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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of background of the study, problem formulation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and definition of terms. Background
of the study elaborates why Tortilla Flat is worth studying. Problem formulation exposes questions to analyze the novel mentioned above. The purpose of the study
is described in the objectives of the study. The last part of this chapter which is definition of terms shows the readers some keywords to avoid misunderstanding
and misinterpretation.
A. Background of the Study
As human beings, we cannot live alone. We need to interact with others, share our feelings with others, and even we seek our happiness together with
others. Becvar 1974 says that “the greatest source of satisfaction in living is often f
ound in relationships with other persons” p. 1. It means that we cannot avoid having a relationship with other people in this world. We do this because
we want to be satisfied or happy. One of many ways to achieve it is by building a friendship.
Baron and Byrne 1997 say that friendship is “a relationship in which friends spend a great deal of time together, interact in a variety of situations,
2 exclude others from the relationship, and provide emotional support to one
another” p. 278. It means when we make a friend, we spend our time to interact with our friends whatever the topics of the conversations are. We can talk about
education, movie, hobbies, even problems with our friends. Frequently we talk about our problems to our friends to get suggestion or solution because we trust
them. We do this because we want to get an emotional support from them. However, the phenomenon of having friends does not suddenly happen.
Beebe, Beebe, and Redmond 1996 say that a friend is “someone whom we choose to be with, not someone we associate with because we have to” p. 412.
We realize that making friendship is a matter of choice to share good or bad times with people we have chosen. So, there is no enforcement between the people to
make friends. If we like them and they like us, we can be friends. We can only have the good friendship if we build the friendship gradually.
People build a friendship because they have reasons behind it. According to Will Schutz in Beebe et al 1996 there are three reasons why people build the
friendship. They are “need for inclusion”, “need for control”, and “need for affection” p. 413. Need for inclusion means that people have friends because
they want to be included and to include in any activities that people do. It makes sense because people need to have interaction with others. Then, need for control
means that people need to control and be controlled by others to achieve stability and comfort in having interactions with others. The last, need for affection means
that people need to love and be loved by others. In this case, people also need to give and accept warmth, support, and intimacy.
3 The phenomenon of friendship can also be portrayed in literary work such
as novel. Novels can portray things in people‟s daily life that can be relatable to
the readers‟ facts like friendship. According to Rohrberger and Woods 1971, novel “reports the actions of individual characters with details sufficient and
abundant to create the illusion of authenticity to the material facts of the everyday world p. 29. It means that the story in a novel
raises people‟s daily life including friendship. There are many novels which present friendship as the theme. One of
the best novels that discuss friendship was written by John Steinbeck entitled Tortilla Flat
. Tortilla Flat
tells about six paisanos who live together in Monterey. They are Danny, Pilon, Pablo, Jesus Maria, the Pirate, and Big Joe. The story begins
when Danny inherits two houses from his grandfather where he and his friends go to live. He rents one of his houses to Pilon. Then, Pilon re-
rents Danny‟s house to Pablo to pay the ren
t to Danny. Since Pablo knows Pilon‟s intention, both of them sublet their house to Jesus Maria. However, the house is burned down because of
Pablo‟s candle, which is dedicated to St. Francis. After the accident, they live in Danny‟s house. One day, Pilon invites the Pirate, a mentally handicapped man
who has five dogs to stay at Dannys house. The last one, Big Joe, joins to stay in Danny‟s house after he is released from the jail.
The six paisanos stay at Danny‟s house and share wine together every day. T
hey build a friendship as they join staying in Danny‟s house one by one. Their friendship becomes stronger when they face problems. Through hard days and
their adventures, the friendship develops and grows to be beautiful and wise. The PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
4 Pirate‟s bag of money becomes the symbolic centre of their friendship. They
guard the Pirate‟s money until the Pirate reaches one thousand quarters and buys a golden candlestick for St. Francis.
The good life in Danny‟s house leads the paisanos to discuss town gossip and enjoy the sun on their front porch. However, the monotonous life in Monterey
makes Danny bored. He is gone for many days and back in a listless condition. Then, Pilon and the other four paisanos make a party to cheer Danny up. Danny
enjoys the party for a while, but suddenly he is mad and gone. He is found died in a watercourse by Pilon and Pablo.
Danny‟s funeral is attended by everyone in Tortilla Flat, except Pilon, the Pirate, Pablo, Jesus Maria, and Big Joe. They
cannot attend it because they do not have appropriate suits. They watch the funeral from afar. In the night, Danny‟s friends talk about their memories of
Danny and unintentionally Pilon‟s match burns the house. They let the house
burnt and after that, they disintegrate. The researcher chose the novel because it portrays daily life that is
friendship. Since friendship is experienced by everyone, it was interesting to study the novel that is so close with their life. Besides, the relation between the
characters is unique and interesting. It is so because usually people become friends since they have similarities that tie them. For instance, people are friends
because they have same hobbies such as reading, cycling, and traveling. However, the paisanos‟ friendship is different. The six paisanos can build friendship
although there are differences among them. For example, Danny likes fighting, Pilon likes cheating, and the Pirate likes working. However, their differences do
5 not matter for them. They can still be friends. Moreover, they can live together in
Danny‟s house. Therefore, the researcher wanted to analyze the reasons of some characters for building their friendship. The researcher chose to reveal Pilon
‟s and the Pirate
‟s reasons for building their friendship because they have a close relationship although they just met recently. That is why the researcher was eager
to reveal the reasons why Pilon and the Pirate become close in a short of period.
B. Problem Formulation
