Monitoring of Situations and Thoughts that Precede Breaking Standards

25 workers, qualified competitors, all of which will maintain their freedom ― Kearny, 1982, p. 21. From the explanation above, it is clear that Americans in 1920s measured their success based on their material achievement to get happiness as much as they can. It also became the measurement of someone‘s position in the society. According to Oroh 1993, many characteristics of modern America were shown by the end of the First World War. In 1920s, it represented the development of a mass national culture. Even it was stated that: ―The Protestant work ethic and the old values of self-denial and frugality gave way in the 1920s to a fascination with consumption, leisure, and self-realization, which is the essence of modern life‖ p.727. The rises of the economy of the country made the Americans became the highest standard of living in the world. On the other side, there were some Americans found out that the new culture actually forget the values of the religion and the old culture. However, the new way of consumption in 1920s and the ways of spending their leisure time became the part of the American life and became their culture. It was also stated that people at that time liked to spend their time on the roads, becoming a nation of tourists. It happened because car was one of the most products that were bought by Americans to spend their money. It was proved that there was a development of a mass national culture that changed the society‘s behavior. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 26

D. Theoretical Framework

Before going further to the deeper analysis of this thesis, an explanation how the theories above are used for the next analysis is needed. There are three theories which are theory of hedonism, culture psychological theory, and self- regulation theory. The first theory about hedonism is used to answer the research question number one: what kind of hedonism practices found in New York in 1920s. This theory helps the writer to know the real meaning of hedonism and to determine the kind of hedonism that happened in New York in 1920s. The second theory is about culture psychological theory. It is used to help answering the research question number one. This theory describes how the culture of hedonism influences the society that becomes the bridging to connect the research question number one to number two. The third theory is about self-regulation theory which is used to answer the research question number two: how Nick Carraway regulates himself in dealing with the culture of hedonism. Connected to the previous theory, when the society is influenced by the culture, this theory will prove how Nick‘s self-regulation can make him acts differently from the society to the culture. The discussion on how the theory works on the analysis of this thesis is explained more in chapter four.