THE AMERICAN VALUES IN THE LATE 1970S AS REFLECTED THROUGH LEE AND AUSTIN’S CHARACTERISTICS SEEN IN SAM SHEPARD’S TRUE WEST

  THE AMERICAN VALUES IN THE LATE 1970S AS REFLECTED THROUGH LEE AND AUSTIN’S CHARACTERISTICS SEEN IN SAM SHEPARD’S TRUE WEST AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

  Tetty Florentina Simbolon

  Student Number: 054214051

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009

  

THE AMERICAN VALUES IN THE LATE 1970S AS REFLECTED

THROUGH LEE AND AUSTIN’S CHARACTERISTICS

SEEN IN SAM SHEPARD’S TRUE WEST

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

  

Tetty Florentina Simbolon

  Student Number: 054214051

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2009 ii

iii

iv

  

“ O THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES BOTH OF THE

WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD ! HOW

UNSEARCHABLE ARE HIS JUDGEMENTS, AND

HIS WAYS PAST FINDING OUT!”

  

( ROMANS 11: 33) v

  This Undergraduate thesis is dedicated to Rewaller Simbolon and Sauria Sirait for their love, supports, and prayers.

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  In accomplishing this thesis, I would like to express my biggest gratitude to Jesus Christ, my Lord and the savior of my soul. How unsearchable are Thy judgements and Thy ways past finding out!

  My enormous gratitude also goes to my advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd, M.Hum and my former advisor Dra. Theresia Enny Anggraini, M.A. for the advice so far, assistance, and guidance during accomplishing of my undergraduate thesis. I would like to thank my co-advisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S. M.Hum., for the correction and suggestion in revising my thesis to be better.

  I also appreciate my beloved parents and all family for support, spirit, prayers and trust that is given to me in all these years to study in Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta.

  I always try to give the best of me for all.

  My deepest gratitude goes to my friends in my boardinghouse: Novi for the hot Milo and Anod for printer, my classmates in 2005 (Nani, Priska, Weny, Putri, Estu, and others) for our happiness and togetherness, Yusi for the encouraging sms and for our great adventures, my family in LBUSD (Richard, Risang, Dea, Mbak Dian, Mbak Tika, mbak Novi, and others) for the suggestion, sharing and discussion.

  Last but not least, I also would like to thank my sisters & brothers of Parna Jogja, my brothers in Jantis, K Evi and Diana for the cheerfulness in my tiring days, and to all my friends who cannot be mentioned one by one.

  Tetty Florentina Simbolon vi

  

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PULIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

  Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Tetty Florentina Simbolon NIM : 054214051

  Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul THE AMERICAN VALUES IN THE LATE 1970S AS REFLECTED THROUGH LEE AND AUSTIN’S CHARACTERISTICS SEEN IN SAM SHEPARD’S TRUE WEST Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan ini saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk lain, mengelola dalam bentuk pangkalan data. Mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempulikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun royalitas kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

  Demikian pernyataan ini, saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Yogyakarta, 13 Desember 2009 Yang menyatakan Tetty Florentina Simbolon vii

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ....................................................................................................... i

APPROVAL PAGE ................................................................................................ ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE…………………………………………………………. iii

MOTTO PAGE .................................................................................................... iv

DEDICATION PAGE .......................................................................................... v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................. vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... vii

ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... ix

ABSTRAK ............................................................................................................ x

  CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study ...................................................................... 1 B. Problem Formulation ........................................................................... 3 C. Objectives of the Study ........................................................................ 4 D. Definition of Terms .............................................................................. 4 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies ................................................................... 6 B. Review of Related Theories Character and Characterization ............................................................ 8 C. Review on the Social Condition of Southern California in the Late 1970s ................................................................ 11 D. Review on Values 1. Theory of values ............................................................................. 13 2. American Values in the Late 1970s ............................................... 14 E. Theoretical Framework ........................................................................ 17 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study .............................................................................. 18 B. Approach of the Study ......................................................................... 19 C. Method of the Study ............................................................................. 20 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS A. Lee and Austin’s Characteristics 1. Characteristics of Lee a. Self-Reliant .............................................................................. 23 b. Violent ...................................................................................... 25

  c.

  Envious ..................................................................................... 27 2. Characteristics of Austin a.

  Money Oriented ....................................................................... 30 b. Envious ..................................................................................... 31 c. Optimistic ................................................................................. 33 B. The American Values in the Late 1970s as Reflected through Lee and

  Austin’s Characteristics 1.

  Individual Freedom ........................................................................ 37 2. Materialism .................................................................................... 39 3. Competition .................................................................................... 42 4. Optimism ........................................................................................ 45

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ........................................................................... 49

BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................ 53

APPENDIX ........................................................................................................... 55

                             

  ix

  

ABSTRACT

  TETTY FLORENTINA SIMBOLON. The American Values in the Late 1970s as

  

Reflected through Lee and Austin’s Characteristics Seen in Sam Shepard’s True

West

  . Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009.

  Lee and Austin’s characteristics in True West that is written by Sam Shepard become a portrait of American society in Southern California in the late 1970s. Therefore, the writer tries to find out the American values in the late 1970s, which are reflected through the characteristics of Lee and Austin.

  This thesis consists of two problems to be answered. The first one is to find out what the characteristics of the main characters, Lee and Austin, in the play are. The second one is how the American values in the late 1970s are reflected through Lee and Austin’s characteristics.

  To answer the two problems, the library research method is conducted. It is conducted by studying some reference books for related theory of characters and characterization, theory of values, and studying the play itself. Some additional information are also gained by internet. The most appropriate approach for this thesis is sociocultural-historical approach. Since this thesis deals with the social condition and historical aspects, this approach will be helpful to find out the American values in the late 1970s in the play that are reflected in Lee and Austin’s characteristics.

  Based on the analysis, two conclusions have been gained. First, the characteristics of Lee and Austin are quite different in the beginning but complete each other in the end. Since Lee lives in the desert for so long and separated from his family, the characteristics that are created are self-reliant, violent, and envious meanwhile as a writer who lives in a middle-class society in suburb, Austin’s characteristics are money oriented, envious, and optimistic. The second, the characteristics of Lee and Austin reflect the American values of the materialism society at that time. Those values are individual freedom, materialism, competition, and optimism. x

  

ABSTRAK

  TETTY FLORENTINA SIMBOLON. The American Values in the Late 1970s as

  

Reflected through Lee and Austin’s Characteristics Seen in Sam Shepard’s True

West

  . Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009. Karakteristik-karakteristik Lee dan Austin dalam drama True West yang ditulis oleh Sam Shepard menjadi gambaran masyarakat California Selatan pada akhir tahun 1970an. Oleh karena itu, penulis mencoba untuk mencari nilai-nilai masyarakat Amerika yang ada pada akhir tahun 1970an yang direfleksikan melalui karakteristik- karakteristik Lee dan Austin.

  Skripsi ini terdiri dari dua rumusan masalah yang dijawab. Masalah yang pertama adalah mencari apa saja karakteristik-karakteristik dari Lee dan Austin, karakter-karakter utama di dalam drama. Masalah yang kedua adalah bagaimana nilai- nilai masyarakat Amerika yang ada pada akhir tahun 1970an yang direfleksikan melalui karakteristik-karakteristik Lee dan Austin.

  Untuk menjawab dua pertanyaan tersebut studi pustaka dilakukan. Studi pustaka ini dilakukan dengan mempelajari beberapa buku referensi untuk hubungan teori karakter dan karakterisasi, teori nilai, dan mempelajari drama itu sendiri. Beberapa informasi tambahan juga didapat dari internet. Pendekatan yang paling sesuai untuk skripsi ini adalah pendekatan sosiokultural-historikal. Karena pendekatan ini berhubungan dengan kondisi sosial dan aspek-aspek historis, maka pendekatan ini akan membantu untuk menemukan nilai-nilai masyarakat Amerika di akhir tahun 1970an yang direfleksikan melalui karakteristik-karakteristik Lee dan Austin.

  Berdasarkan analisis, ada dua hal yang dapat disimpulkan. Yang pertama, karakteristik-karakteristik Lee dan Austin cukup berbeda di awal drama tetapi saling melengkapi di akhir drama. Karena Lee sudah lama tinggal di gurun dan berpisah dari keluarga, karakteristik-karakteristik yang terbentuk adalah mandiri, kasar, iri dengki sedangkan sebagai seorang penulis yang tinggal didalam masyarakat materialistis di pinggiran kota, karakteristik-karakteristik Austin adalah berorientasi uang, iri dengki, dan optimis. Kesimpulan yang kedua adalah karakteristik-karakteristik Lee dan Austin merefleksikan nilai-nilai masyarakat Amerika yang materialistis pada waktu itu. Nilai- nilai itu adalah kebebasan individu, materialisme, kompetisi, dan optimisme.

   

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Literature is a reflection of human life. Studying literature means not only

  studying a work of literature itself but also studying the social issues in human life. Sylvan Barnet, Morton Berman, and William Burto in their book An

  Introduction to Literature stated that

  An author may share her or his feeling toward the social condition, life experience and views of the issues which appear around her or him through work of literature. Therefore, it can be said that literature portrays the reality of life (1963: 3-5).

  This quotation means that a literature may reflect the social condition, life experience and views of the issues that appear around the author. Therefore, literature becomes a reflection of reality, which affects the society who uses it. Furthermore, it is intended for the people so that they enjoy and study it, as they know that literature is interesting for them.

  Literature consists of many products such as novels, poetries, plays, and short stories. To study literature, there are many elements could be analyzed.

  Those are theme, plot, setting, message, character, point of view, title, tone, and so on. One of the works of literature, which is very interesting to study, is a play.

  It is very challenging to read and analyze the play that is actually designed to be performed because the reader should interpret the life of the character(s), social condition and issues occur on the play based on the dialogue of the characters, or the stage directions that are provided. Therefore, characters become

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  one of the important elements in the play. The characters can also lead the reader to the background of the author, the setting, and the plot of the story to help the reader to analyze the play.

  The play that will be analyzed in this undergraduate thesis is True West written by Sam Shepard. The play takes place in a Southern California suburb in the late 1970s. This is a contemporary American play about sibling’s conflict, Lee and Austin, when they do house-sitting of their mother’s house while she takes her vacation to Alaska. The conflict begin when Lee competes with Austin for getting a job as a screenwriter. This competition reveals the characteristics of them.

  However, some of their characteristics lead to the American values that persist in California at that time.

  The story of True West represents the social condition in West America, a Southern California suburb in the late 1970s. Since the end of the Second World War in 1945, there were many changes in industry. Factories moved to the South where there had been but few before. Liebman and Young in their book, The says that

  Growth of America

  During the war there had been very few things produced for people, so few that after the war the demand for goods was great. The people wanted new clothes, furniture, and automobiles. They needed toasters, irons, clocks— all of which had not been made during the war (1966: 404).

  Many industries have grown as well as the media electronic in Southern California in the late 1970s. Many people had used television and the motion picture had always been the people’s art as Blum, Mcfeely, Morgan, Schlesinger, Stampp, and Woodward say in their book, The National Experience; A History of the United that “More Americans had television sets in 1980 than had modern

  States

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  plumbing, and their sets were turned on an average of seven hours a day” (1985: 910). In this book, they also said that the television gave some influences to the social condition at that time. “Defenders of the new medium argued that television extended people’s horizon, told them more about current affairs than their local newspaper, and prepared them for a world of danger and violence” (1985: 910).

  These social conditions give influence in shaping the characteristics of Lee and Austin.

  Lee and Austin’s characteristics in the play become a portrait of American society in Southern California in the late 1970s. Moreover, by reading this literary work the reader can see that there are some values of American society in the late 1970s are reflected by the characteristics of the main characters in the play.

  Therefore, True West is an appropriate literary work to analyze since it deals with the characteristics of American society in which the American values are reflected by the characteristics of the main characters. For the analysis, the writer will find out and studies the characteristics of the main characters, then find out the American values through the characters in the play.

B. Problem Formulation

  Based on the background of the study, there are two problems that are formulated in this thesis as follows:

1. What are the characteristics of Lee and Austin in the play? 2.

  How are the American values in the late 1970s reflected through Lee and Austin’s characteristics?

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    C.

   Objectives of the Study

  There are two objectives of this thesis. The first objective is to find out the characteristics of the main characters in True West, Lee and Austin. The characteristics of Lee and Austin will be identified from their way of thinking, their action, their dialogue, opinion of other characters, and so on in the play. The second objective is to identify the American values in the late 1970s, which are reflected through the characteristics of the main characters. It means that the American values in the late 1970s can be reflected by the characteristics of the main characters in the play.

D. Definition of Terms

  To avoid misunderstanding and misinterpreting this thesis, it is necessary to clarify some terms used. Abrams in his book, A Glossary of Literary Terms, defines the character as follows.

  Character is the person in a dramatic or narrative work endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say in the dialogue and what they do from the action (1981: 21). In other words, a character can be analyzed by the action, the way she/he talk in the dialogue, the thought, and the opinion of others characters. Then, it is also important to include the definition of characterization which is defined by Guth and Rico as follows.

  The way in which the author portrays a character for the reader. Characterization can occur through author exposition about a character as well as through the character’s actions, speech, and thought (1997: 1827).

  In other words, characterization is the way the author exposed the characters through what the characters do, think, and talk about in the play.

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  Another term that needs to be clarified is American values. According to Zanden in his book Social Psychology, Value is an ethical principle to which people feel a strong emotional commitment and which they employ in judging behavior (1984: 318). Therefore, the writer concludes that American Values in the late 1970s is an ethical principle, which becomes a strong commitment to American community, which is reflected on the play in the late 1970s to judge their behavior in society.

   

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies This section will discuss the studies and some opinions about Sam Shepard’s play, True West. Sam Shepard is known as a famous American

  playwright. Shepard develops a realism of American domestic tragedy which exposes the American identity. He tries to show the influence of the past image of American towards the reality of an American identity todays. This idea is also represented in the dissertation abstract of Paul Seamus Madachi, Phd., titled as

  

The Nightmare Of The Nation: Sam Shepard and The Paradox of American

Identity as quoted in the following.

  Shepard’s plays and writings expose this american identity—represented by the strong, hardy figure of the farmer/pioner/cowboy—as an illussion and suggests that any succesful notion of identity must acknowledged the character-shaping influence of the past as well as admit to the reality of an American identity that is inherently violent and inaccessible to most Americans (Madachi, 2003: i).

  Here, Paul stated that most of Shepard’s plays and writings explore the American identity which is represented as a strong figure. Furthermore, this image of American is just created by the character—shaping influence of the past that must be admitted as well as the reality of an American. It can be seen in the characteristics of Lee in True West which represent the image of old West. Then, the second, he says that we can see the image of old west in other Shepard’s play, entitled Super Cowboy Man.

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  In Shepard’s work, American character is most often represented by the figure of cowboy. This character is inherited by the character of the old west in the past who represented a strong figure man with a gun. Shepard’s Super Cowboy

  Man reveals two important elements that he perceives to be an American image: a

  strong connection to the land and the belief in an individual’s self-sufficiency and ability to make his own way. This idea can also be found on Paul Madachi’s dissertation as quoted in the following.

  Shepard in his Super Cowboy Man is depicting lineage that seemingly embodies America: a strong tie to the land and indomitable belief in the self-sufficiency and capability of American character (2003: 22). The Super Cowboy Man also displays a strong, inevitable tendency toward violence. ‘Montana’ opens with this ultimate cowboy placing hundred-dollars bills on the corpse of a woman he has just killed. Here, Shepard shows the embracing ideal of American identity by exhibiting such violent behaviour. In this play, he demonstrates his association of national character with violance and aggresion which are inherited by the American frontier in the past.

  Dalt Wonk, in his article in Gambit Weekly, entitled True Fiction, has opinion as the follows.

  In True West, Shepard's method is a kind of "allegorical realism." It is as though we have entered a nightmare distortion of the familiar and the mundane. The things and events of normal life are galvanized with new, mysterious and often frightening intimations, and symbolic dramas arise from unconscious hopes and fears. What Austin fears is not Lee, but his ownsubmerged, self-destructive impulses. He lives out the paranoid nightmare being supplanted by his brother and of giving in to that dark side of himself that is ruled over by “the father”. (http/www.gambit weekly.org/Art&LeisureTruefiction,html) Moreover, the article also says that it is a good boy vs. bad boy sibling rivalry.

  Austin graduated from college, got married, had a family “up north” to whom he

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  will return soon. He is dicipline and ambitious meanwhile Lee is uneducated, violent, drunkard and envious.

  Those above studies more or less talk about realism of American identity which is represented as strong figure. In different point of view of those studies, this study will go further to find out how the American values in the late 1970s can be reflected through Lee and Austin’s characteristics in the play.

B. Review of Related Theories Theory of Character and Characterization

  The theory that will be used to analyze the problem in this thesis is the theory of character and characterization since these theories will help the writer to find out the characteristics of the main characters. Moreover, character is one of the intrinsic elements in the literary work. In fiction the characters are made by author’s imagination. Abrams in his book, A Glosarry of Literary Terms, defines character as follows.

  Character is the person in dramatic or narrative work endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expresed in what they say in the dialogue and what they do from the action (1981: 21). Therefore, based on Abrams’ theory, the characteristics of the major character,

  Lee and Austin, in True West can be drawn by their action and what they have said in the text. According to Stanton, the use of term “character” refers to two different usages. It designates the individual who appears in the story and the mixture of attitudes: desires, emotions, and moral principles that these individuals have (1965: 17).

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  The character appears in the play as the actor who perform an important role so that the success of the play lies on the performance of the characters . This idea is also stated by Rohrberger and Woods in the following.

  Characters have an important role in a story since they help readers to participate vicariously in the experience on the story by sharing imaginatively the feelings or the activities of the characters in the story (1971: 19).

  Moreover, the process of creating the character in literary work is called characterization. Rohrberger and Woods in their book, Reading and Writing About

  Literature , defines the word characterization as “ the process of which an author

  creates character, the devices by which he makes us believe a character is the particular type of person is” (1971: 20).

  Characterization can be done directly or indirectly. It is stated in the following quotation as quoted from Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense by Perrine Laurence.

  An author may present his characters either directly or indirectly. In direct presentation he tells us straight out, by exposition or analysis, what a character is like, or has someone else in the story tell us what he is like. In indirect presentation the author shows us the character in action; we infer what he is like from what he thinks or says or does (1974: 68). In other words, an author can present his character directly by his exposition about the character or by what other characters have said in the play. Meanwhile, in indirect presentation, the author just shows the action of the character and then the readers try to get what the character is like.

  Baldick (1990: 78) defines the term of characterization as “ one of the literature elements which represent a person or figure, especially in narrative and dramatic works”. Holman and Harmon say other defintion that characterization is the creation of imaginary persons (1986: 21).

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  According to M.J. Murphy (1972: 161- 173) in Understanding Unseen, there are nine ways in which author attempts to make his characters understandable and alive for the readers. Those ways are stated in the following.

  a.

  Personal description. The author can describe a character’s appearance like his or her face, body, and clothes. The personal description is very important because it can give clues about his or her character.

  b.

  Character as seen by another. Instead of describing a character directly the author can depict him through the eyes and opinions of another.

  c.

  Speech. The author can give some clues or insight to the character through what a person says. Whenever he is in a conversation with another and whenever he speaks and puts forward an opinion, he is giving us some clues to his character.

  d.

  Past life. By permitting the readers learn something about people past life, the author can give us 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 reader some clues to a person’s character by permitting us to know how that person reacts to various situations and events.

  g.

  Direct comment. The author can give the readers direct knowledge of what the person’s thinks and feels.

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    h.

  Thought. The author gives the readers direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. i.

  Mannerism. The author can depict a person’s mannerism, habits, or idiosyncrasies, which may also tell us something about his character.

C. Review on the Social Condition of Southern California in the Late 1970s

  Since the Second World War ended in 1945, there were many changes in industry, which influenced the American society at that time. According to Paul S.

  Boyer et al in The Enduring Vision: A History Of The American People said “The material aspects of American dream had seemingly come true. Between 1950 and 1970, the real GNP, which becomes a factor of inflation and reveals the actual amount of goods and services produced, steadily increased” (1990: 1017- 1018).

  During the great depression and the Second World War, American people satisfied their desires for all goods and services that they had longed for. Many of them prefer to purchase electric lawn mowers, air conditioners, and television set to spend their income on basic necessities. A consumerist culture dominated American life at that time (1990: 1022).

  Television is a part of American life at that time. Producing television shows required the talent of writers, actors, and set designers. According to Richard C. Brown in The American Achievement, “Television commercials stimulated the sale of a great many products. Considering all these effect, one can easily see that new television industry had a considerable impact on the American economy” (1996: 798). Besides, the prosperity of the postwar era also depends on and supported the rapid growth of education system. According to Paul S. Boyer,

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  “By 1960 more than 30 million students attended primary school. California opened a new school an average of every seven days throughout the decade and still faced a classroom shortage” (1990: 1027).

  Furthermore, population had been growing faster as the growing of industry in 1960. It is stated by Richard C. Brown et al in The American

  Achievement as follows.

  Nearly 30 million moved from the country in which they had previously lived. More than three million people moved from other states into California between 1950 and 1960. Through geographic mobility they achieved social mobility; that is, they took the opportunity to move upward in the social scale (1966: 802). During the 1960s, the growing university population of upper- middle- class white youth formed the core of participants in what become known as the

  “counter culture”. These young people, joined by some of their elders, rejected prevailing cultural norms. By the 1970s, the most exaggerated forms of the counter-culture movement decreased. They have been to be special product of an unusually large population of young people; the high prosperity of the 1960s, which released young people from pressing material concerns; the inhumanity of the Vietnam War and the threat of the draft. During 1970s in which the end of the Vietnam War, the return of economic depression, the decline in fertility rate, family size, and the relative number of young people, and the growing tolerance of the adult population stemmed the cultural excesses of the 1960s (1976: 395).

  In the later 1970s, there were inflation, energy worries, and hostages that make the society become frustrated. When the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) increased the oil prices, the economy felt to inflation, unemployment, and recession. On the international scene, post Vietnam America

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  groped for a new role in a world where the old Cold War formulas appeared increasingly irrelevant. According to Paul S. Boyer in The Enduring Vision: A

  History of The American People , “prices increased by 10 percent in 1978 and by

  more than 13 percent in both 1979 and 1980. As before, the primary blame lay with staggering energy cost (1990: 1124).

  In the late 1970, as in 1976, voters to a presidential candidate who represented a sharp break with the recent past, the former actor and former California governor Ronald Reagan. Several ideological and social trends underlay Reagan’s victory in 1980. A belief in self- help and private enterprise had remained firmly entrenched in American thought despite the New Deal-Great society ideology of governmental activism. The sexual revolution, the rising rates of abortion and divorce, the more open expression of homosexuality, pornography on the newsstands, sex and violence in the mass media, and secular humanism in school textbooks—all gravely upset million of Americans who responded with a call for a restoration of morality and traditional values (1966: 1126).

D. Review on Values

  1. Theory of Values Gary Althen in his book American Ways: a Guide for Foreigner in the

  United States , states that values are “Ideas about what is right and wrong, desirable and undesirable, normal and abnormal, proper and improper” (1988: 3).

  In other words, values is the role of the society. Values are the ideal ways to behave which describe the quality of someone in society. Milton Rokeach in his

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  book Understanding Human Values, states that values are the conceptions within every individual and society as stated in the following.

  Conception of the desirable within every individual and society. They serve as standards or criteria to guide action but also judgment, choice, attitude, evaluation, argument, exhortation, and rationalization (1972: 2). Besides, in his book American Culture, furthermore Graham notes about values as follows.

  Values are preferences for certain lines of action, involve an intellectual element, and are reinforced by emotional attachments.They are not the individual goals or individual activities which are undertaken by a people. Rather they are the rules by which goals are selected and activities chosen. Values are the highest level of culture. They are the tops, directing what individual goals shall be sought in a society. At a lesser level are the norm of activity, which are directed with the accomplishments of these goals. Finally, there are the activity themselves. Values are not necessarily mutually consistent. A good many values, which contradict one another, may exist in a society, the means of following its dictates may not (1957: 124-125).

  It means that values are the part of the culture as a norm, which consists of action, intellectual element, and emotional attachment that direct to society’s goal. Values are also not consistent and may contradict one another in the society.

  2. American Values in the Late 1970s Historically, the United States has been viewed as the land of opportunity that attracts many people to come and pursue their happiness. The opportunities they believed, they would find in America and the experiences they actually had when they arrived, nurtured some set of values. According to Graham in his book,

  

American Culture: An Analysis of It’s Development and Present Characteristics

  , the values which began to define the American character are freedom, individualism, equality, competition, progress of group, hard work, materialism, and the rational approach (1957: 132). Individualism is so vital to understand

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  American society and culture because it is the basic of American’s characteristics, therefore it receives more attention than the others.

  In the late 1970s, American middle class experienced inflation, energy worries, and hostages that make society become frustrated. Everyone tries to get a better life. Based on this social condition, there are some values that can be perceived at that time. Those values are individual freedom, materialism, competition, and optimism. As Joan Crandall in his book, The American Ways, stated that, the historic decision made by those first settlers has had a profound effect on the shaping American character. By limiting the power of the government and the churches and eliminating a formal aristocracy, they created a climate of freedom where the emphasis was on the individual. The United States come to be associated in their minds with the concept of individual freedom (1997: 23).

  Individual freedom places a great value of self- reliance, on privacy, and on mutual respect. Therefore, individuals must learn to rely on themselves or risk losing freedom. According to Crandall in his book, The American Ways, most Americans believe that they must be self-reliant in order to keep their freedom. If they rely too much on the support of their families or the government or any organization, they may lose some of their freedom to do what they want.

  The second value is materialism. According to Crandall, placing a high value on material possession is called materialism (1997: 27). Americans tend to measure a person’s success in life by referring the amount of money that person has achieved. In other words, they believe that the material wealth is important to measure of worth. Americans have paid a price for their material wealth, namely

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  hard work. Only by hard work, the natural resources in some places in American continent are converted into material possession, allowing a more comfortable standard of living. Therefore, Americans come to see material possession as the natural reward for their hard work.

  The third value is competition. Competition means that each individual will be able to compete with others. Crandall said that Americans see much of life as a race for success. Therefore, a person must run the race in order to succeed by competition and regards others as the rival. If every person has an equal chance to succeed in the United States, then it is every person’s duty to try. Americans match their energy and intelligence against that of others in a competitive contest for success. People who like to compete and are more successful than others are honored by being called winners. On the other hand, those who do not like to compete and are not successful when they try are often dishonored by being called losers (1997: 26)

  The fourth value is called optimism. The need for self-reliance encourages the Americans to the spirit of inventiveness. The early settlers provide most of their daily essentials by themselves. They often face new problems and situations that demanded new solution. Therefore, they learn to experiment with new ways of doing things. The willingness to experiment and invent lead to another American trait, a can- do spirit, a sense of optimism that every problem has a solution. This can- do spirit has given Americans a sense of optimism (1997: 69).

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E. Theoretical Framework

  Some theories which are explained above support the writer to develop the analysis. The theory of character and characterization by Abrams, Stanton and Rohrberger and Woods help the writer to answer about the characteristics of Lee and Austin described in True West and how to reveal their characteristics by analyze the social condition in the play. Perrine’s opinion that says characters can be presented in two ways, direct and indirect presentation, help the writer in finding Lee and Austin’s character which presented in indirect one in which “the author, shows us the character in action; we infer what he is like from what he thinks or says or does”(1974: 68).

  Besides, the writer also uses the theory of values by Gary Althen and Graham which are included in the review on values. The theory of american values will find out the values which persist in Southern California in the late 1970s so that it will be so helpful to answer the second question of the problem which had been formulated. The review on the social condition of Southern California in the late 1970s is also important to represent the society at that time so that it influences the values of the society.

   

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study The literary work that will be analyzed in this undergraduate thesis is the

  play by Sam Shepard entitled True West. The play is compiled in the book entitled

  

Types of Drama which is written by Gerald Robin, Sylvan Barnet, William Burto,

th

  and Lesley Ferris. The book is the 8 edition and was published by Longman publisher, New York in 2001. The play True West consist of 22 pages from page 1225- 1247, 2 acts, and 9 scenes. True West itself was published in 1980 and was first performed in July of 1980 at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco directed by Robert Woodruff. It is the third of Shepard’s domestic trilogy after Curse of the

  

Starving Class (1977) and Buried Child (1978). Sam Shepard earned Obie award

for True West in 1985.

  True West tells about sibling’s conflict between Lee and his brother,

  Austin, who lived in Southern California. Actually, Austin is the representative of the order created by suburban new west while Lee is the representative of the desert old west. In the beginning of the play, their characteristics seem contradictory. Austin appeared as a calm man with his normal life as a screen writer and Lee appeared as a violent man with his hard life in the desert, but in the end of the play their characteristics complete and influence each other. Their characteristics represent the portrait of the society in California in the late 1970s. Some of Lee and Austin’s characteristics reflect the American characteristics,

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  which lead the society to the values, or role of the society to behave then furthermore become the American values at that time.

B. Approach of the Study

  The approach which is appropriate to be used in analyzing this play is sociocultural-historical approach since it deals with society related to the history occured in the past. Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods in their book Reading

  and Writing about Literature explain that the way to locate the real work is in reference to the civilization that produced it. It is quoted as follows.

  Critics whose major interest is the sociocultural-historical approach insist that the only way to locate the real work is in reference to the civilization that produced it (1979: 9). It means that Critics believe that to analyze the literary work, it is necessary to evaluate the attitudes and actions of society that create it. Rohrberger also states that the critics point out that literature takes these attitudes and actions as its subject matter. They said that it is necessary to investigate the social milieu in which a work was created and which it necessary reflects (1971: 9).

  However, Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods also state that literature is not created in a vacuum, and literature embodies ideas significant to the culture that produced it. It means that the literature which created by the author is influenced by the society and the literature itself gives influence to the society.

  Based on the explanation of the approach above, the writer thinks that this approach will help the writer to analyze True West from the sociocultural- historical point of view since it deals with social, cultural, and historical aspect through the attitudes and actions of the characters in the play. The writer thinks

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  that this approach appropriate to investigate the society in the play and to figure out the characteristics of the characters which reflect the American values in the late 1970s.