Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of five parts. The first part is the background of the study which gives a reason for choosing the novel. The second part is problem formulation which describes the problems which will be analyzed. The third part is the objectives of the study to state the purpose of the study undertaken related to the problem formulation. The fourth part is the benefit of the study which explains the contribution of this study to the readers generally. The last part is the definitions of terms to avoid misunderstanding and misinterpretation.

A. Background of the Study

For all couples, marriage symbolizes a holy bond between a man and a woman. Marriage, establishing a home, and landing a good position are social correlatives for happiness and fulfillment which represent personal enrichment and success; they stand for it, in a way Henkle, 1977, p. 36. That is why there is no doubt that when a couple has a commitment to live together, they are demanded to have a responsibility as a husband and a wife. In a marriage, the couple loves each other and love gives the power or some motivation to their life. Love gives an affection of living together for any condition, bad or good. When both spouses live in one roof, there is something that cannot be avoided, namely conflict. The conflict that happens between a husband and a wife is called interpersonal conflict or if it happens within himherself is called PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 2 intrapersonal conflict. Sometimes, a husband and a wife need their own time, to reflect what heshe wants actually. As a young married couple, a man and a woman usually have a little picture of what marriage is. It can be because of their youth. Niwano as cited in Dhammananda, 1995, p. 25 says that young people in love usually think and do sweet and romantic things. Their minds are still full of pleasurable things to please each other. However the way they think and do at dating cannot reflect the real life of a marriage because in marriage, they will face many problems that they have not imagined at dating previously. So, it means that they have not been ready to take a big responsibility for a marriage. Living together as a husband and a wife means that life is not always full of romantic sides. When they are quarrelling, they will know the other’s sides or the other’s characteristics, weaknesses or bad habits that they did not know while dating. When the young couples come to a transition of life after they get married, they should prepare many things. They not only share about their love and affection but also many others. The more they spend their time in one roof, the more demands that they want or need. Niwano also says that When the time of dates, emotional pictures, dances, and parties has passed, the young married couples will have to live together, share meals, and reveal to each other their defects as well as their merits. They will have to spend more than half of their life each day together; this kind of living makes demands that are different from the less exacting needs of dating and first love. as cited in Dhammananda, 1995, p. 26. It can be seen that when the young couple begins a serious relationship, there is one thing that must be realized that is to become mature people. It means that, they PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 3 have to be responsible for taking care of each other, fulfilling some living needs, especially if they have children. Novel as one of genres of literature can portray human life experience as discussed above. The story may affect the readers emotionally. Eastman 1995 argues that novel “is a fictitious account of human life, told in a prose on a large scale, and so constructed as to give the reader emotional and intellectual pleasure of a designed quality” p. 5. It means that a novel gives stimulus to the readers to react or respond what happens in the novel as it reflects life experiences. This portrait of life is also reflected in Mr. Lewisham, the main character, in the novel entitled Love and Mr. Lewisham written by H.G. Wells. As a young man of eighteen years old, he has many dreams to realize. At his young age, he is married to a girl named Ethel. Both of them actually are idealists. He wants to be someone more than just an assistant master at Whortley proprietary school as a science teacher. He works hard to pay the tuition for his schooling. However, Ethel emphasizes that he should pay more attention to their marriage life. In fact, when they are married, he only has little money. His salary actually is not enough for both of them but it is not a matter of money that can be a problem. Here, he has an interest in Socialism and he cannot share his interest with Ethel easily but only with Alice Heydinger who can understand and appreciate his ideas. He is also surprised to know that Alice has an interest in poetry. Both of them become best friends and often talk about their interests to each other. Here, the readers can see how Mr. Lewisham decides to keep his marriage but he seems doubtful even though he has a deep love for Ethel since they meet for the first time. He realizes that marriage is not as simple as it looks. Even though he PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 4 is married to Ethel, all of his desires or dreams are totally focused on his schooling to achieve his dream as a teacher. However, he gives up his efforts. He decides to work only for his marriage financial income. This way of life gives the readers, especially the youth, a lesson of how getting married at young age will not be beneficial for them. It does not mean that marriage totally breaks young people’s dream, but marriage, once again, is a long lasting relationship so people need to do it at the right age and time. Because of this, I am interested in analyzing Mr. Lewisham’s conflicts in his marriage life as reflected in H.G Wells’ Love and Mr. Lewisham.

B. Problem Formulation