Number: 114214100
Defended before the Board of Examiners On 30 June 2015
and Declared Acceptable
BOARD OF EXAMINERS
Name Signature
Chairperson : Dr. F.X. Siswadi, M. A.
Secretary : A.B. Sri Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D.
Member 1 : Maria Ananta Tri S, S.S., M.Ed.
Member 2 : Paulus Sarwoto, S.S., M.A., Ph.D.
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
I certify that this undergraduate thesis contains no material which has been previously submitted for the award of any other degree at any university, and that, to the best of my knowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material previously written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text of the undergraduate thesis.
Yogyakarta, 24 June 2015
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertandatangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma
Nama : Retno Lestari Surya Ningrum NomorMahasiswa : 114214100
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul
REASONING AGAINST THE ABSURD IN MITCH ALBOM’S
THE TIMEKEEPER
Berserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin kepada 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 24 Juni 2015
Yang menyatakan,
This is for
my beloved parents,
my little ‘bigger’ brother
,
and my late grand father
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all I would like to say Alhamdulillah as a form of gratitude to
Allah S.W.T who always give light on my way so that I can finish this thesis with
a lot of miracles. I want to thank my parents for their full support during the
process of my study. I also want to thank my brother for keep on being my source
of power to finish this thesis as soon as possible since he is my rival from birth.
My chief debt goes to Paulus Sarwoto, S.S., M.A., Ph.D. as my thesis
advisor who has encouraged and helped me to finish this thesis by spending his
valuable time to read and give me options in correcting the mistakes I made in this
thesis. I would also like to express my gratitude to A.B. Sri Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D.
as my co advisor for the consultations and to Erik Hookom who has provided so
many help and second opinions.
I want to say thank you to my beloved friends of English Letters especially
the girls and guys from 2011. Thank you for Monik, Ria, Manda and Patrick who
always try to drag me out of my room so that I won’t get depressed for the hectic
times I have passed. Thank you to Dina, Jeremy, Monik, Opek and Eka who also
lent me their laptops when I had none. Thank you for some men who always give
me surprises from time to time to cheer me up. And thank you for someone who
said that I am always having fun for that your words attached in my mind and it
makes me able to finish this thesis regardless of my schedules. Last, I would also
like to thank those I do not write for their support, prayers, and love.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ... ii
APPROVAL PAGE ... iii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ... iv
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH . vi DEDICATION PAGE ... vii
a. Theory of Characters, Characteristics and Characterization ... 12
b. Theory of Conflict ... 13
c. Existentialism by Sartre and Camus ... 15
C. Theoretical Backgrounds ... 24
A. Characteristics and Inner Conflicts of the Characters ... 33
a. Dor or Father of Time ... 33
b. Sarah Lemon ... 40
c. Victor Delamonte ... 47
B. The Inner Conflicts and the Theory of Existentialists ... 52
a. Dor or Father of Time ... 53
b. Sarah Lemon ... 58
c. Victor Delamonte ... 62
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 66
ABSTRACT
NINGRUM, RETNO LESTARI SURYA. Reasoning against the Absurd in
Mitch Albom’s The Timekeeper. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters,
Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2015.
The Timekeeper is a novel which portrays the idea of relative concept of time by Mitch Albom. Since times and the absurd are closely related, this novel becomes a good medium to analyze existentialists ideas in literary work. With its unique plotline and fairytale-like story, this novel also explains some moral values and ideas which are related closely with the reason of human existence. However, instead of analyzing the novel in the form of formalistic analysis, this novel is interesting to be critically analyzed in the important examination of the human struggle with absurdity to find meaning in existence.
There are two main questions to discuss. The first one is to analyze the characters and their inner conflicts, and the second one is to analyze how the
conflicts are related with existentialists’ ideas about the struggle against the
ABSTRAK
NINGRUM, RETNO LESTARI SURYA. Reasoning against the Absurd in
Mitch Albom’s The Timekeeper. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris,
Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2015.
The Timekeeper merupakan sebuah novel karangan Mitch Albom yang menggambarkan tentang konsep relativitas waktu. Karena waktu dan absurditas berkaitan erat, novel ini menjadi alat yang baik untuk menganalisis ide-ide eksistensialis dalam karya sastra. Dengan alur ceritanya yang unik dan ceritanya yang mirip seperti fairytale, novel ini juga menjelaskan tentang nilai-nilai moral dan gagasan-gagasan yang terkait erat dengan alasan dari keberadaan manusia. Akan tetapi, dari pada sekedar menganalisis novel ini dalam bentuk analisis moralistik, novel ini lebih menarik untuk di analisis dalam bentuk pengamatan penting mengenai perjuangan manusia dengan absurditas untuk menemukan alasan dari keberadaan manusia.
Terdapat dua pertanyaan untuk dibahas. Pertanyaan pertama adalah pertanyaan untuk menganalisis para karakter dan konflik-konflik batin mereka, dan pertanyaan kedua adalah pertanyaan untuk menganalisis bagaimana konflik-konflik tersebut berhubungan dengan gagasan para eksistensialis tentang perjuangan melawan absurditas.
Metode yang digunakan untuk melaksanakan riset ini adalah metode studi pustaka. Penulis menggunakan referensi dari buku-buku dan internet untuk mengumpulkan data, mengolah data dan membuat kesimpulan. Pendekatan yang digunakan merupakan pendekatan moral-filosofis karena pendekatan ini merupakan pendekatan yang paling cocok untuk sebuah studi eksistentialis.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Most humans seek for the meaning of their existence in the world. In
seeking for the answers, they struggle against themselves, the world and others.
During the whole process, there are always some expectations. But the hope in the
future and reality of the past does not always work out like what one planned or
predicted. Thus, people often feel disappointed, strange, and unhappy. Camus
explained this condition with his own definition. He said that human feels
suddenly like “an alien, a stranger” when the past and future do not meet the
expectations of the present (Camus, 1955: 5). When it becomes severe and it
makes the person fall in despair, this absurd feeling triggers two options: the
“recovery or suicide” (Camus, 1955: 10). This absurd feeling underscores the
dilemma that a person has to face in their life, whether consciously or
unconsciously.
The absurd is always challenging and interesting to analyze since it is
related to human emotion and intellect. It analyzes the existence of human, the
way they live and die and face or not face their problems. Furthermore, the absurd
as a condition has become question for literary thinkers to solve. In applying this
analysis of the absurd, a literary work also portrays the ideas and stories of
absurd in real life can be found in the stories of the characters in most literary
works.
Just like real people, the characters in a literary work also dream and
desire for a better future. As the story starts, the reader understands that the
character has some hopes, goals and desires to fulfill. The results of those
expectations in the beginning of a story are seen at the ending. This is similar to
the concept of a never-ending continuum of time involving the past, present, and
future. The beginning of the story presents the past, while the conflict, climax and
denouement represent the present and the ending or the unread part of the story is
the future time.
The desire for the future evokes the experience of the absurd since no one
is able to move to the future without passing the present or the present becoming
the past. Albert Camus states this idea in his essay:
Likewise and during every day of an unillustrious life, time carries us. But a moment always comes when we have to carry it. We live in the future:
“tomorrow,” “later on,” “when you have made your way,” “you will
understand when you are old enough.” Such irrelevancies are wonderful,
for, after all, it’s a matter of dying…. Tomorrow, he was longing for tomorrow, whereas everything in him ought to reject it. That revolt of the flesh is the absurd. (Camus, 1955: 10-11)
As explained, a person has this confrontation inside of himself. While the mind is
longing for the future, the body does not able to jump into the future as the mind
does. This desire to stop the time is the absurd condition that every person has to
The Timekeeper (2012) is not an absurd novel. Some critical people have even stated that this novel has a cliché and weak plotline (Draucker, 2012). This
novel also tends to simplify the complexity of life. However, this novel has the
main idea of the relative concept of time in human life, which was above
mentioned as the trigger of the experience of the absurd of life itself. In this novel,
there are three main characters. The first character is ‘The Father of Time’ who is
able to see how the other two characters act toward time. The second character,
Victor, wants to slow down time since he wants more time. On the other hand, the
third character, Sarah, wants less time. The absurd conditions that each character
has to struggle against are interesting to be critically analyzed in the important
examination of the human struggle with the absurd to find meaning in existence.
The result of this research is going to be a bit simplified because of the plotline,
but the concept and conclusion from the research may be the basis to form another
complex examination of existentialism problems in human life. Even though the
cliché and weak plotline may be very annoying to some critics, the fact that the
cliché, and the weak plotline serve to portray the struggle against the absurd is not
so obvious. Therefore, this research will use The Timekeeper as the object of the study.
Furthermore, this thesis attempts to find the essential ideas of
existentialism in the struggle of the characters. The main focus is to identify how
the three characters confront the dilemma of absurdity. However, the cause of the
story that results in it having such plotline for some critics is also analyzed to
approach is important to show how this literary work serves as a sample portrayal
of peoples’ life and their struggle to find meaning in the human experience of the
absurd.
B. Problem Formulation
Since this research aims to analyze the existentialists’ ideas in Albom’s
novel, The Timekeeper, the questions for the analysis are as follows.
1. What are the main characters inner conflicts when they face their
existential problems?
2. How do they overcome the absurd?
C. Objectives of the Study
This research aims to analyze the existentialist ideas in Albom’s novel,
The Timekeeper. To examine the ideas, there are several objectives to achieve.
The first objective is to identify each character’s inner conflict and analyze it. The
second objective is to find how the characters overcome their struggle with the
absurd.
D. Definition of Terms
Some terms are explained further to avoid misunderstanding between the
reader and the writer about the concepts used in the study. The terms are as
follows.
1.) Existentialism is broadly known as “a philosophical and literary movement that
focused on the uniqueness of each human individual as distinguished from
2.) The absurd/absurdity is a popular concept associated with Albert Camus and
his work, The Myth of Sisyphus (1955). This term is briefly defined as “the
confrontation between ourselves – with our demands for rationality and justice
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
There are many people who have analyzed the human struggle against the
absurd. Since this is a matter of human existence, the study does not only cover
the concept of the absurd, but also some other issues related with existentialism.
By doing that, this research addresses specific questions about how the human
struggle against the absurd affects the search for the reason of existence.
One of the studies of existentialism related with this research is
Purnawan’s (2007) undergraduate thesis entitled, “Individual Choice as a Way to
Show The Freedom on Human Existence Seen in Graham A Burnt-out Case and Iwan Simatupang`s Ziarah.” In this research, Purnawan shows that people actually have the individualism that allows them to choose what they want to be.
Man is able to get the freedom without any help from others as they make their
own choices. He analyzed two literary works in his study. The comparison
between those two literary works then became the basis to strengthen his
argument if man’s individual choice is a way to find freedom.
The first story that he analyzed is in English but the second one is in
Bahasa Indonesia. He also provides the translation of the second story from
Bahasa Indonesia. In the first story, Purnawan analyzes Querry, the main
the second novel, there are two characters analyzed, the Artist and the Cemetery
Supervisor. The Artist made a choice that he would leave his occupation as an
artist and that he would start painting the cemetery wall. His individual choice
shows that he has the freedom to choose. For the cemetery supervisor, he had
known that his choice to stay in the cemetery is his freedom. Purnawan states that
the novels “are nationally and linguistically different” but they share the same
idea (Purnawan, 2007: 3). This idea strengthened his argument if the individual
choices were able to show man’s freedom. He also mentioned about the
responsibility that followed as the choices are taken. However, he does not
emphasize about the responsibility that then could become anguish in man at the
root of the absurd in life.
The second study related with this research is another undergraduate thesis
by Jonatan (2008) entitled “Existentialist Ideas of Freedom and Responsibility
Seen in The Main Character of Kate Grenville`s Lilian`s Story”. He tries to show the philosophical concepts of Sartre’s freedom and responsibility in Lilian, the
main character. Lillian in the story is described as a girl who was a bit different
from other girls because of her philosophical thought. This characteristic of her
made her understand better about the freedom and responsibility that she had as
she grew older. In the process of maturity, Jonatan focuses on the development of
the character. The development is separated into three parts, Lilian as a girl, Lilian
as a young lady, and Lilian as a woman. He then shows the revelation of freedom
and existence in Lilian’s development. In this part, Jonatan also separates the
Lilian’s attitude toward life in the story without showing which existentialists
ideas by Sartre that are clearly reflected. Even on the theoretical ground, he just
merely states about the freedom and responsibility generally without exploring
about human anguish, forlornness, and despair, which are the basis of the
existential problem. There are no specific ideas of Sartre mentioned in the further
analysis which then focuses more on the moral values that Lilian has rather than
the existentialist ideas portrayed in her character. Even though this analysis from
Jonatan is supposed to provide a view on how freedom and the responsibility
relate to the existential dilemma, he does not explain how these two aspects are
related in a more specific explanation.
Those are the studies that also have concerns in existentialists’ issues and
are related to human existence. As we can see, those studies are still related with
the concept of the absurd, as those issues are able to be the trigger or the result of
the absurd. Next, the following studies examine the specific existentialists’ issue,
absurdity.
The study by Soriano (2009) entitled “The Idea of Absurdity Reflected in
the Characterization of Characters in Samuel Beckett`s Endgame” is a study which analyzes the absurdity of the characters in an absurd work. Samuel Beckett
(1986) himself is well known for his famous novel entitled, Waiting for Godot. Just like the novel, Endgame also portrays the idea of the absurd so Soriano tries to analyze the reflection of the absurd on the Endgame in this study. Since it is a
play, Soriano then analyzes the characters and Beckett’s characterization in order
study examined how this was portrayed in the communication that the characters
did in the play. By examining the expressions the characters used, he found that
actually there are three ideas that reflect the existentialism and he reached
conclusions that life has no meaning at all. His thesis ends there. He does not need
to mention about how man should live their life after they understand this fact
because that is all of the ideas that he could conclude from the play. The analysis
in the character and characterization are indeed a good portrayal of absurdity since
it is impossible to know what the characters’ inner conflict without being said by
the characters.
The absurd can be better understood when we analyze what someone is
struggling against inside of him or herself. As Camus said, absurdity is “the
confrontation between ourselves” (Audi, 1999: 296). Therefore, the most suitable
way to analyze the absurd is to analyze human’s inner conflicts. This approach
has been done by Sanditama (2008) in her study entitled, “The Concept of
Absurdity seen in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men”.
In this study, she tries to show the revelation of Camus’ philosophical
idea, the absurd, by examining how the vulnerable major character is strengthened
by the minor character’s conflicts. She analyzes the character and characterization
basically before she moves to the conflict that each character has. By doing this,
she is able to conclude that indeed this literary work reflects the absurd idea of
Camus since the main characters were fighting in the imperfect reality. In the end,
she suggests that actually the author of the novel then portrays the character living
human life which she then explains as, “the way man has to deal with absurd; not
by escaping from it but by living in it” (Sanditama: 87). The study by Sanditama
indeed already covers the concept of the absurd by examining the inner conflicts
of the characters. Essentially, this research tries to look further into how people
are living in the absurd and how they struggle against it to find the meaning of
life.
While the last two papers suggested that life has no meaning and man
should live in the absurd, an article entitled, “A Tragedy of Existence: an
Existential Analysis of Giles Winetrborne in The Woodlanders” by Yanjuan Chen
(2010) shows one of the results from human’s struggle against the absurd. Giles
Winterborne is the main character than Chen analyzes in order to show the
concept of the absurd. She analyzes “the world in which Winterborne is living, his
alienation and bad faith” (p.1). His place of living, or the setting, is placed in an
area surrounded by woods and remote from most places. Winterborne himself is
depicted as a man who is madly in love with a woman who is out of his league.
He is rejected and he chooses to hide from the crowd, so that he is alienated from
people. Even so, when the woman needs his help, he believes that he could get her
heart and he sacrifices himself and dies in the attempt to help her. This action of
love then Chen states is an example of bad faith. The character, Winterborne, (a
name that already indicates a struggle to survive), denies the fact that he would
never win her heart and instead accepts living and dying in his false imagination,
his bad faith. This article shows the example of human’s struggle against the
in his bad faith, which then leads him into his tragic end. Chen provides an
interesting analysis of the human struggle against the absurd, which is also one of
the objectives of this research.
The last study used for this research is a dissertation by Margaretha Aletta
van der Colff (2007) entitled, Douglas Adams: Analyzing the Absurd. In this study, she is trying to analyze and apply three philosophical dimensions to
Douglas Adams (1995), a famous British absurdist and author of the popular
absurd novel, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe. These dimensions are the
“psychological function of fantasy, philosophical exploration of Existentialism
and Adam’s satirical observations” (Colff, 2007: 7). The view of the absurd in
Douglas Adams is analyzed in the philosophical exploration of Existentialism.
She uses a wide range of theories to cover her analysis and to make her study
deeper. This research focuses on the existential theory of Camus and Sartre since
the objective of this research is to find the meaning of human existence by
examining the character’s struggle against the absurd in their life. It is similar with
Colff since it also focuses on the absurd and human existence. The difference with
this research is that this research tries to see the absurd in human life through
Albom’s characters in the novel.
B. Review of Related Theories
Generally in a novel, a character must face several problems, some tragic
and others comic, before they can or cannot achieve what they want. In this
research, the characters should face the absurd in life in order to understand the
important to understand why the characters behave in such a way when they are
facing problems. However, the theory of characterization is also needed in order
to reveal more in depth information about the characters. After understanding the
characters and characterization, the conflict can be analyzed. It is also essential to
understand the theory of conflict so that the characters’ conflicts can be related to
the existentialists’ issue of the absurd. The existentialist theory that is used in this
research is the theory of Existentialists by Sartre and Camus.
1. Theory of Characters, Characteristic and Characterization
Character is the representation of a man in a story. It is just a
representation since it is not the same as a real man. Man is in the world, alive;
while the character is only a fiction. Grenville stated that actually when somebody
sees the character as “real”, the expression itself refers to the variety of characters
which are very “life-like” and how it made the reader feel as if they know “a
person in real life” (Greenville, 1990: 35-36). To make the characters able to
appear “life-like”, the characters should possess several unique qualities. These
qualities can be inferred as their personality.
The unique personality that characters have is known as characteristic. The
characteristics of the characters include: “the characters’ temperament, desires and
moral nature for their speech and actions” (Abrams, 1993: 191). The ‘common
ground’ of those things is described as “motivation” (Abrams, 1993: 191). This
motivation then becomes the trigger for the characters to act in a particular way
While the qualities of characters are known as characteristics, the author’s
method of delivering the characteristic is known as the characterization. The
characterization is the process of transforming man into characters in fiction
(Greenville, 1990). By characterization, the readers are able to understand the
entire characteristic and feel if the characters in the fiction are life-like. Based on
Harmon (2003), there are several methods of characterization:
(1) the explicit presentation by the author of the character through direct exposition, either in an introductory block or more often piecemeal throughout the work, illustrated by action; (2) the presentation of the character in action, with little or no explicit comment by the author, in the expectation that the reader can deduce the attributes of the actor from the actions; and (3) the representation from within a character, without comment by the author, of the impact of actions and emotions on the
character’s inner self.” (Harmon, 2003: 88)
Thus, the way of describing the characteristic can be seen directly from the
narrative, from the action of the characters, or from the way the other characters
think and act toward the other characters.
2. Theory of Conflict
Conflict is a part of a plot. Pooley (1964) stated that a writer always “build
his story around conflict”. Without the conflict, the story represented in a fiction
will be boring and flat (Pooley, 1964: 9). The readers are able to get involved
more in the story if the conflict is similar with the conflict that the reader had
struggled with before. Thus, conflict is an important part of the plot, and essential
to the story itself.
The conflict itself is a sign of problems that happen in a story. Arp in
(Arp, 2006: 104). As the result, if there are two forces that cooperate with the
same idea or goal, the conflict will not occur. Therefore, the conflict may happen
when there are two—or more—different forces that clash with one another.
There are several types of conflicts that might happen in a story. The
conflict may be a person, fate,
person-against-society or person-against-nature. These are the conflicts involving external forces.
However, the conflict may also happen with “some elements in their own natures”
which means that the person fights with themselves (Arp, 2006: 104). This kind of
conflict is an internal conflict. The conflicts may also occur in other forms, such
as physical, mental, emotional, or even moral.
The person in a fiction who has a conflict may refer to (or reflect) the
characters role as protagonist or antagonist. Meanwhile, some fiction shows
multiple levels of conflict, which happen all at the same time. So when the
characters have a conflict with someone else, they may be also fighting inside of
their mind about what they should say or do. In some cases, the characters may
also be involved in a conflict without being aware of it.
The conflict is developed by arranged events in a progressive pattern of
action, called the plot. As one of the essential tools for the writer of fiction to
reveal his idea, conflict plays an important role in plot because it leads the
characters into the climax and resolution, also termed as denouement. However, it
should be understood that actually plot is different from story. Laar (1969)
describes that both story and plot are in an arranged sequence, but the story is
happens next. On the other hand, the plot requires reader intelligence in
understanding the relation between what happened before and what happens next,
so that the reader has better understanding of the cause and effect of the events.
3. Existentialism by Sartre and Camus
Existentialism is a movement that focuses on human reaction to existence.
Based on The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, existentialism is broadly
known as “a philosophical and literary movement that focused on the uniqueness
of each human individual as distinguished from abstract universal human
qualities” (Audi, 1999: 296). However, every existentialist has his or her own
definition of existentialism. For Sartre, the term existentialism refers to the
doctrine that makes life endurable for human beings and also declares that every
action and truth implies “a human setting and a human subjectivity” (Sartre, 1987:
10). This definition of existentialism by Sartre is mentioned to make it clear that
the concept he discuss does not involve the nihilistic views that were often
charged against existentialists since they were regarded as sinister and suicidal.
Sartre states that subjectivity is the starting point of everything. He
describes this term as the “existence as a subject” (Sartre, 1987: 13). In this case,
Sartre uses a paper-cutter as his example. He explains this analogy with the
following statement:
that, for the paper cutter, essence—that is, the ensemble of both the production routines and the properties which enable it to be both produced and defines—precedes existence. (Sartre, 1987: 13)
On the other hand, human is neither defined nor produced with a concept. Another
easier example is to consider a clock. When the creator creates a clock as an
object, the clock has its own function and essence. It ticks and works because it
has to show the time. Even before it exists, it already has its own essence. So, the
creator makes it to work and function as an object to show time. Unlike the clock,
human is not an object that has its function before they were created. Human
exists even before they know what they are created for. Thus, it shows how
“existence precedes essence” (Sartre, 1987: 13).
This statement may be different from the ethical norms that can be found
in religion ethics such as Christianity and Islam. However, Sartre was one of the
atheistic existentialists. Thus, his statements are mostly based on the argument
that God does not exist except in the minds of man. For example:
...if God does not exist, there is at least one being in whom existence precedes essence, a being who exists before he can be defined by any concept, and that this being is man, or, as Heidegger says, human reality. What is meant here by saying that existence precedes essence? It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be. Thus, there is no human nature, since there is no God to conceive it. Not only is man what he conceives himself to be, but he is also only what he s himself to be after this thrust toward existence. (Sartre, 1987: 15)
By this statement, Sartre shows that actually the absence of God also strengthen
the idea that existence precedes essence. In other words, human beings have to
As mentioned before, subjectivity is the first principle of existentialism.
To make their own existence clear, human must also consider their own
subjectivity. Sartre says that Subjectivity is where “man is nothing else but what
he makes of himself” (Sartre, 1987: 15). This statement means that a person
defines who he/she wants to be. As a result, people are responsible for who he or
she is as an individual.
However, the responsibility of a person doesn’t stop at his/her own
individuality. When a person makes a choice, they have to be responsible for the
consequences. To put it simply, when a person chooses to act, this act is a truth
which then is believed by the others and involves other people. Here is an
example. When we choose to marry, the choice itself does not stop with our own
wishes and responsibilities, but others participate and take part in the decision. So,
when we make choices and actions, we have both the responsibility as an
individual and as a person among others. This consequence follows the essence of
their subjectivity.
As we understand the concept of subjectivity, existentialists also have to
understand that human is in anguish. Based on Audi, the concept of anguish or
angoisse here is closely related with Angst, the German term for a special form of anxiety or fear (Audi, 1999: 29). The anxiety here then is defined as:
the representation of freedom’s self-awareness; it is the psychological
precondition for the individual’s attempt to become autonomous, a
possibility that is seen as both alluring and disturbing (Audi, 1999: 29)
In short, anguish is the feeling of awareness when an individual realizes if he or
a form of severe anxiety or anxious awareness that man has to stand alone,
without anyone else to hold the total and final responsibilities. ‘Human with
anguish’ stands for those who are able to understand that they are responsible for
every decision that they make. By analyzing the way a person interacts and acts,
that person is able to see their own decisions and the responsibilities that
accompany the consequences of every choice. Some people are unable to accept
this statement and choose to put the blame on other things, such as God or other
people involved. However, this condition does not create a border that separates
human from the action. Human is part of the actions itself and people have to be
responsible for every truth that they create as the essence of their own
subjectivity.
Another existential concept that is closely related to anguish is forlornness.
They go together. Forlornness refers to the lonely condition where God does not
exist and we are the ones who should face all of the consequences by ourselves.
Sartre explains this concept by saying, “we ourselves choose our being” (Sartre,
1987: 29). It means that our choices are what are essential to exist. By making
decisions, people are able to find their own meaning of existence. Even though
anguish and forlornness are closely related, they are still different. Anguish stands
for a person’s condition where he or she is aware that they have responsibilities
for the choices that they have made as the result of severe anxiety that the
character has felt. It is the feeling of responsibilities as the result of severe
anxiety; the awareness of it. On the other hand, forlornness is the situation where
nobody else is there for their escape. It means that a person cannot blame others
for the results of the choices that he or she has made. If there is no such thing as
God, human does not able to think that misery happens because of God and it is a
sign of something from God. In the end, it is still the person who thinks that
misery is some kind of particular sign from God. Essentially, nobody really stands
for a person in everything they choose. Human is the one who creates themselves.
The last term included in this research is despair. The term despair can just
be simply defined as a condition of “the complete loss or absence of hope”
(Abate, 1996: 384). In this case, human has no more hope for the life they have. A
person perceives the world as offering no reason for them to exist since he or she
has no more hope. The despair itself may be the result of the anguish and
forlornness that a person has to face in their life. Thus, some people choose
suicide as the escape.
The matter of suicide as the result of anguish, forlornness and despair is a
prevalent theme in Camus’ essay, The Myth of Sisyphus. In this reflective work,
he discusses the matter of suicide. He argues that actually suicide is something
that happens because of “individual thought” (Camus, 1955: 4). Most of the time,
suicide is seen as something related with social condition, and that the society
may be the trigger of suicide. For most people, this world is familiar. They live
and do everything as a routine. But when something tragic happens and
everything changes, then the person feels different. Camus describes this
condition by this statement:
This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, is properly the feeling of absurdity. (Camus, 1955: 5)
The change that makes man begin to feel like ‘an alien’ originates from his
feelings of lonely isolation and separation from the world. At first, everything is
just a routine; everything stays the way it is. Regardless, things change and man
starts to ask, “Why?” This feeling gradually develops as the person passes through
the stages of their life. According to Camus, this is the beginning of human’s
awareness of his anguish; the beginning of the absurd.
When the absurdity is recognized, human seeks for the answers. At the
same time, a person starts to become exhausted by it. He or she feels the anxiety
of his struggle, as the anguish becomes stronger. Human becomes exhausted
because of the pattern in his life where he or she always lives for the future. From
the time when the person is still a small child, he or she is told to be hopeful with
words such as ‘when you reach your adulthood’ or ‘when the time is right’.
Human is living for the future. Human are seized by the time while time flies.
Tomorrow, he was longing for tomorrow, whereas everything in him ought to reject it. That revolt of the flesh is absurd. (Camus, 1955: 11)
This statement by Camus shows how a person faces the absurd. Even though the
mind is longing for the future, the body cannot go forward to the future. The
biological condition and the psychological condition clash with one another inside
of a person. An absurd awareness develops that a person is longing for an
impossible future, only a figment of his imagination. Therefore, human are bound
Meanwhile, the absurd in life could be found in human’s confrontation
with the world; his own world of his or her own making. As mentioned above,
then human would start to ask ‘why’ and seek for answers, while the world
remains silent. The time keeps on moving and the world gives no answer. Human
has to answer it by himself as the time passes by, but they still hope for someone
to help them; in this case, God is the common escape. This dilemma is defined by
Camus as the condition of a person who is “longing for clarity” (Camus, 1955:
16). Human want to be united with the world in order to be able to understand and
find the meaning of life. However, the world does not provide the answers. The
resulting feeling of being left behind by someone or everything else is the
forlornness. People have to use their own mind and struggle by themselves. They
make up the reason for existence themselves.
The existence of nostalgia or longing for the world or for God can be seen
in human’s actions in seeking to find and understand the answers to the questions
that people have always asked about existence. In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus explains that actually the existence of nostalgia in human’s life does not imply
that a person would always have to get the truth as soon as possible. If a person is
nostalgic and seeks for the truth as soon as possible, they starts to get another
contradiction in their mind and it makes their hope disappear. It is only natural
that man uses their mind first to distinguish between true and false. Yet, there is
neither absolute truth nor falsity in the world. Therefore, the hope diminishes, and
the person starts to meet despair. And as the hope disappears, the person then
To explain why people choose the alternative, Camus uses Heidegger’s
statement in his essay as he discusses the “anxiety” that a person has to struggle
against when he or she faces the absurd. As Heidegger says, “the world could no
longer offer anything to the man filled with anguish” (Camus, 1955: 18), to put it
simply, the anguish itself appears after a person tries to understand why the
condition of absurdity happens and then becomes anxious about it. With the
anguish comes the lonely feeling of forlornness, and the despair soon follows.
Thus, human would no longer hope for anything in this world and wish that he or
she could just escape this world by committing suicide.
It is important to understand that a person who confronts the absurd and
the absurd man are different. When a person understands about the absurd and is
conscious of it, he or she still has the probability to escape from the absurd world
he or she has created. This kind of man is similar with the absurd man in a way
that both of them are probably getting used to life without any hope. However,
even the person who understands the absurd and is used to life without any hope,
this person still has the probability to do suicide. Even if the person knows that he
or she still has a small sense of hope for the future, the person also has a point
where he or she probably chooses or considers suicide as an alternative. Camus
explains this condition with the following statement:
On the other hand, the absurd man has a different way of perceiving the absurd
condition he or she is in, even though both of them try to understand about their
absurd existence. Camus explains their difference by this:
The absurd man, on the other hand, does not undertake such a leveling process. He recognizes the struggle, does not absolutely scorn reason, and admits the irrational. Thus he again embraces in a single glance all the data of experience and he is little inclined to leap before knowing. He knows simply that alert awareness there is no further place for hope. (Camus, 1955: 27-27)
The absurd man simply make the conclusion as: ‘there is no further place for
hope’. Yet, he or she chooses to live for the future. The person just simply accepts
that the absurd does exist, and chooses to keep on living with that condition.
For Sartre, it is up to each person whether he or she wants to make their
life meaningful or not. Since ‘existence precedes essence’, people determine for
themselves what meanings that they want to add to in their life.
Man being condemned to be free carries the weight of the whole world on his shoulders; he is responsible for the world and for himself as a way of being (Sartre, 1987: 52).
This statement means that actually the person has the freedom to choose who he
or she wants to be. He can be anyone that he wants but he is also responsible for
all of the consequences related to his or her choices; the person also has
responsibilities to the world. Therefore, there are no “accidents in life” since the
person makes their own choices and already knows about the probabilities and
In relation to the concept of absurdity, Sartre also had his own view. This
fact was mentioned by Collins, The Existentialists:
Sartre makes a brave appearance when he observes that if the world is absurd, then man ought to face this truth openly rather than allow his wishes to dictate his philosophy. (Collins, 1952: 86)
Essentially Sartre sees that the world is indeed absurd. However, human should
not permit the difference between the wishes and reality (which is absurd) to
distort their mind and dictate the reality. People should face the world, which is
absurd instead of running from it. This is simply because human chooses their
own essence; they must choose who they want to be.
C. Theoretical Framework
The existential theories mentioned in this chapter are the basis to analyze
the problems formulated in the research. Furthermore, the concept of absurd in
philosophy is used for this research. Specifically, the analysis in this research uses
the absurd condition stated by Camus as the basic analysis of each character. The
review of studies also becomes the reference in showing how the ideas of the
struggle against the absurd can be depicted in this research. Especially, there are
also studies which show the idea of showing the absurd through inner conflicts
(Sanditama, 2008), ‘alienation’ and ‘bad faith’ (Chen, 2010: 1). By these concepts
and ideas, the writer is also able to show the ideas of the struggle against the
However, the previous theory of characters, characteristics,
characterizations and conflicts help to ground the problems in second problem
formulation and answer the questions in the first problem formulation. By
understanding the characteristics and the conflict they deal, the writer is able to
see their problems in the story. Furthermore, the theory from Sartre and Camus
serves to better understanding the ground ideas found by using the previous
theories. By using the existentialism theory by Sartre and Camus and their ideas
about the absurd with the concept of anguish, forlornness and despair, the struggle
of each character against the absurd and their search for the meaning of their
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this research is a modern novel entitled, The Timekeeper. It is a novel by Mitch Albom which was published by Hyperion New York in 2012.
The novel is divided into 81 parts and it had 222 pages. Unlike most novels that
have a main sentence and supporting sentences in a paragraph, this novel was
delivered in sentences which delivers general truth about life and commonly
spoken sentences in short paragraphs. To substitute the function of the main and
supporting sentences in a paragraph, some of the sentences were styled in bold to
emphasize the idea that the writer wanted to deliver. Here is the example:
“Try to imagine a life without timekeeping”
You probably can’t. You know the month, the year, the day of the week. There is a clock on your wall or the dashboard of your car. You have a schedule, a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie.
Yet, all around you, timekeeping is ignored. Birds are not late. A dog does not check its watch, Deer do not fret over passing birthdays.
Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour.
And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures.
A fear of time running out. (Albom, 2012: 8)
As exemplified, Albom uses the bold sentences to deliver the main idea. In
addition to emphasizing his main idea, the bold print is also used to deliver the
maxim or moral and philosophical ideas to the reader. By using this style, Albom
think deeper about the meaning instead of just reading the sentences as a normal
story/text.
Just like Albom’s other works, this novel also has the reflexivity points for
the readers. Based on Norah Piehl (2012) review, this novel is “a story that
weaves together religion, philosophy and common sense in a way that results in a
very defined message or even moral” (www.thebookreporter.com). The story
itself is a simplified story that seemed to read like a fairytale, which would make
the reader remember about their childhood stories without feeling that they were
being preached to with the moral and philosophical ideas.
On the contrary, some critics sees the simplification of the story as a
weakness of this novel. Draucker stated that this novel has a cliché and weak
plotline (www.thedartmouth.com). However, her critique is mostly based on her
comparison of this novel with other great novels with the same theme, time. Apart
from the fact that the plot of this story was simplified, she does not discuss how
Albom tries to make the philosophical and moral values delivered more easily
accessible to the reader.
Just like the title, the main idea that is represented in The Timekeeper is time. The story opens with the description of The Father of Time, Dor. He was
punished because he measured everything when everyone never did. So when he
wanted to stop time, as his wife was dying, God made him to be ‘the father of
time’. He was banished to a cave where he had to live for eternity. In this
banishment, he had to think about time and how it changed human’s life. His
much time and one who wanted too little or less time. He then went to search for
and to help them. Later in the story, the three characters have to struggle against
their own fate and choose their own ending. The ending of the story is a happy
ending since all of them were able to enjoy the time they had and live it to the
fullest.
Mitch Albom himself was well known for his books with great reflexivity
points of view. Piehl even said that, “Albom has gained a well-deserved
reputation for writing about matters of faith, mortality and the afterlife in ways
that resonate with readers” (www.thebookreporter.com). He is a well-known
author who published great works. One of his bestselling books is entitled
Tuesday With Morrie(1997).That book also offered his signature style of high reflexivity points of view. Therefore, just like his other novels, this novel also
offered the moral and philosophical values for the reader to consider how to live
each day to the fullest because it might be the last.
B. Approach of the Study
Because this study uses existentialist ideas to analyze the characters’
struggle against the absurd in life to find the reason for their existence, it is clear
that the approach used in this study is a moral-philosophical approach (Guerin,
1999: 25). A philosophical understanding is needed in order to understand how
people seek answers about their existence. As Camus said, “Judging whether life
is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of
using the philosophical view. Combined with the philosophical approach, the
qualitative analysis research method was used in this study to examine relevant
literatures.
In philosophy, we define all values by reasoning. It is the most important
value since it is “the method of rational inquiry” (http://www.thesynthesis.info).
There are several limitations with the philosophical approach. The first one is the
extrinsic limitations. In this case, the writer chose to rely on a few specific
authorities. For this study due to their relevance, the writer focused more on the
philosophies of Camus and Sartre rather than other philosophical authorities such
as Marx or Kant. The second was the limitation of philosophy as a social practice.
This limitation examined the relation between subject and object. It focused on the
use of words and language to formulate the truth and remove ambiguities. The last
concern is the intrinsic limitation. There were several issues in considering the
intrinsic limitation: abstractedness, groundlessness, and speculativeness.
Abstractedness is a common challenge because most philosophers try to create
common sense and relate it with ordinary life. Therefore, they focus more on what
ideas are related than the relations themselves. Meanwhile, groundlessness also
becomes a problem because some systems might be complex enough to allow
endless combinations and permutations, which can make every view reasonable
however unsubstantiated. Thus, sound reasoning needs to be grounded in hard
facts. The last issue is the speculativeness, which occurs because some
philosophers tend to deal with universals, but they cannot provide content.
of reality. So drawing from the world of ideas, philosophy becomes the bridge to
create the reality.
Lastly, the moral-philosophical approach would be the best method to
discuss the existentialism issues in The Timekeeper. According to A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature (Guerin, 1999: 25), the moral-philosophical approach is used to illustrate certain philosophical matters such as existentialism.
Using this approach, this research aims to examine the actions and involvements
that the main characters did in the novel and relate them with Camus’ and Sartre’s
theories of existentialism to answer the problem formulations.
C. Method of the Study
The library research method was used to conduct this study. The writer
used books and Internet references about Mitch Albom and his work as a primary
source of data to analyze and formulate the research questions. The main data
used in the analysis is The Timekeeper novel written by Mitch Albom (2012). In this study, there are several steps taken to answer the problem
formulations. Primarily, the researcher was trying to better understand about the
significance of the novel. The writer was interested in analyzing this novel
because this novel contains high reflexivity points of view on matters of human
existence in the world using only a simple story with a unique formatting like
what we could find in a classic fairytale. In the analysis, the researcher aimed to
examine how Albom characterized the main characters and what struggles they
First, the writer examined the problems of the three main characters in the
novel. The theory of characters, characteristics and characterization was important
in order to understand the basis for their actions when they were struggling with
their own problems. Characterization was especially helpful for the researcher to
better understand the depth of the characters and characteristics. Second, the
researcher developed an in-depth analysis of the characters’ conflicts. In the story,
the characters would face different conflicts. However, the focus of this analysis
would be on the inner conflicts. Third, the writer analyzed how their struggle in
facing the conflicts would depict the absurd in life. The theories of Existentialism
by Camus and Sartre were important as the basis of this third step. Lastly, the
writer used the theory from Sartre to show how the struggle against the absurd
showed the characters search for the reason to exist in the world.
In conducting the study, there were many references and data used to
support the statements in the analysis. The primary source used was the novel
from Mitch Albom entitled The Timekeeper (2012). Some other additional references, which were the secondary references, were The Myth of Sisyphus
(1955) by Albert Camus, Literary and Philosophical Essays (1955) and
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
Albom’s The Timekeeper portrays the characters by giving the reader
some fragments of each character. The fragmentation of the story shows how each
character feels, thinks, and reacts toward other characters. The story focuses on
time as the theme and the characters who deal with time to show the theme
through the fragmentation of their stories are Dor, Sarah, and Victor.
The theme of this novel is time and as discussed above, time and the
absurd are closely related. As stated in the background discussion, the desire for
the future evokes the experience of the absurd since no one is able to move to the
future without passing the present or the present becoming the past. As people are
bound by time, people start to realize that their expectation in the present would
not always happen in the future. In any case, someone might be longing for the
future while their body is unable to jump there. In another case, someone might
want less time because that person feels that the world offers nothing more. These
problems are faced by the characters on The Timekeeper. Therefore, this paper focuses on the inner conflicts and each character’s characterization to show how
they deal with the problems they confront. Furthermore, this chapter also shows
how the conflicts and their struggle are related with the absurd of life and how
A. Characteristics and Inner Conflicts of the Characters
In this part, the characteristics and inner conflicts of each character is
analyzed. There are three characters and some of them have some fragmented
background stories in the novel that provide important ideas for the analysis.
Therefore, some of the characters are analyzed starting from their past.
1. Dor or Father of Time
Dor is a character from the past. He is also known as the ‘Father Time’ in
this novel. When he is still a child, the narrator describes him as “a gentle, an
obedient child, but his mind goes deeper than those around him” (Albom, 2012:
7). He is a kind person and he acts gentle toward anyone. As seen in the novel, he
is even able to listen to Sarah when she cannot stop telling about Ethan. Besides,
he also thinks about a child that might have the same destiny as Sarah who was
being left by someone that she loves. His concern is obviously seen in the
following sentences:
Now Dor looked at Sarah, remembering that moment.
He wondered what became of young Gildesh—was she rejected by
men as this Sarah had been? He thought about his son’s stone flying across the yard, the youthful idea that you could toss away the future if you didn’t
like it—and he realized, suddenly, what he needed to do. (Albom, 2012: 186)
The previous information given by the narrator emphasizes Dor’s kind heart
which is able to think about someone who is actually not related with him or his
life. Thus, he is a kind person and he has a gentle heart.
Meanwhile, the previous quotation also states that he is different from the
something unusual, measuring. While other men are busy to show power and
glory, he buries himself in measurements.
He is the first person on Earth to attempt this—counting, making numbers. He began by matching one finger to another, giving each pairing a sound and a value. Soon, he was counting anything he could. (Albom, 2012: 7)
By that explanation, it is clear that Dor is a clever person. At that era, he could
understand and create the concept of measuring without any help. He creates the
whole concepts and ideas by himself and he is able make it as his groundwork in
his following research. Even though he is considered as ‘different’ and strange, he
shows the quality of being clever even from his era. When the others still use their
muscle and myth in their life, he starts to think with his mind and logic.
The quality of being a curious person also follows his clever trait. As he
starts to measure everything, he finds something interesting when he sees the
shadow of the sun. When he sees how the shadow goes with the sun, he realizes
that “every day contains one such moment” (Albom, 2012: 12). When he becomes
an adult, he continues his research about ‘the same moment’ and he uses water
and a bowl to do his experiment. He is waiting all day and night to see whether his
assumption is right or not. Normally, people would never be patient enough to see
that the water drips carefully, but his curiosity wins over his anxiety. Besides that,
he also decided to learn all of the knowledge from Sarah’s and Victor’s era.
Once he could read, all knowledge was within reach.
He immersed himself in a library in Madrid, reading more than a third of the volumes. He read history and literature, studied maps and oversized photo books. (Albom, 2012: 101)
For normal people, reading more than a third of the volumes takes forever. But for
