22 he remains sober and acts in a normal way, but then the psychiatrist tells Sylvia
that Eliot is too well-defended to be treatable. Soon after, Eliot disappears and goes to his familys home, Rosewater County in Indiana, where he gives small
sums of money to poor people when they ask for help. Sylvia joins him for a while and helps him in his work. However, she leaves afterwards and, for a while,
becomes hard and unfeeling. Eliot is also considered as a round character in the story because he
changes at the end of the story.. In God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine,
Eliot is described as a drunken, fat, and untidy person but loves helping people who cannot help themselves. He is preparing to go to meet Sylvia.
His father visits and is angry with him. After the Senator leaves, Eliot finishes dressing and goes to catch his Greyhound bus. He does not even recognize a
Rosewater Foundation client whom he have been talking to and comforting, almost every day. It is some months later before he comes to himself again.
Eliot’s father is surprised as his son has his athletic body back. His father is there very happy because he believes his son is cured although at first Eliot is does not
want to be treated or to go to a psychiatrist. In order to analyze the characteristics of Eliot Rosewater, the researcher
uses the theory of characterization proposed by Murphy. According to Murphy there are nine ways to find out the description of a certain character in the novel.
Those are personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation of others, reactions, direct comment, thoughts, and mannerism. In
23 order to determine the characteristics
of Eliot, several ways of Murphy’s theory are applied in this study.
1. Sympathetic
Murphy states that past life gives information to the readers in order to obtain a clue or information about events which help to shape a person’s character
1972: 166. Eliot used to be a fireman during the World War Two, and then there was a smoke-filled in a clarinet factory infested by S.S. troops. At that time, Eliot
led a platoon of the firemen in an assault, but he went in with a riffle and fixed bayonet because of the danger of shooting one of his own men in the smoke
Vonnegut, 1965: 76. Even though he had never stuck a bayonet before. Eliot accidently kills three unarmed firemen. At first, Eliot thinks that they are the
Germans because of the level of the smoke in his eyes so that he cannot see them. It was true: Eliot had killed three unarmed firemen. They were ordinary
villages, engaged in the brave and uncontroversial business of trying to keep a building from combining with oxygen.
When the medics got the masks of the three Eliot had killed, they proved to be two old men and a boy. The boy was the one Eliot had bayoneted. He
didn’t look more than fourteen Vonnegut, 1965: 77. Eliot looks so stiff and rigid after knowing the three men that he had
killed, and one of those was a boy around fourteen. “They found out Eliot was stiff, so rigid. He stayed like that for twelve hours, and would not speak or eat
” Vonnegut, 1965: 77. It is described as what Murphy states that the way a person
reacts to various situations and events gives the readers information about a person’s character 1972: 168. In this case, Eliot seems to look guilty for killing
an unarmed man, especially a boy that he bayonets . Eliot’s past life gives a clue to
24 shape Eliot’s character as a sympathetic person. He would take care and spreads
love and peace for people in order to atone the memory of past events of his own guilt feelings.
Eliot’s character as a sympathetic person can be seen from his speech. According to Murphy, one’s character can be seen when a character speaks, has
conversation with others, and puts forward an opinion 1972: 164. In this case, it can be seen from the telephone conversation between Eliot and his wife, Sylvia.
Eliot shows that he has a desire to help the people in Rosewater Country. “I look at these people, these Americans,” Eliot went on, “and I realize
that they can’t even care about themselves anymore—because they have no use. The factory, the farms, the mines across the river
—they’re almost completely automatic now. And Americans doesn’t even need these
people for war —not anymore. Sylvia—I’m going to be an artist.”
“An Artist?” “I’m going to love these discarded Americans, even though they’re useless
and unattractive.” Vonnegut, 1965: 47. Through the
Eliot’s conversation with Sylvia depicts that Eliot has a desire to help each other because he thinks people becoming useless as they are losing
their job cause by the condition of the factory, farms, or mines are automatically be done by a machines. Besides, Eliot is a chief of the Rosewater Foundation with
a big sum of money so that with his power and money, Eliot is able to help the people.
Eliot’s desire to help each other can also be seen from what other characters say about Eliot. Murphy explains that a person’s character can be
described through the opinions of other characters 1972: 162. In this case, Diana Moon Glampers comments on how Eliot takes care of everybody, and gives a
little help to those who need help.
25 “You gave up everything a man is supposed to want, just to help the little
people, and the little people know it. God bless you, Mr. Rosewater. Good night.” Vonnegut, 1965: 74.
The other description that shows Eliot’s sympathetic can also be seen when helping
baptizing Mary Moody’s children. Eliot helps baptizing because there is nobody that would do the baptism. The following is proof of Eliot as a
sympathetic person. “Congratulate Mary Moody on her twins.”
“I will. I’ll be baptizing them tomorrow.” “I—I didn’t know you—you did things like that,” said Sylva carefully
“I couldn’t get out of it,” said Eliot. “She insisted on it, and nobody else would do it.” Vonnegut, 1965: 109.
The quotation above gives a clue that Eliot is a sympathetic person. He
feels sympathy because there is nobody that would do the baptizing. Therefore he helps to baptize the twins of Mary Moody. T
here is a consequence that it wouldn’t be counted in Heaven as Eliot realizes that he is not a religious person. Still, he
would like to help the baptizing. Eliot’s sympathetic can also be seen from how he reacts to various
situations. According to Muprhy, the way a person reacts to various situations and events also gives the readers information about a person’s character 1972: 168.
Eliot’s desire for helping the people is not only for who those ask him for help but also whenever he sees that the people need help without asking him. The
following is an example of how Eliot reacts to a certain situations. It is when he is on his way to Indianapolis, specifically at the Saw City Kandy Kitchen. There is a
girl, Tawny Wainwright, who gets pregnant by her stepfather, meanwhile, her stepfather is in prison.
