Existentialist ideas of freedom and responsibility seen in the main character of kate grenville`s lilian`s story - USD Repository
EXISTENTIALIST IDEAS OF FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY SEEN IN THE MAIN CHARACTER OF
KATE GRENVILLE'S LILIAN'S STORY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra In English Letters
By
MARTUMPAL JONATAN
Student Number: 034214013
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
EXISTENTIALIST IDEAS OF FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY SEEN IN THE MAIN CHARACTER OF
KATE GRENVILLE'S LILIAN'S STORY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra In English Letters
By
MARTUMPAL JONATAN
Student Number: 034214013
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Through this piece of work firstly I would like to thank my beloved family, Papi & Mami, Eci, Tepi & Kito for the never-ending love, gift, and support.
My chief debt goes to Gabriel Fajar Sasmita Aji S.S.,M.Hum., my major advisor, who has willingly spent his precious time to read and correct this thesis; and who has patiently encouraged and supported me in finishing this thesis with his advice. Moreover, I would like to express my gratitude for my co-advisor for this thesis, Adventina Putranti S.S., M.Hum whose advice has helped me very much in improving this work.
I also thank all my friends from the English Letters 2003 especially, to bang Ricat and Mba Put, thank you for the great friendship ! To Monic, thanks for the love we share. Also, I would like to thank my best pals in grinjing apartment: Togel, Hormon, SiKol, SiOm, Kuncung, and all the newcomers, I thank them all! Last but not least I would like also to give my gratitude to “Ibu” and “Bapak” in Pakem.
Martumpal Jonatan
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE.................................................................................................. i
APPROVAL PAGE........................................................................................ ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE..................................................................................ACKNOWLEDGEMENT............................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................... iv
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... v
ABSTRAK....................................................................................................... vi
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................22 A. Lilian’s Character Development ...........................................................
65 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................
60 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ..................................................................
56 3. Lilian’s freedom and responsibility as a woman..............................
54 2. Lilian’s freedom ad responsibility as a young lady..........................
52 1. Lilian’s freedom and responsibility as a girl....................................
44 B. Freedom and Responsibility Revealed by Lilian...................................
29 3. Lilian’s characteristics as a woman..................................................
23 2. Lilian’s Characteristics as a young lady...........................................
23 1. Lilian’s Characteristics as a girl ......................................................
21 C. Method of the Study.............................................................................. 21 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ........................................................................
1 A. Background of Study.............................................................................
19 B. Approach of the Study ..........................................................................
19 A. Object of the Study ..............................................................................
18 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY .............................................................
7 C. Theoretical Framework..........................................................................
5 B. Review of Related Theories ...................................................................
5 A. Review of Related Studies ....................................................................
4 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ................................................
4 C. Objectives of the Study..........................................................................
1 B. Problem Formulation.............................................................................
68
ABSTRACT
Martumpal Jonatan. Freedom and Responsibility Seen in the Main Character
of Kate Grenville’s Lilian’s Story. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters,
Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008.tells about Lilian’s life from childhood until her adulthood,
Lilian’s Story
which is told by Lilian. Lilian is a different person from most other female specifically and ge nerally from other people around her. This difference, seen from the characterization, is the main reason of showing that Lilian foregrounds some philosophical ideas. Thus the writer discovers that Lilian has made most of her choices throughout her life revealing certain philosophical ideas of existentialism i.e. freedom and responsibility.
Two questions are formulated to scope the problems to discuss. The first question is on how the character development of the main character in Kate Grenville’s Lilian’s Story is described, and the second question is on how the existentialist ideas, especially of freedom and responsibility, are revealed through the character development.
In this research, the writer used a qualitative study in examining the work. This study applies the moral-philosophical approach to make an analysis towards the problem formulation. Moral-philosophical approach is used since the main aim of moral-philosophical approach is to probe a certain philosophical issue such as existentialism.
As the conclusion from the analysis, the writer revealed some answering points towards the problem formulation. Firstly, the main character’s traits, smart and brave, are concluded from the development of Lilian’s characteristics. The development can be seen based on the period of Lilian’s life as her age increases from a girl into a mature woman. The changes of Lilian’s characteristics from being a little girl to a young lady is presented by the changes of her being a curious and adventurous girl into a critical and rebellious young lady. Then, when she grew as an adult, her smartness and bravery becomes wisdom and confidence. Moreover, the development is also seen in Lilian’s consistency level in showing her traits. The consistency can be seen from the choices made by Lilian, whether they always fit her traits or not. Secondly, Lilian’s Story has depicted some ideas of existentialism, especially freedom and responsibility through the choices made by Lilian that are presented by the character development. Freedom shown by the character is presented through the different choices that Lilian makes from what most others have. Meanwhile, responsibility is revealed through her acceptance of consequences of the choices that had been conducted and in the act of not denying her situation. However, as a dynamic character Lilian also has made some inconsistent choices throughout her lifetime, it also affects her freedom and responsibility.
ABSTRAK
Martumpal Jonatan. Freedom and Responsibility Seen in the Main Character
of Kate Grenville’s Lilian’s Story. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas
Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2008.berkisah tentang kehidupan Lilian dari masa kecil hingga
Lilian’s Story
dewasa yang diceritakan oleh Lilian. Lilian adalah orang yang berbeda secara khusus dari antara para perempuan lainnya dan secara umum dari kebanyakan orang di sekitarnya. Perbedaan ini bila dilihat dari karakterisasi merupakan alasan utama yang menunjukkan bahwa Lilian mengedepankan ide-ide filosofis tertentu. Oleh karena itu, penulis mendapati bahwa Lilian telah membuat kebanyakan pilihan selama hidupnya yang menunjukkan ide- ide filosofis pada eksistensialisme, yakni kebebasan dan tanggung-jawab
Untuk membatasi cakupan permasalahan yang akan dibahas maka dua buah pertanyaan telah dibuat. Pertanyaan pertama adalah pada cara penjabaran perubahankarakter utama dalam Lilian’s Story karya Kate Grenville, dan pertanyaan kedua mengenai pengungkapan ide- ide eksistensialisme mengenai kebebasan dan tanggung-jawab melalui perubahan karakter tersebut.
Pada penelitian ini penulis menggunakan studi kualitatif. Studi ini menerapkan pendekatan moral- filosofis dalam analisis terhadap rumusan permasalahan. Alasan digunakannya pendekatan ini karena tujuan dari pendekatan moral- filosofis adalah untuk meneliti isu filosofis tertentu seperti halnya eksistensialisme.
Kesimpulan yang penulis peroleh dari analisis menghadirkan jawaban- jawaban atas pertanyaan yang telah dibuat. Pertama, karakterististik yang menonjol dari karakter utama yakni pintar dan berani dapat disimpulkan dari perkembangan yang terjadi pada karakteristik Lilian. Perkembangan tersebut dapat dilihat dari periode hidup Lilian seiring dengan umurnya yang bertambah dari seorang gadis muda menjadi perempuan dewasa. Perkembangan karakteristik Lilian dari gadis kecil ke remaja perempuan diwujudkan dengan perubahan pada dirinya dari seorang anak kecil yang berkeingintahuan tinggi dan suka berjelajah menjadi remaja yang kritis dan pemberontak. Lalu, ketika ia berusia dewasa kepintaran dan keberaniannya berkembang menjadi kebijaksanaan dan kepercayaan diri. Juga, perkembangan terlihat dari tingkat konsistensi Lilian dalam menunjukkan karakteristik utamanya. Konsistensi Lilian dapat dilihat dari pilihan-pilihan yang diambil Lilian, yaitu apabila pilihan yang dilakukan selalu mencerminkan karakteristik utamanya atau tidak. Kesimpulan kedua, Lilian’s telah menggambarkan beberapa ide pada eksistensialisme, khususnya
Story
kebebasan dan tanggung-jawab, melalui pilihan-pilihan yang diambil oleh Lilian yang ditampilkan oleh perkembangan karakter. Kebebasan ditampilkan oleh karakter hadir melalui pilihan-pilihan Lilian yang senantiasaberbeda dari yang diambil orang kebanyakan. Sementara itu, tanggung-jawab ditampilkan dengan penerimaannya atas konsekuensi dari pilihan-pilihan yang telah ia buat juga dari
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Freedom has been problematical for a long time. As a concept that is considered important, the meaning of freedom seems to be relative and unstable. According to Mary T. Clark in her book The Problem of Freedom, the understanding
on freedom is due to when and where freedom took place. If seen geographically, easterners and westerners tend to view freedom differently. She says, “Easterners have tended to see freedom as liberation from internal constraint of egoistic desires and anxieties in the interest of unity and self-control.” (Clark, 1973:2)
Meanwhile, according to Clark, through history the westerners’ thought has shifting views towards the concept of freedom. The changes depend much on how people in a certain period view their nature. From the period of early Greek philosophers until modern scientific era, Warnock concluded that there are two dominating modes of human view towards the world. They are the world as mechanized nature and the world as the non- mechanized one. (Clark, 1973: 16-17)
The idea that the world is the mechanized nature occurs since the early Greek
th
monist in 460 B.C. until 17 century scientist. They agreed that reality is in terms of matter in motion. Therefore, there is no room for human freedom since everything in this world is determined by matter, as what the monist say, or by the law of physics proclaimed by scientists. (Clark, 1973:15-16)
On the contrary from the above- mentioned concept of the mechanized world, the “believer” of the non- mechanized world insisted the existence of freedom. They see the world as something that is not always predictable. For example, in the case of human being, “some aspects of the human act are open to scientific investigation; others like motivation, decision, and intentio n are not.” Clark continues her statement by reassuring that contemporary science consent to the “non- mechanized universe” (Clark, 1973: 17)
A man of literature and a prominent philosopher of the twentieth century who is on the side of the non- mechanized world is Jean Paul Sartre. He proclaimed that human condition is a non-determined creature. His philosophy of existentialism supports the unpredictability of human’s freedom through the existentialism basic idea, i.e. existence precedes essence. As quoted from Kaufman on Sartre’s
Existentialism is Humanism, this idea means that “Man first of all exists, encounters
himself, surges up in the world-and defines himself afterwards. If man as the existentialist sees him as not definable, it is because to begin with he is nothing.” (Kaufman, 1986:290)
Freedom, according to Sartre, cannot be separated from the realm of human being. This inseparable condition is interestingly, said by Sartre, a curse. His famous saying is “human is condemned to be free”. He said so because he sees freedom is unavoidable for human being since there is always choice that must be made in whatever condition, though deniable for one might pretend to be fully determined by situation (that there is “no other choice”). Even when a woman decided not to choose anything, Sartre said that, she already chose to remain passive upon the choices. He wrote many essays and some books of philosophy related to those ideas. However, interestingly though Sartre is saying of total freedom in human being, he did not abandon the aspect of responsibility.
Still related with freedom, remembering that literary work is closely related philosophical ideas, in this thesis the writer would like to draw the same philosophical theme (Sartre’s existentialist freedom) from a literary genre called novel. An Australian winning Vogel award entitled Lilian’s Story is chosen to show the ideas of existentialism especially on freedom and responsibility. Here, the writer seeks those ideas from the character. Therefore, the theory of characterization is used to help the writer revealing those philosophical ideas.
From the characterization (the depiction of the character) of the novel, the writer discovers that Lilian has made most of her choices throughout her life revealing some concepts of existentialism. Thus, it can be said that Lilian’s Story, through its main character, represents the ideas of freedom and responsibility by foregrounding an existentialist heroine named Lilian. However, as a dynamic character, Lilian has undergone character development, and it affects her freedom and responsibility.
Therefore, the discussion in this research is on revealing the existentialist aspects shown by the characterization of Lilian that has been through three developing stages of her life. The distinction can be seen through the stages of her period of age, which apparently represented through each of the chapters of the novel, i.e. A Girl, A Young Lady, and A Woman. To limit the scope of the study, the writer provides some problems to be solved through the following questions.
B. Problem Formulation
1. How is the character development of the main character in Kate Grenville’s
Lilian’s Story described?
2. How does Lilian’s development reveal the existentialist ideas of freedom and responsibility?
C. Objectives of the Study
The first objective of the study aims on showing the characteristics of Lilian in Kate Grenville’s Lilian’s Story. The second objective of the study aims on finding the existentialist ideas, such as freedom and responsibility, which are revealed by the character.
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies In this part, the writer reviews some criticisms that are related to this study. The first is the study on the novel, and the second is the study on the related topic that
is taken from two undergraduate theses of Sanata Dharma students. The first study, i.e. on the novel, tells about the characteristic of the main character in the novel that is eccentric and different. This supports the characterization shown in this thesis.
Moreover, the second one, the study on the topic of existentialist freedom, supports as the comparison towards the analysis of Lilian’s freedom in this thesis.
In www.litteprofessor.typad.com the writer found a review on Lilian’s Story stated that the main character in Lilian’s Story is an eccentric person who has subjectivity of her own. The novel is said as showing the condition of the period of history during the world wars, when technology was advanced and new fashions were began to emerge. However, Lilian was not affected much by them.
[…] the novel almost entirely ceases to notice "history" altogether. There are quick glimpses of WWI and WWII, of new technologies and new fashions, but Lil's more and more eccentric subjectivity manages to register change in only sidelong fashion Moreover, it is said that Lilian is having her own way of life that simply different from the rules that is common in her society. And at last, she was actually building her own history since this book is, also considering the significant title, is a story told by Lilian.
This, for Lil, is history: shaping her own story while integrating knew that little Dianne would grow up listening to the telling and retelling of the story of the day she was dandled by Lil Singer, and might tell it herself at last" (214). From undergraduate thesis of Sanata Dharma student’s, the writer reviews two works. The first study is written by Erwin Alex Saputra Pinem in his thesis entitled
,
Freedom of Choice as Reflected in the Main Characters in Steinbeck’s East of Eden
and the second is Hastuti Widianingsih’s Existentalist Concept of Freedom in the Main Character of Bernard Malamud’s the Assistant.
Pinem’s thesis deals with the topic of Freedom. Steinbeck’s East of Eden according to Pinem is having the philosophical issues of the nature of the conflict between good and evil. He analyzes the setting and the characters in the novel to explore the idea of freedom to choose the good and evil.
The same as Pinem’s thesis, Hastuti Widianingsih’s study discusses the topic of Freedom. Widianingsih applied the philosophy of existentialism particularly through Jean Paul Sartre’s ideas. Here, she found that existentialist concept of Freedom is revealed through the major character, Morris Bober. Bober, Pinem said, undergoes a misfortune situation since the novel starts. However, he gradually realizes that self-determination can set him free from miseries and anxieties. Since most of the data is shown through the character in the novel, Pinem also applied the theory of characterization to explore the existentialist concept.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory on Character
Robert Stanton in “Introduction to Fiction” said that there are two meanings of character. The first meaning is all individuals who exist in the story, and secondly character is the combination of interests, desires, emotions, and moral principles that makes up each of these individuals.
Moreover, Stanton divides character into central character or the main character, and the minor ones. In this writing, the writer will focus on the main character. Main character according to Stanton is the character that through her or his experience everything that appears in the story is appropriate.
Accordingly, from Abram’s we can infer that there are individuals revealed in the novel whose moral, disposition, and emotional qualities are interpreted by the readers through the dialogues and actions presented by the author. Furthermore, to assist the reader to Interpret qualities possessed by individuals within a narrative, Abram says that the author makes a characterizing process, which means “establishing the distinctive characters of the person in a narrative” (Abram, p.24).
E.M. Forster in Aspect of the Novel divides character into two category, flat character and round character. “A flat character is constructed around a single idea or quality, meanwhile a round character has multiple characteristics in them.” In other words, Forster indicates that the round character cannot be expressed in a single phrase for the character must have plural characteristic. Therefore, a round character has more than one characteristic and experiences change in his or her development and the change may be base on a certain circumstances (Forster, 1974: 47 & 48)
Furthermore, Roberts and Jacobs in Fiction said that the choices that the characters make in each action or speech no matter small or seemingly unusual can be an accumulating part of a total portrait.” (1987:119). Thus, from the choices that the character made, the reader can draw certain conclusions from them.
Also, in showing the primary quality (- ies) of the character, the reader may conclude it (them) from the characterization. This quality is called as the character’s
major trait . It is explained further that round characters have the capacity to change
or to grow (1987:120-121).In the ways to describe characters (characterization), Murphy exposes nine particular ways that an author usually applies. They are, a.
Personal description In this way, Murphy firstly shows that an author may reveal his or her characters through their appearance and clothes.
b.
Character as seen by another The author describes a character through the other’s perspective. The readers get as it were reflected image.
c.
Speech The author use this technique to give the reader the understanding on the character in the book through what that person says, whenever a person speaks, whenever he or she is in conversation, whenever he puts forward an opinion.
d.
Past life By giving the reader the clues on a person’s past life, the author can give us an insight to events that have helped to shape a person’s character. This can be done by direct comment by the author, through the person’s thought, through his conversation or through the medium of another person.
e.
Conversation of others People do talk about other people and the things they say often give a clue to the character of the person spoken about. Therefore, the author can also provide the reader on a person’s character through the conversation of other people and the thing they say about him.
f.
Reactions The author may also present the characters through how they respond towards certain events or situation.
g.
Direct comment The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly.
h.
Thoughts The author can give us direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about.
He can tell us what different people are thinking. Unlike in the real world, in the novel we accept this omniscience (capability in knowing anything). The readers then are in a privileged position. Thus, we have a secret listening device plugged in to the inmost thoughts of a person in a novel. i.
Mannerisms The author can describe a person’s mannerism, habits or eccentricities, which may also tell us something about the character.
2. Theory on Existentialism
Existence comes before essence. This is the basic assumption of existentialism both for those existentialist thinkers who are atheist and those who are Christian.
According to Sartre in Existentialism is Humanism, this assumption means “that man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world-and defines himself afterwards. If man as the existentialist sees him as not definable, it is because to begin with he is nothing. He will not be anything until later, and then he will be what he makes of himself.” (Kaufman, 1986:290)
As the consequence of the existence that precedes the essence, human being must create his or her own essence or meaning. It Oppose to the philosophical movement which concern on the true nature of human, which means that human is definable, a single concept that can be applied for all human.
The first principle of existentialism according to Sartre is “Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself”, and “he is what he wills, and as he conceives himself after already existing as he wills, to be after that leap towards existence.
“What we (the existentialists) mean to say is that man primarily exists-that man is, before all else, something which propels itself towards a future and is aware that it is doing so. Man is, indeed, a project which possesses a subjective life, instead of being a kind of moss, or fungus, or a cauliflower. Before that projection of the self nothing exists; not even in the heaven of intelligence: man will only attain existence when what he purposes to be.” There are some major topics proposed by existentialism that the writer uses to be the viewpoint on analyzing the novel. These topics are mostly based on Sartre’s idea and since they serve as a united system, all of the concepts are parallel and related with each other. They are being, freedom, facticity, bad faith, and responsibility. However, since the focus of this study is on the aspects of freedom and responsibility therefore the aspects of facticity, being, and bad faith only supports the freedom and responsibility.
Before we come to freedom, it is necessary to point out the method used by Sartre to approach his idea of existentialism. The method is called phenomenology, this is the study popularized by Edmund Husserl, which concerns the relation between subject and the phenomenon (object) in terms of human consciousness. In phenomenology, consciousness plays the dominant part.
Sartre agrees with Husserl that the realm of consciousness is the main aspect of human being. Consciousness, as the subject, has the ability to differ itself from the object observed and it always works by referring to objects. The objects of consciousness can be a single object (phenomenon) and plural or unlimited objects (phenomena), not only material such as tables, computer, or buildings, but the object may also be abstract concepts such as government, democracy, and value.
There are two kinds of consciousness, reflective consciousness and pre- reflective consciousness. Pre-reflective consciousness is the consciousness that refers solely to a certain object; meanwhile reflective consciousness involves the object and the subject into the act. This can be explained in a situation when someone for example sees a book on a table. The act of noticing that there is a book is the pre- reflective consciousness. But when the observer said that, “I notice a book…” it already involved the “I” as the subject to appear in the statement.
Moreover Sartre argues that another characteristic of consciousness that supports freedom is negation. Consciousness has the capability to negate, that is, to say what is not. The negation occurs whenever the subject distinguishes one object with another, that is to say that for example; this value of patriarchy is different from that value of feminism. Moreover, negation especially occurs between the object observed and the subject. For example by saying,” Although this society is dominated by patriarchy, it is not a must for me to fully obey its ‘rule’ since it is a mere value. I know an alternative for this (e.g. feminism) although I entirely realize that I do not belong to feminism either. It is my choice, in relation with my project for the future sake.” Therefore, negation creates choices for the individual. In this case, whether to prefer patriarchy or feminism, or other value, or even invent a new value.
a. Freedom
According to Sartre, being can be classified into two major kinds. The first is being in- itself. This kind of being is described by Sartre as “brute existence”. It is the characteristic of an object, which is self-contained. This characteristic is held by thing (and animals). The latter is being for-itself. This being is “coextensive with the realm of consciousness”, and the nature of consciousness is always refers to objects. It is the being that always needs to be filled; this characteristic is the same with the consciousness of human. In other words, in being for- it-self and being- in- it-self, Sartre distinguishes between those beings through the presence and absence of consciousness.
As the creature that holds this consciousness, it is clear that human has the characteristic of the being for- itself, and as described before, consciousness always separates subject and the object. In this way, there is a sure gap between the subject and the object. Thus, according to Sartre, there exists a space for the subject to perceive the object as it wish. This gap also ensures that the subject is independent from the object. The subject can rely on itself to interpret and respond the object. This gap creates a space for the subject freedom.
Besides the room for separation between subject and object that creates a free- play space for the subject, the capability of consciousness to negate builds the possibility of the subject to differ itself from the object perceived. This creates choices. So, freedom is the combination between nothingness (gap, free space) and the ability to negate (state what is not). And both of them are held in the subject’s consciousness.
The application for the above reasons for freedom in Sartre’s view occurs in the level of individual’s consciousness; therefore, it maintains freedom through each individual. For example when a society holds the tradition of strict patriarchy, (e.g. women do not have the rights to vote and to obtain education) then a woman, who realized that she can choose and that this situation is preferable, applied her freedom by firstly realizing that she and the rule of patriarchy is of no absolute bound. Secondly, by simply realizing this, she already negates the situation by thinking a “no” for patriarchy. So, even in the level of thought, freedom already exist, and this thought will continue latter through considerably related acts that support the woman’s idea of her freedom.
Therefore, freedom is the condition of every human being. There is no human being who is not free, since, as Sartre puts it,” every human is condemned to be free”.
It does not matter whether one is in prison, in war, being a slave, or if one is physically disable. Freedom is unavoidable; however, Sartre also said that one might deny one’s freedom as if he or she has no choice anymore as if he or she has been completely determined by the objects outside her or him. This is called as bad faith.
Besides supported by the realm of subject and object in consciousness, freedom is also supported by another aspect, namely facticity. Facticity is a term that is used by Sartre to point on the situation in which human being lives. There are five kinds of situation that serves as the freedom’s facticity; past, place, environment, fellowman (other people), and death. At first, it seems that facticity limits human’s freedom since those situations are unavoidable. However, according to Sartre this situation apparently serves as the supporter of freedom, in relation to “project to the future”. Therefore freedom walks along together with facticity.
b. Responsibility
Being responsible in existentialism is unlike the simple responsibility: taking the consequence of one has done. Responsible means being the “maker” of every object seen and every event in surrounding the subjects surrounding. Since the concept of freedom is vast, so the responsible is also far more extended than what is usually held in common sense. “This absolute responsibility”, according to Sartre, “is simply the logical requirement of the consequences of our freedom”. Since freedom is deep rooted in the level of consciousness where everything occurs, all the perceptions are coming through, and choices are being made, so is responsibility. Because everything comes into individual’s mind, therefore the individual is responsible towards everything inside his mind.
Moreover, since there always are choices, therefore the subject always makes choice by his or her own account. For example, when a woman decides to remain silent upon her surrounding when she knows that it already remark an injustice, for example when she notice that her lover took pleasure beating her, it was her choice to remain silent. Therefore, she is responsible to choose to be beaten, each time her lover did the violence towards her. So, she, not anyone else, has to make up her mind whether to live with this situation or to deal with it. Remain silent, enjoy the masochism, run from this violent man, or call the police (put this man to prisoner, or loony bin), etc.
Sartre gives a radical example in a situation when there are not as much choices as the situation of the woman above. The example given is related with the period of war during the time of Sartre writing his book Being and Nothingness. From the following situation we can also see that the total responsibility always haunts human existence. And the individual is not only responsible for what he makes of himself, but he is responsible for the community event as well.
“Thus there are no accidents in a life; a community event which suddenly burst forth and involves me in it does not come from the outside. If I am mobilized in a war, this war is my war; it is in my image and I serve it. I deserve it because I could always get out of it by suicide or by desertion; these ultimate possibilities are those, which must always be present for us when there is a question of envisaging a situation. For lack of getting out of it, I have chosen it.” This means that even during the hardest time of war, there still are two kinds of choices, suicide and flee. Whatever choice has been made and according to whatever value the chosen one is based upon, it depends on the individual’s decision. By choosing not to attempt on suicide, he chooses to stay alive. Therefore he is responsible to take the consequence. To say of suicide does not mean that a person’s life is not valuable, but it means that it depends on the person himself on how he values his own life.
Some people might try to avoid this total responsibility. This act is seen when a person starts blaming on situation and imagining if this situation, out of any process, is not existed. This act reveals remorse in a person’s mind. However, it will be “a waste of time” and will add more adverse to himself. Again, it was his responsible.
Still related with the example from the time of war, Sartre added “It is therefore a waste of time to ask what I should have been if this war had not broken out, for I have chosen myself as one of the possible meanings of the epoch which imperceptibly led to war.” (p.531) This kind of act is a waste of time because the war is chosen by the person
(instead of death). Therefore, because the person has chosen the war day by day, it is the person himself who have the responsibility if it is going to be four empty years.
(p.531) Responsibility also related to other people as well. This happens because the existence of other people is undeniable. Although a person is free to choose anything, he cannot choose without considering other people as well because everything he does, though seems insignificant, will always affect other people as well. (p.196a).
Total freedom might be misunderstood as the freedom to fulfill as much pleasure a man can obtain. Actually, a person can only have pleasure in a world if he takes into account the effects of his actions upon other people.
In Existentialism is humanism, Sartre insists that the act of someone represents the truth of what one belief as the best choice for everyone under the same situation. In Existentialism is Humanism he said,
”One ought always to ask oneself what would happen if everyone did as one is doing; nor can one escape from that disturbing thought except by a-kind of self-deception.”
C. Theoretical Framework
The theories mentioned in this chapter will be useful for analyzing the problem formulations in this thesis. The theory of character development and characterization in the books written by Forster, Guerin, Murphy, Roberts, and Stanton will be useful to answer the first problem formulation, which is the description of the character development of Lilian. Then, the theory of existentialism specifically by Sartre from his books and other books written by Kaufman, Warnock, Barret, and Binkley will support the answer for the second problem formulation on showing the main character’s existentialism.
Sartre’s ideas of freedom and responsibility in his philosophical concept of existentialism will be the basic. Knowing those concepts, the writer could draw the ideas of freedom and responsibility from the character development of Lilian.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study The object of this study is the novel Lilian’s Story written by Kate Greville. This novel was primarily published in 1985 by Unwin Paperbacks, Australia. The
second and the third edition were published in 1991, by Unwin Paperbacks, and in 1995 by Allen and Unwin, Australia. This work contains of three major chapters in 280 pages.
Kate Grenville besides writing Lilian’s Story has also written other novels
Dark Places, Bearded Ladies, Dreamhouse, Joan Makes History, and two other
books about writing. Lilian’s Story won the Australian Vogel literary award in 1994 and it has been filmed , produced by Marian Macgowan, and directed by Jerzky Domaradzky.
In www.contemporarywriters.com the review on the author of Lilian’s Story, Kate Grenville, stated that her work has been well received in Australia since the published collection of short stores entitled Bearded Ladies in 1984. In 2001 she was awarded an international recognition, the Orange Prize for fiction with her book The
Idea of Perfection . Not only as a novelist, has she also taught creative writing for
twenty years.Furthermore, her style of writing is poetic. The process of the writing includes detailed research for more than a year. This includes reading on the topic and actual experience in the place. After the research, she tries to use the language in the times the book is set in (www.wikipedia.org) When questioned about it, she (Grenville) replied "I would never write a sentence that didn’t have a nice rhythm, or at least I wouldn’t leave it to be published like that." She uses italics for direct speech since she tries to give the idea of continuity during dialogue. She gets the ideas for topics from life experiences. Her books are based on experiences that she wonders about. Her books are based on history with distortions so that readers would consider ideas that they might not otherwise want to deal with. One truth was distorted, but another was revealed The three chapters of Lilian’s Story are A Girl, A Young Lady, and A
Woman. In a girl, Lilian Una Singer is born in a family where the mother, Norah, is a person who suffers a psychological stress that is caused by her husband, Albion. She grew as a tomboy who always wanted to have attention from other people around her. However, her obesity gives the attention that she did not expect. She was alienated and being mocked by her school friends. In the next two chapters again the story tells much on how people see her through the size of her body. Moreover, suspected as a crazy woman, Lilian was getting rid by her own father by being put into a mental institution. Released from the loony bin by her aunt, Lilian began to explore her freedom and self-wisdom in her life. So she began having her fascination in exposing herself in the public spaces by giving recitations to the people. After the death of her lover and after all that she has been through, she said that she was ready for whatever comes next.
B. Approach In this research, the writer uses a qualitative study in examining the work.
problem formulation. In A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature (Guerin, 1999:25), it is said that the main aim of moral-philosophical approach is to probe a certain philosophical issue such as existentialism. The approach itself is one of the traditional approaches. It is one of the ancient criticisms that was rooted since the classical Greek’s and Roman’s.
C. Method of the Study
The library research was used to accomplish this study. It means that the writer tried to gather and compiled data from books and other written texts. Some steps were conducted. First, the writer read and re-read the primary reference that is the novel Lilian’s story. Second, the writer was arranging the references gathered, and then analyzed them by discovering their correlation with the issues discussed in the thesis. The analysis was using the citation from those sources that served as the proof of the writer’s arguments. Lastly, the writer conducted the conclusion of the analysis by answering the questions in problem formulation.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS In this part, the writer would like to answer both first and second problem
formulation proposed in the first chapter. The first question requires the characterization of Lilian as the main character by showing the character development and the second question on the idea of freedom and responsibility revealed by the development.
The writer found that the major traits of Lilian from the beginning of the novel to the end are smart and brave. The descriptions of those qualities are divided into three different parts according each of the three chapters of the novel. This is so because smartness and bravery are depicted by each chapter in different characteristics. Thus, the differences of the characteristics show the development of the character. Therefore, the writer provided sub-parts of the characteristics for both traits of smart and brave.
The development of the characteristics apparently can be seen based on the period of Lilian’s life shown by each title of the chapter as her age increases from a girl into a mature woman. The shifts are seen from the choices she makes, and the “accumulated” choices are compared in term of existentialist aspects. To help the writer in depicting Lilian’s characteristics, Murphy’s ways (in chapter two: on physical appearance, thought, speech, other’s conversation, etc) of characterization are used. Meanwhile the changes of the characteristics are showing that the Lilian is a round and dynamic character.
A. Lilian’s Character Development
1. Lilian’s characteristics as a girl
Lilian’s physical appearance is described through the narrator’s comment and other people’s conversation. Her hair was described as unattractive and she has small eyes. She also feels that her hands were too large for her when seen through a photograph.
“I was a child of unpromising lank hair and small eyes. In photographs I was caught looking sideways, looking sly, in fact, and unhappy at standing in frills while a man shouted, don’t move. In those photographs, my hands were too large for me, as if I was trying on someone else’s.” (9) Her body was big, and it started as the maid of the house always makes her cakes. Every time she is hungry she will ask the maid (Alma) or pester her. And mother also let her eat much just to calm her down for Mother does not like noises, including her daughter’s, the narrator said that “for the sake of quiet” her mother would keep the box of cake kept filled (21). And still in the same page, the narrator as well as little Lilian gives description on her body