Analysis of Theme through the Social Conflicts in Mary McGarry Morris's A Dangerous Woman.
ABSTRACT
Tugas Akhir ini ditulis untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat kelulusan program
sarjana di Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Kristen Maranatha.
Dalam Tugas Akhir ini saya menganalisis tema dari novel A Dangerous Woman
karya Mary McGarry Morris melalui konflik sosial yang dialami oleh tokoh utama
yang menderita Sindrom Asperger.
A Dangerous Woman adalah sebuah novel yang menceritakan seorang tokoh
bernama Martha, seorang wanita berusia 32 tahun yang menderita Sindrom Asperger.
Karena Sindrom ini, ia berpikir dan bertindak berbeda dari orang-orang di sekitarnya
sehingga ia mengalami konflik dalam bersosialisasi. Ia berkonflik dengan John,
atasannya; Birdy, temannya; Mercy, rekan kerjanya; dan Frances, bibinya. Ia pun
menjadi korban dari orang-orang tersebut karena mereka tidak mengerti mengapa
Martha melakukan hal-hal yang begitu berbeda dari mereka.
Setelah menganalisis konflik-konflik yang dialami Martha dalam novel ini,
dapat disimpulkan bahwa orang-orang yang memiliki kelainan seringkali dianggap
aneh, dijauhi dan bahkan menjadi korban dari masyarakat itu sendiri.
ii
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
..........................................
i
ABSTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Purpose of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Method of Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Organization of the Thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
2
3
3
3
CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF THEME THROUGH THE SOCIAL
CONFLICTS IN MARY MCGARRY MORRIS’S
A DANGEROUS WOMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
BIBLIOGRAPHY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
APPENDICES
Synopsis of A Dangerous Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Biography of the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
i
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Mary McGarry Morris is a twentieth-century American novelist who is
claimed to be “one of the most skillful new writers at work in America today”
(Hubbard). She has written 6 novels, such as Vanished, Fiona Range, and The
Lost Mother. I am interested in analyzing her second novel, A Dangerous Woman.
The reason I choose A Dangerous Woman is that the author could create a unique
character in her story, as stated in the following quotation: “. . . Mary McGarry
Morris has created a diverse novel with many twists and turns! Accompanied by a
diverse cast of characters, A Dangerous Woman is a novel to read!” (Budd).
Morris believes that people in real life have different characteristics from
one another. She states that she is “interested in people” and that she “finds them
fascinating” (Hubbard). By looking at this statement, I think that is why she likes
making stories about people. In A Dangerous Woman, she says that, “With
Martha, who is intelligent enough to understand that she is ostracized, I wanted to
explore what an awful awareness that must be” (Hubbard). Morris has been
1
Maranatha Christian University
through different childhood experiences compared to any other children of her age
and that makes her “often feels set apart” (Hubbard). With all her experience and
observation, she is interested in making stories with mentally disturbed characters
in her novels. In A Dangerous Woman, Martha, the protagonist is having Asperger
Syndrome. Asperger Syndrome is defined as “a sociological disorder classified as
a very unique and misunderstood syndrome in the autism spectrum” (“Traits,
Diagnosis, and Social Aspects of Asperger Syndrome”).
In my thesis, I decide to elaborate the theme through the social conflicts
because the social conflicts in this novel make me see that people with mental
disabilities are often misunderstood and misjudged. According to William
Kenney, “Theme, then, is the total meaning discovered by the writer in the
process of writing and by the reader in the process of reading” (94) There are
three types of conflicts, which are social conflict, psychological conflict, and
physical conflict. Social conflict is defined as “a struggle between man and man”,
psychological conflict is “a struggle between desires within a person”, and
physical conflict is “a struggle between man and the physical world” (Shaw 91).
This explanation helps me understand more of the meaning of theme and social
conflict as I would like to analyze the theme through the social conflicts.
Statement of the Problem
In order to analyze the novel, I state the problems as follow:
1. What is the theme of the novel?
2. How do the social conflicts help to reveal the theme?
2
Maranatha Christian University
Purpose of the Study
The study is done to show:
1. The theme of the novel.
2. How the social conflicts help to reveal the theme.
Method of Research
The method I use is library research. I start by reading the novel, A
Dangerous Woman. Then, I analyze the novel by using formalism. I take some
references and resources from the Internet and books to support my analysis.
Finally, I draw conclusion from my analysis.
Organization of the Thesis
I divide the thesis into three chapters. In the first chapter, I present the
Introduction, which contains the Background of the Study, the Statement of the
Problem, the Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research, and the Organization
of the Thesis. The second chapter is the Analysis of Theme through the Social
Conflicts t in Mary McGarry Morris’s A Dangerous Woman. The third chapter is
the Conclusion. The thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices, which
include the Synopsis of the Novel and the Biography of the Author.
3
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
After having read the novel and analyzed the social conflicts in Mary
McGarry Morris’s A Dangerous Woman, I can see that society often misjudges
someone because one acts differently due to one’s disabilities.
In the novel, the major character, Martha is described as someone who has
difficulty to socialize with her surrounding because she suffers from Asperger
Syndrome. Instead of socializing with them, she in fact is involved in conflicts
which make her the victim in the end.
The source of the conflicts is actually Martha’s reactions towards
something. She has different ways in expressing her feelings that sometimes
cannot be understood by the society. It is shown in the first conflict with her boss.
Martha’s action when she tells the truth makes her boss upset, while she only tries
to do what she thinks is right by being honest. However, her action is not
acceptable and she becomes the victim when she gets the layoff notice.
In another conflict that happened in a party that is held by her friend’s
sister, Martha cannot control her emotions and becomes angry instead of
15
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communicating what she wants to say properly. This behaviour cannot be
understood by people around Martha and it makes her unable to be friends with
them. They cannot accept her attitude with the result that she is no longer invited
to any party or social meetings because they do not want Martha to spoil the fun.
It is a disadvantage for Martha and again she becomes the victim due to people’s
opinion about her.
Different case happens when Martha thinks that she finally has a best
friend. She cares so much that she does not know it becomes an obsession which
makes her lose her only friend. When she tries to do her best as a friend, her
intention is seen as a disturbance.
Martha also gets into a conflict with her aunt because she cannot control
her emotion. Her fear of being yelled at by her aunt makes her action
uncontrolable when a little girl accidentally breaks one of the porcelains in her
aunt’s house. She does not know that her action makes her aunt lose an employee
and makes her even mad at Martha.
Basically, all of the conflicts happen because the society do not understand
why Martha acts or does everything differently. They do not know that her
Asperger Syndrome makes her unable to control her emotion, her obsession, or
even unable to find the right moment to reveal the truth. All the conflicts that
happen between Martha and the people around her are resolved with Martha as the
victim because every one does not understand her being an Asperger.
In the novel, the author presents every conflict in a clear and systematic
way which makes the readers realize why Martha is involved in those conflicts
with the society because of her being an Asperger. The author also describes
16
Maranatha Christian University
Martha’s reactions and lets the readers know what is on her mind that is not
known by the characters in the novel. Due to their ignorance towards Martha’s
being an Asperger, they misunderstand Martha’s reactions and misjudge her
because of her actions. As the result, Martha becomes the victim. From the
conflicts that I have analyzed, I can conclude that the theme of the novel is
“People with mental disabilities are often misunderstood, misjudged by the
society and thus, become the victim of the society”.
I think that the theme is universal. It can happen to anyone in our
neighbourhood or around the world. When we see someone that is different from
us, we sometimes misjudge them because we do not understand the reason behind
it. Martha, the major character in the novel, suffers from Asperger Syndrome, but
actually there are many more of other mental disabilities that we do not know
about.
In the novel, it is shown how people think and react towards the action of
someone with a mental disability like Martha. They do not like to be around her as
they do not understand why she acts so differently. Moreover, they misjudge her
so that she becomes the victim of their actions. From reading the novel, I learn
that we had better find out and try to understand why people with mental
disabilities are different from us, instead of judging and avoiding them. We have
to be aware of the fact that their having mental disabilities is not their choice.
17
Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text
Morris, Mary McGarry. A Dangerous Woman. New York: Penguin Group Viking
Penguin, 1991. Print.
References
Budd, Kelly. “Interesting and Compelling.” Amazon. 26 July 2001. Web. 12 Apr
2008.
Hubbard, Kim. “No One Calls Her a Dangerous Woman, but Mary McGarry Morris
Makes Her Mark with Tales That End in Violence.” People Magazine, Vol. 35,
no. 14. 15 April 1991. Web. 10 Apr 2010.
Kenney, William. How To Analyze Fiction. New York: Monarch Press, 1966. Print.
“List of Possible Characteristics of a Person with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS), High
Functioning Autism (HFA) or Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not
Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)”. Web. 23 Mar 2011.
“Mary McGarry Morris”. 2013. Web. 16 Apr 2013.
Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972. Print.
“Traits, Diagnosis, amd Social Aspects of Asperger Syndrome.” Web. 23 Mar 2011.
18
Maranatha Christian University
Tugas Akhir ini ditulis untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat kelulusan program
sarjana di Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Kristen Maranatha.
Dalam Tugas Akhir ini saya menganalisis tema dari novel A Dangerous Woman
karya Mary McGarry Morris melalui konflik sosial yang dialami oleh tokoh utama
yang menderita Sindrom Asperger.
A Dangerous Woman adalah sebuah novel yang menceritakan seorang tokoh
bernama Martha, seorang wanita berusia 32 tahun yang menderita Sindrom Asperger.
Karena Sindrom ini, ia berpikir dan bertindak berbeda dari orang-orang di sekitarnya
sehingga ia mengalami konflik dalam bersosialisasi. Ia berkonflik dengan John,
atasannya; Birdy, temannya; Mercy, rekan kerjanya; dan Frances, bibinya. Ia pun
menjadi korban dari orang-orang tersebut karena mereka tidak mengerti mengapa
Martha melakukan hal-hal yang begitu berbeda dari mereka.
Setelah menganalisis konflik-konflik yang dialami Martha dalam novel ini,
dapat disimpulkan bahwa orang-orang yang memiliki kelainan seringkali dianggap
aneh, dijauhi dan bahkan menjadi korban dari masyarakat itu sendiri.
ii
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
..........................................
i
ABSTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Purpose of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Method of Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Organization of the Thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
2
3
3
3
CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF THEME THROUGH THE SOCIAL
CONFLICTS IN MARY MCGARRY MORRIS’S
A DANGEROUS WOMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
BIBLIOGRAPHY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
APPENDICES
Synopsis of A Dangerous Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Biography of the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
i
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Mary McGarry Morris is a twentieth-century American novelist who is
claimed to be “one of the most skillful new writers at work in America today”
(Hubbard). She has written 6 novels, such as Vanished, Fiona Range, and The
Lost Mother. I am interested in analyzing her second novel, A Dangerous Woman.
The reason I choose A Dangerous Woman is that the author could create a unique
character in her story, as stated in the following quotation: “. . . Mary McGarry
Morris has created a diverse novel with many twists and turns! Accompanied by a
diverse cast of characters, A Dangerous Woman is a novel to read!” (Budd).
Morris believes that people in real life have different characteristics from
one another. She states that she is “interested in people” and that she “finds them
fascinating” (Hubbard). By looking at this statement, I think that is why she likes
making stories about people. In A Dangerous Woman, she says that, “With
Martha, who is intelligent enough to understand that she is ostracized, I wanted to
explore what an awful awareness that must be” (Hubbard). Morris has been
1
Maranatha Christian University
through different childhood experiences compared to any other children of her age
and that makes her “often feels set apart” (Hubbard). With all her experience and
observation, she is interested in making stories with mentally disturbed characters
in her novels. In A Dangerous Woman, Martha, the protagonist is having Asperger
Syndrome. Asperger Syndrome is defined as “a sociological disorder classified as
a very unique and misunderstood syndrome in the autism spectrum” (“Traits,
Diagnosis, and Social Aspects of Asperger Syndrome”).
In my thesis, I decide to elaborate the theme through the social conflicts
because the social conflicts in this novel make me see that people with mental
disabilities are often misunderstood and misjudged. According to William
Kenney, “Theme, then, is the total meaning discovered by the writer in the
process of writing and by the reader in the process of reading” (94) There are
three types of conflicts, which are social conflict, psychological conflict, and
physical conflict. Social conflict is defined as “a struggle between man and man”,
psychological conflict is “a struggle between desires within a person”, and
physical conflict is “a struggle between man and the physical world” (Shaw 91).
This explanation helps me understand more of the meaning of theme and social
conflict as I would like to analyze the theme through the social conflicts.
Statement of the Problem
In order to analyze the novel, I state the problems as follow:
1. What is the theme of the novel?
2. How do the social conflicts help to reveal the theme?
2
Maranatha Christian University
Purpose of the Study
The study is done to show:
1. The theme of the novel.
2. How the social conflicts help to reveal the theme.
Method of Research
The method I use is library research. I start by reading the novel, A
Dangerous Woman. Then, I analyze the novel by using formalism. I take some
references and resources from the Internet and books to support my analysis.
Finally, I draw conclusion from my analysis.
Organization of the Thesis
I divide the thesis into three chapters. In the first chapter, I present the
Introduction, which contains the Background of the Study, the Statement of the
Problem, the Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research, and the Organization
of the Thesis. The second chapter is the Analysis of Theme through the Social
Conflicts t in Mary McGarry Morris’s A Dangerous Woman. The third chapter is
the Conclusion. The thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices, which
include the Synopsis of the Novel and the Biography of the Author.
3
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
After having read the novel and analyzed the social conflicts in Mary
McGarry Morris’s A Dangerous Woman, I can see that society often misjudges
someone because one acts differently due to one’s disabilities.
In the novel, the major character, Martha is described as someone who has
difficulty to socialize with her surrounding because she suffers from Asperger
Syndrome. Instead of socializing with them, she in fact is involved in conflicts
which make her the victim in the end.
The source of the conflicts is actually Martha’s reactions towards
something. She has different ways in expressing her feelings that sometimes
cannot be understood by the society. It is shown in the first conflict with her boss.
Martha’s action when she tells the truth makes her boss upset, while she only tries
to do what she thinks is right by being honest. However, her action is not
acceptable and she becomes the victim when she gets the layoff notice.
In another conflict that happened in a party that is held by her friend’s
sister, Martha cannot control her emotions and becomes angry instead of
15
Maranatha Christian University
communicating what she wants to say properly. This behaviour cannot be
understood by people around Martha and it makes her unable to be friends with
them. They cannot accept her attitude with the result that she is no longer invited
to any party or social meetings because they do not want Martha to spoil the fun.
It is a disadvantage for Martha and again she becomes the victim due to people’s
opinion about her.
Different case happens when Martha thinks that she finally has a best
friend. She cares so much that she does not know it becomes an obsession which
makes her lose her only friend. When she tries to do her best as a friend, her
intention is seen as a disturbance.
Martha also gets into a conflict with her aunt because she cannot control
her emotion. Her fear of being yelled at by her aunt makes her action
uncontrolable when a little girl accidentally breaks one of the porcelains in her
aunt’s house. She does not know that her action makes her aunt lose an employee
and makes her even mad at Martha.
Basically, all of the conflicts happen because the society do not understand
why Martha acts or does everything differently. They do not know that her
Asperger Syndrome makes her unable to control her emotion, her obsession, or
even unable to find the right moment to reveal the truth. All the conflicts that
happen between Martha and the people around her are resolved with Martha as the
victim because every one does not understand her being an Asperger.
In the novel, the author presents every conflict in a clear and systematic
way which makes the readers realize why Martha is involved in those conflicts
with the society because of her being an Asperger. The author also describes
16
Maranatha Christian University
Martha’s reactions and lets the readers know what is on her mind that is not
known by the characters in the novel. Due to their ignorance towards Martha’s
being an Asperger, they misunderstand Martha’s reactions and misjudge her
because of her actions. As the result, Martha becomes the victim. From the
conflicts that I have analyzed, I can conclude that the theme of the novel is
“People with mental disabilities are often misunderstood, misjudged by the
society and thus, become the victim of the society”.
I think that the theme is universal. It can happen to anyone in our
neighbourhood or around the world. When we see someone that is different from
us, we sometimes misjudge them because we do not understand the reason behind
it. Martha, the major character in the novel, suffers from Asperger Syndrome, but
actually there are many more of other mental disabilities that we do not know
about.
In the novel, it is shown how people think and react towards the action of
someone with a mental disability like Martha. They do not like to be around her as
they do not understand why she acts so differently. Moreover, they misjudge her
so that she becomes the victim of their actions. From reading the novel, I learn
that we had better find out and try to understand why people with mental
disabilities are different from us, instead of judging and avoiding them. We have
to be aware of the fact that their having mental disabilities is not their choice.
17
Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text
Morris, Mary McGarry. A Dangerous Woman. New York: Penguin Group Viking
Penguin, 1991. Print.
References
Budd, Kelly. “Interesting and Compelling.” Amazon. 26 July 2001. Web. 12 Apr
2008.
Hubbard, Kim. “No One Calls Her a Dangerous Woman, but Mary McGarry Morris
Makes Her Mark with Tales That End in Violence.” People Magazine, Vol. 35,
no. 14. 15 April 1991. Web. 10 Apr 2010.
Kenney, William. How To Analyze Fiction. New York: Monarch Press, 1966. Print.
“List of Possible Characteristics of a Person with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS), High
Functioning Autism (HFA) or Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not
Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)”. Web. 23 Mar 2011.
“Mary McGarry Morris”. 2013. Web. 16 Apr 2013.
Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972. Print.
“Traits, Diagnosis, amd Social Aspects of Asperger Syndrome.” Web. 23 Mar 2011.
18
Maranatha Christian University