1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Humans always have problems in their life and they cannot avoid them. One of the problems that people are familiar with is conflict. Conflict is the most
common problem that people encounter. Everyone may face conflict anytime. While seeing the significance of conflict in human life, conflict is also an
important element in literature particularly in prose and drama. It is important because literature is made as the reflection of human life so that people can learn
about the human values the literary work holds. Conflict may result in anxiety and depressed feelings that are
uncomfortable, so that people often try to get rid of them Huffman Vernoy, 2000: 478. Each individual has his or her own way to resolve the conflict. One
common response might be by “preventing painful or dangerous thoughts” by forgetting the conflict Huffman Vernoy, 2000: 480. One person may remain
silent or respond to them passively, while another can make up his mind and refuse the idea that there is a conflict happening at that moment.
Psychoanalytically, these actions are called defense mechanisms Braun Linder, 1979: 410. Most psychologists believe that responding conflict with defense
mechanisms is normal and healthy as long as it is not excessive. Otherwise, it
may cause serious psychological problem Huffman Vernoy, 2000: 478. The conflict may create and add the interest, suspense and tension to the
whole plot of the literary work, such as in drama and novels Holman Harmon, 1986: 107. Whenever conflict happens, the character responds to it with various
defense mechanisms. Because of the important role of the conflict in literary works and its close relation with defense mechanisms, it seems necessary to
discuss further the cause-and-effect relation between conflict and defense mechanism in a research.
Summer and Smoke 1948 is one of the literary works that portrays the relation of defense mechanism and conflict. It is a play written by the famous
American author and poet, Tennessee William 1911-1983 in the middle of the twentieth century. It tells about a mature and religious girl named Alma who
undergoes very significant change in her characteristics. Because of the strong influence of her surroundings, she is forced to perform several good
characteristics and unintentionally conceal the bad ones. Being repressed by her surroundings makes her grow up to be an introverted girl. With the nature of an
introverted person, Alma experiences many internal conflicts that are hardly found without deep analysis. Hence, it seems necessary to discuss further about
Alma‟s internal conflicts.
In response to those internal conflicts, she unconsciously operates several types of defense mechanism. Dealing with massive anxiety caused by the
conflicts, it turns out that she overuses the defense mechanism. These excessive defense
mechanisms play an essential role in transforming Alma‟s character at the end of the play.
The fact that Alma‟s reaction towards her conflicts is regarded as the action of defense mechanisms strengthens the idea that this play is undoubtedly an
object worthy of discussion and study. Moreover, fulfilling the nature of good literature, Summer and Smoke perfectly portrays the actual issue of human life
because it was written based on human experience. This idea is strongly supported by the statement of Ben Brantley in his critique,
“But every character is drawn with sympathy and awareness of William‟s vision of human existence...”
Brantley, 2006. Despite the fact that this play was written in the middle of the twentieth century, the issue discussed in the play is still relevant up until now.
These qualities make this play the right choice to be analyzed in the current study.
B. Problem Formulation