The following quotation is the proof that money is always number one in his priority
“I’m trying to be honest about this. I want the money. Nobody likes money better than I do. But I’m just not the kind of guy who can work evenings
and week ends and all the rest of it forever.” p. 261
Another quotation that strengthen that Tom Rath need more quality time with his family.
“I’ve been through one war. Maybe another one’s coming. If one is, I want to be able to look back and figure I spent the time between wars with my
family, the way it should have been spent.” p. 261
B. The Way Tom Rath Solves the Problems
In this section, the writer wants to analyze about the way Tom solves the problems that he deals with. They needed to be analyze further to reveals the
moral values behind them. First problem is about financial, second is about his affair and war flashback, and the last is about less family time. Each problem has
its own solution.
1. Financial Problem
From the previous section, the writer has explained that Tom has financial problem. At first, Tom works as an assistant to the director of the Schanenhauser
Foundation, an organization which an elderly millionaire had established to help finance scientific research and the arts. But, Tom feels that his salary in this
company is not enough to raise his three kids, and Tom and his wife want a new better house. Both of them think that their house are not admirable. So Tom starts
to find another job that can give him a good payment. His friend ever mentioned about the possibility of a job at the United Broadcasting Corporation. So Tom tells
his wife, Betsy about this golden chance. “I heard about a new job today, Tom said. Public relations. United
Broadcasting Corporation. How much does it pay? Probably a good deal more than I’m getting now.”
The main reason Tom wanted to work for United Broadcasting was that
he thought he might be able to make a lot of money there fast. After being tested by the company, Tom finally accepted to work in the company. He tells his wife,
Betsy about this. The following quotation is taken from from the conversation between Tom and Betsy.
“By the way, United Broadcasting hired me today. The salary’s nine thousand, and I’m on a temporary basis for six months. I’m supposed to
start in a week.That’s wonderful, Betsy said.” p. 60 Although there are still a lot of things to do, but at least Tom has an efforts
to solve his financial problem. He manage this problem wisely, without cause other people hurts or suffer. This good for his journey to the next level, he can
manage it well. Sometimes if one family have financial problem, a husband can have a big argument with his wife, once in a while they can have a small fight, or
the worst possibility is they get divorced. But not with Tom, with his maturity, he can think clearly, that this problem must be solved wisely.
2. Affair with Maria and War’s Bad Memories
During the war, when Tom still in the army, he met a girl named Maria in Rome. From the introduction, their relationship continues. They lived together
for two months. Maybe Tom feels tired with the war condition, and the meeting
with Maria for him is a kind of variation from his routine. The fact that he and his wife never meet during the war, it’s not totally wrong. The following
quotation is taken from Tom and Maria’s conversation “My name’s Bill Brown, Tom had said, William T.Brown from Kansas
City, Iowa. What’s your name? She had shrugged. Maria, she has said. How about a meal, Maria? Let’s get out of here and get a real dinner. You
like champagne? Yes.” p. 81
When Tom get news that Maria Has a son from him, he’s a little bit shock.
He didn’t expect that Maria would come to his life again, But sometimes her imagination always haunted his mind. So, sooner or later, he has to tell his wife
about this incident. But Tom waits until he finds the right time. After Tom finds the right time, he finally tells his wife about his affair with Maria. For
Betty, this is a really bad news. The following quotation is conversation when Tom Tells Betsy.
“There was an awkward silence which he realized must be painful to her. There was a child, he began. A child? During the war. In Rome. What
child? A child of mine. You had a child? Yes.” p. 273-274
She is angry and shocked. Tom never talk about this before. Tom also gave her a letter from Maria that also contain the photograph. Tom can not give
her a good explanation why he did that thing. The following quotation is a proof from the statement above.
“He gave her a letter. Her face was pale but expressionless as she read it. Then she took the photograph out of the envelope and stared at it. Was this
the woman? Yes. Did you love her? I can’t explain it. You can’t possibly have any idea what the war was like.” p. 274
Tom has purpose to support the child. He wants to send him a hundreds
dollar a month. But, he needs a permission from his wife, Betsy, to do that, that
is why he tells the truth to her about this affair. Because Tom always tells everything to his wife. This following quotation is taken from theirs
conversation. “What do you want me to do? I’m going to support this child, he said. I’ve
thought it over, and I’m going to send him a hundred dollars a month. I guess what I want is your blessing.” p. 274
At first, it is not easy for Betsy to accept the reality that her husband had
an affair with other woman. After long explanation and patience from Tom, Betsy finally understand, that this is not fully his foul. Everything could
happened in the war zone. Betsy agrees to support the child, finally Tom get her blessing. It is quite enough for Tom to send the money without feeling
guilty. The following quotation is taken from Betsy’s spoken. “Go ahead and send him money, she said. I’m not trying to stop you. You
have my blessing.” p. 277 Sometimes when Tom feels lonely or feels depressed, his imagination is
about the memories when world war II. That’s why he also avoid when his wife ask about it. On that night, Tom finally confess everything about his past.
He tells Betsy that he killed his friend, Mahoney. The following quotation is a proof from the statement above.
“Do you know how a corpse grins? When you see enough of that grin, everything decent in the world seems a joke. The dead always have the last
laugh-Mahoney, a man I killed, told me that once we were in Germany together.” p. 276
In this section, Tom faced his problem well. He does it honestly. That’s
the key for his success to convince his wife, Betty. If Tom still covers his lie, maybe it won’t end like this. He alse responsible for Maria, who has a child
from him. Tom can just ignore her, and he saves a hundreds dollar a month, but he chooses different ways, the way that other man maybe avoid it. He chooses
a good ways with send Maria and her child money every month. It shows that Tom is a responsible man.
3. Too Obsessed by Money and Having Less Time for His Family
Tom Rath is a hardworker. He works day and night, even in the weekend. He’s really money oriented. Money is very important to Tom. Recently, he
wants to move his children’s school to the better one, and it’s not cheap to find a better school, moreover a private school, it’s really expensive. So, to create
his dream to make more money, he joins withUnited Broadcasting Corporation. Tom has faith that in this company he can make a lot of money, enough for his
family. The following quotation is the evidence when Tom joins the company. “Why do you want to work for he United Broadcasting Company? Walker
asked abruptly. It’s a good company...Tom began hesitantly, and was suddenly impatient at the need for hipocrisy.” p. 10
After joining with the United Broadcasting Company, Tom become super
busy. There’s no time for his wife and children. His boss also tell him that he is kind of hardworker. Moreover Tom joins a special project with his boss, no
more holidays at the week end. Tom realize about this thing, he doesn’t want his family lost a figure of a father. So he tells his boss that he doesn’t want to
join the special project anymore. He prefer works on a reguler schedule. This can make Tom has a time with his family. The following quotation is a
conversation between Tom and Betsy.
