CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Analysis Generation X is a new term popularized by
Douglas Coupland through his first novel
Generation X; Tales for an Accelerated Culturepublished in 1991.
Generation X; Tales for an Accelerated
Cultureis an interesting novel since it
tells about the life of Generation X which is represented by Andy, Dag, Claire as the main characters who have
different perspective from their culture and society that makes them prefer living in a
small town to their hometown to escape
from reality.
“Generation X – those individuals aged between
mid – twenties and mid – thirties who
have comeof age in an increasingly technological
and materialistic bureaucraticsociety. As a consequence they are emotionally scared and
alienated.” (www.qub.ac.uk/\schoolofEnlish/imperial/canada/coupland.htm)
It means that Generation X is categorized as
people of twenty something who were born
in 1950s and the 1960s, escaped a life of status, money and desperate to find some sort meaning of life.
Those
whose parents are baby – boomers, who are materialistic, obsessed with career and social status, indirectly
shared and formed their concept of life to their children, Generation X, to live as
yuppies, while Generation X has their own concept of life which is different from their
parents. This contrast point of view leads
to the phenomena of alienation. According to Dictionary of Social Science (2002:299), alienation is a social or
psychological state of separation from self, others, social life generally, or the products
of process ones’ labor.
We can conclude that alienation is a condition
where human feel separated from
themselves, society or environment, that makes them feel lonely and longing, or the condition where people feel
separated fromthe world they live in.
Alienation is a feeling of loneliness as a
response to certain events or situations
in society, for example, a job change or work in a company that is actually contrast with you, then you will feel
alienated.
“Alienation is differently expressed by
people. Some become withdrawn and
lethargic; othersmay react with hostility and violence; still others may become disoriented,
rejecting traditional values and
behavior by adopting an outlandish appearance
and erratic behavior patterns. As society undergoes rapid changes, and traditional values and
behavioral standards are challenged,
some people find little they can believe in and so have difficulty constructing a reality in
which they can find a place for
themselves. Itis for this reason that social and cultural beliefs play such an important rolein bringing
about or averting a feeling of
alienation.” (www.BNET.htm) You are
alienated when you feel alone or you believe that you feel inconvenient with other people in case of
interest or point of view. As stated in Schact
(1970:211) that according to Hajda (10,764); “ Teralienasi adalah merasa berbeda secara
tidak nyaman dalam kehadiran (yang
liyan) karena sudut pandang, minat, cita rasa personalnya (dan seterusnya) (10,764).” “Alienated is felt inconveniently distinct
from other‘s perspective, interest and
personal (etc) (10,764).” Hajda (Schact (1970:211) It has been a social phenomenon in our life
and it is interesting to talk about. As
quoted in Trihaptimini (2005), Novack (1973:5-6) says that the broad attention that is focused on the condition
ofalienation indicates that the world is now faced with the symptoms of social
sickness. Somehow the circumstances of the
social life such as the society’s stigma on standard of life or norms that we think it seems unacceptable for us leads to
alienation, which is not only in case of alienation from oneself, but in could be widen
to the alienation from other people, and
even from the world. These kindsof alienation have been told by Pappeinheim (2002) who says that there are
three types of alienation – alienation from
oneself, from other people, and from the world in which one lives, and these three forms of alienation are interrelated.
(Trihaptimini:2005) Taylor (1981:46)
states, “a novel isa normally a quite length of complexity which attempts to reflect and
express something of the quality of value
of human experience”. It means that a novel reflects the value of human experience, and in this case Coupland who
expresses his idea towards American society
through this novel, reveals what Generation X thought about, that they felt sick with their life, they felt sick of the
slacker label from the society, and also felt sick of being marginalized because of jobs.
Therefore Coupland is regarded as the
spokesperson of Generation X.
“I just want to show society what people born
after 1960 think about things… We’re
sick of stupid labels, we’re sick of being marginalized in lousy jobs, and we’re tired
hearing about ourselves from others
– Coupland, Boston Globe 1991” (www.wikipedia.com).
There
are two reasons why I am interested in choosing “Alienation in Douglas Coupland’s Generation X: Tales for an
Accelerated Culture”, 1. The phenomena of alienation which are exist
in our daily life, even if we experience
it but somehow we scarcely realize this phenomenon.
2. The
phenomenon of Generation X in America, MTV Generation, who is the generation rises with the home computer,
video games, cable TV, and internet.
But, I would like to emphasize that this thesis focuses on term of alienation in the novel Generation X; tales
for an Accelerated Culture, so it will
be portrayed how are the phenomena of alienation appear in Generation X-ers’ life.
1.2 The Scope of Analysis In
order to run on the right path, I need to give the limitation of this analysis that deals with the phenomena of
alienation which is reflected in novel Generation
X; Tales for an Accelerated Cultureby Douglas Coupland, viewed from sociological approach.
1.3 The Problems of Analysis As I explained before that this novel tells
about the life of Generation X in America
after the World War II while America was in progress in all sides include the culture, which leads to the phenomena of
alienation, so the problems of this analysis
are: 1.
How is alienation reflected in this novel? 2. What
are the fundamental causes of the alienation phenomena? 1.4 The Objectives of Analysis There are two objectives which are hoped to
answer the problems of analysis, they
are: 1.
To describe the phenomena of alienation in this novel.
2. To
reveal up the fundamental causes of the alienation phenomena in this novel.
1.5 The Significance of Analysis.
Practically, this thesis is expected as
further readers’ comprehension in understanding
this novel, the differentperspective of a generation, namely Generation X towards the society’s perspective
that demands them to live as yuppie,
young urban professional with well-paid job and blooming career.
Having
read this novel, readers are also expected to realize the alienation phenomena, either in this novel or in
dailylife. Hopefully by this thesis readers can realize the alienation phenomena in
society.
Theoretically, this thesis is expectedto be useful
for further studying of alienation in
literary works.
1.6 The
Method of Analysis Douglas Coupland’s
Generation X: Tales of an Accelerated Cultureis the main source of data. Writing this thesis, I
have to do some steps, first, I read the whole novel to understand and comprehend the
novel and select some information or
quote that show the phenomena of alienation as the data, and then interpret the
data, based on the concept of alienation
and sociology of American life in that era.
To analyze this novel, I use inductive method;
it isa scientific method to get
conclusion from particular things to general idea.
1.7 Review of Literature Coupland (1991) in his novel Generation X:
Tales of an Accelerated Cultureis the main
object of this thesis. Toward this novel Coupland portrays the life of Generation X in American society, and
expresses their thought towards life.
Wellek (1963) in his book Theory of
Literature, he says that literature ‘represents’
‘life’; and ‘life’ is, in large measure, a social reality, even though the natural world and the inner or subjective
world of the individual have also been objects
of literary imitation.
Wellek and Warren (1989) in his book Teori
Sastra, he says that general approach to
reveal up the link between literature and society is to learn literature as social document.
Calhoun (2002) in his book Dictionary of
Social Sciencesexplains briefly about
sociology and society definitions. It also explains all human beings live in society and involve relation to other. It
explains society as a phenomenon.
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