Analysis of Conflicts in Arthur Miller's 'Focus'.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dalam Tugas Akhir ini, saya menganalisis sebuah novel yang berjudul Focus karya Arthur Miller; elemen yang saya analisis adalah konflik, baik konflik sosial maupun konflik pribadi. Konflik-konflik dalam novel ini berhubungan dengan anti sentimen Yahudi yang dialami oleh tokoh utama dalam novel ini bernama Lawrence Newman.

Newman lahir dari keluarga yang berasal dari Inggris dan dia bekerja sebagai personalia, tetapi kehidupannya berubah setelah dia memakai kacamata yang membuatnya terlihat seperti Yahudi, dia harus menghadapi perlakuan-perlakuan yang tidak adil dari orang-orang yang membenci Yahudi.

Konflik sosial yang dihadapi Newman berhubungan dengan usahanya untuk menunjukkan identitas diri yang sebenarnya. Salah satu contoh konflik sosial yang dialami Newman tentang hak untuk tinggal, tetangganya ingin mengusir Newman karena dianggap sebagai orang Yahudi dan Newman berusaha menolak pengusiran ini dengan melapor pada polisi. Sedangkan konflik pribadi yang dialami Newman berhubungan dengan ketakutannya menjadi target diskriminasi dan usahanya untuk menghindari diskriminasi. Salah satu contoh konflik pribadinya terjadi ketika pertama kali dia memakai kacamata yang

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Maranatha Christian University membuatnya seperti orang Yahudi, karena takut menjadi target diskriminasi dia tidak memakai kacamata tersebut di depan umum, dan dia hanya memakai kacamata ketika dia sangat membutuhkannya.

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Maranatha Christian University

APPENDICES

Synopsis of Focus

Lawrence Newman is a personnel manager in a company which refuses to hire a Jew. He has a problem with his eyesight. Mr. Gargan, his employer tells him to get a new pair of glasses then he buys new glasses, which make him look like a Jew. After that he resigns from his job. Newman still lives with his mother, and he lives in white American neighborhood. His neighbor, Fred, makes a plan to have a meeting to get rid of the Jews that are living in the block, they reject the Jews. With this new appearance Newman feels insecure because he looks like a Jew. In the next morning he does not buy a paper from Finkelstein (Jew) as usual because Fred and Carlson are there, watching.

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Fred and those men are having a plan to get rid of Jews so she asks Newman to join the rally meeting and get involved with the Front before it is too late. Newman decides to go to the rally meeting, yet he gets thrown out because he does not applaud once. After that Newman and Finkelstein have a conversation, which opens his eyes how ridiculous that they treat Jews like that. They do not deserve to be treated like that. One night when Newman and Gertrude go home, Newman is attacked by a group of people, but Gertrude was not helping him at all; it was Finkelstein who helped him. Then he goes to the police station to report the attack but the police officer mistakes him for a Jew and he lets the police think that way.

Biography of Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller was born in October 17, 1915 in New York City. His father, Isidore Miller, was a ladies-wear manufacturer and shopkeeper, and his mother a school teacher. His father lost his business in the Depression (1930s) and the family was forced to move to a smaller home in Brooklyn. As a young man during the Great Depression, Miller was shaped by the poverty that surrounded him.

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twentieth century; his most famous works are The Crucible, The Death of a Salesman, and A View from the Bridge. Miller's first public success was Focus (1945), a novel about anti-Semitism. Miller died of heart failure at home in Roxbury, Connecticut, on February 10, 2005.

Sources:

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Maranatha Christian Unversity 1

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Anti-Semitism is “hostility toward or prejudice against Jews or Judaism” (Dictionary Reference). Jewish people are related to Judaism because Judaism is the religion of Jewish people. “Judaism is a monotheistic religion based on principles and ethics embodied in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)” (Judaism). In the first half of the twentieth century, in America, there is anti-semitism and it was in climax during the World War II. The form of hostility towards Jews could be found in all aspects of life. “Jews were discriminated against in employment, access to residential and resort areas, membership in clubs and organizations, and in tightened quotas on Jewish enrollment and teaching positions in colleges and universities.” (Antisemitism). The issue of anti-Semitism in America is tackled masterfully by Arthur Miller in his novel Focus.

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the plays and stories that he writes is “Miller uses his memories to trigger our own, forcing us to recall the hopes we once held dear —not just as individuals, but as citizens.” (McCarter). Miller witnesses and experiences the anti-Semitism when he works in the auto part warehouse (Arthur Miller) and this memory led him to write Focus in 1944, a novel about anti-Semitism and published in 1945. This novel not only talks about the issue of anti-Semitism but its more concern on the effect toward Jewish, “the novel shifts from a straight discussion of anti-Semitism to an analysis of the endless suffering of the Jewish people.” (Eden). The novel portrays how Jewish people are not protecting themselves and they lack self defence:

Miller is telling his readers that the fatal mistake of Jews throughout history has been their repeated willingness to assume the role assigned to them by anti-Semitic societies, allowing themselves to be transformed from victims into partners in the crimes of the larger society. Miller, in other words, believes that the Jewish people carry the mark of Cain--for the sin of moral compromise. (Eden)

From this novel I would like to analyse conflict, which is one of the important elements of a novel. Conflict in this novel is related to anti- Semitism, where the prejudice and hostility toward Jews had assumed such forms of social discrimination, and it was experienced by the protagonist, Lawrence Newman.

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between man and the physical world.” (Shaw 91), the second conflict is social conflict, which is “a struggle between man and man.” (Shaw 91), the third conflict is internal or psychological, which is “a struggle between desires within a person. External forces may be important and other character may appear in the narrative, but the focus is always upon the central figures inner turmoil.” (Shaw 92).

In Focus the predominant conflicts that occur are inner conflict and social conflict. Applying the formalist approach to analyse conflict in this novel, I can understand more what causes the conflict and the resolution of the conflict.

Statement of the Problem

The problems are stated as follow:

1. What are the social and inner conflicts in Arthur Miller’s Focus? 2. What causes those conflicts?

3. How are those conflicts resolved?

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is stated as follows:

1. To show the social and inner conflicts in Arthur Miller’s Focus. 2. To show the causes of those conflict.

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Method of Research

The method of research used is library research. First of all, I read the novel as the primary texts. I apply formalism to have a better understanding in my thesis. I then gather and search the information needed for the thesis from some references to support the analysis of the primary text. Finally I use the data that I have collected for my analysis from which I draw a conclusion.

Organization of the Thesis

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Maranatha Christian Universityy 17

CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

Having discussed the inner and social conflicts in Arthur Miller’s Focus, I would like to give the conclusion from what I have analyzed in chapter two. Both inner and social conflicts that are experienced by Lawrence Newman are caused by the glasses, these glasses give the strong impression for him to look like a Jew and he becomes the target of anti-Semitism.

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must try not to make any connection with the Jew because it might endanger his life. However, the inner conflicts which are experienced by Lawrence Newman are resolved not in accordance with his effort. The fourth inner conflict he finally admits that he is a Jew. I think everything that is done by Newman to protect his identity is useless as if the persecutions make him a Jew.

I also notice that in the social conflicts Lawrence Newman struggles to show his real identity and he takes a stand by refusing to escape because he is not a Jew. There are three social conflicts which I discuss; first social conflict between Newman and his boss, Mr. Gargan, he is resigning from his job because his boss treats him unfairly. The second social conflict between Newman and his wife, once they got to the hotel, the owner made an excuse that the hotel is full, he thought they are Jews, then his wife wants to find another hotel but Newman does not want to find another hotel. Here Newman does not want being insulted again. The third social conflict is about his residential right; his neighbours try to drive him out because they consider Newman as a Jew, but he refuses it by reporting to the police. Yet, it is not easy for him; as a result he is insulted and abused by the people around him.

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discrimination toward Jew is not fair. Not all Jewish people have bad behaviour; thus, it is ridiculous to treat Jew like that; they do not deserve to be treated like that.

I notice that Arthur Miller wants to show the racial discrimination from the different side by using Lawrence Newman who is not a Jew to suddenly become the target of anti-Semitism and also show a man’s inhumanity to a man. If Newman is a Jew, he will not make a denial or confront it. However in this story, Newman is not a Jew so he is struggling to show his true identity. Miller also wants to make the reader imagine if the situations in this novel occur and experienced, he hopes the reader can be wise in every step of their life.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Text

• Miller, Arthur. Focus. United States of America: Penguin Books, 1945

References

1. Book:

• Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literature Terms. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1972

2. Internet Website:

• “Antisemitism”. Wikipedia. 2008. 2 Mar 2008

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism#United_States> • “Arthur Miller”. Thinkquest. 1999. 21 Feb 2008

<library.thinkquest.org/27864/data/miller/ambio.htm>

• “Arthur Miller Biography (1915-2005)”. Biography. 1996-2007. 21 Feb 2008

<http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9408335>

• “American Heritage Dictionary”. Dictionary Reference. 2008. 21 Feb 2008

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• Eden, Amy. “Focus on Focus”. My Jewish Learning. 2002-2006. 27 Feb 2008

<http://www.myjewishlearning.com/culture/theatredance/JewishTheatre/A merica Theatre/Miller/Focus.htm>

• McCarter, Jeremy. “Miller’s Tales”. New York Times. 2007. 20 Feb 2008

<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/books/review/McCarter-

t.html?_r=1&scp=8&sq=focus+by+arthur+miller&st=nyt&oref=slogin> • “Judaism”. Wikipedia. 2008. 23 July 2008

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism>

• Von Verschuer, Baron Omar, M.D. “Racial Biology of the Jew”. Faem. 2007. 24 July 2008