The conflicts resulted on different views of merriage found in Atherton`s American Wives and English Husbands - USD Repository

  

THE CONFLICTS RESULTED ON DIFFERENT VIEWS OF

MARRIAGE FOUND IN ATHERTON’S AMERICAN WIVES

AND ENGLISH HUSBANDS

  AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

  

INTAN PARAMITA

044214032

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

  

2010

   A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis

  

THE CONFLICTS RESULTED ON DIFFERENT VIEWS OF MARRIAGE

FOUND IN ATHERTON’S AMERICAN WIVES AND ENGLISH

HUSBANDS

  By

  

INTAN PARAMITA

044214032

  Approved by

Modesta Luluk Artika Windrasti, S. S June 11, 2010.

  Advisor

Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M. Hum June 11, 2010.

  Co-Advisor

  A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis

  

THE CONFLICTS RESULTED ON DIFFERENT VIEWS OF MARRIAGE

FOUND IN ATHERTON’S AMERICAN WIVES AND ENGLISH

HUSBANDS

  By

  

INTAN PARAMITA

044214032

  Defended before the Board of Examiners on June 30, 2010 and Declared Acceptable

  

BOARD OF EXAMINERS

Name Signature

  Chairman : Dr. Francis Borgias Alip, M. Pd., M. A ______________________ Secretary : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum ______________________ Member : Tatang Iskarna, S. S., M. Hum ______________________ Member : Modesta Luluk Artika Windrasti, S. S ______________________ Member : Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S. S.,M.Hum ______________________

  Yogyakarta, June 30, 2010 Faculty of Letters

  Sanata Dharma University Dean

  Dr. I. Praptomo Baryadi, M. Hum

  

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

  Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma : Nama : Intan Paramita Nomor Mahasiswa : 044214032

  Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul :

  

The Conflicts Resulted on Different Views of Marriage Found in Atherton’s

American Wives and English Husbands

  beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, me- ngalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

  Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal : 28 Juni 2010.

  Yang menyatakan, ( Intan Paramita )

  

To accomplish great things, we must not only act,

but also dream; not only plan, but also believe

.

  

( Anatole France )

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First and foremost, I want to express my deepest gratitude to the Almighty and merciful God, Jesus Christ. I feel extremely blessed for giving me so many amazing gifts in my life and one of the best of all is being able to finish my thesis.

  I would like to thank Modesta Luluk Artika Windrasti, S. S, as my advisor. I really thank her for her patient guidance, kindness and the times that she has given me; from the beginning until the time I finish this thesis. I would also like to thank Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S. S., M. Hum for the nice discussions and for the helpful suggestions for my thesis.

  The third, I would also express my deepest gratitude to my family. First of all, I would like to thank my family in Solo, my mom Sri Wahyuningsih and my dad Budi Triatmoko, for all their love, support, prayer and patient guidance until today and also their forgiveness for all the mistakes I have made these times, my sister Nilam Permata (the oldest sister) the one who knows me very well, for the sadness and happiness from our young age until now, for the support and love given to me, and my brother Muhammad Gilang Ramadhan for being my ridiculous brother and always calls me when we miss each other. Then, my special thanks go to my family in Jogjakarta, my father Didiet Setyabudi

  

Murpriyanto, aunt Mira, Bella, Meylanda, and Ricaz, for their kindness and

  supports. And also I would like to thank my father in-law Fx. Suwarto and my mother in-law Yustina Sutarmi, for all their care, love, support, always asking me “kapan lulus, dik?”, for being my “parents” in Jogjakarta, and giving me a lot

  

Christina Damastuti, for their kindness and care. I would not be able to do what

  I should do without you all beside me; I really thank God that I am having you all as my family.

  I want to dedicate my gratitude to my beloved husband Felix Wahyu

  

Damardono (and our will-born-baby that always accompany me in doing my

  thesis, Love you so much my baby!, thank you for giving me a chance to be your mother), we have gone through everything, good and bad, together. Thank you for the faith you have given to me when hope began to fade, for always being my side when I could never face the world by myself and giving me strength to stand still together, for your love, care, support, and-too many-advices. I would never finish my thesis without your patient companion and you are the one who always gets angry and says “ karepmu arep rampung kapan, ndut!” when I stopped doing my thesis, but I love you still.

  The last but not the least are my friends whom I would like to thank. You are all always support me and be there when I am feeling down, from the time we met until nowadays you always give me such happiness, fun and crazy things and you always smile at me,,,Dita, Galon ex-DJ, Amel, Elin, Nelly, Eka, Caca,

  

Martha, Ucox, and the others friends of English Letters Department ’04 that

  cannot be mentioned one by one, thank you for sharing the good and bad time together while we were in English Letters Department. And also all the lecturers in English Letters Department for their kindness and to the English Letters’ staffs. My high school’s friends, thank you for all you have given me, and God Bless You.

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ......................................................................................................... i

APPROVAL PAGE .............................................................................................. ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE........................................................................................ iii

LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH..........................iv

MOTTO PAGE .....................................................................................................v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................. vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................... viii

ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... ix

ABSTRAK ..............................................................................................................x

  

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .........................................................................1

A. Background of the Study.........................................................................1 B. Problem Formulation ...............................................................................3 C. Objectives of the Study............................................................................4 D. Definition of Terms .................................................................................4

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ........................................................6

A. Review of Related Studies ......................................................................6 B. Review of Related Theories ....................................................................8

  1. Theories of Characterization .............................................................8

  2. Theories of Marriage in General .....................................................10

  3. Theories of Marriage in Nineteenth-Century England....................11

  4. Theories of American Women in Nineteenth-Century England .....15

  5. Theories of Conflict ........................................................................16

  C. Theoretical Framework..........................................................................18

  

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ...................................................................19

A. Object of the Study................................................................................19 B. Approach of the Study ...........................................................................20 C. Method of the Study ..............................................................................21

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ................................................................................23

A. Lee Tarlton’s Views of Marriage……………………………………. 24 B. Cecil Maundrell, His Family, and His Friends’ Views of Marriage….31 C. Conflicts Resulted from the Difference Views of Marriage...........….. 38

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION……………………………………………….. 57

BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………….. 59

APPENDIX……………………………………………………………………. 61

  

ABSTRACT

  INTAN PARAMITA (2010). The Conflicts Resulted on Different Views of

Marriage Found in Atherton’s American Wives and English Husbands.

Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

  This study analyzes a novel by Gertrude Atherton entitled American Wives

  

and English Husbands . There are three problems formulated in this study. The

first problem is to describe how the main character, Lee Tarlton, views marriage.

  The second problem is to describe how Lee’s husband, Cecil Maundrell, his family and friends view marriage. The third problem is to discover the conflicts that result from the difference between Lee Tarlton’s views and Cecil Maundrell, his family and friends’ views of marriage, and the results of those conflicts.

  This study uses Abrams, Holman, and Murphy’s theories of character and characterization, Gough, Gallagher, and Goldman’s theories of marriage in general, Brown and Broude’s theories of marriage in nineteenth-century England, Redman, Holman and Harmon’s theories of conflict, and Gabin’s theory of American women in nineteenth-century England. Library research is chosen as the method, and this study also employs socio-historical approach.

  The analysis discusses the questions in the problem formulation. As the answer to the first question, the main character of this novel, Lee Tarlton, views marriage as something idealistic, romantic, and as an institution in which the wife is superior to the husband. As the answer to the second question, Cecil Maundrell, his family and friends, like most people in nineteenth-century England, view marriage as something practical, not romantic, and as an institution in which the husband is superior to the wife. As the answer to the third question, the difference between Lee’s views and Cecil, his family and friends’ views of marriage results in three conflicts, namely the conflict between Lee and Cecil’s family and friends, which is classified as external conflict against society, the conflict between Lee and Cecil because of their different attitude to romance in marriage, which is classified as an external conflict against another person, and the conflict between Lee and Cecil because they are not willing to serve and adapt to each other, which is classified as an external conflict against another person.

  

ABSTRAK

  INTAN PARAMITA (2010). The Conflicts Resulted on Different Views of

Marriage Found in Atherton’s American Wives and English Husbands.

Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Skripsi ini menganalisis sebuah novel karya Gertrude Atherton yang berjudul American Wives and English Husbands. Ada tiga rumusan permasalahan dalam skripsi ini. Yang pertama, untuk menggambarkan bagaimana tokoh utama, Lee Tarlton, memandang sebuah pernikahan. Yang kedua, untuk menggambarkan bagaimana suami Lee, Cecil Maundrell, keluarganya, dan teman-temannya memandang suatu pernikahan. Yang ketiga adalah untuk mengetahui konflik- konflik apa saja yang timbul dari perbedaan pandangan tentang pernikahan antara Lee Tarlton dan Cecil Maundrell, keluarga Lee dan teman- temannya memandang pernikahan, dan tentu saja akibat dari adanya konflik tersebut

  Skripsi ini menggunakan teori karakter dan karakterisasi dari Abrams, Holman, dan Murphy; teori tentang pernikahan secara umum dari Gough, Gallagher, dan Goldman; teori mengenai pernikahan di Inggris pada abad ke-19 dari Brown dan Broude; teori mengenai konflik dari Holman dan Harmon; dan juga teori dari Gabin tentang wanita Amerika di Inggris pada abad ke-19. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah melalui perpustakaan, dan skripsi ini juga menggunakan pendekatan sosial-historis

  Analisis ini membahas beberapa pertanyaan yang ada dalam rumusan permasalahan. Sebagai jawaban pertanyaan pertama , tokoh utama dalam novel ini, Lee Tarleton, memandang sebuah pernikahan sebagai sesuatu yang idealis, romantis, dan sebagai sebuah lembaga dimana kedudukan istri lebih tinggi daripada kedudukan suami. Jawaban pertanyaan kedua, Cecil Maundrell, keluarganya serta teman- temannya, seperti kebanyakan orang Inngris pada abad ke-19, memandang suatu pernikahan sebagai sesuatu yang bersifat praktis, bukan romantic, dan sebagai institusi di mana suami memiliki kedudukan yang lebih tinggi dibanding istri. Sebagai jawaban yang ketiga, perbedaan pandangan antara Lee dan Cecil, keluarga Cecil dan teman- temannya yang menimbulkan tiga konflik, yaitu konflik antara Lee dengan keluarga Cecil dan teman- temannya,yang dikategorikan sebagai konflik eksternal yang bertentangan dengan mayarakat; konflik antara Lee dan Cecil yang terjadi karena perbedaan sikap mereka terhadap sifat romantis dalam pernikahan, yang dikategorikan sebagai konflik eksternal yang bertentangan dengan orang lain; dan yang terakhir yaitu konflik antara Lee dan Cecil karena mereka tidak bersedia saling melayani dan adptasi satu sama lain, yang juga dikategorikan sebagai konflik eksternal yang bertentangan dengan orang lain.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background Literature is often considered as a reflection of reality. In the book Studying Literary Theory: An Introduction , Webster states that besides a reflection of reality, literature is also a part of reality. Literature is as much a part and product of the world as any other

  signifying process and is as much a part of reality as a reflection on it (Webster, 1996: 55). Thus, by examining a literary work, we can learn many things about the condition in the real world, for instance about people’s behaviour, culture, and so on.

  One of the things that we can examine from a literary work is about human culture. Culture is defined as "a way of life of a group of people—the behaviours, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next" (Kidd, 2001: 76). Based on that definition, culture involves many practices in our everyday life, not only the visible ones like behaviours, but also the beliefs and values behind the behaviours. The culture in one place is different from the culture in another place, and the culture in one era is different from the other era. If someone shows some behaviors, beliefs, or values that are not suitable with the culture in his or her place and era, there will be some conflicts as the result.

  This phenomenon can be seen in the literary work entitled American Wives

  

and English Husbands , a novel written by Gertrude Atherton. The novel was

  published in the year 1898, and the story is set in the nineteenth century. The novel focuses on the life of the protagonist, a young American woman named Lee Tarlton. Lee gets married to an English man named Cecil Mandrell, who brings her to his home in England. Although marriage has a universal basic concept as a legal union of a man and a woman, as a cultural practice, it is comprehended differently by each culture. Every culture has its own views of marriage, which includes the roles, expectations, obligations, rights, and so on.

  Historically, many Americans were descended from English people, and many aspects of the Americans’ culture were actually derived from the English culture. However, the impact of culture in America was no longer as strong as its root in England due to the Americans’ new place and addition of other cultures.

  As described by Atherton herself, Englishwomen “were very much of a pattern the result of centuries of breeding in uninterrupted conditions”, while “it was the very reverse that made up nine-tenths of the fascination of the American woman” (1898: 117).

  In the novel, the ways Lee view marriage differ from the ways marriage is commonly viewed in that particular place and time, namely the nineteenth century England. As the wife of an Englishman living in England, Lee does not adapt and change her views to comply with the views of her current culture. In other words, Lee views marriage differently from the way her husband, Cecil, his family and friends view marriage. The result is the conflicts in her marriage. Although Lee and Cecil mutually love each other and agree to commit their relationship in a marriage, Lee undergoes conflicts in her marriage, which become the main conflicts of this novel.

  These conflicts due to different views of marriage become the topic examined in this study. The writer is interested to conduct a study on this topic and this novel because here the writer can apply Webster’s idea about the novel as reflection of reality and learn more about human culture by examining the reflection in this novel. Moreover, through this study, the writer and the readers of this study can learn more about the culture of marriage in the place and era which is very far from our own place and era, with views and practices which might be very different from what we find now, through the media of a literary work.

B. Problem Formulation

  In order to guide the subjects under discussion, the problems are formulated in the following questions.

  1. How does Lee Tarlton view marriage in Atherton’s American Wives and

  English Husbands ?

  2. How do Cecil Maundrell, his family, and his friends view marriage in Atherton’s American Wives and English Husbands?

  3. What are the conflicts resulted from the different views of marriage found in Atherton’s American Wives and English Husbands ?

  C. Objectives of the Study

  This study aims to answer the research questions formulated above. The first objective of the study is to describe how the main character, Lee Tarlton, views marriage; the second objective is to describe how Lee’s husband, Cecil Maundrell, his family, and his friends view marriage, and the third objective is to discover the conflicts that result from the difference between Lee’s views and Cecil, his family, and his friends’ views of marriage in nineteenth-century England.

  D. Definition of Terms

  To avoid misunderstanding and to help the readers understand this paper, some important words are defined in this part, based on the definitions taken from books and the Internet.

1. Marriage

  Marriage is defined in Oxford dictionary as "the formal union of a man and a woman, by which they become husband and wife". However, there are many other definitions of marriage. In the United States of America, the marriage laws differ in each state. For example, in the U. S. Code (Acts of Congress), Title 1, Section 7, “marriage” is defined as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife" (http://uscode.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode01/usc_sec_01_00000007---- 000-.html).

2. Conflict

  Conflict is defined by Holman and Harmon as “the struggle that grows out of the interplay of the two opposing forces in a plot. It provides interest, suspense, and tension” (1986:107).

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies The first related study is an encyclopedia article about Gertrude Atherton,

  the author of the novel, from Encyclopedia of World Biography. Gertrude Atherton was born as Gertrude Horn in 1857 in San Francisco, California. Her father was a tobacco and cigar businessman and her mother had Southern aristocratic blood. They divorced when Gertrude was two years old. Then she lived with her maternal grandfather, who was a relative of Benjamin Franklin, in San Jose, California. Her grandfather introduced her to literature at a young age, and she had been writing since she was fourteen years old. She did not finish her formal education in Kentucky and went home at the age of seventeen. In 1876, she got married and ran away with George Bowen Atherton, a very rich man who was at first dating Gertrude's mother. Her marriage was not happy and she had little freedom. She secretly wrote her first novel entitled The Randolphs of

  

Redwoods in 1882 at nights, which was protested by her family. After her

husband died in 1887, she had a lot of time and enough money to become a writer.

  She wrote novels, short stories, as well as weekly column and journalism articles.

  According to the article, three of Atherton's most successful novels introduced "what became known as the new Western-American woman" (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404708151.html) as the main character, namely Patience Sparhawk (1897) about a lower class woman in the West in the

  1890s who tried to succeed and be self-reliant, The Californians (1898), with the theme of man versus woman and of nature, about a woman who tried to fight an oppressive Spanish society, and American Wives and English Husbands (1898) about "an independent woman, an American from California who marries an English gentleman" (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404708151.html). Atherton's writings usually "feature strong heroines and are often set in her native state" (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404708151.html). She died in 1948 in San Francisco.

  The second related study is a review of American Wives and English

  

Husbands from a blog entitled "Reading California Fiction", which discusses

  literary works set in California. The reviewer discusses the content of the story and describes the main characters. Lee is described as "a fiesty young woman with an independent streak" and Cecil as "a well-meaning bore who values tradition" (http://readingcalifornia.typepad.com/reading_california_fictio/2008/08/american- wives-and-english-husbands.html). The reviewer believes that the characters' traits reflect their respective cultures.

  Atherton sees these traits as typical of their two nations. So their marriage, if it occurs, will illustrate the similarities and differences between English and American cultures

  (http://readingcalifornia.typepad.com/reading_california_fictio/2008/08/ame rican-wives-and-english-husbands.html). The third related study is an article by Charlotte Higgins from English newspaper The Guardian. The article discusses the tradition of wearing and collecting jewellery in the world throughout the time. It also compares the facts to literary works and writings related to that tradition. The author mentions Atherton's American Wives and English Husbands as an example of the tradition of wearing excessive jewellery at that time as well as the social tradition at that time in American and English society.

  "I've seen women actually turn grey under the weight of their tiaras," says a character in a novel by Gertrude Atherton called American Wives and

  English Husbands . As the 19th century wore on, there were more and more

  American wives of English husbands, trading fortunes for titles (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/mar/23/books.guardianreview1).

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theories of Characterization

  Characters are the “persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expresses in what they say—the dialogue—and by what they do—the action” (Abrams, 1981: 23). Just like persons in real life, the characters have their own way of thinking, saying, or doing something. Characterization is the way in which a character is created (Gill, 1995: 127).

  According to Holman, there are three fundamental methods of characterization in fiction. The first method is the explicit presentation by the author through direct exposition of the character. The second method is the presentation of character in action with little explicit comment by the author, in the expectation that the reader will be able to deduce the attributes of the author from the action. The third method is the representation from within a character without comment on the character by the author (Holman, 1986:81).

  While according to Murphy, there are nine ways of characterization in a literary work. Those nine ways are personal description, character as seen by other, speech, past life, conversation of others, reactions, direct comment, thoughts, and mannerism. Through personal descriptions, the author can describe a character by using the appearance and clothes. Through character as seen by other, the author can describe a character through the view, opinions, attitudes, and comments of other characters (1972: 162-172).

  Through speech, the author can describe a character by giving readers an insight into the characteristics through the way he or she speaks and the language he or she uses. Through past life, the author can describe a clue to events that help to shape characteristics by giving the readers the character’s past life. Through conversations of others, the author can also provide a clue about a character through the conversation of other people and what they say about him or her.

  Through reactions, the author can describe characteristics by showing how a character responds tovarious situations and events. Through direct comment, the author may give comments and descriptions on the characteristics of the character directly to readers. This is the best way to help the readers visualize the characteristics, because the readers know what the author wants to reveal. Through thoughts, the author gives readers direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. Through mannerism, the author can characterize a character through the mannerism, habits, or idiosyncrasies (Murphy, 1972: 162-172).

2. Theories of Marriage in General

  Marriage is "the formal union of a man and a woman, by which they become husband and wife," as defined in Oxford Dictionary (1995: 718). Gough cites a definition of marriage by Murdock in Notes and Queries in Anthropology as "a union between a man and a woman such that children born to the woman are recognized legitimate offspring of both parents" (Murdock in Gough, 1959: 23). According to Gallagher, every human society has some form of marriage. In complex societies which are governed by law, marriage is not a "private romantic declaration" or part of religious rite, but also a "public legal act". Therefore, marriage forms a complicated system.

  As a practically universal human idea, marriage is about regulating the reproduction of children, families, society. While marriage systems differ, marriage across societies is a public sexual union that creates kinship obligations and sharing of resources between men, women, and the children their sexual union may produce (Gallagher, 2002: 2). Gallagher discusses two views of marriage, namely marriage as a private and public affair. As a private affair, marriage is "an essentially private, intimate, emotional relationship created by two people for their own personal reasons to enhance their own personal well-being" (2002: 5). As a public affair, marriage is "a publicly acknowledged and supported sexual union between a man and woman which creates rights and obligations between the couple and any children the union may produce" (2002: 9). Based on this view, marriage is a "public tie" which obligates fathers, mothers, as well as fathers' and mothers' kin to recognize the children from this marriage. Because marriage serves as a public affair, it functions as "every society's attempts to channel the erotic energies of men and women into a relatively narrow but highly fruitful channel" (2002: 9); thus, childbearing and raising is encouraged in marriage.

  Meanwhile, Goldman states in her article entitled “Marriage and Love” that marriage and love are not related and “are, in fact, antagonistic to each other” (2005: 275). Marriage is not a result of love between two people, and on the other hand, love cannot result from marriage. Rather, marriage is described as an economic arrangement.

  Marriage is primarily an economic arrangement, an insurance pact. It differs from the ordinary life insurance agreement only in that it is more binding, more exacting (2005: 275). Marriage always has some economical purposes for both sides, the man and the woman. As described in the quote above, Goldman compares a marriage with an insurance pact just like the ordinary life insurance.

3. Theories of Marriage in Nineteenth-Century England

  The theories of marriage in nineteenth-century England are specifically reviewed here because the analysis will focus on Lee and Cecil’s marriage, which occurs in England, among the English society. Therefore, the element of English marriage is more dominant in Lee and Cecil’s marriage rather than American marriage.

  Marriage in nineteenth-century England is strongly related to the historical condition at that era. As described by Brown in A Reader's Guide to the

  

Nineteenth-Century English Novel , after the Protestant Reformation, the idea of

  marriage as an honorable religious state, which was not inferior to celibacy, grew steadily (1985: 76). Also, industrialization in the Victorian era took men away from their homes to work in the all-male professions and changed the position of middle-class wives, making them economically useless in the home (1985: 70).

  At that time, women could not work because there was no professional job available for women. Therefore, they could not live independently. The only job for women was to become a governess, commonly described as the “governess slave-trade” because “minimum wage and hour limitation for workers did not exist at the time” (Brown, 1985: 63). Even then, the available job was very limited. In 1869, the Home for Unemployed Governesses took in 24, 000 women and turned away many more (1985: 63). While according to Jane Austen, marriage “was the only honourable provision for a well-educated young woman of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want” (1972, 163).

  Even if a woman came from a rich family with enough money to support her life, unmarried women were given bad stigma and would be ostracized by the society. It would not only destroy the woman’s reputation, but also her family’s reputation. A woman called Louisa Garrett Anderson wrote about attitudes towards marriage in the 1860s: “To remain single was thought a disgrace and at thirty an unmarried woman was called an old maid. After their parents died, what could they do, where could they go?” (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wmarriage.htm). In other words, most women had no other choice except to find a husband and get married.

  It was very difficult for women to obtain a divorce. The Matrimonial Causes Act, which was issued in 1857 and lasted until 1923, had a double standard for men and women. A man could divorce his wife if she was proven to do adultery, but a woman could only divorce her husband if he was proven to do adultery as well as cruelty or desertion (Brown, 1985: 74-75). After the divorce, the woman loses all her properties, as described below.

  Throughout the Victorian age, children were considered the property of the father and automatically went with him in the event of divorce. In a well-known case early in the century, Caroline Norton had to fight to receive the proceeds from her own writing and to visit her own children after leaving a husband who badly mistreated her (Brown, 1985: 75). Running away from home was illegal for any reason. Even if the husbands treat them badly or abuse them, women must endure it.

  Until the end of the century, a wife could be put in prison if she refused to return to the conjugal home, and the husband could confine his wife himself in the event of such behavior (Brown, 1985: 75). When a man and a woman get married, all of the woman’s rights and properties automatically belong to her husband, even the rights for herself and the children from her marriage. Thus, even if a woman is originally rich, it does not matter anymore after her marriage, because her properties now belong to her husband. According to Brown, based on English matrimonial law until 1883, the husband became the owner of all property of his wife, including real estate, through marriage (1975: 73). After that, woman could legally have their own property, but in practice, it only applied for upper-class women, who inherited property from their family, while other women still did not have anything because there was no work for them.

  In the nineteenth-century marriage, the woman’s sole duty is to take care of her husband, the house, and their children, from feeding them, cleaning after them, to entertaining them. Because women in that era had no other choice of lifestyle, they regarded their marriage life as her “vocation”.

  The wife was both the ideal itself, since she was the spirit of the Victorian home, and the seeker after the ideal, since marriage was her vocation and sole option in life: a psychologically intolerable box to be in (Brown, 1985: 76-77).

  As described above, women’s life was focused on her marriage, not only physically but also psychologically. Because they had no access to education or work, as described by Brown, “women place their hopes for personal fulfilment not in love but in the social, moral, and intellectual challenges they can get from marriage” (1985: 76). This is supported by Calder in her book Women and

  

Marriage in Victorian Fiction , who described the situation in nineteenth century

  England as the situation “in which women had no status except as a daughter and a wife, and where, if she were deprived of her belief that marriage was both a worthy ambition and her salvation, she would be deprived of life” (1976: 19).

  Therefore, nineteenth-century marriage in England was mostly done for practical purpose, namely to comply with the society’s demand and to maintain their livelihood both for men and women. The man needs a wife to take care of him and his house and give him children to continue his family line, while the woman needs a husband because she has no other choice to live relatively well. Here, the economical or socio-cultural reasons, such as to gain money, acceptance, or position in society, become the emphasis, instead of the romantic reason. As discussed by Broude in Marriage, Family, and Relationships: A Cross-

  

Cultural Encyclopedia , “romantic love is more likely to be found in cultures

  where spouses are not highly dependent upon each other for their subsistence. By contrast, where there is a high interdependence of spouses in subsistence activities, romantic love is less important” (1994: 266). When a husband and wife are necessary to each other's economic well-being, their mutual needs keep their marriage. They do not need romantic love as the “cement” to stabilize their marriage (Broude, 1994: 266- 267).

4. Theory of American Women in Nineteenth-Century England

  In this study, the writer is not comparing or contrasting American marriage and English marriage. Instead, the writer describes an American woman’s reaction to the tradition of marriage in nineteenth-century England. In general, the marriage in America actually did not have any significant difference with marriage in England at that time. The factor that made a significant difference between America and England was the characteristics of the American women, who were less easily influenced by the tradition, including the tradition of marriage. Therefore, it is important to discuss the theory of American women in nineteenth-century England as a reference to better understand American women such as Lee in this novel, who has her own views and try to defend them.

  Although this theory is not directly quoted or applied, it is highly useful to help the readers understand about Lee and her views of marriage.

  Jane Gabin in her article American Women in Gilded Age London analyzes the life of American women in London in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, to be precise between about 1870 and the end of the First World War. The women were Americans who became expatriates, lived, and worked in London, England. There are fifteen women analyzed in this study, including Jennie Jerome Churchill, the mother of Winston Churchill, the novelist Gertrude Atherton, the journalist Elizabeth Banks, actresses Mary Anderson, Eleanor Calhoun, Edna May, Cora Potter, Elizabeth Robins and Genevieve Ward, writers Pearl Craigie and Elizabeth Penell, the poet Louise Moulton Chandler, and the singer and composer Mary Frances Ronalds.

  This study analyzes the kinds of women who became expatriates, why they chose London, how their Americanness helped them and how that American identity alters over time as they either do or do not become Anglicised (Gabin, 2006: 3). Gabin sees these American women as bringing with them from their native country a certain kind of Americanness, a “verve and independent spirit” which “injected a new energy and dynamism into old London” (2006: 60). According to her, they all show ‘a very distinctive American trait: the ability to reinvent oneself” (2006: 60).

5. Theories of Conflict

  Conflict is one of the intrinsic elements of a literary work. Conflict is defined by Holman and Harmon as “the struggle that grows out of the interplay of the two opposing forces in a plot. It provides interest, suspense, and tension. At least one of the opposing forces is usually a person, or, if an animal or inanimate object is treated as though as it were a person” (1986:107). Besides showing the protagonist’s struggle against someone or something, conflict also shows motivation and goal that want to be achieved (1986: 108). While according to Redman, conflict is something that appears from how the central character deals with other forces. It is the central character’s responsibility to solve the conflict.

  Conflict is ended when central character succeeds or fails to overcome the other forces (Redman, 1962:363).

  There are two types of conflict: inner conflict and external conflict. Inner conflict refers to a struggle inside the heart and mind of the protagonist (Redman, 1962: 363). This conflict does not involve any physical struggle and usually cannot even be seen in any visible form, because it happens inside the protagonist’s self. Inner conflict always puts “two elements within the person” (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 107), namely confronting the character’s thought with his or her feeling.

  External conflict refers to a struggle between the protagonist and the outside force (Redman, 1962: 363). This conflict usually involves visible struggle between the protagonist against his or her opponent. Holman and Harmon divides external conflict into four types based on the protagonist’s struggle. The first type is the struggle against nature. In this conflict, the protagonist deals with natural forces, for example are natural disaster, climate, wild beast etc. The second type is the struggle against another person, usually antagonist. The third type is the struggle against society. In this case, the protagonist may be in conflict with a society’s value systems. He or she believes or does something different with social value believed by the society. The forth and the last type of conflict is the struggle against destiny. This conflict is about the protagonist’s effort in dealing with the greatest force or his or her creator in order to build or change his or her own destiny (1986: 108).

C. Theoretical Framework

  There are some theories that are used in this study. First, Abrams and Murphy’s theories of characterization are used to answer the first question in the problem formulation. Gough, Gallagher, and Goldman’s theories of marriage in general and Brown and Broude’s theories of marriage in nineteenth-century England are used to answer the second question. Redman, Holman and Harmon’s theories of conclict and Gabin’s theory of American women in nineteenth- centuryEngland are used to answer the third question.

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study American Wives and English Husbands is Gertrude Atherton’s novel

  which was written in 1898. The novel consists of 318 pages and is divided into 23 chapters. It was published in New York by International Association of Newspapers and in 1901.

  American Wives and English Husbands is one of the most successful

  novels of Gertrude Atherton. The novel describes the life of Lee Tarlton as the major character. She is an American who used to be a rich girl. Because of her father’s bad habit in gambling, he loses all of his money and leads his family into bankruptcy. He commits suicide by shooting himself. As a result, Lee and her mother have to live in poverty.

  As a child, Lee meets Cecil Barnstaple, a young English boy who lives near her boarding house. They become good friends and he helps to take care of Lee when her mother dies. One day, Cecil has to leave America and goes back to England, and he promises to Lee that one day he will marry her. Lee grows up as a young beautiful lady under the care of Mrs. Montgomery’s, one of Mrs.

  Tarlton’s best friends who takes care of Lee after Lee’s mother’s death.

  After several years, Lee meets Cecil again and they finally get married. They actually love each other, but their marriage is not as easy as they think, because they have different views on marriage itself. They come from different countries, so they also have different perspectives about marriage. Both Lee and Cecil insist on keeping their own perspective about marriage, so they undergo some conflicts. They almost separate once, but they try to go back together again.

B. Approach

  This study employs socio-historical approach. According to Guerin, historical approach is a part of the traditional approach of literary criticism. The

  th