1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter comprises five sections. They are Background of the Study, Objectives of the Study, Problem Formulation, Benefits of the Study and Definition
of Terms. Firstly, Background of the Study explains the importance of analyzing the topic for literary work, some issues underlying the study and my personal reasons for
choosing the topic. Second ly, the Objectives of the Study present the aims of the study. Thirdly, the Problem Formulation reveals some problems in the study in a
form of questions in which these problems will guide me in the analysis. The fourth is the Benefits of the Study that explain the advantages the readers may achieve from
this thesis. At last, the Definition of Terms covers the meaning of the significance terms used in this study in order to avoid misunderstanding and misinterpreting.
A. Background of the Study
One way to perceive, understand and witness someone’s idea and experiences is through reading literature works. As stated by Welleck and Waren 1956: 103,
literature is addressed to society in which readers may learn what happens in society, values of society and moral values of certain behavior which are explored. Hence,
the purpose of literature is not only for entertaining but also for seeing, feeling and understanding life as well as human and nature phenomena.
In this respect, love can be one thing which makes human phenomena namely birth and death, different from other creatures in this world. Within all of
1 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
2
literary works suc h as novels, dramas, prose and poems, love would be obviously revealed as the most prominent topic that everyone likes to enjoy. Love, particularly,
between different sexual poles: man and woman is celebrated in a ceremony of marriage. In marriage, people are beginning their family life to live as a husband and
a wife. Though married couples always hope that their marriage will be happy forever, it seems that many problems will always occur. In accordance with this
problem, this novel illustrates how to deal with problems in marriage life which also undergoes a variety of events and happenings struck by mental illness.
In this thesis, I try to analyze Sylvia Nasar’s A Beautiful Mind. The novel tells us about the biography of John Forbes Nash, a mastermind mathematician, who
invents the non-cooperative game theory called “The Nash Equilibrium” and has contributed plenty of knowledge to the world of mathematics and economics, but
then has to undergo from a mental disease called schizophrenia. I regard this biographical novel as one of the literary works because it conveys people’s story in
live and several values happened in society. In creating this novel, Nasar reveals many explanations about Nash. She does not tell the readers only about Nash’s
disease but also about his education, his marriage life, the support he gets from relatives and friends, and many others. Therefore, in this thesis, I focus in analyzing
the relation between John Nash and her wife, Alicia Nash in her marriage life despite analyzing the main topic of this novel, which is the mental illness.
One important reason why I choose this novel in this study is rooted in its fascinating content. It is such an extra-ordinary thing to witness a brilliant
mathematics undergoing a massive schizophrenia. Through the story, we can see that PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
3
John Nash is gifted not only his multi-talent but also huge life experiences dealing with his mental illness until he gets the Nobel Prize. Anyhow, I would like to prove
that Nash’s recovery is not because of miracle. I suppose that he is recovered because of his surrounding including his wife’s love and devotion, relatives and friends’
support, and also the assist from the hospital and his psychiatry. Furthermore, I want to show Alicia’s faithfulness to her life-partner, John
Nash, in facing John’s disease during their marriage life since it is not easy to stay and settle together with someone who suffers with the mental illness. The love
between Alicia and John is going uneasy considering that they also have divorce in the middle of their marriage life. Nevertheless, they re- marry again at the end,
realizing that the y are still in love each other. The power of love has conquered all the boundaries. Additionally, I also want to prove that true love does exist in their
marriage love. In other words, how they try to establish and persist their being ‘soul- mates’ means that they belong together and they are meant to be one not only two.
B. Objectives of the Study
