CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION I.1 Background of Analysis Death of a Salesman is
an American drama written by Arthur Miller.
Death of a Salesman was published
in 1949 and it was written in six weeks. This drama tells us about the American ideal of
business success. There are some characters
in this drama; they are Willy Loman, Linda, Biff, Happy, Bernard, The Woman, Charley, Uncle Been, Howard Wagner,
Jenny, Stanley, Miss Forshyte and Letta.
The main character in this drama is Willy Loman. This drama tells us about a life of a salesman named Willy Loman,
who has a high desire to reach the success.
This drama belongs to tragic drama. It ends with Willy unable to face the deceptions he has perpetuated and finnally he
commits suicide.
In this drama we see the ambition
of the leading character, Willy Loman, to
be a rich man. Even he forces his son to be like him. For Willy, having much money and good appearance are everything. And
many people around him do not agree with
his statement, include his son Biff.
I choose Death of Salesman to be
analyzed because this drama is very interesting.
This drama is dominated by conflict between one character to another character. As we know conflict is the part of
the basic elements of drama. Roberts and
Jacobs (1995: 1020) say that the mainspring of plot in a drama is conflict, which can be physical, psychological, and
social. Conflict also can involve a character’s
struggle against another person, against the environment, or against himself or herself and conflict is very
important, because conflict needed to move the plot. Without conflict there will be no
movement of the order of plot in a drama.
Based on these explanations, I will analyze the existence of conflict in Death of a Salesman.
Drama itself belongs to
literature. We must know what literature is.
Literature has been widely known
in the world. The word literature derives from the Latin ‘littera’ which means letter, which
primarily refers to the written or printed
words. Actually literature has a large meaning; it does not only refer to the written,
but also to the oral works. Literature also means the letter which expresses the feeling, attitude and the life
of human in society. There are some characteristics
of literature, the first literature is permanent, the second literature is artistic, it means that we can find art and
aesthetic sides in literature. A literary work is made to be enjoyed, understood and
used by the people. Edgar V. Roberts and
Henry E. Jacobs (1995: 1) also say that literature refers to compositions that tell stories, dramatize situations, express
emotions, and analyze and advocate ideas.
However, Renne Wellek and Austin Warren in their book say that the term literature seems best if we limit it to the
art of literature that is to imaginative literature.
At this present time there are
three kinds of literature which widely known in this world, they are Drama, Poetry and
Prose. The word ‘drama’ derives from the
Greek word ‘dran’ which means ‘to do, to act’. Drama is also the kind of literature which designed to be performed by
the actors on the stage. The origin word
of ‘poetry’ is the Greek word ‘poiema’ which means something made or fashioned (in words) and the person who writes
the poetry is called apoet. Prose is an
ordinary form of spoken and written language. Edgar and Henry in their book, Literature: An Introduction To Reading
and Writing, mention that prose is divided
in to two, they are the prose fiction or narrative fiction and the nonfiction prose. The prose fiction includes myths,
parables, romances, novels and short stories,
while nonfiction prose include new reports, feature articles, essays, textbooks and etc.
I.2 Statement of Problem The
drama Death of Salesman is a drama which dominated by conflict, most characters
in this drama experience conflict. In this thesis I want to analyze conflict
that experienced by the leading character, the root of conflict and the growth of conflict. Then, I formulate the
question to answer: 1. What is the root
of conflict? 2. How is the growth of
conflict? I.3 The Objective of Analysis Based
on the statement of the problem, I also make the objective of analysis to answer the questions above. The
objectives of analysis are: 1. To show
the root of conflict.
2. To explain the growth of conflict.
I.4 The Scope of Analysis In this thesis, I
analyse the leading character’s conflict and I want to make the limitation in order to make the analysis
becomes more specific and does not go
far from the topic. In this thesis, my analysis will focus on the
leading characterand the conflict that
experienced by him.
I.5 The Significance of Analysis The analysis of this thesis is expected to
give significance to the readers generally
and especially for me. The expected significances are: 1. This thesis will give information and add the
reader’s knowledge about conflict.
2. This thesis can be the reference for those
who want to analyze conflict.
3. This thesis will show the root of conflict
and the growth of conflict in Death of
Salesman.
I.6 The Theoretical Approach Rene Wellek and
Austin Warren (1967: 73, 81, 110) in their book, Theory of Literature
mention two approaches in analyzing literary works; they are intrinsic approach and extrinsic approach. The
intrinsic approach is also called the textual
analysis, because this approach analyses the literary work based on the text and the structural points of literary work
like characters, plot, setting, theme, style, and point of view. While the extrinsic
approach is the approach which analyses the literary work and its relation with
external factors like biography of the writer, the environment, society, history, psychology,
and so on.
In analyzing the conflict, I use
the extrinsic approach by connecting the story with the society in that time which
brings effect to characters in this drama.
I.7 Theoretical Review Basically, there are some
theories of literature, Imitative (mimetic) theory, expressive theory and pragmatic or affective
theory and objective theory.
In imitative theory there are two
important points that must be noticed.
First, it is life which
literature imitates or mirrors; in other words, the subject matter of literature is a manifold
experiences of living people. Second, the imitation of life is more than merely a copy
of what is apparent to the eyes; in the sense
that life should be reinterpreted and recreated. In this case the writer’s imaginative power and talent play important
role so that he is able to create good literary
works.
Expressive theory is a theory
which is related to the writer. In this case we can see that the literature can be seen as the
product of the poet, playwright, or novelist.
It means that, the writer can express her or his thought and inspiration through his literary works.
Pragmatic literature has a
relationship with the reader of a literary work. It is called pragmatic because it has to do with
practical result and it can bring an effect
to the audience.
Objective theory focuses on
literary work itself, its language, forms, and devices. This kind of theory declines the
relationship among literary work, historical
aspects, sociological aspects, cultural aspects, and biographical aspects.
In analyzing this drama, I use
objective theory, because I focus on literary work itself.
I also use the theory of
conflict. Theory of conflict is the theory which sees that social change does not occur by values
argument which brings changes, but it occurs
because of the conflict which makes the different compromise with the first condition. This theory based on the
tools of products as the main factor in dividing
class in society. Actually, this theory is influenced by Karl Marx’s idea about
class and the struggle (quoted from id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teori_konflik). I use this theory, because I want to analyze the
tension of conflict happened between
the characters. For example, the conflict between Willy Loman and his son, Biff. In analyzing this thesis I use
Lewis Coser’s theory of conflict. He divided
conflict into two terms, they are realistic conflict and non realistic conflict.
I.8 Review of Related Literature To support the
writing of this thesis, I use the thesis of Miranda Siregar which titled The Conflict of The Characters in
Mark Twain Novel The Adventure of Tom
Sawyer (2008). This thesis explain about the types of conflict and this thesis alsi briefly explain that conflict
related to plot. So, I can apply it in analyzing
my thesis.
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