Background of the Study

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This first chapter consists of five parts that will help to explore the understanding of this study. The first part, the background of the study, explains the researcher’s personal reasons for choosing the topic. The second part is the objectives of the study. The third part is problem formulation. In this part, the problems of the study are formulated. The fourth part, the research benefits, explains the advantages of the study. Finally, the last part is definition of terms, which clarifies some important terms to help the readers to understand the terms used in this study.

1.1 Background of the Study

The main discussion of this study is about a father-daughter relationship. Before one discusses about this relationship, one must learn first the definition of the family. The reason is that one cannot discuss a father-daughter relationship without relating it to the discussion about family. The term of family may vary in the meaning from one person to another. Noller and Mary 1988, p. 188 come up with three definitions of family. The first one is that family is a place where people can always feel safe and can cheer you whenever you feel sad and a place that is full of happiness and a lot of experiences. The second definition is that family is made of people who always take care of each other. The third description is that family can be also a group of people who always take care of each other but having no relationship at all. The last definition can only be used if the group of people has agreed in calling themselves as family and they also share a bond that is equal to that of a family. From those definitions, it can be seen that family is a place where people can feel comfortable because they are taking care of each other. We can have a lot of definitions about family but there is one thing that all families in this world share in common. The thing is called love. Without love there will be no family in this world because love becomes the foundation of the family. It becomes the foundation that strengthens the bonds between a father and a mother; between a father and his children; and between a mother and her children. Thus, it can be defined that love is a feeling with a strong sense of affection towards others. Like family, the term ‘love’ itself has a wide area of description because people will have different way to show it. According to Noller and Mary 1993, p.202 love in a family is different from love between a man and a woman. The difference is that love between a man and a woman is always full of understanding toward each other and a feeling to be together with each other. In the other hand, love in a family is a kind of love that does not involve any kind of repayment therefore the love that a person receives does not mean to be returned someday. If that person wants to repay those love, it will be his own decision. The importance of love in a family is to make sure that no harm will fall into each of its members. The depiction of family love that this study exposes is the love that is shown from the father-daughter relationship between Lucie Manette and Dr. Manette as Lucie Manette’s father. Many poets and writers have been trying to portray family love in their works. Because they know that love is not a simple thing and love is something that is amazing. Love is everywhere and belongs to person across the universe. The relationship between a father and a daughter is also one kind of love because a father will always care for his daughter and a daughter will always look up to her father. This study will focus more on the love that is shown from the relationship between a father and a daughter. In this study the researcher will analyze this father-daughter relationship which is considerably shown in the relationship between the characters Dr. Manette and his daughter Lucie Manette throughout the story of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The father-daughter relationship shown by Dr. Manette and Lucie Manette is amazing. For example, Lucie never shows any unwillingness in treating her ill father although it takes a lot of efforts and wastes her energy. Meanwhile Dr. Manette is trying his best in holding back his dependency on Lucie and at the end he helps Lucie in freeing her husband. What Dr. Manette and Lucie do really shows how father-daughter relationship is supposed to be and it is worth to study that because that kind of relationship is what a family these days needs to do. Love within father-daughter relationship does not need any kind of repayment. One literary work that portrays the father- daughter relationship is a novel entitled A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The setting of A Tale of Two Cities happens in two countries namely England and France during the French Revolution happening in 1789 until 1799. The story tells us about the life of a woman named Lucie Manette and people around her including her family and acquaintances before and during the revolution time. The story is divided in to three parts. The first part tell us about what happens to Dr. Manette when he has been a prisoner in France and Lucie Manette’s struggle to free her father. The first part of the story also tell us about the condition of Dr. Manette when he loses his memory of having a family and how he cries when Lucie Manette tell him that she is his daughter. The second part tells us about Lucie Manette’s love life and her struggle to cure the traumatic experience of her father. The second part of the story also tells us about Dr. Manette’s dependence on Lucie Manette and how he deals with this feeling of dependency. It also tells us about how Dr. Manette loves his daughter by letting her to become Charles Darnay’s wife. The third part describes Lucie Manette’s struggle in freeing her husband from the grasp of the New France post-revolution with the help of his father, Dr. Manette. This part also tells us about Dr. Manette’s love toward Lucie Manette by helping her in any way he can using everything he has. The most interesting thing in this story is a father-daughter relationship shown by Dr. Manette and Lucie Manette. Their relationship is so strong. Despite the fact that Dr. Manette has become very ill and needs Lucie all the time to take care of him, Lucie never abandons her father. Dr. Manette puts a lot of effort so that he will not become a burden for his daughter because he loves her. At the end Dr. Manette is able to recover from his illness and help Lucie in freeing her husband. That father-daughter relationship shown by Dr. Manette and Lucie Manette really reflects how a father-daughter relationship is supposed to be. Even The researcher is willing to learn from them and that what makes A Tale of Two Cities worth to become the object of this study.

1.2 Problem Formulation