her apart from her peers. Being the daughter of a reverend, she has that spiritual- above-all-else attitude that makes her ignore her sexuality. This sexual repression
of Alma becomes her downfall in the end of the play when she makes a suggestive offer to traveling salesman to enjoy the evening entertainment in Moon Lake
Casino. In that point of view, the “psychological regression” theme is apparent.
However, these themes as if exclude the other indispensable character of the play, i.e. the hero John Buchanan, from the analysis of the play. There is no
room for John in “repressed sexuality” or “psychological regression” since he reflects the contrary. This is what writer considers as the untouched area of the
previous studies that center their attention only in the other half of the play. The play will tell about the unrequited love of Alma Winemiller for John
Buchanan. It is not because of his lack of interest towards Alma that John does not love her b
ack. Intriguingly, John does not think he deserves to love the “angelic” Alma because of their palpably distinct characters. Alma whose father is a
minister represents those who regard spirituality above the worldly enjoyment. Meanwhile, John tends to indulge in physical pleasure which makes him a direct
opposite to Alma. As the story unfolds, the main characters Alma, who is in the beginning
presented as the “angel”, and John, as the “devil”, experience role reversal in the end of the play. John turns out to be a better man as he settles down with a good
woman, Nellie, in the Glorious Hill; while Alma, after experiencing shock from
the news of John and Nellie getting married, leaves to Moon Lake Casino with a traveling salesman she barely knows.
B. Approach of the Study
After having known the object of the study, writer needs to have a right tool to dissect the object in the attempt to answer the formulated research
questions. This phase of determining the most appropriate approach should consider both the object and the objective of the study.
As the objective of this study is to explain how Saussurian binary opposition becomes the narrative structure of Williams’ Summer and Smoke,
structuralism becomes the most suitable tool in this regard. The reason for the appropriateness of structuralism as the approach lies in the
Selden’s statement that “At the heart of structuralism is the scientific ambition to discover the codes, the
rule, the systems, which underlie all human social and cultural practices” Selden, 2005: 90.
Selden’s statement is also restated by Barry saying that structuralists regard the containing structure as the most important activity than the close
analysis of the literary work itself since they believed that one must see a literary text “in the context of the larger structure they are part of” to understand the text
Barry, 2002: 39-40. For that reason, structuralism is the most suitable approach for this study since it attempts to see the object through binary oppositions that
writer beli eves as the play’s backbone.
C. Method of the Study
This study is a library research since all the research activities comprise of reading related studies and theories to answer the formulated research questions. It
is library research because all sources or references are based on documents derived both online and offline.
The primary source of this study is Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke
acting also as the object of this study. The secondary sources that writer used are all the related studies Aug
ustten and Dewi’s undergraduate thesis, J. Pryor, S.J.’s paper, Guo Chun An’s study, Selden and Barry’s reviews of theory
for theoretical ground of this study, Chevaliers The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols
and last and most important source is A.J. Greima s’ three basic patterns
of narrative. The followings were the procedures that writer underwent in conducting
this study. Firstly, the object, i.e. Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke, was
closely read and thus some notes were taken accordingly. The notes consisted of some important details that were considered to be analyzed thoroughly. The found
details, that later became the data, consisted of characters’ characteristics and
symbols representing them. This phase was repeated to ensure the collected data’s validity.
Secondly, some related studies having Williams’ Summer and Smoke as their object were studied. This was done to know which areas of study had been
taken and which had not. Thus, after the previous studies’ main arguments were scrutinized, some points that needed further analysis were found. The two
previous studies put their main bulk of arguments around Alma without paying equal attention to the other main character, John. This was the point that
motivated this study to be conducted, i.e. John’s equal importance in the play.
Thirdly, as the purpose of this study was to prove the importance of John in the play, a hy
pothesis was born. The hypothesis was that William’s Summer and Smoke
was created based on Saussurian binary opposition, and this could be seen from the symbols and the two main characters’ characteristics. Thus,
research questions were formulated to conduct the study. The first research question dealt with the intrinsic elements of the play that writer believed would
lead to the ultimate goal of this study, i.e. the characteristics of Alma and John as revealed by the symbols. The second and last research question would answer
how binary opposition found in these symbols and the characteristics of the characters construct the narrative structure of the play. From the last research
question, it was apparent that the approach for this study would be structuralism. The next step was to answer the research questions. However, before
jumping to the analysis, this study needed to be equipped with theories related to the research questions. Thus, library research was done. This step was important
to provide guidelines in conducting the analysis. Thus, theories on symbols, characters and characterization, structuralism and narratology were reviewed.
