Moral lessons as reflected in tom`s character development in mark twain`s the adventures of tom sawyer - USD Repository

  

MORAL LESSONS AS REFLECTED IN TOM’S CHARACTER

DEVELOPMENT IN MARK TWAIN’S THE ADVENTURES OF

TOM SAWYER

  AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By:

DODI ADI SETIAWAN

  Student Number: 024214058

  

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

  

MORAL LESSONS AS REFLECTED IN TOM’S CHARACTER

DEVELOPMENT IN MARK TWAIN’S THE ADVENTURES OF

TOM SAWYER

  AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By:

DODI ADI SETIAWAN

  Student Number: 024214058

  

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am most grateful to Allah SWT, whose will has made me able to finish this thesis. I would like to express my gratitude for giving me patience, determination and ease to complete this thesis. I am nothing without Him.

  I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum. for her friendly and clear guidance, support, and the advice. It is nice to have her as my advisor. My gratitude also goes to my co-advisor, Dra. AB.

  Sri Mulyani, M. A. who not only checked my imperfect thesis but also gave some suggestion. I am also indebted to all staff in English Letters Department secretariat and librarians at Sanata Dharma University library whose help is always there for helping me.

  The followings are my friends in Sanata Dharma University who have been greatly helpful to me in various ways: Thomas, Fena, Nuke, Indhi, Yani and the gang, Ochie, Lira, Nita, Memei, Diah, Selvie, Sigit, Wawan, Leo, Septa, Dimas, Prasetio, David, Teh Ria and the gang, Shella and the gang, Stepha and the gang, and other 2002 folks. I would like to show my appreciation for the friendship and memories we have shared. I hope we can be good friends wherever and whenever we are. I also want to express my thanks for my timeless friends; Didik, Titis, Zulkhan, Rivo, and Hasan. They have assisted me a lot in building my spirit. There are many other persons who have given me a hand and whose name I cannot mention here. My appreciation goes to them.

  Grateful thanks are due to Mbak Dewi, Mas Nano, Mas Doni, Mbak Atik, Bayu, Letta, Farrel, Fadiil, also my future wife, Astrid Santosa, for their love, care, and attention.

  Finally, I cannot help giving my sincere and wholehearted thankfulness to my beloved Dad and Mom. I could not have finished this thesis without their blessings and prayers.

  Dodi Adi Setiawan

  TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................... i APPROVAL PAGE ......................................................................................... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE .................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. v ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... vi ABSTRAK ....................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................

  18 C. Theoretical Framework ................................................................................

  60 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................

  54 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ........................................................................

  47 C. The Moral Lessons Reflected through Tom Sawyer’s Character Development................................................................................................

  25 B. Tom Sawyer’s Character Development .......................................................

  25 A. The Characteristics of Tom Sawyer .............................................................

  23 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS.............................................................................

  22 C. Method of the Study ....................................................................................

  21 B. Approach of the Study ................................................................................

  21 A. Object of the Study......................................................................................

  20 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ................................................................

  16 6. The Relation between Morality and Literature ............................................

  1 A. Background of the Study ............................................................................

  14 5. Theories of Message .....................................................................................

  12 4. Theories of Moral and Morality ...................................................................

  11 3. Theories of Character Development .............................................................

  9 2. Theories on Characterization ........................................................................

  9 1. Theories on Character ..................................................................................

  7 B. Review of Related Theories .........................................................................

  7 A. Review of Related Studies ..........................................................................

  5 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ....................................................

  5 D. Definition of Terms ....................................................................................

  5 C. Objectives of the Study ...............................................................................

  1 B. Problem Formulation ..................................................................................

  63

  ABSTRACT DODI ADI SETIAWAN (2007). Moral Lessons as Reflected in Tom’s

Character Development in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

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

  Based on Henkle’s notion that human life can be studied from the novel through the characters described in it, it is interesting to find the idea in this literary work by Twain. The story itself is about a boy whose life is full of adventures. The climax of the story shows significant character developments. The developments indicate that there are moral lessons. There must be some events behind the character developments. The analysis will be done to find the explanation for these developments and then attain moral lesson from them.

  Three problems come up as guidance for the analysis. The first is to analyze the characteristics of Tom Sawyer as the data for the second problem. The second problem is to reveal the character developments and the events which lay behind. The last problem is intended to find the relation between the character development and the moral lessons in the story.

  Theories on character are used to answer the first problem. Theories on character developments are utilized to reveal the existing character developments. To be able to find the relation between the character developments and the moral lessons, theories on moral and morality, also the relation between morality and literature are applied.

  By doing the analysis, the study finds out that Tom can be characterized as a smart boy, who behaves mischievously, sometimes does some show-off, and believes in superstition. Some events exist like the adventure of Jackson’s Island, the Muff Potter’s trial, and the adventure with Becky Thatcher in the cave along with several minor events has developed Tom Sawyer’s character. He turns into a more mature, and responsible boy at the end of the story. There are some moral lessons that can be attained from the character developments. The most observable moral lessons that can be achieved are that we should work hard and do not give up easily to reach our dreams. The other is that we should be responsible for all of our actions, and ready to accept the mistake and the consequences for what we did. The analysis about character developments and their relations with moral lessons will strengthen the notion that literature gives its readers a deeper and richer knowledge of human life.

  ABSTRAK DODI ADI SETIAWAN (2007). Moral Lessons as Reflected in Tom’s

Character Development in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Berdasarkan pendapat dari Henkle yang menyatakan bahwa kehidupan manusia dapat dipelajari dari novel melalui karakter yang terdapat didalamnya menjadikan penulis tertarik untuk menguak ide-ide tersebut dalam salah satu karya sastra Mark Twain ini. Novel ini menceritakan tentang sebagian perjalanan hidup seorang anak bernama Tom Sawyer yang penuh dengan cerita-cerita petualangan. Klimak dari cerita ini menunjukkan adanya perubahan yang cukup signifikan dalam karakter tersebut. Perubahan tersebut mengindikasikan adanya pesan moral yang dapat dipetik didalamnya. Dapat dipastikan bahwa terdapat beberapa peristiwa yang hadir dan mengilhami perubahan tersebut. Analisis akan dilakukan sebagai suatu proses penjelasan tentang perkembangan karakter tersebut, dan kemudian menarik pesan moral yang terkandung didalamnya.

  Tiga permasalahan muncul sebagai panduan analisis. Yang pertama diangkat untuk menganalisis karakteristik dari tokoh Tom Sawyer di novel sebagai data untuk permasalahan yang kedua. Permasalahan yang kedua ditujukan untuk mengungkap perkembangan karakter tersebut dan peristiwa-peristiwa yang mendasarinya. Sedangkan permasalahan yang terakhir ditujukan untuk menemukan hubungan antara perkembangan karakter tersebut dengan pesan moral yang terkandung didalamnya.

  Teori tentang karakter digunakan untuk menjawab permasalahan pertama. Kemudian, teori tentang perkembangan karakter digunakan untuk mengungkap perkembangan karakter yang ada. Untuk menemukan hubungan antara perkembangan karakter dan pesan moral yang ada digunakan teori tentang moral, dan hubungan antara moral tersebut dengan karya sastra.

  Setelah melakukan analisis ditemukan bahwa Tom mempunyai karakter sebagai anak yang cerdas, sedikit jahil, senang menyombongkan diri, dan tertarik pada takhayul. Beberapa peristiwa, diantaranya petualangan di Pulau Jackson, pengadilan dari Muff Potter, dan juga petualangannya dengan Becky Thatcher di gua mengilhami dirinya untuk berkembang. Pada akhir cerita, Tom berubah menjadi anak yang lebih dewasa, dan bertanggung jawab. Perkembangan karakter diatas membuat penulis dapat memetik beberapa pesan moral yang terkandung didalamnya. Pesan moral yang paling jelas terlihat adalah bahwa kita harus berusaha keras dan tidak mudah menyerah untuk mencapai segala mimpi kita. Pesan yang lain adalah kita hendaknya mampu bertanggung jawab akan segala tindakan kita, serta mampu menerima segala kesalahan dan konsekuensi dari tindakan kita. Analisis tentang perkembangan karakter tersebut dan hubungannya dengan pesan moral akan memperkuat pendapat bahwa karya sastra memberikan pemahaman yang lebih luas dan mendalam tentang kehidupan bagi para pembacanya.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Reading is an exciting hobby. Through reading, we can develop our sense

  toward the world. Any reading material is useful, including the one which English Letters Department students usually read, a novel. This idea goes along with the notion by Wellek and Warren who said that “a literary work does not only please the readers, but also gives them a kind of knowledge.” (1956: 30-34)

  Henkle also said that “Novels deal with many kind of characters, society, and even philosophic idea. The readers can obtain lessons through the characters, societies, and ideas that are presented in the novel.” (1977: 21). It means that everything presented in the novel can be learned or taught as a guide to deal with this world.

  Henkle added that “a novel as an artistic expression appears to have, as its objective, the deeper and richer knowledge of human life. Knowledge of human life can be studied from the novel through the characters described in it. The description of the characters enables the reader to get more understanding on human characters and to experience people (1977: 80).

  Henkle’s idea about the moral lesson that happened through the character is justified by Maguire when he points that “Characters in the novel can be the realization of the person’s moral orientation. Through the understanding of real life, a novel contains some values. One of the basic values is moral value. It reflects not only on what a character does, experiences, or has, but also on what kind of person he or she is” (1978: 3).

  Lastly, the concept by Gardner (1978: 14) explains that actually novel as a part of an art is just an imitation of the nature and should be an instrument to give a moral-teaching. He said that “I have acclaimed that art is essentially and primarily moral that is, live giving-moral in its process of creation and moral in what it says. If art destroys good, mistaking it for evil, then art is false, an error.”

  The readers can find the morality in the story indirectly. The writer seldom states clearly what he or she wants related to the moral values. It seems that the moral values in the story are covered by the story itself. Thus, the readers have to figure it out through reading and doing some analysis. The moral values can be found throughout the story, or more specifically through character’s life and experience.

  The preceding statements are the reason why the author wants to analyze novel in its relation to the morality. The chosen novel is The Adventures of Tom

  

Sawyer by Mark Twain, because this novel exhibits a remarkable moral

  experience of human being, which reflects a moral lesson through the development of Tom Sawyer’s character. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer becomes more interesting since Twain reveals the experience of his own childhood. Once, he said in the preface of his book that most of the adventures recorded in the novels really occurred.

  The novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, was written by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), better known as Mark Twain, remains one of American’s most widely read authors. To a great extent his popularity has rested upon his humor. It would be a mistake, however, to think of him simply as a humorist. To do so is to overlook the sharpness of his observation, the penetration of his social criticism, the depth of his social concern for human suffering, and the clarity and extraordinary beauty of his style. He was a great writer who had written many masterpiece novels and been one of the greatest American frontier writers. He is praised as one of the significant contributors to American Literary style.

  He was considered to be one of eight Americans authors in James Woodress’s Eight American Authors. The World Book Encyclopedia also adds that Mark Twain is one of the best and most popular American authors. He is generally considered the greatest humorist in American Literature (1971: 431).

  

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is one of Mark Twain’s children literature

masterpieces besides The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

  Mark Twain is to some critics, categorized under the genre of realist writers. Many of his works, which are fictions, bear vivid and sharp picture of the area and society, including its social dynamics. It is, therefore, very interesting to explore how Mark Twain’s language, form, style, and structure communicate and describe a vast area of phenomena.

  Mark Twain used a simple and easy language to understand compared to other writers. This novel is also enjoyable to read since it contains a humor, tragic, and happy-ending story. Some parts of which are Twain’s own experiences and the others are his schoolmates.

  The topic of this thesis is the “Moral Lesson reflected in Tom’s Character Development as seen in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”.

  Therefore, this thesis will merely discuss how the character of Tom Sawyer develops in the novel. By seeing the development in the character of Tom, the readers are supposed to get a moral lesson to be applied in their life. Tom’s childhood is full of children’s moral dilemmas like clandestine swimming, smoking, running away from home, disliking church, and torturing animals.

  In the beginning of the novel, Tom Sawyer was a playful child who always envied the life and the freedom of the boys named Huckleberry Finn. As the chapter progresses, Tom Sawyer developed into a more grown-up boy. Later in the final chapter, he showed that he was a mature boy. He sacrificed himself for the others as a sign of adulthood.

  The development of this character flew well in every chapter in the novel. The changing needs a lot of time. He took everything that had already happened as his guide to become better and better morally and socially.

  A. Problem Formulation

  1. What are the characteristics of Tom Sawyer?

  2. How does the character of Tom Sawyer develop?

  3. What moral lessons can be taken from the development of Tom Sawyer?

  B. Objectives of the Study

  Based on the problem formulation above, this study is meant to reveal the moral lessons that are reflected through Tom’s character development in Mark Twain’ The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The first objective of the study is, of course, to observe the characteristics of the main character, Tom Sawyer.

  Then, the writer will move to the next objective. This second objective is to find out how his character develops through his behavior and attitudes described in the novel, from the beginning up to the end.

  Finally, based on the development found in the character of Tom Sawyer, the writer will try to reveal the moral lessons within Tom Sawyer’s character development.

  C. Definition of Terms

  1. Moral Lessons According Gardner in his book On Moral Fiction states that moral is the good for man, which rightly understood cannot be divorced from what is good for society and environment (1978: 134). Meanwhile, lesson means something to be the lessons which contain the principles of right and wrong behavior for society and environment.

  2. Character Development Character development is a part of characterization which informs the audience about the character’s personality, history, thought process, etc. The better audience knows the character, the better the character development. Character development is very important in character-driven literature, where stories focus not on events, but on individual personalities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/character_development)

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies The novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a masterpiece in art of literature

  written by Mark Twain, or Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Thus, it is surprising that many people have done a research on this novel. They analyzed this novel in various ways, from the story that looks like the life of Mark Twain to the research that this novel is a kind of satire for the period of time.

  The critics take for granted the power of Twain’s writing which always deals with humor. It has been proved in most of his works. It is stated in Merriam-

  

Webster Encyclopedia of Literature that Twain satirizes social conventions,

  concluding that appearances often hide a person’s true value. Despite its “Saccharine plot” the novel succeeds as a critique of legal and moral injustices (1995: 906).

  The works of Mark Twain are sometimes criticized as the reflection of Twain’s experiences in his life including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, so most of the critics say that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the reflection of Mark Twain’s life as what Spiller says in his book, The Cycle of American Literature:

  This was paradox of Mark Twain as he recreated himself in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Tom was the Sam Clemens, who sought the violence and excitement of life in a frontier town, Huck the two sensitive dreamers who puzzled over man’s inhumanities. The two were never reconciled in the boy of Hannibal nor in the man who lectured and was read around the world; but through them he did his best writing (Spiller, 1957: 120)

  That is the example of the biographical analysis, it tells about Mark Twain’s background in writing his works which are based on his actual experiences. It shows the portrait of himself and his influencing person in the character of the novel he wrote.

  The other criticism comes from Bartholow V. Crawford, Alexander C. Kern and Morris H. Needleman in the book entitled American Literature: Despite such limitations as incongruous humor, episodic construction, and emotional anachronism, it is a masterpiece by virtue of permanent common places about nostalgic boyhood experiences (1957: 191). Basically, the writer agrees that Mark Twain represented himself in the story because some of the source that the writer has read shows that Mark Twain’s childhood was spent in the a place near Mississippi river, which also becomes the setting for this novel. In the other word, the novel has strong biographical aspects.

  This idea is agreed by Walter Blair, who said that “at any rate, Tom was based on actual character, and real life prototypes of all the other leading figures in the book have been identified” (1963: 65).

  Another analysis has been done by Walter Blair, about the plot pattern that existed on the novel. It is said that: There are four ‘lines of action’ in the plot: the story of Tom and Becky, the story of Tom And Muff Potter, the Jackson’s island episode, and the series of happenings, which may be called Joe Harper story, leading to the discovery of the treasure (1971: 311).

  William Dean Howells also has done a research on the characteristics of Tom Sawyer as the major character in the novel:

  In a word, he is a boy, and merely and exactly an ordinary boy on the moral side. What makes him delightful to the reader is that on the imaginative side he is very much more, and though every boy has wild and fantastic dreams, this boy cannot rest till he has somehow realized them.

  Many researches have commented about the novel. The comments are also various, from praising it as worthy world masterpiece, to criticize the elements within. However, none of them do the research on the moral lessons from the character development inside the character of Tom Sawyer. Therefore, in this thesis, the writer would like to do a research about the moral lessons that can be taken from Tom’s character development.

A. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Character

  Abrams in The Glossary of Literary Terms states that character is “the persons in a dramatic or narrative work who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say -the dialogues- and what they do -the action-.”

  He also divides characters into major and minor characters. A major character is the most important character in the story. A major character always becomes the center of the story. His or her attitude, behavior, and action will be the focus of the readers’ attention from the beginning to the end of the story (1981: 20).

  Similar to Abrams’s idea of character, Stanton in An Introduction to Fiction explains that character is a person who does the action in a story. From the characters and their personality developments, the reader of the story can enjoy the development of the story from the beginning to the end. The characters of the story will lead the reader to experience their interests, desires, and emotions. The reader will also be able to experience the emotion of the story and moral principles that make up each of these characters through their action and their dialogue (1965: 17).

  He also divided the characters into two groups which are using the same terms like Abrams did. The characters in fiction can be differentiated into major and minor characters. A major character is the person who is relevant to every event in the story. Usually, the acts of the story are focused to this character from beginning to the ending parts. On the other hand, a minor character is the person who seems to appear rarely in the story. This representation is less important than the major character (1965: 17-18).

  The term character is used to designate the individual speech and action. In other words, the character can represent human being’s actions, behaviors, and attitudes, It is also a complicated terms that includes the idea of moral constitution of human personality, the presence of moral uprightness, and the simpler notion of the presence of creature in art seem to be human beings of one sort or another (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 81).

  From those three theories of character above, the writer comes to the definition that character is the person in the story with all the characteristics inside him or her. It can be said that the characters in the story, then, are divided into major or minor characters which depend on the role of the character in the story.

2. Theory of Characterization

  Characterization is the representation of a person in dramatic or narrative works. This may include direct methods like the attribution of qualities in description from character’s action, speech or appearance (Baldick, 1990: 34).

  Characterization is the way to create of imaginary person so that they exist for the readers as life like (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 81). While to Rohrberger and Woods, characterization is the process by which an author creates character; the devices by which she makes us believe a character is the particular type of person is (1971: 81).

  In Understanding Unseen, M.J. Murphy mentioned nine ways how the author reveals the character personalities and traits to the reader (1973: 161-173).

  Sometimes we cannot find all the nine ways in a novel, but only some. It is the matter of style that the author uses. Those nine ways are as follows: the personal description, the other characters’ view, the speech of the character, the past life of the character, the conversations of others characters, reactions, direct comment, thoughts, and lastly mannerism.

  According to Barnet, there are some ways to understand the character through its action and dialogue (1988: 712). Firstly, from what the character says.

  The reader can understand the character through all of the character’s statement or what the character says. Secondly, from what the character does. Through the observation on the character’s action in the story, the reader will understand the character easier. Thirdly, from what the other characters say about the character.

  The other character’s comment or opinion toward the main character is important to understand the main character. And then finally, from what the others do. It means that the other character’s action help the reader to indicate what the main character could do but does not do.

3. Theory of Character Development

  Foster divides characters into flat and round characters. A flat character, also called a type or two dimensional, is built around a single idea or quality and is presented without much individualizing detail and therefore can be adequately described in a single phrase or sentence. The character of a flat character does not change from the beginning until the end of the story dramatically. A round character is complex in temperament and motivation and is presented with subtle particularity. Thus, he is difficult to describe with any adequacy as a person in a real life. Like a person, his or her character may change dramatically if there is a factor influences it (1974: 18).

  Holman and Harmon point out that character may be static or dynamic. The static characters are characters that do not undergo any changes in their behavior, appearance and their way of thinking. The characters remain the same from the beginning of the story till the end of the story. Their characteristics and way of thinking are not influenced by whatever actions and problems happen on them.

  The dynamic characters, unlike the static characters, undergo changes in their personalities, outlook and way of thinking. The experiences and actions they do form their characters. They can also be influenced by outside factors such as the other characters’ actions and conflicts with the other characters. The internal factors namely the belief and desire may change their characters. The dynamic characters can change into better or worse characters through the development of the story. The changes of the character may occur in all aspects of the character for example, his outlook, way of thinking and behavior, but it may also be the only aspects of his character for example the appearance (1986: 83).

  In Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, Perrine vividly describes that by nature, character is divided into static and dynamic or developing character.

  Perrine says that static character is one who does not undergo any change. This type of character is still the same at the end of the story as he was in the beginning. While dynamic or developing character can be seen as the changing of a character from the beginning up to the end of the story. A character is developed if he or she experiences a change in some aspects of disposition, personality, or outlook. The change may be large or small one. It may be better or worse but it is

  Under the circumstances, a change in character should be plausible and in the conditions, such as within the possibilities of character who makes it. The character in a story should not change suddenly. The writer should present the changing of the character step by step. The character must begin the changing with smaller changes that are carefully prepared for. The changing of the character should be sufficiently motivated by circumstances. The character should have strong motivations or reasons in doing his actions. One cannot change his characteristics so suddenly without any reasons and the last one it must follow sufficient time for a change (1972: 71).

4. Theory of Moral and Morality

  The definition of moral lessons is taken from John K. Roth in his book entitled Encyclopedia of Ethics. In his book, Roth states that “Moral came from Latin mores (tradition). It is concerned with personally held ethical beliefs, theories of obligation, and the social elements that reinforce ethical decisions” (1995: 367). He also adds, “Moral raises the most fundamental questions about how one should live in this life” (1995: 564).

  Generally, moral is concerned with many forms of belief about right and wrong in human conduct. These beliefs are expressed through terms such as good, bad, virtuous, praiseworthy, right, wrong, and blameworthy. Several disciplines also use these terms to evaluate human endeavors, and these disciplines sometimes involve morality. Religion, law, etiquette, economics, and politics are evaluation of conduct and use a similar vocabulary of action directing terms (Beauchamp, 1982: 5).

  Basically, when we discuss moral, it is not simply about what is good or bad. It has a deeper sense. Cochrane, Hamm, and Kazepides, in their book entitled

  

The Domain of Moral Education , state that moral thinking is, also, about the

  fundamental values by which we profess to live (1979: 7). They also add that human actions are never done in a vacuum but in context which directly or indirectly involves other persons. It is implied that there is always an influence from one person to another in every actions that human did.

  Morality has a deeper sense than moral. In the moral dimension, we only differ what is bad or good actions happened in the story or society, but in morality context, we should be able to understand what reasons that stand behind the good actions. The goodness or bad of the reason behind the action is what then called as

  morality .

  The conscience of the person plays an important role in moral actions that he or she did. This idea goes along with Bekker who says, “To take a moral decision depends on conditioning of moral behavioral patterns, on education in respect of norm and value, on reasoning, representation, and evaluation. It depends, too, on the conscience of the person.” (1974: 93) Moral behavioral patterns and education of norm and value are the significant role of the society toward the moral actions

  A person can be valued to have a good morality conscience if he or she helps the others without any other tendencies. “The rule of goodness in moral is not that you ought to help people if you care for them or if you have some other purpose that helping them might serve. Instead, the rule is that you should be helpful to people regardless of your particular wants and desires” (Rachels, 1995: 118-119)

5. Theory of Message

  The theory of message is used since the morality in the novel is sometimes called a message. The idea of message is written in the book, Teori Pengkajian

  

Fiksi by Nurgiyantoro, which says that moral in a work of art is called a message

(2001: 322).

  The preceding statement can be the base for a literary works. It transforms into an idea that, later, transforms again into the background in creating the work of art. Nurgiyantoro also defines message as something that the author wants to convey the reader. It can also be the meaning within a work of art or the meaning suggested through the story (2001: 11).

  There has been some misinterpretation between message and theme in the story. These two terms are identical each other, but they are not the same. Kenny, in his book, How to Analyze Fiction, states it clearly that theme is more complex than message. Message is sometimes only one of the elements that form a theme in the story, and also can be seen as one form of theme in simple form, but not all

  Hudson and Goldings also add that a good message is a message that discloses a large possibility that the reader do not realize it. A writer would try to tell and to show those possibilities by using his work. In fact, he even tries to create those possibilities themselves. A good message does not tend to follow general pattern or norm but it creates new patterns based on human values (1971:23).

  Beaty and Hunter also express their idea about message that message is the real meaning or some easy conclusion that can be simply stated or summarized inside a work of art (1989: 899). We can say that every literary work contains and offers moral message. Usually the message reflects the author’s mind, belief, wish, and interest. He or she wants to convey his or her opinion about the values of truth. Message in a story can be considered as a suggestion related to practical moral lessons that can obtained by the reader through reading the story, because a literary work, basically, is the imitation of life. Thus, when the reader reveals the lessons from it the reader also can reflect it to problems that can be found in the real life, especially those which are related to human right and dignity. Those lessons can be obtained through the characters that appear in the story.

  In a book entitled Sastra, Tata Nilai dan Eksegenesis by Suyitno, George Santayana said that literature is a guidance of life. However, it is sublimated that it is impossible to dictate its readers by telling what should or should not be done (1986: 4).

  In other words, a literary works are only giving some guidance to the reader through the message enclosed within the story. It is the readers who have the choice whether to follow it or not. However, the writer of literary works must have some intention to show the readers what actions are bad and good to do.

6. The Relation between Morality and Literature

  Literature has a wide scope in human aspects of life. It can be a reflection of human thought, feeling, philosophy, and experience. E. Van de Laar and N.

  Schoonderwoerd in An Approach to English Literature support this statement by saying that “Literature is an expression of life through the medium of language. It can be regarded as something essential since it contains of real life, people, thought, and their feeling about life.” (1963: 10). Studying literatures, the reader will be able to encounter any conditions and possibilities that possibly happen in the future life. Moody agrees this opinion by saying that literature enables the student (the readers) to deal with an endless stream of fresh and unpredictable experiences as an excellent preparation for their life (1971: 13).

  According to Guerin, in A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, the sacred task of literature is to teach morality and investigate issues related to philosophy. He explains that there are many elements in literary work, such as figurative of language and other aesthetic consideration as secondary aspects.

  However, the moral or philosophical teaching becomes important thing in literary works besides the secondary aspects (1999: 25-26). Because from it, the reader can get some moral lessons and guidance so they can learn how to face and to solve problems.

  In On Moral Fiction, Gardner states that a piece of literary work containing moral lessons provide value and rouse trustworthy feeling about the best and the worst in human action (1978: 19). Related to that, moral lessons are not merely a common message, but it emphasizes on a good or bad attitude. The aim of moral lesson is to teach people in relation with good or bad values and principles.

  The relation between morality and literature are also clearly stated in Semi’s book Kritik Sastra. He inferred that the most effective way in developing the morality of a society is by the literary work. Morality means as a norm which is highly regarded by most people in its society. The position of morality aspects is to measure whether the actions are good or bad through the values of goodness and bad in the society (1989: 49).

  How the author transfer the message to the readers are explained by Moody, who states that literary work of art always offers moral message that connected with human’s noble behaviors which can be displayed through characterization of the attitudes and the behaviors of the characters in the novel (1971: 48).

  The author usually presents the moral lessons which are related to human being and their interaction with others in their daily lives through his literary works. The moral lessons are carried by the characters and their characterization creatures in art that seem to be human beings which includes the idea of the moral constitutions and uprightness (1986: 81).

B. Theoretical Framework

  This undergraduate thesis is entitled Moral Lessons as Reflected in Tom

  

Sawyer’s character development. The focus of this thesis is on the result of the

character development. Thus, the writer needs some theories to do the research.

  The theory will be the theory of character, the theory of characterization, theory of moral, and the relation between literature and morality. All these theories will be used to answer all three questions in the problem formulations.

  First, the writer will apply two theories; theory of character and theory of characterization. These two theories will be used to analyze the character of Tom Sawyer. Then, the theory on character development was used to find the development on the character of Tom Sawyer. Finally, using the rest of the theories, the writer revealed the moral lessons or messages that were reflected through tom Sawyer’s character development.

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study The object of this study is a novel. The novel is entitled The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, written by Samuel Clemens, usually known by his pen name, Mark Twain. It was written in 1874-1875; Hartford, Connecticut, and firstly printed in England in June 1876, and six months later in the United States. The edition of the novel used in this undergraduate thesis is the collection of Penguin Popular Classics. It was published in Penguin Popular Classics in 1994. Penguin Group printed this edition in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc and set in Monotype Baskerville. It consists of 221 pages. This novel has been translated into many languages, including in Indonesian

  with the title, Petualangan Tom Sawyer. Later, along with the popularity of the novel in many countries, the novel then was made into film with the same title,

  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer .

  The

  It is concerned with Tom’s personal growth and quest for identity,

  Adventures of Tom Sawyer

  incorporates several different genres. It resembles a bildungsroman, a novel that follows the development of a hero from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood. The novel also resembles novels of the picaresque genre, in that Tom moves from one adventurous episode to another.

  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

  also fits the genres of satire, frontier literature, folk narrative, and comedy ( http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/tomsawyer/facts.html ). As it is written before, the novel is mainly concerned about the personal growth of a boy whose name is Tom Sawyer and his search for an identity in his

  St. Petersburg, Missouri

  hometown, . In his personal development, he deals with many situations that make him into a mature either morally or socially. In the end of the novel, he has approved by the society to be a mature and responsible person.

A. Approach of the Study

  The approach used in conducting this undergraduate thesis research is the moral-philosophical approach. Some theories would be employed to justify the analysis theoretically. A definition of this approach is stated in the following paragraph.

  According to Guerin in A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, Moral-Philosophical is an approach that insists on finding out and stating what is exposed and thought. The basic position of Moral-Philosophical approach is to teach morality and to probe philosophical issues. They would interpret literature within the context of philosophical thought of a period or group. The important thing is the moral-philosophical thought (1979: 39).

  This study basically deals with moral lessons reflected in a character. Discussing moral is always relevant with human life and experience. It needs the intellectual and rational ability to find and develop the moral quality of human life. The experience of the individual life sometimes is confused by the

B. Method of the Study

  The author is going to analyze the moral lessons as reflected in Tom’s character development in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This study is a library research, where the data are collected from the books, and the internet.

  There are two kinds of sources which are used in doing this undergraduate thesis. The primary source used in this study is the novel The Adventures of Tom

  

Sawyer by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). The edition was the Penguin Popular

  Classics collection, which was published in 1994 and printed in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc.

  While the secondary sources used were criticisms and some theories for the analysis. Some of the important sources which the author uses in this study are the theory of character given by Abrams in The Glossary of Literary Terms, theory of characterization by M.J Murphy in his book Understanding Unseen, the theory of character development by Perrine in Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, the theory of moral and morality by John K. Roth in his book entitled Encyclopedia of

  

Ethics, theory of message from Nurgiyantoro in Teori Pengkajian Fiksi and lastly

the relation between literature and morality by E. Van de Laar and N.

  Schoonderwoerd in An Approach to English Literature.

  The theories of character and characterization were used to answer the first problem formulation about the characteristics, and then the theory of character development applied to find out his character development. The last three theories of moral and morality, message and the relation between morality and literature were used in the analysis to analyze the moral lessons existed in the novel, especially related to the Tom Sawyer’s character development.

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS In this chapter, the writer will try to find the answers to the three problems

  formulated in the problem formulation. Therefore, the writer will make an analysis firstly on the characteristics of Tom Sawyer, then secondly on his character development, and the last on the relation between his character developments to reveal the moral lessons in the story. As the result, this chapter will consist of three subchapters: the characteristics of Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer’s character development, and the moral lessons taken from Tom Sawyer’s character development.