The messages of humanity revealed through Eliot`s view on humanity as seen in Kurt Vonnegut, JR`S God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls before swine.

THE MESSAGES OF HUMANITY REVEALED THROUGH

ELIOT’S VIEW ON HU

MANITY AS SEEN IN KURT

VONNEGUT,

JR’S

GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER, OR

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

Muhammad Yanuariska Fajar Permana Student Number: 124214125

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

ii

THE MESSAGES OF HUMANITY REVEALED THROUGH

ELIOT

’S VIEW ON HUM

ANITY AS SEEN IN KURT

VONNEGUT,

JR’S

GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER, OR

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

Muhammad Yanuariska Fajar Permana Student Number: 124214125

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

vii

IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW SLOW

YOU GO AS LONG AS YOU DON’T

STOP

-

viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to send my greatest gratitude and praise to Allah SWT and Prophet Muhammad SAW who give me strength, health, and guidance, so I can finish my thesis. I would like to thank the following people: Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. for the time to assist and guide me to complete

this thesis with his ideas and suggestions, and Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum.as

my co-advisor for reviewing this thesis regarding the content of this thesis and recommending some revisions. Besides, I also thank all lecturers of the English Letters Study Program for giving me valuable knowledge during my study in English Letters.

My deep gratitude also goes to my beloved family: my beloved father, Alm. Soegiyono Sjakbani, may Allah SWT give you a peaceful rest, and my mother, Siti Latifah, for giving me endless support and love. To my brother and sister, I thank for the support so that I can finish this undergraduate thesis.

I would also give a ton of thanks to Oka, Rakha, Arsvin, Ali Faisal, Donny Janu, Ajie Wibowo, Randy Wardhana, Hanif Isfahani, Kurniawan Agung, Rellyo Hersoma, Dwigo, Christo, Gatot, Ikhsan, Noven, Anthony, Satrio, Dryan, Gusnanputra, Kevin John, Asmara, Alex, Ino, Satya, Niko, Wisnu, Andi Malolo, Hadrian, Amos, Dyda, Shuko, Ega, Hanif, Vicky, Diantama, Arif Purnomo Aji, Umar Haen, Aziz, and Agum Saputro for always being by my side in good or bad circumstances and for every companion and togetherness.

ix

Also I deliver personal thanks to Rozalina Heriansyah, Angeline Rebecca, Pradina Fitryannisa, Sitoresmi Kriswardani, Julyan Adhitama, and Thesalonica Gita for supporting me to write and finish this thesis since forever.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ... ii

APPROVAL PAGE ... iii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ... iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ... v

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... vi

MOTTO PAGE ... vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... x

ABSTRACT ... xi

ABSTRAK ... xii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1

A. Background of the Study ... 1

B. Problem Formulation ... 3

C. Objectives of the Study ... 3

D. Definition of Terms ... 4

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ... 6

A. Review of Related Studies ... 6

B. Review of Related Theories ... 8

a. Theories of Character and Characterization ... 8

b. Theory of Humanity ... 12

c. Theory of Message ... 13

C. Theoretical Framework ... 14

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... 16

A. Object of the Study... 16

B. Approach of the Study ... 17

C. Method of the Study ... 18

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ... 21

A. Eliot’s Character Characterized Based on His View on Humanity ... 21

B. The Messages Revealed through Eliot’s View on Humanity ... 36

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 44

BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 46

xi ABSTRACT

PERMANA, MUHAMMAD YANUARISKA FAJAR. The Messages of

Humanity Revealed through Eliot's View on Humanity as Seen in Kurt Vonnegut, JR's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2017.

This study discusses the message that was revealed by the main character in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Pearls before Swine, a novel which was published in 1965 written by an American writer named Kurt Vonnegut.

Two research problems are formulated in this study. The first is to find the characteristics of Eliot as the main character based on his view on humanity. the second is to find the message that is revealed from the way of Eliot views on humanity.

This study uses new criticism as the approach in analyzing the text content of the work. This approach emphasizes the intrinsic elements of the work. The

primary source of this study is a novel titled God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or

Pearls Before Swine by Kurt Vonnegut. The secondary source of this research consists of books, journals, and articles discussing theories or reviews about new criticism approach, character and characterization, humanity, and messages. Then, the researcher applies these theories to answer all the formulated problems.

The results of this analysis are as follows. The main character in the story of Eliot Rosewater is described as a sympathetic person. In the past, he accidentally killed three unarmed men, therefore he was feeling guilty. Later, because of his own feeling guilty in the past, he wants to atone by helping each

other people who are less fortunate. Eliot’s sympathetic also described as a

attentive. His attentive is shown by being a good listener. Besides, Eliot also describes as an indiscriminate, a person who does not sort out for helping each other. By the way of Eliot views on humanity, the messages are revealed that as human beings, we have to help each other. Human being should share to those people who are in need. Money is not the one thing we need, but love, caring, and understanding.

xii ABSTRAK

PERMANA, MUHAMMAD YANUARISKA FAJAR. The Messages of

Humanity Revealed through Eliot's View on Humanity as Seen in Kurt Vonnegut, JR's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2017.

Studi ini membahas pesan yang terungkap dari karakter utama dalam God

Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Pearls Before Swine, sebuah novel yang diterbitkan pada tahun 1965 karya penulis Amerika bernama Kurt Vonnegut.

Dua masalah telah dirumuskan dalam penelitian ini. Pertama adalah menemukan karakteristik dari Eliot sebagai tokoh utama yang menggambarkan cara pandang dia dalam kemanusiaan. Kedua adalah menemukan pesan yang terungkap dari cara Eliot memandang kemanusiaan.

Penelitian ini menggunakan kritik sastra baru sebagai metode pendekatan dalam menganalisis isi teks karya tersebut. Pendekatan ini menekankan pada elemen intrinsik dari karya tersebut. Sumber utama penelitian ini adalah novel

berjudul God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Pearls Before Swine oleh Kurt

Vonnegut. Sumber sekunder dari penelitian ini adalah buku, jurnal, dan artikel yang membahas teori atau ulasan mengenai pendekatan kritik sastra baru, tokoh dan penokohan, kemanusiaan, dan pesan. Penulis lalu mengaplikasikan teori-teori tersebut untuk menjawab semua rumusan masalah.

Hasil analisis penelitian ini adalah sebagai berikut. Tokoh utama Eliot Rosewater dalam cerita dideskripsikan sebagai orang yang simpatik. Pada masa lalu, dia tidak sengaja membunuh tiga orang tak bersenjata, oleh sebab itu dia merasa bersalah. Akhirnya karena rasa bersalahnya pada masa lalu dia ingin menebus dosa dengan cara membantu orang lain yang kurang beruntung. Sifat simpatik Eliot juga di deskripsikan sebagai orang yang penuh perhatian. Sifatnya ditunjukkannya dengan menjadi pendengar yang baik. Selain itu, Eliot juga dideskripsikan sebagai orang yang tidak memilah-milah dalam membantu orang lain. Dari cara Eliot memandang kemanusiaan ada beberapa pesan yang terungkap, yaitu sebagai manusia kita harus saling membantu. Sebagai manusia harus berbagi kepada orang yang membutuhkan. Uang bukan satu-satunya yang kita butuhkan, akan tetapi cinta, kepedulian, dan pengertian.

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

A piece of literature cannot be separated from its author. An author observes and writes problems which exist in their society. It is often used to express his/her feeling whether to criticize, appreciate, or just express a personal experience that happen from time to time. The authors express their feelings or imagination through the literary works such as poems, drama, and novels.

One of the literary works that is worth to analyze is a novel. The novel is

imaginative literature which has been invented by the author’s imagination.

Abrams states that

the term "novel" is now applied to a great variety of writings that have in

common only the attribute of being extended works of fiction written in

prose. As an extended narrative, the novel is distinguished from the short

story and from the work of middle length called the novelette; its magnitude permits a greater variety of characters, greater complication of plot (or plots), ampler development of milieu, and more sustained exploration of character and motives than do the shorter, more concentrated modes (1999: 190).

The representation of human beings found in novel contains several important messages related to humanity. Through the novel the reader can understand the problems that exist in the society today. The novel also can enrich the reader values of the human being. Furthermore, Barry explains that

the purpose of literature is essentially the enhancement of life and the propagation of human values; but not in a programmatic way; if literature, and criticism, become overtly and directly political they necessarily tend towards propaganda (2002: 21).

In this thesis, the researcher wants to analyze one of the novels by the

author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., God Bless You, Mr.Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine.

There are several reasons that make the researcher choose this novel for this study. First, the literary works of Vonnegut mostly talk about love and human being or humanity. Then, it becomes the characteristics of his style in writing a story such as novel that he emphasizes the idea about his life experience or the social issues. Second, it is the way of Vonnegut represent between love and humanity through the main character in this story with some addition of sarcasm and humor in the words chosen.

In God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine the storycenters on the fortune of a philanthropic multi-million dollar organization, the Rosewater Foundation with Eliot Rosewater as the main character of the novel and the president of the foundation. At first, he spends the family fortune in donating money to fight cancer, mental illness, race prejudice, police brutality, and countless other miseries.

There is a clause in the Foundation stating that if the president of the Foundation is judged insane, the control of the Foundation must be shifted to the nearest blood relative, in this case, Fred Rosewater of Pisquontuit, Rhode Island. From his office in Rosewater, Eliot answers phone calls and accepts visitors that need his help, it could be financial or merely his listening ear. Eliot is simply giving people money and sending them to their way. He listens to their problems, hopes, and dreams. He focuses on the needs of the poor with a private and personal response instead of public and impersonal one.

Senator Rosewater or Eliot’s father just seems to fundamentally

misunderstand what his son is trying to accomplish in Rosewater. Eliot’s father

seems to think that Eliot's mission to bring love to the people of Rosewater is some sort of egotistical project; he is clearly suspicious of Eliot's capacity to love all people solely for their humanity.

In this study, the researcher chooses God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or

Pearls Before Swine because Kurt Vonnegut tends to draw the message through the humanity. The researcher tries to explore the message through the character, the character’s idea of humanity in the novel, because the researcher wants to get the message. Messages and characters are two of some important elements of literary works. Messages can give moral value to the readers. Characters are also important elements because without characters, the story will not be a complete. Therefore the researcher limits the study focusing only on the character and message which are closely related to new criticism.

B. Problem Formulation

1. How is Eliot’s character characterized based on his view on humanity?

2. What messages are revealed through the way Eliot views humanity?

C. Objectives of the Study

By observing the problem formulation above, there are two objetives of

this study to be achieved. First, the researcher finds out Eliot’s characteristic, the

main character of Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine, who characterizes the view of humanity. Second, the researcher reveals the possible message through the way Eliot views humanity. The analysis

of the characteristics of Eliot, his views on humanity, and the messages are presented in chapter IV of this study.

D. Definition of Terms

The followings are the important terms used in this study to be clarified to provide an accurate analysis and a clearer explanation in order to avoid confusion and misunderstanding. The important terms used in this study are the message, character, and humanity.

Message is one of the other elements in literary works. A message in literary is sometimes explicit and sometimes implicit. A message often gives a lesson to the readers as a human being which is the lesson that is exists in the society. Barry states that literature is overwhelmingly moral; its purpose is to teach us about life, to transmit humane values (2002: 20).

Characters are the important elements of literature because they inhabit

the story and build the reader’s interest. Abrams says that characters are the

persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their distinctive ways of

saying it—the dialogue— and from what they do—the action (1999: 32).

According to Kennedy, “character is imagined person who involved in a story”. Kennedy also states that characters in the story can be divided into two

types, namely the major character and minor character. “The major character

Meanwhile, minor character that supports and complete the existence of the major

character” (1983: 45).

Humanity means the quality or state being kind to other people or to animals. Debbarma states that humanity is to achieve unity among the living and non-living creatures of the world with the preservation of historical, ethnic and cultural differences as well as the distinctiveness of nation states and communities. Such human unity can be driven home only by recognizing human values such as truth, kindness, benevolence, peace, love, dignity, respect, forgiveness, etc (2014:2).

6 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

In this part, the researcher tries to use the review of other related studies or article that have previously been done by other researcher.

In the beginning of review of related studies, the researcher found a paper

which is related to this study, the title of the paper is “Messages Conveyed in The

Blind Pig Related to Jackson’s View on Crime World: A New Criticism Study” by Alstonia Epafras (2008) from Sanata Dharma University. In his study, Epafras explains messages from the way Jon A. Jackson as the author view crime through the characters and setting.

Epafras has two purposes in writing his thesis. First, Efapras wants to find the idea that represent the author view on crime as revealed by analyzing the characters and setting. Second, Efapras wants to know the message in the novel that related to the author views on crime.

Efapras’s research insipires the researcher to apply the theory of characterization to get the messages of the literary work. The differences of this study to Efapras’s is that this study explores theory of characterization and theory

of humanity to explain clearly about the Eliot’s characteristic that characterized

his view on humanity. In his study, Efapras wrote about messages which revealed by the author views on crime. Thus, he also mentions about the author’s biography. Meanwhile, this study limits the analysis only by analyzing the

characteristics and messages that revealed on the text on the work itself without concerning the author’s biography.

The researcher finds some criticism and comments on Kurt Vonnegut’s

work. Robert T. Tally, Jr, A Postmodern Iconography: Vonnegut and the Great

American Novel said that all Vonnegut novels express an image of American life and the idea of the humanities.

Vonnegut's novels present a sprawling image of the multiplicity of American life, expressing the human, all-too-human, condition of its varied inhabitants (2011: 164).

Another related study comes from Matthew Praxmarer untitled Kurt

Vonnegut's Early Novels: Searching for Meaning in a Meaningless World. He stated that Vonnegut’s work concerned about society's problems which face the modern era. Through the novel Vonnegut continuously warns humankind of our worst misbehaviors, from war and poverty to political corruption. He is sometimes understood as nihilist, and scholars like Peter J. Reed argues that Vonnegut’s cynicism and nihilism constitute his main theme. However, Vonnegut is working to warn humankind of our worst follies before it is too late. (2011:80).

As seen in the Vonnegut’s novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Pearls before Swine which is Eliot Rosewater as he inheriting a fortune as a president of the foundation that the interesting sums about 87 million dollars, he did help the poverty and the uselessness people. As he imagine to creates a utopia country. Humanity must be empowered; life must be raised (2011: 59).

Then, the researcher also finds and reads an undergraduate thesis, which

Characters in Yasunari Kawabata’s Beauty and Sadness by Indarsih from Sanata

Dharma University. In her study, Indarsih draws some messages from the way the

characters view love in the novel. Indarsih’s study has three purposes in writing

her undergraduate thesis. Firstly, Linangkung wants to find the character and characterization in the novel. Secondly, she wants to describe the way the characters in the story view love. Thirdly, Indarsih wants to know the message which is revealed by the way the characters views love. She describes all the characters in the novel that have different characteristics and different views on love, but they are related to one another.

This undergraduate thesis has some similarity to Indarsih’s undergraduate

thesis in terms of message through the characters and the way the characters view. It reflects messages based on the characters, the way the characters view

something such as love. This thesis describes the main character’s characteristic.

However, the focus of this study has a different perspective from Indarsih’s thesis, which is viewing the humanity shown by Eliot Rosewater, and then drawing some messages from it.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theories of Character and Characterization

A character in a literary work is very important because a character is the one that inhabits the plot of the story and the one that brings the reader’s interpretation to understand the story itself. Green and LeBihan explain what a character means. Characters are engaged in a conventional arrangement, which will dictate their actions and to a certain extent their speech acts; and they are

attempting interpersonal dialogue in order to keep the communication channels between them open (2001: 31).

To talk about characters, Bennett and Royles define characters as real people and they explain that there are three requirements of a character to be called like real people.

The first requirement for such a character is to have a plausible name and to say and do things that seem convincingly like the kinds of things people

say and do in so-called ‘real life’. The second requirement is a certain

complexity. Without this complexity, a character appears merely ‘one -dimensional’, cardboard or (in E.M. Forster’s terms) ‘flat’ (Forster 1976, 73). To be life-like, a fictional character should have a number of different

traits – traits or qualities which may be conflicting or contradictory: he or

she should be, to some extent, unpredictable, his or her words and actions should appear to originate in multiple impulses. Thirdly, however, these tensions, contradictions, multiplicities should cohere in a single identity (2004: 62).

On the other hand, characters in the novel is divided into two categories. They are a major character and minor character. A major character mostly appears in the story. A major character according to Henkle, becomes the focus of the

story because major character inhabits the story itself and brings the reader’s

interpretation. The events of the story always involve him or her whether directly or indirectly. Meanwhile, the role of the minor character is as the supporting character from the major character. The major character has played on an important role in a story because he or she takes a part in most of the story (1977: 88). A minor character, according to Kennedy is supports and completes the

existence of the major character (1983: 45). In accordance with Kennedy’s

explanation, Abrams seems to agree with that explanation. The roles of the minor character are less important than the main character because he or she is not fully

developed characters and his or her roles in a story is just to support the development of the major character (1999: 20).

In the intrinsic elements, characters are the actors involved in the plot of the story, including their moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities. Abrams got new terms to distinguish the kind of character in a story. He introduced flat and round characters.

A flat character is a character of a single idea or quality and does not have much individualizing detail. A round character is a character of complex ideas in temperament and motivation and this character can surprise us just like the person in a real life (Abrams, 1999: 33).

Charactes are closely related with characterization. Characterization discusses the presence of people in the story in which it portrays on the character’s action, speech, or physical appearance. One character can be differentiated with another character because they have their own personality and physical attributes.

Murphy (1972: 161-173) explains some details of the way how to characterize a character in a novel. He explains through the nine ways in order to

make the reader aware in characterizing the character’s personality.

a. Personal Description

The author can describe a character’s appearance like the face, body, cloth of the character. The personal description is very important because it can give clues to the character.

b. Character as Seen by Another

Instead of describing a character directly the author can depict him thoroughly the eyes and opinions of another.

c. Speech

The author can give some clues or insight to the character through what the character says. Whenever the character is having a conversation with another, he or she indirectly gives a clue for the readers to interpret what their characteristic is.

d. Past Life

By permitting the readers learn something about people past life, the author can give some clues to the events that have helped to shape a person character.

e. Conversation of others

The author can also give the reader some clues to person’s character through the conversation of other people and the thing they say about him.

f. Reaction

The author can also give the readers some clues to a person’s character by

permitting us know how that person reacts to various situation and events. g. Direct Comment

The author can give the readers direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about what is the person’s mind and he feels reflect on his character. h. Thoughts

The author gives the reader direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about and it reflects his personality.

i. Mannerism

The character’s mannerism and habits in his or her life can describe the character’s personality.

2. Theory of Humanity

Based on the Webster’s New Explorer Encyclopedic Dictionary, humanity

means the quality or state of being kind to other people or to animals (2006: 980). That definition is being agreed by Debbarma in his journal.

It is believed that various global and national problems may be solved through the practical application of human values in every society. In order to fulfil this, goal humanity is to be considered as the highest value in the global human society. For, the test for humanity is to achieve unity among the living and non-living creatures of the world with the preservation of historical, ethnic and cultural differences as well as the distinctiveness of nation states and communities. Such human unity can be driven home only by recognizing human values such as truth, kindness, benevolence, peace, love, dignity, respect, forgiveness, etc (2014: 2). According to Dean, humanity must be treated as an inwardly goal. From another point of view the principle of humanity must be understood as a necessity of creating an efficient policy whose final goal is to reach the submission of the human rights. In the principle of humanity vision all human beings who suffer must be helped, wherever they are (2006: 79).

Moreover, Vanier (2007: 19) states that there are five principles of humanity. As follow:

a. All humans are sacred, whatever their culture, race, religion, whatever their capacities and incapacities, whatever their strengths and weaknesses may be. All of us need help in order to become all that we may be. For example, if we are going through a hard time in our life, we need all the help we can get in order to

find ourselves. We are all sacred and shouldn’t be treated differently for anything about us.

b. Our world and our individual lives are in the process of evolving, how we think about the way we looked at things in the past, and learning about how those things in the past live in the future. Things like peace, love, unity, and especially the necessity of forgiveness.

c. Maturity comes through working with others. We have to belong and find each other.

d. Humans need to be encouraged to make choices. We need to become responsible for ourselves and for the lives of others as well.

e. In order to make choices, we need to reflect and to seek truth and

meaning. We need to stay connected to our reality and what’s going on in our

world. We need to accept ourselves and others as we and they are.

3. Theory of Message

Message is one of elements of any work art that can be found intentionally or unintentionally. According to Beaty and Hunter a message is defined as the real meaning or some essay conclusion that can be simply stated or summarized inside work of art (1989: 899). It means that message is the main basic that can cover the whole idea of a certain work of art. It gives the illusion for the reader that certain literary work exist to attempt the readers to get the real meaning of life through the novel, drama, poem, etc.

According to Hudson, message is good when made by literary work itself. The good message is not about follow the rule or pattern about norm in society. But, a good message makes new pattern based on human values (1958: 23). A good message gives different perspective and understanding to people based on human values.

Every work of literature offers a message, and there are many messages conveyed. The kind of message that occurs in a literary work depends on the author’s belief, wish, and interest that want to be delivered to the readers. The messages are closely related to the problems in our daily life, such as attitude and behavior. The readers can find them in real life, in the same manner as they are reflected in the story through the characters.

C. Theoretical Framework

This is the part of the explanation on how the theories which have been mentioned before are applied in this study. Since the focus of this study is on the analysis of revealing the messages through the main character, Eliot Rosewater, in Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine. So, the researcher uses some books that consist of many theories to help in analyzing the story.

To analyze the first problem that is to find the main character in the novel, the researcher uses the theories from Abrams, Andre Bennett and Nicholas Royles, and Keith Green and Jill LeBihan. Their theory will help the researcher to

researcher to differentiate the character into two categories, the major character and minor character.

Abrams’s theory about character is also helpful to distinguish the complexity of the nature of the character, in which he introduces a flat and a round character. By using that theory, the researcher can analyze what kind of character Eliot Rosewater is and can also determine whether Eliot Rosewater is flat or round character.

To analyze the main character, the researcher need the knowledge on how to reveal the characteristics. Therefore, some theories of characterization are needed in the analysis to characterize the main character. The theories of characterization from Abrams and Murphy give various method characterization. Abrams explaines that the method of characterizing the main character is by showing and telling. The theory from Murphy is also used to gain the methods of characterization in which he explains the detail of how the character fiction is portrayed in nine ways.

Then, the theory of humanity is to show how the main character, Eliot

Rosewater, views humanity. So, by analyzing the main character’s view on

humanity, the researcher can draw some messages by applying the theory of message provided by Beaty, Hunter, and Hudson. Theresore, the researcher can identify the messages in the story.

16 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The literary work that the researcher analyzes in this study is Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine. The novel itself was first published in 1965 by Dial Press Trade Paperback. This novel

consists of 288 pages and is divided into 14 chapters. God Bless You,

Mr.Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine was written by an American author Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut in full Kurt Vonnegut, Jr was born in Indianapolis, November 11, 1922. As a teenager, Vonnegut wrote for his high school newspaper, and he continued the activity at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he majored in biochemistry. He was later employed as a public relations writer in New York, but his reservations about what he considered the deceitfulness of the profession led him to pursue fiction writing full-time. He was once a volunteer fireman in Alpaus, New York-Badge 155. He writes books, magazine pieces, and book reviews. The work of Kurt Vonnegut was known for his satirical novels that frequently used postmodern techniques as well as elements of fantasy and science fiction to highlight the horrors and ironies of

20th-century civilization. Much of Vonnegut’s work is marked by an essentially

(http://www.biography.com/people/kurt-vonnegut-9520329#later-years. January 23, 2017).

In God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine the story no ony centers on the title character, an eccentric philanthropist, but also introduces the writer Kilgore Trout, a fictional alter ego of Vonnegut who appears throughout his work. Furthermore, the story of the novel is a satirical story of a millionaire Eliot Rosewater, the president of a fabulously rich Rosewater Foundation, who suffers from total love for all humanity. He decides to go his own way and moves with his money to Rosewater, Indiana. There he becomes a volunteer fireman (one of his obsessions) and opens an office where he helps all people who need help

(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/books/12vonnegut.html. December 12,

2016).

In this study, the researcher focuses on the character and searches for the

message of the novel so that the reader understands the messages can get.

Therefore, by the explanation about the novel above, the researcher intends to

focus on the main characters’ thoughts and acts towards humanity to reveal the

message.

B. Approach of the Study

In this study, the researcher uses a new criticism approach because it is appropriate for this study, as the analysis of this study deals intrinsic elements of a literary work such as characters and messages. Harmon and Holman state that new criticism is generally concerned with finding the intrinsic worth of literature. It focuses on “the work of art as an object in itself” (2009: 337).

Green and LeBihan state that new criticism rejects the claims of the author

and focuses on ‘the words on the page’. The ‘meaning’ of a text is to be found in

the arrangement of the words of the text and not in other factors such as the reader’s psychology, the author’s intention or the historical context (2001: 186). Furthermore, Selden, Widdowson, and Brooker give their opinion about new criticism. They explain that issue as follows:

But whatever the socio-cultural explanations for its provenance, New Criticism is clearly characterized in premise and practice: it is not

concerned with context – historical, biographical, intellectual and so on; it

is not interested in the ‘fallacies’ of ‘intention’ or ‘affect’; it is concerned solely with the ‘text in itself’, with its language and organization; it does not seek a text’s ‘meaning’, but how it ‘speaks itself’ (2005: 19).

The researcher chooses the new criticism approach because messages, characters and characterization are parts of the intrinsic elements. The researcher does not deal with extrinsic elements such as the social-historical backgrounds of the literary work or the life of the author.

C. Method of the Study

There were many steps in analyzing this novel. In order to complete the analysis, the researcher used access from the internet and the library. There were two kinds of resources used in this study, the primary source and the secondary source.

The primary source of this study was the novel God Bless You, Mr.

Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine by Kurt Vonnegut. Meanwhile, the secondary source of this study was obtained from books and the internet related to the theory of character, theory of characterization, theory of humanity, theory of messages,

and theory of formalism. For example, Introduction to Literature, Criticism, and Theory by Bennett and Royle, Critical Theory and Practice: A Coursebook by

Green and LeBihan, A Glossary of Literary Terms by Abrams, Aspects of the

Novel by Forster, Understanding Unseen by Murphy, New World of Literature by

Beaty and Hunter, The Value of Humanity in Kant’s Moral Theory by Dean, and

etc.

Furthermore, this study also provided the data from the internet in order to enrich the knowledge in analyzing the novel. The researcher searched for the data by browsing in the internet. There were many of the data that can be found in some websites in order to support this study.

There were some steps that the researcher had done in order to complete this study. The first step, the researcher read the novel many times to get more feel about the novel and easily understand the plot since this study applied the close reading. The researcher observed the characters of the novel since this study dealt with characters. The researcher found the main character of the novel, Eliot Rosewater.

The second step, the researcher took a note from each chapter to keep the important information and obtained a clear description of the characteristics of Eliot Rosewater. It was done because the researcher wanted to reveal the moral

messages by Eliot’s view on humanity. The researcher needed to understand

Eliot’s view on humanity from his act, attitude, or manner.

The final step after knowing the characteristics of Eliot Rosewater and analyzing how he viewed humanity, the researcher drew a few moral messages

revealed by Eliot Rosewater. Then, the researcher wrote an analysis to answer the problem formulation in the previous chapter. In analyzing the particular problem formulation, the researcher used some books and the data from the internet to support the analysis.

Finally, the researcher drew some conclusion. In drawing conclusion, the researcher concluded from all analyses, starting with the description of the main character in the novel, how the main character views humanity, and what messages are revealed from the analysis in problem formulation number one and two.

21 CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter aims to answer the formulated problems that have been stated in chapter I. This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part describes Eliot Rosewater’s characteristics as the major character in Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine based on his view on humanity. Meanwhile, the second part analyzes the messages are revealed through the way Eliot views on humanity.

A. Eliot’s Character Characterized Based on His View on Humanity

This section deals with the characteristics of Eliot Rosewater as the main character in Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine. According to Henkle, major character has fullness of details and becomes the focus of the story (1977: 88). Eliot is the main character since he dominates

the story and he appears from the beginning until the end of the story.

The story begins when Eliot inherits the Rosewater Foundation with worth $87,472,033.61. Eliot Rosewater is a member of a rich family and the son of a Republican senator. After serving in the Second World War, Eliot is hospitalized for war tiredness in Paris, where he meets Sylvia who becomes his wife.

Eliot drinks heavily, but he is able to hold his liquor, and for five or six years lives respectably with Sylvia in a New York townhouse and runs the Foundation from an upscale office. However, his drinking gets out of hand, and his mental health appears to get worse. He goes to a psychiatrist who treats him for a year in which

he remains sober and acts in a normal way, but then the psychiatrist tells Sylvia that Eliot is too well-defended to be treatable. Soon after, Eliot disappears and goes to his family's home, Rosewater County in Indiana, where he gives small sums of money to poor people when they ask for help. Sylvia joins him for a while and helps him in his work. However, she leaves afterwards and, for a while, becomes hard and unfeeling.

Eliot is also considered as a round character in the story because he

changes at the end of the story.. In God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls

Before Swine, Eliot is described as a drunken, fat, and untidy person but loves helping people who cannot help themselves. He is preparing to go to meet Sylvia. His father visits and is angry with him. After the Senator leaves, Eliot finishes dressing and goes to catch his Greyhound bus. He does not even recognize a Rosewater Foundation client whom he have been talking to and comforting, almost every day. It is some months later before he comes to himself again. Eliot’s father is surprised as his son has his athletic body back. His father is there very happy because he believes his son is cured although at first Eliot is does not want to be treated or to go to a psychiatrist.

In order to analyze the characteristics of Eliot Rosewater, the researcher uses the theory of characterization proposed by Murphy. According to Murphy there are nine ways to find out the description of a certain character in the novel. Those are personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation of others, reactions, direct comment, thoughts, and mannerism. In

order to determine the characteristics of Eliot, several ways of Murphy’s theory are applied in this study.

1. Sympathetic

Murphy states that past life gives information to the readers in order to obtain a clue or information about events which help to shape a person’s character (1972: 166). Eliot used to be a fireman during the World War Two, and then there was a smoke-filled in a clarinet factory infested by S.S. troops. At that time, Eliot led a platoon of the firemen in an assault, but he went in with a riffle and fixed bayonet because of the danger of shooting one of his own men in the smoke (Vonnegut, 1965: 76). Even though he had never stuck a bayonet before. Eliot accidently kills three unarmed firemen. At first, Eliot thinks that they are the Germans because of the level of the smoke in his eyes so that he cannot see them.

It was true: Eliot had killed three unarmed firemen. They were ordinary villages, engaged in the brave and uncontroversial business of trying to keep a building from combining with oxygen.

When the medics got the masks of the three Eliot had killed, they proved to be two old men and a boy. The boy was the one Eliot had bayoneted. He didn’t look more than fourteen (Vonnegut, 1965: 77).

Eliot looks so stiff and rigid after knowing the three men that he had killed, and one of those was a boy around fourteen. “They found out Eliot was stiff, so rigid. He stayed like that for twelve hours, and would not speak or eat” (Vonnegut, 1965: 77). It is described as what Murphy states that the way a person reacts to various situations and events gives the readers information about a person’s character (1972: 168). In this case, Eliot seems to look guilty for killing

shape Eliot’s character as a sympathetic person. He would take care and spreads love and peace for people in order to atone the memory of past events of his own guilt feelings.

Eliot’s character as a sympathetic person can be seen from his speech. According to Murphy, one’s character can be seen when a character speaks, has conversation with others, and puts forward an opinion (1972: 164). In this case, it can be seen from the telephone conversation between Eliot and his wife, Sylvia. Eliot shows that he has a desire to help the people in Rosewater Country.

“I look at these people, these Americans,” Eliot went on, “and I realize that they can’t even care about themselves anymore—because they have

no use. The factory, the farms, the mines across the river—they’re almost

completely automatic now. And Americans doesn’t even need these

people for war—not anymore. Sylvia—I’m going to be an artist.”

“An Artist?”

“I’m going to love these discarded Americans, even though they’re useless and unattractive.” (Vonnegut, 1965: 47).

Through the Eliot’s conversation with Sylvia depicts that Eliot has a desire

to help each other because he thinks people becoming useless as they are losing their job cause by the condition of the factory, farms, or mines are automatically be done by a machines. Besides, Eliot is a chief of the Rosewater Foundation with a big sum of money so that with his power and money, Eliot is able to help the people.

Eliot’s desire to help each other can also be seen from what other characters say about Eliot. Murphy explains that a person’s character can be described through the opinions of other characters (1972: 162). In this case, Diana Moon Glampers comments on how Eliot takes care of everybody, and gives a little help to those who need help.

“You gave up everything a man is supposed to want, just to help the little people, and the little people know it. God bless you, Mr. Rosewater. Good night.” (Vonnegut, 1965: 74).

The other description that shows Eliot’s sympathetic can also be seen

when helping baptizing Mary Moody’s children. Eliot helps baptizing because

there is nobody that would do the baptism. The following is proof of Eliot as a sympathetic person.

“Congratulate Mary Moody on her twins.” “I will. I’ll be baptizing them tomorrow.”

“I—I didn’t know you—you did things like that,” said Sylva carefully “I couldn’t get out of it,” said Eliot. “She insisted on it, and nobody else would do it.” (Vonnegut, 1965: 109).

The quotation above gives a clue that Eliot is a sympathetic person. He feels sympathy because there is nobody that would do the baptizing. Therefore he

helps to baptize the twins of Mary Moody. There is a consequence that it wouldn’t

be counted in Heaven as Eliot realizes that he is not a religious person. Still, he would like to help the baptizing.

Eliot’s sympathetic can also be seen from how he reacts to various situations. According to Muprhy, the way a person reacts to various situations and events also gives the readers information about a person’s character (1972: 168). Eliot’s desire for helping the people is not only for who those ask him for help but also whenever he sees that the people need help without asking him. The following is an example of how Eliot reacts to a certain situations. It is when he is on his way to Indianapolis, specifically at the Saw City Kandy Kitchen. There is a girl, Tawny Wainwright, who gets pregnant by her stepfather, meanwhile, her stepfather is in prison.

Eliot arrived at the Saw City Kandy Kitchen without further incident. Only the proprietor and one customer were inside. The customer was a fourteen-year-old nymphet, pregnant by her stepfather, which stepfather was in prison now. The foundation was paying for her medical care. It had also reported the stepfather’s crime to the police, had subsequently hired him the best Indiana lawyer that money could buy (Vonnegut, 1965: 195-196). From the explanation above, Eliot feels sympathy for what happens to that girl. Therefore, Eliot helps her by paying her medical care for the surgery and for the baby birth and hires the best lawyer so that her stepfather can get out of the prison. When the child is born, he or she would be grown up with a father figure which can teach him how to be a man or woman.

There is also another description which shows that Eliot is a sympathetic person. When Eliot helps Noyes to get paroled from the prison. As follow:

In 1934, Noyes strangled his sixteen-year-old wife for notorious infidelity, went to prison for life. Now he was paroled, thanks to Eliot. He was fifty-one. He had no friends, no relatives. Eliot found out about his being prison by accident, while leafing through old copies of The Rosewater Country Clarion Call, made it his business to get him paroled.

Noyes was quiet, cynical, resentful man. He has never thanked Eliot for anything. Eliot was neither hurt nor startled (Vonnegut, 1965: 186-187). From the explanation above, it shows that Eliot is a sympathetic person. He helps Noyes Finnerty, who goes to prison for killing his wife. Noyes does not have any friends nor relatives. Eliot thinks that Noyes goes into prison by accident. So, that is why Eliot is trying to help Noyes to get out of prison. Meanwhile, Noyes has never thanked Eliot for helping him before, but Eliot never hurt or startled.

Sympathetic is feeling or showing concern about someone who is in a bad situation. Sympathetic also has the meaning having support for/approval or

something (Webster, 2006:1390). In the novel, the researcher knows that Eliot is a sympathetic person because there are some people that in bad situations such as lack of money, he regards them with giving money. It can be seen when Eliot receives a phone call from a man who is about to commit suicide, Sherman Wesley.

“Sherman Wesley Little,” wrote Eliot. “Indy, Su-TDM-LO-V2-W3K3-K2CP-RF $300.” Decoded, this meant that Little was from Indianapolis, was a suicidal-tool and-die maker who had been laid off, a veteran of the Second World War with a wife and three children, the second child suffering from cerebral palsy. Eliot had awarded him a Rosewater Fellowship of $300 (Vonnegut, 1965: 93).

From the explanation above, it can be identified that Eliot is a sympathetic person because he feels sympathy for Sherman Wesley for trying to kill himself as he has three children, one of which suffers a brain disease. So, Eliot credits him a check with a $300 value to prevent from suicide and Eliot thinks that with the $300 check, it could help him to do a surgery for his child. There is also another part of the story which shows that characteristic of Eliot is a sympathetic person as follows.

The old man wasn’t a drunk or a pervert or anything. He was simply old, and a widower, and shot full of cancer, and his son in the Strategic Air Command never wrote, and his personality wasn’t much. Booze upset him. The Rosewater Foundation had given him a grant for morphine, which his doctor prescribed (Vonnegut, 1965: 191-192).

From the quotation above, the researcher can identify Eliot’s characteristic

from his reaction. The author gives a clue by describing how a person reacts to various situations. The narration above gives the researcher a clue how Eliot reacts when he feels sympathy for what happens to that old man. So, Eliot helps him by giving morphine to reduce the pain from his cancer disease.

Eliot’s sympathetic is because he feels sympathy for the condition that afflicts in the Rosewater Country. He is sympathy because of the condition that almost the factory is run automatically by machines, not only the factory but also the farms and the mines. Within that condition, it presumes that most of all the people in the Rosewater Country lose their job and it affects their economic conditions. Therefore, becoming a chief of a foundation, ELiot is willing to help the little people.

“In time, almost all men and women will become worthless as producers of goods, food, services, and more machines, as sources of practical ideas

in the areas of economics, engineering, and probably medicine, too. So—if

we can’t find reasons and methods for treasuring human beings because they are human beings, then we might as well, as has so often been suggested, rub them out.” (Vonnegut, 1965: 210).

He started talking to some idlers there about how the government ought to divide up the wealth of the country equally, instead of some people having more than they could ever use, and others having nothing. (Vonnegut, 1965: 43).

From the explanation above, the researcher can conclude that Eliot is a sympathetic person. He feels sympathy, however, he thinks that the government should be equally divided up the wealth of the people, and he thinks that it is unfair in the way how could be someone born as a rich and some other are born as a poor.

To support how sympathetic Eliot is with the people in Rosewater Country, it can be seen from the conversation between Eliot and his father. Through that conversation, Eliot tells that if a government divides things up fairly or if rich person like Eliot shares more about his earnings, at least it gives the

people a little hope not to worry about money or anything else because life is already hard enough.

“I think it’s terrible the way people don’t share things in this country. I

think it’s a heartless government that will let one baby be born owning a

big piece of the country, the way I was born, and let another baby be born without owning anything. The least a government could do, it seems to me, is to divide things up fairly among the babies. Life is hard enough, without people having to worry themselves sick about money, too. There’s a plenty for everybody in this country, if we’ll only share more.”

“And just what do you think that would do to incentive?”

“You mean fright about not getting enough to eat, about not being able to pay the doctor, about not being able to give your family nice clothes, a safe, cheerful, comfortable place to live, a decent education, and a few

good times” (Vonnegut, 1965: 104).

From what he says, it can be identified that he feels sympathy about the poor people which do not have enough for living, such as not having enough money to eat when they are hungry, being unable to pay the doctor when they are sick, or even being unable to pay for the education. Also, in that conversation, there is a tension between Eliot and his father. Eliot does not like the way the government or the rich people treat the little people that are less fortune. Moreover, the the factory, farms, or mines in Rosewater Country are mostly being done automatically by machines so that it makes the people that used to work in that factories, farms, or mines are lose their job and useless. It affects their economic condition. Now they are difficult to find their earnings and worry to not having any money. Because of his sympathetic feelings, he wants to concern with the way that the rich people are not willing to share some of their earnings with those people who are in need. Also, because of his feeling of sympathy and the big sum of money of the foundation so that he wants to help the little people who are way less fortune than him.

All the explanation above also supports the idea of how Eliot views humanity. He feels that if he share a little more of his fortune, it would give them a little hope. So, that those people do not have to worry themselves about money, especially not to worry about being able to get enough to eat, to pay the doctor, to

pay the education, and so on. It is appropriate with the Dean’s and Vanier’s

statements, which is in the principle of humanity vision all human beings who suffer must be helped, wherever they are. In this case, Eliot seems to concern with the societal condition in the Rosewater Country in which some of the people are born rich and some others are born poor. It makes him feel sympathy with that condition. In addition, most people lose their job because almost all of the factories, farms, or mines use machines to finish their work. So, his nature is moved to help sharing more of the foundation earnings with those people who are in need.

It is also can be seen when Eliot is trying to help the people, whoever he sees and whenever they need help. His characteristic is being sympathetic not out of his feeling guilty in the past life by killing unarmed men, but he is trying to atone his own guilt by being kind and helping each other people. It is accordance with the Vanier’s second principle of humanity, which is our world and our individual lives are in the process of evolving, how we think about the way we looked at things in the past, and learning about how those things in the past live in the future. Things like peace, love, unity, and especially the necessity of

learning that as a human being people should bringing peace and love, instead of making a war.

Furthermore, Debbarma states that such humanity can be driven home only by recognizing human values such as truth, kindness, benevolence, peace, love, dignity, respect, forgiveness, etc. (2014:2). In this case, there is such as a person who is being ungrateful gets helped by Eliot, for example Noyes Finnerty. Eliot shows him forgiveness for being ungrateful by not take it personally. Also, he still has the desire to help other people, and people as human beings are supposed to help each others, which is considered as human nature.

Eliot’s sympathic also can be seen from the way he becomes attentive.

Eliot’s attentive is being a good listener by listening to those people’s problem

tirelessly. From his office in Rosewater, Eliot answers phone calls and accepts visitors that need his help, it could be financial or merely his listening ear. The office has signs in the windows and in the door proclaiming "ROSEWATER FOUNDATION HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?" (Vonnegut, 1965: 62). Besides that, there is also a sticker with the sign ‘Don’t Kill Yourself. Call the Rosewater Foundation’ in every phone booth and in the back windows of the cars and trucks

of firemen including the foundation’s number in it (Vonnegut, 1965: 90).

“There’s this big black and yellow sticker in the phone booth. Says, ‘Don’t Kill Yourself. Call the Rosewater Foundation,’ and it got your number.” Such stickers were in every phone booth in the country, and in the back windows of the cars and trucks of most of the volunteer firemen, too (Vonnegut, 1965: 90).

In other words, Eliot focuses on the needs of the poor with more private, personal, and intimate character than the very public and an impersonal act of

donating large sums of money to various causes. The example is when Eliot receives a phone call from a fretful man, Sherman Wesley.

“Mr. Rosewater—“ said a fretful man, “you don’t know me.” “Did someone tell you that mattered?”

“I’m nothing, Mr. Rosewater. I’m worse than nothing.” “Then God made a pretty bad mistake, didn’t he?”

“Maybe you brought your complaint to the right place.” (Vonnegut, 1965: 90).

The conversation above shows that Wesley has brought his complaint to

the right place. It shows that Eliot is ready to be the ear to Wesley’s problems.

Along with the conversation, he asks too many questions. Some of the questions are making-sense and some others are nonsense, but Eliot still answers his question clearly. Later, Eliot finds out that he is about to commit suicide.

“Maybe you think it’s funny to put up signs about people who want to commit suicide.”

“Are you about to?” “And what if I was?”

“I wouldn’t tell you the gorgeous reasons I have discovered for going on living.”

“What would you do?”

“I’d ask you to name the rock-bottom price you’d charger to go on living for just one more week.” (Vonnegut, 1965: 91).

From what he says, it shows that Eliot is giving Wesley some money so that he can go on living. Eliot thinks that by giving money to Wesley, it would give him a hope and prevent him from committing suicide.

The description of Eliot as a attentive can be seen from his speech. It is

supported by Murphy, who states that one’s character can be seen when a

character speaks, has conversation with others, and puts forward an opinion

(1972: 164). Eliot’s characteristic as a good listener is depicted from his speech in

“The electricity is after me again, Mr. Rosewater. I had to call! I’m so scared!”

“Call anytime you want, dear. That’s whatI’m here for.” “The electricity is really gonna get me this time.”

“Oh, darn that electricity.” Eliot’s anger was sincere. “That electricity makes me so mad, the way it torments you all the time. It isn’t fair.”

“I wish it would come ahead and kill me, instead of just talk about it all the time.”

“This would be a mighty sad town, dear, if that ever happened.” (Vonnegut, 1965: 71-72).

The conversation between Eliot and Diana Moon Glampers proves that he is a good listener. It happens when there is a thunderclap. Diana is yelling for help, and she is scared with a thunderclap because the thunderclap has killed her mother and father at a Rosewater Lumber Company picnic in 1916. Eliot’s good listener towards Diana is depicted by his willing to listen to all of what Diana says about her problems. Since Eliot is with all of the people, therefore he tries to comfort her by accompanying her talking all time to distract her trembling of a thunderclap. Also, her kidneys hurt all the time. She is already old and also ugly, stupid, and boring, too dumb to live. That is why she surely thinks that the thunderclap would kill her.

“My kiddleys hurt me all day, Mr. Rosewater. They feel like a red-hot cannonball full of electricity was going through them real slow, and just turning round and round, with poisoned razorblades sticking out of it.” “That can’t be very pleasant.”

“It ain’t.”

“I do wish you’d go see a doctor about those darn kidneys, dear.”

“I did. I went to Dr. Winters today, just like you told me. He treated me like I was a cow and he was drunk veterinarian. He said my kiddleys trouble was all in my head. Oh, Mr. Rosewater, from now on you’re the only doctor for me.”

“I’m not a doctor, dear.”

“I don’t care. You’ve cured more hopeless disease than all the doctors in Indiana put together.” (Vonnegut, 1965: 73).

From the conversation above, it can be seen that Eliot listens carefully to what she explains about her kidneys ill. Eliot also suggests going to a doctor to check-up her illness. In fact, she has already gone to see a doctor, but not satisfied with the doctor’s service. She says that she is being treated as a cow and her kidneys ill is not cured. Instead, she says that Eliot is the only doctor for her. Eliot considers that he is not a doctor, but she insists on it. She thinks that Eliot is giving her and all of those people hope just by listening tirelessly to her problems or their problems.

Eliot’s characteristic as a good listener following his idea about humanity. It is also supported with the fourth principle of humanity stated by Vanier, which human needs to be encouraged to make choices. In this case, it is shows when Eliot encouraged Wesley to not commit suicide, and living on life by giving him some money. Far from giving people money, however, the people sometimes not just only need money but also they need to be loved, cared, and understood. Eliot thinks that with being a good listener and listened tirelessly to their problems, it would give them love and hope. “Listened tirelessly to… people who… would

have been better off dead, gave them love” (Vonnegut, 1965: 53). In can be seen

from the ways Eliot encourages Diana to not afraid about the thunderclap, and also encourages her to go to see a doctor to check her kidneys.

2. Indiscriminate

In God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine Eliot is also described as an indiscriminate person from a direct comment by the author.

Murphy gives a statement that the author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly (1972: 169).

Eliot, particularly when he argued with his father or his bankers or his lawyers, was almost equally mistaken about who his clients were. He would argue that the people he was trying to help were the same sorts of people who, in generations past, had cleared the forest, drained the swamps, built the bridges, people whose sons formed the backbone of the

infantry in time of war—and so on (Vonnegut, 1965: 69).

From the way the author gives a description about Eliot, it can be identified that he is an indiscriminate person. Eliot never differentiates the people whom he is trying to help. It means that the people he is trying to help is simply because they are human.

Eliot that is indiscriminate can also be seen from the remark of the other character as well, that is Sylvia. Murphy states that the author can describe the character indirectly through the eyes and opinions of the other characters (1972: 162). It can be seen through the conversation of others and the things they say

about him or her. When Sylvia is having a conversation with Eliot’s father, she

says that Eliot is about to love everybody with concern who they are or what they do.

Eliot did to the word love what the Russians did to the word democracy. If Eliot is going to love everybody, no matter what they are, no matter what they do, then those of us who love particular people for particular reasons had better find ourselves a new word (Vonnegut, 1965: 78).

In the explanation above, it shows that Eliot has a capacity to love all people exclusively for humanity. It can also be used as an explanation to support Eliot’s characteristic that is indiscriminate. Eliot does help and love all the people without differentiating their social status, their condition, or their background. So, Eliot’s action in terms of helps merely because they are human beings.

The way of Eliot’s helping people without indiscriminate supports the idea of humanity. According to Debbarma, he states that humanity is to achieve unity among the living and non-living creatures of the world with the preservation of historical, ethnic and cultural differences as well as the distinctiveness of nation states and communities (2014: 2). Also, Vanier gives a statement about first principle of humanity, which is all humans are sacred, whatever their culture, race, religion, whatever their capacities and incapacities, whatever their strengths and weaknesses may be. All of us need help in order to become all that we may be. We are all sacred and shouldn’t be treated differently for anything about us. In this case, Eliot has never concerned the people that want to be helped, no matter who they are or what they do. The other focus is because that most people are not caring with the useless people. “Americans have long been taught to hate all

people who will not or cannot work” (Vonnegut, 1965: 210). As a result, it

becomes the motives of Eliot’s action that is to love and care about those useless people.

B. The Messages Revealed through Eliot’s View on Humanity

In this part, the researcher intends to reveal the messages that might be found in this novel through the main characters view on humanity.

Firstly, the researcher wants to look back to the definition of a message. A message in literature according to Beaty and Hunter that message is defined as the real meaning or some essay conclusion that can be simply stated or summarized inside work of art (1989: 899). It means that through the story, the author tries to delivers the message in a direct or indirect form.

In this undergraduate thesis, the message are delivered in an indirect form. The author does not directly give his advice. The messages are expressed implicitly, and through the story, the researcher has a chance to interpret the messages from them so that it is needed for the researcher to understand the story well. The messages are as follows.

1. Human Being Should Help Each Other without Concerning their Background

The message that the researcher can obtain from this story is that a human being should be helping another human being. Eliot is characterizes as a sympathetic person. After he has killed three unarmed firemen when he used to be a volunteer of a fireman, he seems to realize that it is his own guilt that makes those three unarmed firemen die. Eliot’s feeling that he is trying to atone for past sins by spreading love to the people of Rosewater. So, now he decides to help whoever people of Rosewater needing help.

Described as a kind person after he feels guilt about the past sin, Eliot has some kind of mission to help the people of Rosewater.

“I’m going to care about these people.”

“I look at these people, these Americans,” Eliot went on, “and I realize that they can’t even care about themselves any more—because they have

no use. The factory, the farms, the mines across the river—they’re almost

completely automatic now. And America doesn’t even need these people

for war—not any more. Sylvia—I’m going to be an artist.”

“I’m going to love these discarded Americans, even though they’re useless and unattractive.” (Vonnegut, 1965: 47).

From that quotation, the researcher can see that Eliot wants to help the people because with such factory, farms, and mines which are almost fully automatic by machines, it makes them become unemployed or useless so that they

cannot work anymore. Moreover, by the help of Eliot for those useless people of Rosewater, not only does he want to be released from feeling guilty but also solely they are human beings.

“Americans have long been taught to hate all people who will not or cannot work, to hate even themselves for that” (Vonnegut, 1965: 210). In that quotation, it can be identified that American people hate the person who has no willing to work or who cannot work. It supports the idea of Eliot’s action. The condition of the people of Rosewater losing their job happens because their job has been replaced by machines that make them cannot work anymore. Eliot wants to vanish the image that the people who will not or cannot work should be hated.

“Thanks to the example of Eliot Rosewater, millions upon millions of

people may learn to love and help whomever they see.” (Vonnegut, 1965:

213).

The researcher interpretes those as the image of reality that we as human beings should help the people whomever we see. Yet, in fact, we often help people not because we see that they are in need to be helped, but because they ask us first to help them. In other words, the message of the story shows that we as human beings should help each other whom ever we see if they need help, no

matter they ask first or not. Furthermore, throughout the novel God Bless You, Mr.

Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine it teaches the readers about being kind to each other.

Eliot and his father, sometimes his lawyer or his bankers, argue several times about the people that Eliot is trying to help. It is seen that the people Eliot helps are the same sort of that they are humans.

Eliot, particularly when he argued with his father or his bankers or his lawyers, was almost equally mistaken about who his clients were. He would argue that the people he was trying to help were the same sorts of people who, in generations past, had cleared the forest, drained the swamps, built the bridges, people whose sons formed the backbone of the

infantry in time of war—and so on (Vonnegut, 1965: 69).

From that quotation, the researcher can see that Eliot never differentiates the people that is trying to be helped. No matter who they are that in the past generation might be cleared the forest, or drained the swamps, or even people whose sons from the form of the infantry in a war, if they need help, Eliot would help without concerning the differences. It is in accordance with the idea stated by Debbarma, that humanity is to achieve unity among the living and non-living creatures of the world with the preservation of historical, ethnic and cultural differences as well as the distinctiveness of nation states and communities, and the first principles of humanity stated by Varnie, which is all humans are sacred, whatever their culture, race, religion, whatever their capacities and incapacities, whatever their strengths and weaknesses may be. All of us need help in order to become all that we may be. We are all sacred and shouldn’t be treated differently

for anything about us. It can be seen from Eliot’s capacity to love all people solely

for humanity, without concerning their social status or background.

Moreover, the researcher interprets the message as the image of reality that happens in the middle of the society, in which people often help the others only if they know the person, or they look at the person who needs help first. In other words, the message of the story shows the readera a reflection that people should help other people without concerning who they are or what they do because it is their nature as a human being.

Vonnegut.Jr, Kurt God Bless You, Mr. Roewater or Pearls Before Swine. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1965.

Wijaya, Chintia Arlita Eka. "The Message Revealed through the Way the Main Characters Solve the Conflicts in Anne Schraff's Lost and Found". Undergraduate Thesis. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University, 2015.

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APPENDIX

Summary of the Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

Eliot Rosewater was the senator’s son and suspected to be insane. Eliot became president of the foundation in 1947. Mushari investigated him some 17 years later. He wanted to prove that Eliot was insane. Eliot’s grandpa became rich in the past by corrupting and by buying all the farms in Rosewater County. He owned many stakes in the county’s operations. The problem of society was that personal wealth had no limit to it. The rich were too wealthy. ‘Grab much too much, or you’ll get nothing at all’. Eliot married Sylvia DuVrais Zetterling, a beauty of a woman. Later, Eliot became a drunkard. His advice in a letter for his future ancessor President of the foundation is to be sincere towards the poor. In that letter he shows particular disregard for the wealthy and concern for the injustices done to the poor, writing that every rich American represents property, privileges, and pleasures that have been denied the many. Eliot closes his letter with the words, "Be generous. Be kind. . . . Be a sincere, attentive friend of the poor".

Eliot went to good schools, but was never outstanding. Later, he volunteered for the US infantry. Soon, he graduated with a law degree and took over the Foundation. He was a heavy drinker too. The foundation helped a birth control clinic. Eliot was a fireman. He admired people who worked in the infantry. He believed in equal distribution of wealth. He wanted a revolution led by infantry veterans and volunteer firemen. Eliot was in the Rosewater County and felt that was his true home. He was there to care for people. All the factories

were mechanized and there was no need for humans. No one cared about there. Many people lost money in their investments in Rosewater. There was a saw company there too. There was a veteran’s memorial park too. Many people from Avondale respected him. Eliot and Sylvia throw rich banquets for poor people. They took care of the poor people. However, people thought that if Eliot was not drunk, he would not care about the people. He could have been the president of the United States, but chose not to and look at where he ended up now. Eliot was a fat man now, so unlike the days when he was with the United States Army.

From his office in Rosewater Country, Eliot answers phone calls and accepts visitors that need his help, be it financial or merely his listening ear. The office has signs in the windows "ROSEWATER EOUNDATION HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?". Diana Moon Glampers, a hopeless old woman, was too dumb to live and called Eliot. She was the cleaner of the Rosewater mansion. Her parents died from lightning attacks. Eliot said that he would try to help her because she was scared of electricity. Eliot cared about too many people and didn’t want to see them die. She said life was hopeless because of her health problems. She complained about her kidneys and Eliot wanted her to visit a doctor. The doctor said that the problem with her kidneys were because she was overthinking it. She respected Eliot for living a humble life where he could help others. Later, A man dialed Eliot’s office. He admitted that he was worst than nothing. It was a hotline for people to dial when they wanted to kill themselves. Later, Eliot recorded the man’s details in a book and awarded him a Rosewater Fellowship of $300.

The senator did not like his son. He blamed himself for the misfortune for how Eliot turned out. During the WWII, Eliot accidentally killed three unarmed firemen when he raided a place by throwing a grenade. Later, Eliot wanted to kill himself and laid on the road. Luckily, the vehicle stopped in time. Discrimination happened when you loved someone more than another. There was a man, Arthur Ulm. Eliot gave him money simply because he wanted to tell the truth without any economic consequences. Eliot allowed him to pick his own subject. Sylvia were talking to the senator and McAllister in the room. There was one poem which was Eliot’s favorite. Eliot hated the arts but liked writing poems. ‘If you would be unloved and forgotten, be reasonable.’ Eliot was now reading a book by Arthur Ulm. Ulm wrote about how horrible society was and was thankful for Eliot’s encouragement along the way.

Eliot and his father argue several times about Eliot's lifestyle choice. Senator Rosewater makes the observation that his son has done by throwing money at the poor. Far from just throwing money at the poor, however, Eliot Iistened tirelessly to people who would have been better off dead and gave them love and trifling sums of money. Eliot focuses on the needs of the poor with a private and personal response instead of public. Eliot not only simply gives people money and sending them on their way, but also listens to their problems and hopes and dreams. This is what the poor need the most, an understanding and sympathetic ear.

Source: (https://bookquotemonster.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/god-bless-you-mr-rosewater-by-kurt-vonnegut/ January 20, 2017).

xi

ABSTRACT

PERMANA, MUHAMMAD YANUARISKA FAJAR. The Messages of Humanity Revealed through Eliot's View on Humanity as Seen in Kurt Vonnegut, JR's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine.

Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2017.

This study discusses the message that was revealed by the main character in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Pearls before Swine, a novel which was published in 1965 written by an American writer named Kurt Vonnegut.

Two research problems are formulated in this study. The first is to find the characteristics of Eliot as the main character based on his view on humanity. the second is to find the message that is revealed from the way of Eliot views on humanity.

This study uses new criticism as the approach in analyzing the text content of the work. This approach emphasizes the intrinsic elements of the work. The primary source of this study is a novel titled God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Pearls Before Swine by Kurt Vonnegut. The secondary source of this research consists of books, journals, and articles discussing theories or reviews about new criticism approach, character and characterization, humanity, and messages. Then, the researcher applies these theories to answer all the formulated problems.

The results of this analysis are as follows. The main character in the story of Eliot Rosewater is described as a sympathetic person. In the past, he accidentally killed three unarmed men, therefore he was feeling guilty. Later, because of his own feeling guilty in the past, he wants to atone by helping each other people who are less fortunate. Eliot’s sympathetic also described as a attentive. His attentive is shown by being a good listener. Besides, Eliot also describes as an indiscriminate, a person who does not sort out for helping each other. By the way of Eliot views on humanity, the messages are revealed that as human beings, we have to help each other. Human being should share to those people who are in need. Money is not the one thing we need, but love, caring, and understanding.

xii

ABSTRAK

PERMANA, MUHAMMAD YANUARISKA FAJAR. The Messages of Humanity Revealed through Eliot's View on Humanity as Seen in Kurt Vonnegut, JR's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine.

Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2017.

Studi ini membahas pesan yang terungkap dari karakter utama dalam God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Pearls Before Swine, sebuah novel yang diterbitkan pada tahun 1965 karya penulis Amerika bernama Kurt Vonnegut.

Dua masalah telah dirumuskan dalam penelitian ini. Pertama adalah menemukan karakteristik dari Eliot sebagai tokoh utama yang menggambarkan cara pandang dia dalam kemanusiaan. Kedua adalah menemukan pesan yang terungkap dari cara Eliot memandang kemanusiaan.

Penelitian ini menggunakan kritik sastra baru sebagai metode pendekatan dalam menganalisis isi teks karya tersebut. Pendekatan ini menekankan pada elemen intrinsik dari karya tersebut. Sumber utama penelitian ini adalah novel berjudul God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Pearls Before Swine oleh Kurt Vonnegut. Sumber sekunder dari penelitian ini adalah buku, jurnal, dan artikel yang membahas teori atau ulasan mengenai pendekatan kritik sastra baru, tokoh dan penokohan, kemanusiaan, dan pesan. Penulis lalu mengaplikasikan teori-teori tersebut untuk menjawab semua rumusan masalah.

Hasil analisis penelitian ini adalah sebagai berikut. Tokoh utama Eliot Rosewater dalam cerita dideskripsikan sebagai orang yang simpatik. Pada masa lalu, dia tidak sengaja membunuh tiga orang tak bersenjata, oleh sebab itu dia merasa bersalah. Akhirnya karena rasa bersalahnya pada masa lalu dia ingin menebus dosa dengan cara membantu orang lain yang kurang beruntung. Sifat simpatik Eliot juga di deskripsikan sebagai orang yang penuh perhatian. Sifatnya ditunjukkannya dengan menjadi pendengar yang baik. Selain itu, Eliot juga dideskripsikan sebagai orang yang tidak memilah-milah dalam membantu orang lain. Dari cara Eliot memandang kemanusiaan ada beberapa pesan yang terungkap, yaitu sebagai manusia kita harus saling membantu. Sebagai manusia harus berbagi kepada orang yang membutuhkan. Uang bukan satu-satunya yang kita butuhkan, akan tetapi cinta, kepedulian, dan pengertian.