American Social Condition in the End of 20

commit to user 15 bahkan kadang-kadang lingkungan politik atau latar belakang tempat kisah itu berlangsung” ibid.

4. THEME

Theme is the meaning of a story, in which the readers usually find the moral teaching of the story. Through the process of reading, a reader eventually will find out the theme of the story. Finding the theme of a novel is the top in learning a fiction. The theme can be concrete or abstract. The readers must understand the plot, the characters, and the setting first, before they get to something which is more abstract Rahmanto, 1988: 75.

B. American Social Condition in the End of 20

th Century and Early of 21 st Century A label for United States as a super power nation has been known since the end of 20 th century. Its military and economic powers throughout the world are the two main factors why this nation is called so. United States did not suddenly attain its power. It improves from time to time. Through some historical events United States got some experiences which finally built them as a strong nation. According to Thomas and Witts in Caroline Bird, John Cary and Julius Weinberg’s The Social Fabric : American Life from the Civil War at the Present, in the early 20 th century American social condition was marked with a high level of prosperity. US economy developed very well in many aspects, such as commit to user 16 productivity; in the variety of consumer goods manufactured, advertising, sale, and distribution of the products. Americans had the ability to buy the products thus they could enjoy a better standard of living. In 1920s, economists called this era as “prosperity decade” 1984: 225. Unfortunately the prosperity was unequally spread. It was only the well educated people who could enjoy the benefits of the economic growth, while the unskilled workers, farmers, miners and women could not. The unevenness of distributing the prosperity and the inability of the consumers to buy the industrial products led to Great Depression of 1930s. The Great Depression gave a very bad impact to the US economy and its people. Unemployment increased sharply and it became the most serious problem, and poverty was unavoidable ibid. In this decade, millions of Americans shared the same experiences; hunger and want, an unemployed father, and a constant fear of what their economic future might be as stated by Caroline Bird in John Cary and Julius Weinberg’s The Social Fabric : American Life from the Civil War at the Present. Poverty was all around America and was easily found there. The condition influenced young American women to delay their marriage, they knew there was no job for men and could not imagine themselves as breadwinners 1984: 200. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president in that era launched New Deal in 1933. The new deal program was to promote recovery and reform the nation’s economic institution. The program endured until 1939. US congress decisions for fighting in the Second World War brought an end to the Depression. The war brought many changes in American life. Economically, it brought an end to unemployment; millions of Americans were employed in some instances, and commit to user 17 even women could work outside their homes. Politically, the war gave a greater sense to the national existence. US victory over Nazi Germany and imperial Japan showed the strength of US as a powerful nation in the world. Demographically, the war brought marriage to young couples and increased the number of children per family o r called as “baby boom’. The most important change in postwar era was the high development of education. Many American went to study at university. More educated people at university made US became the leader of the world in research and technology Lingeman in Bird, Cary and Weinberg, 1984: 243-280. The advance achieved in many sectors of the American life in postwar era bought America people to enter the period of prosperity. As Andrew Hacker stated, US entered a period of prosperity in longer duration than any other experienced by this nation. Buildings were built upon the technologies, industrial plants and human resources developed. America industry provided the nation with a standard of living; many American people could enjoy a middle class income that became the envy of the rest of the world in Bird, Cary and Weinberg, 1984: 299. The greater income earned by the American people influence their lifestyle. They became a consumer oriented society. It was supported by the existence of new malls and suburban department stores which made them easy to purchase some goods. Many jobs offered in town created immigration to urban area. It created a new characterization of Americans; they prefer stay in their new town to live back to their hometown ibid. At the age of around 18, American teenagers usually live separately from their parents. They go to town to get a commit to user 18 better education. It also trains them to live individually and dependently. Most teenagers like to live in this way, they become separated from their parents, and they can do everything they want without any forbidden from their parents. Town also becomes their destination to seek for job. Some varieties of jobs are available there. They could choose many kinds of jobs that are suitable with their skill and education. At present time, both men and women definitely could go working. This phenomenon is closely related with one of influential book The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan in 1963. It gave a very significant influence for the women to against the ideology of domesticity. It brought women to have the equal opportunity in working, childcare and house working. Work field became a competition between men and women to earn money. People living at town or known as urban society are commonly recognized as individual society. They have less social interaction with their neighborhood. They get so busy with their own work, and their own business. They want to reach the goal of their life. Many variety of jobs are available in town, one of them is the fashion industry, in which more women work in this field than men do. Everyone deals with fashion everyday. They, who say do not care about fashion, actually do care about fashion. Since every time we choose what clothes that we are going to wear, the clothes say a lot about our personalities. Fashion is a state of mind that can be shown through the clothes we wear everyday or even the accessories we put on our body. One important thing in the fashion world is change. Movies, music, books and television give big impact on what become fashionable in certain period of time. In 1940s American women’s fashion were commit to user 19 influenced by the uniform look of the World War II. Trend is sometimes world- wide. In 1950s, teenagers everywhere dressed like Elvis Presley http:www.pbs.orgnewshourinfocusfashionwhatisfashion.html. In this 21 st century western fashion especially American fashion gives much influence toward fashion in the world, moreover western fashion became international fashion since the western musicians, movie stars and media have penetrated all parts of the world. Media reports about what kind of dress that will be worn by some artists. Even politicians have always been waited by the public, for example media and the society itself were waited and they were curious about the dress that would be worn by the first lady, Mitchell Obama on her husband inauguration ceremony as the president of United States. They believed that the dress worn by the first lady would be the next trend of fashion. Musicians, movie stars and even political figures have strong influence in dictating what will be the trend of fashion in certain period of time. Fashion always develop and change. Various styles in fashion separate people into groups where they belong. Hip hopers show their identity with the hip hop fashion in large cut clothes. High school students classify the nerd group through the round glasses they wear. Styles show someone’s identity, they show who you are but they also create stereotypes and distance between groups for example, a businessman might think a boy with green hair and multiple piercing as a freak, but within that group his appearance is uniform. Everyone has right to choose in which group they belong to, in which style that show who they are. Acceptance and rejection of a style we choose is a reaction to the society we live in http:www.pbs.orgnewshourinfocusfashionwhatisfashion.html. commit to user 20 Fashion is a big business. Many American people count on their dreams in the fashion industry. New York City is often referred as the center of New York fashion. More than 200 thousand people come to New York City to pursue a better future, either to begin their career after graduation or to get higher education. Working in the fashion industry especially fashion magazine company may give us many benefits. We can get a lot of free stuffs that designers send over to the company and goodie bags. We can also get free tickets to some fashion events. The fabulous lifestyle offered in the fashion industry attracts some American people to come to New York and try to get a better life. Freedom also becomes other re ason why people come there. Frank Sinatra’s song about New York tells that how someone must work hard in this city to make herhis dreams come true, it says “if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere”. New York is a city with abundance of opportunity for those who want to express themselves in reaching their goal of life. Everyone comes to this city and they bring their own goals of life. The goals are not easily attained; we must put our best effort to realize it. Then we can have a better life. http:www.39thanbroadway.comtales- fashion-industry-transplants. America now is a powerful country, it has already reached its freedom as nation, and this spirit of freedom which is spread and settled in the mindset of American people. It has passed from one generation to the next generation. The spirit of reaching freedom eventually gives women the same opportunity with men in many aspects of life. Thus at present time all Americans are free to pursue their dreams without any pressure from someone else. Fashion is one of the commit to user 21 examples people can show their ideas and expression freely. They can show their feeling and personalities through the clothes they wear. Life is all about choices and in fashion we are free to choose the clothes which show who we are.

C. The American Myth of Individual Freedom