Background of the Study

1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents five parts, namely background of the study, problem formulation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and definition of terms. The background of study contains some reasons which serve as a basis for writing this thesis and the importance of discussing the topic of the study. The problem formulation states the problems discussed in this study. The objectives of the study state the answer of the problem formulation. The benefits of the study state the expectation of the writer toward the readers. Finally, the definition of terms clarifies some important terms used in this study.

A. Background of the Study

Love is universal concept that everybody is familiar with. Love is a very difficult word to define, but it can be perceived easily through some effects that it creates. The feeling of joy, happiness, and peace is the effects created by love. Love is not restricted to the relation between sexes, but it expands beyond it. Fromm 6 says this universal concept may exist between human being and God, parents and child, brothers, sisters, friends, and even between people and other creatures. By loving someone, we can learn how to care, how to give affection and attention, how to forgive and how to understand one another. Family is the smallest unit of society. It contains a father, a mother, and children. Beebe says that family is a social group having specified roles and status e.g. husband, wife, 1 2 father, mother, son, and daughter with ties of blood, marriage or adoption, and they usually share a common residence and cooperate economically 376. Thus, family is a place where parents and children share their love, happiness, and sadness. It is a place where children can get a lot of attention and affection from their parents and the most important is that children can get their first education from the family. The first education, such as how to speak, how to behave, how to eat, and how to socialize with other people is very crucial. It will form the children characteristics. Hurlock says: The child’s attitude and behavior are marked by the family into which he is born and in which he grows up. Because the home is the child’s first environment, it sets the pattern for his attitude towards people, things, and life in general 514. Family education is crucial because it is the basic education in forming children’s personality. That is why parents’ role is very significant, as children can easily imitate the adult’s behavior. Also, environments where they live and stay give a lot of influences. Saying bad words, smoking, physical harassment, sex abuse, raping and divorce are few examples of situation that can ruin children’s personality, psychology, and behavior. Adults and the environment take part in giving influences on the children’s growing personality. A child who lives in a family that survives from poverty is trained by the condition to become a tough, hard worker, and he has high motivation to become rich. It seems that the important part in childhood is environment, and the smallest environment is family. Hurlock 392 states that children who feel that they are not appreciated and loved at home will develop a deviant attitude toward parents. Over sufficient time, this becomes a way of life. 3 The children feel upset, and desperation can draw them into personality sickness. Afterwards, people just blame the family as the cause of the matters. In fact it is not easy for a family to bring up children. The condition of family holds the control of children up bringing. Healthy family will bring up healthy children. To form a family, a man and a woman get married first. Marriage is the beginning of a family life. They accept legal responsibility for supporting and caring children. The success of a marriage depends on what the couples want and how they live. Some people believe that marriage is successful if the husband is a good provider, if the wife is a dutiful keeper, and if the couple has children. The others believe that a successfully married couple must find happiness in their relationship as a husband and wife. They believe that happiness in marriage requires deep understanding and loving companionship between the two persons The World Book Encyclopedia, 1971: 24. Marriage is a bridge to build a kind of relationship which has several consequences. Marriage brings together two different attitudes, ideas, ideals and principles. Therefore, marriage is not a simple thing to get through. Each individual must realize that they cannot force their attitudes, ideas, ideals and principles to each other. There must be understanding and maturity. Lack of understanding and maturity in marriage will lead various kinds of conflicts. Conflict is something that may happen in marriage. Conflict can be either negative or positive due to how the couple responds to it. A conflict between a husband and wife is a means to improve their love relationship. Through a 4 conflict, hey may learn to understand each other more. When they have settled it down, they will find a new way to show their love. A conflict in marriage may lead to a divorce. When love no longer exists and there is an unsolved problem in a marriage, divorce will be the best decision for the couple, but sometimes they do not realize that the decision can affect other members of the family. Children experience the hardest effect of their parents divorce. Deciding to divorce as the only way to solve conflict in a marriage directly and indirectly brings enormous influences on the children. According to Young 64, the best thing we could do for children is to help their parents. The more we could help a divorcing mother or father work through her or his adjustment problems, the more it seems we are doing the best for the children. The effects of divorce are age-related in children, they respond differently to parental separation according to their present developmental stage. Thus parents must realize that children have a right to convey their idea. However, good and close understanding and communication between parents and children can help them pass the difficult moment they are experiencing. A work of literature can portray such experience of life as it is a reflection of life. It tells the truth, gives readers pleasure and knowledge since it is imaginative and interpretative to reflect a view of reality, life and society. Besides, literature broadens our awareness of the possibility of anything that might happen to the readers. In addition, literature also influences its readers’ emotional state that will lead to response, as Robert and Jacob write: 5 Literature helps us grow, both personally and intellectually, it provides and objectives base for our knowledge and understanding, it helps us to connect ourselves to the cultural context of which we are part, it enables us to recognize human dreams and struggles in different societies that would never otherwise get to know 2 One type of works of literature is novel. A novel has the capability to give its readers pleasure. It is also able to open our understanding of the truth of life wider as a novel displays complex relationship among the characters, which brings some messages to the readers. Based on the facts mentioned above, I chose Alias Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine. The novel is about the power of love of a father on his children. Having divorced with his wife, Daniel cannot live with his children. He only has limited times to meet his children. He does everything to meet his children, including disguises himself as a Lady housekeeper. I focus on the children, Lydia, Christopher, and Natalie and the influences of divorce on their behaviors. The divorce brings a lot of changes in their relationship. First, the children are separated from their beloved father. Second, nobody takes care of the children because none of their parents is ready to do it as a single parent. Third, the divorce changes their behavior. Alias Madame Doubtfire is chosen as the subject matter of the analysis because of three reasons. Firstly, the three characters: Lydia, Christopher, and Natalie that have different ways in accepting and facing their parents’ divorce are interesting to analyze. One of the factors is their ages or the level of maturity. Secondly, it is interesting and tempting to learn about life and the struggle of the children to preserve their parents’ marriage, even though at the end their mission 6 fails because their mother chooses another man. Thirdly, by reading and analyzing the novel, one can learn that nobody is perfect. Therefore, by understanding the characteristics and the behaviors of the three children before and after their parents’ divorce, one may learn that each individual is unique, and that everybody changes and progresses. Besides, it may help the adult to consider every decision that they take.

B. Problem Formulation