The Reflection of Successful American Dream Through the Character of Michael Corleone in Mark Winegardner’S the Godfather Returns
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THE REFLECTION OF SUCCESSFUL AMERICAN DREAM THROUGH THE CHARACTER OF MICHAEL CORLEONE IN MARK WINEGARDNER’S THE GODFATHER RETURNS AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters By DODI ROSYID SAPUTRA Student Number: 034214064 ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2008 THE REFLECTION OF SUCCESSFUL AMERICAN DREAM THROUGH THE CHARACTER OF MICHAEL CORLEONE IN MARK WINEGARDNER’S THE GODFATHER RETURNS AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters By DODI ROSYID SAPUTRA Student Number: 034214064 ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2008 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My first and greatest gratitude goes to Allah SWT who has given me life, power, guidance and everything so I can stand still till this second and by his blessing and guidance I can finish my study and my thesis. This thesis is dedicated to my beloved mother and father who always pray for my success, encourage me and support me emotionally, spiritually, and financially. My gratitude also goes to my advisor Paulus Sarwoto, S.S., M.A. who has given me big help and support during the writing of my thesis. I would like to thank to J. Harris Hermansyah S., S.S., M.Hum. and Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum. for the critical corrections and suggestions. My warmest thanks go to my older sister Debie and my best friend Budi. Thanks to Mbak Debie for accompanying and supporting me during my hard time in writing this thesis and to Budi for the support and our friendship. Thanks to my friends, Damai, Tiox, Jati, Yery, Yabes, Tyas, Monic, Ichen. Thanks to my friends in Sahadewa boarding house for the support during my thesis writing. Thanks to my special one Wiyan for the new color in my life. At last, I would like to give thanks to all my friends who always give colors and inspirations in my life. You are all best I have ever had. Dodi Rosyid Saputra. v TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ………………………………………………………………... i APPROVAL PAGE …………………………………………………………. ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ……………………………………………………... iii LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS...................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………............ v TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………… vi ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………. vii ABSTRAK ………………………………………………………………....... viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………….. 1 A. Background of the Study ………………………………………… 1 B. Problem Formulation ……………………………………………. 4 C. Objectives of the Study ………………………………………….. 5 D. Definition of Terms ……………………………………………… 5 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ……………………………… 7 A. Review of Related Studies ………………………………………. 7 B. Review of Related Theories ……………………………………... 9 a. Theory of Character and Characterization ………………. 9 b. The American Dream ……………………………………. 12 C. Theoretical Framework …………………………………………. 16 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ……………………………………… 18 A. Object of the Study ……………………………………………… 18 B. Approach of the Study …………………………………………... 19 C. Method of the Study …………………………………………….. 20 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ……………………………………………….. 22 A. The Characteristics of Michael Corleone ………………………... 22 a. Strong Determination …………………………………….. 22 b. Hard Worker ……………………………………………… 26 c. Brilliant and Creative …………………………………….. 28 d. Careful ……………………………………………………. 31 B. The Reflection of American Dream based on Michael’s Characteristics and his struggles ……………………………….... 36 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION …………………………………………… 52 BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………. 55 APPENDIX ………………………………………………………………… 57 vi ABSTRACT DODI ROSYID. The Reflection of Successful American Dream Through the Character of Michael Corleone in Mark Winegardner’s The Godfather Returns. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2007. This thesis discusses on the successful American Dream reflected by the main character (Michael Corleone) in Mark Winegardner’s The Godfather Returns. As an American-born son and one of greatest mafia kingpins, Michael who lives in mafia world wants to achieve his dream that is to legalize his business and spread out his influence to gain more power and wealth. This thesis emphasizes on Michael’s characteristics and struggles as the reflection of American Dream. Two objectives are formulated dealing with this research. First is to show the depiction of Michael Corleone in the story. Second is to show how Michael’s characteristics and struggles can be the reflection of successful American Dream. The method used in this thesis is library research. The Socio-historical approach is used since the topic deals with the social issue that is American Dream and the setting of the story is America in 1950s. At the end, this thesis concludes that overall Michael Corleone successfully achieve his dream in gaining more power and wealth. Although his ambition to legalize his family business is not achieved because of his own choice and he also loses his wife in divorce but at the end Michael Corleone manages to reunite his family as his father did. Moreover, Michael reflects the American Dream of wealth by his success in expanding his business in several fields such as in legal casino, hotels, restaurants and investment in other countries and the American Dream of power by becoming the most powerful mafia kingpin at his time. vii ABSTRAK DODI ROSYID. The Reflection of Successful American Dream Through the Character of Michael Corleone in Mark Winegardner’s The Godfather Returns. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2007. Thesis ini membahas tentang kesuksesan American Dream yang tercermin oleh tokoh utama (Michael Corleone) di novel The Godfather Returns karya Mark Winegardner. Sebagai seorang anak yang terlahir di Amerika dan salah satu gembong mafia terbesar, Michael yang hidup dalam dunia mafia ingin mencapai impiannya yaitu untuk melegalkan bisnis and menyebarkan pengaruhnya untuk mendapatkan kekuasaan dan kekayaan yang lebih besar. Thesis ini menekankan pada karakteristik dan perjuangan Michael sebagai cerminan dari American Dream. Dua tujuan telah diformulasikan terkait dengan penelitian ini. Pertama adalah untuk menunjukan penggambaran Michael Corleone di dalam cerita. Kedua adalah untuk menunjukkan bagaimana karakteristik dan perjuangan Michael dapat menjadi cerminan kesuksesan American Dream. Metode yang digunakan dalam thesis ini adalah penelitian pustaka. Pendekatan secara sosio-historis digunakan karena topiknya terkait dengan persoalan sosial yaitu American Dream dan seting ceritanya adalah Amerika tahun 1950an. Pada bagian akhir, thesis ini menyimpulkan bahwa secara keseluruhan Michael Corleone sukses meraih impianya dalam mendapatkan kekuasaan dan kekayaan yang lebih besar. Walupun ambisinya untuk melegalkan bisnis kelurganya tidak tercapai karena pilihanya sendiri dan dia juga kehilangan istrinya karena perceraian akan tetapi di bagian akhir Michael Corleone berhasil mengumpulkan lagi seluruh kelurganya seperti yang pernah ayahnya lakukan. Selain itu, Michael mencerminkan American Dream dalam hal kekayaan dengan kesuksesanya dalam memperluas bisnisnya pada beberapa bidang contohnya kasino yang legal, hotel, restoran, dan investasi di negara-negara lain dan American Dream dalam hal kekuasaan dengan menjadi gembong mafia paling kuat pada saat itu. viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Dream for some people is considered as a thing that could highly motivate them to do and achieve something, sometimes even several things which seem impossible to be done could be done just because a belief that people have in their dreams. During their lifetime, people could have countless dreams such as to be famous, to be rich, having good health, to be clever and so on and so forth, however to achieve it they need to have strong determination and hard work. In America, all the dreams made by the Americans to have better life conditions are called the American Dream. According to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, American Dream is generally understood as a dream for better life conditions, conditions here including material, financial, and family happiness. However, people today tend to understand American Dream only as financial security and material comfort. In other words, we may say that for today’s Americans, their happiness is measured with the possession of material. As quoted in www.hartford-hwp.com, James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America states clearly “fortuitous circumstances of birth or position should not stop someone if he/she has innate capability to achieve the dream”, it means although a person may come from low class position, he/she has the same opportunity to achieve the dream as the higher ones have. 1 2 The idea of American Dream has been for years used in many aspects of life such as in entertainment, politics, economy, etc. In literature, many authors pour the idea of American Dream in their novel as the main concern. The series novels of The Godfather (The Godfather part 1, 2, 3, The Godfather Returns, The Godfather’s Revenge) are the examples showing the idea of American Dream. The Godfather Returns written by Mark Winegardner, which is considered as one of Winegardner’s masterpieces, shows how complicated and dangerous the ways a person should take to achieve the dream that the person himself