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WILSON’S
THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
HARRY SUCIANTO
Student Number: 07 4214 050
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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For
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The first and foremost, I would like to bestow my deepest gratitude to Allah SWT whom I believe always guides me through the finishing of my thesis. My greatest appreciation goes to my beloved parents: Ruswati and Imam Darmanto for their unconditional love, prayer, patience, inspiring figure, and support. My thanks go to my sibling: Sally Septiani who never forgets to give her spirit for me. My thank is also given to my nephew: Abiemanyu Fadhil Rahman who always makes me happy.
I am heartily thankful to my advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum., whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final step enabled me to develop an understanding of the subject. Then my thankfulness goes to my co-advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd, M.Hum. for her correction and suggestion. My thankfulness also goes for all the lecturers, secretariat staffs of English Letter Department, and librarians of Sanata Dharma Library.
My thanks also go to my best-ever friends: Martinus Bangkit Riandito, Rohmannursyawal S who always give their best wishes for me. Last but not least, I would like to thank to the super lecturers, the kind librarians and all my friends in English Literature department. I am proud to know them all who are always in my heart.
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LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... vi
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... vii
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ... 6
A. Review of Related Studies ... 6
B. Review of Related Theories ... 10
1. Theory of Character and Characterization ... 10
2. Theory of Moral Values ... 12
3. The Relation between Literature and Moral ... 17
C. Theoretical Framework ... 19
B. The Way Tom Rath Solves The Problems ... 29
C. The Moral Values ... 34
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 38
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 41
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HARRY SUCIANTO. The Moral Values Revealed through Tom Rath’s in Solving The Problems in Sloan Wilson’s The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2014.
This thesis discusses Sloan Wilson’s novel entitled The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit. This novel tells the story of Tom Rath as the major character, a man who lives in suburban, has a wife and three kids. He also a veteran of World War II. After the war ends, he is back to his normal life as a husband that has a responsibility to get money for his family’s life. On that process, he has several problems that he has to deal with. With big efforts and patience, finally he can solve the problems.
In this thesis, there are three main questions to answer. They are (1) What are the problems faced by Tom Rath in the novel? (2) How does Tom Rath solve the problems in the novel? (3) What moral values are revealed by Tom Rath’s way in solving the problems?
The approach used for analyzing this literary work is moral-philosophical approach. The method of this study is library research. The primary source is the novel entitled The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson as an author. The secondary data are some critics and some books of theories.
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HARRY SUCIANTO. The Moral Values Revealed through Tom Rath’s in Solving The Problems in Sloan Wilson’s The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2014.
Skripsi ini mendiskusikan mengenai sebuah novel dari Sloan Wilson yang berjudul The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit. Novel ini menceritakan tentang kisah Tom Rath sebagai karakter utama, seorang pria yang tinggal di pinggiran kota, mempunyai seorang istri dan tiga orang anak. Dia juga merupakan seorang veteran perang dunia II. Setelah perang berakhir, dia kembali ke kehidupan normalnya yaitu sebagai suami yang mempunyai tanggung jawab untuk mencukupi kebutuhan hidup keluarganya. Dalam prosesnya, dia menghadapi beberapa masalah. Dengan usaha yang keras dan rasa sabar, pada akhirnya dia dapat mengatasi maslah tersebut.
Dalam skripsi ini, ada tiga pertanyaan utama yang harus dijawab. (1) Problem apa yang dihadapi oleh Tom Rath dalam novel? (2) Bagaimana cara Tom Rath menyelesaikan permasalahan di dalam novel? (3) Nilai moral apa yang terungkap di dalam cara Tom Rath menyelesaikan masalah tersebut?
Pendekatan yang dgunakan untuk menganalisis karya sastra ini adalah pendekatan moral-filosofis. Metode penelitian ini adalah metode kepustakaan. Sumber utamanya adalah novel yang berjudul The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit yang dikarang oleh Sloan Wilson. Data sekundernya adalah beberapa kritik dan bebrapa buku teori.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of Study
Literary work such as novel is a very interesting object to study. There are so
many ideas from novel that can be lifted as the topic to study further. The ideas can
be taken from many fields such as the characters, the plot, the author of the story, etc.
Literature is the book of life. Therefore it is also the reflection of the author’s life. In
literature, an author writes about his or her own experience about time, place, people,
etc. By reading literature we will get a lot of benefits from it. Reading literature is not
only giving us pleasure but also educating and teaching us. Through literature, we are
capable in understanding the nature of men with his problem and learning the values
hidden in it. Literary work gives us the knowledge of human affairs; the truth about
life and the understanding of man as human being. Literary work is an expression of
author’s point of view on some life issues. This is supported by Little’s opinion in
literature, Literature is also a chief art of mankind because it can effectively express
one’s idea to others (Little, 1981:1)
Little said that literature is a tool to express someone’s idea to others. There
The writer is interested to discuss Sloan Wilson’s The Man in the Gray
Flannel Suit. It is a 1955 novel that captured the mood of the post-World War II
suburban families dealing with the conformity and the sacrifice of family life
seemingly necessary for the achievement of upward mobility in business and social
position, and also this novel filmed in 1956. This novel reflects the issues in the
American society that is values in postwar years.
In the postwar years during The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit was written,
the American economy was chaos that was caused by the increase in the birth rate
and inflation. Under those conditions, the writer believes that there existed some
values, which are held by Americans, they are hard work, competitions, and
materialism. The writer also believes that those values are reflected on Sloan
Wilson’s The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit, especially on the main character of this
novel who is Tom Rath.
By knowing the fact, which becomes the most interesting reason of choosing
this subject, the writer tries to find out and to describe the main character’s
characteristics. The writer also wants to find out how moral values reflected in the
main character of the novel that that reflected on the characteristics of the main
character.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the previous background, the writer finds some questions that are
interesting to analyze further. These questions are formulated into three problem
formulations which will be discussed in this undergraduate thesis.
1. What are the problems faced by Tom Rath in the novel?
2. How does Tom Rath solve the problems in the novel?
3. What are the moral values that Tom Rath reveals in the novel?
C. Objective of The Study
As the problem has been formulated before, there are three objectives to be
achieved. The first is to find out and describe the problems that faced by Tom Rath in
the novel. Second is try to explain how Tom Rath solves the problems that he faces in
the novel to figure out the moral values revealed in Tom Rath as the main characters
in The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit. Three is to reveal the moral values from the
way Tom Rath solve the problems.
D. Definition of Terms
To avoid confusion and differences in understanding some words, the writer
wants to define some terms that are closely related to this paper. It is also to make
everything clear because each person have his own understanding about certain terms
1. Problem
According to Merriam Webster dictionary, problem is something that is
difficult to deal with, or something that is a source of trouble or worry. Another
dictionary stated that definition of problem is something that has to be solved or an
unpleasant or undesirable condition that needs to be corrected. Problem and values
change over time, sometimes a good solution once doesn’t work anymore. There are
several relevant factors that differentiate people’s problem; technical, social, and
economy.
2. Moral Value
Garnett says the term moral is based taken as an exact synonym of “ethical”
(1952: 14). However, he emphasizes the differences between moral and ethical. The
only distinction is that one refers to theory and the other to practice. Ethics is defined
as “the theory of obligations and duty”, and morality as “the practice of obligation of
duty”, or more specifically, “conduct in accord with existing obligations”.
The noun value is derived from the Latin verb valere, means “to be strong” or
“to be worth”. Contemporary Dictionaries, says Hammes, defines it as the quality or
fact of being worthwhile, excellent useful, or desirable. As a transitive verb. To value
generally means “to rate highly, to hold in high esteem, to regard as important or
So, moral value is the fundamental principles of right conduct rather than on
legalities or custom of a society toward which the people of the group have an
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CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
In this chapter, there are three sub chapters; those are review of related studies,
theoretical review, and theoretical framework. In the review of related studies the
writer uses the similar topic as a review of related studies. Whereas in throretical
review, the writer would like to write some theories related to the topic of the study.
In this case, the writer tries to specify only on some theories that will be used to
answer the problems mentioned in the problem formulation on the previous chapter.
Then, in theoretical framework, the writer tries to explain the contribution of the
reviews and theories mentioned before in solving the problem of the study.
A. Review on Related Studies
In this part the writer chose a review from Erick Homberger, this review
published in newspaper The Guardian on Saturday, 31 May, 2003. He is an author
from America. He states that much of the novel focuses on Tom’s experienced during
World War II, and especially his extended stay in Italy while waiting to go to the
Pacific war. (http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/childs1)
The writer agrees with his opinion, much of the novel tells the readers about
Tom Rath’s story about the World War II. The readers brought by the author to feel
Erick Homberger also stated that money is constatntly on Tom’s mind.
“Money, I need money,” Rath keeps reminding himself. Betsy is also unhappy with
being unhappy in suburbia. (http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/childs1/Guide1)
In the writer’s opininon, the writer agrees with his statement. One of the
biggest problem from Tom is about money. He works very hard in order to get a lot
of money. Tom also gets a pressure from his wife that she wants a good house for his
family.
The rest of Homberger’s review tells about the author’s life’ Sloan Wilson.
He stated that after the success of this novel has a bad impacts. Wealth and celebrity
status brings a destructive impacts. Wilson becomes alcohol addicts. This novel also
have a sequel, in this sequel Tom and Betsy is divorce, but their divorce is a happy
one.
The writer also use similar topic as review of related studies.
1. The moral Values Reflected in Doc’s Characteristics in John Steinbeck’s
Cannery Row By Naomi Elizabeth (2004)
The result of the analysis of this thesis shows the characteristics of Doc. In
this novel Doc is desribed as friendly, smart, and communicative person. Those
characteristics shown by his habit that he can talk to children and also his attitudes
towards his friends. Doc is a patient person, he always keep his relationship with his
friends although sometimes he feels angry with his friends. Doc is caring person, he
cares to all inhabitants in Cannery Row, not jus his friends. Another characteristic of
helping his friends. The last characteristic of Doc is hardworker, he does his job
totally. While the moral values which can be concluded in this thesis consists of two
parts. They are friendship and love. The moral values from friendship are caring,
loyalty, sharing, and patience. While the moral values from love are respect,
forgiving, and responsibility. So, the writer can draw conclusion that friendship and
love can maintain us to live happily.
2. The Moral Values as Seen in Harry Morgan’s Characteristics in To Have and
Have Not By Ernest Hemingway By Agus Tito (2001)
The result of the analysis of this thesis shows the characteristics of Harry
Morgan. In this novel Harry Morgan is described as hard worker person. He will do
anything for his family. He likes make “clean” money, because he doesn’t want to get
risk. Unfortunately, after being cheated by his boss he does an illegal job, smuggling
people. Another characteristic stated that he is a loyal husband. He loves his wife. He
says that his wife is the best woman that he ever met. Harry Morgan is also described
as a greedy person. He thinks about money and he will do anything to get it. He likes
to help his friend, although he is greedy, he doesn’t want see his friend get suffer, so
he offers his friend a job as a smuggler. There are several moral values can be
concluded from this novel. First is having courage to anything. Harry Morgan loves
his family, he doesn’t want his family get suffer, He will do anything to fed his
family although it is dangerous for him. The second moral value is support our
friends when in a trouble. Harry Morgan helps his friend named Albert by smuggling
gives affection in friendship. The last moral value is we should loyal and respect our
wives. Harry Morgan never makes his wife sad or feel down. His wife is the greatest
gift from God
3. The Moral Values as Reflected By Gump’s Character in Winston Groom’s
Forrest Gump By Claudia Melieana Megawantie (1999)
The result of the analysis of this thesis shows the characterization of Forrest
Gump. In this nivel entitled Forrest Gump, he is described as a man who really loves
his momma. His IQ is low, but inside his brain, he is actually smart and genius. A lot
of people think that he is an idiot, because from the outside he is an innocent person
and too honest. Forrest has a big body, but he never use his strength for something
bad, because he is affraid that he can hurt somebody. As the main character, he has
good moral values. His friendship with Bubba and Dan brings a good effects for his
life. with friendship he learns how to have a dream and how to have self-confidence.
So, this friendship brings several positive feelings, such as the feeling of loyalty,
sacrifice, truth, sharing, faith, and honesty. Another values come when his girlfriend,
Jenny, left him and married with another man. He is not angry toward her and just let
her go, because all he wants is Jenny’s happiness. It shows that this feeling is kind of
unselfish love. Claudia concludes that life is not about what you get, but it is about
4. Moral Values of the Daughter of Compassion Revealed through the
Character Development of Sr. Joan as Seen in Veronica Black’s a Vow of
Fidelity By Yovita Un Bria (2005)
This novel tells about the story of Sr. Joan as a nun. First, Yovita wants to
explain about the characteristics of Sr. Joan. In this thesis, the characteristics of Sr.
Joan divided into two parts. First is her characterization before becoming a nun and as
a nun. For the first part, her characterization before becoming nun are friendly,
artistic, selfish, loveable, diligent, and appreciative. After becoming a nun, her
characterization changes. Her characterization becomes pure, poor, obedient,
confident, open, honest, humble, grateful, helpful, faithful, trustworthy, smart,
truthful, and brave. After explains about the characteristics, in this thesis Bria
explains about the character development. In this novel, the character does not change
in sudden way. Sr. Joan’s character development changes step by step, through the
process of her life. After becoming a nun, Sr. Joan her whole habit. She roots her life
based on the three basic vows which she has promised. She has to leave her love life
and sex life. her efforts to live a chaste life is done by following Jesus Christwho
frees her heart for loving God and people. And now it is time for explains the moral
values that can be drawn from Sr. Joan’s character development. They are vow of
chastity, vow of poverty, vow of obedience, and compassion for the needy.
After analyze the related studies above, the writer wants to explains the
way the main character solves the problems. In this thesis the writer does not explains
the character and characterization in details, just the surface.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Since the writer wants to analyze the problems faced by Tom Rath to reveal
the moral value inside, it is important to present theories of character and
characterization.
Character is an important element in the story. In general, character is used in
two ways (Abrams, 1958:23). The first way is the character designates the individual
who appears in the story. Second, the character refers to the mixture of interest,
desires, emotions, and moral principles that make up each of this individual and
character also gives a certain situation or circumstances in the story because he or she
shows his or her emotion on it. Abrams also states that in a story character either may
remain stable or undergo his or her roles in outlook and disposition through a gradual
development (1958: 23)
Holman and Harmon in A Handbook to Literature classify fictional characters
into two: static and dynamic characters. Static character means the person or
character does not undergo any changes although he or she faces many problems in
his or her life. They will have the same characteristics from beginning until the end of
the story. In contrast to static characters, dynamic characters or is also called as
personalities, or outlooks from the beginning until the end of the story. The changes
could be for better or for worse, maybe a large or a small one, but it is something
important and basic, and more than a minor change in opinion (1986: 83)
Character and characterization are related and they cannot be separated each
other. In real life, human sense of character naturally varies with their power of
perception and understanding. C. Hugh Holman and William Horman states the
characterization is the creation of the imaginary person or character. Therefore,
characters exist for the readers as lifelike (1986: 81). In his book, Richard Gill stated
that characterization is the way in which character is created (1995: 127). According
to Oscar Braket, characterization can be found in four levels. The first level of
characterization is physical and it concerned only with such basic facts such as sex,
age, size, and colour. The second level is social. It includes a character’s economic
status, profession or trade, religion, family relationship – all those factors that place
him or her in the environment. The third level is psychological. It reveals the
character’s habitual response, attitude, desire, motivations, like and dislikes the inner
working of mine, both emotional and intellectual, with precedes action. The forth
level is moral. More nearly than other kinds, moral decision differentiates characters
because the choices they make when facing moral crisis show whether they are
selfish hypocritical, or person of integrity (1974: 39-40)
According to Rohrberger and Woods (1972:20), characterization is a process
Characterization therefore is central to the factional experience, and the principle objective of the creation of characters in novels is to enable us to understand and to experience people. Characterization also appears to loose sight of fact. (Henkle, 1977: 86-87).
Murphy in Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English Poetry and The
English Novel for Overseas Student also has classification that differ the
representation of the character. There are nine ways in which the author presents the
character. Those are:
1. Personal Description
The author can describe a person’s appearance and clothes (1972: 161). This
characterization deals with physical appearance such as face, body, the facial
expressions or the outfits she or he wears. It is important because each character has
speifi appearance in the novel or play.
2. Speech
A person’s character is known through her style in speaking or the way she
talks to other people or the way she gives an opinion. The author an give insight to
the character of one of the person in the story through what the person says (1972:
164). Here the author gives the reader some clues in analyzing the character through
the character’s conversation or opinion.
3. Conversation as seen by another.
Through this characterization, the author can describe the character through
the eyes and opinion of another. The author also gives the reader the impressions or
also the sense of strangeness and mystery.
4. Reaction
It is the way to understand a person’s character by seeing at how the person in
the reacts to various situations and events in his life. It gives some views to the reader
to watch the character closely. The author can also give us a clue to a person’s
character by letting us to know how that person reacts to various situations and
events.
5. Direct Comments
The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly (1972:
170). This method gives direct explanation of the character briefly and clearly.
6. Thought
It is the way to know a person’s character through what a character is thinking
about (1972: 171). The author guides reader to know what the person’s mind is and
what the person’s feeling is. And sometimes he can tell about the mind of different
character in the novel.
7. Conversation of others, the conversation of other people can be the way of the
author to tell the reader on the person's character by showing the dialogue among
other characters and other utterance on that person.
8. The past life, the author uses to tell the character's past life, by commenting out
directly, describing the person's mind, person's dialogue, and the medium among
another person.
attitudes, and talks with the other people (1972: 161-173)
2. Theory of Moral Values
Human being lives in the society, in that society we live together with the
people around us. In every society there are always norms and values. They are made
to control human’s attitude. There are so many values in the society. One of the
values which will be mentioned in this part has connection with this analysis is moral
values. This value is used to make judgment on the goodness of moral conscience in
analyzing how Tom Rath faced the problems.
According to Longman Dictionary, moral first concerning or based on
principles of right and wrong behavior and the difference between good and evil
(1992: 862).
Chamber (1973: 606) states that moral is the principles of good and evil, or
right and wrong in human’s life. It means that if we do good or right things it can be
said that our moral is good but if we do evil or wrong things in our life it can be said
that our moral is bad. Moral value is a value that differentiates between goodness and
badness. Moral is a clue how to act in the society in the right way, moral is to differ
what is good and what is not good. We can learn moral from a story or events in this
world by knowing which is wrong action and right action based on the principles of
good and evil.
Rachel in his book The Elements of Moral Philosophy, states that the rule of
wants or desire (1995: 118). It means that someone can be judged to have a good
morality conscience if he or she does not have any purpose in helping another people.
Basically, moral is not just simply about to make a difference between what
is good and what is bad. Moral has a deeper meaning. Cochrane, Hamm, and
Kazepides (1997: 7), in their book The Domain of Moral Education, say that moral
thinking is about the fundamental values by which we profess to live. They define the
word “value” as the things we seriously believe to be worth pursuing, the ends which
we think worth realizing and the action which we think worth doing or which we
think important to refrain from doing. They also said that the basic from which moral
thinking starts is that human actions are never done in vacuum but in context which
directly or indirectly involves other persons. It means that what human act in their life
affect either him or her and other persons.
A person can be judged to have a good morality conscience if he does not
have any purpose in helping others. Rachel said that
The rule of goodness in moral is not that you ought to help people if you care of them or if you have some other purpose that helping them might serve. Instead, the rule is that you should be helpful to people regardless of your particular wants and desires. (1995: 118-119)
From the explanation above, it can be concluded that morality judgment
must be based on the reason of action. There must be a reason why someone should
or should not be done. The reason behind his or her moral action must be good since
it will simply his or her own personal desires.
The great German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, believed that morality can be summed up in one ultimate principle, from which all our duties and obligations are derived. Kant believed that morality requires us to treat persons “always as an end and never as a means only” (1995: 128)
Immanuel Kant in his book Critique of Practical Reason, which was edited
and translated by Lewis W. Beck, states two categories of Moral autonomy. First is
heteronomy value. It is understood as an attitude when people fulfill his duty and it is
not caused by his consciousness. It is accepted because they are oppressed, afraid of
sin, or afraid of God’s rule (1993: 129). In this case, they do not accept the rule as
their own, because they are not conscious to accept it. Heteronomy itself may come
from religion, society, or government that gives rules to the members.
According to Kant, what is assumed as moral attitude sometimes has
negative value because of its heteronomy of value. It means that sometimes people
follow the rule is just for their own sake. They do not exactly understand the reason
behind their action of following the rules. In the sense of Kant’s idea of morality, one
should be conscious of his or her own action (Beck, 1993:132).
While, autonomy morality has a meaning that people obey his or her
responsibility because they are conscious of their action. Therefore, to fulfill their
duty, they accept the regulation or law. Kant states that with the distinct statement, a
good person will make and obey his own law (Beck, 1993:132). It can be explained
that actually someone can build up his or her own law because of his or her
consciousness on what he or she should do. His or herself-consciousness makes him
In conclusion, moral autonomy teaches us how to act based on our
consciousness and freedom. Human has freedom to act what they want to do but they
have to be conscious on what they to do.
3. The Relation between Literature and Moral
The study of literature comes from the creation of human feeling and sense. It
is always connected with human’s daily life such as sadness, happiness, joy,
friendship, love, anger, jealousness, hate, lost, freedom, loyalty, honestly, traits, etc.
Moody states that literary works always offer moral messages that connect
with human’s noble behavior, struggle for the right and the dignity of human being.
Those human noble behaviors can be displayed through characterization of attitudes
and the behavior of the characters in the novel. Sometimes, the character will be
found to fall into categories of good and bad, or sympathetic and unsympathetic,
more often they will seem possess various degrees of goodness and badness for most
human beings have at least some redeeming features, just no one is perfect (1971:
48).
In literary works, the moral thing that the author wants to deliver always deals
with the good sense. But in the story, besides the good character, there is always bad,
evil, unpleasant behavior manner carried by the antagonist character. The author
creates various characters in order to make the reader notice about the differences
always a connection between the author and his work with the reality of life in the
real society such as moral value.
The author will try to give massage that can be about the moral values toward
the readers by his or her literary works such as novel, plays, poem, etc. from the
literary works, the reader will see a lot of characters’ behavior in various events and
the readers will understand about the good behavior and the bad behavior. Therefore,
the readers will catch the idea of moral values from literary works and be able to
apply the moral values in their life as social creature.
C. Theoretical Framework
This thesis is entitled “The Moral Values Revealed through Tom Rath’s Way
in Solving The Problems in Sloan Wilson’s The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit”. In
this study the writer needs some theories to do analysis that the writer has explained
before, such as theory of character and characterization, theory of moral values, and
the relation between literature and moral. All of theories are used to answer three
problem formulations that the writer has explained before.
Theory of character and characterization is used to analyze the first problem
formulation. Theory of moral values is used to analyze the problems frmulatin
20
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the methodology in this study. There are three parts namely the object of the study, the approach of the study, and the method of the study. In the first sub chapter, there is the description of the data of this study. The second part consists of the explanations about the approach that will be used in this study.
A. Object of the Study
In this part the writer wants to describe everything which is relevant with the object of the study. The object of this study is a novel. This novel is entitled The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit which written by Sloan Wilson. It was written in 1955 and published by arrangement with Simon and Schuster, Inc. The novel was made into movie in 1956. The novel is also translated and published in several languages and countries, but unfortunately I haven’t found it was translated into Indonesian.
This novel has 288 pages which explore theme and issue happened in America at that time. Issue that were risen in this novel are the chaos of American economy after World War II, hard work, and competitions. Every issue was presented by using dramatically story. We cannot also predict the story easily, because Sloan Wilson played the plot beautifully.
economic condition and the problem of Tom’s past memories. Conflicts are described very beautifully as if the readers feel the same feeling’s as Tom.
B. Approach of the Study
In order to obtain a deep understanding about literary work, the writer needs a certain approach to analyze it. The approach used to analyze this literary work is philosophical approach. The writer chose moral-philosophical approach because the approach will help the writer how moral value can be revealed from solving a problem. This approach recognizes that literature can affect readers, whether subtly or directly.
Guerin states that moral-pholosophical approach is approach that insists on finding and stating what is exposed and taught (1979: 39). The statement here means that the moral-philosophical approach achieves the moral quality through what is seen and learnt from a character. The study is commonly relevant with human life and experience. The writer needs intellectual and rational ability to find the moral in human life.
C. Method of the Study
author. This novel was published by Simon and Schuster in 1955.
The secondary data are some critics from theses and some books of theories. Some of important sources which the writer used in this thesis are A Glossary of Literary Terms that is written by Abrams, Understanding Unseens
by Murphy, How to analyze Fiction by Kenney, On Moral Fiction by Gardner, A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature 4th edition by Guerin.
23
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the analysis is divided into three parts. The first part is analysis about the problems faced by Tom Rath, the second part is analysis about the way Tom Rath solves the problems, and the third part is analysis on the moral value revealed through Tom Rath faced the problems.
A.The Problems Faced by Tom Rath
The first problem in Tom Rath’s life is about financial. Living as a veteran world war is not quite easy, especially in financial problem. Tom has to find another job after world war. Everything in his mind is about to find money. With three kids is not easy if Tom doesn’t find a good job. Any kind of job Tom will accept it if the salary is good. This is the quotation from the novel The Man In the Gray Flannel Suit that strengthens the point above.
“Betsy finished her drink and poured herself another. I’ve never thought of you as a public relatios man, she said soberly. Would you like it? I’d like the money, Tom replied.” (p. 6)
In another part, Tom Rath almost sells his grandmother’s house in order to get cash money. He does not think clearly about the consequences if he sells it. Maybe he can use the house to make money or something else, although the house is inheritance from his grandmother. Luckily, the lawyer from his grandmother tell him not to sell the house too fast, and in the end Tom agree with his advice. The following quotation is a proof to this explanantion above
“I may need a cash,”Tom said. “I,m broke, and until the house is sold, things are going to be tough. Don’t sell it too fast,” Sims said. “Your grandmother has twenty acres of the bast land in South bay.” (p. 56)
2. An Affair with Maria and War’s Bad Memories
Although Tom Rath tries to forget about Maria and the memories about the war, suddenly a man named Caesar come up to his life. He is Tom’s friend from Italy during the war, and brings a news about Maria. After meet him, Tom become more curious about the news from Maria, so when Caesar wants to meet him, Tom does not mind. He arrange a meeting while having lunch. The proof of the explanantion above is written in this following quotation
“Caesar, he said, did you ever hear anything about Maria? Caesar looked down at the table. I did, he said. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. How is she? I haven’t heard anything lately, not for more than a year” (p. 146)
After meeting with Caesar Tom finally figures out about Maria. The good news is that Maria has married, Tom pleased about that. But, the bad news is that Maria has a son and Tom is his father. Tom does not deny about that shocking news. He feels regret about the son. This is the quotation from Caesar whe tries to explain about the story
“You knew she married that guy who had the bakeshop, Louis Lapa? No! Tom said. When? Caesar seemed embarassed. She married him about two months after we left. You knew she had a son? He said. She had a son alittle while later. No, Tom said. She’s got a boy, Caesar said, and things weren’t going well for them. You know Louis had a bad leg. I’m sorry to hear that, Tom said.” (p. 146)
a little money you didn’t know what to do with..You don’t understand, Tom said. I’m practically broke and I never could send Maria much of anything without my wife finding out about it.” (p. 147)
The one thing that Tom always changes the topic of conversation with his wife Betty is about the war. Tom never answers Betty’s question about the war. The memories about the war really disturb Tom’s life. He would never have to tell her anything about the war, not about Maria, not about Mahoney, not about anything. The following quotation is a proof for the explanantion above
“Do you mind talking about the war? There are all sorts of questions i’m dying to ask. There’s not much to tell, he had said.” (p. 179)
“Did you ever kill anyone? Of course. I mean, did you personally ever kill anyone? You’re never talked to me about it at all. Right now I’m too tired, I want to go to sleep, Tom stirred restlessly.” (p. 130).
Mahoney is Tom’s friend in the army. They fight together against Japanese soldiers in the Pacific. In the battle Tom throw a grenade to clean out the the Jap mortar, unfortunately he throw the grenade too quick and Mahoney still not in the safe position to cover. Tom feels guilty until now because of that tragedy. That is why he never answer Maria’s question. The following quotation is a proof for the explanation above
Tom is a hard worker. He will do anything to make money. Because he has to take care for his family. Any kind of job he will take it i order to get a big money.
“the sole reason he wanted to work for United Broadcasting was that he thought he might be able to make a lot of money.” (p. 10)
From the quotation above, the writer can say that Tom will not think about the job description, the important thing is the salary that the company offered to him. When the company where he works want held a special project that completely unrelated to the company and Tom offered to join in it, he instantly said yes, although he doesn’t understand what kind of project that he will do. This is the quotation from Tom Rath when the company wants him to join with the special project
“You would be working directly for Mr. Hopkins on an outside project completely unrelated to the company. What kind of program? Tom asked incredulously. We don’t know yet. Perhaps it will be a drive for better mental hospitals, or community guidance clinics. Sounds like a good idea, Tom said, realizing he was expected to register enthusiasm. Are you interested? I certainly am. Tom said heartily. I’ve always been interested in mental health. That sounded a little foolish, but he could think of nothing to rectify it.” (p. 25)
his priority
“I’m trying to be honest about this. I want the money. Nobody likes money better than I do. But I’m just not the kind of guy who can work evenings and week ends and all the rest of it forever.” (p. 261)
Another quotation that strengthen that Tom Rath need more quality time with his family.
“I’ve been through one war. Maybe another one’s coming. If one is, I want to be able to look back and figure I spent the time between wars with my family, the way it should have been spent.” (p. 261)
B.The Way Tom Rath Solves the Problems
In this section, the writer wants to analyze about the way Tom solves the problems that he deals with. They needed to be analyze further to reveals the moral values behind them. First problem is about financial, second is about his affair and war flashback, and the last is about less family time. Each problem has its own solution.
1. Financial Problem
about the possibility of a job at the United Broadcasting Corporation. So Tom tells his wife, Betsy about this golden chance.
“I heard about a new job today, Tom said. Public relations. United Broadcasting Corporation. How much does it pay? Probably a good deal more than I’m getting now.”
The main reason Tom wanted to work for United Broadcasting was that he thought he might be able to make a lot of money there fast. After being tested by the company, Tom finally accepted to work in the company. He tells his wife, Betsy about this. The following quotation is taken from from the conversation between Tom and Betsy.
“By the way, United Broadcasting hired me today. The salary’s nine thousand, and I’m on a temporary basis for six months. I’m supposed to start in a week.That’s wonderful, Betsy said.” (p. 60)
Although there are still a lot of things to do, but at least Tom has an efforts to solve his financial problem. He manage this problem wisely, without cause other people hurts or suffer. This good for his journey to the next level, he can manage it well. Sometimes if one family have financial problem, a husband can have a big argument with his wife, once in a while they can have a small fight, or the worst possibility is they get divorced. But not with Tom, with his maturity, he can think clearly, that this problem must be solved wisely.
2. Affair with Maria and War’s Bad Memories
his wife never meet during the war, it’s not totally wrong. The following quotation is taken from Tom and Maria’s conversation
“My name’s Bill Brown, Tom had said, William T.Brown from Kansas City, Iowa. What’s your name? She had shrugged. Maria, she has said. How about a meal, Maria? Let’s get out of here and get a real dinner. You like champagne? Yes.” (p. 81)
When Tom get news that Maria Has a son from him, he’s a little bit shock. He didn’t expect that Maria would come to his life again, But sometimes her imagination always haunted his mind. So, sooner or later, he has to tell his wife about this incident. But Tom waits until he finds the right time. After Tom finds the right time, he finally tells his wife about his affair with Maria. For Betty, this is a really bad news. The following quotation is conversation when Tom Tells Betsy.
“There was an awkward silence which he realized must be painful to her. There was a child, he began. A child? During the war. In Rome. What child? A child of mine. You had a child? Yes.” (p. 273-274)
She is angry and shocked. Tom never talk about this before. Tom also gave her a letter from Maria that also contain the photograph. Tom can not give her a good explanation why he did that thing. The following quotation is a proof from the statement above.
“He gave her a letter. Her face was pale but expressionless as she read it. Then she took the photograph out of the envelope and stared at it. Was this the woman? Yes. Did you love her? I can’t explain it. You can’t possibly have any idea what the war was like.” (p. 274)
everything to his wife. This following quotation is taken from theirs conversation.
“What do you want me to do? I’m going to support this child, he said. I’ve thought it over, and I’m going to send him a hundred dollars a month. I guess what I want is your blessing.” (p. 274)
At first, it is not easy for Betsy to accept the reality that her husband had an affair with other woman. After long explanation and patience from Tom, Betsy finally understand, that this is not fully his foul. Everything could happened in the war zone. Betsy agrees to support the child, finally Tom get her blessing. It is quite enough for Tom to send the money without feeling guilty. The following quotation is taken from Betsy’s spoken.
“Go ahead and send him money, she said. I’m not trying to stop you. You have my blessing.” (p. 277)
Sometimes when Tom feels lonely or feels depressed, his imagination is about the memories when world war II. That’s why he also avoid when his wife ask about it. On that night, Tom finally confess everything about his past. He tells Betsy that he killed his friend, Mahoney. The following quotation is a proof from the statement above.
“Do you know how a corpse grins? When you see enough of that grin, everything decent in the world seems a joke. The dead always have the last laugh-Mahoney, a man I killed, told me that once we were in Germany together.” (p. 276)
he chooses different ways, the way that other man maybe avoid it. He chooses a good ways with send Maria and her child money every month. It shows that Tom is a responsible man.
3. Too Obsessed by Money and Having Less Time for His Family
Tom Rath is a hardworker. He works day and night, even in the weekend. He’s really money oriented. Money is very important to Tom. Recently, he wants to move his children’s school to the better one, and it’s not cheap to find a better school, moreover a private school, it’s really expensive. So, to create his dream to make more money, he joins withUnited Broadcasting Corporation. Tom has faith that in this company he can make a lot of money, enough for his family. The following quotation is the evidence when Tom joins the company.
“Why do you want to work for he United Broadcasting Company? Walker asked abruptly. It’s a good company...Tom began hesitantly, and was suddenly impatient at the need for hipocrisy.” (p. 10)
ourselves. No more working every week end.” (p. 264)
With this moment, Tom can more focus on his family’s life. no more distractions from his work’s problem.
C.The Moral Values
As human being, man learns some values from his own experience. Some of those values teach him how to be a better person.In this section, the writer wants to answer the last question from the problem formulation. Based on the previous part, there are some values that can derived from Tom Rath.
1. Being Honest Brings a Good Effects
From the previous section, the writer has explained that Tom is an honest person. He never worries about failure because of his honesty. As long as he tells the truth, he believes that something good will happen.As a person who works in the business world, honesty is one thing that help him to stay humble and stay away from the troubles. The biggest honesty from Tom in this novel is happened when she told his wife that he had son from another woman. That was really amazing. He dares to confess about his mistakes in the past. Tom ready with all risks that he will get.
as personal assistant business. Tom thinks that it is a great opportunity for him, it’s a big step for his career. But, if he take the position, he will leave his responsible at home, he needs to find place to live in Hollywood, it means that he will loose his quality time with his family. So with all considerations, he refused the position.He tells his boss the truth.
“I don’t think I’m the kind of guy who should try to be a big executive. I’ll say it frankly: I don’t think I have the willingness to make the sacrifices. I’m trying to be honest about this. I want the money. Nobody likes money better than I do. But I’m just not the kind of guy who can work evenings and week ends and all the rest of it forever”. (p. 261)
From the quotation above Tom speaks honestly to his boss about his decision. He’s not afraid if his boss doesn’t like with it. Luckily his boss understands about his decision. He doesn’t fired Tom, and Tom feels glad about that. So, this is the power of honesty. Any problems you deal with, you have to be honest.
2. Remembering the Past is not Always Good
expectations, because he and Betsy had always expected so much.
“Everything would be perfect for them, they would be healthy, and they would do no wrong. Any deviation from perfection had seemed a blight which ruined the whole. But he and Maria expected nothing, they had started with hopelessness and had been astonished to learn that for a few weeks they could be happy”. (p. 181)
Tom also remembers about the number of enemies that he had killed. He couldn’t forget the number, seventeen. It’s not a small amount. The following quotation is a proof to this explanation above
“It was no longer fashionable totalk about the war, and certainly it had never been fashionable to talk about the number of men one had killed. Tom couldn’t forget the number, seventeen, but it didn’t seem real any more, it was just a small, isolatedstatistic that nobody wanted. His mind went blank.” (p. 13)
We can see that it is not good for Tom to remember his past. After flashed into his past his mind is blank. He can’t focus to his job.
painfully. Then Tom remembered about the leather jacket – remembered everything about it as clearly as though he had never forgotten. It had been back in 1943, not many months before Germany started to disintegrate. Only he hadn’t known than that Germany would fall to pieces—it had seemed as though the war would go on forever. It had been in December, early in december, that he killed the man in the leather jacket, simply because he needed the jacket for himself.” (p. 72)
From the quotation above, the writer can see why Tom remembered about simple thing, a leather jacket. His purpose is just want to take the jacket for himself, it was in December, it is on winter season, jacket is needed. Why does Tom just ask for the jacket? The answer is no. The man in the leather jacket had been armed, he had been an enemy, the worst is he had been a German. So killed him is legal. If he didn’t kill him, maybe Tom is killed at that time. The following quotation is a proof for the explanation above
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CONCLUSION
The story tells about life of Tom Rath, a World War II veteran living in Westport with his wife, Betsy and their three children. Betsy’s desire for a better house and neighborhood are her motives for asking Tom to advance his career. When tom explains to Betsy that they are comfortable and should be thankful for what they have, Betsy lashes out and accuses Tom of having no guts. Due to pressure, Tom decides to pursue a new career. While interviewing for the job, Tom has a flashback to his time in World War II.
Tom Rath in the novel? How does Tom Rath solve the problems in the novel? What are the moral values that Tom Rath reveals in the novel?
schedule. This can make Tom has a time with his family.
The second problem formulation is about his way to solve the problems in the novel. In this section, the writer finds several solutions for each problems. The first problem is about his financial problem in his family. Tom as a head of the family has responsibility for his wife and kids. He feels that his recent job can’t fulfill his daily needs. So he decides to find another job with higher payment.The second problem is his affair with a girl named Maria and world war flashback. In this problem Tom tells his wife the truth about his affair, and about there’s a child from the affair. About the war flashback, finally Tom confess to his wife about the story that disturbed his mind. He tells Betsy that he killed Mahoney with no intention. The third problem is about Tom’s obsession with money and less family time. Actually obsession with money isn’t wrong. His purpose is good. He just want to make his family happy. To deal with this problem Tom decided to join with United Broadcast Company. About his less family time, Tom finally reject an offered from his boss about the special project that makes him can’t meet with his family regularly.
They are affraid if honesty can make them suffered. The second moral value is remembering the past is not always good, or sometimes people called it we have to move on. Always remembering the past is not good for our mental. This condition also happens to Tom, he remembered when he had no intension to kill his friend, sometimes he remembered about Maria, the number of the enemies that he killed in the battle, or when he killed a German just for the jacket that he needed. This condition really disturb Tom’s mind. He had family and he had a job, if he keep remember about his past, his life will be wasted.
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Summary of the Sloan Wilson’s The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit
The story tells about life of Tom Rath, a World War II veteran living in Westport with his wife, Betsy and their three children. Betsy’s desire for a better house and neighborhood are her motives for asking Tom to advance his career. When tom explains to Betsy that they are comfortable and should be thankful for what they have, Betsy lashes out and accuses Tom of having no guts. Due to pressure, Tom decides to pursue a new career. While interviewing for the job, Tom has a flashback to his time in World War II.
