The influence of geoff on ed’s personality development as reflected in Edward Canfor-Dumas’ The Buddha, Geoff and Me.

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THE INFLUENCE OF GEOFF ON ED’S PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AS REFLECTED IN EDWARD CANFOR-DUMAS’

THE BUDDHA, GEOFF AND ME

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Palupi Kusuma Wardhani Student Number: 031214058

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHES TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2009

It’s not the problem that’s the problem

It’s how you see it, how you react

When you start to change your mind

You start to change everything

(Edward Canfor-Dumas-The Buddha, Geoff and Me)

… dedicated to:

My family,

the most precious thing in my life

&

My beloved late aunty,

v ABSTRACT

Wardhani, Palupi Kusuma. (2009). The Influence of Geoff on Ed’s Personality Development as Reflected in Edward Canfor-Dumas’ The Buddha, Geoff and Me. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.

This study discusses the influence of Geoff on Ed’s personality development in Edward Canfor-Dumas’ The Buddha, Geoff and Me. This novel tells us about Ed’s friendship with Geoff from the very first time they met in a pub until Geoff died. During that time, Ed learns many things from Geoff and he starts to imitate Geoff.

There are two problems formulated in this study. The first problem is how Ed and Geoff are described in The Buddha, Geoff and Me. The second problem is how Geoff influences Ed’s personality.

In solving the two problems above, the writer applied the psychological approach, theory of character and characterization and Hurlock’s theory of personality. The method of this study was library research. There were two sources used in this study, namely, the primary data, which was The Buddha, Geoff and Me novel itself, and secondary data taken from the books of psychology, character and characterization, and personality development.

The conclusion shows that Ed’s characters are handsome, rude, atheistic, pessimistic and self-absorbed. While Geoff’s characters are ordinary, helpful, attentive, encouraging, straightforward and talkative, contented, wise and caring. Through his friendship with Geoff, Ed is able to develop his personality. Ed, who is an atheistic person, begins to learn Buddhism and becomes religious person. By becoming a Buddhist, he starts chanting so that his wisdom and courage are also developed. He becomes wiser and braver than before. He is able to accept his life situation, change his gloomy mood and take wisdom in what his conscience says. He is also able to raise his courage to challenge himself to make changes in his life. Furthermore, he gets more understanding on sex after he applies one of the Buddha’s teachings that is the Ten Worlds principal into sex. He finds out that sex is not merely an automatic thing that happens when a man and a woman are interested in each other, it can mean many things depending on its background situations. He finds that in Hell World, sex is suffering when a person is forced to do it while in Hunger World, sex is an insatiable thing and it is possible for the person to become sex maniacs. In Animality World, sex is used to satisfy himself but not his partner while in Anger World, sex is used to raise his prestige by making love with someone popular. In Humanity or Tranquility World, sex is only a biological thing. In Heaven World, sex is a romantic thing that is done by a couple who love each other. In Learning World, sex can be learnt through books or videos. In Realization World, sex is learnt through researches. In Bodhisattva World, Ed assumes that someone can help other people in solving their sexuality

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problems, but in Buddhahood World, Ed cannot figure out how to apply this world into sex because he does not learn Buddhism deeply.

It is recommended that future researchers employ the biographical approach to analyze the similarity between Dumas’ biography and Ed’s character. As for English teachers, it is suggested that they use the novel to teach Public Speaking I.

vii ABSTRAK

Wardhani, Palupi Kusuma. (2009). The Influence of Geoff on Ed’s Personality Development as Reflected in Edward Canfor-Dumas’ The Buddha, Geoff and Me. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pengetahuan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Studi ini membahas tentang pengaruh Geoff terhadap perkembangan kepribadian Ed dalam novel The Buddha, Geoff and Me yang ditulis oleh Edward Canfor-Dumas. Novel ini menceritakan tentang persahabatan Ed dengan Geoff dari awal mereka bertemu di sebuah pub sampai Geoff meninggal. Selama masa itu, Ed belajar banyak hal dari Geoff dan dia mulai meniru Geoff.

Ada dua masalah yang dirumuskan dalam studi ini. Masalah pertama adalah bagaimana Ed dan Geoff digambarkan dalam The Buddha, Geoff and Me. Masalah yang kedua adalah bagaimana Geoff mempengaruhi perkembangan kepribadian Ed.

Untuk memecahkan dua permasalahan diatas, penulis menerapkan pendekatan psikologi, teori karakter dan penokohan, dan teori perkembangan kepribadian oleh Hurlock. Metode yang digunakan dalam studi ini adalah studi pustaka. Ada dua sumber yang digunakan dalam studi ini, yaitu data utama yang adalah novel The Buddha, Geoff and Me itu sendiri dan data pendukung yang diambil dari buku-buku psikologi, karakter dan penokohan, dan perkembangan kepribadian.

Kesimpulan menyatakan bahwa karater Ed adalah tampan, kasar, ateis, pesimis dan mementingkan diri sendiri. Sementara karakter Geoff adalah seperti layaknya orang biasa, suka menolong, perhatian, menyemangati, banyak bicara dan apa adanya, berpuas diri, bijaksana dan peduli. Melalui persahabatannya dengan Geoff, Ed mampu mengembangkan kepribadiannya. Ed yang ateis mulai belajar tentang Buddha dan menjadi seorang yang religius. Dengan menjadi pengikut Buddha dan mulai berdoa, kebijaksanaan dan keberaniannya juga berkembang. Dia mulai mampu menerima keadaan hidupnya, mengubah suasana hatinya yang suram dan mengambil kebijaksanaan dari apa yang kata hatinya katakana. Dia juga mampu meningkatkan keberaniannya untuk menantang dirinya sendiri untuk mambuat perubahan-perubahan dalam hidupnya. Lebih jauh, dia memperoleh pengertian yang lebih tentang seks setelah menerapkan salah satu ajaran Buddha, yaitu prinsip Sepuluh Alam kedalam seks. Dia menemukan bahwa seks bukan semata-mata hal otomatis yang terjadi ketika seorang pria dan wanita tertarik satu sama lain, seks dapat berarti banyak hal tergantung pada situasi yang melatarbelakanginya. Dia menemukan bahwa dalam Alam Neraka, seks adalan suatu penderitaan ketika seseorang dipaksa untuk melakukannya sementara dalam Alam Kelobaan, seks adalah hal yang tak pernah terpuaskan dan memungkinkan seseorang menjadi seorang maniak seks. Dalam Alam Kebinatangan, seks digunakan untuk memuaskan dirinya sendiri tapi tidak untuk pasangannya

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sementara dalam Alam Keberangan, seks digunakan untuk menaikkan gengsinya dengan cara bercinta dengan seseorang yang terkenal. Dalam Alam Kemanusiaan atau ketentraman, seks hanyalah sebuah hal biologis. Dalam Alam Surga, seks adalah hal romantis yang dilakukan oleh pasangan yang saling mencintai. Dalam Alam Pembelajaran, seks dapat dipelajari melalui buku atau video. Dalam Alam Penciptaan, seks dipelajari melalui penelitian-penelitian. Dalam Alam Bodhisattva, Ed berasumsi bahwa seseorang dapat membantu orang lain dalam memecahkan masalah seksualitas mereka tapi dalam Alam Kebuddhaan, Ed tidak dapat menemukan bagaimana cara menerapkan alam ini kedalam seks karena dia tidak mempelajari Buddha secara mendalam.

Disarankan kepada para peneliti selanjutnya untuk menggunakan pendekatan biografi guna memeriksa kesamaan biografi Dumas dengan Ed. Untuk para guru Bahasa Inggris, disarankan supaya mereka menggunakan novel ini untuk mengajar Public Speaking I.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

God makes everything right in His time!

My biggest thank goes to the Almighty Jesus Christ whose greatest love and care have strengthened my way in doing this thesis. I thank Him for always being there for me through nights and days, good and bad times. I also thank Him for giving me the great family to help me, pray for me, support me, and encourage me to finish this thesis. My father and mother, who give me unconditional love, automatically hug me when I am sad and give their hands to wipe every tear. My brothers and sisters who give me reasons to work harder than I thought I could do. Thanks to my beloved late aunty who encouraged me to finish my thesis. May she be happy in her new realm.

I would like to thank God for sending me the great persons; Mrs. Henny Herawati, a wise advisor who always helps me with her suggestion, attention, motivation and correction and Sr. Margaret who is willing to check the grammar of my thesis. God bless them!

My special thank goes to Ms. Lanny Anggawati and Ms. Wena Cintiawati who have given me a chance to study in Columbia Edu-Center and opened my eyes to everything in life. Ms. Endang and Ms. Retno who have patiently taught me in Columbia Edu-Center. I also thank Mrs. V. Triprihatmini and Mr. Herujiyanto for being my examiners and giving me suggestion to improve my thesis.

I also thank God for sending me kind and everlasting friends like Maria Sekararum, Agustina Putri and Varonica Indrianingrum whom I always share my knowledge, life and love stories with. Silvestra Maria Indrat Yessy who gives me accomodation so that I can stay in Yogyakarta and finish the thesis. Robertus B. Atmoko who kindly solves my computer problems. Paskalina Tuti, Susanti Malasari, Lidya, Datu Falah, Putu Verdi, Mba Niken and Mba Sasha for the consultation times we spend together and the information that was very useful for me in finishing my thesis. Iaz Larung for giving me good and deep explanations of psychology terms so that I could do my thesis well. Ignatius Dani, Dominikus Heri Handoko, Agnes Marda for their sincere friendship and wonderful moments we

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experienced together. Beauty and The Beast crews; Putri, Lisa, Ria, Indri, Lidya, Pipin, Ety, Ema, Hepi, Linda, Prima, Linda, Nina, Tyas, Rinma, Krisna, Suryo, Haryo, Adit, Br. Pius for the excellent work in Play Performance Course. My friends in English Language Education Study Program for the experiences we share together. My friends in Sekar Jepun Community; Mba Ayu, Mbo Ayu, Anes, Leni, Lauren, Widi, Riris, Sondang, Mei, Nina, Ririn, Intan, Sika, Tata, Mba Ida, Arya and Andika for the great dancing practices. My friends in ISKS Community; Vero, Ajeng, Prima, Yohana, Victoria, Amalia, Florent, Agustinus, Muby, Fajar T. Kurniawan, Fajar T. Nugroho, Gio, Sony, Ansgarius and all the people that I cannot mention one by one thanks to all. Friendship never dies!

Thank God for the sweat, blood and tears I shed during the process of studying in English Language Education Study Program. I also thank Mba Dani and Mba Tari who gave me information that I needed and all librarians who had helped me.

Thank God for everyone and everything that supports me in finishing this thesis.

God bless them!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE ……… i

APPROVAL PAGES ……… ii

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ……… iv

ABSTRACT ……….. v

ABSTRAK ………... vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……….……. ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………. xi

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ………. 1

A. Background of the Study ……….……. 1

B. Aims of the Study ……….……… 4

C. Problem Formulation ……….………... 4

D. Benefits of the Study ……… 5

E. Definition of Terms ……….. 5

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ……… 7

A. Review of Related Theories ………...……….. 7

1. Theory of Character and Characterization ……..……… 7

2. Theory of Critical Approach ………...………...…………. 10

3. Theory of Personality ………...……..……… 11

a. Personality Changes ………..………... 12

1) Better versus worse ………...…………..……… 13

2) Quantitative versus Qualitative ……….. 14

3) Slow versus Rapid Changes …………...……… 14

b. Condition Responsible for Personality Change ……..…….. 15

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CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY ……….………. 19

A. Object of the Study ……….……….. 19

B. Approaches ……….……….. 20

C. Procedures ……… 20

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS ……….. 22

A. The Characterization of Ed and Geoff ……..…….……...………… 23

1. The Characterization of Ed ……….…...………. 25

a. Handsome ………...…...………... 25

b. Rude ………..………...…….……… 25

c. Atheistic ………..………....………….. 27

d. Pessimistic ………..……….. 28

e. Self-absorbed ………..……….. 29

2. The Characterization of Geoff …………..……..……… 31

a. Ordinary ………..………...…….……….. 31

b. Helpful ……….……….… 32

c. Contented ………..………...…….… 33

d. Wise ……….…...……….…. 35

e. Attentive ……….……….. 35

f. Straightforward and Talkative ……….………. 36

g. Encouraging …………..………...………. 37

h. Caring ……….……….. 38

B. The Influence of Geoff on Ed’s Personality Development ….……. 39

1. Geoff’s Influence on Ed’s Religion …….………..…...….. 40

2. Geoff’s Influence on Ed’s Wisdom and Courage ….…...…...… 43

3. Geoff’s Influence on Ed’s Self-Concept of Sex …….……..….. 46

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ……… 51

A. Conclusions ……….. 51

1. The Characterization of Ed …………...……...………... 51

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3. The Influence of Geoff on Ed’s Personality Development ….... 53

B. Suggestions ………... 55

1. Suggestion for the Future Researchers ………..…. 55

2. Suggestion for Teaching Speaking Using Literature ………..… 55

REFERENCES ………. 58

APPENDICES ……….. 60

APPENDIX A : Summary of the Novel ………...… 61

APPENDIX B : About the Author ………... 63

APPENDIX C : Syllabus ………..… 65

APPENDIX D : Lesson Plan ……… 67

1 CHAPTER I

I N T R O D U C T I O N

The first chapter of this study discusses the Background of the study, Aims of the study, Problem formulation, Benefits of the study and Definition of terms.

The background of the study deals with the reasons why the writer selects Edward-Canfor Dumas’ The Buddha, Geoff and Me novel as the primary data of this study. The aims of the study are limited by only dealing with the problems, which are found in the problem formulation. The benefits of the study explain how this study gives the writer and the readers some benefits. At the end of this chapter, the definition of terms is presented. It is concerned with the explanation of special words to avoid the readers’ misunderstanding.

A. Background of the Study

Literature enables us to travel to the different worlds of reasons. In our daily life, we often meet a situation where we abandon or neglect our thoughts and reasons and behave the other way around, then dismiss the thoughts without noticing. According to Emerson as quoted by Ulich, reading literary work brings us back those rejected thoughts. This is the most affecting lesson of arts provided to us. The authors teach us to accept different opinion from another (594).

An akin statement asserts that literature is a form of art, which invents new knowledge. Roger Fowler states that:

Readers come away from a novel or poem feeling that they have been given some knowledge which they did not possess before, or very often, that they have experienced a new insight into some familiar problem or theme. (13)

There are various reasons why readers read literary works. Some of them are because they want to spend their leisure time, to gain some new knowledge, or to figure out that the topics are interesting and have similarities with their life story. It is not impossible that readers will admire the characters in the novels or dramas they read because the authors describe the characters well. Wellek and Warren mention that “The novelists can teach you more about human nature than the psychologists” (33). It means that an author can reveal the characters physically and mentally and write it in a good order than a psychologist can.

When someone admires someone else, it is not impossible that he will change his personality and try to imitate the person that he admires. Hurlock states that “in identification, the individual tries to duplicate in his own life the ideas, attitudes, and behavior of the person he is imitating. When young children identify themselves with parents, they use in their make-believe play the same kinds of behavior that their parents use in similar real-life situations” (96). In other words, someone who is adored may influence one’s personality a lot. The fact that someone can develop his personality by adoring someone else is an interesting topic that is chosen by the writer.

3 The Buddha, Geoff and Me is a novel that talks about personality development. It tells us about the relationship between Ed and Geoff, who is a Buddhist so that this novel is full of the Buddha teachings. In this novel, there is a good depiction of Ed’s personality development, which is caused by the significant person, Geoff. This novel was written by Edward Canfor-Dumas in 2005. In The Buddha, Geoff and Me, Edward Canfor-Dumas brings all his skills to bear in an absorbing story of everyday city life, where the characters stand out with all their human strengths and weaknesses. It is a novel that tells us about the personality development of a man named Ed, the main character, which is influenced by Geoff, his friend. Ed is a London citizen. He is having a hard time in his life to keep struggling in a hard city life. After breaking up with Angie, his girlfriend, Ed has to face another problem. The company where he works is bankrupt so that Ed becomes jobless and he finds some difficulties to find a new job. To Geoff, who is a Buddhist, Ed tells all his problems. Geoff teaches him the Buddha teachings but unfortunately Ed’s understanding in the Buddha teachings is not straight. It is difficult to understand what Geoff says so that he rarely listens to Geoff.

Life has its up and down. Every time he finds a job, it will not last for a long time. Ed, who still loves Angie, tries to get her back but it seems to be a hard thing because they always quarrel in their meetings. One day, Geoff gets a heart attack when he is working and he passes away. Ed gets a shock because of Geoff’s death. He starts to rethink of what Geoff has told him and tries to understand it. In the end, he begins to practise Buddhism.

The reason why the writer chooses The Buddha, Geoff and Me novel is not merely because the novel is interesting and the writer likes it but it is also because the background situation of the story has a similarity with the situation in Indonesia right now. The monetary crisis that affects Indonesia causes the multi-dimension crisis where a lot of people lose their jobs because their companies go bankrupt, corruption happens every where, the goods become expensive, the rate of crime is increasing, and even worse, people find that getting a job is very difficult even for those who have high degree in education. The Indonesians have to survive in this hard situation otherwise they will suffer from depression. By reading this novel, the writer learns how to face such situations. This study is limited on the analysis of Ed’s personality development on his religion, wisdom, courage and his self-concept of sex since the writer does not have sufficient time to reveal all of the novel’s aspects.

A. Aims of the Study

The aims of this study are to describe the characteristics of Ed and Geoff as the major characters in The Buddha, Geoff and Me and to find out the ways Geoff influences Ed’s personality.

B. Problem Formulation

The problem of the study can be formulated as follows:

1. How are Ed and Geoff, the major characters, described in The Buddha, Geoff and Me?

5 2. How does Geoff influence Ed’s personality development?

C. Benefits of the Study

This study is expected to have some beneficial values. By doing this study, the writer hopes the writer will get a deeper understanding of personality development. The writer also hopes that this study will give the readers a better understanding of The Buddha, Geoff and Me novel from the psychological point of view and help them to explore the novel. In English learning activity, teachers may use The Buddha, Geoff and Me novel as their teaching material and at the end of this study, the writer would like to present the implication of this novel as the teaching material. The writer also expects that this study will give The Buddha, Geoff and Me readers a deeper understanding in reading this novel. Furthermore, the writer expects that this study inspires other writers to do further researches on The Buddha, Geoff and Me novel.

E. Definition of Terms

There are some important terms in this thesis which should firstly be understood before working out the next discussion. The terms are character, personality, development, personality development, and self-concept.

In the term of literary work, Abrams defined character as the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say – the dialogue – and by what they do –the action (20).

The next term is personality. According to Kalish (52-53), personality is a dynamic organization of characteristic attributes leading to behavior and distinguishing one individual from other individuals. A dynamic person is a person who is constantly changing. Personality as an organization means that personality is neither a single part nor a combination of many separated parts, but an organization of a “whole”. Characteristic refers to those distinctive features of an individual, which make him different from other people. Behavior is how a human being reacts to a situation. In other words, personality is the changing and interrelating organization of distinctive features into a whole that leads a man to behave as he does and that makes him different from other people.

The term development, according to Pikunas, refers to “all the processes of change by which an individual’s potentialities unfold and appear as new qualities, abilities, traits, and related characteristics. It includes the long-term and relatively irreversible gains from growth, maturation, learning, and achievement” (23).

From the definitions of personality and development above, it can be concluded that personality development is all the processes of changing and interrelating organization of distinctive features into a whole that lead a man to behave as he does and that make him different from other people.

The last term is self-concept. According to Combs et al, self-concept is “the organization of perceptions about self which seems to the individual to be who he is” (77). It is how someone thinks of himself and things around him. Self-concept is very important since it influences one’s behavior.

7 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter consists of two parts. They are Review of Related Theories and Theoretical Framework. In the first part, Review of Related Theories, the writer discusses the theory of character and characterization, theory of critical approach, and theory of personality. The second part is the Theoretical Framework where the writer talks about the theories applied and the reason why the theories are used.

A. Review of Related Theories

This part consists of some theories that are relevant in this study. They are theory of character and characterization, theory of critical approach, and theory of personality in particular about the personality changes.

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

Character is the most important element in a novel that deals with the theme, setting, and the atmosphere. Abrams (23) defines a character as a person, in a dramatic or narrative work, who is interpreted by the reader as having particular traits, natural qualities of a human being, and emotional qualities that are expressed through his dialogue and action. Thus, a character is not merely a person in a story, but he also has human characteristics, feelings, and moral value, which are shown through his words and his attitude as in real life.

Holman and Harmon (82) categorize character into two types, major character and minor character. A major character is the character that plays the most important role in a story. He becomes the focus of the story and he frequently appears in the story from the beginning until the end. By the end of the story, usually, this character changes, but not always. On the other hand, a minor character is less important than a major character. He does not always appear in the story.

Furthermore, Holman and Harmon (83) explain that a character may be either static or dynamic. A static character is a character who changes his characteristic a little or does not change at all. On the other hand, a dynamic character is a characteristic modified by actions and experiences. Hence, a dynamic character may undergo permanent changes in some aspects of his personality or outlook as the consequences of the actions. There are also some divisions of characters based on their function in the story as Woods and Rohrberger (20 - 21) explained; they are protagonist and antagonist.

Protagonist is the central character, the character whom all events in the novel have relevance. Usually a story or novel only has one single protagonist, but it is also possible to find that some other stories or novels have more than one person come into action. On the other hand, antagonist is a character who is involved in conflict with the protagonist character. Conflict here does not mean only struggle between people. Conflict can happen when a character contradicts himself with his fate, a struggle of a character whereby he battles with a part of

9 himself or with conflicting value systems or desires, or the character inner conflict can be in conflict with someone or something outside himself.

In analyzing the characters, there are nine ways that Murphy (161 - 173) offered. They are personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation with others, reactions, direct comment, thought, mannerism. Through personal description, the author describes a person’s appearance and clothes, for example he gives the details of a person such as: the face, skin, eyes, clothes, etc. Character as seen by another means a character is described by the author through the eyes on opinion of another. It means that the readers get a reflected image of a character through the expression of other characters. While in

Speech, the author gives the readers an insight into the characterization of one of the persons in the book through what that person says.

One of the ways in analyzing the character is by looking at the character’s

past life. The character’s past life can be analyzed sincethe author gives a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character by letting the readers learn something about a person’s characters through the direct comment by the author, through the person’s thought, through his conversation or through the medium of another person.By looking at how the character has conversation with others, the author gives the readers clues to a person’s characters through the conversation of other people and the things they say about him.Through the character’s reactions,

the author gives the readers a clue to a person’s character by letting the reader’s know how that person reacts to various situations and events. By using direct comment, the author describes or comments on a person’s character directly.

Through Thoughts, the readers understand a character through the character’s thought.In Mannerism, the author describes a character’s mannerism, or habits, which may also tell the readers something related to his character. Murphy emphasizes that the author will not use exclusively any of these characterization, but the author will choose or combine them skillfully together.

Characterization according to Perrine is “a representation of character in a story” (68). It is of course different from character because characterization is the way in which character is represented. Therefore, character is the result, while characterization is the process. Additionally, according to Holman Harmon “characterization is the creation of imaginary person. It means that the character has to be so real in order to present more alive story through characters, which are provided” (81).

2. Theory of Critical approach

Besides the writer uses the theory of character and characterization as a base of the study, the writer also needs another theory. According to Rohrberger and Woods (3), “to have a reasonable judgment, we need to employ a means which is called a critical approach. The critical approach emphasizes on understanding the nature, function and positive values of the works.” There are five kinds of approaches Rohrberger and Wood propose. They are the Formalistic Approach, the Biographical Approach, the Sociocultural-historical Approach, the Mythopoeic Approach, and the Psychological Approach.

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The formalistic approach treats a literary object as a total unity. It attempts to judge the esthetic values of the object without referring to the genre of the piece of the author’s life and the sociocultural-historical background in which the literary object takes place. The biographical approach considers an author’s life, idea and personality as important elements in studying a literary work. The sociocultural-historical approach asserts that literary object is influenced by the sociocultural-historical milieu in which a literary work is created. Literature is not created in a vacuum and it embodies ideas significant to the culture that produces it. The mythopoeic approach believes that cyclic patterns of certain universally recurrent pattern of human thought appear intensively in significant works of art.

The psychological approach concerns itself with the effort of analyzing a literary work based on the psychological theory (7-13).

The writer uses the theory of character and characterization in order to get deeper analysis in answering the first problem as stated in the problem formulation. The writer also applies the psychological approach to find out the psychological effects on the character as a result of the influence of other characters.

3. Theory of Personality

There are some definitions about personalities. According to Kalish (52), personality is the dynamic organization of characteristics. It also refers to the total individual and includes needs, motives, methods of adjusting, temperament qualities, self-concepts, role behavior, attitudes, values and abilities. Kalish (52)

also states that there is no element of personality isolated from any other element and nothing operates independently. In other words, each element of personality forms a unity. Personality is not a single entity but an organization as of a “whole”. It means that in order to work, there must be an organization of each part into a whole personality. Furthermore, character relates to behavior in personality. How a person consistently behaves can be said it is his or her character because such behavior is more typical of him or her.

In this study, the writer also mentions some points from Hurlock. Hurlock mentions that “the word “personality” is derived from the Latin word persona, which means “mask”. Among Greeks, actors used masks to hide their identity on the stage. Then, the dramatic technique was later adapted by the Romans to whom persona denoted as ‘one appears to others’, not as one actually is” (6).

Woodworth, in Hurlock’s book, defines personality as the quality of the individual’s total behavior (6). While Allport, as quoted by Hurlock, defines personality as dynamic organization within the individual of those psycho-physical systems that determine his characteristics, behavior and thought (10). There are many theories of personality. Therefore, they have the same scheme; those theories agree that personality is a unique and permanent pattern of behavior and cognition that characterize a person’s adaptation to life.

a. Personality Changes

Personality changes are also called the changing of personality, for example from good to bad and vice versa. Usually the personality changes are

13 automatically accompanied by body changes. People cannot control the changing of the body as well as the personality. The changes of personality show the adjustment that a person makes during his life.

The personality pattern can be changed in some areas and remain constant in others. It rarely happens that a person is completely satisfied with his personality and has no desire to change it.

Hurlock classifies the changes in personality pattern in three major categories. First, some changes are for the better and some are for the worse. Second, some are qualitative and some are quantitative, and third, some occur slowly and some occur rapidly.

1) Better versus Worse

An individual can change his personality for the better or for the worse. It depends on how he deals with his life situations. As Hurlock says that, “personality changes for the better or for the worse reflect the kind of life adjustments that the individual are making at the time” (120), it means that an individual can change his personality for the better if he can adjust himself well to his life situation and accept it positively. On the other hand, the personality changed for the worse if he cannot adjust himself to his life situation. Moreover, Hurlock states that it usually occurs at puberty and middle-age. The puberty-aged people change their personality for the worse when their bodies and their personalities do not grow as they want. In the middle-aged people, the personalities change for the worse since they cannot make their dreams come true.

2) Quantitative versus Qualitative

Hurlock states that, “in quantitative changes, characteristics already present are reinforced, strengthened, or weakened” (121). In quantitative changes, the characteristics become stronger or vice versa. A person who is kind can be kinder or less kind. The quantitative changes are influenced by the motivation to win social approval and acceptance; the stronger the motivation the more efforts he does to strengthen the desirable traits. These changes are more common and more frequent than qualitative changes. Further, Hurlock explains that, “in qualitative changes, the characteristics are replaced by the desirable one or vice versa” (121). In qualitative changes, a person changes so radically because of some factors. Hurlock gives an example, “if a kind and loving father turns into a sadistic brute, it is logical to conclude that he is suffering from some form of mental illness” (121). From Hurlock’s example, it can be inferred that the previous characteristic is disappear and it is replaced by a new characteristic that is very different from the previous characteristic.

3) Slow versus Rapid Changes

It is clarified by Hurlock that, “changes are regarded as slow if they are barely perceptible, while rapid changes are readily apparent to all. Normally, personality changes are slow and gradual” (121-122). Every change happens in personality involves the violation of the previous habit and the learning of a new habit to replace it.

15 b. Condition Responsible for Personality Change

Hurlock states that in a normal person there are usually several causes of personality changes. Personality changes can be influenced by many things. The causes are physical changes, changes in environment, changes in significant people, changes in social pressure, changes in role, strong motivation, changes in the self-concept, and the use of psychotherapy.

According to Hurlock, “physical changes may come from maturation and decline from illness, organic and glandular disturbances, injuries, or some other conditions resulting from the person’s life pattern but unrelated to the normal changes in the body structure” (124). A person will find it difficult to adjust into his new condition when physical changes immediately occur. As a result, physical changes may influence the person’s self-concept.

However, changes happen either in physical or in the social environment, but Hurlock states that changes in environment will not guarantee an improvement in personality although the changes may have the opposite effect. Moving to a new environment will not automatically improve the child’s, or the adolescent’s or the adult’s personality. It depends on how well we are accepted in the new environment and whether it meets our needs or not (125).

Changes in significant people means that an individual should have significant people in his life that may affect his personality. When the significant people in an individual’s life change and when the individual tries to adapt the pattern of behavior, attitudes, beliefs, values, and aspirations to him, changes in his personality are inevitable (126).

Changes in Social Pressure happened as childhood progresses, the child becomes increasingly aware that some personality traits are admired and some are disliked. Since everyone normally has a strong desire to be accepted by those who are significant to him, he tries to change any personality traits that will militate against his being accepted. Strong social pressures to conform to a socially approved personality pattern thus encourage changes in certain aspects of the personality. Traits, which are likely to lead to social rejection, such as shyness, bossiness, aggressiveness, and greed are more subject to change than those which are usually admired such as affection, ambition, cooperativeness, and generosity. Pressures to conform to the approved pattern are provided by the people who are significant in the person’s life at the time. When a child is young, he tries to conform to parental standards (126-127).

Changes in role means that one’s role may change because of a change in age, in economic conditions, or a change in the society. One will experience changes for the better in his self-concept, if the results are in a more favorable status. A child changes from being a dependent into economically independent when he is old enough to be a wage earner. Ordinary people are strongly motivated to change their personality to become popular because they believe that it will improve their social relationship and broaden their social acceptance. When the motivation is strong enough, the changes of personality will happen (127).

In strong motivation, Hurlock states that, “When motivation to improve the personality pattern is strong enough changes can be affected. Ordinarily,

17 people are most strongly motivated to change those traits, which they believe will improve their social relationship, and earn the greater social acceptance” (127).

Self-concept is the core of personality. It determines the kind of adjustment a person will make. Changes in self-concept will change the entire personality pattern. Changes in self-concept are slow and difficult to change as people grow older, and any change must be made slowly and gradually to avoid upsetting the entire personality pattern. The most important is people strongly resist any attempts by others to change their self-concepts and employ defense mechanism to enable them to maintain their self-concepts intact. It requires tremendous self-insight. This means that an individual must be able and willing to see himself as he actually is, not as others perceive him. There are also some conditions related to the changes of self-concept. Self-concept can change by using the introspection to see oneself as one actually is and an analysis of why one thinks of oneself in a particular way. Self-concept can also change because of a critical examination of one’s behavior to see if it is creating an unfavorable impression on others, an objective comparison of oneself with others to see if one is inferior, superior, or equal and self-disclosure to those for whom one has respect and confidence as a way of gaining new self-insight. Reading books that emphasize the factors of success in life, avoiding trying to model one’s personality after the personality of an ideal, and changing one’s aspirations when they are unrealistically high for one’s potentials can influence one’s self-concept to change. If an individual has the intention to change his self-concept, he will change from an environment that fosters an unfavorable self-concept or, if this is

impossible, ignoring the unfavorable aspects of the environment. Another way to change self-concept is patient practice in trying to see oneself according to the new self-concept until one becomes accustomed to it, likes it, and accepts it (128-129).

Use of psychotherapy helps a person to gain a better insight into the reasons for his unrealistically favorable or unfavorable self-concept. It helps him to realize how his self-concept affects the quality of his behavior, to achieve both the motivation and know how to change his self-concept, or secure the guidance necessary to make his change without upsetting the entire personality pattern, and to change the condition in the environment, which contributes to an unfavorable self-concept (129).

B. Theoretical Framework

In conducting this study, the writer uses the theories above in answering the problems as stated in the previous chapter. In answering the first problem, how Geoff and Ed are described, the writer uses the theory of character and characterization proposed by Murphy.

To solve the second problem that is to find out Ed’s personality development, the writer uses the psychological approach proposed by Rohrberger and Wood, and the theory of personality development proposed by Hurlock. This approach uses the theory of personality development in order to reveal Ed’s personality development.

19

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This chapter is divided into three parts namely the object of the study, the approach of the study and the method of the study. The first part, object of the study, describes the novel, The Buddha, Geoff and Me, as the focus of the study. The second part explains the approach applied in this study and the third part contains the steps of conducting this study.

A. Object of the Study

The object of this literary study is The Buddha, Geoff and Me written by Edward Canfor-Dumas, an award-winning television scriptwriter and novelist. This novel has 282 pages and divided into 16 chapters. Rider Books, London, published it in 2005.

The story tells about a man named Ed who is having a hard time in his love life and at work. His girlfriend of two-and-a-half years, Angie, leaves him because she feels that Ed could not understand her. In the workplace, Martin, his manager, blames him because of a mistake he made. He hates his manager and their relationship gets worse. Later on, the company is bankrupt and Ed loses his job. Fortunately, he meets Geoff who helps him to find a new job through her friend, Dora. Ed is not lucky. Every time he gets a new job, it does not last long. He is always fired from the company. Even though Ed still loves Angie and hopes that he can get her back, it seems impossible because they always argue with

each other. In his hard life, Ed always complains to Geoff. Geoff tries to help Ed in facing his hard life through the Buddha teachings but it is difficult for Ed to understand it. One day, Geoff has an accident when he is working and he passes away. Ed begins to learn what Geoff has said to him and finally he tries to imitate Geoff and starts practicing Buddhism.

B. Approaches

Since this study deals with the personality development, the writer has decided to employ the psychological approach. The writer makes use of the psychological approach to analyze Ed’s personality before and after the changes. By using this approach, the writer tries to find out what factors influence Ed’s personality development, the condition responsible for his personality to change, and how his personality changes. The writer also uses the theory of personality by Hurlock’s to help the writer in analyzing the personality development of Ed. The personality itself can be observed from the progress personality of Ed.

C. Procedures

The procedures in this study were the steps that were taken to do the analysis in order to answer the problems of the study. These procedures formed a unity, which built a thorough analysis of the work.

The first step was the writer read the novel more than once to obtain a good understanding of the story. Second, the writer focused her attention on the characters that the writer wanted to analyze. While reading the novel, the writer

21 also took notes of the points that the writer would like to discuss. Third, the writer read other books to support the answers of problems formulated.

In completing this thesis, the writer used the library research method. The sources the writer used were divided into two, the primary source and the secondary source. The primary source was The Buddha, Geoff and Me novel. The secondary source was used to gain a better understanding of the story. Therefore, the writer read some books that contained theories of literature and psychology. The writer analyzed the novel by focusing on the characters using the psychology approach. Then, the writer read some psychology books especially the developmental psychology books. Finally, the writer made conclusions from the result of the novel’s analysis.

22

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter consists of two parts. The first part deals with the characterization of Ed and Geoff. The second part is the analysis on the influence of Geoff on Ed’s personality development. The writer would like to use the theories presented in chapter two in answering the formulated problems.

Rohrberger and Woods, in Reading and Writing about Literature state that a critic, which employs the psychological approach should base the effort of analyzing a literary work on the psychological theory (13). Based on this approach, this study uses one of the psychological theories that would be the theory of personality development. By using this theory, the writer will be able to trace Ed’s personality development. To find out Ed’s personality development, it is important to see his characterization. Characterization has an important role in a novel; it is to bring the message from the author through the interaction among the characters of the novel. The author can manifest his ideas by describing the features of the character such as personality, attitudes, and behaviors. These can be seen in what they say and what they do. Ed’s characterization is important to show the changes of Ed’s personality from the beginning of the story until the end of the story. Geoff’s characterization is also presented since Geoff has a big role in changing Ed’s personality.

23 A. The Characterization of Ed and Geoff

Finding a job in this era of globalization is rather difficult. People have to compete strictly in getting a job. In addition, the financial crisis that hits America has also influenced other countries financial so that they have to reduce the number of employees. Ed is the example of the person who finds difficulty in finding a job and keeps surviving in the hard situation of the globalization and the financial crisis. After ItsTheBusiness.com, the company where Ed worked, is declared bankrupt, he works for Writers.Inc as a scriptwriter for advertisement. Unfortunately, that company too has a financial crisis that they have to let Ed go. Ed becomes jobless and begins running out of money. That is why Ed accepts Geoff’s offer to help Geoff’s friend to be a garden laborer for three days. After the job is over, Ed looks for another job again. This time, he gets a job in Regence House where he has to try to rent an office space. One night he drinks too much so he has headache in the next morning and decides to be absent from work. The next day when he arrives at his office, he is so surprised to find another person in there. The company explains that during his absence, his job is handled by another person who has the ability to do the job twice as good as Ed so that the company decides to keep that person and fires Ed. The last job that Ed does is a freelance script reader.

Ed and Geoff are categorized as the major character based on the theory of characterization proposed by Holman and Harmon. Holman and Harmon categorize character into two types; major character and minor character. A major character is a character that plays the most important role in a story. A major

character becomes the focus of the story. He or she is the most frequently appeared character in the story from the beginning until the end. Meanwhile, a minor character takes a less important role in the story. He or she does not always appear in the story (82). Ed and Geoff are the focus of the story because it tells us Ed’s life story and how Geoff influences Ed’s personality development and they frequently appear in the story from the beginning until the end of the story. Still according to Holman and Harmon (83), Ed is considered as a dynamic character since he has developed his characteristics after he meets Geoff and learns Buddhism, while Geoff is considered as a static character since his characteristics do not change at all. According to Woods and Rohrberger, Ed is categorized as the antagonist since he is involved in conflict with the protagonist character. Conflict here does not mean only struggle between people. Conflict can happen when a character contradicts himself with his fate, a struggle of a character whereby he battles with a part of himself or with conflicting value systems or desires. On the other hand, Geoff is categorized as the protagonist.

In analyzing their characteristics, Murphy’s theories of characterization are applied. They are personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation of others, reaction, direct comment, thought, and mannerism (161-173). Thus, from those nine methods, Dumas makes use of only some of them. They are personal description, character as seen by another, speech, reaction, thought, and mannerism. By making use of those methods, Dumas portrays Ed and Geoff as below:

25 1. The Characterization of Ed

a. Handsome

Physically, Ed is described as a handsome man in his early thirties and likes to drink. It is seen through Ed’s personal description and character as seen by others, “... I looked in the mirror. Thirty-one and already the grey was showing through the black. Bloody hell. And Angie had said I was putting on weight. I sighed. It was true. Too much beer (22).”

That he is a handsome man, is proved by his friend, Dora, who says that Ed is such a handsome man.

“… And seeing you sitting there looking so handsome and so miserable, I just want to shake you.”

Handsome? It was a long time since anyone had called me that. I was quite taken aback. (139-140)

At the time he meets Dora, he is not in a good situation because he has lost a job. He is so desperate that he comes to Dora, a job seeker agent, to find another new job. Even so, Dora still considers him as a handsome man.

b. Rude

Ed is described as a rude person. It is inferred from his mannerism and thought. In ItsTheBusiness.com, his first workplace, his job is to copy-edit articles and proof-read the text before it goes to their website. Sometimes, he needs to rewrite the text to make it readable. Unfortunately, one of their clients, West Bromwich, threats to sue them for their misrepresentation. The editor blames Ed for this case but Ed cannot accept it and swears to Martin, the editor “… I couldn’t

get out of my head the picture of me standing in front of Martin’s desk and stammering out what a bad boy I’d been but now I’d seen the error of my ways and wanted to turn over a new leaf… (36).”

Even though Ed is a rude person, he has the positive side. He always feels regret for what he has done and has the intention to make the situation better. He feels sorry for being so rude to Martin and he wants to reconcile his relationship with him. Ed treats Geoff rudely once when he is hospitalized. In the hospital, he dismisses Geoff who had been accompanying him when he fainted.

I’d been too hard on him, I decided. I’d been irritable because my head hurt and I felt foolish for falling over; and he’d come to the hospital to help me and-well, basically, I was a bad person. Selfish, self-centered, self absorbed-all the things I’d listed as reasons why Angie had left. But, no good sitting here beating myself up. Use the tongue that told him to bugger off to make friends again. I called his mobile. (108)

Ed is too drunk that he falls and hits his head hard against the edge of the bar. Geoff, who is in the bar with Ed, tries to help Ed by taking him to the hospital. Since he feels the headache and is ashamed because he has fallen in the bar, his emotional character rises up that he drives Geoff out of the hospital. Later on, he feels guilty for treating Geoff so badly so that he calls Geoff to say sorry. Besides Martin and Geoff, Ed also does the same thing to Dora when she is trying to explain about Buddhism principle to him. Instead of listening to Dora, he walks out on her. He does not want to listen to Dora’s explanation, but then he realizes his rudeness. He comes back to her to offer her an apology.

27 c. Atheistic

Ed has grown up in a good and religious family. His family is a Christian family and is involved actively in the social activities. His mother is a member of committees, which raise some fund to help the poor.

I thought about my mum, who was always doing good, especially when she retired. Sitting on committees, raising money for the local hospice, and Oxfam, visiting the old and the lonely. But she’d been a Christian, part of the Church, which I couldn’t stand for its sanctimony and piety and disapproval of virtually everything I rated, e.g. sex and drinking. I suppose I associated one with the other-religion and do-goodery-and somewhere, deep down, rejected both. (147-148)

Though he grows up in a good and religious family, he thinks that religion brings nothing good in life so that he does not believe in religion. It can be seen through his thought and speech. He finds that religion is contrary to the things he is interested in; having sex and drink. Further, he thinks that religion is harmful. It can destroy the world because people may kill other people in the name of religion.

I groaned. ’Religion.’ ‘Is that a problem?’

‘Too bloody right. I can’t stand religion.’

‘Where have I heard that before?’ He smiled ruefully. ‘Well, some people prefer to call Buddhism a life philosophy, if that helps.’ ‘Might do – if you can put it into practice without the religious bit.’ ‘You can try.’

‘All right, just tell me about that, then. Because I had enough religion stuffed down my throat as a kid to put me off for life. Junk – all of it. And dangerous. I mean, look at the damage it’s done: religious wars, massacres, persecution. So – no religion. Just practical, down-to-earth, hands-on, useful advice about how to get my girlfriend back and things sorted at work. OK?’ (19)

Ed absolutely does not agree with religion. He does not want to solve his problems by using religion as the base. In daily life, he has no doubts about admitting that he does not have any religion. It is shown when he has to fill in the job registration form, which Dora gives him. In the job registration form, he writes that he does not have any religion. It surprises Dora because she thinks that Ed is a Buddhist since he is Geoff’s friend.

d. Pessimistic

Ed is a pessimistic person. It is seen from his thought and speech. At the time when Ed studied in college, he had a dream to be a bestselling author. He had written some pages but he did not finish it. His dream to become a bestselling author does not come true because he is busy with his job and not sure that he will be able to finish it. He believes that he cannot do anything to make his dream come true. Moreover, his conscience that he calls ‘My Evil Friend’ never supports him. It always tells Ed that he does not have any talent to become a bestselling author.

‘Because you’re a failure,’ it said. ‘And you know it. Even this morning, when you went in to turn over a new leaf with Martin, you knew it wouldn’t come to anything. Because nothing ever does. Like your writing. Ha-what a joke. The reason you can’t write is that you haven’t got anything to say. You can’t meet your own needs, let alone anyone else’s. Genius might be one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration, but you haven’t even got that one per cent. Face it: you’re so ordinary, so average, that all you can expect. All you actually deserve, is an ordinary, average life. Dull? Yes-but that’s reality. (55)

29 His conscience makes everything worse when Ed is in a hard situation where Angie, his girlfriend, left him and he does not have any money because he is out of a job. He becomes very pessimistic so that he loses his appetite to eat. He tries to force himself to finish his writing but it makes his situation worse.

‘Couldn’t be arsed, hmm?’ Geoff said.

‘No, it’s not that. It’s just… you know.’ But it was that. I couldn’t be arsed to do anything. My opus had ground to a halt and so had my life. All my Causes had produced nothing, and each list of daily determinations made me more dejected - because deep down I didn’t believe I’d be able to make any of it happen. My reality was no job, no girlfriend, no money. And no prospects, either.

‘Sleeping a lot, are you?’ asked Geoff. I nodded.

‘Finding it hard to get up?’ I nodded again.

‘No appetite?’

I shook my head sadly. ‘For anything.’ I sighed. (95)

He feels that he cannot continue his life since he cannot make the situation better. Instead of trying to change his life, he loses his spirit.

e. Self-absorbed

Ed is a self-absorbed person and he realizes it. He never cares about other people around him. It is seen through his thought and mannerism. Even though he has a brother, he never speaks to him. One of the reasons that his girlfriend left him is because he did not give enough attention to her. He always thinks about himself and cares about his happiness only.

An awful truth had hit me. All I cared about was Angie and myself. My parents were both dead. I had a brother I never spoke to - we drifted apart years ago. I had a few friends but we weren’t really

close. It was just Angie and me; or rather, it had been. And how much did I really care about her anyway? How much did I want her just because she made me feel good? Did I really care about her happiness? When we’d been together I just assumed she was happy with me because I was happy with her. Until she’d got all needy and started to complain about me not doing anything for her or paying her any attention or blah blah blah. I’d batted it away as just more female nagging - then she left. So did that mean that truly, deep down, all I really care about was myself? The more I thought about it the more convinced I became: I was totally selfish, shallow, worthless…piece of shite (36-37).

Ed does not care about Geoff either. He rarely asks about Geoff’s life. In every meeting, they discuss only the problems that Ed is facing. He knows a little about Geoff because Geoff tells him. Ed never knows what Geoff is doing to make a living and when he knows that Geoff is a window-cleaner, he feels that Geoff lies to him. He is disappointed with Geoff because he thinks that Geoff never tells him the truth. Geoff, who cannot accept what Ed thinks about him, tells Ed that it is because he always focuses on himself, tries to gain more knowledge and solves his problems. Since he is so self-absorbed, he does not even know Geoff’s complete name. He realizes it when his friend, Liz, asks him who Geoff is. He cannot answer it because he never asks Geoff.

This was starting to sound familiar. “Is this the Three Truths?” I asked.

Liz looked surprised. “It’s based on it, yes.” “Geoff told me about it.”

“Geoff who?”

My stomach suddenly lurched. I realized that I didn’t even know his second name. How self-absorbed is that? “Geoff the window-cleaner,” I said. (184-185)

31 The quotation above shows that Ed is really a self-absorbed person. He needs Geoff to listen to him only and to gain more information about Buddhism but he does not know much about Geoff.

2. The Characterization of Geoff a. Ordinary

Geoff is a Buddhist but he is a little bit of an alcoholic. It is seen through the character as seen by others. He likes to go to bars and drink beer. Ed meets Geoff in a bar for the first time and he thinks that there is nothing special about Geoff since his appearance is very ordinary. He is bald, his skin is not too bright and his age is about fifty.

He was sitting at the end of the bar, reading a paper and smoking a roll-up. Balding, about fifty, with a little pot-belly, a bit tanned and weather-beaten. Nothing remarkable to look at; nothing remarkable about him at all, in fact. (3)

Even though he is a Buddhist but in daily life he does not act like a Buddhist who is peaceful. After Ed meets Geoff for the first time, he wants to know him further. He comes back to the same pub where he meets Geoff but Geoff is not there, so he tries to gain some information from the landlady.

I tried to pump her for information about him, but she didn’t really know much, only that he was a Buddhist – hence the nickname – and was basically a nice block; interesting to talk to, a good listener. And he was very practical, she said, down-to-earth – and she wasn’t just talking about drains, which finally she’d got properly sorted.

But she had her doubts about whether he really was a Buddhist, because he smoked and drank and she’d served him a meat pie

once; and one time he’d really lost his rag and swore at some bloke during an argument. (7)

From the quotation above, it is clear that Geoff acts like an ordinary person who is nice, interesting to talk to and a good listener. He smokes, drinks, and eats a meat pie and he can be angry with other people.

b. Helpful

Geoff is very helpful. He does not mind helping people to do something when other people may not want to do it. He does not care though how hard it is to do as long as he can help. Even when he is enjoying himself in a bar, he does not mind helping the owner of the bar to mend the damaged pipe. It is seen through his reaction, character as seen by others and mannerism.

The landlady looked sheepish. Tree roots had damaged a pipe, she explained. She’d called various drainage companies but the earliest someone could come was the day after tomorrow. There was nothing to be done unless… She looked pleadingly at Geoff. He pulled a face.

“You’ve got to get it fixed, Shirley. And properly, you know.” “Yes, yes, I know. And I will. But just for now, Geoff - would you?”

Geoff looked at her, sighed, put his paper down and disappeared through a door behind the bar. (3)

Geoff feels pity for the landlady who is confused because she cannot get the damaged pipe fixed immediately. Geoff helps her because he knows that it can threaten her business, which is very important for the landlady. He also helps Ed when he faints in a bar and should be hospitalized.

33 The trolley squeaked along the corridor until we reached the X-ray department. Geoff handed over a pink card and the technician disappeared into a small office. Thankfully there were only a couple of other patients ahead of us. A thought struck me. “Anyway, shouldn’t a porter be doing this?”

“All otherwise engaged,” Geoff said. “But if you don’t want me here, I can go.” (106-107)

In the X-ray department, he accompanies Ed and acts like a porter because all porters are busy and no one can take care of Ed. He offers to help but he does not force Ed to accept his help.

Geoff is involved actively in Buddhist organization and he is a Samaritan which means that he is on his way to become a monk. As a Samaritan and involved actively in Buddhist organization, he likes helping other people in the world especially the poor.

… -about Geoff, for example. According to Dora and other’s friend of his I’ve met, he wasn’t just active in the Buddhist organization but was a Samaritan, supported several charities, and worked with the local council on various multicultural projects, like a huge international food fair they put on a few years ago. (278)

Geoff does not treat people differently because he thinks that people are equal so that they deserve to be helped. It is proved by his effort to work on various multicultural projects, which means he works with and for people from different cultural backgrounds.

c. Contented

As mentioned above, Geoff is a helpful man. He likes working on the international projects to help other people, but personally, Geoff is a contented

man. He does not look for popularity because he is satisfied with his life as a window-cleaner. It can be inferred from his speech and character as seen by others.

“How long ago was this?” I asked “Thirteen years.”

“And you’ve been washing windows ever since?”

‘I really enjoyed it,’ he said, laughing. “I like being outside, I meet a lot of people, go to lots of different places. Like, where you saw me-that’s my biggest gig. Takes a week, once a month. The rest of the time I’m all over the City and the West End, doing everything from hotels to shops to restaurants to private houses-you name it.” “It’s still just cleaning windows though, isn’t it?” I said. “I mean, after having your own company…”

“God, the hassle in that,” he countered. “Fussy clients, architects, the spec always changing, or guys never showing up for work, or skiving off, or always trying to cut corners. No. what I do is simple, straightforward, gives me enough to live on, and when I finish a job it’s finished. I go home, no worries, no paperwork in the evenings, and I sleep bloody well.” He smiled and toasted me with his beer. A contented man. (160)

After his marriage ends and he loses his company, he tries to start a new life. In the situation of having no money, he borrows some money from his friend to buy a bucket and starts becoming a cleaner. The job as a window-cleaner is considered not a prestigious job. Even so, Geoff does not care because he enjoys his job as a window-cleaner. He can meet a lot of people and have different workplaces. Though it does not give him a lot of money, but it gives him enough money to live and he does not have to be worried because of paperwork and he can sleep well.

35 d. Wise

Since his job as a window-cleaner is not a prestigious job, he is so wise not to tell it to Ed. It is seen through his speech. Once Ed asks Geoff about what he is doing for life, but Geoff does not answer it. He just says that his job is helping people to see clearly at all levels. When Ed works in Regence House, which is near Geoff’s workplace, Geoff still does not tell Ed until one day Ed finds him cleaning windows. Ed is very angry. He accuses Geoff of telling a lie about his job. He thinks that Geoff is some sort of life-coach.

He looked uncomfortable. “I didn’t tell you because … well, I didn’t know how you’d react.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t think you could take knowing what I did.” (145)

Geoff does not tell Ed because he does not know how Ed will respond to it. He does not want to disappoint Ed because he knows Ed has considered him as his best friend and as his best friend, Geoff does not want Ed to keep at a distance from him. He understands that Ed has many problems and he wants to help him solve the problems.

e. Attentive

Geoff is an attentive person. It is seen through character as seen by others. During his meetings with Ed, Geoff always gives attention to Ed’s problems. He listens attentively to Ed’s complaint without any interruption. It makes Ed assume Geoff as a life’s radiator because Geoff makes him feel relief only by listening to him.

My mother used to say there are only two types of people in the world. No, not people-who-say-there-are-only-two-types-of-people-in-the-world and people who don’t. Her pair was ‘drains and radiators’: people who drain away your energy, and people who give you theirs. If that’s true then Geoff was definitely one of life’s radiators. He listened to me moan on for a good fifteen minutes, just sipping his beer and lighting and relighting his roll-up. Then, when I’d exhausted my whinge, he smiled wryly. (56)

Geoff is not only a good listener but also a person to whom Ed can talk to. He can give some advice to solve the problems. Moreover, Geoff is always available every time Ed needs him.

Geoff listened without a word as I filled him in on the latest installment of the soap that was my life. We were in a snug little pub he knew in Paddington. It was the end of a hard week and we hadn’t met since I’d chucked him out of the hospital. I was starting to realize how much I’d come to rely on him-not just for advice, but for a sympathetic ear, someone to really talk to. (126-127)

Geoff does not complain even though during his meetings with Ed he just listens to Ed and never discusses himself. He still gives full attention to Ed and it makes Ed start depending on him.

f. Straightforward and Talkative

Geoff has habits to speak straightforwardly and likes talking about Buddhism. It is seen through his speech and character as seen by others. When Ed argues with Angie and she leaves him, Geoff does not ask him many questions about what they argue about, but he just asks him whether he loves her or not. “'Do you love her?’ Geoff asked. He had a habit of going straight to the heart of things” (127). As mentioned before, Geoff likes talking about Buddhism. He likes

37 to talk about it to his friends whether they are Buddhist or not. When he is died, some of his friends give their testimonies at his funeral.

“… As you know, Geoff was an extremely approachable and friendly man, who loved to talk - especially about Buddhism. And I personally learned much from him about his faith, which I promised him I would definitely embrace - in my next life.” (264)

The quotation above is a testimony from one of Geoff’s friends. In her testimony, she mentions that Geoff is friendly and religious. His commitment to Buddhism inspires her to embrace Buddhism. Geoff likes to talk about Buddhism to all people. “… and to everyone he talked about Buddhism - some directly, some just through encouraging them to believe in themselves” (278). Not to all people does he talk about Buddhism explicitly. To common people, he talks about Buddhism implicitly by encouraging them to be confident.

g. Encouraging

Geoff is also an encouraging person. It is seen through his speech. As stated previously, Geoff likes talking to people and encouraging them to be confident. He treats Ed in the same way. He encourages Ed to get a new job when his company, ItsTheBusiness.com, goes bankrupt.

“So, first step,” said Geoff, “is you go back to Dora and get a job. Not just any old job. It’s got to be exactly what you need for your life at this moment.”

“I can’t.” “Why not?”

“I walked out on her. It’s embarrassing.” Geoff smiled. “There’s a Buddhist saying, Ed.” I groaned

“If you can’t cross a ditch ten feet wide, how are you going to cross a ditch that’s twenty or thirty feet wide?”

“And in English…?”

“Are you seriously going to let a little embarrassment stand between you and ultimate fulfillment?” (58)

Ed feels ashamed to see Dora again because he leaves her when she is trying to explain about Buddhism to him but Geoff asks him to forget about it and see Dora to find another new job. Geoff realizes that it is hard to find a new job and he knows that Ed needs a job badly. So, when Ed gets a new job, he really supports Ed and asks him to do the job seriously.

h. Caring

As Ed’s best friend, Geoff really cares about him. It is inferred from his mannerism and character as seen by others. After some time they do not meet each other, Geoff feels a need to phone him. When he hears Ed’s voice, he knows that Ed is not in a good condition so that he decides to visit Ed the next day. Geoff understands that Ed is depressed since he loses his job and his girlfriend. Geoff knows how hard it is so that he thinks that Ed really needs a new job to recover his condition. Geoff is also worried when Ed does not appear at a meeting in which Ed has promised to come. He phones Ed because he wonders about him.

“Hi, Ed. Just ringing to make sure you’re OK. It’s 9.20 and some of us have gone on to The Chequers on Kentish Town Road, by the station. We’ll probably be there till closing-time so come along if you get this in time. Great meeting, by the way. Anyway, maybe see you later. Cheers, bye.”

For a moment I felt a pang of guilt at standing him up, but then I thought that I’d never have worked things out about Angie if I

39 hadn’t gone to meet her. I played the second message-Geoff again. He sounded more anxious this time.

“Hi, Ed. Geoff here. Look, I know I’m probably being a bit of an old woman but you were so definite about coming tonight and then you weren’t at the pub either… It’s probably totally innocent but-well, just give us a call when you can, OK? Cheers.”

He was worried about me! (240)

Geoff is not angry with Ed because he does not show up at the meeting. He phones Ed twice because he is really worried about him. He wants to make sure that Ed is fine.

B. The Influence of Geoff on Ed’s Personality Development

The second part of this chapter will discuss how Ed’s personality develops and what the factors that influence his personality development are. The writer applies the theory of personality development presented in chapter two in analyzing Ed’s personality development.

As mentioned in the theory of personality development proposed by Hurlock, there are some conditions that can change someone’s personality. Those are physical changes, changes in environment, changes in significant people, changes in social pressure, changes in role, strong motivation, changes in self-concept, and the use of psychotherapy. In the The Buddha, Geoff and Me novel, Ed’s personality is influenced by a significant person that is Geoff, his best friend. Hurlock mentions that a person may have significant people who may influence his personality. When the significant people endure changes in their individual’s life, and when he tries to adapt their pattern of behavior and attitude, beliefs, values and aspiration, changes in his personality pattern are inevitable (126). Ed

meets Geoff in a pub for the first time and they become best friends. Ed, who has many problems, always shares his problems with Geoff and asks his advice. Meanwhile, Geoff, who likes talking about Buddhism, gives Ed some advices by explaining the principles and the practice of Buddhism. During this time, Ed feels close with Geoff. He regards him as a person who has a satisfied and tranquil life, the kind of life that he wants to become and it develops his personality. How Geoff influences Ed’s personality development is analyzed as follows:

1. Geoff’s Influence on Ed’s Religion

Ed is not a religious person though he grows up in a religious family. He refuses all things about religion because he does not believe in any religion. He thinks that religion is not good. It separates people and sometimes it cannot make them live in harmony. Ed does not see religion as important and when he meets Geoff, who is a religious person, he does not believe that Geoff wants to make a friend with him without any purpose. He is suspicious of Geoff’s intention to trap him into a religion cult, but after some time and he gets closer to Geoff, he is sure that Geoff is a sincere friend. However, Ed still does not want to open up his mind to religion. Geoff likes talking about Buddhism, but Ed cannot accept it as a religious teaching. He prefers to call what Geoff says as common sense. Geoff realizes that Ed is not interested in Buddhism but it seems that he does not care about it. He continues talking about Buddhism. Ed, who needs someone to share his problems and give him some advice, always listens to him. He wants to improve his life condition and he sees Geoff as a man with a good life. He

41 wonders how Geoff can have it. Geoff tells him that it is because of Buddhism that he embraces, but Ed is so sure that he will not be a Buddhist. He still closes his mind to religion.

I looked at him. “So how do I raise my life state?”

“I told you that, and all. I do it through my Buddhist practice. But you don’t want to know, do you?” He looked at me searchingly. “I am not becoming a Buddhist, Geoff – sorry.” (57)

Ed does not want to know about religion, let alone Buddhism. He wants to make his life condition better but he does not want to make it through a religious way. Geoff has proved to Ed that he is able to change his life condition through his Buddhist practice that is chanting. He turns his life over from a drunken and a depressed man to be a graceful man and he can establish his life. Another of Ed’s friend, Dora, also proves to Ed that she can change her mood through chanting. She never feels too sad or too happy because she can balance her mood.

… I don’t know why, but every time Geoff- or Dora- mentioned chanting I just switched off. It was like I could go every step of the way with him, because so much of what he said sounded like good sense; it had a sort of logic to it. But then suddenly it went all weird and religious and I just didn’t want to know. (101)

At first Ed is interested in chanting because he sees his friends lead a tranquil life and it seems that problems never come to them, but then he thinks that it does not suit him because it relates to religion, one thing he does not believe in. Ed has only a few friends. That is why he wants to keep Geoff as his best friend. When Geoff offers him to chant, he tries not to hurt him by refusing it

politely. He does the same way when he tells Geoff for the umpteenth time that he will not embrace Buddhism.

“I told you, Geoff: I’m not looking for a religion. If I was I’m sure it would be Buddhism, but I’m not. OK?”

“Fine”

“I like the theory, the principles – but praying or chanting or anything like that…?” I shook my head firmly. (102)

Ed is interested in what Geoff explains to him, the principles of Buddhism, because they help him in facing the hard situations of his life. Among the other principles, Geoff tells him to think positively in every situation so that he can cope with his problems well. Even so, he does not want to know about Buddhism because he does not have any intention to stick with a religion. Unfortunately, his friendship with Geoff does not last long. Geoff gets a heart attack when he is working and it causes his death. Ed is so sad when he knows that Geoff passes away. For Ed, Geoff’s death means a big loss of a person he admires so much. From that moment on, he thinks of what Geoff has said and when he attends his funeral, he feels touched to hear Geoff’s testimonial from his friends. They say that Geoff is a great person, helpful, loyal to Buddhism and actively involved in organizations. They also say that Geoff appreciates life. It showed from his life, he is able to change his life from an awful life to a contented life. Moreover, they say that death is not a miserable thing. It is just a phase of life in which a person takes on energy and reappears in a fresh and in a new form. Ed then realizes that Geoff’s life as a Buddhist is very meaningful and it inspires him to have a

The Roles of The Speakers

The first speakers establish the fundamentals of their team’s cases. Affirmative

1. Defines the motion

2. Presents the Affirmative’s theme line

3. Outlines the affirmative’s team split

4. Deliver substantial arguments 5. Provide a brief summary

Negative

1. Accept/challenge the definition 2. Rebuts 1st Affirmative

3. Presents the Negative’s theme line

4. Outlines the Negative’s team split

5. Provide a brief summary of the speech

The second speakers deal with the bulk of the substantive arguments. Affirmative

1. Rebuts the 1st Negative

2. Briefly restates in general terms the Affirmative’s case

3. Deliver substantial arguments 4. Provide brief summary of the

speech

Negative

1. Rebuts the first two

affirmative’s speakers

2. Briefly restates in general terms the Negative’s case

3. Deliver substantial arguments 4. Provide brief summary of the

speech

The third speakers’ main duty is to rebut the opponent’s case. Affirmative

1. Rebuts the first two Negative speakers

2. Rebuild team’s case

3. Summarize issues of the debate

Negative

1. Rebuts the three Affirmative speakers

2. Rebuild team’s case

3. Summarize the issues of the debate

The third speaker of Negative may not bring new matters

Instructions to Chairperson 

1. Introduce the topic to be debated 2. Introduce the two teams

3. Introduce each speaker before s/he speaks 4. Thank each speaker

5. Call on adjudicators to give their decision 6. Close the debate

1. Begin by addressing the chairperson and then the audience: ‘Chairperson, ladies and gentlemen’.

2. Do not begin your speech by saying ‘Today’s debate is…’ as the Chairperson has already informed the audience of the topic.

3. Your opening is vital if you hope to capture the audience’s attention. Work hard on preparing an interesting topic.

4. An interesting opening and a forceful conclusion are important elements of a successful debating speech.

5. Don’t thank the audience  

Instructions to the Adjudicators 

1. Listen carefully to each speaker

2. Use the marking sheet to ensure all speakers are assessed fairly 3. Indicate to the chairperson when judgment is complete

4. Try to leave personal bias out of judgment.

5. Total points for each speaker to determine winning team 6. Report judgment to teams when called by the chairperson

Preparing for the debate 

1. Look carefully at the topic and discuss it with your team 2. In your group, decide which person will take which role 3. Plan your argument and allocate some points to each speaker

4. Share your examples with the rest of the group so that you do not use the same ones.

5. Plan the whole speech 6. Practice

READ THE FOLLOWING QUOTATIONS FROM THE BUDDHA,

GEOFF AND ME NOVEL!

1. This quotation below is a conversation between Geoff and Ed. Geoff is a

Buddhist who tries to explain Buddhism to Ed but Ed rejects it.

I groaned. ’Religion.’ ‘Is that a problem?’

‘Too bloody right. I can’t stand religion.’

‘Where have I heard that before?’ He smiled ruefully. ‘Well, some people prefer to call Buddhism a life philosophy, if that helps.’

‘Might do – if you can put it into practice without the religious bit.’ ‘You can try.’

‘All right, just tell me about that, then. Because I had enough religion stuffed down my throat as a kid to put me off for life. Junk – all of it. And dangerous. I mean, look at the damage it’s done: religious wars, massacres, persecution. So – no religion. Just practical, down-to-earth, hands-on, useful advice about how to get my girlfriend back and things sorted at work. OK?’ (19).

What is your opinion? 

2. The quotation below is a conversation between Ed and his friend, Dora. They discuss some factors that influence people in choosing a job.

‘Advertising might give you a lot of gain but some people say it doesn’t do much good.’

‘It helps economy.’

‘Which is what other people say – especially if they’re in advertising. Anyway, at the other end of the scale, nursing does a lot of good but doesn’t give you a lot of gain.’

‘Meaning it does not pay much.’

‘Right. Though you might benefit a lot from learning about human nature or stuff like that. And beauty’s in the eye of the beholder – how much you like the job’s down to you, and can change. You might love being in advertising, love the salary, then start to wonder if you’re actually doing any good and go and become a nurse.’

‘Or you might start out all idealistic and work as a nurse, then hacked off at having no money and go into advertising.’

‘Exactly. And often people stay in jobs they really don’t like because either the money’s so good, or they think they’re doing something really worthwhile….’ (61).

What is your opinion?

Do you agree that people should stay in the jobs they do not like because the salary is high?

3. The quotation below is a conversation between Ed and Geoff. They are quarreling because Geoff tries to hide his job as a window-cleaner from Ed but Ed knows it.

‘So this is what you do?’ I asked. He nodded.

‘Helping people see more clearly at all levels?’ ‘That’s right.’

‘As a window-cleaner.’

He nodded again. We stared at each other. He was looking to see how I’d react, and I was trying to work out how I would. I was stunned; then, hurt, offended. Not just because he kept this from me but because he knew where I was working; I’d told him when I’d got the job. So why hadn’t he been frank?

‘Were you hoping I wouldn’t find out?’ I asked. Geoff gave a light shrug.

‘I’m working just down there!’ I pointed towards Regence House. He looked uncomfortable. ‘I didn’t tell you because … well, I didn’t know how you’d react.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I didn’t think you could take knowing what I did’ (144-145).

What is your opinion?

Do you agree that Geoff should hide his job as a window-cleaner from his friend, Ed?

4. The quotation below is a conversation between Ed and his friend, Dora. They are arguing that talent is needed to become a successful person.

‘Why should it be impossible? The world’s full of writers.’ ‘Mmm. But I don’t have any talent.’

‘Bah – talent, schmalent. The important thing’s not talent, it’s ichinen.’ ‘Itchy…?’

‘Ichinen. It’s Japanese. Means determination – sort of. It’s what’s in your life moment by moment, pushing you, this way or that. So if you’ve got a strong ichinen to be a writer, you’ll do whatever it takes to become one. But if your ichinen’s weak, well, it’ll just stay a daydream.’

‘OK. But you’ve still got to have talent.’ (43)

What is your opinion?