Hope in Dona Maria depicted in thornton wilder`s the bridge of San Luis Rey - USD Repository
HOPE IN DONA MARIA DEPICTED IN THORNTON WILDER’S THE
BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SENNY PERMATA SARI
Student Number: 044214089
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2009
HOPE IN DONA MARIA DEPICTED IN THORNTON WILDER’S THE
BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SENNY PERMATA SARI
Student Number: 044214089
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2009
i
“ And seek first the
kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all
these things shall be
added to you.”
Matthew 6 : 33
iv
I dedicated this thesis to
My Late Granpa
ABBAS YONG
And
YONG FAMILY
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all I would like to thank Lord Jesus for His providence, provision,
protection and guidance during my hard times and especially during the finishing
of this thesis. I would never be able to pass all of these tests without His mercy
and love. My best gratitude goes to Dra. Th. Enny Anggraini, M.A. for every
help and advice as my advisor and Adventina Putranti, S.S, M. Hum as my coadvisor.
I thank my father and mother for the understanding and patients. For my
brothers Yohan and Christian, I thank God so much I have them both as my
brothers because, whether they realize it or not, they both have become source of
strength and passion for me to finish this thesis and I miss those times when we
quarreled a lot. My special gratitude also goes to my uncle Francisco Yong and
family for their unquestionable kindness and careness as my sponsor during my
study in Sanata Dharma University.
To my beloved spiritual friend Jane, thank you for lending me your
computer and for your availability every time I need a prayer. I thank all of my
unpredictable and precious friends in Komunitas Gayam 16 for all the
unforgotten experiences in the last 2 years and all the supports. Last but not least,
I thank my two best friends ever, Uke and Ningsih, for their countless support,
advice, books, chats, laughs, tears, passions, precious experiences and all the
encouragement lines that we share for the last 5 years and hopefully this
friendship will last forever. I thank them very much.
Senny Permata Sari
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE……………………………………………………………...
APPROVAL PAGE……………………………………………………….
ACCEPTANCE PAGE…………………………………………………...
MOTTO PAGE……………………………………………………………
DEDICATION PAGE…………………………………………………….
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………….
ABSTRAK…………………………………………………………………
i
ii
iii
iv
v
vi
vii
ix
x
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION………………………………………...
A. Background of the Study……….......................................................
B. Problem Formulation……………………………………………….
C. Objectives of the Study……………………………………………..
D. Definition of terms………………………………………………….
1
1
3
3
4
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW……………………………..
A. Review of Related Studies………………………………………….
B. Review of Related Theories………………………………………..
1. Theory of Character…………………………………………….
2. Basic Evil, Hostility, and Anxiety……………………………...
3. Theory of Hope…………………………………………………
a. Goals………………………………………………………..
b. Willpower…………………………………………………..
c. Waypower…………………………………………………..
d. Hope………………………………………………………...
C. Theoretical Framework……………………………………………..
5
5
7
7
11
12
16
17
18
19
22
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY……………………………………...
A. Object of the Study…………………………………………………
B. Approach of the Study……………………………………………...
C. Method of the Study……………………………………………….
23
23
24
25
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS………………………………………………
A. The Characteristics of Dona Maria’s Character……………………
B. Hope in Dona Maria………………………………………………..
1. Willpower in Dona Maria………………………………………
2. Waypower in Dona Maria……………………………………...
3. Hope in Dona Maria……………………………………………
27
27
38
38
41
49
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION…………………………………………..
53
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………… 55
vii
APPENDICES…………………………………………………………...... 57
Appendix 1…………………………………………………………….. 57
Appendix 2…………………………………………………………….. 58
viii
ABSTRACT
SENNY PERMATA SARI. Hope in Dona Maria Depicted in Thornton
Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Yogyakarta: Department of English
Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009
The topic of this thesis is based on the background perception that a
person with neurotic behavior characteristic is supposed to have no future hope.
However, the writer finds that that perception is not exactly true. Therefore, this
study aims to prove that hope can exist inside a person with neurotic behavior.
In this study, the writer uses Thornton Wilder literary work titled The
Bridge of san Luis Rey and chooses one of the major characters, Dona Maria, as
the object of the study. From the background of the study, the writer develops
two problem formulations which cover (1) the identification of Dona Maria’s
characteristic and (2) finds hope in Dona Maria’s character and how she sees the
hope.
To do the analysis the writer uses psychological approach and theories.
Theories that are used are theory of character by E. M Foster and M. J Murphy,
theory of basic evil, hostility and anxiety by Karen Horney and also the most
fundamental theory of this study that is theory of hope by C. R. Snyder.
By using the theory of character, the writer figures out that Dona Maria is
very care and passionate to her daughter which makes her optimist that she can
get her daughter’s love. It can be said that if Dona Maria does not care and
passionate to her daughter, Dona Maria will not give any care whether Dona
Clara loves her or not. All that she has done to Dona Clara is the reflection of her
careness. Dona Maria also has perceived problem-solving ability which enables
her to perform her hope. Those two characteristics enable the writer to do the
second analysis toward the existence of hope in Dona Maria. After doing analysis
on the elements of hope, the writer figures out that there is hope in Dona Maria.
Despite the fact that she is different, because of her neurotic behavior, she is
realizes that that she has hope and it is showed by her high mental willpower and
waypower. She knows what she wants most and that becomes her hope.
ix
ABSTRAK
SENNY PERMATA SARI. Hope in Dona Maria depicted in Thornton
Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris,
Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009.
Topik dari skripsi ini berdasarkan pada pandangan bahwa seseorang
dengan mental yang terganggu tidak mungkin memiliki sebuah harapan untuk
masa depan. Tetapi penulis menemukan bahwa pandangan tersebut tidaklah
selalu benar. Oleh karena itu, studi ini bertujuan untuk membuktikan bahwa
seseorang dengan mental yang terganggu dapat memiliki harapan di dalam
dirinya.
Di dalam studi ini, penulis menggunakan karya sastra dari Thornton
Wilder yang berjudul The Bridge of san Luis Rey dan memilih salah satu dari tiga
karakter utama, Dona Maria, sebagai objek studi. Berdasarkan latar belakang dari
studi ini, penulis mengembangkan dua permasalahan yang meliputi (1)
Pengidentifikasian karakter Dona Maria dengan cara menelusuri masa lalu nya
dalam hubunganya dengan keberadaan nya sebagai seseorang dengan mental
yang terganggu dan (2) penemuan harapan di dalam diri Dona Maria dengan
mengacu pada efek yang ditimbulkan oleh karakter yang dia miliki dan cara
pandangnya terhadap harapan.
Dalam melakukan analisa, penulis menggunakan pendekatan psikologis
dan teori-teori. Teori-teori yang digunakan adalah teori karakter dari E. M Foster
dan M. J Murphy, teori basic Evil, hostility dan anxiety dari Karen Horney dan
juga teori yang menjadi dasar dari studi ini yaitu teori harapan dari C. R. Snyder.
Dengan menggunakan teori karakter, penulis menemukan bahwa Dona
Maria sangat peduli dan berperasaan penuh pada anak gadisnya yang membuat
dia menjadi optimis bahwa dia mampu mendapatkan cinta dari anaknya tersebut.
Dapat dikatakan bahwa jika Dona Maria tidak peduli dan berperasaan penuh
terhadap Dona Clara maka Dona Maria tidak akan peduli sedikit pun anak gadis
nya itu menyayangi dia atau tidak. Semua yang telah dia lakukan kepada Dona
Clara adalah suatu cerminan kepeduliannya. Dona Maria juga memiliki
kemampuan merasakan penyelesaian permasalahan yang memampukan dia
untuk menunjukkan harapannya. Dua karakterisitk tersebut memampukan penulis
untuk melakukan analisa kedua terhadap keberadaan harapan di dalam Dona
Maria. Setelah melakukan analisa pada elemen-elemen harapan, penulis
menemukan bahwa ada harapan di dalam Dona Maria. Walaupun kenyataannya
dia tampak berbeda dikarenakan kelainan mental nya, dia sadar bahwa dia
memiliki harapan yang tertampak pada mental willpower dan waypower yang
tinggi. Dia tahu apa yang paling dia inginkan dan hal itu menjadi harapan
baginya.
x
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
It is very commonly said that human being is social creature who is
not able to live by themselves without getting involves with others for the
sake of their existence in this world. From that-very-common statement, it
can be said that human being is very connected with the environment around
them. The writer may say that human being lives under the influence of a
couple elements, the external factors and the internal factors. It may be
similar to the elements that can be found in, for instance, a literary work such
as a prose like the extrinsic and intrinsic elements.
In a prose, the intrinsic elements consist of theme, characters, plot,
symbolism, atmosphere, tone, setting of time and place and others which
influence the work from ‘inside’, whereas extrinsic elements are elements
which influence a work from the ‘outside’ of the work, for example the
author or the social and historical background of the story. These two
elements are combined together to make one unity of a story and without both
or one of them the story may not exist as a complete story.
Actually that kind of process also happens in one’s life. Basically, an
individual lives under the influence of the external and internal factors of the
environment. The external factor could be the culture, social life, economy,
community idealism, family tradition, childhood experiences, etc. Those
1
2
examples of external factors of one’s life give a big contribution to the
internal factors of one’s life. The internal factors can be faith, beliefs, life’s
vision, etc. Both elements contribute the shaping process of one’s character or
personality which also helps in determining actions which may be taken by a
person as the response of certain circumstances.
Knowing better and deeper about characteristics of a particular
character in a story is needed in order to have an image toward any changing
and development of the character itself. Conducting study about character
means dealing with the variety of people in the world which is possible to be
found in all literary works.
Identifying the characteristics of each character may be the next
difficult task to do. However, every author usually provides the character with
motivation, “…a sufficient reason to behave as they do” (Kennedy, 1998: 60)
in order to help the analysts to understand the character and even to have a
future image of what the character will do or take an act toward certain
circumstances.
Back to the external and internal factors, the writer finds one
interesting topic from Thornton Wilder’s work The Bridge of San Luis Rey as
a part of internal element that is hope. The appearance of hope inside a
character might be so much influenced by the characteristics of the character
itself. It is also possible to say that actually the hope itself already exists
inside the character. However, because the character is considered unique, the
hope becomes haze and it is barely seen. The way the character sees hope
3
may be difference with the way people in general sees hope. The study
attempts to discover and to make clear the hope in the character of Dona
Maria. Dona Maria is one of three major characters in the novel. She is
chosen because she has unique characteristics that the writer has already
mentioned it before. The unique here means that she is different from the
other three characters. She is assumed to have less life consciousness than the
other three characters and because of that she has a different way to see hope.
A. Problem Formulation
Considering topic and the background of the study, the problem
formulation covers the exploration of one of the intrinsic elements as the part
of analysis in relation with the outside elements, that is, hope. Therefore, the
problems are formulated as follows:
1. How is the characteristic of Dona Maria described?
2. How does her characteristic help to reveal hope in Dona Maria?
B. Objectives of the Study
Regarding to the problem formulations, the objectives of the study is
first of all to identify the characteristics of Dona Maria. The answer of the
first problem formulation will be used to find out its influence toward the way
Dona Maria sees hope and to help the writer to reveal hope itself inside Dona
Maria.
4
C. Definition of Term
In order to have a general understanding on the topic that is going to
be analyzed later, definition of related term will be explained briefly in this
part. Considering the topic, the term that is going to be used is hope from
psychology viewpoint.
In the analysis, the writer takes the definition of hope formulated by
C. R Snyder. In his book titled The Psychology of Hope, he determines hope
as “the sum of the mental willpower and waypower that you have for your
goals” (Snyder, 1994: 5). In other words, hope is the combination of both
mental willpower and waypower in order to reach goals. Here, Snyder uses
three key words that are mental willpower, waypower and goals.
Mental willpower is “the driving force in hopeful thinking” (Snyder,
1994: 6). It is kind of energy that pushes someone to move from a point
where he or she is less of goals to a place of their goals. Meanwhile
waypower “reflects the mental plans or road maps that guide hopeful
thoughts” (Snyder, 1994: 8). At last, according to C. R Snyder, goals are
determined as “…any objects, experiences, or outcomes that we imagine and
desire in our minds” (Snyder, 1994: 5).
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
The Bridge of San Luis Rey is one of famous works in the world of
literature, no doubts that since its publishing day it arises many compliments
and even criticisms in forms of analysis, studies, essays and articles. One of
the essays about the novel is entitled “The Bridge of San Luis Rey by
Thornton Wilder: Some Observation by John Barich”. In his essay, Barich’s
concern is on the theodicy element of the novel and he relates it to the author.
In short, Barich’s essay discusses Wilder’s attitudes as a Christian on putting
the themes of love, hope and death in the novel which are influenced by
Wilder’s belief in God. Barich attempts to observe Wilder’s point of view
toward life and death and “…Good befalls the evil and evil befalls the good”
(http://www.rjgeib.com/barich/papers/bridge-san-luis-rey.html). The result is
not far from the idea of binary opposition by looking at the negation side.
Death is meaningless without the existence of life and death will make sense
whenever it is seen in a context of life particularly life that is dedicated to
love and care to others.
Meanwhile, another study related to this thesis’s topic is about the
intrinsic elements, the episodes in relation with religious aspects. Gregorius
Winarno (1994) in his undergraduate thesis titled “Religious aspects in The
Bridge Of San Luis Rey: An Analysis of The Episodes and The Setting
5
6
Description” attempts to discover the way Thornton Wilder presents the
religious aspects inside The Bridge Of san Luis Rey’s episodes. Here, his
object is in the form of a play.
The next study may be not really related to the object of the study of
this thesis but it is more related to the topic analyzed in this thesis. It is a
discourse that is given by Debora Eggelletion at The PLIM 1997 Retreat in
White Cloud, Michigan as reported by Dr. Lee Warren, B.A., D.D. titled
Psychology of Hope: The Power Latent of Man.
In this short lecture, she tries to give a clear image or even meaning of
what hope is and what is not. She states that “…there are certain spiritual
intangibles that humankind needs in order to develop psychologically and
spiritually. Hope is one of the spiritual principles needed to sustain man’s
mind and soul.”(http://www.plim.org/psychology.html). Here, she focuses on
the principle of hope psychologically and spiritually as the additional element
to be considered because according to her, hope also can not be separated
from spiritual viewpoint.
To begin her lecture about hope, of course she gives a definition about
this term as the very first general understanding. The writer finds it very
interesting that she also takes a definition formulated by the same theorist of
hope that is going to be used as the theory in this thesis which is the definition
of hope by C. R Snyder from psychology viewpoint. Furthermore, she
completes her lecture by explaining about the positive and negative sides of
hope, its properties, its operation, and end up in conclusion that:
7
“…without the spiritual principle of hopes, goals, dreams,
visions, or challenges in life could nor materialize for mankind
and the world would sink into the doldrums of despair”.
(Eggelletion, par 5)
Unlike the discourse above, in this thesis the writer tries to do the application
of the theory of hope which involves a literary text as the field of the
application. Furthermore, the analysis will also involve the exploration of an
intrinsic element, characters, as the important elements of analysis.
A. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character
Since the writer analyzes the character in this analysis, the theory of
character as a part of theory of intrinsic elements is used. X. J. Kennedy and
Dona Gioia in their book titled an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama
state that a character is “…an imagined person who inhabits a story” (1998:
60).
The character in the story tends to be individual rather than stereotype
and each of individual character has motivation which refers to a particular
reason to behave like they do. Moreover, E. M. Forster in his book titled
Aspect of Novels and Related Writings (1947) divides character into a couple
type that is flat character and round character.
According to him, “… Flat character tends to have slow development
and slow-ability to learn from experience…” (Forster, 1947: 47). In other
words flat character is a fixed character that will not change by the
8
circumstances created around the character. Some critics call it as static
character.
Meanwhile round character is likely to be said as the opposite of flat
character. A round character tends to have a quick understanding and learning
process toward an experience. In other words, the character will change as the
result of the effects created by the circumstance. Some critics call it as
dynamic character. In simple way, the key to determine whether a certain
character is round or flat lays in the reaction of the character which leads to a
change in any term such us point of view or characteristics.
In doing this analysis, the writer has a fundamental perception that the
analysis will reach its goal if the character is flexible. Meaning to say, the
character still has chance to change. Therefore this theory is used in order to
prove and convince the writer that the character as the object of the analysis is
a capable source.
One fact that is very crucial about character is the motivations inside
the character. A character is a person and every character or person created in
the story must have motivations. These motivations will lead to the
characteristics of the character. Character’s motivation is the focus of the
analysis. It is already mentioned that motivation is the thing that drives a
character to behave like it does. Every behavior from the character shows the
characteristic of the character itself. However, the writer wants to emphasize
an important thing that is said by Robert Forster in his book titled In
Introduction to Fiction (1965) that there are two kinds of motivation, specific
9
and basic motivation. Specific motivation is the character’s “…immediate
reason, perhaps unconscious, for any particular speech or act” (Forster, 1965:
17). Here, the writer wants to underline the words ‘perhaps unconscious’. The
writer is doing so because the understanding of specific motivation will
contribute the analysis later for the analysis itself involves what is called
unconscious. Meanwhile, for the basic motivation of a character, Robert
Forster says:
“…basic motivation is an aspect of his general character: it is the
continuing desire or intention that governs him throughout the story,
the direction toward which almost all his specific motivations tend.”
(Forster 1965: 17)
From both understanding it is clear that each character usually has
both of the motivation which is related one and another. One thing to be
considered is that actually analyzing a character is analyzing its motivation
which also means analyzing its characteristics. It is because the fact that each
character has each motivation. The motivation helps the reader to see and
understand the characteristics of a character from the speech and the act that
the character does.
In order to support the above theory, the writer looks further on the
other theory of character taken from M. J. Murphy Ph. D on his
Understanding Unseen. According to Murphy, authors have ability that the
readers impossibly have, that is, the ability to investigate or explore the
thoughts of the person as long as the characters in the novel are concerned. In
order to make the character in the novel understandable to, and come alive for
10
the reader, authors use a few ways. These ways are created to help the reader
to understand the characteristic that the character carries in the story.
a. Personal Description. The author helps the reader to understand the
characteristics of a character by describing its appearance and clothes.
b. Character as Seen by Another. Instead of telling the character to the
reader directly, the author describes the characteristics of the character
from another character’s point of view.
c. Speech. The author describes the character from the way they speak in a
dialogue.
d. Past Life. By offering the story of the characters’ past life, the author
attempts to help the readers know the character by themselves.
e. Conversation of Others. Conversation of people may give a clue to the
person’s characteristics.
f. Reactions. The way a person reacts toward his or her surrounding can
give a clue to their character.
g. Direct Comments. In respond to point b, the author can also use direct
descriptions or comments to describe the character.
h. Thoughts. In this point, the author does something, by which the reader
cannot, that is, describe what a person is thinking about.
i. Mannerisms. Description of a person’s mannerisms or habits may also
give clues of the character of the person.
11
2. Basic Evil, Hostility and Anxiety
Actually these three theories are a set of a domino effect. It comes one
after another. It begins with basic evil then it becomes basic hostility and then
turns to basic anxiety. These three theories are introduced by a psychologist
named Karen Horney who is one of Freud pupils. Horney believes that the
cause of neurosis is disturbed human relationship. Moreover, in a book titled
An Introduction of Personality (1990), she emphasizes that “…the rudiments
of neurotic behavior are found in the relationship between parent and child”
(Horney, 1990: 129). Here, Horney wants to say that early childhood
experience plays the important role to determine the personality and the
character of child during the grown up phase which exactly will affect the
adult phase.
According to Horney, children born with helplessness that is why they
are very depending on the parents and they only have two basic needs. First,
the physiological need of satisfaction such as food, water and sleep and the
second need is the physiological need of safety. This need of safety refers to
the need of security and freedom of fear and for Horney, the need of safety is
more important than the need of satisfaction. Parents who can not fulfill the
child’s need of safety will drive the child into an abnormal psychological
development. Indifference toward the child, rejection of the child, hostility
toward the child, obvious preference for a sibling, unfair punishment,
ridicule, humiliation, erratic behavior, unkept promise and isolation of the
child from others are sample list of behaviors of parents that undermine a
12
child’s security which Horney called basic evil. A Child who suffers from
those kinds of abuses is then experience basic hostility, a situation where
“…The child is caught between dependence on the parents and hostility
toward them…” (Horney, 1990: 130). It is a situation where a child feels
hatred and fear toward the parents but can not demonstrate the feeling. It is
because the child is afraid that the parents will leave him or her whereas he or
she still needs the parents. This condition shows the parents’ failure in
fulfilling the child’s needs of security and freedom of fear. In simple way, the
abused child feels hatred and fear toward the parents.
Unfortunately, Horney adds that the condition of undergoing the
feeling of hostility caused by the parents “…does not isolated; instead it
generalized to the entire world and all the people in it” (Horney, 1990: 130).
It causes the child becomes fully convinced that everyone is potentially
dangerous and can do harm on them just like what the parents have done to
them. In this phase, the child experiences basic anxiety.
3. Theory of Hope
Regarding to the topic, the analysis involves the concept of hope.
When we are talking about hope, it means we are talking about something
that is expected to happen at the future. Many people attempt to define the
meaning of hope from many aspects of life.
Monika L. Hellwig, in her book titled What They Are saying about
Death and Hope?, writes her idea about hope that she relates it with one’s
13
spiritual side. She implies that the way people see hope is rather influenced
by certain religious aspect and here, she uses Christian’s point of view. In her
explanation she defines hope as:
“…one of the ways to express our intended toward future realities that
we wanted to be inside our selves or even in universe by negation
some things we experience in the present…” (Hellwig, 1978: 18).
In simple way, it can be said that hope is some kind of way in which
we can claim what we believe to gain in the future, in present. In other words,
hope is the way of speaking of the future outcome of human life. Hope
happens normally at the present time.
Hellwig’s thought about the relation between hope and Christianity is
related to the concept of hope in the Holy Bible. Christian’s belief toward
hope in God is very strong. Book of Romans shows how hope plays the
important role in one’s life within God. Romans chapter 5 verses 1-5
mentioned the relation between faith and hope and the power of hope in God
in a bad circumstance:
“ THEREFORE, having been justified by faith, we have piece with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Through whom also we have
access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. 3 and not only that, but we also glory in
tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 And
perseverance, character; and character, hope; 5 Now hope does not
disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit who was given to us ” (Romans 5: 1-5)
All those above are inside the values of Christianity which for
centuries has become the aged rock for its followers. For Hellwig, hope itself
can not be separated from religious aspect. From this point, it can be seen that
Hellwig has a same opinion with Debora Eggelleton who said that hope,
14
psychologically as well as spiritually, are taking part on balancing one’s mind
and soul. As it is already said by Debora Eggelleton that hope is not only
related to man’s psychology but also affects man’s spiritual life.
That is hope in the opinion of Hellwig and Eggeleton. Another theory
about hope comes from a Catholic pastor named William F. Lynch, S. J. He
writes a book in 1966 titled IMAGE OF HOPE Imagination as Healer of the
Hopeless. Lynch defines hope as:
“I define hope… as the fundamental knowledge and feeling that there
is a way out of difficulty, that things can workout, that we as a human
persons can somehow handle and manage internal and external reality
that there are ‘solution’ in the most ordinary biological and
psychological sense of that word, that, above all there are ways out of
illness” (Lynch, 1966: 24)
Lynch writes this book after he read a testimony written by a suicidal
person who desperately wants to be healed from the condition of being
depressed. He says that basically people with no hope or hopeless is a sick
people.
From the definition that he makes, it is clear that hope is a kind of
mind set in which one is convinced that he or she is capable to handle
problems. The definition also implies that every person is blessed with
capability to handle bad things in their life. In simple way, Lynch advices
people to keep thinking positive.
This theory, once, attracts the writer because it really matches the
analysis that the writer takes. However, after a deeper reading, the writer
finds that there is a weakness in the Lynch theory. Lynch does not provide his
15
theory with steps or methods on how to determine a person is hopeful or
helpless. This theory only gives approximate statements about findings hope
and hopeless in one’s character.
Fortunately, there is another theory that looks more applicable to the
analysis. That is the theory of hope conducted by C. R Snyder. The
consideration to choose Snyder’s theory rather than other two theories is the
non existence of spiritual influences within hope that is found in the character
of analysis, Dona Maria.
Snyder’s theory of hope uses more psychological point of view. For
the consideration, the analysis of this study also uses psychological point of
view. Moreover, Snyder provides his theory with sufficient and complete
steps to help the writer to apply the theory.
As it is already explained briefly in chapter I, and brief look at other
theories above, the theory that is going to be used as the fundamental
principle of the analysis is the theory of hope formulated by C. R Snyder in
his book titled The Psychology of Hope You Can Get There from Here.
In Snyder’s theory of hope, he uses three keywords which is called as
three basic mental components. They are mental willpower, waypower, and
goals. From those three keywords, Snyder comes up with a definition that
hope is “…the sum of the mental willpower and waypower that you have for
your goals” (Snyder, 1994: 5). To understand the definition, each of them is
explained as follow.
16
a. Goals
Along with the mental development of minds, human successfully
develops many thoughts about the world around them. One of them is the
linear sense of time in which human represent themselves as time travelers
moving from past, present and end up in future. It is the same as the journey
or the moving forward action from the first place to another directed place
which is called the goal point. In order to reach that goal point, people give
many careful thoughts, thoughts about goal.
People basic goals are food and shelter but surely there must be more
than that because there are a lot of important goals that people want to gain
and goals could take many shapes. According to Snyder, goals could be “…
any objects, experiences, or outcomes that we imagine and desire in our
mind” (Snyder, 1994: 5). In other words, goal is “… something we want to
obtain (such as an object) or attain (like an accomplishment)” (Snyder, 1994:
5).
Generally, people seldom associate a goal with hope especially if the
goal is considered only a simple or small goal of will such as ‘I want to buy
that Converse shoes’ or ‘I want to travel to Bali’. However, Snyder has
different point of view on this matter. He precisely notes that “… seemingly
small goals can be subgoals for the larger, more important goals that so befit
hope” (Snyder, 1994: 6). Snyder wants to emphasize that not only a big and
important goal that can fit the hope for some people often see hope is always
related to something that is considered as a big matter. The degree of the
17
importance of a goal can not be a measure rod to decide whether the goal is
fit to hope or not.
Another thing that must be considered is that a goal involving hope
should lay between an impossibility and a sure thing. If someone sure that a
goal can be attained or a hundred percent impossible to attain, then hopeful
thought toward the goal become irrelevant because the result has already
known.
In the beginning of the book, it is clearly said that goals are mentioned
as any objects, in other words it is realistic things that we can feel it by our
senses. Basically, hope can not be mentioned as hope without any objects as
its target or purpose.
b. Willpower
In this part Snyder gives a clear image of what is called a willpower
which mostly marks by motivating thoughts such us ‘I can do it’, ‘I will try’,
‘I’m ready for this’, etc. As within his term, “willpower is a reservoir of
determination and commitment that we can call on to help us move in the
direction of the goal to which we are attending at any given moment”
(Snyder, 1994: 6). Within a willful thought there is a power that encourages a
person to move into directed goals. In other words, it is something that people
have in their own mind, their willful thoughts. There are three points to be
considered related to willpower. First is that willpower generally occurs when
a person thinks or imagines about a more important goal, meaning to say, the
18
goal which has a higher priority in life such as a goal of getting married or
having a child.
Second is that willpower will occur whenever a person exactly sure
about the goal that is going to pursue. It would be difficult to see the
willpower if a person is not able to determine a goal because it relates to the
focus of the goal itself. Third, actually somehow, the producing of a mental
willpower often based on the experiences of a previous history in which a
person dealing with certain difficulties. However, Snyder also underlines an
important thing that “…willpower is not acquired to life of ease in which
goals pursuits occur without any hindrance” (Snyder, 1994: 7). It means that
it is important to understand that willpower only occurs when it is hard for a
person to pursue a goal.
c. Waypower
As in Snyder term, waypower is “…a mental capacity we can call on
to find one or more effective ways to reach our goals” (Snyder, 1994: 8).
Meaning to say that waypower is a planning capability of a person. Similar to
willpower, waypower also requires a condition.
It is easier for a person to produce effective plans if a goal is already
well defined. If a person already knows and sure about the goal that is going
to pursue, it means that he or she has a focus and it will help to find effective
ways or more suitable ways to reach the directed goals.
19
This condition also brings a benefit. Basically, waypower capability
does not only have a capability to produce pathways to reach goals but also
help a person in dealing with blockage that may be faced during the journey
to the directed goals. If the original way suddenly seems possible to success
or even worse it has been blocked, waypower capability will help the person
to find alternative ways because “…person with high waypower capabilities
believe they can find several ways to reach goals, in any given situation they
change this mental blueprint to fit the particular goal and barriers that must be
faced” (Snyder, 1994: 9). In addition, Snyder also talks about the perceived
problem-solving ability. It becomes the characteristics of a person with high
hope.
d. Hope
After explaining the three basic components of hope, then Snyder put
them together through a kind of a formula as below:
Hope = Mental Willpower + Waypower for Goals
(Snyder, 1994:10)
From that formula, Snyder comes up with a conclusion that “…hope
reflects a mental set in which we have the perceived willpower and the
waypower to get to our destination” (Snyder, 1994: 10). Mental willpower
and waypower for goal are combined together which make it possible for
hope to exist. If these components are found equal in term that it has a high
20
rate inside a person then the person is called a high hope person. For the
consideration, each of the components can not stand by itself. To complete
his formula, Snyder also notes:
“It is worth highlighting again that hope is a process constantly
involving what we think about ourselves in relation to our goals.
Our thoughts, in turn, can influence our actual behavior. At times,
the external environment obviously has an enormous impact on us.
…Having acknowledged this point, however, I would emphasize
that how we think about and interpret our external environment is
the key to understand hope. By analogy, a person high in hope
thinks of a glass as being half-full of water, while a low-hope
individual thinks of this same glass as half-empty”. (Snyder, 1994:
12)
The quotation above emphasizes that environment and all activities
inside it also become an important aspect in determining whether a person is
hopeful or helpless. In addition to his theory, Snyder also shows that
somehow several patterns may appear depending on the psychological
condition of a person. It is very possible to find a person lives in high hope
with high willpower and high waypower of goal but it is also not possible to
have a person with the combinations of low willpower and low waypower;
high willpower and low waypower; low willpower and high waypowers; or
high willpower high waypower.
A person with low willpower and waypower is absolutely categorized
as a low-hope person. This kind of person is drawn as someone who lives
without any sense of action to pursue goals and exactly planful-less.
According to Snyder, this person is “…caught in a cycle that may be labeled
21
as depression” (Snyder, 1994: 33). Thus, it can be said that depression is one
of characteristics of a low-hope person.
A person with high willpower but lack of waypower will be
categorized as a low-hope person if that condition goes over a long time. A
person in this situation probably able to energize the mental willpower but
also at the same time has no waypower at all. It may be caused by the fact
that the person is “…not necessarily taught to think ways to get to the goals”
(Snyder, 1994: 34). Another possible cause is that even the person has
success in generating goals in the past however the person feels not really
adapt to the process.
A person with low willpower but high waypower is a person who lack
of the mental energy to carry out the plans. This kind of person somehow can
make people impress with brilliant ideas but in the inside is somewhat
depressed because the person always think that pursuing goals is a constant
struggle. A person with high willpower and high waypower is categorized as
a high-hope person. In order to help the writer identify whether a character is
categorized as a high – hope person, there is a couple of psychological
characteristics that go along with a higher level of hope:
i. Optimism
The term optimism rather closes to the willpower component of hope.
“Thus, optimists are more likely to have a sense of mental energy for their
goals, but not necessarily have the way power thoughts” (1994: 44). In
other words, it is likely to be related to mental willpower.
22
ii. Perceived Problem-Solving Ability
This characteristic relates to the ability of a person in anticipating any
kinds of problem that may occur and also at the same time already has the
problem solving. It means that this characteristic likely to have relation to
the waypower elements.
These two characteristics are required to be existed inside a person
with high hope. In other words, a high hope person must have these two
characteristics.
B. Theoretical Framework
Regarding to the first problem formulation, the theory of character
will be used in order to find the characteristics of the character which
supports the analysis latter. The writer chooses the theory of character by E.
M. Forster and further understanding about character explained by Robert
Forster in order to find firstly the category of the character. After that the
analysis will be narrowed down by finding the specific characteristics of the
character by using M. J. Murphy’s theory of character and with help of Karen
Horney’s theories of basic evil, hostility and anxiety. The result of the
analysis will be used next to answer the second problem formulation. For the
answer of the second problem formulation, the theory of hope will be applied
to analyze the detail characteristics of the character and the result will be the
goal of this thesis.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis
Rey. It is one of the best works by Thornton Wilder. This book is written
during his second year in Princeton University in purpose to earn a Master’s
degree in French Literature in June, 1926. Then, in 1927 the book is accepted
for publication and published by Washington Square Press, New York.
The story is divided into five chapters with introduction to the content
of the story by Brother Juniper in the first chapter and then followed by three
chapters which tell about three different major characters and endings with
conclusion in the last chapter. Although the publishers think that the book has
a little chance to success in public, in fact, public shows a great enthusiasm
and causes the book winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1928. Recently, this story is
depicted into play and even movie. The movie itself is played by a
Hollywood famous actor named Robert de Niro.
Generally, the work tells about an experience of Brother Juniper, a
Franciscan from Northern Italy, in doing a very controversial investigation
that is, finding God’s intention in taking someone’s life by tracing the
chronological lifetime of the three major characters. Here, Brother Juniper
traces the lifetime of the three victims of the falling bridge, Maria de
Montemayor, Esteban, Uncle Pio, and trying to find the relation among them.
23
24
However, at the end of the story, it does not even offer a precise answer
toward Brother Juniper’s question which is stated in the first chapter, that is,
whether the death of the victims in the falling bridge happens in an intention
or it is just an accident.
A. Approach of the Study
Considering the topic, this study applies the psychological approach in
analyzing the character of Dona Maria which is believed to have a
contribution in the existence of hope within Dona Maria herself. According to
Rohrberger and Woods, psychological approach is “the effort to locate and
demonstrate certain recurrent patterns, but from a different body of
knowledge that is psychology” (1971: 6-5). This approach uses psychology
theories to explain human motivation, personality and behavior patterns
written in literary object”. Moreover, Wilfred L. Guerin gives another point
of view toward psychological approach. He adds in his book, A Handbook of
Critical Approach to Literature in 1999, that psychological approach is
perhaps the most controversial, the most appreciated and the most abused
since it attempts to get into one’s life and investigates all inside it. However,
this approach lets the reader analyze psychologically the character or
situations in the literary works. The approach is considered suitable for the
study and analysis because it is considered appropriate to help the writer to do
psychological analysis toward the character of Dona Maria and figure out the
answer of the problem formulations.
25
B. Method of the Study
In doing the study, the writer used several books as the sources for it
was a library study. Therefore, the primary source was Wilder’s novel titled
The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Meanwhile for the secondary sources, the writer
used theory of character by E .M Forster in his book titled Aspect of Novels
and Related Writings, by M. J Murphy in a book titled Understanding
Unseen, and by Robert Forster in his book An Introduction to Fiction. The
writer also uses theory of basic anxiety by Karen Horney in a book titled An
Introduction to Theories of Personality and theory of hope by C. R. Snyder in
his book titled The Psychology of Hope. Besides, the writer was also
browsing in the internet for some information related to the novel The Bridge
of San Luis Rey.
Obviously, this study had several steps in order to do the analysis.
First step was reading and rereading the novel carefully and in detail in order
to get deeper understanding on the story. Since the story had three major
characters, then the writer decided to focus on only one of them. In making
the choice, the writer considered the fact that Dona Maria was the only
woman from the other three characters and she was also the only character
who had a unique characteristic for she showed herself as having neurotic
behavior. After deciding the character then the writer reread again the story
of the chosen character and formulated problems into questions. The second
steps, the writer found several important and supporting theories from several
books, thesis and internet sources.
26
The third step was answering the questions in problem formulation.
Theory of character by E. M. Forster, Robert Forster and M. J. Murphy were
used to figure out the characteristics of Dona Maria in detail along with her
psychological condition supported by Karen Horney’s theory of basic anxiety
with help of Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English by
AS Hornby. After that, by using the theory of hope by C. R. Snyder and the
answer of the first problem formulation, the writer tried to find out the hope
in Dona Maria.
The last step was drawing the conclusion from the analysis of the
problem formulations. The conclusion was done by relating all data into
general statement.
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this chapter the writer will answer the questions as stated in chapter
I through the analysis below. This chapter covers two part of analysis. The
first part will answer the question about the characteristics of Dona Maria’s
character. The second part will be the analysis on how Dona Maria sees hope
in her life by having such characteristic.
A. The characteristics of Dona Maria
In order to find the characteristics of Dona Maria’s character, the
writer begins with using M. J M
BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SENNY PERMATA SARI
Student Number: 044214089
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2009
HOPE IN DONA MARIA DEPICTED IN THORNTON WILDER’S THE
BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SENNY PERMATA SARI
Student Number: 044214089
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2009
i
“ And seek first the
kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all
these things shall be
added to you.”
Matthew 6 : 33
iv
I dedicated this thesis to
My Late Granpa
ABBAS YONG
And
YONG FAMILY
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all I would like to thank Lord Jesus for His providence, provision,
protection and guidance during my hard times and especially during the finishing
of this thesis. I would never be able to pass all of these tests without His mercy
and love. My best gratitude goes to Dra. Th. Enny Anggraini, M.A. for every
help and advice as my advisor and Adventina Putranti, S.S, M. Hum as my coadvisor.
I thank my father and mother for the understanding and patients. For my
brothers Yohan and Christian, I thank God so much I have them both as my
brothers because, whether they realize it or not, they both have become source of
strength and passion for me to finish this thesis and I miss those times when we
quarreled a lot. My special gratitude also goes to my uncle Francisco Yong and
family for their unquestionable kindness and careness as my sponsor during my
study in Sanata Dharma University.
To my beloved spiritual friend Jane, thank you for lending me your
computer and for your availability every time I need a prayer. I thank all of my
unpredictable and precious friends in Komunitas Gayam 16 for all the
unforgotten experiences in the last 2 years and all the supports. Last but not least,
I thank my two best friends ever, Uke and Ningsih, for their countless support,
advice, books, chats, laughs, tears, passions, precious experiences and all the
encouragement lines that we share for the last 5 years and hopefully this
friendship will last forever. I thank them very much.
Senny Permata Sari
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE……………………………………………………………...
APPROVAL PAGE……………………………………………………….
ACCEPTANCE PAGE…………………………………………………...
MOTTO PAGE……………………………………………………………
DEDICATION PAGE…………………………………………………….
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………….
ABSTRAK…………………………………………………………………
i
ii
iii
iv
v
vi
vii
ix
x
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION………………………………………...
A. Background of the Study……….......................................................
B. Problem Formulation……………………………………………….
C. Objectives of the Study……………………………………………..
D. Definition of terms………………………………………………….
1
1
3
3
4
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW……………………………..
A. Review of Related Studies………………………………………….
B. Review of Related Theories………………………………………..
1. Theory of Character…………………………………………….
2. Basic Evil, Hostility, and Anxiety……………………………...
3. Theory of Hope…………………………………………………
a. Goals………………………………………………………..
b. Willpower…………………………………………………..
c. Waypower…………………………………………………..
d. Hope………………………………………………………...
C. Theoretical Framework……………………………………………..
5
5
7
7
11
12
16
17
18
19
22
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY……………………………………...
A. Object of the Study…………………………………………………
B. Approach of the Study……………………………………………...
C. Method of the Study……………………………………………….
23
23
24
25
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS………………………………………………
A. The Characteristics of Dona Maria’s Character……………………
B. Hope in Dona Maria………………………………………………..
1. Willpower in Dona Maria………………………………………
2. Waypower in Dona Maria……………………………………...
3. Hope in Dona Maria……………………………………………
27
27
38
38
41
49
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION…………………………………………..
53
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………… 55
vii
APPENDICES…………………………………………………………...... 57
Appendix 1…………………………………………………………….. 57
Appendix 2…………………………………………………………….. 58
viii
ABSTRACT
SENNY PERMATA SARI. Hope in Dona Maria Depicted in Thornton
Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Yogyakarta: Department of English
Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009
The topic of this thesis is based on the background perception that a
person with neurotic behavior characteristic is supposed to have no future hope.
However, the writer finds that that perception is not exactly true. Therefore, this
study aims to prove that hope can exist inside a person with neurotic behavior.
In this study, the writer uses Thornton Wilder literary work titled The
Bridge of san Luis Rey and chooses one of the major characters, Dona Maria, as
the object of the study. From the background of the study, the writer develops
two problem formulations which cover (1) the identification of Dona Maria’s
characteristic and (2) finds hope in Dona Maria’s character and how she sees the
hope.
To do the analysis the writer uses psychological approach and theories.
Theories that are used are theory of character by E. M Foster and M. J Murphy,
theory of basic evil, hostility and anxiety by Karen Horney and also the most
fundamental theory of this study that is theory of hope by C. R. Snyder.
By using the theory of character, the writer figures out that Dona Maria is
very care and passionate to her daughter which makes her optimist that she can
get her daughter’s love. It can be said that if Dona Maria does not care and
passionate to her daughter, Dona Maria will not give any care whether Dona
Clara loves her or not. All that she has done to Dona Clara is the reflection of her
careness. Dona Maria also has perceived problem-solving ability which enables
her to perform her hope. Those two characteristics enable the writer to do the
second analysis toward the existence of hope in Dona Maria. After doing analysis
on the elements of hope, the writer figures out that there is hope in Dona Maria.
Despite the fact that she is different, because of her neurotic behavior, she is
realizes that that she has hope and it is showed by her high mental willpower and
waypower. She knows what she wants most and that becomes her hope.
ix
ABSTRAK
SENNY PERMATA SARI. Hope in Dona Maria depicted in Thornton
Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris,
Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009.
Topik dari skripsi ini berdasarkan pada pandangan bahwa seseorang
dengan mental yang terganggu tidak mungkin memiliki sebuah harapan untuk
masa depan. Tetapi penulis menemukan bahwa pandangan tersebut tidaklah
selalu benar. Oleh karena itu, studi ini bertujuan untuk membuktikan bahwa
seseorang dengan mental yang terganggu dapat memiliki harapan di dalam
dirinya.
Di dalam studi ini, penulis menggunakan karya sastra dari Thornton
Wilder yang berjudul The Bridge of san Luis Rey dan memilih salah satu dari tiga
karakter utama, Dona Maria, sebagai objek studi. Berdasarkan latar belakang dari
studi ini, penulis mengembangkan dua permasalahan yang meliputi (1)
Pengidentifikasian karakter Dona Maria dengan cara menelusuri masa lalu nya
dalam hubunganya dengan keberadaan nya sebagai seseorang dengan mental
yang terganggu dan (2) penemuan harapan di dalam diri Dona Maria dengan
mengacu pada efek yang ditimbulkan oleh karakter yang dia miliki dan cara
pandangnya terhadap harapan.
Dalam melakukan analisa, penulis menggunakan pendekatan psikologis
dan teori-teori. Teori-teori yang digunakan adalah teori karakter dari E. M Foster
dan M. J Murphy, teori basic Evil, hostility dan anxiety dari Karen Horney dan
juga teori yang menjadi dasar dari studi ini yaitu teori harapan dari C. R. Snyder.
Dengan menggunakan teori karakter, penulis menemukan bahwa Dona
Maria sangat peduli dan berperasaan penuh pada anak gadisnya yang membuat
dia menjadi optimis bahwa dia mampu mendapatkan cinta dari anaknya tersebut.
Dapat dikatakan bahwa jika Dona Maria tidak peduli dan berperasaan penuh
terhadap Dona Clara maka Dona Maria tidak akan peduli sedikit pun anak gadis
nya itu menyayangi dia atau tidak. Semua yang telah dia lakukan kepada Dona
Clara adalah suatu cerminan kepeduliannya. Dona Maria juga memiliki
kemampuan merasakan penyelesaian permasalahan yang memampukan dia
untuk menunjukkan harapannya. Dua karakterisitk tersebut memampukan penulis
untuk melakukan analisa kedua terhadap keberadaan harapan di dalam Dona
Maria. Setelah melakukan analisa pada elemen-elemen harapan, penulis
menemukan bahwa ada harapan di dalam Dona Maria. Walaupun kenyataannya
dia tampak berbeda dikarenakan kelainan mental nya, dia sadar bahwa dia
memiliki harapan yang tertampak pada mental willpower dan waypower yang
tinggi. Dia tahu apa yang paling dia inginkan dan hal itu menjadi harapan
baginya.
x
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
It is very commonly said that human being is social creature who is
not able to live by themselves without getting involves with others for the
sake of their existence in this world. From that-very-common statement, it
can be said that human being is very connected with the environment around
them. The writer may say that human being lives under the influence of a
couple elements, the external factors and the internal factors. It may be
similar to the elements that can be found in, for instance, a literary work such
as a prose like the extrinsic and intrinsic elements.
In a prose, the intrinsic elements consist of theme, characters, plot,
symbolism, atmosphere, tone, setting of time and place and others which
influence the work from ‘inside’, whereas extrinsic elements are elements
which influence a work from the ‘outside’ of the work, for example the
author or the social and historical background of the story. These two
elements are combined together to make one unity of a story and without both
or one of them the story may not exist as a complete story.
Actually that kind of process also happens in one’s life. Basically, an
individual lives under the influence of the external and internal factors of the
environment. The external factor could be the culture, social life, economy,
community idealism, family tradition, childhood experiences, etc. Those
1
2
examples of external factors of one’s life give a big contribution to the
internal factors of one’s life. The internal factors can be faith, beliefs, life’s
vision, etc. Both elements contribute the shaping process of one’s character or
personality which also helps in determining actions which may be taken by a
person as the response of certain circumstances.
Knowing better and deeper about characteristics of a particular
character in a story is needed in order to have an image toward any changing
and development of the character itself. Conducting study about character
means dealing with the variety of people in the world which is possible to be
found in all literary works.
Identifying the characteristics of each character may be the next
difficult task to do. However, every author usually provides the character with
motivation, “…a sufficient reason to behave as they do” (Kennedy, 1998: 60)
in order to help the analysts to understand the character and even to have a
future image of what the character will do or take an act toward certain
circumstances.
Back to the external and internal factors, the writer finds one
interesting topic from Thornton Wilder’s work The Bridge of San Luis Rey as
a part of internal element that is hope. The appearance of hope inside a
character might be so much influenced by the characteristics of the character
itself. It is also possible to say that actually the hope itself already exists
inside the character. However, because the character is considered unique, the
hope becomes haze and it is barely seen. The way the character sees hope
3
may be difference with the way people in general sees hope. The study
attempts to discover and to make clear the hope in the character of Dona
Maria. Dona Maria is one of three major characters in the novel. She is
chosen because she has unique characteristics that the writer has already
mentioned it before. The unique here means that she is different from the
other three characters. She is assumed to have less life consciousness than the
other three characters and because of that she has a different way to see hope.
A. Problem Formulation
Considering topic and the background of the study, the problem
formulation covers the exploration of one of the intrinsic elements as the part
of analysis in relation with the outside elements, that is, hope. Therefore, the
problems are formulated as follows:
1. How is the characteristic of Dona Maria described?
2. How does her characteristic help to reveal hope in Dona Maria?
B. Objectives of the Study
Regarding to the problem formulations, the objectives of the study is
first of all to identify the characteristics of Dona Maria. The answer of the
first problem formulation will be used to find out its influence toward the way
Dona Maria sees hope and to help the writer to reveal hope itself inside Dona
Maria.
4
C. Definition of Term
In order to have a general understanding on the topic that is going to
be analyzed later, definition of related term will be explained briefly in this
part. Considering the topic, the term that is going to be used is hope from
psychology viewpoint.
In the analysis, the writer takes the definition of hope formulated by
C. R Snyder. In his book titled The Psychology of Hope, he determines hope
as “the sum of the mental willpower and waypower that you have for your
goals” (Snyder, 1994: 5). In other words, hope is the combination of both
mental willpower and waypower in order to reach goals. Here, Snyder uses
three key words that are mental willpower, waypower and goals.
Mental willpower is “the driving force in hopeful thinking” (Snyder,
1994: 6). It is kind of energy that pushes someone to move from a point
where he or she is less of goals to a place of their goals. Meanwhile
waypower “reflects the mental plans or road maps that guide hopeful
thoughts” (Snyder, 1994: 8). At last, according to C. R Snyder, goals are
determined as “…any objects, experiences, or outcomes that we imagine and
desire in our minds” (Snyder, 1994: 5).
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
The Bridge of San Luis Rey is one of famous works in the world of
literature, no doubts that since its publishing day it arises many compliments
and even criticisms in forms of analysis, studies, essays and articles. One of
the essays about the novel is entitled “The Bridge of San Luis Rey by
Thornton Wilder: Some Observation by John Barich”. In his essay, Barich’s
concern is on the theodicy element of the novel and he relates it to the author.
In short, Barich’s essay discusses Wilder’s attitudes as a Christian on putting
the themes of love, hope and death in the novel which are influenced by
Wilder’s belief in God. Barich attempts to observe Wilder’s point of view
toward life and death and “…Good befalls the evil and evil befalls the good”
(http://www.rjgeib.com/barich/papers/bridge-san-luis-rey.html). The result is
not far from the idea of binary opposition by looking at the negation side.
Death is meaningless without the existence of life and death will make sense
whenever it is seen in a context of life particularly life that is dedicated to
love and care to others.
Meanwhile, another study related to this thesis’s topic is about the
intrinsic elements, the episodes in relation with religious aspects. Gregorius
Winarno (1994) in his undergraduate thesis titled “Religious aspects in The
Bridge Of San Luis Rey: An Analysis of The Episodes and The Setting
5
6
Description” attempts to discover the way Thornton Wilder presents the
religious aspects inside The Bridge Of san Luis Rey’s episodes. Here, his
object is in the form of a play.
The next study may be not really related to the object of the study of
this thesis but it is more related to the topic analyzed in this thesis. It is a
discourse that is given by Debora Eggelletion at The PLIM 1997 Retreat in
White Cloud, Michigan as reported by Dr. Lee Warren, B.A., D.D. titled
Psychology of Hope: The Power Latent of Man.
In this short lecture, she tries to give a clear image or even meaning of
what hope is and what is not. She states that “…there are certain spiritual
intangibles that humankind needs in order to develop psychologically and
spiritually. Hope is one of the spiritual principles needed to sustain man’s
mind and soul.”(http://www.plim.org/psychology.html). Here, she focuses on
the principle of hope psychologically and spiritually as the additional element
to be considered because according to her, hope also can not be separated
from spiritual viewpoint.
To begin her lecture about hope, of course she gives a definition about
this term as the very first general understanding. The writer finds it very
interesting that she also takes a definition formulated by the same theorist of
hope that is going to be used as the theory in this thesis which is the definition
of hope by C. R Snyder from psychology viewpoint. Furthermore, she
completes her lecture by explaining about the positive and negative sides of
hope, its properties, its operation, and end up in conclusion that:
7
“…without the spiritual principle of hopes, goals, dreams,
visions, or challenges in life could nor materialize for mankind
and the world would sink into the doldrums of despair”.
(Eggelletion, par 5)
Unlike the discourse above, in this thesis the writer tries to do the application
of the theory of hope which involves a literary text as the field of the
application. Furthermore, the analysis will also involve the exploration of an
intrinsic element, characters, as the important elements of analysis.
A. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character
Since the writer analyzes the character in this analysis, the theory of
character as a part of theory of intrinsic elements is used. X. J. Kennedy and
Dona Gioia in their book titled an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama
state that a character is “…an imagined person who inhabits a story” (1998:
60).
The character in the story tends to be individual rather than stereotype
and each of individual character has motivation which refers to a particular
reason to behave like they do. Moreover, E. M. Forster in his book titled
Aspect of Novels and Related Writings (1947) divides character into a couple
type that is flat character and round character.
According to him, “… Flat character tends to have slow development
and slow-ability to learn from experience…” (Forster, 1947: 47). In other
words flat character is a fixed character that will not change by the
8
circumstances created around the character. Some critics call it as static
character.
Meanwhile round character is likely to be said as the opposite of flat
character. A round character tends to have a quick understanding and learning
process toward an experience. In other words, the character will change as the
result of the effects created by the circumstance. Some critics call it as
dynamic character. In simple way, the key to determine whether a certain
character is round or flat lays in the reaction of the character which leads to a
change in any term such us point of view or characteristics.
In doing this analysis, the writer has a fundamental perception that the
analysis will reach its goal if the character is flexible. Meaning to say, the
character still has chance to change. Therefore this theory is used in order to
prove and convince the writer that the character as the object of the analysis is
a capable source.
One fact that is very crucial about character is the motivations inside
the character. A character is a person and every character or person created in
the story must have motivations. These motivations will lead to the
characteristics of the character. Character’s motivation is the focus of the
analysis. It is already mentioned that motivation is the thing that drives a
character to behave like it does. Every behavior from the character shows the
characteristic of the character itself. However, the writer wants to emphasize
an important thing that is said by Robert Forster in his book titled In
Introduction to Fiction (1965) that there are two kinds of motivation, specific
9
and basic motivation. Specific motivation is the character’s “…immediate
reason, perhaps unconscious, for any particular speech or act” (Forster, 1965:
17). Here, the writer wants to underline the words ‘perhaps unconscious’. The
writer is doing so because the understanding of specific motivation will
contribute the analysis later for the analysis itself involves what is called
unconscious. Meanwhile, for the basic motivation of a character, Robert
Forster says:
“…basic motivation is an aspect of his general character: it is the
continuing desire or intention that governs him throughout the story,
the direction toward which almost all his specific motivations tend.”
(Forster 1965: 17)
From both understanding it is clear that each character usually has
both of the motivation which is related one and another. One thing to be
considered is that actually analyzing a character is analyzing its motivation
which also means analyzing its characteristics. It is because the fact that each
character has each motivation. The motivation helps the reader to see and
understand the characteristics of a character from the speech and the act that
the character does.
In order to support the above theory, the writer looks further on the
other theory of character taken from M. J. Murphy Ph. D on his
Understanding Unseen. According to Murphy, authors have ability that the
readers impossibly have, that is, the ability to investigate or explore the
thoughts of the person as long as the characters in the novel are concerned. In
order to make the character in the novel understandable to, and come alive for
10
the reader, authors use a few ways. These ways are created to help the reader
to understand the characteristic that the character carries in the story.
a. Personal Description. The author helps the reader to understand the
characteristics of a character by describing its appearance and clothes.
b. Character as Seen by Another. Instead of telling the character to the
reader directly, the author describes the characteristics of the character
from another character’s point of view.
c. Speech. The author describes the character from the way they speak in a
dialogue.
d. Past Life. By offering the story of the characters’ past life, the author
attempts to help the readers know the character by themselves.
e. Conversation of Others. Conversation of people may give a clue to the
person’s characteristics.
f. Reactions. The way a person reacts toward his or her surrounding can
give a clue to their character.
g. Direct Comments. In respond to point b, the author can also use direct
descriptions or comments to describe the character.
h. Thoughts. In this point, the author does something, by which the reader
cannot, that is, describe what a person is thinking about.
i. Mannerisms. Description of a person’s mannerisms or habits may also
give clues of the character of the person.
11
2. Basic Evil, Hostility and Anxiety
Actually these three theories are a set of a domino effect. It comes one
after another. It begins with basic evil then it becomes basic hostility and then
turns to basic anxiety. These three theories are introduced by a psychologist
named Karen Horney who is one of Freud pupils. Horney believes that the
cause of neurosis is disturbed human relationship. Moreover, in a book titled
An Introduction of Personality (1990), she emphasizes that “…the rudiments
of neurotic behavior are found in the relationship between parent and child”
(Horney, 1990: 129). Here, Horney wants to say that early childhood
experience plays the important role to determine the personality and the
character of child during the grown up phase which exactly will affect the
adult phase.
According to Horney, children born with helplessness that is why they
are very depending on the parents and they only have two basic needs. First,
the physiological need of satisfaction such as food, water and sleep and the
second need is the physiological need of safety. This need of safety refers to
the need of security and freedom of fear and for Horney, the need of safety is
more important than the need of satisfaction. Parents who can not fulfill the
child’s need of safety will drive the child into an abnormal psychological
development. Indifference toward the child, rejection of the child, hostility
toward the child, obvious preference for a sibling, unfair punishment,
ridicule, humiliation, erratic behavior, unkept promise and isolation of the
child from others are sample list of behaviors of parents that undermine a
12
child’s security which Horney called basic evil. A Child who suffers from
those kinds of abuses is then experience basic hostility, a situation where
“…The child is caught between dependence on the parents and hostility
toward them…” (Horney, 1990: 130). It is a situation where a child feels
hatred and fear toward the parents but can not demonstrate the feeling. It is
because the child is afraid that the parents will leave him or her whereas he or
she still needs the parents. This condition shows the parents’ failure in
fulfilling the child’s needs of security and freedom of fear. In simple way, the
abused child feels hatred and fear toward the parents.
Unfortunately, Horney adds that the condition of undergoing the
feeling of hostility caused by the parents “…does not isolated; instead it
generalized to the entire world and all the people in it” (Horney, 1990: 130).
It causes the child becomes fully convinced that everyone is potentially
dangerous and can do harm on them just like what the parents have done to
them. In this phase, the child experiences basic anxiety.
3. Theory of Hope
Regarding to the topic, the analysis involves the concept of hope.
When we are talking about hope, it means we are talking about something
that is expected to happen at the future. Many people attempt to define the
meaning of hope from many aspects of life.
Monika L. Hellwig, in her book titled What They Are saying about
Death and Hope?, writes her idea about hope that she relates it with one’s
13
spiritual side. She implies that the way people see hope is rather influenced
by certain religious aspect and here, she uses Christian’s point of view. In her
explanation she defines hope as:
“…one of the ways to express our intended toward future realities that
we wanted to be inside our selves or even in universe by negation
some things we experience in the present…” (Hellwig, 1978: 18).
In simple way, it can be said that hope is some kind of way in which
we can claim what we believe to gain in the future, in present. In other words,
hope is the way of speaking of the future outcome of human life. Hope
happens normally at the present time.
Hellwig’s thought about the relation between hope and Christianity is
related to the concept of hope in the Holy Bible. Christian’s belief toward
hope in God is very strong. Book of Romans shows how hope plays the
important role in one’s life within God. Romans chapter 5 verses 1-5
mentioned the relation between faith and hope and the power of hope in God
in a bad circumstance:
“ THEREFORE, having been justified by faith, we have piece with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Through whom also we have
access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. 3 and not only that, but we also glory in
tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 And
perseverance, character; and character, hope; 5 Now hope does not
disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit who was given to us ” (Romans 5: 1-5)
All those above are inside the values of Christianity which for
centuries has become the aged rock for its followers. For Hellwig, hope itself
can not be separated from religious aspect. From this point, it can be seen that
Hellwig has a same opinion with Debora Eggelleton who said that hope,
14
psychologically as well as spiritually, are taking part on balancing one’s mind
and soul. As it is already said by Debora Eggelleton that hope is not only
related to man’s psychology but also affects man’s spiritual life.
That is hope in the opinion of Hellwig and Eggeleton. Another theory
about hope comes from a Catholic pastor named William F. Lynch, S. J. He
writes a book in 1966 titled IMAGE OF HOPE Imagination as Healer of the
Hopeless. Lynch defines hope as:
“I define hope… as the fundamental knowledge and feeling that there
is a way out of difficulty, that things can workout, that we as a human
persons can somehow handle and manage internal and external reality
that there are ‘solution’ in the most ordinary biological and
psychological sense of that word, that, above all there are ways out of
illness” (Lynch, 1966: 24)
Lynch writes this book after he read a testimony written by a suicidal
person who desperately wants to be healed from the condition of being
depressed. He says that basically people with no hope or hopeless is a sick
people.
From the definition that he makes, it is clear that hope is a kind of
mind set in which one is convinced that he or she is capable to handle
problems. The definition also implies that every person is blessed with
capability to handle bad things in their life. In simple way, Lynch advices
people to keep thinking positive.
This theory, once, attracts the writer because it really matches the
analysis that the writer takes. However, after a deeper reading, the writer
finds that there is a weakness in the Lynch theory. Lynch does not provide his
15
theory with steps or methods on how to determine a person is hopeful or
helpless. This theory only gives approximate statements about findings hope
and hopeless in one’s character.
Fortunately, there is another theory that looks more applicable to the
analysis. That is the theory of hope conducted by C. R Snyder. The
consideration to choose Snyder’s theory rather than other two theories is the
non existence of spiritual influences within hope that is found in the character
of analysis, Dona Maria.
Snyder’s theory of hope uses more psychological point of view. For
the consideration, the analysis of this study also uses psychological point of
view. Moreover, Snyder provides his theory with sufficient and complete
steps to help the writer to apply the theory.
As it is already explained briefly in chapter I, and brief look at other
theories above, the theory that is going to be used as the fundamental
principle of the analysis is the theory of hope formulated by C. R Snyder in
his book titled The Psychology of Hope You Can Get There from Here.
In Snyder’s theory of hope, he uses three keywords which is called as
three basic mental components. They are mental willpower, waypower, and
goals. From those three keywords, Snyder comes up with a definition that
hope is “…the sum of the mental willpower and waypower that you have for
your goals” (Snyder, 1994: 5). To understand the definition, each of them is
explained as follow.
16
a. Goals
Along with the mental development of minds, human successfully
develops many thoughts about the world around them. One of them is the
linear sense of time in which human represent themselves as time travelers
moving from past, present and end up in future. It is the same as the journey
or the moving forward action from the first place to another directed place
which is called the goal point. In order to reach that goal point, people give
many careful thoughts, thoughts about goal.
People basic goals are food and shelter but surely there must be more
than that because there are a lot of important goals that people want to gain
and goals could take many shapes. According to Snyder, goals could be “…
any objects, experiences, or outcomes that we imagine and desire in our
mind” (Snyder, 1994: 5). In other words, goal is “… something we want to
obtain (such as an object) or attain (like an accomplishment)” (Snyder, 1994:
5).
Generally, people seldom associate a goal with hope especially if the
goal is considered only a simple or small goal of will such as ‘I want to buy
that Converse shoes’ or ‘I want to travel to Bali’. However, Snyder has
different point of view on this matter. He precisely notes that “… seemingly
small goals can be subgoals for the larger, more important goals that so befit
hope” (Snyder, 1994: 6). Snyder wants to emphasize that not only a big and
important goal that can fit the hope for some people often see hope is always
related to something that is considered as a big matter. The degree of the
17
importance of a goal can not be a measure rod to decide whether the goal is
fit to hope or not.
Another thing that must be considered is that a goal involving hope
should lay between an impossibility and a sure thing. If someone sure that a
goal can be attained or a hundred percent impossible to attain, then hopeful
thought toward the goal become irrelevant because the result has already
known.
In the beginning of the book, it is clearly said that goals are mentioned
as any objects, in other words it is realistic things that we can feel it by our
senses. Basically, hope can not be mentioned as hope without any objects as
its target or purpose.
b. Willpower
In this part Snyder gives a clear image of what is called a willpower
which mostly marks by motivating thoughts such us ‘I can do it’, ‘I will try’,
‘I’m ready for this’, etc. As within his term, “willpower is a reservoir of
determination and commitment that we can call on to help us move in the
direction of the goal to which we are attending at any given moment”
(Snyder, 1994: 6). Within a willful thought there is a power that encourages a
person to move into directed goals. In other words, it is something that people
have in their own mind, their willful thoughts. There are three points to be
considered related to willpower. First is that willpower generally occurs when
a person thinks or imagines about a more important goal, meaning to say, the
18
goal which has a higher priority in life such as a goal of getting married or
having a child.
Second is that willpower will occur whenever a person exactly sure
about the goal that is going to pursue. It would be difficult to see the
willpower if a person is not able to determine a goal because it relates to the
focus of the goal itself. Third, actually somehow, the producing of a mental
willpower often based on the experiences of a previous history in which a
person dealing with certain difficulties. However, Snyder also underlines an
important thing that “…willpower is not acquired to life of ease in which
goals pursuits occur without any hindrance” (Snyder, 1994: 7). It means that
it is important to understand that willpower only occurs when it is hard for a
person to pursue a goal.
c. Waypower
As in Snyder term, waypower is “…a mental capacity we can call on
to find one or more effective ways to reach our goals” (Snyder, 1994: 8).
Meaning to say that waypower is a planning capability of a person. Similar to
willpower, waypower also requires a condition.
It is easier for a person to produce effective plans if a goal is already
well defined. If a person already knows and sure about the goal that is going
to pursue, it means that he or she has a focus and it will help to find effective
ways or more suitable ways to reach the directed goals.
19
This condition also brings a benefit. Basically, waypower capability
does not only have a capability to produce pathways to reach goals but also
help a person in dealing with blockage that may be faced during the journey
to the directed goals. If the original way suddenly seems possible to success
or even worse it has been blocked, waypower capability will help the person
to find alternative ways because “…person with high waypower capabilities
believe they can find several ways to reach goals, in any given situation they
change this mental blueprint to fit the particular goal and barriers that must be
faced” (Snyder, 1994: 9). In addition, Snyder also talks about the perceived
problem-solving ability. It becomes the characteristics of a person with high
hope.
d. Hope
After explaining the three basic components of hope, then Snyder put
them together through a kind of a formula as below:
Hope = Mental Willpower + Waypower for Goals
(Snyder, 1994:10)
From that formula, Snyder comes up with a conclusion that “…hope
reflects a mental set in which we have the perceived willpower and the
waypower to get to our destination” (Snyder, 1994: 10). Mental willpower
and waypower for goal are combined together which make it possible for
hope to exist. If these components are found equal in term that it has a high
20
rate inside a person then the person is called a high hope person. For the
consideration, each of the components can not stand by itself. To complete
his formula, Snyder also notes:
“It is worth highlighting again that hope is a process constantly
involving what we think about ourselves in relation to our goals.
Our thoughts, in turn, can influence our actual behavior. At times,
the external environment obviously has an enormous impact on us.
…Having acknowledged this point, however, I would emphasize
that how we think about and interpret our external environment is
the key to understand hope. By analogy, a person high in hope
thinks of a glass as being half-full of water, while a low-hope
individual thinks of this same glass as half-empty”. (Snyder, 1994:
12)
The quotation above emphasizes that environment and all activities
inside it also become an important aspect in determining whether a person is
hopeful or helpless. In addition to his theory, Snyder also shows that
somehow several patterns may appear depending on the psychological
condition of a person. It is very possible to find a person lives in high hope
with high willpower and high waypower of goal but it is also not possible to
have a person with the combinations of low willpower and low waypower;
high willpower and low waypower; low willpower and high waypowers; or
high willpower high waypower.
A person with low willpower and waypower is absolutely categorized
as a low-hope person. This kind of person is drawn as someone who lives
without any sense of action to pursue goals and exactly planful-less.
According to Snyder, this person is “…caught in a cycle that may be labeled
21
as depression” (Snyder, 1994: 33). Thus, it can be said that depression is one
of characteristics of a low-hope person.
A person with high willpower but lack of waypower will be
categorized as a low-hope person if that condition goes over a long time. A
person in this situation probably able to energize the mental willpower but
also at the same time has no waypower at all. It may be caused by the fact
that the person is “…not necessarily taught to think ways to get to the goals”
(Snyder, 1994: 34). Another possible cause is that even the person has
success in generating goals in the past however the person feels not really
adapt to the process.
A person with low willpower but high waypower is a person who lack
of the mental energy to carry out the plans. This kind of person somehow can
make people impress with brilliant ideas but in the inside is somewhat
depressed because the person always think that pursuing goals is a constant
struggle. A person with high willpower and high waypower is categorized as
a high-hope person. In order to help the writer identify whether a character is
categorized as a high – hope person, there is a couple of psychological
characteristics that go along with a higher level of hope:
i. Optimism
The term optimism rather closes to the willpower component of hope.
“Thus, optimists are more likely to have a sense of mental energy for their
goals, but not necessarily have the way power thoughts” (1994: 44). In
other words, it is likely to be related to mental willpower.
22
ii. Perceived Problem-Solving Ability
This characteristic relates to the ability of a person in anticipating any
kinds of problem that may occur and also at the same time already has the
problem solving. It means that this characteristic likely to have relation to
the waypower elements.
These two characteristics are required to be existed inside a person
with high hope. In other words, a high hope person must have these two
characteristics.
B. Theoretical Framework
Regarding to the first problem formulation, the theory of character
will be used in order to find the characteristics of the character which
supports the analysis latter. The writer chooses the theory of character by E.
M. Forster and further understanding about character explained by Robert
Forster in order to find firstly the category of the character. After that the
analysis will be narrowed down by finding the specific characteristics of the
character by using M. J. Murphy’s theory of character and with help of Karen
Horney’s theories of basic evil, hostility and anxiety. The result of the
analysis will be used next to answer the second problem formulation. For the
answer of the second problem formulation, the theory of hope will be applied
to analyze the detail characteristics of the character and the result will be the
goal of this thesis.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis
Rey. It is one of the best works by Thornton Wilder. This book is written
during his second year in Princeton University in purpose to earn a Master’s
degree in French Literature in June, 1926. Then, in 1927 the book is accepted
for publication and published by Washington Square Press, New York.
The story is divided into five chapters with introduction to the content
of the story by Brother Juniper in the first chapter and then followed by three
chapters which tell about three different major characters and endings with
conclusion in the last chapter. Although the publishers think that the book has
a little chance to success in public, in fact, public shows a great enthusiasm
and causes the book winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1928. Recently, this story is
depicted into play and even movie. The movie itself is played by a
Hollywood famous actor named Robert de Niro.
Generally, the work tells about an experience of Brother Juniper, a
Franciscan from Northern Italy, in doing a very controversial investigation
that is, finding God’s intention in taking someone’s life by tracing the
chronological lifetime of the three major characters. Here, Brother Juniper
traces the lifetime of the three victims of the falling bridge, Maria de
Montemayor, Esteban, Uncle Pio, and trying to find the relation among them.
23
24
However, at the end of the story, it does not even offer a precise answer
toward Brother Juniper’s question which is stated in the first chapter, that is,
whether the death of the victims in the falling bridge happens in an intention
or it is just an accident.
A. Approach of the Study
Considering the topic, this study applies the psychological approach in
analyzing the character of Dona Maria which is believed to have a
contribution in the existence of hope within Dona Maria herself. According to
Rohrberger and Woods, psychological approach is “the effort to locate and
demonstrate certain recurrent patterns, but from a different body of
knowledge that is psychology” (1971: 6-5). This approach uses psychology
theories to explain human motivation, personality and behavior patterns
written in literary object”. Moreover, Wilfred L. Guerin gives another point
of view toward psychological approach. He adds in his book, A Handbook of
Critical Approach to Literature in 1999, that psychological approach is
perhaps the most controversial, the most appreciated and the most abused
since it attempts to get into one’s life and investigates all inside it. However,
this approach lets the reader analyze psychologically the character or
situations in the literary works. The approach is considered suitable for the
study and analysis because it is considered appropriate to help the writer to do
psychological analysis toward the character of Dona Maria and figure out the
answer of the problem formulations.
25
B. Method of the Study
In doing the study, the writer used several books as the sources for it
was a library study. Therefore, the primary source was Wilder’s novel titled
The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Meanwhile for the secondary sources, the writer
used theory of character by E .M Forster in his book titled Aspect of Novels
and Related Writings, by M. J Murphy in a book titled Understanding
Unseen, and by Robert Forster in his book An Introduction to Fiction. The
writer also uses theory of basic anxiety by Karen Horney in a book titled An
Introduction to Theories of Personality and theory of hope by C. R. Snyder in
his book titled The Psychology of Hope. Besides, the writer was also
browsing in the internet for some information related to the novel The Bridge
of San Luis Rey.
Obviously, this study had several steps in order to do the analysis.
First step was reading and rereading the novel carefully and in detail in order
to get deeper understanding on the story. Since the story had three major
characters, then the writer decided to focus on only one of them. In making
the choice, the writer considered the fact that Dona Maria was the only
woman from the other three characters and she was also the only character
who had a unique characteristic for she showed herself as having neurotic
behavior. After deciding the character then the writer reread again the story
of the chosen character and formulated problems into questions. The second
steps, the writer found several important and supporting theories from several
books, thesis and internet sources.
26
The third step was answering the questions in problem formulation.
Theory of character by E. M. Forster, Robert Forster and M. J. Murphy were
used to figure out the characteristics of Dona Maria in detail along with her
psychological condition supported by Karen Horney’s theory of basic anxiety
with help of Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English by
AS Hornby. After that, by using the theory of hope by C. R. Snyder and the
answer of the first problem formulation, the writer tried to find out the hope
in Dona Maria.
The last step was drawing the conclusion from the analysis of the
problem formulations. The conclusion was done by relating all data into
general statement.
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this chapter the writer will answer the questions as stated in chapter
I through the analysis below. This chapter covers two part of analysis. The
first part will answer the question about the characteristics of Dona Maria’s
character. The second part will be the analysis on how Dona Maria sees hope
in her life by having such characteristic.
A. The characteristics of Dona Maria
In order to find the characteristics of Dona Maria’s character, the
writer begins with using M. J M