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AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
ANDIKA PRIADIPUTRA
Student Number: 024214005
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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THE END OF THE AFFAIR
By
ANDIKA PRIADIPUTRA
Student Number: 024214005
Approved by
Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum. July 17, 2010
Advisor
Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. July 17, 2010
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THE END OF THE AFFAIR
By
ANDIKA PRIADIPUTRA
Student Number: 024214005
Defended before the Board of Examiners on July, 28, 2010
and Declared Acceptable
BOARD OF EXAMINERS
Name Signature
Chairman : Dr. Francis Borgias Alip, M.Pd., M.A. ________________ Secretary : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. ________________ Member : Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum ________________ Member : Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum ________________ Member : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum ________________
Yogyakarta, July 31, 2010 Faculty of Letters
Sanata Dharma University Dean
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Nama : Andika Priadiputra
Nomor Mahasiswa : 024214005
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul :
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE AUTHOR’S RESPONSE TO
ATHEISM AS SEEN IN GRAHAM GREENE’S
THE END OF THE AFFAIR
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, me-ngalihkan 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 dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 20 Agustus 2010 Yang menyatakan,
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transferred to my body and soul. It is a great bless having those people around me in my life.
However, there are some special people who I should mention because of their big role in my process of finishing this undergraduate thesis. I am happy to express my sincere gratitude to Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum as my advisor who always has unlimited patience for me. And talking about patience, I would also thank to my parents, Dwi Sulistyo Apriyadi and Quirina Pinta Yudhiari, who have trusted me and given me freedom to do this thesis
Huge thanks are also addressed to all my 2002 friends, especially Galang, Jati, Sunu, Vera, Sandra, and Nuke for the great friendship since the first time I entered this lovely faculty. Despite of the power of friendship, I realize that my soul, mind, and thought have been changed during my education in this faculty. That is why I should like to thank Elizabeth Nita who gave me more than only love relationship which made me stronger and changed me in many ways by the love, hate, pain, joy, and comfort during our relationship.
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Septyayu) who never stop supporting me and also my eternal brotherhood: Van Lith Sembilan; especially Adi, Irin, Blek, Herpang, Tupang, Didit, Cmoet, Puspa, Toree, Ayu, Shinta, Adesti, thank you for the distractions and supports, and I love you all, as always.
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ACCEPTANCE PAGE……… iii
MOTTO PAGE……… iv
DEDICATION PAGE……….. v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS……… vi
A. Background of the Study ………... 1
B. Problem Formulation ………... 4
C. Objectives of the Study ………... 5
D. Definition of Terms ………... 5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW………. 7
A. Review of Related Studies ……….. 7
B. Review of Related Theories ………12
C. Review on the Biographical Background of Graham Greene ……… 22
D. Theoretical Framework ………... 26
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY……… 28
A. Object of the Study ………... 28
B. Approach of the Study ………... 29
C. Method of the Study ………... 30
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS………... 32
A. The Characterization of the Major Characters in the Novel ……….. 33
B. The Type of Atheism Described in the Characterization of the Major Characters ………... 44
C. The Significance of Author’s Response to Atheism in the Novel …. 51 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION………... 58
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The End of the Affair contains a story of an affair between a writer, Maurice Bendrix and a wife of Minister Worker, Sarah Miles. The end of their affair is the beginning of another story. A story which involves God; something they do not believe the existence. Many critics mention that this novel is one of Greene’s Catholic novels since he put many religious dogmas and philosophy of belief in this novel. This study will examine more about the atheism that exists in the novel and find the significance of the author’s response to atheism.
In this research, there are three main objectives that have to be explained based on the object of the study and relative theories which are used in the analysis. There are (1) to find the characterization of the major characters depicted in the novel, (2) to categorize the type of atheism of each of major characters, (3) to understand the responses of the author to atheism and also the significance of the responses.
In doing the research and analysis of the study, the library research method was taken. The main resource is the novel itself, The End of The Affair, and the secondary resources are the theories and criticism books. The online resources, such as journal, critical reviews, and other criticism also become the additional resources in doing the research. There are two approaches which are used to do the analysis. The close relation of the story in the novel to philosophy of belief becomes the main reason to choose philosophical approach. To understand the significance of author’s response to atheism, biographical approach is used to know the author’s background and to link it to author’s responses to atheism in the novel.
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The End of The Affairmenceritakan tentang sebuah perselingkuhan antara seorang penulis, Maurice Bendrix, dan seorang istri Pegawai Kementrian, Sarah Miles. Akhir dari perselingkuhan mereka adalah awal dari cerita lain yang melibatkan sesuatu yang mereka tidak pernah percaya keberadaanya, yaitu Tuhan. Banyak kritikus mengatakan bahwa novel ini merupakan salah satu dari novel-novel Katolik yang ditulis oleh Graham Greene karena dia menaruh banyak dogma agama dan filosophy kepercayaan manusia di dalam novel ini. Studi ini akan lebih mengamati paham atheisme yang ada di dalam novel dan menemukan signifikasi dari respon pengarah pada ateisme.
Dalam penelitian ini, ada tiga sasaran utama yang harus diterangkan berdasarkan obyek studi dan teori-teori terkait yang digunakan dalam analisa, yaitu, (1) menemukan karakterisasi dari para tokoh utama yang terlukiskan di dalam novel, (2) mengkategorikan tipe ateisme dari tiap-tiap tokoh utama, (3) memahami reaksi pengarang pada ateisme dan juga signifikasi dari reaksi-reaksi tersebut.
Dalam melakukan penelitian dan analisis dari studi ini, penulis menggunakan metode studi pustaka. Sumber utamanya adalah novel ini sendiri, The End of The Affair, dan sumber kedua adalah buku-buku teori dan kritik. Sumber online, seperti jurnal, kritik sastra, dan kritik lainnya juga menjadi sumber tambahan dalam melakukan penelitian. Ada dua pendekatan yang digunakan untuk melakukan analisis. Dekatnya hubungan antara cerita di dalam novel dengan filosofi kepercayaan menjadi sebab utama untuk memilih pendekatan secara filosofis. Untuk memahami signifikasi dari reaksi pengarang terhadap ateisme, pendekatan biografis digunakan untuk mengetahui sejarah pengarang dan menghubungkannya dengan reaksi pengarang pada ateisme di dalam novel.\
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A. Background of the Study
Graham Greene, in his earlier novel, The Power and The Glory, wrote “But at the center of his own faith there always stood the convincing mystery— that we were made in God’s image. God was the parent, but He was also the policeman, the criminal, the priest, the maniac, and the judge” (1991:101). This quotation describes how people will continually search to find the true image of God throughout their entire life. It also explains how the image of God is perceived differently depending on each person’s experiences, and sometimes, for some other people, God is perceived as a nonexistence.
In analyzing literature, especially fiction novel, we can see that literature has an imitation of real world. By reading the story, we are taken to a real world situations, problems, feelings, and relationships. Henkle said that fiction presented men and women reacting to each other in the way that was really close to the reality. He added that this was literature’s great advantage among other disciplines (1974:4)
or ask them to join to the joy of God. Those acts are conducted in many different ways, such as campaign or sermon in public, but also through art and literature.
Atheism is a kind of the counter of the people who believe in God. The main characteristic of atheism is the absence of belief in the existence of god(s). The choice to the absence of belief can occur in two ways, a deliberate choice or because of an inherent inability in receiving, learning, or believing the idea of God or any religious teachings which considered as something incredible or closer to impossible (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/mathew/intro.html). Atheists can not accept dogmas and also the idea of God, because based on what they have experienced in their life, they found that those religious ideas are merely non-factual, and they choose to find the answers of life matters in their own efforts inside their society and real life.
Graham Greene is a famous British author who wrote continuously between 1930 and 1980. He is obsessed with the problems of good and evil. In his early novels, religion had dominated his novels with the theme about the grace of God. Greene wrote five books concerned with religious themes. They are The Brighton Rock (1938), The Power and The Glory (1946), The Heart and The Matter(1948),The End of the Affair(1951), andA Burnt Out Case(1961)
religious novels have earned him an international reputation rare among contemporary English writers (1973:1). He also added that Greene attempts to prove the connection between sin and God’s purposes in this novel (1973:70). Greene himself also stated his own comment on how people see him as a catholic writer, “I would claim not to be a writer of Catholic novels, but a writer who in four of five books took characters with Catholic ideas for the novels” (1973:101).
some themes which deal with moral lessons, but still some other stories do not deal with moral. What is being said by an author does not always mean they are offering human good values but instead it can go wrong based on the misconception of life” (1968:9).
The title of this novel is quite interesting; the word “affair” always becomes a temptation for people. “Affair” has been one of the most popular issues for people to talk about. However, in this novel, the affair is not the only issue. The story of this novel begins with many flashbacks from the characters, flashback about love affair between Bendrix and Sarah. The affair becomes the background or the starting point to understand the story. Each character of this novel shows different behavior and belief toward God. Basically, the story in this novel describes a world which takes God as something unimportant to believe. However, the story flows into another stage when Sarah began to pray and make promise to God for Hendrix's life at same time she decided to leave him and end their affair. God becomes something important, as a place to address questions and problems. This thesis will discuss about atheism in the novel and the significance of author’s response towards it.
B. Problem Formulation
1. How are the major characters depicted in the novel?
3. What is the author’s response towards atheism and its significance seen in the novel?
C. Objectives of the Study
In writing this thesis, there are three objectives which are going to be achieved. The first problem formulation is meant to find the characterization of the major characters, the information can be dragged from their conversation, behavior, and belief about God and then, we can find the type of atheism described those behaviors toward God. The last objective, as the final objective of this thesis, is to see the author’s responses to atheism which are described in this novel and the significance of it. Those sequential three objectives are the main focus to be achieved in writing this thesis.
D. Definition of Terms
To avoid misunderstanding which possibly occurs to the readers when reading this thesis, some definition of the terms used in thesis are listed below: 1. Atheism
Or in other word, atheism can be simply defined as the absence of belief that any deities exist.
(Robinson, 2007: http://www.religioustolerance.org/atheist4.htm) 2. Atheist
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Greene is considered as a great author during his time, even until these recent days, therefore in this work of Graham Greene, The End of The Affair, many critics and reviewers have their own perspective in interpreting the novel. In this first part of the second chapter of the thesis, some of the works related to Graham Greene’sThe End of The Affairwill be drawn in short description.
H.G Earnshaw in Modern Writers (1980: 203) stated, ”Greene has written a number of unhappy novels about seedy characters, and his Catholicism is peculiar to himself. The principal characters seem to be intent of testing God's faith in man, rather than on expressing man's faith in God.” He stated his opinion about how the religious theme dominates Greene’s The End of The Affair which narrates about Greene’s peculiar Catholicism, and instead of telling a story about someone’s faith toward God, Greene wanted to test the faith itself.
Another work that also had the similar idea with Earnshaw and discussed about the religiousness of Greene is the book titled Graham Greene which is written by Pryce-Jones. He described his opinion about The End of The Affair by using religiousness theme inside the novel then considering God as the author of the novel.
God is the master novelist in the End of the affair. Bendrix is an unbeliever resisting God, striking his toes into the sands of human life, God drags Bendrix to Him. Bendrix hoped to write a novel about Henry, so God is writing a master novel around Bendrix and is able to call on a
far wider material; until in the end it is God who has even conditioned the first person narrative by providing such a different story from the one Bendrix planned. (1973: 8)
In addition, Pryce Jones also expressed that the combination of love and lust or a great sexual desire is one of Greene’s favorite symbiosis. He also mentioned that this book was used by Greene as the device to bend guilt and egoism into an externalization of happiness. The plot ofThe End of The Affaircan always reform; it depends on an interchangeability of the moral association of love and lust. For lust is sinful abandonment of the flesh, love is virtue's abnegation of the self. But love also entails and perhaps means lusting after a woman with all the suffering that ensues. There are two kinds of love found in this story that is possessive love and divine love (1973:111).
belief though he had kept his faith. Greene had "excommunicated" himself: He said,
“In my private life, my situation is not regular. If I went to communion, I would have to confess and make promises. I prefer to excommunicate myself. If I don't believe in X or Y, faith intervenes, telling me I'm wrong not to believe. Faith is above belief. One can say it's a gift of God, while belief is not. Belief is founded on reason. On the whole I keep my faith while enduring long periods of disbelief.” (1988: 96).
Greene’s own life experience in faith and belief can be seen through the characters in his novel, The End of The Affair, their faith of God changed in the last part of the story.
Philip Spires also wrote his review about Graham Greene’sThe End of The Affair, it was published at July 07, 2008, in a website called blogcritics.com;
he ended the review with a good closure about his view about the novel and gave the readers such a suggestion or question to enjoy the flow of the story which later can be answered by the readers based on their own interpretation toward the story. What emerges in The End of the Affair is that this space is specific to particular relationships. Scratch the surface of a different association of that same person, and it will reveal a different territory, perhaps not even sharing recognizable landmarks with the first. Perhaps, therefore, we project onto others what we want them to be. Perhaps relationships are never really shared, and remain at best pragmatic and, more likely, ultimately selfish. In the end, The End of the Affair suggests that they
are not, but it is only a suggestion.
(http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/07/07/110804.php)
but straining ethical social limits, has the power to destroy those most insistent on its expression. For Sarah, love is physically fatal, for Bendrix, it becomesa record of hate.”(http://www.answers.com/topic/the-end-of-the-affair-criticism)
Sherry, the writer of Greene’s Biography, stated that The End of The Affairis Greene’s himself autobiographical novel, as its inspiration his adulterous love affair with the American Catherine Walston, who was married to a wealthy farmer. This book is dedicated to her. Readers can see this sign in the beginning of the novel, it is written to “To C.” (British Edition) which is the initial name of Catherine. It even becomes more obvious in the American Edition, which is written in full her first name, “to Catherine”.
Westbroek and Overbeeke in "High Road of English and American Literature" explicitly said:
Graham Greene has been called the leading novelist of the displaced person. His characters' vulgarity, their lack of social consciousness and split personalities make us feel we are constantly moving on the borderline between "right" and "wrong" or rather between "good" and "evil". Most of the characters, either having no belief or principles at all, or, if they have, crippled by other weaknesses, are driven into a corner by some cause or other, forced to show their real natures stripped of all camouflage in their moments of utter misery and despair. The seediness in man's character and the meaningless of existence to those who are not aware of a faith is often nearer to God and may be saved by His grace (1965:112-113).
Brindley D. in "Orthodoxy and Orthoproxis in the Novel of Graham Greene" (1983:29-31) says that in The End of the Affair, Greene wanted to write
of a man who was to be driven and overwhelmed by the accumulation of natural coincidences, until he broke down and began to accept the incredible-the possibility of a God. InThe End of The AffairGreene portrays the genesis of faith, and sharply opposes the intellectual and emotional elements involved. Further, Brindley (1983:35) comments that Greene considered intellectual conviction insufficient. He also explores the possibility of faith being based not on intellectual but on practice and finds that God can be responded to as a statue, picture or sacrament, which is easily grasped and objectified, rather than as a rational concept. Sarah's love for God is an emotional response that is entirely independent of rational justification, but Bendrix is only willing to consider belief on intellectual terms. Practice and the objectifying of God is what brings Sarah to belief
Most of Greene's characters undergo meaningless and clueless life, and do not believe in God's existence. Critics often describe his story with "seediness", which means that his stories are describing a gloomy and dark sequence in which his characters are living. He typically illustrates world in his novel as rootless, people living without God's presence, and there is always and mixed between love and hatred (Allen, 1964: 203).
starting-point. Greene is still after his "religious sense"; his grand backdrop of heaven and hell, the Catholicism is employed this time. Further, Spurling mentions that it is God who intervened, or may have intervened, to bring Bendrix back to life after Sarah has found him apparently dead under a fallen door after an air raid (1983:44).
From those related studies of The End of The Affair, most of them are viewing the novel from the religious point of view of Graham Greene as the author. The value of Catholicism is so widely used in extracting the message of Graham Greene’s The End of The Affair. Many critics describe the concept of faith and belief inside the novel and accept this as one of Greene’s auto-biographical novels, since the story has many similarities with Greene’s life journey. The topic of this thesis is quite clear to show where the discussion will go. It is still about philosophy of atheism inside the novel. The only distinction of the last goal by relating Greene’s biography to the novel is the reason of doing it. The others simply say that atheism in the story is part of Greene's life. This thesis will discuss about it more closely and specifically, which is the response of the author to atheism in this novel and why the author has that kind of response reflecting to his life's journey.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory on Character and Characterization
emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say-the dialogue-and by what they do-the action”. While according to Holman and Harmon (1986: 81) in A Handbook to Literature, a character is a complicated term including the idea of
moral constitution of human personality, the moral uprightness, and the presence of creatures in works of art which seem to be human in one way or the other. From those sources, character can be defined as a complicated term presented in literary work which possesses the value of moral constitution in human’s personality and moral uprightness and it can be interpreted by the readers who also own those values as a human being.
A character may be flat or having only a single idea or quality without much detail or round, that is having more complex characteristics as real life person. A character may also be static, experience only slight changes in the plot, or dynamic, influenced by actions and experiences and used to reveal the consequences of his or her actions (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 24).
In addition, Foster defines the distinction between flat and round characters. In his Aspect of the Novel (1978: 73), he clarifies the distinction as follows:
a. Flat Character :
A flat character presents static and never changes in the story. It is represented "as single idea or quality" (1978:73).
b. Round Character :
A round character presents dynamic and complex manner. It is difficult to categorize someone as a round character because his or her character always changes and is not easy to guess.
Barnet, Berman, and Bruto in Literature for Composition (1988: 71-72) explained four main ways, which are significant in analyzing literary work. These are the following ways to analyze characterization.
a. What the character says: This is direct words that come from the character's expression.
b. What the character does: The action or deed the character might do.
c. What does other character say about the character: It might be difficult if there is no other characters appear in the story. To lead a good description, the author has to include other characters, even a narrator, if any to give any comments, opinions, or descriptions about the character.
2. Theories about atheism
Theories about atheism written here are meant to explain the specific and clear definition of atheism and prevent the confusion about atheism in doing the analysis. Hopefully, by using some sources in drawing some explanation about atheism, the term “atheism” will become understandable. However, the meaning of atheism is somehow quite large, but here, we are going to use the most common definition about atheism.
Reid, in his book The Anatomy of Atheism (1965:6-21), explains the distinctive features of atheism and the meaning of its counterparts obviously. There are two distinctive features of features of atheism. They are atheism as a way of life and atheism as intellectual position. The explanation of these distinctive features is respectively under different subheadings.
a. Atheism as a Way of Life
atheism in the lives of men. Whereas the second one is its theoretical dimension which atheist concerns about their faith. It considered more obvious, more explicit metaphysical and more theological. Moreover Reid (1965:7-14) classifies three types of atheists under this subheading that he follows from Maritain's terminology (Maritain is a contemporary Catholic philosopher). Those consider atheism as a way of life are divided into these following types:
i. The Practical Atheists :
The practical atheist may refuse to be called 'atheists' because they are unaware of their atheism. They may think of themselves as believers, religious men, may even adhere to certain religious principles verbally, or be counted as member of some denomination. From day to day existence, God does not exist and has no real meaning in their life. They endure daily problems, carry out their business and encounter the periodic crisis, to which life is exposed. All the problems they face without any reference to the living God. For them, the determinant of the specific and significant boundaries of human existence is their own interests and endeavors. They worship God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him (Reid, 1965:.7-9)
ii. The Pseudo Atheist :
they do not believe in God, they unconsciously search for Him. They yearn for His presence in life and this feeling make them not realized about what they are going to do that is search the existence of God, even though it takes for years. In other words, the pseudo atheists live without a knowledge of or faith in the true God. If it is compared with the practical atheists, it can be said that: the pseudo-atheists never have enough knowledge about the true God, whereas the practical atheists ignore and refuse Him effectively out of their thought and also out of their life (Reid, 1965:9-11)
iii. The Absolute Atheists :
There is a question about such atheists, is there any absolute atheists in this world? The answer is these ones are not a mere possibility. Perhaps recently the followers of absolute atheists are larger that any other kinds of atheists. The absolute atheists are larger than any other kinds of atheists. The absolute or radical atheists live consciously and consistently without God. They exclude Him from their life. The believers place God as the authentic object of human reason and divine faith, but for the absolute atheists, their denial of God is about positive affirmation of himself. They focus and concentrate humanity in themselves. The ultimate and solitary concern is their own persons.
think of God only for excluding Him from their life. They may think about Him more often than the practical atheists do. More over the thought of Him make their firmness to throw Him out of their life and deepen their attachment to those values, which have yielded the place of God in their affections and strivings.
For the absolute atheists, it is better to live with their own way rather than live as practical ones do. The practical atheists who confess as a believer live hypocritically as they believe that there is God, but incompatible with their action, which they have chosen. It is not amazing if the absolute atheists may grow out of or derive strength from the unreflective disregard of the practical atheists. (Reid, 1965:11-14)
b. Atheism as an Intellectual Position
i. Negative Atheism
The negative atheism does not know about God, their ignorance is the result of ignorance, a broken understanding, rather than of indifference, a broken of the will. The ignorance of God may be complete of partial. If the thought of God has never been entertained in any meaningful way, this circumstance refers to complete ignorance, whereas partial ignorance happen if the atheists have heard about God but has not sufficiently reflected on all is implied in the concept of Supreme Being. This kind of atheists is somewhat similar with the practical atheists. The similarity is both of them neither give any serious or prolonged thought to God. The distinction is practical atheist lives without reference to the God Whom he has known and in whose supernatural revelation he may have believed. It is possible for him to continue to be a believer or may be he does not abandon his faith formally, but he defaults by reason of indifference.
On the contrary, as mentioned above the negative atheist does not know about God and he ignore Him because a defect understanding and a defect of the will (Reid, 1965:15-19).
ii. Positive Atheism
professional unbeliever. The positive atheist can be a well-educated or common person, but both of these types have a stock of arguments in defense of atheism and against theism of whatever persuasion. When he does deny God is not a mere defect, an absence but more over it is an affirmation and the ground of all affirmation (Reid, 1965:9-21). Three points may be emphasized in characterizing positive atheism:
To make the idea of Atheism becomes clearer, a quotation from Joseph Lewis, an atheist who has speech in the radio, he said,
”Atheism rises above creeds, and puts Humanity upon one plane. There can be no "chosen people" in the Atheist philosophy. There are no bended knees in Atheism; no supplications, no prayers; no sacrificial redemptions; no "divine" revelations; no washing in the blood of the lamb; no crusades, no massacres, no holy wars; no heaven, no hell, no purgatory; no silly rewards and no vindictive punishments; no christs and no saviors; no devils, no ghosts, and no gods.” (February 20, 1960, in his speech broadcasted over Miami, Florida)
The response of the author toward atheism can only be found if atheism is proven exist in the characterization of the characters. Those definitions and understandings about atheism written previously hopefully are able to become guideline to find the atheism which is described in the novel.
3. Theories on the Relation between Literary Work and Its Author
Northrop Frye as cited in Reichert said that forms of literature are the forms of life. People make sense of character, a dialogue, a plot, as they make sense of each other and their life, and experiences take the shape of literature and make it meaningful.
To read or interpret or assess a work of literature is to read or interpret or assess it as something as an expression of thought or feeling, as a complicated statement about life, as a subtly persuasive of rhetoric (Reichert, 1977: 134)
Longinus in Daichessays that the true nature of literature is defined by a discussion of its greatness and the definition in moral and intellectual qualities of the author. In other words, to produce the greatness effect to readers the author must possess certain qualities as a man as well as certain skills as writer. As a man he must have impressiveness of thought and emotion (1981:47).
It is undisputable that in producing a work, the author gives a big portion of influence. The story plays a role as the author’s media to share and express his or her messages, minds, feelings, and also imagination. According to Van De Laar and Woerd novels or other literary works, whether directly or indirectly, are the portrayal of the author’s experience of life.
Directly or indirectly, conscious or unconscious, every novelist necessarily presents in his novel a certain way of life and some of the problems of life. He represents incidents, characters, motives and etc. in such a way to reveal more or less directly and clearly the way in which he looks upon the problems of life (1969: 174).
There is a close relationship between the work of art and the life of the author, but the work of art is not mere copy of life. A work of art may be only a place to hide his or her weakness and so that in writing a literary work the author depends on his or her mood (1956: 75-78).
Rohrberger and Woods in their book Reading and Writing about Literature, also say that there is an indirect relationship and similarity between the
work and the author. An author’s work including characters perhaps is “a kind of mask which is surely based on the author’s experience of life” (1971: 8).
C. Review on the Biographical Background of Graham Greene (1904-1991)
Henry Graham Greene was born on October 2, 1904 in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. The fourth of six children, Greene was a shy and sensitive youth. He did not like sports and was often absent from school in order to read adventure stories by authors such as Rider Haggard and R. M. Ballantyne. These novels had a deep influence on him and helped shape his writing style.
The recurring themes of treachery and betrayal in Greene's writing stem from his troubled school years where he was often tormented for being the headmaster's son. After several suicide attempts, Greene left school one day and wrote to his parents that he did not wish to return. This culminated in his being sent to a therapist in London at age fifteen. His analyst, Kenneth Richmond, encouraged him to write and introduced him to his circle of literary friends which included the poet Walter de la Mare.
debt-ridden. However, it was here that Greene gained experience as an editor at The Oxford Outlook; developed an interest in politics after joining the Communist Party (more for amusement than for for principle); and honed his skills at writing, with one novel Anthony Sant complete before he graduated.
After graduating with a B.A. in 1925, Greene was employed as a subeditor at the Nottingham Journal after two abortive positions at other companies. His dislike of Nottingham's seediness was manifested in his later novelBrighton Rock. Here he met his future wife Vivien Dayrell-Browning when she wrote to point out some errors regarding Catholicism in his writings. Upon her urging, Greene took instructions in the faith and was received by the Church in 1926. He was before an atheist and it is kind of hard for him to convert and start to believe and learn what he did not believe before. Sherry, quote his saying that:
My primary difficulty was to believe in God at all. The date of the Gospels, the historical evidence for the existence of the man Jesus Christ; these were interesting subjects which came nowhere near the core of any disbelief. I didn't believe in Christ, I disbelieved in God. If I were ever to be convinced in even the remote possibility of a supreme, omnipotent and omniscient power I realized that nothing afterwards could be impossible (Sherry, 1989:259).
Greene moved on to a job as a subeditor at The Times in London. He married Vivien in October 1927 and with her had a daughter, Lucy Caroline, and a son Francis. During this time, he wrote a political novel, The Episode, which was rejected by publishers. He finally succeeded in getting published with The Man Within. The success of the book led Greene to make a difficult decision:
He came near to reneging of this decision with the failure of his next two novels (The Name of the Action and Rumour at Nightfall). Living on his publisher's advances, he moonlighted as a book reviewer for The Spectator. The financial strain made Greene write Stamboul Train, an escapist novel that was deliberately intended to please the public.
From then on, he never shied away from writing both "entertainments" and "serious novels”. Besides reviewing books, Greene also took on film for The Spectator, and was co-editor of the short-lived Night and Day. He became
involved in screenwriting despite being sued by Twentieth Century-Fox for his criticism of Shirley Temple. He wrote adaptations for the cinema as well as original screenplays, the most famous beingThe Third Man.
Greene began his world-renowned traveling in part to satisfy his lust for adventure, and in part to seek out material for his writing. A trip to Sweden resulted in England Made Me. An exhausting 400-mile trek through the jungles of Liberia not only gave Greene a near brush with death, but provided fodder for Journey Without Maps. During World War II, he worked for the Secret
Intelligence Service in Sierra Leone, which became the setting for The Heart of the Matter. His journey to Mexico to witness the religious purges in 1938 was
The frenetic globetrotting continued until Greene was physically unable to do so in his later years. He sought out the world's "trouble spots": Vietnam during the Indochina War, Kenya during the Mau Mau outbreak, Stalinist Poland, Castro's Cuba, and Duvalier's Haiti among others.
Although Greene always declared himself to be apolitical as a writer, he nonetheless enjoyed being politically connected and appearing to be a supporter for the oppressed. The extent of his involvement in the British Secret Service has become a matter of intense speculation. He has publicly declared himself a lifelong friend of Kim Philby, after working under him in the MI6. After the publication of The Quiet American, Greene was accused of being anti-American and consequently developed a strong dislike of Americans, particularly Ronald Reagan. He began to delve into Central American politics, associating with people such as Fidel Castro and Manuel Noriega. His friendship with Panamanian dictator General Omar Torrijos led him to write Getting to Know the General.
D. Theoretical Framework
In the process of writing this thesis those theories above are needed to create the best analysis from the novel in order to gain the goal of this thesis. Each step in answering the problem formulation will need guidance from those theories to fulfill the requirements of a valid scientific thesis.
The theories of character and characterization will be needed in answering the first problem. The novel provides the data and it can be analyzed by using the guidance of the theories provided. The question is about the characterization of the characters described in the novel, which actually not the main goal of the theories of character and characterization; however each of these theories give more than its goal, the theories can also be used to achieve a good analysis about the characters’ behavior toward God.
The theory of atheism explained in Reid’s Anatomy of Atheism is really important to finalize the second problem as it describes the full concept of atheism and types of it. The result of the characterization becomes the source, and this theory is needed to categorize the type of atheism held by the characters inside the novel. However, to describe an atheist, it will be difficult to define the type of atheist the character is, when we see only the change of the character in the end of the story. Surely, it will be easier and more precise if we apply the categorization to each phase of the development of the character and also provide the specific explanation about the development of the character.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is Graham Greene’s novel, The End of The Affair. This novel was first published in 1951 by William Heinemann Ltd. Eleven years later, Penguin Books published the copy of this novel, and it became more famous as the impact of the broad distribution by Penguin Book. This novel is one of four major novels written by Graham Greene which was considered as catholic novels, the three other novels areBrighton Rock,The Heart of the Matter, andThe Power and the Glory. The version used as the object of study is published by Penguin
Books in 1975.
The title of this novel is quite interesting; the word “affair” always becomes a temptation for people. “Affair” has been one of the most popular issues for people to talk about. However, in this novel, the affair is not the only issue. The story of this novel begins with many flashbacks from the characters, flashback about love affair between Bendrix and Sarah. The affair becomes the background or the starting point to understand the story. Sarah, who actually married to Henry, somehow fell in love to Bendrix, a writer who worked on a novel about a figure like her husband. She often involved with him in many occasions, particularly when Bendrix was trying to get information about her husband, but then she was dragged to love him and they became lovers. However,
as the title given, the novel is not about the affair itself, the novel contains more about the end of the affair, which means how and why the affair ended and what happened after the affair ended. In the ending process of the affair, the characters experience a big change in their belief of God, and it also influences their behavior towards God. Especially for Sarah and Maurice, later in the end of the novel, they are not the only characters who change; the change of the idea of God is also experienced by the other characters. The change of the behavior is caused by the events that Sarah believed as the impact of God’s power. It is when she found that Maurice becomes alive by the blast after she prayed and made promise to God, because she previously checked Maurice condition, and she was sure that he was dead. And in the end the story many illogical events happened after Sarah’s death and those events creates more supports for the characters about the existence of God.
B. Approach of the Study
According to the topic chosen for this thesis, the philosophical approach is used to understand the story in the novel. Since the topic requires many philosophical thought about belief, whether belief to God or the Atheism inside the novel, so the approach using the philosophy view is needed.
suitable approach in analyzing the novel since the writer is going to analyze atheism seen in this novel.
The next approach is, however, necessary to answer the third problem formulation. The biographical approach is the appropriate approach to compare the story in the novel to the life of Graham Greene himself. Using this approach will allow the writer to get the idea of the significance of author's response towards atheism seen in the novel.
C. Method of the Study
In doing the research and analysis of the study, the library research method was used. The main resource is the novel itself, The End of The Affair, and the secondary resources are the theories and criticism books. The online resources, such as journal, critical reviews, and other criticism also become the additional resources in doing the research. The step of doing the research will be drawn in the next paragraph.
Firstly, the novel The End of The Affair written by Graham Greene was read focusing on the content. The attempts to re-read the novel were to understand the content more precisely and to find what part that can be analyzed in doing the research. Many secondary resources are also needed to help the process of understanding the content of the novel. This first step will provide the topic which will be used to make the frame of the thesis research.
Those problems formulation will be answered in the analysis by using the evidences and theories which will be used, and this activity gives the next step which is reading the secondary resources in order to find theories and criticism needed in the analysis of the evidences from the novel.
The next step is the most important step in this thesis, which also the most difficult step, it is the analysis part. In this part, the problem formulations will be answered by doing analysis to the evidences from the novel with the guidance of the theories. The evidence and theories should support the analysis of the novel.
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
The world of the atheist or “no-God believer” in the Graham Greene’sThe End of The Affair was driven to be changed by some particular and special incidents as the effort of the author against the idea of atheism. To find such incidents in the novel, it is important to see what kind of atheism exists in the novel through examination in their characterization. After finding the atheism values in the novel, the author's response toward atheism in the novel can be examined by also reviewing his biography. To start all those steps to find the final answer, the first step is to analyze the major characters’ characterization as an introduction of the novel and a bridge to the process of finding the atheism values in each character. In examining the characterization, the theories which are mentioned on the second chapter are used as guidance.
The adulterous love affair suddenly ended soon after Sarah left Bendrix after there was a blast that nearly killed him. This is the very incident that will later mostly affect the story. Two years after the end of the affair, Bendrix met Henry in the rain and another story was begun. It was a story about the investigation of Sarah as the 'party in question' conducted by Parkis and his son hired by Bendrix.
The second important event is when Parkis was in big success stealing Sarah's diary from her room discreetly during a little cocktail party in Sarah’s house. From this point, Bendrix knew the reason why Sarah was leaving him. The
only reason is her promise she made to God upon Bendrix life. Since Bendrix do not believe to God, he tried to get Sarah back to his arm and convince her to leave Henry. Sarah went to church and told God that she could not keep her promise and she wants Bendrix more than Him. Unfortunately, she never get back go Bendrix. She died because of her illness.
A. The Characterization of the Major Characters in the Novel.
In this first sub-chapter, we are going to see the characteristics of the major characters in the novel based on their speech, conversation to other characters, and their thought. Those characters are Maurice Bendrix, Sarah Miles, Henry Miles, and Richard Smythe.
1. Characterization of Maurice Bendrix
He is a lonely novelist who does not even realize his loneliness. His first intention of coming to Miles family was to find out the characteristics of ministry worker, such as Henry Miles, that he required for his novel. He considered viewing the characteristics from the view of Henry’s wife, Sarah Miles, and then later the intention was distracted in his meetings with Sarah. He fell in love with her, and coincidently, Sarah did too. And the affair between them began without being known by Henry.
As a lover, he was a jealous person. He was jealous to Henry, for keeping her stuck in the house, and yet she could not leave Henry for him.
‘I hate even the idea of his kissing you, I said” (p45)
His jealousy is the sign of how possessive he is. In a relationship based on love which later develops to the feeling of possessing each other, jealousy usually become the main issue of the relationship itself. If Bendrix has jealousy, it means his love has developed to the next stage of wanting to have possession of Sarah. Jealousy that he showed was both aimed to show his love to Sarah and also to make her happy that she felt being loved by Bendrix. We can see here that Bendrix, as a writer and a lover, really knows how to show love to a woman.
‘And yet I could feel no trust: in the act of love I could be arrogant, but alone I had only to look in the mirror to see doubt, in the shape of a lined face and a lame leg – why me? There were always occasions when we couldn’t meet – appointment with a dentist or a hairdresser, occasions when Henry entertained, when they were alone together. ….… Distrust grows with a lover’s success. (p.48)
The quotation above is other Bendrix’s jealousy toward Henry. He was jealous of him because Henry’s security. Henry seems to be a confident, secured, satisfied, and success man who owns Sarah from Bendrix’s point of view. Bendrix is the one who always feels on the contraries, despite his thought that Sarah loves him more than Henry. He is sure that if he had been married to Sarah, they both would have lived happily ever after. But the facts that in real life, relationship requires more than only love and belief, there are status and the other aspects more than only love which need to be achieved in relationship, though love is the basic of it and he has it, but then Bendrix could not achieve those other aspects because he is not more than a lover, while Henry is the husband of Sarah.
married, with her loyalty and my desire, we could have been happy for a lifetime), but there still remains jealousy of my rival-a melodramatic word painfully inadequate to express the unbearable complacency, confidence, and success he always enjoys. (p.54)
Jealousy becomes more complex in Bendrix. He feels that God becomes another rival of his love. This following quotation given is the very beginning when Bendrix felt jealous toward God which he always denied of its existence.. This conversation happened after the blast in the hotel where they stayed. After the blast, Bendrix awoke and tried hard to climb up the stairs. When he reached the door, he saw that Sarah was kneeling down on the floor. Then he knew that she was praying to something, and he knew whom she was praying to. Jealously, he said to Sarah that praying is a kind of an unpractical thing to do in such occasion. He would prefer her helping him instead of praying to something that he thought not exist at all. He did not know that Sarah had tried to help him, but she thought he was dead. Sarah had no other choices that she knew than praying and hoping for a miracle. Bendrix was jealous to God, he hated that she preferred to talk to God than tried to help him downstairs.
‘What were you doing on the floor?” I asked. ‘Praying.’
‘Who to?’
‘To anything that might exits.’
‘It would have been more practical to come downstairs.’ Her seriousness frightened me. I wanted to tease her out of it. ‘I did,’ she said.
‘I didn’t hear you.’
‘There was nobody there. I couldn’t see you, until I saw your arm stretching out from under the door. I thought that you were dead.’
‘You might have come and tried.’ ‘I did. I couldn’t lift the door.’
‘There was room to move me. The door wasn’t holding me. I’d have woken up.’
‘There wasn’t much to pray for then, was there?’ I teased her. ‘Except a miracle.’ (p 72-73)
Bendrix, as a lover who had been left by his mistress for more than a year, at first tried to pretend that he did not need any love or care from Sarah. But, later he could not fight his pride and heart. The love to Sarah in his heart won, and he admitted that he needed Sarah the most in his life.
I sat with the telephone receiver in my hand and I looked at hate like an ugly and foolish man whom one did not want to know. I dialed her number, I must have caught her before she had time to leave the telephone and said, ‘Sarah. Tomorrow’s all right. I’d forgotten something. Same place. Same time,’ and sitting there, my fingers on the quiet instrument, with something to look forward to, I thought to myself: I remember. This is what hope feels like.
Since Sarah left him, Bendrix hated her, hatred which came out because of unanswered love and desire. After meeting Sarah for the first time since their separation, he acted arrogantly when suddenly Sarah called him. His pride works well, but soon after he hung up, he felt only regret. He always hoped Sarah called her, always.
Bendrix declared himself as a hater in this story. He hated Sarah, Henry, God, and anyone who disturbed his interest. Apparently, he even did not understand the meaning of hatred or the feeling that he feels. He thought it was hatred, but later he also admitted that the hatred he felt is not too different with love because it produces the same reactions with what love does. He is a both lover and hater. He loves Sarah, but he hated her at the same time because she left him without any explanation/.
the story of the Passion, would we have been able to say from their actions alone whether it was the jealous Judas or the cowardly Peter who loved Christ? (p27)
The last of Bendrix quotations here shows ironic meaning. He hated Sarah, Henry, and Father Crompton and he stated his reason why he hated them. The last one he hated is God, with the reason because God had taken Sarah away from him.
I couldn’t get through the tough skin of his complacency. I pushed my chair back and said, ‘You’re wrong, father. This isn’t anything subtle like pain. I’m not in pain. I’m in hate. I hate Sarah because she was a little tart, I hate Henry because she stuck to him, and I hate you and your imaginary God because you took her away from all of us.’ (p.181)
Maurice Bendrix is a writer who falls in love to a ministry's wife, Sarah Miles. Their relationship then continued to intimate level. He is a good lover since he can take all Sarah's heart and intention to him. He is a jealous person and a hater. He could not have a real love without any possession to the one he loves. He is possessive so that he even has jealousy to God. Based on Foster’s theory about the distinction of round and flat character inAspect of the Novel(1978: 73), Bendrix's characterization can be categorized as a flat character. To the end of this novel, he never changes his perception about love and keeps his jealousy to everyone. However, in the end of his novel, he lightens his jealousy and he can live together with Henry in his house. Yet, the jealousy is not intended to Henry, but to other party which he never knows or believes its existence.
2. Characterization of Sarah Miles
smart, and active. It is clear from the dialog about Bendrix’s thought about her when he spoke to Mr.Savage, the private detective office owner.
I had no idea whatever of falling in love with her. For one thing, she was beautiful and beautiful women, especially if they are intelligent also; stir some deep feeling of inferiority in me (p.25)
All I noticed about her that first time was her beauty and her happiness and her way of touching people with her hands, as though she loved them. (p.25)
It is not only Bendrix who is attracted to her, but also Richard Smythe, a non-believer activist who provides her a talk session about God and contradiction in Catholic Church. From what the other character’s say about her, she is a kind of woman that can attract every man who gets near her. Smythe who only meets her several times could fall in love to her and even easily proposed her to marry him.
He said, it's meant a lot to me, seeing you every week, and then I knew that he was going to make love to me. He put his hand on my wrist and asked, "Do you like me?"
‘Yes, Richard of course, ‘I said, ‘or I wouldn't be here.’
"Will you marry me?" He asked, and his pride made him ask it as though he were asking whether I'd take another cup of tea. (p.121)
wrong at all if we say that Sarah is an unfaithful wife since he fell in love with another man and she did not try to avoid it. The last sin to his husband is her dishonesty about her feeling to his husband.
‘I wanted to ask you - oh, I know you're very busy - whether you could look him up occasionally. I think he's lonely.’
‘with you?’
‘You know he's never really notice me. Not for years.’ (p.32)
‘Henry and I sleeping side by side night after night like figures on tombs’. (p.104)
‘Very moving, isn't it?’ Henry said. ‘We can all sleep quiet at night now’, as though we never did anything else at night but just sleep quiet. (p.105) I'm not really married to Henry any more. We don't sleep together - not since the first year with you. And it wasn't really a marriage. (p.146) She describes herself as another house furniture or decoration for Henry, she believes that Henry does not put her as the right position as his wife, and she never gets what she really wants as a wife. From the quotation above, it is obvious that Sarah blamed Henry as he did not do what husband and wife should do or for a personally, in other words, what a husband should do to his wife based on her interest. It is one of her excuses and good reasons to get an affair with another man.
I can't be alone for the rest of my life with Henry, nobody admiring me, nobody excited by me, listening to Henry talking to other people, fossilizing under the drip of conversation like that bowler hat in the Cheddar Caves (p.98).
tenderhearted in this point of view, but on the other hand, she was so naïve and unconsciously did a cruel thing to Henry since she still loves Bendrix more than Henry.
‘Don't leave me, Sarah. Stick it a few more years. I'll try...’ but he couldn't think of himself what he'd try. Oh, it would have been better for both of us if I'd left him years ago, but I can't hit him when he's there and now he'll always be there cause I’ve seen what his misery looks like.
I said, ‘I won't leave you. I promise.’ Another promise to keep, and when I had it I couldn't bear to be with him anymore. He'd won and Maurice had lost, and I hated him for his victory. Would I have Maurice for his? I went upstairs and tore up the letter so small nobody could put it together again and I kicked the suitcase under the bed because I was too tired to start unpacking, and I started writing this down (p.119).
The other evidence of her tenderheartedness is when she kissed Smythe on his cheek, on his ugly spot. The spot is the disgusting spot on Smythe cheek, something that people said to be an unfortunate. She felt sick for a moment, but with all of her heart, she prayed to Him and kissed the spot.
She also appeared to be an introvert woman, she did not tell her problems to people. She chose to write them in her diary. The only person that she told about her problem is Richard Smythe. Related to her belief to God, at first, she only knew about the word and the meaning, she did not believe on Him. Until the very incident that changed her view about God, when she made a vow to Him and sacrificed what she wants mostly in her life, Bendrix.
A few seconds after the incident of the blast and she found out that Henry already died; she lost her mind and had nothing to hold for her losing. Suddenly, she just remembered God and prayed to him for Bendrix life. She made a promise to God and took the promise for some years, without letting Bendrix knew about the oath. She is the round character of the novel. This is the point where Sarah changes her perception about God, from God does not matter to God matters. In the most urgent and emergency position and one does not have anything to hold on, people will often turn their face to something upon them, something which can not be seen, but they can believe on it. That is the only thing where they can lay their hope of something. People call it as God.
In conclusion, Sarah Miles is categorized as a round character that has round character seen in her character development. She changes her character and belief, but she still keeps her love to Bendrix inside. She is the character that brings so many conflicts and suddenly changes theme of the story which is seen from the beginning, from love affair to another thing called as belief.
3. Characterization of Henry Miles
relationship with other women except his wife, Sarah. Unfortunately, it was only because he was too busy with his work, even he was lack of love and care to his own wife Sarah. It is not a loyalty to his wife then, it is a loyalty to his job.
‘They are recommending me for an O.B.E,’ ‘What’s that?’ I asked.
He was rather dashed that I didn’t know. He explained that the next stage in a year or two when he was head of his department would be a C.B.E. and after that,’ he said, ‘when I retire they’ll probably give me a K.B.E.’ ‘It’s confusing,’ I said, ‘couldn’t you stick to the same letters?’
‘Wouldn’t you like to be Lady Miles?’ Henry said, and I thought angrily, all I want in the world is to be Mrs.Bendrix and I have given up that hope for ever. (p.103)
However, Henry is a positive person in everyway. He accepted many things in positive way, or in different view, we can say that he is naive. When his wife gave the expression of her loneliness, a kind of signal, he never realized or bewared her cynical expression. He always believed that her wife was also in the same pride and prestige as he felt. The combination of positive and ignorant person developed this naïve characteristic of a husband. However, this is the only characteristic that made her wife left him. In the quotation above, Henry told Sarah about his success of his work. But Sarah felt confused of his explanation of his job position, she expressed that his position is not important at all. In other hand, Henry still believed that Sarah was pleased about his success.
As a husband, he could have been jealous of his wife who had mysterious activities behind him, but he did not. He refused to be a jealous husband though he could. He mentioned his jealousy and curiosity of Sarah to Bendrix in the first chapter of the novel.
‘I haven’t done anything about it, but there the letter sits on my desk reminding me… It seems so silly, doesn’t it, that I can trust her absolutely not to read it though she comes in here a dozen times a day. I don’t even put it away in a drawer. And yet I can’t trust… she’s out for a walk now. A walk, Bendrix.’ The rain had penetrated his guard and he held the edge of his sleeve towards the gas fire.
Henry received a letter from his friend, he suggested Henry to hire private detective to investigate what Sarah was doing lately. But then, his pride failed the idea of visiting the private detective. He did not want to be ‘another’ jealous husband who will meet the other jealous husbands sitting down at the detective’s office. He felt ashamed to do such things. His pride forbade it. Then he burnt the letter, and he also told Bendrix to forget all the things that he said as his regret of being jealous.
4. Characterization of Richard Smythe
Richard Smythe is a character which appears after Sarah decided to leave Maurice Bendrix as her promise to God. During her ignorance of Bendrix, she had to admit that instead of forgetting Bendrix, she even loved him more. While having that loss feeling of Bendrix and regret of saying the vow, Sarah heard Richard Smythe on the road us about his sermon about his theory attacking Christianity and she had interest to meet him to talk about her promise and God's existence.
In the story, he can be defined as a rationalist (since in the novel there is no such word as atheism or atheist), who does not believe in any superstitious elements and only believes to things that one’s intellectual can perceive. When Sarah met him, he tries to give her rational reason to her not to believe in God. However, his attempts seem to be useless, Sarah finally can not hide her belief because she has vowed upon Bendrix’s life and sacrificed his love to him. Richard Smythe is a good looking man if he does not have "livid spots" on his left cheek, later the spots miraculously disappear after Sarah's death. This isthe point of time that grows his belief to God after all.
B. The kind of Atheism described in the characterization of the major
characters.
atheist. Examining atheism appearing in this novel means analyzing the characters that embrace atheism and apply the philosophy of atheism to their life.
Since the novel is narrated by Bendrix and many parts of the novel contains some flashbacks, it is necessary to rearrange the scenes of the novel into one line forward story for easier understanding about the development of the characters. The starting point of the story is when Bendrix first met Sarah as an author who wanted to do a research about civil worker, Henry Miles. The love affair began and suddenly ended soon after Sarah left Bendrix after there was a blast that nearly killed him. This is the very incident that will later mostly affect the story. Two years after the end of the affair, Bendrix met Henry in the rain and another story began. It is a story about the investigation of Sarah as the 'party in question' conducted by Parkis and his son.
Reid has categorized atheism into two big categories called as atheism for way of life and atheism as an intellectual position. From those two categories, each of them has more specific sub-categories to make us easier to learn about atheism. Atheism for way of life will be defined into three which are practical atheist, pseudo atheist, and absolute atheist. While atheism as an intellectual position is explain by two sub-categories which are negative atheism and positive atheism (Reid, 1962:6-21).
1. Maurice Bendrix
Bendrix is an author and of course he has read a lot of books and grasped knowledge from them. From the beginning of the story, he knows the meaning of the word of God and he also knows the reason why people can love and believe God as something beyond everything that exists in the world. He does not believe in miracles and never goes to church. Thinking about God’s existence is something that does not exist in his head. God for Bendrix is other people’s belief or part of literature. Up to this point, he can be defined as an absolute atheist for the category of atheism as a way of life and having positive atheism for the category of atheism as an intellectual position.
After meeting and having affair with Sarah, Bendrix's love to her changes everything. Bendrix's can be defined of human love which is full of lust and desire, jealousy to others, possessive, and ambitious.
However, Bendrix’s suspicion about Sarah changed after he read Sarah's diary stolen by his private detective, Parkis, whom he hired to investigate Sarah. He found out that the only Sarah’s reason of leaving him and ending the affair is her promise to God as she believed that God had saved his own life. Start to this point, he started to hate God, a name which he has never believed as an existence.
‘I mustn’t be like Richard Smythe, I mustn’t hate, for if I were really to hate I would believe, and I were to believe, what a triumph for You and her’ (p.138). Bendrix thought of not becoming the loser part from God and Sarah makes him deny that he hates God. What he thought was pathetically not about belief, but more about his pride not to lose his position to God.
He was entrapped between Sarah and something beyond of which Sarah called as God. Sarah’s God is his rival and take her away from him. Bendrix had lost her two times, the first time was the end of their affair and the second was when he knew that Sarah loves him all the time but then being told that she already died by Henry. Bendrix knew that if he hated his rival, it would make him believe His existence. Pressures came to him in the form of miracles that happened after Sarah's death, started from Parkis' boy, Lancelot, who recover from illness because having Sarah's childhood book in which her writing there and also the disappearance of Smythe ugly spot because of her kiss. Those miracles seem to push Bendrix to believe the existence of God. Instead of loving Him, his hatred to God becomes outrageous, which, in other word, he started to believe His existence. He lost his temper when he met Father Crompton, a Catholic priest.
‘You’re wrong, father. This isn't anything subtle like pain. I'm not in pain. I'm in hate. I hate Sarah because she was a little tart, I hate Henry because she stuck to him, and I hate you and your imaginary God because you took her away from all of us.
(p.181)
page of the novel he expressed that he was tired of hating something that he does not really believe the existence before. ‘O God, You’ve done enough, You’ve robbed me of enough, I’m too tired and old to learn to love, leave me alone for ever.’
2. Sarah Miles
Sarah, from the beginning of the story, lived as an atheist. She did not marry Henry in Catholic way. They married in registration office. She also did not go church regularly. But, she knows the reason why people go on loving God and she told Bendrix that her love to him can be compared with the love people give to God for their lifetime, but Bendrix’s insecurity made him doubt her love.
She can be defined as an absolute atheist in the beginning of the novel. However, after the blast, she did not then convert himself to Catholic, but she began to believe God and tried to keep her promise by leaving Bendrix. I was nearly two years, she had been trying to keep her promise, but in her heart, there was a big loss of Bendrix, the one she loved.
On the day her body was cremated, her mother came and told Bendrix that she was once baptized her as a Catholic when she was 2 years old. Her mother’s story somehow did not support that she was an atheist. She had lived without God then she was continually searching for Him. The state of believing or not believing God encouraged her to find the God’s existence. The term pseudo-atheist is the best category for Sarah and they way she lives with her belief, because she, however, had a religion but lived without God.
In her last letter to Bendrix, she stated that she was going to convert to Catholic if she then could marry Bendrix. The priest said that she could not and the answer disappointed her so much. Then, she cancelled her intention to be a Catholic. At this point, her admission of believing God makes her to be called as agnostic.
3. Henry Miles
This character is the flattest character amongst other characters. He never talked about God or acted religiously. He also did not believe in miracles. It was appropriate to categorize him as an absolute atheist based on his way of life, because he continually lived without God even he knew about religion and how other people believe about God.
