BLACK AMERICAN DREAM AS SEEN IN GARDNER’S THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
CITRA KERINA TARIGAN
Student Number: 054214115
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009
BLACK AMERICAN DREAM AS SEEN IN GARDNER’S THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
CITRA KERINA TARIGAN
Student Number: 054214115
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009
i
ii
iii
“Cogito ergo sum: I think, therefore
I am”
(Descartes)
“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing, it's when you've had everything to do and you've done it!”
(Margaret Thatcher)
iv
Dedicated to:
My beloved Parents,
My brothers
&
My lovely friends
v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma :
Nama : CITRA KERINA TARIGAN Nomor Mahasiswa : 054214115
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul :
BLACK AMERICAN DREAM AS SEEN IN GARDNER’S THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, me- ngalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Yogyakarta, 11 September 2009 Yang menyatakan
(CITRA KERINA TARIGAN) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Deo Gratias ! As I prepared for long journey, I have been blessed to accomplish this writing. Therefore, I would be forever grateful to Jesus Christ for being my Father and my best friend, who always guides my step in happiness and sorrow.
I would like to thank my advisor, Ibu Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S.,
M.Hum. for her patience, helps and inspirations. It is my pleasure to have her as my advisor during this thesis writing process. I also thank to Ibu Maria Ananta Tri
Suryandari, S.S. M. Ed. for her corretion and suggestion.
My deepest gratitude goes to my beloved parents, Mom and Dad, who strengthen me with their eternal love, patience and prayer. I especially dedicate this thesis to both of them. Thanks to my fatherly eldest brother, Bang Wira, who always supports me though only by chatting with your wisest words. My friendly brother, Bang Ivan, thanks for reminding me to finish my thesis in time and for your greatest affection and care while you were in Jogja. I am blessed to have such a great family.
My thankfulness also goes to my lovely fellows, Nanda, Naris, Gretha for our friendship in any circumstances. We have passed one step to reach our future even though sometimes with tears and pain. In addition, thanks to the guys in Puri
Nugraha, such as Mba Hayu, Mba Mia, Meyra, Ci Merry and Anne who encourage me that I must be able to reach my dreams in every path of my life.
I also wish to thank my crazy and loveli buddies Eme Sitepoe, Sister Eve,
Bro Thomas, Bro Sony, Bro Wansa, Bro Tinus, Tere, Jojo and Hendra who are
vi never getting bored and tired to give their shoulder when I was down and always be there for me. I will always remember every second we have. I also have got to give thanks to Novaria and Cyntia, my old friends. Even though we are separated by miles, I believe our sisterhood will be last forever.
I am also very grateful to Sanata Dharma University, the lecturers who have taught me for almost four years, Mba Ninik for the academic services, my close classmates Chris and Icha and all my friends in English Letters USD 2005, for the memorable moments. Lastly, thanks for my friends of PERMATA GBKP
Yogyakarta who teach me many valuable things of being the servant of God.
Citra Tarigan
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ...... i APPROVAL PAGE...... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ...... iii MOTTO PAGE ...... iv DEDICATION PAGE ...... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... viii ABSTRACT ...... ix ABSTRAK...... x
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ...... 1 A. Background of the Study ...... 1 B. Problem Formulation ...... 4 C. Objectives of the Study ...... 4 D. Definition of Terms ...... 5
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW ...... 6 A. Review of Related Studies ...... 6 B. Review of Related Theories ...... 8 1. Theory of Character and Characterization ...... 9 2. Theory of American Dream ...... 11 2.1. Theory of Ideal Family for Black People ...... 14 2.2. Theory of Economic Security ...... 16 3. Theory of Relationship between Literature and Society ...... 16 C. Review of Black People in America History in 20th Century .... 18 D. Theoretical Framework ...... 20
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ...... 22 A. Object of Study ...... 22 B. Approach of the Study ...... 24 C. Method of the Study ...... 24
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS ...... 27 A. The Characterization of Chris Gardner ...... 27 B. Revealing Black American Dream through the Characterization of Chris Gardner ...... 41
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ...... 54
BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 57
viii
ABSTRACT
Citra Kerina Tarigan, 2009. Black American Dream As Seen in Gardner's The Pursuit of Happyness. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
The Pursuit of Happyness is an autobiography novel which tells about the struggle of an African- American writer, named Chris Gardner to pursue the black American Dream in The United States. Chris life is marked by poverty, sexual abuse and domestic violence. Therefore, he really wants to get a better life. As a black, he has to struggle hard to reach his dreams because of state of inequality. There are two objectives that are formulated in this study. The first study is finding out the characteristics of Chris Gardner as the major character, and the second one is revealing the Black American Dream through Gardner's characteristics. To analyze the objectives, the writer did several steps. The first was reading the novel thoroughly and re-reading the novel to get better understanding about the story. Then, the writer found the data which was needed in the analysis. After that, the writer applied the theories to analyze the characterization of Chris Gardner. Then, she revealed the black American Dream through the characterization of the major character. The last step was drawing the conclusion about this study. The study finds that Chris Gardner is curious, optimistic, discipline, responsible and smart. Then, Chris is described as a hard worker. As a black person, who is discriminated by white people, Chris struggles very hard to get a better life and to reach the equality. He dreams to reach the ideal family, equality in job opportunity and the economic security. The characterization of Chris Gardner as a responsible person supports his effort to get an ideal family. His responsibilities can be seen from his effort to protect his mother, his iniative to ask his ex-wife to come back to him again for the sake of their children and his commitment to take care of his son. Another Chris' dream is to get the equality in job opportunity. Chris works very hard in order to escape from poverty. Even though discrimination still exists in The United States, Chris has proved that discrimination has nothing to do with success. He believes that if he works hard, he can be successful in his job. The last dream, which is revealed, is getting the economic security. When Chris was a child, he joined junking business in order to get money. His job represents poor black children who really want to get wealth. In the story, finally Chris becomes a successful stockbroker which is supported by his self-discipline and intelligence.
ix
ABSTRAK
Citra Kerina Tarigan, 2009. Black American Dream As Seen in Gardner's The Pursuit of Happyness. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
The Pursuit of Happyness adalah sebuah novel autobiografi yang menceritakan tentang perjuangan seorang penulis Afro-Amerika yang bernama Chris Gardner untuk mencapai mimpi kaum kulit hitam di Amerika. Kehidupan Chris penuh dengan kemiskinan, pelecehan seksual dan kekerasan dalam keluarga. Oleh karena itu, ia sangat menginginkan kehidupan yang lebih baik. Sebagai seorang kulit hitam, ia harus berjuang keras untuk meraih impiannya yang disebabkan ketidaksetaraan oleh kaum kulit putih. Ada dua pertanyaan yang dirumuskan dalam diskusi ini. Pertama adalah mengetahui karakter Chris Gardner sebagai tokoh utama, dan pertanyaan kedua adalah mengungkapkan mimpi kaum Afro-Amerika di Amerika berdasarkan penokohan Chris Gardner. Untuk menganalisa pertanyaan, penulis membuat beberapa langkah. Pertama, penulis membaca novel dengan seksama dan berulang- ulang untuk lebih memahami cerita. Kemudian, penulis mencari data yang diperlukan. Setelah itu, penulis menerapkan teori- teori untuk menganalisa penokohan Chris Gardner sebagai tokoh utama. Lalu, Ia mengungkapkan mimpi kaum Afro-Amerika melalui penokohan tokoh utama. Langkah terakhir adalah menarik kesimpulan. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa Chris Gardner memiliki rasa keingintahuan yang tinggi, optimis, disiplin, bertanggung-jawab dan cerdas. Lalu, Chris juga dilukiskan sebagai seorang pekerja keras. Sebagai kaum kulit hitam yang didiskriminasikan oleh kulit putih, Chris berjuang untuk mencapai kehidupan yang lebih baik dan kesetaraan. Impiannya adalah untuk mencapai keluarga yang ideal, kesetaraan dalam kesempatan kerja dan kesejahteraan ekonomi. Penokohan Chris Gardner sebagai orang yang bertanggung-jawab mendukung usahanya untuk mewujudkan keluarga yang ideal. Tanggung- jawabnya dapat dilihat dari usaha menjaga ibunya, inisiatifnya untuk meminta mantan istrinya untuk kembali padanya demi kebaikan anak-anak mereka dan dapat juga dilihat dari komitmennya untuk selalu menjaga putranya. Impian lain Chris adalah mencapai kesetaraan dalam kesempatan kerja. Chris bekerja keras untuk keluar dari kemiskinan. Walaupun diskriminasi masih terjadi di Amerika, Chris telah membuktikan bahwa diskriminasi tidak menjadi penghalang untuk mencapai kesuksesan. Ia yakin bahwa jika ia bekerja keras, Ia akan menjadi sukses. Impian Chris yang terakhir adalah mencapai kesejahteraan ekonomi. Ketika Chris masih kecil, Ia bergabung dengan sepupunya untuk menjual barang bekas karena ingin mendapatkan uang. Hal ini menggambarkan keadaan anak- anak kulit hitam yang miskin yang sangat ingin mendapatkan kesejahteraan. Di cerita tersebut, akhirnya Chris Gardner menjadi pialang saham yang sukses karena kedisiplinan dan kecerdasannya dalam menjalankan usahanya.
x
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Every human being has various dreams to reach their goal or purpose in life.
One of them is being successful. However, most people define success as achieving something related only to money. Success has just other possible ideas depend on the society in which it is measured and the character of the person who measures it.
Wrongfully, many people still doubt about the terms success and wealth (Kraut,
1982: 26). They assume that a person's triumph can be concluded from the price of his or her car or house. A theologian Albert Schweitzer denied that statement as he revealed in his quotation that “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful” (Kraut, 1982:
28). It means that people are successful if they find satisfaction with what they are doing and like to be themselves, not only from the financial gain. Moreover, many people who are prosperous in material may not find the happiness probably just because of fear, illness or broken family. It is to say that money cannot guarantee the happiness.
By 1945, the United States had become a colossus among nations. Most of people think that they will find great happiness in America because many opportunities are offered to get a better life (Johnson, 1969: 806). Wealth would be
1
2
distributed in accordance with the degree of individual’s skill, knowledge, power and desire. If people throw themselves wholeheartedly into the pursuit of wealth, equality and freedom, they will reach their hopes and dreams. Therefore, immigrants from various nations appear to be American to exhibit in the economic struggle. American
Dream represents the possibility of living better than the ancestor and of desire to lead happy lives. This is true that in the immigrant community, as many immigrants, have come from extremely difficult circumstances.
Discussing about immigrants, African Americans, citizens of the United
States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa, make up the single largest racial minority and form the second largest racial group after whites in the
United States. For the past, African – Americans survived in the slavery trade. They were discriminated by whites so that they had no freedom and even the opportunities to get what they want.
In 1955, there was American Civil Rights Movement which aimed to abolish racial discrimination, to get economical and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from oppression by whites. It is a challenge of all Americans to work in their states, in communities, in homes, and to overcome the barriers of poor education and poverty. In brief, it sets goals to improve the lives of all underprivileged Americans
(Lyndon, 1964: 33). Unfortunately, the Civil Rights did not guarantee the Negro’s rights as stated above, and consequently, they had to struggle to live in a better condition among whites. 3
This thesis explores the Black American Dream of an autobiographical novel titled The Pursuit of Happyness written by Chris Gardner, an African- American writer. From the title, the writer knows that this novel tells about the American
Dream, that is to pursue the happiness. Black American Dream attempts to attract
African- American to improve their life and to strenghten their social position in
America. During the Civil Rights Movement, Blacks fought for equal opportunity, and the ability to earn a living wage to raise their families.
Gardner’s childhood as the main character in the story, was marked by poverty, domestic violence, alcoholism and sexual abuse. Gardner never knew his father, and lived with his beloved mother, Bettye Jean Triplett, who became his inspiration and strength along his miserable life. Gardner is very smart and a hard worker. Learning from the past, he does not want his children feel what he felt in his childhood, and then he makes a strong desire to pursue the happiness in his family’s life, no matter how it takes.
Chris Gardner is an extra ordinary character in this novel because of his struggle to escape from poverty and racial discrimination. The interesting characteristics are that he is a hard worker and cares about his family, especially his son, who encourages him to be successful. His efforts to pursue his dreams inspire the people to be strong in order to make dreams come true.
The Pursuit of Happyness represents the struggle of black people to reach an ideal family, equality in job opportunities and economic security. Coming from this 4
point, the writer thinks that the issue of black struggle to reach American Dream is worth studying. So, in this thesis, the writer intends to examine that the main character, Chris Gardner, plays an important role in the story. To be more specific, this study focuses on how the main character pursues his dreams. Besides, it is meant to reveal the American Dream pursued by black people. The writer hopes that this study will contribute some knowledge to the readers about black people and how they deal with the oppression and restriction among whites in the United States.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the topic, the writer would like to discuss two problems that are formulated as follows:
1. How is Chris Gardner characterized in the Gardner’s The Pursuit of
Happyness?
2. What are the Black American Dream revealed through the
characterization of Chris Gardner?
C. Objectives of the Study
Based on the two problem formulation, the writer can obtain the object of the study. The first is to identify the characterization of the main character, Chris
Gardner. Then, the writer analyzes the the significance of the characterization of
Chris Gardner to reveal the Black American Dream. The answer of the second question in the problem formulation will explain the topic of this study.
5
D. Definition of Terms
The term to be defined is the American Dream. Many people have refined the definition of the American Dream. However, there is no exact statement to find it.
American society surely knows about the goal of the American Dream, for examples, to escape from the problem of inequality rooted in class, race, and freedom. The
World Bank Dictionary by Clarence defines the American Dream as “the American way of life, especially as expressed in expectation of achievement” (1989:67). It means that people in America have very great expectation to reach the wealth and achievements. Wish’s Readings in Society and Thought in Modern America wrote that “Since Columbus found the New World, America has been another name for source of opportunity which is a gate of escape from the bondage of the miserable past” (1966:268). In other words, America as the source of opportunity is a land of freedom for the citizens and it gives a great chance to American the freedom for speech and freedom of choice. Essentially, the American Dream is an idea which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, and they have the potential to live happy and have successful life.
Another term to be defined is Black American Dream. As written above,
American Dream is the dreams to expect achievement. In the past, there was Dr.
King’s dream about the prevention of desegregation and hope that color would not matter. Dr. King has greatly affected the African- American race who supports black people to be more educated and to improve their life condition especially in economic condition.
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Literature never escapes from critics and criticisms. It shows that critics and criticisms play an important role in evaluating the works of literature. In this part, the writer wants to reveal either negative or positive criticisms from public toward the
Chris Gardner’s The Pursuit of Happyness. There are many studies done by researchers or writers on this novel, film or the author as well.
One of them is from Reader’s Digest Magazine on December 2006 edition written that “Hollywood couldn't have done a better job at imagining Chris Gardner's life. All the ingredients for a hard-luck story were there, such as absent father, abusive stepfather, time spent in jail, a year on the streets with his toddler son. But there was also a great desire to make something worthier of his life.” Even though
Chris lived in hard-luck, his desire led to be successful as a stockbroker, business owner and bestselling author.
(http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/homeless-to- millionaire/article30983.html)
In addition, In The Pursuit of Happyness, we know that Chris’ dreams are all what we call as the representatives of the Black American Dream. Chris, one of the
African-American who is marginalized by whites, has to deal with hard struggle to empower himself and also his son in order to reach the happiness. The story takes
6 7
place in early 1980s on San Francisco, when there was the economic trouble in that country. However, Chris Gardner is running hard just to keep in that place. An investment in a bone-scanning machine does not really attract people to buy from him and it leaves his family broke. The Gardners are two months behind on rent, the car has been dragged for unpaid parking tickets, and the Internal Revenue Service, a US government agency who is responsible for tax collection, wants him to pay the taxes.
His frustrated wife, Linda, must work double shifts to pay bills and finally leaves them. Since the job is unsalaried, Chris is forced to survive by his thought that job is really important to define their class status. From the examples above, actually the real issue in this story is about the class mobility in America. There must be always obstacles in poor black people to get a better life. Therefore, the blacks have to survive to be successful.
The movie version of The Pursuit of Happyness helps the readers to visualize Chris as a major character but they will not find the details of plot in the novel as well. As additional information, the novel is firstly published in 2006 and widely known in movie version starred by Will Smith. The Pursuit of Happyness was a box-office successful film gives no great surprise to anyone who has followed Will
Smith's career. Smith produces his greatest depth and variety of his performance in
Gardner character. The New York Times stated:
Money matters in The Pursuit of Happyness, as it does in life. But it matters more openly in this film than it does in most Hollywood stories that set their sights on the poor, largely because Chris’s pursuit of happiness eventually becomes interchangeable with his pursuit of money. 8
Meaning to say that he doesn’t want just a better and more secure life for himself and his child which is showed by the example of the real Chris Gardner, he seems to yearn for a luxurious life and the kind of sports car. It is no wonder that he hopes to be a stockbroker. From the statement above, the idea that may be arise is that poverty is a kind of bad luck and bad choices, while success is the result of heroic labor and dreams. On the other hand, another interesting point in this film is in its vision of what it means to be a black man struggling in America. In one, a black man fights his way to the success with his own hard efforts and gets there with a smile of happiness. (http://movies.nytimes.com/)
Another source comes from Editorial Review of Amazon states that “Never giving into despair, Gardner made an astonishing transformation from being part of the city's invisible poor to being a powerful player in its financial district.” More than a memoir of Gardner's financial success, this is the story of a man who breaks his own family's cycle of men abandoning their children. The Pursuit of Happyness conjures heroes and appeals to the essence of the American Dream.
(http://www.publishersweekly.com/search/siteall?q=the%20pursuit%20of%20happyn ess)
B. Review of Related Theories
To analyze problem formulation established in Chapter I, some theories are required as the guide of problem solving. The theories which will be needed to 9
analyze the problem formulation are theory of character and characterization, theory of American Dream, theory of ideal family for black people and theory of economic security.
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
As in many other literary works, the existence of character is very important to support the story in the literary work. According to Kennedy and Gioia in
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama, character, defined as an imagined person who inhabits a story. It means that a character is a figure in the story, whether it gives important effect or not. In addition, Abram in A Glossary of
Literary Terms states that:
Characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities in what they say – the dialogue- and by what they do – the action (Abrams, 1985:23).
From the theory above, it is obviously concluded that characters can be analyzed through the way she or he acts or speaks.
In deeper, Abrams said that a character may remain stable or unchanged from the beginning until the end of the story or it can change through motivation process. As E.M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel introduced that there are two different kinds of characters, flat and round character. Flat character is built around “a single idea or quality” and is presented without much individualizing detail. It means that, the flat character does not undergo too many changes in the story. While round 10
character is “complex in temperament and motivation, which makes some changes from the beginning until the end of story “(Abrams, 1985:24).
Character must be credible, that is reader must accept them as believable people. The character is also divided into two kinds. The first is major character or main character and the second is minor character or secondary character. Roger B.
Henkle in his book Reading the Novel explains that major character is the most important and complex character which always appears in the whole story, while the secondary character is the character in which they performances are limited
(1977:77). Therefore, the response of the minor character to the story is less complex than the main character.
Murphy in his book Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English
Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students states that there are several ways in which the author attempts to make the character alive for the reader. The ways are: a. Personal description
The author can describe a character from the physical appearance. b. Character as seen by another
The author can describe a character by considering another character’s opinion.
Other characters will give explanation about what the character is like. c. Speech
The author can give insight into the thought through what the character says. 11
Whenever the character is speaking, he is giving a clue for the readers about the
character. d. Past life
By letting the readers learn something about a character’s past life, the author
help the readers to shape a person’s character. e. Conversation with others
The author can give the readers some clues to a person’s character through
conversations of other people and things they say about him. f. Reaction
The character shows his personality through his reactions to various situations. g. Direct comment
The author can describe a character by giving direct comment. h. Thoughts
The author gives us ideas of what is the person thinking about. What the
character thinks reflects his personality. i. Mannerism
The character’s personality can be described through his mannerism or habits in his life.
2. Theory of American Dream
One of America’s most celebrated values is “giving its people the opportunity to move up the economic ladder over their lifetimes. Besides, it also 12
carries the promise that economically disadvantaged groups such as women, ethnic minorities, or immigrants can achieve economic success within their lifetime. This opportunity is called as the American Dream.”
(www.columbia.edu/~wk2110/bin/mobility-short.pdf)
Although the concept of the American Dream is always debated in the press and among public, it has never been found its exact definition. In American mainstream, the dreams of economic and social progress and individual freedom are assumed to a common goal. On 1960s and 1970s, there was a largely distributional politics. That was an access to get the opportunity to freely participate in the competition for jobs, wealth, status and power on society.
By the past, it was true in the black case, Africans, were broken up by the market of slavery. Historians have argued in Behrendt’s Transatlantic Slave Trade that “Africans were a low-cost labor alternative to scarce Indian labor. It is scarce, because most Indian populations were destroyed by disease, while Africans had a biological advantage, some acquired immunities to diseases.” (1999: 135). It implies that African slaves were very hard to get a good life at that time. Even though they worked very hard and had better qualities, they were only paid very low. There was always a great gap between white and black, seen through the limitation individual freedom and achievement.
To abolish that kind of slavery and inequality among people in America, the
Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson declared: 13
“…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…”
(http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/revolution.htm)
Those words mean that no man was better than his neighbor, and each of them could work, worship and enjoy his life in his own way. Every citizen in America has the same right to pursue their dream. It encourages people not even to see those aspects of society which make the dream impossible to fulfill for all Americans. The promise that hard work and determination will be rewarded has become a promise in 20th century. It is the best interest to see the American Dream in the United States.
In general, the American Dream can be defined as being the opportunity and freedom for all citizens to achieve their goals and become wealthy and renowned if only they work hard enough. In other place, Hochschild said that ”American Dreams or what so called American ideology are individualism, equality of opportunity, the work ethic, and liberal capitalism”(1995: 357). Those are the important values in
American society.
The most basic component of the American Dream on individual achievement is the belief that each member of the society is responsible for his or her fate and that one’s social position is a product of personal efforts and talents. The basic idea is that anyone can succeed with enough effort, whatever one’s social and economics handicaps at birth. Then, social rewards, in this view, are earned by personal effort. 14
In American Ways: Guide for Foreigners in the United States, it is stated that
American respect more to the hard workers. There is a strong belief that the ideal person is a hard- worker. A hard worker is one who gets right to work on a task without delay, works efficiently and complete the task in a way that meets reasonably high standard of quality (Althen, 1988: 15).
However, it is individuals themselves who control their economic and social destinies. And, it is individual themselves who therefore are responsible for their class position in the society
Related to American Dream, there is also a term called Black American
Dream. Actually, the meaning is almost the same as the definition of American
Dream. According to John U Ogbu, before the Civil Rights Movement in 1960s, black Americans were prevented by a job ceiling from receiving equal benefits of school credentials with whites. However, after there was Civil Rights Movement, black people were enabled to have better life though it did not guarantee anything.
(2003:252). Thus, in order to reach a better life, black people have to sruggle hard in
America. That is why there is a term Black American Dream.
In order to analyze the Black American Dream about the ideal family for black people and the economic security, it is needed to use some theories about ideal family for black people and theory about economic security.
2.1. Theory of Ideal Family for Black People
African- American family is experiencing changes in several part of life such as in marriage pattern, income and education attainment. Craig Norback’s survey 15
shows that the black American youth in 1960’s would give an ideal family life as the top priority of life goals (Norback, 1980:66). It shows that black American youth has realized the importance of family in their life. In The American Values Reader, it is written that the ideal American family dreams of living in a virtually unchanging harmony. They lead to live in their family for better or for worse and build good relationship between father, mother and children (et al, 1999: 27).
In the United States, families constitute primary sites of belonging between a biological entity such as mother, father and children. According to black American traditional family ideal, an ideal family consists of a heterosexual couple that produces its own biological children. The member of biological family usually has more sense of belonging than people in who do not have their biological family. They routinely help their own family members by babysitting and supporting the economic matter (Collins, 2006: 57).
According to Anna Stubblefield, the black ideal family has the following qualities. First, the relationship of family members are caring relationships. The members of family has the obligations to take care of each other, both phisically and emotionally. Second, family member do not have to earn care and do not lose care even they behave in ways of each other members dissaprove. Third, caring means appreciating the family members for their differences. Finally, within the ideal family, they have a social responsibility which is helping those who are in need of care and who are not part of family. (2005: 166)
16
2.2. Theory of Economic Security
In New Faces in a changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 21st
Century, it is told that under the leadership of President Lyndon B. Johnson ,
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The focus of the Civil Rights
Movement has shifted toward economic quality through the attainment of higher education. In a competitive capitalist society, that demands an informed populace and a highly skilled work force, educational achievement is becoming increasingly important for those who wish to actively participate in and achieve economic success.
The black in many respect, are ambitious, make an above average income and expect the same for their children to build wealth (et al, 2001: 190).
It will not come as a surprise to many African Americans that, as a group, they are less secure economically than white people. Economic security generally concerns about having a job to support family well above the poverty level, the ability to own a home and accumulate other assets such as living in a save community.
(http://www.jointcenter.org/index.php/content/search?SearchText=lending)
3. Theory of Relationship between Literature and Society
According to Wellek, literature represents life or social reality. It is also a social creation which employs language as its medium. Wellek writes that large question raised by literary study in social tradition, political, economic, norms condition. 17
The relation between literature and society is that literature is an expression of society. But, if it assumes that literature at any given time mirrors the current social situation correctly, it is false; it is vague if it means only that literature depict some aspect of social reality. An author inevitably expresses his experience and total conception of life, but it would be manifested untrue to say that he expresses the whole life of life or even the whole life of a given time completely and exhaustively (1956:95).
Wellek and Warren discuss that literature is ‘an expression of reality’. In that theory, it is said that if the literature is the mirror of the social situation correctly is false. Then, it is also false if only literature is the portrayal of social reality.
In addition, they are three divisions among the relation between literature and society. First is the sociology of the author and the profession and institutions of literature. The sociology of the author consists of the author’s social provenance, the family background and the economic position. From that, the readers will know where the author comes from and where he or she lives.
Second is the social content of the literatures themselves. The social content can be the social purpose of the work of literature and the political or social views of the author in the society.
Third is the influence between literature and society. It can be seen from the way of the readers to change their life upon the work of literature. Besides, the work of literature can improve the income of the author through the selling of the work
(1956: 95-96).
Finally, literature can be used as a social document and it is assumed as the picture of the reality. Used as social document, literature also can be made to provide 18
the outlines of a history. As a result of reading literary works such as novel, poem, short story or drama, the readers will get more knowledge (1956: 102- 104).
C. Review of Black People in American History in 20th Century
During 1930s, there was a view about Negro- white relations as organized by a color- caste system. Those two castes, Negro as subordinate and white as superordinate, existed because of the possession of money, education and family background (Beteille, 1969:297). In other words, the black people in America had been victimized because they do not have the same rights for rising their money, education, job and the condition of their family.
Cities of America were undergoing rapid change, not only for their function as centers of industry, trade and innovation, but also of their internal structure. It reflects the citizen’s ways of life. From history, based on McCloy’s Goals for
Americans, in 1929 until the early 1940s, there was an era when the worst and the longest economic collapsed, called Great Depression (1960:35). The economic position of the states would be called underdeveloped, where people lost their homes, jobs, and savings.
Furthermore, the race problem also still became the major tension that was difficult to be eliminated. The whites always said Negro as the stranger and the enemy. The discrepancy between whites and Negroes caused the inferior education, poorer living condition for blacks and inadequate medical attention from government.
After the World War II, the American economy worked well. Cities have always 19
attracted those people who were ambitious to take advantage of the wide range of economic, social and other opportunities (Saul, 1968:64).
As time goes by, Sitkoff wrote in his The Struggle for Black Equality that by
1980, in fact, the black improvement comes because of an expanding economy. The
United States makes a bigger economic pie, but black people have to compete with white people on reaching the job opportunity (1981: 236). Thus, black have to struggle for their future in order to make an improvement in their finance.
Because there is a discrimination in job between white and black, Jacqueline
Jones in her Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women Work, and the Family
From Reconstruction to the Present has observed that “when whites hired black people for office work, it usually was in positions that had no contact with either the general public or white employees.” It means that there is still a segregation in job between white and black. It is very common for black people to get the lower position than white in an office (1985:154).
Related to the inequality of job opportunity, Erikson also adds that “business job and consumer markets in the United States have been divided by race. Racist attitudes on the part of whites and a literacy rate among blacks lower than that among whites kept African Americans out of most white-controlled office work” (1934: 92).
In other words, black people rarely gets a good position at work because they do not have better education than white. That is why black people hardly gets the equality of job opportunities among white. 20
In term of family, law and public opinion supported the patriarchal system, in which the husband or father was the only person who is responsible to the family.
Many men went alone and sacrifice himself to make fortunes in the competitive circumstances. Arthur says that “Men, the producer of food created specialized and highly rewarded occupation to control the distribution of food and related resources”
(1918: 171). It means that, as the head of the family, men have to work to support the family needs. Besides, in order to be a good father, a man must reside with his child and make a good parental relationship with the mother of his child.
D. Theoretical Framework
To analyze the problem formulation, some theories are needed. The first theory is theory of character and characterization which helps the writer to identify the characteristics of the main character.
Since the analysis discusses about Black American Dream through the main character, the theory of American Dream is applied to guide the writer in answering the problem which was formulated in the previous chapter.
To analyze the ideal black family in American Dream, the writer applies the theory of ideal family for black people. In that theory, it is told the criteria of family which can be categorized as an ideal family. Moreover, Black American Dream also includes the part of reaching wealth. Therefore, the writer uses the theory of economic security to find the analysis.
The next theory used is the review of black people in the history of United
States of America in 20th century. Knowing the social condition of black people in 21
USA on 20th century will help the writer to know the situation of society which is struggling for Black American Dream in the story.
All the theories here are relevant in answering the two problem formulations.
Each theory plays an important role toward each problem. And finally, the review of black people in America history in 20th century will help the writer to analyze the realization of Black American Dream through the characterization of the main character.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The Pursuit of Happyness is an American biographical novel written by
Chris Gardner, an African – American author. It was published in 2006 by Amistad, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers. Until now, over 100.000 hardcover books and over 500.000 trade paperback books in print which becomes the New York
Times bestseller. The novel is divided into three parts, twelve chapters and it contains
302 pages within prologue and epilogue. The first part contains 83 pages, the second part 88 pages and the last part 16 pages, while the rest are for prologue and epilogue part. Almost all the characters there are real, though some names and description were changed. The book is also translated into several languages, including
Indonesian and becomes a popular film.
The Pursuit of Happyness is an inspirational life story that bears the message of learning to live, hard work, and never giving up on our circumstances. On
December 2006, the film was released and starred by Will Smith as Chris Gardner and his son, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith as Christopher. As in the book, the movie takes a critical look at American life, black and white. And throughout the movie, several awards were received, such as from Will Smith’s performance which
22
23
nominated him as the best actor in Oscar Academy Award, USA on 2006, and it also won as the Top Box Office film in ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards.
In his inspiring biography, Chris Gardner tells the detail of his journey from homeless single father to successful millionaire. Moreover, the story is very great because he never gives up reaching American Dream and always tries to be a great father to her toddler son. The book began in the Milwaukee, but was also set in
Oakland, San Francisco, New York and Chicago. It began with Gardner's childhood with his abusive stepfather. As a single father, Chris continues to pursue a better job using every skill he has. He works at a prominent stock brokerage firm. Although there is no salary, he accepts it and hopes that he will end the program with a promising future. However, because of the financial problem, Chris and his son are evicted from their apartment and they have to sleep in shelters, bus stations, bathrooms or wherever. Despite his troubles, Chris continues to keep his commitment as a loving and caring father with his affection to his son that he will overcome the obstacles.
The misspelled HAPPYNESS of the title comes from when Gardner was looking for daycare center for his son so that Gardner could pursue his career everyday. He rejected a child care management which has a sign on the wall declared that it was the place of “HAPPYNESS”. Because it misspelled the term of happiness in its name, then Chris explained its literal meaning to his son and gained insight into what happiness meant to him personally. 24
B. Approach of the Study
Related to the topic, the approach to analyze the problems is socio cultural – historical approach.
Rohrberger and Woods in their book Reading and Writing about Literature, state:
“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. They define civilization as the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people and point out that literature takes these attitudes and actions as its subject matter” (1971:9)
Therefore, it is essential for the critics to investigate the social condition when the work of literature produced because the society may influence the work.
The sociocultural –historical is very needed to analyze this work since the work can represent American society in 20th century. In addition, it also will help the reader to understand the relation between social conditions in the novel and its connection to the history of the place where the story takes place.
C. Method of the Study
The analysis of this study uses library research. The primary source used in
this study is Chris Gardner’s The Pursuit of Happyness, while the secondary sources
are from various books and journals from the internet that deal with the American
Dream. Some of the books needed in this work are Kennedy and Gioia’s Literature:
An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama and M.H Abrams. A Glossary of
Literary Terms, sixth Edition. Those books are used to obtain the theory of
character. Then, there are Harvey’s Reading in Society and Thought in Modern 25
America, Lyndon’s My Hope for America and Stephen’s Transatlantic Slave Trade
to obtain the information about the social condition in the United States. Electronic
sources are also used in this work which provides data about commentaries to the
novel and also about the topic that is Black American Dream.
In analyzing this work, the writer did some steps. First, the writer read the novel thoroughly, and then re-read it again to get a better understanding about the story of the novel. Next, she made notes about the important quotation, events, problems and found the supporting idea to support the arguments, later on. Then, the writer examined how the main character is characterized in the story by using the theory of character and characterization. The fourth step, she found facts about the social condition of the United States in 20th century, such as the economic condition, family life and the equality in job opportunities.
After that, the writer started to collect data by library and internet research.
The Pursuit of Happyness is categorized as a new novel. Therefore, there are still limited numbers of written data and reviews to this novel, so the writer had to collect some of the information from internet. Actually, the story of the novel is about the dream of black people who live in the United States. Therefore, the writer only focused this work to analyze the American Dream which was pusued by black people. Before analyzing it, the writer found the theory of American Dream, the social conditions of black people in 20th century in the United States and then she tried to reveal the Black American Dream through the characterization of main character. In the analysis, the people will know about the condition of black people in 26
the United States and their struggle to reach their dream which is getting a better life and equality among whites. Finally, the writer drew the conclusion for what has been analyzed in the previous chapter. CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
Based on the questions in the problem formulation, the analysis will be divided into two parts. The first is a discussion about the characterization of Chris
Gardner as the major character. It will show how the character’s struggle for his future in hard circumstances. Then, the second is a discussion about the Black
American Dream which is revealed through the characterization of the major character.
A. The Characterization of Chris Gardner
Before entering the discussion about the Black American Dream which is revealed through the characterization of the main character, Chris Gardner, it is necessary to analyze the characterization of Chris Gardner since the personality or the way he acts and thinks may influence his effort to reach the American Dream.
To be able to characterize Chris Gardner, the writer applies the theory from
Murphy in Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry and the
English Novel for Overseas Students Writing on characterization. There are several ways of characterization. The ways are by personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation with others, reaction, direct comment, thoughts and mannerism (1972: 25).
27
28
Chris Gardner is categorized as the major character because he is the most often observed character in the story. As Roger B. Henkle in Reading the Novel said that major character is the most important and complex character which always appears in the whole story (1977:77). Chris is important since he becomes the focus of the whole story and he appears from the beginning until the end of the novel.
Chris Gardner was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on February 9, 1954. He was raised in broken home and very poor family. His biological-father never sees him while his step-father always tortures him both physically and mentally. In the story, it is told that his step-father, Freddie Triplett, is abusive, illiterate and complete drunk. His father often beats his mother, Bettye Jean. Being raised in a poor condition, he learns much about how to live in a misery life and knows how to face suffering in his life.
According to Murphy's theory of characterization, characters can be analyzed by observing the manner of the character. By using that theory, Chris was a curious person which can be seen when he was in elementary school. He shows that he is curious through his eagerness to read a lot of books. He loves books very much because he knows that books can open his eyes wider to see the world. It is proven through this following quotation.
I usually did well in school-as long as I was interested and challenged. Besides my increasingly voracious appetite for books, which now took me down the library aisles to find classics by the likes of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, and a budding interest in history, I found math fun and kind of satisfying, with problems to be solved likes games that yielded answers to questions that were either right or wrong, yes or no. Books, as always, fulfilled my need to find power through knowledge. 29
When I kept on reading, not because I was overly radical but because I wanted to know what something said before I rejected it (Gardner, 2006:83,94).
The quotation above shows that books are very important in Chris' life because books can answer everything he wants to know.
He does not believe everything written in the books directly, but he studies it first thoroughly whether it is true or not.
Besides being curious, Chris is also a responsible person. Related to
Murphy's theory, the characteristics of a character also can be seen from his or her reaction toward every situation and problem in his or her life. In the story, Chris' responsibility can be seen from his action in his early age. It is seen through his great effort to protect his mother. As the only boy in the family, Chris Gardner makes a promise to himself to protect his mother. He says that "I'd guided myself without father, believing that my fundamental responsibility was to protect my mother"
(Gardner, 2006:122). He proves it through his action when his mother decides to leave her cruel husband and moves to another place with her children. After escaping from their house, Chris' mother realizes that the key of the house where they will live at is left. That moment is a time when Chris shows his responsibility toward his mother and his siblings. To save them, Chris thinks fast to find the way how to get back to their house secretly from his step-father. His effort is shown through the following quotation.
I had to win. As proposed, I executed my plan - scaling the pole to the roof, jumping down from the roof to the porch, thankfully raising the window on the porch level, and sliding inside. From there, I opened the apartment door 30
and flew downstairs, where the relieved look on my mother's face was all I need to see. As we all settled in that night, I could not have felt more proud of myself (Gardner, 2006:40).
From that statement, it is seen that Chris tries so hard to save his mother and his siblings in order to get out from their house. That is the only way to protect his mother and his siblings from his abusive step-father at that time. It becomes his responsibility to take care all of his family as the only son in the family.
When Chris was a teenager, he had a long-distance relationship with his older girlfriend, Sherry. To maintain his relationship, he always keeps in touch with his girlfriend such as communicating by phone intensively which causes the phone bills increase very high. His responsibility is revealed when he realizes that he has to pay the bills off. Thus, he works as a handy man in a steak house. He says that:
It was my own doing, but that didn't prevent me from throwing a fit at Nino's the next night when I reached a boiling point over being stiffed by the waiters, who were supposed to be sharing tips with me. I did the most disgusting thing that came into my head. I felt almost as bad afterward as the time I got into another financial rut from phone calls to Sherry and pawned Ophelia's television set. Even more important, I learned a new level of compassion that I had never known before, and I paid off the phone bill finally (Gardner, 2006:119).
From the quotation above, it is clearly seen from Chris's reaction toward the situation
shows his responsibility. He works in a steak house and pawns his sister's television
set to pay the bill off. He accepts the consequences from what he has done.
As a father, Chris shows his responsibility by giving his love to his son,
Christopher Jr. Since Chris never gets love and care from his father, he really wants to care his son with all of his heart. In the story, it is told that Chris' wife doubts 31
whether Chris can be a good father or not because he never has a father figure along his life. Chris' father is always rude to him. Thus, Chris makes a commitment to himself that he will treat his children with love.
Not only was 1 going to make sure my children had a daddy, I was never going to be Freddie Triplett. I was never going to terrorize. Threaten, harm or abuse a woman or a child, and I was never going to drink so hard that I could not account for my actions (Gardner, 2006: 38).
It can be seen from the quotation that Chris got harsh treatment from his father when he was a child. Murphy's theory said that by knowing the condition and situation of character's past life, it will help the reader to shape the characteristics of the character.
In the case of Chris Gardner life, harsh treatment that he got from his stepfather forms his characteristic to be responsible to his family. His worst experience of life in the past becomes his motivation to care about his son. Thus, he always tries to give the best for his son by treating him with love.
The evidence which shows that Chris really loves his son and is responsible for his son's life is seen when his wife left him and brought their son. It makes him upset and he swears to get his son back. It can be seen from his speech in the story which says that:
Without words, I swore on everything and everyone that I cherished in the world, reaffirming my lifelong promise that I would always care for him and that I would never be absent from his life. My son, made me a better person, bringing purpose and meaning to my life, to an extent I'd never known before and would only fully appreciate later (Gardner, 2006: 176).
From the quotation above, it is seen that Chris' son is everything for Chris. He feels really upset when his wife brings their son. His son becomes his motivation to 32
survive. It is known that Chris will take care and love his son. It reveals Chris' great responsibility and affection to his son.
As the head of the family, Chris realizes that he has to be responsible to afford the family needs. However, because of the restless financial problem, his wife also has to work. Yet, it still can not overcome their financial problem. Besides living in hard economic condition, Chris also has to face the reality that the relationship with his wife gets worse. His speech below shows that he is responsible for his family.
What I do know in the hours and days that follow is that nothing puts more stress on a relationship between man and woman than if the man has no job. A man, without a job, as far as my upbringing taught me, is no man at all. Any man that was a man had to take care of and provide for family. Even old drunk-ass Freddie basically went to work everyday. So it was unacceptable for me to wake up in the morning and not have anywhere to go to work- after being so sure that I was on the way to Wall Street and knowing that it was my responsibility because I made the decision to do what I did (Gardner, 2006: 202).
The quotation above shows that actually Chris has tried to fulfill his duty as the head of the family. He keeps his responsibility to take care his family. Thus, he realizes that he has to work for supporting his family life though his relationship gets worse.
Related to Murphy' theory of characterization which says that one of the
ways to characterize a character in the story is by analyzing what a character thinks
about. In the story, as a black person, Chris takes every opportunity to get a better
life. He has strong ambition to be successful in his career so he always keeps looking
for another better job than his previous job. Thus, his thought to see further about
getting better life describes him as an ambitious man. This characteristics can be seen 33
from his first job experience when he was a teenager. For the first time, he works in
Heartside Nursing Home. There, he has to learn how to make bed and to clean up
urine of the old people. It is out of what Chris ever dreamt of. However, he works
very hard and commits that he must do it. He promises himself that:
For many reasons, I wanted to do well, mainly because I was locking into a mind-set that I was going to do in life, I wanted to give it my all, to go beyond what was expected of me. My first step, which would come in handy in the next pivotal chapters of my life, was to learn as quickly as I could from whoever was the best at doing the tasks I'd need to master. Soon after that, I could do it better than the top orderly there. In fact, management saw how good I was and gave my own wing (Gardner, 2006:119).
From the statement above, it is told that with his strong ambition finally he can do his job very well. Before doing that job, he says that he has locked his mind-set that he will do everything well and gives his best beyond what people expect from him.
Although at the first time he feels weird to do his job, finally he can enjoy it because he keeps trying and trying. His effort to be good in doing his job reflects his strong ambition. Because of Chris' reliability on working, his Uncle named Archie offers him another job opportunity. After graduating from high school, he is given a job to work at Inland Steel. Chris ambition to get better life leads him to take that opportunity because he can earn higher wages at Inland Steel. Therefore, he works seriously. The evidence is below:
For the last few months I'd been working at Inland Steel, thanks to Uncle Archie helping me get a job there. As much as I had learned working at the nursing home, the union wages were a significant improvement in my pocket. And yet, I discovered a cold economic principle: the more you make, the more you spend (Gardner, 2006:121).
34
The quotation above shows that Chris learns as much as he can about his work. His effort to learn thoroughly shows him that he is eager to earn more much money than he had before. Therefore, his ambition to get better income can be reached.
Chris' spirit to get better job also can be seen when he is assigned to work in the General Surgical Ward. It is a hospital which its staffs, both military and civilian, are some of the best and the brightest in the nations. Actually, he does not believe that he can get that job because basically he does not have the medical education background. Moreover, he never goes to the university. However, his hard work and strong ambition support him to focus and learn deeper about medic. He does not feel afraid to ask anything he does not know. With his spirit to be successful, eventually he masters all about surgery and medic.
Though I didn't know it yet, many aspect of my medical work would translate to other areas, perhaps none more important than knowing how to organize my time. Plus I loved what I was doing, everything from changing patients' dressings. To that end, I placed great importance on maintaining detailed chart notes that helped the surgeons and nurses follow a patients' care (Gardner, 2006:131).
From the quotation above, it is shown that even though Chris realizes his lack of education about medical subject but he never feels inferior. Even, he keeps his spirit to love his job by learning every details of his job. His ambition leads him to be successful in his career.
Working in medical field does not make him stop finding another better job to earn higher salary. He tries to find another job opportunity and gain the 35
experiences in business. Thus, Chris decides to work at a brokerage firm as a stockbroker. He says that:
As a trainee, I was doing the grunt work for free, something that I did not quit grasp until later. But it actually didn't matter to me. All I cared about was succeeding in this business, learning everything I could, and getting as much experience as possible (Gardner, 2006:217).
From the quotation above, Chris' ambition is seen through his spirit to choose a better job. He left his work in medical field, and then works as a stockbroker. Actually, he also does not have the economic education background. Nonetheless, he learns everything about economic which relates to his work. It shows that he really intends to be successful in running his business as a stockbroker, learning new things and getting the experiences which are needed in his work.
The evidence which shows that Chris is ambitious also can be seen from his experience as inferior black person at his work place. There, Chris gets various mocking and is underestimated by white people. The white people usually doubt his presence and ability in the office. They say that "Can I trust this person? Is this information correct? Is this worth my time" (Gardner, 2006: 297)? The hesitation of people toward Chris as a black person is clearly seen from the quotation above.
Nevertheless, he does not care about what people say because he knows that the stereotype of whites toward blacks as inferiority is scarcely removed. He just simply says that Survival habits were hard to break, and I continued to look for every opportunity to save money (Gardner, 2006: 255). The quotation shows that he ignores 36
the inferiority among black people but ambitiously keeps looking for the opportunity to gain more money.
Chris' ambition since he was a child until he was twenty-eight years old is to find his biological-father. Since he was a child, he has never seen his biological- father and even more, his mother rarely tells something more about his father. My father was a figment of the vast unknown throughout my childhood. His name was mentioned once or twice (Gardner, 2006:20). The quotation shows that he never knows his biological-father since he was a child. Thus, at the age of twenty- eight,
Chris decides to look for his biological father though he does not know anything about where his father is.
... I had always imagine I would meet my father one day, even if it was just to confront him about where he'd been. But, here I was, almost twenty-eight years old, and I had never met him. How could I meet him? I did not know. Was he alive? Didn't know that either. But the moment my son made his precocious comment, I knew it was time (Gardner, 2006:184).
To find the information about his father, he calls the directory information
and finally in the age of twenty-eight years, he finds his father. "Yeah" my father
said. "I've been waiting for you to call a long time" (Gardner, 2006: 185). The
quotation shows that his ambition since his childhood finally can be reached when he
is twenty- eight years old. His thought affects his characteristics as an ambitious man
to reach his ambition in life.
Besides as an ambitious man, Chris is also a hard worker. It is seen from his effort to overwhelm the economic problem in his family. Thus, he works very hard a long day. He never feels tired to do his work. 37
Now that I'd faced the need for more money, I kept up my second job working as a security guard at nights and on weekends, not doing too badly. That was, until I was sent to fill in on a graveyard shift at the pier as the guard of a creaky old unused ship (Gardner, 2006: 163).
From the quotation above, it can be seen that Chris works all the time to get more money. He also uses his leisure time at nights and on weekends to work as a security.
This part of Chris life describes him as a truly hard worker who never feels tired and complains about his life.
As M.J Murphy says that the characterization can be seen from the opinions seen by another character. Chris is presented as a discipline man by his commander.
For example is when he decides to join Navy. It is very difficult for Chris to adapt in a new environment, from the civilian to the militant. In his new environment, he has to discipline himself and try not to make any mistakes along the training period. It is shown through the following quotation.
My training in learning how to be still helped. I wasn't allowed to move or to reflect at all to the rivers of sweat running down my face and back, tickling my ass. Not a flinch. In formation one afternoon I saw Senior Chief Petty Officer White, commander of Company 208, stride right up to me and braced myself for whatever he had to say: "Son, you know what I know about you?" he asked, almost nose to nose with me as droplets of perspiration weren't just rolling down my face and body but not touching me like ling blazing fingers. Officer White answered his own question: "What I know is that you've got a lot of self-discipline" (Gardner, 2006:126).
The quotation above implies that in order to be successful, Chris has sacrificed himself to be discipline. He tries hard to obey the rule from his commander. As the result, he gets compliment from the commander which says Chris is very discipline. 38
Besides being discipline, Chris is also characterized as an optimistic man.
His optimism can be seen from his way to deal with discrimination in job competition. It is seen when he is trained in Dean Witter, a brokerage firm with job training in Oakland. He knows that it is very difficult for colored man to be a Broker of the Day. However, he only thinks that if he can make the way to fill the opportunity, he will be successful. He says in the story that:
It wasn't the rocket science. The reality was that people had never dealt with a black person before and didn't want to. Even though I'd done a great job and made them some money. But I was learning that I could turn down being Broker of the Day. The lesson here wouldn't necessarily apply to other guys, but for me it was apparent that t did better on the phone. If I could get someone excited about the opportunity to make some money, if we could make the connection, that was the way to go (Gardner, 2006:226-227).
The quotation implies that it is very difficult for black people to deal with white people, though Chris has done great job. But, optimistically he will be successful to make some money by taking every opportunity. From that circumstance, his only thought is that he has to work extra time to reach his target and he is sure that he can do it successfully.
As long as the discrimination still exists, Chris’ status as black people becomes a fact that he has to struggle to get the opportunity. As a black man, Chris is often underestimated by people. However, he comforts himself regardless any distinction between black and white in his office. Again, by using the theory of characterization, which states that the characteristics also can be analyzed from character's thought, Chris' optimism can be seen from his commitment that he will rise up and struggle hard to get better life. 39
Who did I think I was? I was Chris Gardner, father of a son who deserved better than what my daddy could do for me, son of Betty Jean Gardner, who said that if I wanted to win, I could win. I had to win, however I was going to do it. Whatever more I had to do whatever burden I had to carry, I was going to rise up and overcome (Gardner, 2006:247).
From the quotation above, Chris' optimism is also seen at his work. At the beginning of his work as a stockbroker, he does not have any strategy to attract people to get involved in the stock market. However, he knows that his strength are finding and learning the information as much as he can. I was learning from could have come from any background (Gardner, 2006: 261). Optimistically, he believes that with all information he gets, he can be successful. He says that:
Success in this field wasn't a white thing or a black thing, it was a green thing. That was the measure how much green you were moving and how much you were making (Gardner, 2006:261).
The quotation above shows Chris' optimism that the key to be successful is on his hand. The inequality has nothing to do with success. If he just realizes his strength, he knows that it helps him to get the higher level in his work.
Chris is also described as a smart person. His intelligence is proven when he works as a doctor assistant at General Surgical Ward. It is seen through the way his patients call him with "Doc" at the hospital as if he is a doctor. At the hospital, he quickly becomes one of the most favorite people and is respected by several doctors.
None of the other doctors seemed to mind my questions, mainly because they usually only had to explain something to me once and I got it. After a short period of time, all the cats-from every background-were asking for "Doc," as they call me. My reputation was such that anytime anyone got shot, they were advised before they got to the ward to make sure they asked for me, that when it came to gunshot wounds, nobody could fix them up like I could (Gardner, 2006:131). 40
The quotation means that he can quickly get the explanation from the other doctors.
His ability to learn quickly shows him that he is smart. His intelligence becomes his power to be successful because not only the patients trust him, but also his colleagues in the hospital.
Moreover, his intelligence is proven through his ability in making a paper about preservation of myocardial high-energy phosphates which is widely published in various medical journals and textbooks. It is very extraordinary achievement for ordinary person like Chris, without medical education background to create sophisticated paper that impresses many people. It is proved by the following quotation.
In time, Bob Ellis developed so much faith in my mastery of our research that I Went on to co-author several papers with him on the preservation of myocardial high energy-phosphates-papers that were published in various medical journals and textbooks. Even some Harvard Medical School grads can't claim to being as widely published (Gardner, 2006: 151).
After having a lot of experiences in different jobs, finally he moves to work at Ace Greenberg which is one of the popular brokerage firms in New York. Working at Ace Greenberg becomes such a great honor for Chris. Therefore, to be able to offer something unique from himself, he creates a new strategy to attract the investors.
I developed an innovative strategy in the moths that followed for going after that asset management and fee-based business the other New York guys were talking about. But my approach was strictly my own. As I was mastering this strategy, it finally dawned on me what business I really wanted to be in, the market that was being grossly ignored by Wall Street, the niche that I would be allowed to develop in New York and that would soon become a key part of my own business when I opened up shop in Chicago (Gardner, 2006: 289). 41
From the quotation above, his intelligence brings him to the gate of success. To support his career, he makes a great strategy which other people do not. Soon, after mastering his strategy, he becomes successful and finally develops his business to another city.
B. Revealing the Black American Dream Through the Characterization of
Chris Gardner
As The Land of Opportunity, America offers many opportunities to get a better life. To reach a better life, black Americans have to fight discrimination and inequality done by white people. The Black American Dream which is revealed in
The Pursuit of Happyness are the ideal family, the equality in job opportunity and the economic security. Those dreams are revealed through the characterization of Chris
Gardner as the main character which is presented in Gardner’s The Pursuit of
Happyness.
1. Ideal Family
Black American Dream is not always related an economic matter, but it also includes the pursuit of ideal family. In African- American history, it is told that many black families live in single- parent families. Concerning to that condition, there are some theories which formulate the ideal family for black people. According to
Collins, a black scholar, an ideal family is a family with a father, a mother and children (2006: 57). The ideal family is expected to live in harmony and have a good relationship among the family members. Thus, the family member will never be alone 42
and able to work together everyday as a team to make life easier and happier though the circumstances get tough.
The existence of an ideal family becomes one of the dreams realized in
Gardner’s The Pursuit of Happyness. In the story, Chris was born in poverty and broken home family. He lives with his mother, step-father and step-siblings. His abusive step-father’s habits challenge him to find a way to get love from his step- father. Chris is characterized as a smart person. Therefore, he uses his intelligence to find a way to make a better relationship with his step-father. In his childhood, he ever thinks to please his step-father by giving his best in academic.
I thought Freddie might be proud of my academic success. My accomplishment as an elementary school student obviously made Moms proud. (Gardner, 2006: 31). It is told that Chris Gardner tries to attract his step-father’s attention by achieving academic success. He expects that through his academic success, at least it can make his step-father proud of him and later on, their relationship will be better. However,
Chris’ effort to get love and good relationship is just in vain because his step-father does not care about his achievement.
Freddie had stopped his schooling in the third grade back in Mississippi and couldn’t even dial a telephone until later in his life, and he could barely do it then. This undoubtedly fed a deep-seated insecurity in him that he covered up by declaring that anybody who could or write was a “slick motherfucker” (Gardner, 2006: 32).
Chris’ effort to please his step-father in fact makes him upset and hate those who are having capability to write and read. 43
At this point, Chris has an ideal family which is having a father, a mother and siblings. Although it seems that Chris has the so called the ideal family---since he has both parents---however, they do not have good relationship. Chris never gets his dream to get love and happiness from his step-father. When he was a child, he cannot do anything he wants to please his step-father. He only has a dream that one day he will get the happiness from a father figure. Therefore, he decides that one day he will look for his biological-father and hope he can get love and happiness.
When Chris is adult and far away from his step-father, finally he struggles hard to find his biological-father. As Collin states that the member of biological- family usually has more sense of belonging than people who do not have their biological-family (2006:57). He believes that he will get love and happiness which he had dreamed since in his childhood in the time he meets his biological-father.
At long last, I let of the no-daddy blues. I had a daddy, albeit one I didn’t know well and never would, but I was no longer a fatherless child. That wasn’t my song to sing anymore (Gardner, 2006: 191).
The quotation above shows that his dream to meet his biological-father comes true.
Finally, he can meet his biological-father although he has to wait for more or less twenty-eight years long. His biological-father also feels very happy when meets him.
At that time, Chris gets what he calls love and happiness, not only from his biological-father but also from his cousins.
Wherever we went, everyone was generous and hospitable, treating me like a celebrity. The social habits and pace of life seemed different from Milwaukee, but the more we hung out and talked, as the family stories stared to roll, the fewer differences I saw (Gardner, 2006: 190).
44
It is obvious that Chris really feels happy in living with his biological-father’s family because they respect them well. His characteristics as an ambitious and optimistics person bring him to the success in reaching his dream which is having an ideal family—having father, mother and siblings and living in good relationship among the member of family.
When Chris marries Jackie, he faces bad economic problem. His family lives in poverty. Therefore, as the head of the family, he has to be responsible to afford their family needs. As stated in the theory of American Dream, it is told that America respects more to the hard workers (Althen, 1988: 15). People in America think that everyone can reach everything they want by working hard. However, Chris’ wife cannot stand any longer to their condition. His wife decides to leave him and brings their son away. As a responsible person, Chris is very upset and very sad because he thinks that he cannot care and give love to his son. Thus, to get his son back, he works very hard every day to earn money as much as he can.
...and I never thought of myself as a natural salesman. Then again, I’d been to college with every person I’d ever met, as Will Rogers said about myself, and had known some unbelievable characters who could sell you the raindrops falling on your head. I could learn to sell. Plus, I knew the power of information and knew how to spot the leaders and how to learn what they did and how they did it into successful (Gardner, 2006: 186).
The quotation shows Chris’ effort to reach his dream of having an ideal family. He becomes a salesman and works very hard just in order to get his son back. He proves his seriousness to reach his dream through the following quotation. “I was serious 45
about increasing my numbers, about making money” (Gardner, 2006: 187). It means that Chris really eager to earn money for the sake of his family.
When Chris’ wife knows that Chris has worked very hard in earning which can support the family needs, she brings their son back to Chris. Chris is very happy because his hard working finally can bring his son back to him. As a responsible father, he promises himself that he will take care his son forever. “He’s my son and I love him, and I’m never going to leave him, no matter the cost” (Gardner, 2006:
182). It shows that how great Chris love is toward his son. This is one of his step in order to have an ideal family again.
Chris ambition to have an ideal family is also shown when he thinks that he has to ask his ex-wife back to him. From the history of black people, there are so many black families live in single-parent family. According to Arthur’s theory, in order to be a good father, a man must reside with his child and make a good parental relationship with the mother of his child (1918:171). Thus, as a black person who wants to get a better life in family, he decides to reunite his family by asking his wife back to him.
Even with everything that had happenned before, there was a part of me that thought, well, for Christopher’s sake. She eventually agreed, and ultimately getting to spend sometime with his mother was the best thing for him, even though I went through horrible separation pains those first few weeks apart (Gardner, 2006: 285).
The quotation shows that Chris asks his wife for the sake of their son. His dream to have an ideal and happy family becomes his motivation to ask his wife back to him. It 46
shows his struggle and his sacrifice as a black person to reach American Dream. He will do anything to please his son.
Chris efforts---to find his biological-father and to re-unite him with his ex- wife and his son---which are revealed in the previous paragraph, show Chris’ expectation to realize his Black American Dream to have an ideal family.
2. Equality of Job Opportunity
Even though the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which guaranteed freedom and equality had been declared in The United States, the inequality among black people and white people still cannot be eliminated. The discrimination required black and whites to be born separately in segregated hospitals, to live their lives in segregated schools, public accomodations, etc. It is a must for black people to be patient, to make themselves competent and to do good work to reach the equal opportunity.
In Gardner’s The Pursuit of Happyness, the inequal treatment which is experienced by Chris is shown when he works at the steak house. He is forced to share his tips by his white partner. When he tries to protest to his white manager, he does not get the protection even he is irritated.
It was my own doing, but that didn’t prevent me from throwing a fit at Nini’s the next night when I reached a boiling point over being stiffed by the waiters, who were supposed to be sharing tips with me. The manager shrugged and told me that I was lucky to have my job washing dishes as it was (Gardner, 2006: 119). It is clearly seen that Chris’ position is lower than his white partner’s that is washing dishes. Jacqueline Jones has observed that black people usually was in positions that had no contact with either the general public or white employees. Characterized as a 47
hard worker, Chris does his works well though he is only in low position. He respects his job and always tries to do his duty. His hard working finally bears something good that is successful in doing his job. He ignores the inequality which happens to him and as the result, he can earn tips from the guests. He proves that with working hard, black people also can do job well and can bear success though in hard circumstances.
In order to get better income, Chris looks for another job which offers higher salary. As Sitkoff wrote that The United States offers big economic pie or the opportunity to get better economic, though people have to struggle and work hard
(1981: 236). In the story, Chris’ effort to get better income is seen when he works in
Navy and he is recommended to move at Camp Lejeune, the biggest marine corps base in the world which is populated by sixty thousand marines and six hundred sailors. He can work there because he is discipline.
“You’re going to Camp Lejeune, said the senior”. For the next couple of years I served, worked, learned and lived in an evironment that was not too different from a college setting (Gardner, 2006:130).
As a black, Chris is very lucky to have a job in Navy. He proves that black people also can work in good position which is placed in the biggest marine corps. He also shows that he can be successful though he never goes to college by working hard to discipline himself. At this point, Chris ignores the inequality in job opportunity which is gained by his hard struggle.
As a smart person, while working at Camp Lejeune, he learns something new related to medical subject. He thinks that if he has more knowledge, he believes 48
that he will get another better job. On the learning process, Chris shows his intelligence that he can learn quickly. “Very quickly I became one of her favorite people and was respected by several other doctor, too” (Gardner, 2006: 131). The quotation shows that with his determination to learn medic, he can pursue what is called as American Dream that is becoming one of favorite and respected person among white people. It reveals Chris’ success in reaching his dream to get better job.
In other words, he proves that America respects for those who are smart in competing with other Americans.
In addition, black people find difficulties to reach the equality in job because there is racism between white and black. Erikson states that business job and consumer markets in The United States have been divided by race (1934:92). In the story, the racism is clearly seen when Chris tries to be a stockbroker. In his office, there are no other black people but him. The problem is that he is difficult to build a relationship with other employees because he is the only black employee.
When I got to that office, set in mainly black section of town, there were no other employees of color to be seen. By that point, no one had given me any indication of interest (Gardner, 2006: 199).
The quotation above shows that discrimination toward black people still exists in
America though there is Declaration of Independence which declares that all men are created equal and have the same rights.
It can be seen from the existence of black people in the office. It is very rare to find black people at the office and seems that white worker do not give respect and interest to Chris Gardner as black worker.
Another difficulty which is experienced by Chris when he is a stockbroker is he does not have relation and colleagues to get involved in brokerage. The evidence is shown by the following quotation.
What was my connection to the market? What was the connection to my peers, since I never went to college? My resume showed lots of experience, but the objections piled up about what wasn’t there. You’re not from a politically connected family. You’ve got no money of your own. Who’s going to do businesss with you? What’s your connection to the money (Gardner, 2006: 198)?
The quotation means that Chris has some problems in order to be successful in his work. Those problems are that he does not have many relations and any money to run his business. The problems above make him realize that he has many weaknesses among the other workers. Thus, in the office, he has to work hard by himself because no one helps him. Optimistically, he believes that he can do his job. “I just kept telling myself, I know I can do this” (Gardner, 2006 198). It means that he believes himself that he can be successful at work.
Concerning the inequality at work toward black people, Chris never gives up at his career. It can be seen from the following quotation. “Business was business and no matter how much a company wanted to promote equal opportunity” (Gardner,
2006: 217). The quotation means that Chris makes a principle that inequality has 50
nothing to do with success. He is optimistic that people can be successful with struggling and ignoring the inequality.
From Chris’ job experiences, it is revealed that black people can be successful though there is still inequality between white and black. As the Promised
Land, America offers many opportunities for the people who are eager to get prosperity. Chris Gardner in the story can survive and finally he has a better life by working hard and being optimistic. Chris never gives under stressful circumstances such as being underestimated by his colleagues. Nevertheless, he regards those pressures as the motivation for himself to improve his quality at work.
In this story, it is seen that Black American Dream that is equal in job opportunity can be reached though it takes long process and hard struggle. It depends on how the individual sees and uses those opportunities. Because America offers many opportunities to get wealth, it is a must for every American to prepare themselves, including getting higher education, strong mentality and hard struggle to compete among Americans.
3. Economic Security
Plagued by discrimination, the black worker was lower paid, more underemployed than its white counterpart. The United States was the industrial nation with the greatest amount of economic inequlity, so that African-Americans experienced in poverty. Poverty victimized the very young people in black community. During the decade of 1980’s, half of all African-American children under age of six lived in poverty. To overcome poverty from discrimination, the black must 51
struggle to obtain the equal opportunity which laws and courts in America have repeatedly declared to be right of all Americans (Grant, 1968: 475). Economic security generally concerns about having a job to support family above the poverty level and the ability to own a home and accumulate other assets such as living in a save community.
In The Pursuit of Happyness, it is told that Chris is raised in poor family.
His daddy’s income cannot fulfill the family needs so that his mother also has to work. Even though both of his parents work, the financial matter still becomes the major problem in his family. It was all very discreet, as if to discuss how to tight money was at home would be in poor taste (Gardner, 2006: 76). The quotation means that the financial condition in Chris’ family is very tight because of poverty.
The poverty in Chris family makes him eager to get money by himself. It is seen from the following quotation.
This entire money things was to be come a subject of necessary interest, since I had no daddy to bankroll my wants and needs- like a certain style I wanted in my threads, which I learner to afford by economizing and streching what cash I could earn doing odd extra jobs, and later, when having a car of my own would become a preoccupation (Gardner, 2006: 76).
The quotation means that Chris tries to earn money, because he realized that he cannot rely on his parents in the economic term. His strong ambition to get money by himself encourages him to join junking business with his cousin.
Eager to join in, even though I had no idea what junking was, I tagged along and helped the older boys, looking for materials-fixtures, lead copper wire (Gardner, 2006: 44). 52
The quotation above shows that Chris and many other black children at that time have the same ambition that is to get money in order to get rid of poverty. Meaning to say that Black American Dream in the economic security part has been revealed by Chris
Gardner. It is seen that he really wants to get wealth and escape from poverty.
To get rid of poverty, black people have to struggle to get the opportunities in The United States. As Sitkoff wrote in his The Struggle for Black Equality that by
1980, in fact, the black improvement came because of an expanding economy (1981:
236). With his self- discipline, he makes role to himself in his job. It can bee seen from the following quotation. “ I established standards of discipline as to how many phone calls I made every day, with two hundred being my daily requirement, no matter how discouraging the responses (Gardner, 2006: 217). From the quotation above, Chris’ self-discipline and hard working are revealed to get his dream which is being successful in his career.
Chris’ Black American Dream to be successful stockbroker is finally reached. He says that:
This was the American Dream, 1980s San Fransisco style. We could make choices. If we need something, we could buy it. We could stay home and I’d cook, make a sandwich or warm up some soup, or we’d go out to eat” (Gardner, 2006: 276).
The quotation above shows Chris’ definition toward American Dream after he becomes a successful stockbroker. Chris defines American Dream as a situation when he can buy and eat everything he wants. His hard working, discipline, intelligence 53
and optimism bring him to the gate of happiness. All of his efforts bear good result and are not in vain.
Even though he has reached his dream to get wealth for himself and his family, he has other dreams that relate to the black people.
Well, I wanted to start calling on African Americans. I wanted to manage money for individuals in the sphere of influence shared by Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Oprah, Michael Jordan. I wanted to invest not only for famous entertainers and athletes but on behalf black institution, black bank, black insurance companies, black entrepreneurs,and axecutives, black foundations. That’s what I wanted to do. Besides the fact that nobody else was pursuing this market, I liked the idea of promoting minority ownership and prosperity (Gardner,2006: 289).
It is known that Chris’ dreams are not only for his own interest, but also a dream to help the other black people. Concerning to the existence of inequality in the United
States, he is eager to help his race by investing his money for black institutions.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
From the previous analysis, Chris is characterized as curious, responsible, ambitious, hard worker, optimistics, discipline and smart. The Black
American Dream in Gardner's The Pursuit of Happyness is revealed through the characterization of Chris, as the major character. The Black American Dream which is revealed is about having an ideal family, being equal in job opportunity and getting the economic security.
Chris Gardner is described as a curious person since he realizes that book is an important thing to see the world. Chris is also portrayed as a responsible person. His responsibilities are seen by his effort to protect his mother from his abusive step-father. His responsibilities also can be seen when he accepts the consequences of his mistake to pay the increasing phone bills off. The last evidence which shows his responsibility can be seen when he keeps his duty as a father who gives love and care to his son and affords to their family needs though in the difficult economic condition.
Chris is also portrayed as an ambitious person. It is seen from his struggle in order to get a better job and higher salary. Even though there is still a discrimination between black people and white people, Chris never gives up and he tries to be successful in his career.
Besides being ambitious, he is also characterized as a hard worker. It can be seen from his effort to overcome the economic problem in his family. Though
54 55
he works double jobs, he never feels tired. Chris is characterized as a discipline person. It is shown when he is enlisted in Navy. Because of his discipline, he is promoted to the biggest Marine Camp in the world.
He is also described as an optimistic person. It is proved by his confidence to be successful in his work. He believes that discrimination Last, he is portrayed as a smart person. It is seen from his achievement when he works as a doctor assistant. Even though he never has medical education back ground, his ability to cure the patients makes people wonder and believe in his ability. Even, he is able to make a medical paper that is widely published to public and Harvard
University.
The characterization of Chris Gardner helps the writer to reveal Chris' struggle to reach the Black American Dream. The Black American Dream which is revealed in the story of The Pursuit of Happyness is the struggle to reach the ideal family, the equality in job opportunities and the economic security.
In the struggle to reach the ideal family, Chris tries hard to find his biological-father though it takes 28 years long. For him, the existence of father figure is very important in a family. As a father, Chris really wants to make his son happy. Therefore, he asks his ex-wife to come back to him for the sake of their son. Because of his love and responsibility toward his family, Chris works very hard to support his family needs. It shows that Chris' characteristics as a responsible person and a hard worker support him to get the ideal family.
Chris also reveals the Black American Dream through his effort to reach the equality in job opportunity. Even though Declaration of Independence has 56
been declared to guarantee freedom and equality in The United States, there is still discrimination and inequality among white and black. However, he proves that inequality is nothing to do with a person's success. He believes that if he works hard, he will be success in his business. It is seen in Chris' experience when he works as a handy man and a stockbroker. Even though he is discriminated by white people, eventually he proves that he achieves success as well as white people.
The last, Black American Dream which is revealed is about getting the economic security. When Chris was a child, he joins his cousin in junking business just in order to get money. In this part, Chris is a representation of poor black children who have strong ambition to get wealth. The last, after having many experiences in several jobs, finally he becomes a successful stockbroker. He realizes that in order to be success and get wealth, he has to discipline himself and sharpen his ability to make a strategy in running his business.
In conclusion, Chris Gardner as black people in The United States finally reaches his American Dream to have an ideal family, equality in job opportunity and the economic security.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, sixth Edition. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College, 1985.
Behrendt, Stephen. Transatlantic Slave Trade. Microsoft® Encarta® Africana, 1999.
Beteille, Andre. Social Inequality. Middlesex: Penguin Books, Ltd. 1969.
Calhoun, Arthur Wallace. The Early American Family. New York: Prentice Hall, Inc. 1932.
Clarence. The World Bank dictionary. New York. 1989.
Cohen, Saul .B. Geography and The American Environment. New York: Voice of America. 1968.
Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 2006
Gardner, Chris. The Pursuit of Happyness. New York: Harper Collins Publisher. 2006
Goodsell, Willystine. The American Family. Vol.CLX. New York : Prentice Hall, Inc. 1932.
Grant, Joanne. Black Protest: History, Documents and Analyses 1619 To The Present. New York: Fawcett Publications, Inc. 1968.
Henkle, Roger B. Reading the Novel: An Understanding to Techniques at Interpreting Fiction. New York: Harper and Row Publisher, Inc. 1977.
Hochschild, Jennifer L. Facing Up to the American Dream: Race, Class, and the Soul of the Nation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.1995.
Johnson B, Lyndon. My Hope for America. New York: Random House. 1964.
Kennedy, X.J and Gioia, Dana. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. New York: Longman, 1999.
Kraut M, Alan. The Hundled Masses: The Immigrant in American Society, 1880- 1921. New York: Harlan Davidson, Inc. 1982.
McCloy, John J. Goals for Americans. New York: Prentice Hall, Inc. 1960.
57 58
Murphy, M.J. Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1972.
Norback, Craig. American Surveys. New York: The New American Library, Inc. 1980.
Sitkoff, Harvard. The Struggle for Black Equality 1954-1980. New York: McGraw- Hill Ryerson Ltd.1981.
Wellek, Rene and Austin Warren. The Theory of Literature. New York: Harcout, Brace and Company, 1956.
Wish, Harvey. Reading in Society and Thought in Modern America. New York: David Mc Kay, Inc. 1966.
Online Reference http://www.columbia.edu/~wk2110/bin/mobility-short.pdf (March 10, 2009) http://movies.nytimes.com/ (March 10, 2009) http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/homeless-to- millionaire/article30983.html (March 10, 2009) http://www.publishersweekly.com/search/siteall?q=the%20pursuit%20of%20happ yness (March 10, 2009) http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/revolution.htm (March 15, 2009) http://www.h-net.org/~business/bhcweb/publications/BEHprint/v023n2/p0085- p0107.pdf (March 15, 2009) http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI3043860/ (July 20, 2009) Cornell, Stephen. American Indians, American Dreams, and the Meaning of Success. May 1987< http://www.hks.harvard.edu/hpaied/docs/PRS87-1.pdf> (June 10, 2009)
Erickson. The Employment of Women in Office Bulletin of the Women's Bureau. Washington D.C:1934. < http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/reviews/reviewview.cfm?id=63a> (June 5, 2009)
59
Jacqueline, Jones. Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women Work, and the Family From Reconstruction to the Present. New York: 1985.
Mahwah, NJ. Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 2003.
Stubblefield, Anna. Ethics Along the Color Line. Cornell University Presss: 2005.
Sussman, Marvin B, Suzanne K Steinmetz and Gary W. Peterson. Handbook of the marriage and the family . (June 4, 2009)
Winters, Loretta I. and Herman L. DeBosse . New Faces in a Changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 21st Century. 2001