THE REFLECTION OF CHRISTMAS CONSUMERISM IN THE US IN THE LATE 1990s PRESENTED IN JOHN GRISHAM’S SKIPPING CHRISTMAS AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

THE REFLECTION OF CHRISTMAS CONSUMERISM
IN THE US IN THE LATE 1990s PRESENTED IN JOHN
GRISHAM’S SKIPPING CHRISTMAS

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

By
ERVINA STEVANY
Student number: 064214028

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2010

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but
not every man’s greed (Mohandas K.

Gandhi)

You have succeeded in life when all you really want is
only what you really need. (Vernon Howard)

iv

those who always give me their
perfect love, care, and
understanding…

My Beloved God,
Jesus Christ. . .
My late Dear Dad,
Mr. Rusmawi. . .
My Superb Mom,
Mrs. Veronica Suherni. . .
My Lovely Big Sister and Little
Brother,
Fenny Oktarina and Riecho

Antonius. . .

v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In the first place I would like to express my gratitude to our Father for
giving His Son as our Savior and for Jesus Christ for blessing and caring me so
that I could pass all the hard times in my life including the time when I struggle to
complete this thesis. I am also so grateful for Saint Mary for her sincere prayer.
I would like to express my gratitude for my advisor, Dewi Widyastuti,
S.Pd., M.Hum and my co-advisor Fransiskus Xaverius Siswadi, Dr.,M.A. for
being so patient in guiding me to finish my thesis. I also want to thank all the
lecturers and staff of the English Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University
for their love and support during my study.
To my late dear father, I could only express my love and gratitude here, I
believe he prays for me wherever you are now. To my mother, who struggles for
all her children, I could say nothing but thank her so much. Although she is not a
perfect mother, her love is unlimited. To my big sister, Tacie, from whom I learn
to be a good daughter, I really appreciate all her love and care. And to my little
brother, Riko, who always encourages me with his mockery and who accompanies

me during my thesis writing process, hardly I say that I thank for that.
I also would thank my dear best friends, Vinny, Susin, and Irene for their
support, prayer, and love. And also for all my friends in Jogja who always support
me in bad and good time this past 4 years, Dhika and his family, “BFI” and “After
Twenty”. This single paged acknowledgement is not enough to express my
gratitude but sincerely I thank all of people who help me with my thesis.
Ervina Stevany

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ......................................................................................................... i
APPROVAL PAGE .............................................................................................. ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE........................................................................................ iii
MOTTO PAGE .................................................................................................... iv
DEDICATION PAGE........................................................................................... v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH
UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS ........................................................... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................ vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................... viii
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... x
ABSTRAK ............................................................................................................ xi
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1
A. Background of the Study ................................................................................ 1
B. Problem formulation ....................................................................................... 4
C. Objectives of the Study................................................................................... 4
D. Definition of Terms ........................................................................................ 4
CHAPTER II : THEORETICAL REVIEW ...................................................... 6
A. Review on Related Studies........................................................................... 6
B. Review of Related Theories ......................................................................... 9
1. Theory of Character and Characterization..................................................... 9
2. Theory of Setting ............................................................................................ 11
C. Review of Socio-Cultural Historical background ...................................... 12
1. The Theory of History and Christmas Tradition in the US ....................... 12
2. Theory of Christmas Consumerism in the late 1990s in the US............... 19
D. Theoretical Framework .............................................................................. 26
CHAPTER III : METHODOLOGY ................................................................. 28
A. Object of the Study..................................................................................... 28
B. Approach of the Study ............................................................................... 29

C. Method of the Study................................................................................... 30
CHAPTER IV : ANALYSIS .............................................................................. 31
A. The Main Characters’ Characterization ..................................................... 31
1. Luther’s Characterizations ............................................................................. 32
a. Realistic .................................................................................................. 32
b. Thrifty .................................................................................................... 37
c. Impatient................................................................................................. 39
2. Nora’s Characterization ................................................................................. 44
a.
Sensitive ............................................................................................ 44
b.
Shifty Minded ................................................................................... 52
B. The Setting in Skipping Christmas............................................................. 57

viii

1. Setting of Time ................................................................................................ 58
a.
Christmas Season .............................................................................. 58
b.

The Late 1990s.................................................................................. 60
2. Setting of Place ............................................................................................... 62
3. The Society ...................................................................................................... 64
C. The Reflection of Christmas Consumerism in the Late 1990s in the US .. 69
1. The Reflection of Christmas Consumerism in the 1990s in the US from
Luther’s and Nora’s characterization ........................................................... 70
2. The Reflection of Christmas Consumerism in the late 1990s US from the
Setting in Skipping Christmas ....................................................................... 79
a.
Setting of Time.................................................................................. 80
i.
Christmas ...................................................................................... 80
ii.
The Late 1990s.............................................................................. 82
b.
Setting of Place ................................................................................. 86
c.
Society............................................................................................... 87
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION......................................................................... 89
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................92

ix

ABSTRACT
ERVINA STEVANY. The Reflection of Christmas Consumerism in the US in
the Late 1990s Presented in John Grisham’s Skipping Christmas. Yogyakarta:
Department of English Letters, Letters Faculty, Sanata Dharma University.

Luther and Nora Krank are the main characters in Skipping Christmas.
With some consideration they decide to skip Christmas. It is not something
common for the society and it makes the Kranks have a clash with their society.
From the main characters’ characterization and setting, the researcher finds that
Skipping Christmas shows a reflection of Christmas consumerism that happened
largely now a days. Although the setting in this book is in the US, but Christmas
consumerism happens almost all over the world, it becomes multi-issues because
Christmas consumerism becomes not only an religious issue, but also an
economic, social cultural and environmental issue.
There are some objectives that the researcher wants to achieve through this
thesis. The first is to describe the characterization of the main characters in
Skipping Christmas in order to understand the character, the story line and the

idea of Christmas consumerism. The second is to describe the setting, including
setting of time, place, and society. The last objective is to see how the
combination of main characters’ characterization and the setting reflect the
consumerism in the US in the late 1990s.
This thesis is a library research. The main data were taken from John
Grisham’s novel, Skipping Christmas. The secondary data were taken from some
supporting books and articles from the internet. To analyze the topic of this thesis,
the researcher applied socio-cultural historical approach. Socio-cultural historical
approach is considered appropriate to be applied to this topic because the
discussion in this work tries to see the relation between the novel and the society
where the novel was written.
Luther is characterized as realistic, impatient and thrifty. While Nora is
characterized as sensitive person with two senses, understand others’ feeling and
easily offended, and Nora is also a shifty-minded person. With their
characteristics, Luther and Nora who plan to skip Christmas had to face people
around them who celebrate Christmas a lot. Finally, the researcher presents the
tendency of Christmas consumerism from what the main characters and the
society to during Christmas, which are reflected from their custom to spent money
a lot during Christmas. The reflection is also shown by their custom to exchange
gifts and give Christmas cards as they also use real tree for their Christmas tree.

Both the main characters and the setting present Christmas consumerism in
the late 1990s in the US although they have different attitude. Grisham does not
show his preference attitude whether he agrees with one of the groups. Researcher
concludes that Grisham just wants to provide facts and let the readers to choose
their own attitude.

x

ABSTRAK
ERVINA STEVANY. The Reflection of Christmas Consumerism in the US in
the Late 1990s Presented in John Grisham’s Skipping Christmas. Yogyakarta:
Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Tokoh utama dalam Skipping Christmas adalah Luther dan Nora Krank.
Dengan beberapa pertimbangan, mereka memutuskan untuk melewatkan natal.
Keputusan ini bukan hal yang biasa di masyarakat mereka sehingga keluarga
Krank terlibat perselisihan dengan masyarakat sekitar. Melalui perwatakan tokoh
utama dan setting, penulis menemukan bahwa Skipping Christmas menampilkan
refleksi konsumerisme natal yang marak terjadi dewasa ini. Walaupun setting
novel ini di Amerika Serikat, konsumerisme natal terjadi hampir diseluruh dunia.
Hal ini bukan hanya masalah keagamaan tetapi juga masalah ekonomi, sosial dan

budaya serta lingkungan.
Ada beberapa tujuan yang ingin dicapai penulis dalam menyusun skripsi
ini. Yang pertama untuk mendeskripsikan perwatakan tokoh utama pada novel
Skipping christmas dengan tujuan untuk memahami watak tokoh utama, jalan
cerita dan konsep konsumerisme natal. Tujuan kedua adalah untuk
mendeskripsikan setting, termasuk didalamnya seting tempat, waktu dan sosial.
Tujuan terakhir adalah untuk melihat bagaimana kombinasi perwatakan tokoh
utama dan setting merefleksikan konsumerisme di Amerika Serikat sekitar tahun
1990-an.
Skripsi ini merupakan studi pustaka. Data utama diambil dari novel John
Grisham, Skipping Christmas. Data-data sekunder lain diambil dari buku – buku
pendukung dan beberapa artikel yang diambil dari internet. Untuk menganalisis
topik dari skripsi ini, penulis menggunakan pendekatan sosial-kebudayaan dan
sejarah. Pendekatan ini dirasa tepat karena pembahasan dalam skripsi ini mencoba
melihat hubungan antara novel dan masyarakat di mana novel ini dibuat.
Luther dilukiskan sebagai tokoh yang realistis, tidak sabar dan cermat
dalam menggunakan uang. Sedangkan Nora dilukiskan sebagai tokoh yang
sensitif dengan dua arti, mengerti perasaan orang lain dan mudah tersakiti, dan
Nora juga mudah berubah pikiran. Dengan perwatakan tersebut, Luther dan Nora
harus menghadapi masyarakat sekitar yang merayakan natal dengan mewah. Pada

akhirnya, penulis menunjukan tendensi konsumerisme natal melalui karakter
utama dan masyarakat sekitar yang direfleksikan dari kebiasaan untuk
menghamburkan banyak uang selama masa natal. Refleksi ini juga terlihat dari
kebiasaan mereka untuk tukar kado danmemberikan kartu natal seperti hal nya
mereka menggunakan pohon asli sebagai pohon natal mereka.Tokoh-tokoh utama
dan seting sama-sama menyajikan refleksi konsumerisme natal di Amerika Serikat
sekitar tahun 1990-an walaupun dengan sikap yang berbeda. Grisham tidak
menunjukan apakah ia mendukung sikap salah satu pihak. Penulis menyimpulkan
Grisham hanya menyajikan fakta dan membiarkan para pembacanya untuk
menentukan sendiri pandangannya.

xi

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study
“Literature is a lively image of human nature, representing passions and
humors, and the changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the delight and
instruction of mankind” (Dryden, 1970: 36). From this quotation the researcher
can see how literature is a kind of portrait of the real life. Literature is so much
influenced by the author because a literature is a product of its author, which
comes from author’s mind. An author’s mind is influenced by many things like
his/her educational, religious, and social background. With this knowledge, the
author can understand the logic of the above quotation.
In this paper the researcher will discuss one of the messages which can be
concluded from Grisham’s novel entitled Skipping Christmas. The focus of this
undergraduated thesis is on the reflection of consumerism tendency especially
during Christmas in the United States in the late 1990s. The researcher will try to
see how a work of literature, specifically, a novel can give a reflection of an issue
in the real life.
With this study, the researcher wants to focus only on the consumerism
tendency which is practiced by most American people in the late 1990s. Although
the degree of their consumerism practices are varies depend on many factors, such
as the State where they live or their economic conditions, but Americans activities
during Christmas season showed they spent money more than they need to

1

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commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. The US is a big country. American society
is a very influential and rich society. There are some studies or surveys which
claim that Americans are the most consumptive people in the world. It is proven
by some economic survey as the researcher quote in the paragraph below.
Americans constitute 5% of the world’s population but consume 24% of
the world’s energy. On average, one American consumes as much energy
as 2 Japanese, 6 Mexicans, 13 Chinese, 31 Indians, 128 Bangladeshis, 307
Tanzanians, or 370 Ethiopians.
(20 March 2010)
From the data, Americans was in the top position. It is ironical, an
American can consume energy which can be used by 370 people from other
country. With pretty small percentage of world’s population, Americans can
consume around a quarter of the world’s energy while there are so many people
from other countries that live in an awful condition. Moreover, we also realize that
there is a tendency that people become more consumptive during festivals or
holidays period like in Thanksgiving, Halloween, New Year, and Christmas Day.
As stated in the title of this paper, we will focus on consumerism during
Christmas time. Although Christmas is a religious holiday, people celebrate it
more for greeting, gathering, feasting, and exchanging gift rather than for praying,
attending the mass, retreating or anything which are parts of religious practices.
This fact quite annoys some people who concerned about it. This is a statement of
Pope John Paul II about today’s Christmas celebration as quoted from
www.indiatimes.com:
Pope John Paul II said on Sunday that the spiritual message of Christmas
was under threat from the rampant consumerism of the season.
"The beautiful tradition of exchanging Christmas gifts between family and

3

friends, is under shock from a certain consumerist mentality and risks
losing its authentic sense of Christmas, above all, interior silence and
prayer." He said "Secondly, the willingness to welcome the will of God,
however it is manifested," he added.
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/32083545.cms)
Pope’s statement shows his concern and anxiety with the condition of
Christians’ mentality and Christianity. Pope sees that Christmas consumerism
fade the real meaning of Christmas out. The spirit of Christmas gradually
becomes the spirit of greeting, feasting or partying.
The researcher also takes the late 1990’s because we all are part of this
new modern and we can see it closely as a current issue that happened until today
and most of us are the actors of it. People are accustomed to consumptive lifestyle
without considering the effects of their lifestyle. Although the effects are
becoming true, like recession, social gap and global warming which are really
harmful for our life, we, as parts of the actors still, do not really give our care with
this issue.
Reducing consumption without reducing use is a costly delusion. If
undeveloped consumed at the same rate as The US, four complete planet
size of the Earth would be required. People who think that they have a
right to such a life are quite mistaken.
(20 March 2010)
The researcher’s reason for using Skipping Christmas novel is that in this
novel consumerism especially during Christmas time is clearly described. The
actions of the main characters in this novel show their disagreement with
consumptive side in celebrating Christmas. This book shows many dark sides of
Christmas from the point of view of the main character, especially Luther, but as

4

the opposite, this book also shares with the reader the warmth of Christmas at the
end of the story.
B. Problem formulation
1. How are the main characters characterized?

2. How is the setting described?
3. How does the combination of main characters with their characterization and
setting reflect consumerism tendency in the US in the late 1990s?
C. Objectives of the Study
Three problems will be discussed in this paper. The first problem is related
to characters and characterization. The researcher will try to find out the
characteristics of characters in this novel and the researcher will review theory on
character and characterization. The second problem is related to setting. The
researcher will try to find out the setting of the plot in this book and therefore the
researcher will review a theory on setting in literary point of view. In the last
problem, the researcher will try to review and analyze how characters with their
characterizations and the setting of this novel reflect consumerism tendency in
The US.
D. Definition of Terms
According to the Webster's New Explorer Encyclopedia Dictionary, the
word 'consumerism' has two definitions. The first definition is about a movement
which was popularized in the 1600s to protect consumer interests. Lately,
consumerism has a new meaning which is related to the consumer’s strong

5

interest in consumption which actually is the effect of the movement that is
described in the first definiton.
Consumerism: 1. the promotion of the consumer's interests 2. the theory
that an increasing consumption of goods is economically desirable; also: a
preoccupation with and an inclination toward the buying of customer
goods.(Merriam-Webster, Inc, 2006: 389)
Another definition is about what Christmas is. The researcher took a
definition Webster’s Encyclopedia Unabridged Dictionary of the English
Language. Here are also two definitions; the first one is more religious nuance.
To highlight on commemorate Jesus’ birthday, when Christian people believe as
the son of God and the founder of Christianity teaching birthday. And in the
second definition, we can see modern and happy nuance of Christmas where
people have fun, gather, and so on. In this case, the researcher will dig more about
the second definition of christmas.
Christmas: 1. the annual festival of Christian church commemorating the
birth of Jesus: celebrated on December 25. 2. December 25, now generally
observed as a legal holiday and an occasion for exchanging gifts, greeting,
etc. (Merriam-Webster, Inc, 1989: 263)

CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review on Related Studies
John Grisham is an American author who was born on February 8, 1955 in
Jonesboro, Arkansas. His father is a construction worker and his mother is a
housewife. In 1981, He finished his university education in law school at Ole
Miss. Soon after he graduated, he worked as a lawyer, especially in criminal
defense and personal injury litigation. In 1983, Grisham was elected to be a
member of Representatives Mississippi and worked there until 1990. From his
experience of working in law court and corporation, he got some inspiration to
write a story related to the cases he ever handled. That is possible the reason why
almost all of Grisham books were about thriller law.
Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller,
he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi law
practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during
courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel
(20 March 2010).
Almost all Grisham’s works are all about law in thriller and serious
atmosphere. But his Skipping Christmas has totally different atmosphere from his
other works. Skipping Christmas is a Christmas story that presents the main
characters, Luther and Nora, as a successful couple. They have the only one
daughter who just graduated from a university and wanted to be a volunteer in
Peru to teach poor children there. After their daughter’s leaving they feel very
anxious and at one point decided to skip Christmas just for once for some reasons.

6

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Luther is the first who has that idea. As an accountant, Luther realizes that
he, his family and all people in his society do something crazy during Christmas.
That is about its ritual which costs a lot of money. Besides, his daughter leaving,
this is a strong reason why Luther persuades his wife to skip Christmas and all its
following rituals which usually start one month before Christmas. But their
decision to skip Christmas is not easy to realize. Their plan seems so simple but
the result of their decision is not that simple, although the setting in this book is at
somewhere in US, a free country, people commonly said, they are not really free
to skip Christmas. They must face their neighbor and friends who mock them,
people think they are crazy or maybe just have financial problems.
It wasn’t such a bad idea. All the money spent on intangible things or
things that are forgotten weeks later. Christmas has gotten way out of hand
when we spend so much money on food that goes to “waist”, gifts that
probably aren’t what people want most, cloths we won’t wear again
because we’ll have to have new next year, even Christmas cards that we
only sign our name so it’s not like we’re keeping up on the news

(20 March 2010).
At the end of the story Luther and Nora fail to skip Christmas. It is not
because they are defeated with the full pressure from their surrounding but
because of the unexpected return of their daughter with her new fiancé.
Many readers love this book but there are some Grisham lovers who think
that Skipping Christmas is not a good one. The quotation below is the sample of
the sound of disappointment of Grisham’s Skipping Christmas.
In the final third of the book, Grisham goes about undoing the case for
Skipping Christmas made so convincingly up to this point… This
“unskipping” of Christmas is so contrived and tortured, it appears to have
been written by someone other then Grisham…All in all, a very

8

disappointing book
(20 March 2010).
Different from the statement from the quotation above, the researcher finds
that Grisham clearly shows his critique on the way people celebrate Christmas
through out the novel. The problem is not simply about whether they complete
their mission to skip Christmas or not. In spite of Luther and Nora’s decision to
take a Caribbean cruise, maybe it is not the best way to escape from Christmas
ritual which is identical with shopping, glamour and grand feast, Christmas
consumerism is a hot issue in American society.
Although at the end of the story, a surprise of her daughter coming home
makes Luther’s and Nora’s plan to skip Christmas failed, it does not show
whether skipping Christmas is a good thing or a bad thing. It instead shows other
messages that we can get from reading this book, that we can prepare everything
well but we can not avoid unpredictable hindrance or every people have his/ her
good side. We can see the last point when the Kranks’ neighbor at the end of the
story help the Kranks prepare for the sudden Christmas party.
With this research the researcher will go deeper in analyzing the
phenomena of Christmas consumerism presented in this novel by using sociocultural historical approach, so see the relation between the novel and the
civilization where the novel was produced. So the focus in this research is not on
whether or not the main characters success to skip Christmas or whether or not the
Skipping Christmas Plan is a good plan.

9

B. Review of Related Theories
1.

Theory of Character and Characterization
Character is one of the important elements to interpret or point out the

message of this book. Character brings many significances such as bring with
themselves the line story. To make the story is accepted by the readers, the author
must present character vividly; kind of characters, which represent or alike with
people in the real world.
Character is life-like. 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’ (Bennett and
Royle, 2009: 62).
It does not mean that a person in a work of literature is always exactly
someone that exists in the real life. It is because if we talk about fiction, character
is made to life in the work of literature and they are made like a real person, with
its multiple human identities. So to read a character is to imagine. Reading
character involves learning to acknowledge that a person can never finally be
singular (Bennett and Royle, 2009: 67).
“Character, as quoted from An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama,
is an imagined person who inhabits a story”. Character can be divided as flat or
round character.
Flat character has only one outstanding trait or feature, or at most a few
distinguishing marks. In the other words, Flat character tends to stay the
same throughout a story (Kennedy and Gioia, 1998: 60-61).
Flat character is also known as static character. Flat character is usually a
minor character, as quoted from the same book, there is a reason why the flat
character is the minor character. It is because if the author try to “Rounding them

10

would cost time and space; and so enlarged, they might only distract us from the
main characters”.
If a minor character is made as round character, that means the minor
character is given more than one identity, and the author need more space in
his/her work of literature to explain about this minor character that does not really
bring the line story with him/herself. Moreover, reader’s focus on the main
character will be driven away and it will confuse the reader with the point of view
of the story.
A round character is presented by its author with more trait or feature.
Some critics call this kind of character as dynamic character because this
character is multiple-dimensions character that has number of different qualities, it
is why round character is more complex than flat character.
Round character, however, present us with more facets—that is, its author
portray them in greater depth and in more generous detail. Round character
often changes—learns or become enlightened, grows or deteriorates
(Kennedy and Gioia, 1998: 60-61).
Round character usually gets more attention for the reader, for round
character usually is a main character in a story. An author gives more details on
his/ her round character. There are many ways for an author to present his/ her
character.
Characterization is also important to be discussed in order to get a good
understanding of a character, furthermore, readers can reveal the motif of
character and the message of the work of literature by analyzing character and its
characterization. Because there are some ways to present a character in a work of
literature - in this case we narrow the topic as fiction or a novel, here are some

11

ways which used in characterizing a character which is described in
Understanding Unseen: an Introduction to English Poetry and English Novel for
Overseas Students
a.
b.

c.

d.

e.
f.
g.
h.

i.

2.

Personal description. For example the author can describe a person’s
appearance and clothes.
Character as seen by another. Instead of describing a character directly the
author can describe him/her through the eyes and opinion of another. The
reader gets, as it were, a reflected image.
Speech. The author can give us an insight into the character of one of the
persons in the book through what that people says. Whenever a person
speaks, whenever he/she is in a conversation with another, whenever he puts
forward an opinion. He is giving us some clue to his character.
Past life. By letting the reader learn something about a person’s past life the
author can give us a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s
character. This can be done in direct comment by the author, through the
person’s thoughts, through his conversation or through the medium of another
person.
Conversation of others. The author can also give us clues to a person’s
character of the other person spoken about
Reactions. The author can also give us a clue to a person’s character by
letting us know how the person reacts to various situations and events.
Direct comment. The author can describe or comment on a person’s character
directly.
Thoughts. The author can give us direct knowledge what a person is thinking
about. In this respect he is able to do what we cannot do in real life. He can
tell us what different people are thinking.
Mannerism. The authors can describe a person’s mannerisms, habits or
idiosyncrasies which may also tell us something about his character (Murphy,
1972:161-173).
Theory of Setting
This review will discuss the theory of setting in a literary work. All stories

or works of Literature have its particular setting. Setting that the researcher means
here is both setting of time and place. Setting is the intrinsic element of work of
literature which needs to be considered in revealing the purpose or the idea of a
work. An author set the setting with purpose behind it. Setting of a work of
literature is not made coincidentally. An author learns how to make setting has

12

significances. The author often imitates or conveys the real place in the real world
to his/ her story’s world, in order to make it more natural, believable, or to critic
and conveys some values.
In Richard Gill’s Mastering English Literature, it is stated that a word
“setting” can be used to cover several ideas:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

The place in which the characters appear
The social context of characters, such as their families, friends, and
class
The customs, beliefs, and rules of behavior that give identity to a
society
The particular locations of events
The atmosphere, mood, and feel that all the above elements create
(Gill, 1995: 148).

Setting as an element of literary work can not be separated from other
elements. It is intentionally presented by an author. It often works together with a
or some other(s) element to present an idea in a work. Setting is not only present
place but also the time and society where characters in a work appear. “These
have a great effect upon the personalities, actions, and the way of thinking of the
characters.” (Murphy, 1972: 141).

C. Review of Socio-Cultural Historical background
1.

The History of Christmas and Christmas Tradition in the US
Christmas is from Christ mass or in Old English called Cristes Maesses.

This is the day when Christian celebrating Jesus Christ’ birthday, although people
are not sure the exact date when Jesus was born. In the Encyclopedia Americana it
is stated that Christmas is celebrated on 25 December or on 6 January. Christmas

13

is celebrated on 6 January by small number of church in the world. The church is
called Armenian Church.
Armenians follow the old eastern custom of honoring Epiphany,
commemorating in the west chiefly visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus,
and in the east, Christ’s Baptism. In some parts of the United States this
date has been celebrated as “old Christmas” or “Little Christmas”
(Lorimer, 1995: 666).
Most of the churches in the world celebrate Christmas in 25 December by
the influence of Pagan culture that celebrated the “the birth of the Unconquered
Sun” which brings warmth and light.
In Rome, pagans celebrated three important mid-winter festivals:
Saturnalia (December 17-23), the Calends (January 1st -5th, and precursor
to the Twelve Nights of Christmas), and the Deus Sol Invictus or the
Birthday of the Unconquered Sun (December 25)
(20 March
2010).
The custom from Pagan culture was also brought to Christmas culture that
is celebrated this day by dancing, singing, decorating and feasting. This Pagan
custom was also done during old Christmas celebration in Rome and Roman
brought to England the medieval Christmas culture and influenced some countries
such as The New world. Now Christmas becomes a holiday in over 160 countries
and it is a big holiday in Britain and United States. Many cultures were enriched
today Christmas festival. Now, we know Christmas carol, Christmas card, Santa
Claus, exchanging gifts which were had its own history and became parts of
Christmas customs.
In this part the researcher will provide some facts which are related to the
topic which will be discussed in this paper. We will see about social-cultural
sector of the society where the work was made and socio-cultural sector which is

14

described in the literary work. Both socio-culture where the work was made and
which represented in the work are the same, that is in the United States.
However, in the late 1990s in countries such as Britain and the United
States, there were industrial revolutions which replaced the agricultural era.
People produce stuffs and sold those stuffs and they worked harder and longer in
duration. Old gifts hand-made were replaced by toys from factories, and this was
recognized as the beginning of commercialization of Christmas which becomes
worsen today.
as societies changed from an agricultural based economy to an industrial
economy, many people lost both the leisure time and the necessary raw
materials to make homemade gifts, and by the 1920s, store bought gifts
overshadowed homemade gifts. It would be easy to trace statistics to show
how
commercialized
Christmas
has
become
since
then
(20 March
2010).
At the first part, we already see slightly about Christmas history in general.
In this part, the researcher will try to give some information about Christmas ritual
especially in the United States. Let us first see a little bit about history of
Christmas in the United States.
Christmas tradition is not a tradition from native people of the US. It is a
culture from the immigrants who came to the New World with various reasons. It
is interesting to know that later the immigrants are the one who dominate this
country. It is important to know that the US native people are Americans Indian,
who nowadays become minority in size of the population.
People believe that Columbus, an Italian navigator, was the first person
who discovers the New World (America) in 1492 (Harlow and Miller, 1953: 19).

15

After this period, larger amount of people from Europe and next other contingent
come to the New World. European colonies come first and become powerful until
today.
They come with various reason and background. Some come as exiles,
some come as political hostages, some are forcedly come as slaves most of them
come from Africa, some come as missionaries and some other are the conqueror
act as the government of the colonies there. By knowing this fact, we can
understand that the US is formed by various kinds of people from different social,
educational, and regional background. That is why, if we aware, there are many
cultures in the US were imported by the immigrant and mixed well by them
although still western or European culture is dominant.
Most of people who helped make our history came from Europe. They
brought with them the ideas, the customs, and the blood of western
Europe. The Indians, who here when Columbus discovered the New
World, have had small effect on our history (Harlow and Miller, 1953: 20).
Back to the focus, Christmas, the history told us that Christmas first was
introduced to the US by European colonies. By the influence of European
colonies, Christmas in the US is celebrated on 25 December. The first
introduction of Christmas and its tradition in the US happened in the 17th century.
From that time on, Christmas became more and more familiar for Americans with
changes here and there because of the influence of people who celebrate it.
Americans brought with them the various European attitudes toward
Christmas. Generally, the members of the Church of England, the Dutch
Reformed Church, Lutherans, and Roman Catholics celebrated the festival
(20 March
2010).

16

At this time separatist puritans, “who define as a group of people who
grew discontent in the Church of England and worked towards religious, moral
and societal reforms” (5 May
2010). They came from Britain, and brought with them their customs, including
their custom on Christmas. Puritans were not happy with the Christmas
celebration which was held as tradition in their home. So they do not celebrate
Christmas in their new home.
The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even
more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result,
Christmas
was
not
a
holiday
in
early
America
(3 April 2010).
But changes happened, after silent Christmas day in the beginning of
Christmas in the US, numbers of states begin to have Christmas celebration and
finally, after quite long period counted from the first introduction of Christmas in
the US, Christmas became federal holiday in 1870. From that year on, Christmas
was and is celebrated, workers is given a holiday.
After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor,
including Christmas. In fact, Congress was in session on December 25,
1789, the first Christmas under America’s new constitution. Christmas
wasn’t declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870
(3 April
2010).
People use Christmas season to gather with their relatives and friends; they
prepare foods, gifts and decorations. Americans have tradition to have dinner
party on Christmas Eve, the night before Christmas Day. In this dinner party, the
host usually invites some of their relatives and close friends to eat dinner together.
There will be many foods that are served by the host. The foods were not really

17

the same from one host to another host. The differences are caused by the multicultural background of people in the US. But there are foods that were served by
the majority of Americans.
Turkey and ham are the two most popular meat entrees served in a
traditional American Christmas dinner, though beef roasts and pork
tenderloin are also the centerpiece of many Christmas dinners. Common
side dishes including mashed or roast potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce,
squash, yeast rolls and salads. Christmas dinner is often served with
alcohol,
mainly
wine
or
champagne.
Dessert items for an American Christmas dinner include Christmas
cookies like decorated sugar cookies and gingerbread men, pumpkin,
pecan and apple pies, fruitcake and eggnog or hot chocolate to drink
(24 July
2010).
Christmas is Christian festival to commemorate Jesus Christ birthday, as
rooted from its name Christ mass, but it is interesting to know that Christmas in
the US is also celebrated by people with other different faith, it seems that
Christmas in the US is festival for Americans not only for Christians.
Besides the strictly religious traditions, however, other common Christmas
practices are observed by people who are not religious or who are not
Christian. In this way, some Christmas traditions have become American
traditions (3 April 2010).
Today, Christmas becomes even the more and more popular event in the
US even more in the world wide. There are many traditions which are attached to
Christmas and Christmas in the US is influenced so much by other countries.
Although some of these things are not really originated from the US but these
Christmas instruments become popular instruments in the US, even some of
popular Christmas instruments in the world was originated in the US.
There are Christmas tree with colorful decoration and electric lights,
wrapped gifts and stocking under the Christmas tree or other Christmas plants like

18

mistletoe, Santa Claus with a red suit, big stomach, white hair and beard, Frosty,
Christmas foods like roasted turkey, candy, nut, pudding, pie, marshmallow,
fruitcakes, eggnog, and gift greeting cards. Some of the above examples were
brought by Englishmen in the early time they arrived in the New World. Some
others were brought by immigrants such as from, Germany and France. There are
also some popular Christmas instruments that were originated in the US like Santa
Claus.
Decoration with holly, hawthorn, and mistletoe and the sing of carols
(especially by Waits) are all typically English. Santa Claus first was
popular un New York. Other American Invention are firecrackers and
eggnog in the south. The Christmas tree was already a tradition in The
German Middle Ages, the light in the window, found widespread,
probably came o America with the Irish (Bridgwater and Sherwood, 1950:
388).
Christmas decorations are something that attached to Christmas
celebration. Christmas decorations make Christmas become bright and merry.
People who celebrate Christmas usually decorate their house before Christmas
day. “…and the more enthusiastic member of society start decking out their
houses and front gardens with a barrage of lights, glowing reindeer and giant
plastic Santas” (24 July
2010).
Santa Claus is not only part of Christmas decoration. Moreover, Santa
Claus is an imaginative figure from time to time becomes connected with
Christmas celebration.
Santa Claus’s generosity characteristic makes children love him. Children
think that Santa Claus is the one who gives them presents each year, although in

19

fact the presents are bought by their parents. For some people who do not have
sympathy for this imaginative figure see that “Santa Claus is a symbol of the
commercialization and consumerism that has seized the Christmas holiday in the
west”
(24 July 2010).
Christmas season is a very special event for American. There are opinions
that said “Christmas is as American as mom’s apple pie and the Fourth of July”
(24 July 2010). The tradition
of celebrating Christmas is can be said as part of American life, as Americans are
very common with apple pie and Independence Day.
2.

Christmas Consumerism in the late 1990s in the US
Consumerism is one of hot topics to be discussed when we want to talk

about the aspects of Americans life. Consumerism in fact is not a new issue, we
can see it begun at the 19th century before and became more rapid after the
industrial revolution. People started to produce commodity in a large amount with
the lower price, producers focus in taking profit as many as possible. Workers
work hard, they also tried to get more wage by working overtime.
During this time the interest of consumers right arisen. This is the time
when consumerism, as the first definition which stated in Chapter I, arisen. At that
time, consumerism was a term of the promotion of customer interest, right, and
protection even until today this definition is still used as business and economic
term.

20

As stated before, the term consumerism had arisen through long time ago,
it is hard to see the very start point when the exact time this social phenomenon
was appeared. Since the term consumerism is used for more than one definition.
The definition of consumerism can be refer to, as the researcher quote from
Encyclopedia Americana, “the increased consumer protection which means to
safeguarding the buying public from dangerous and inferior goods and services
and from fraudulent and other unfair selling practices” (Lorimer, 1995, 683). It
begun around the American industrial revolution in 1920’s happened .
It was stated in the same book that, before this movement, the assumption
is consumers know what they want. They must aware by themselves. But after
this movement, consumers are very protected and fondled. Government and non
government movement at that time begin to make an effort which concern about
consumer’s problems. These institutions manage the standard of goods quality
and safety. They also try to protect consumers from fraudulent advertising. They
manage to create an obligation for producers to give the list of ingredients of their
goods (foods and drugs).
The result of consumerism movement can be enjoyed by people until
today. That is why now we get guarantee and warranty when buying goods; we
also find the list of ingredient in the package of foods, cosmetics, and drugs we
buy. We also know about organization which concern about consumers such as,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), The General Services Administration
(GSA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (Lorimer, 1995: 683). These
organizations were founded to help consumers to get enough information about

21

goods in the market. The consumers can also ask some helps from these kinds of
organizations to complain about the product they buy. These organizations had
emerged as the result of consumerism.
But the focus of this paper is not consumerism at the above sense.
Consumerism in the previous explanation creates a new pace of its meaning.
While the focus of economist at that time was to protect consumers, consumers
drown into enjoyable consumption activities which later urge the study of
Consumer Behavior and then the new concern of consumerism.
Consumerism will be defined as a social phenomenon. It was related to
excessive consumers’ consumption behavior, which was affected by their
increased affluence, prosperity and security position.
Their increased purchasing power has given them the opportunity to
embroider upon basic needs with a sense of individual taste and creativity,
as they search for a style of life rather than for security (Sills, 1972:349).
In this pace consumers became powerful, not like in the previous pace
when producers seem the one who hold the control. Today consumer in the pace
when they are very free to choose what they want to buy, to even can choose what
brand which can create their self image, they have many choices of goods. Now
co