Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter is divided into five different parts. The first part is the background of the study. It contains the reason why the study is conducted. The second part is the aim of the study. It gives details about the intended purposes of the study. The third part is the problem formulation. This part contains two questions related to the study. The fourth part is benefits of the study. This part explains the hopefully obtained advantages for thesis readers. The very last part of chapter one is the definition of terms. This part lists important terms related to the study.

1.1 Background of the Study

Everybody in this world is a character that represents someone and undergoes roles for others. There is no one in this world that has no role. Everyone is interrelated to one another. Nevertheless, one and all are frequently encountering some challenges or things to be carried out that unavoidably influence everything around them. Every human, as a character in this world, experiences various occurrences. As long as human is interacting to one another, there is always an action taken. As in written drama, when readers pay close attention to characters, they will discover themselves to go from the what to why—from the characters’ words and actions to PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI their motives. Furthermore, so as to know the characters’ motivation, they are to identify what the characters do and how they do it Guth, 1997: 69. In fact, drama is related to the characters interaction amongst others. Short 1996: 168 states that “drama largely consists of character-to-character interaction”. Synonymously, the writer can utter that there will be various contacts whether they are direct or not. Take for examples, through touches or words. Referring to the two former paragraphs, all living inhabitants in earth cannot avoid doing interaction. The identical reason for doing interaction is that humans need others to survive. Humans need others and each of them holds different interests and motivations to do particular things. The similar things also happen in drama: the characters in drama are interacting to one another; they are holding interests and motivation behind what they are doing. Specifically, in the play of Williams’ The Glass Menagerie 1945, Amanda is a mother who is passionate to take care both of her children, Laura and Tom. However, as an ordinary human, she often does mistake in directing them. For example, she uses unacceptable manner to communicate her advice to Tom so that he is feeling look down upon. Responding to such treatment, Tom frequently does actions that are affected by her mother’s saying. He can go out of control at the moment and release his uncomfortable feeling by doing something unworthy. For instance, he goes out every single night. Additionally, Tom’s behaviors are also affected by the absence of a father as a good role model for his life. In the matriarchal PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI family, he does not have a figure of a father as the guidance for his life, whereas his mother often cannot understand his feelings. Based on the above elucidation, I notice the awfully complex relationship between Tom and his mother. I am interested to comprehend the matriarchal family influences on how Tom is doing certain things and how he reacts to particular happenings. By doing so, I can notice Tom’s changes. The relationship between Amanda and Tom relate to his character development. Of course, there are many other influences to Tom’s character development to be in the matriarchal family. Furthermore, I believe that there are many valuable values in the Williams’ The Glass Menagerie 1945 that can be revealed. In addition, there is no smoke if there is no fire—in relation with the study, it means that the matriarchal family led by Amanda as a mother causes Tom to act in different manners. Williams’ The Glass Menagerie 1945 illustrates how the characters are trying to affect the others. For example, the mother, Amanda, is trying to influence Tom to think that Laura will be better if she has got boyfriend by telling him that he will be so much easier to go out Williams 1712 . Knowing the fact that the matriarchal family led by Amanda as a mother has great influences toward Tom’s character development, I am very eager to explore more about it.

1.2 Problem Formulation