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A STUDY OF MORRIE’S PERSONAL VIEWS ON AMERICAN VALUES AS PORTRAYED IN ALBOM’S

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education

By Anneis Nutfatilah Kusumaputri Student Number: 061214091

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011

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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.

Yogyakarta, March 9, 2011 The Writer

Anneis Nutfatilah Kusumaputri

061214091

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertandatangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : Anneis Nutfatilah Kusumaputri

Nomor Mahasiswa : 061214091

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul: A STUDY OF MORRIE’S PERSONAL VIEWS ON AMERICAN VALUES AS PORTRAYED IN ALBOM’S TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (jika ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan ke dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepantingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta izin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada tanggal: 9 Maret 2011

Yang menyatakan

(Anneis Nutfatilah Kusumaputri)

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ABSTRACT

Kusumaputri, Anneis Nutfatilah. 2011. Study of Morrie’s Personal Views on American Values as Portrayed in Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.

This study analyzes a novel written by entitled Tuesdays with Morrie. This novel tells about a dying professor, , who suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and is eager to share his dying experience to his student, Mitch Albom. Hence, Mitch visits him every week on Tuesdays and interviews him. In the interviews conducted, Morrie talks about his views in life: how to have a meaningful life and how to be satisfied with our own lives. The objectives of this study are to know the American values shared by the society as seen in the novel and to know Morrie‟s personal views on the American values. To do so, two problems are formulated, namely: (1) how are American values described in Albom‟s Tuesdays with Morrie? (2) what are Morrie‟s personal views on American values? This study uses sociocultural-historical approach because it deals with cultural aspects. Two sources are used in this study, namely primary and secondary sources. The primary source is Albom‟s Tuesdays with Morrie. The secondary sources are books on literature and culture, related articles in websites, and previous studies which use the same novel. There are some theories applied in this study. They are the theory of critical approaches, the theory of character and characterization, the theory of culture, and the theory of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Based on the analysis, there are seven values in the society which are reflected in people‟s attitudes. The values are value of rational approach reflected in the society‟s fear of death, value of progress reflected in the society‟s drive of having things over and over, value of individual success which is showed in a possibility that the society can become vicious to other people if individual success cannot be achieved, value on working reflected in people who are workaholic people, value of freedom for the individual reflected in the strike action held by employees at Mitch‟s office, individualism value reflected in the society‟s feeling of being ashamed if they have to depend on other people, and the last, value of measurable achievement which is showed in the pursuing of material things by the society in order to make them happy and satisfied. However, Morrie‟s personal views on the seven values contradict to the views of the society. In his dying condition, Morrie is not afraid of death. Instead, he concerns with human relationship and how to make his life meaningful. He gives others what he is able to give, such as his time to hear others‟ stories and problems. Besides, he enjoys his dependency on others. Furthermore, Morrie thinks that material things cannot give love and everything needed if someone is in a dying condition like him because what he needs most is support or „spiritual security‟ from his beloved people. Finally, this study presents suggestions for future researchers and teaching Public Speaking I using a literary work.

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ABSTRAK

Kusumaputri, Anneis Nutfatilah. 2011. Study of Morrie’s Personal Views on American Values as Portrayed in Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Studi ini menganalisa sebuah novel karya Mitch Albom, yang berjudul Tuesdays with Morrie. Novel tersebut menceritakan tentang seorang profesor yang sedang tidak berdaya karena menderita Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis dan berkeinginan untuk menceritakan pengalamannya itu kepada muridnya, Mitch Albom. Oleh karena itu, Mitch mengunjunginya setiap minggu di hari Selasa dan mewawancarainya. Dalam wawancara, Morrie bercerita banyak tentang pandangannya terhadap kehidupan; bagaimana caranya memiliki kehidupan yang berarti dan bagaimana untuk puas terhadap kehidupan kita sendiri. Tujuan dari studi ini adalah untuk mengetahui nilai- nilai Amerika seperti yang digambarkan di novel dan untuk mengetahui pandangan pribadi Morrie mengenai nilai- nilai Amerika tersebut. Untuk itu, dua permasalahan dirumuskan, yaitu: (1) bagaimana nilai- nilai Amerika digambarkan pada novel karya Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie? (2) apa saja pandangan pribadi Morrie tentang nilai- nilai Amerika? Studi ini menggunakan pendekatan sosiokultural-historikal karena studi ini berhubungan dengan hal-hal budaya. Metode yang digunakan adalah studi pustaka. Ada dua sumber yang digunakan untuk studi ini, yaitu sumber utama dan sumber kedua. Sumber utama adalah novel karya Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie. Sumber kedua adalah adalah buku- buku mengenai literatur dan budaya, artikel- artikel yang berhubungan dari website, dan studi- studi terdahulu yang menggunakan novel yang sama. Ada beberapa teori yang diterapkan dalam studi ini. Teori- teori itu adalah teori pendekatan kritikal, teori karakter dan pengkarakteran, teori budaya, dan teori Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Berdasarkan analisis, terdapat tujuh nilai di masyarakat yang tercermin oleh perilaku masyarakat tersebut. Nilai- nilai itu adalah nilai pendekatan rasional mengenai kehidupan yang tercermin oleh ketakutan masyarakat akan kematian, nilai kemajuan yang tercermin oleh keinginan masyarakat untuk memiliki barang- barang secara berlebihan, nilai terhadap kesuksesan individu yang terlihat oleh kemungkinan bahwa masyarakat akan menjadi kejam apabila kesuksesan pribadi tidak dapat diraih, nilai terhadap pekerjaan yang tercermin oleh masyarakat yang merupakan orang- orang candu kerja, nilai kebebasan untuk individu yang tercermin oleh aksi mogok kerja yang dilakukan oleh para pegawai di kantor Mitch, nilai individu yang tercermin dari masyarakat yang bersikap malu apabila harus bergantung kepada orang lain, dan yang terakhir adalah nilai tentang pencapaian yang terukur, yang terlihat dari pencarian hal- hal material oleh masyarakat untuk membuat mereka bahagia dan puas. Namun, pandangan pribadi Morrie mengenai ketujuh nilai tersebut bertentangan dengan pandangan masyarakat. Morrie tidak takut terhadap kematian di dalam kondisinya yang menderita. Namun, ia memberi perhatian kepada hubungan manusia dan bagaimana membuat hidupnya bermakna. Ia memberikan orang lain apa yang vii

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bisa ia beri, seperti memberikan waktunya untuk mendengarkan cerita dan masalah mereka. Di samping itu, ia menikmati ketergantungannya terhadap orang lain. Lebih jauh, Morrie berpikir bahwa hal- hal material tidak dapat memberikan cinta dan segala sesuatu yang dibutuhkan apabila sesorang tidak berdaya seperti dirinya karena apa yang ia butuhkan adalah dukungan dan keamanan spiritual dari orang- orang terkasihnya. Di bagian akhir, studi ini memberikan saran untuk peneliti selanjutnya dan untuk mengajar Public Speaking I dengan manggunakan karya sastra.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My first gratitude goes to Allah Subhannahu Wata’allahu, for giving me time to enjoy every part of my life and to learn from it, for His guidance, and for His

“hugs” during the process of working on my thesis.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my Major Sponsor, Drs. L.

Bambang Hendarto Y., M.Hum. for his guidance, support, kindness, and willingness to read and suggestions during the process of finishing this study. Also, I express my gratitude to lecturers and secretariat staffs of English Language

Education Study program, and library staffs of Sanata Dharma University for their support and assistance in finishing my thesis.

My great gratitude goes to my beloved and irreplaceable family: Bunda

Penny for the unconditional love, for always praying for me, and for the greatest support I have ever received in my life. I would also like to thank my sister, Vinka, for her support and her prayers. My gratitude also goes to Enik Nen, my beloved grandmother for her love and prayers she has given to me. Also, I would like to thank

Enik Ira, Pakdhe, Budhe, Uwak, Om, Tante, and all of my cousins for the prayers and for giving me spirit to finish my thesis.

My special gratitude goes to my best friends Ade Wira, Tiwi, Fanny, Lani, and Nike for always keeping my spirit up to finish my thesis and for helping me in any conditions. I also thank Alex Irfan for the togetherness in accomplishing our theses and for always helping me during finishing the thesis. My gratitude goes to

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Riskisari and Erlina “Mak Er” for giving a positive impact to me in our friendship.

I thank them for the great friendship.

I would like to thank my boarding house friends: Mbak Rani “Mami”,

Monik “Mon-Mon”, Wulan “Wul-Wul”, Rizka “Boi”, and Mbak Irpi “Bo” for the great support and help during writing my thesis in the boarding house, for the chatting we always do, and for the great friendship.

Anneis Nutfatilah Kusumaputri

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I dedicated this thesis to: Allah Subhannahu Wata’allahu, My late Bapak, My dearest sister, and…

My beloved and greatest Bunda ever.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE………………………………………………………………………. i APPROVAL PAGES………………………………………………………………. ii STATEMENT OF WORK‟S ORIGINALITY……………………………………. iv LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS…………………………………………….v ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………... vi ABSTRAK…………………………………………………………………………... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………...... ix PAGE OF DEDICATION…………………………………………………………. xi TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………... xii LIST OF APPENDICES…………………………………………………………… xv

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………….. 1 A. Background of the Study…………………………………………………...... 1 B. Problem Formulation……………………………………………………...... 3 C. Objective of the Study……………………………………………………...... 3 D. Benefits of the Study……………………………………………………...... 4 E. Definition of Terms……………………………………………………...... 4

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE…………………………. 7 A. Theoretical Review……………………………………………………...... 7 1. Critical Approaches…………………………………………………………...7 2. Character……………………………………………………...... 8 3. Characterization……………………………………………………...... 10 4. Culture……………………………………………………...... 12 5. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis………………………………………………. 19 B. Review of Related Studies……………………………………………………… 21 C. Theoretical Framework…………………………………………………………. 22

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CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY……………………………………………….. 24 A. Object of the Study……………………………………………………...... 24 B. Approach of the Study……………………………………………………...... 25 C. Method……………………………………………………...... 26

CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS………………………………………………………. 27 A. The American Values as Descibed in the Novel………………………………... 27 1. Value of Rational Approach to Life…………………………………………. 28 2. Value of Progress……………………………………………………………. 30 3. Values of Individual Success…………………………………………...... 31 4. Value on Working…………………………………………………………… 32 5. Value of Freedom for the Individual…………………………………...... 34 6. Individualism Value…………………………………………………………. 35 7. Value of Measurable Achievement………………………………………….. 36 B. Morrie‟s Personal Views on American Values……………….………...... 38 1. Value of Rational Approach to Life…………………………………………. 39 2. Value of Progress………………………………………...... 41 3. Values of Individual Success………………………………………...... 42 4. Value on Working…………………………………………...... 43 5. Value of Freedom for the Individual………………………………………… 45 6. Individualism Value…………………………………………...... 46 7. Value of Measurable Achievement……………………...... 47

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS………………………… 50 A. Conclusions……………………………………………………………...... 50 B. Suggestions……………………………………………………………………... 53 1. Suggestions for Future Researchers………………………………...... 53 2. Suggestions for Teaching Learning Activity Using the Novel Tuesdays with Morrie………………………………………………………... 54

REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………..56 xiii

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APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………...58

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LIST OF APPENDICES Page APPENDIX 1: THE SUMMARY OF ALBOM‟S TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE………………………………………………………………………… 59 APPENDIX 2: THE BIORGRAPHY OF MITCH ALBOM………………….. 63 APPENDIX 3: LESSON PLAN OF TEACHING PUBLIC SPEAKING I…………………………………………………………………… 65 APPENDIX 4: LEARNING MATERIAL…………………………………….. 67 APPENDIX 5: TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE pages 90-97……………………... 73

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of five parts. The first part is the background of the study. This part discusses about reasons of choosing the novel for the study. The second part states the problem formulation, in which two questions are raised as the major issues in this study. The third part reveals the goals of the study. The fourth part clarifies the benefits of the study. Finally, the last part conveys definitions of terms that are used in this study.

A. Background of the Study

As part of a society, we live within a culture as a result of the existence of a society. A culture constitutes behavior of the society which has regularity and uniformity. The culture that has been created is transmitted to the next generations.

Every generation will learn to behave just as the culture expects.

One aspect of the culture is called values. These values are norms or standards of behavior patterns (Fichter 297). It means that values have an effect in making uniformity of people’s behavior.

A work of literature like a novel is used by the author to portray our real life, such as a culture that exists in a society. It has an ability to teach us to think, imagine, feel, and make sense of our experience (Abcarian 2). From setting that is presented, readers may conclude what kind of culture that is applied by the society and may draw lessons concerning the culture.

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Tuesdays with Morrie, a novel by Mitch Albom, tells a story of a professor of sociology in , , named Morrie Schwartz. He teaches mostly about being human and relation to others. One of his favorite students is

Mitch. They have an intimate relationship since they often talk about everything, about school lessons or a fatherly conversation. On Mitch’s graduation day, he promises to keep in touch with Morrie. Unfortunately, he breaks the promise. After graduating from the university, Mitch works in as a columnist in Detroit Free

Press and never visits Morrie. He becomes very busy and also buries himself in his work.

The story begins when Mitch hears the voice of a famous presenter of

“”, , saying the name of his lecturer, Morrie Schwartz. From this

TV , Mitch understands that Morrie suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral

Sclerosis (ASL), a disease that causes degradation to dysfunction of human muscles.

Affected by this condition, Morrie is dying.

Knowing the condition of his former lecturer, Mitch finally visits Morry at his home for the first time since their last meeting sixteen years before. On their first encounter, Mitch learns that instead of giving up to his condition and getting depressed, Morrie wants himself to be an object of a study. He, with a disease that settles in his body, considers himself as being in a bridge between life and death.

Since then, Mitch often visits Morrie. On one of Mitch’s visits, Morrie asks him to have questions concerning life. Mitch makes his questions and conducts several interviews with Morrie which he records using a tape recorder.

These interviews last for several months and are held on every Tuesday of the week. One of the questions that Mitch asks is about culture and Morrie gives his

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3 personal views of the American culture, especially its values. He also says that their culture does not make people feel good about themselves. Thus, Morrie tells Mitch about his personal views of American values from many aspects for the society to practice.

This novel is chosen since it tells the lessons of life and knowledge about a culture. From Morrie’s personal views on death and of many aspects of life such as regrets, family, money, and love, we can learn many good values that can make our lives more meaningful. From the interviews with Morrie that Mitch conducts, the readers can learn Morrie’s positive attitudes of facing his death in which he makes the best of his dwindling time instead of withering up.

Furthermore, the novel presents Morrie’s point of views about values of life.

Also, from reading the novel, we may obtain knowledge of American culture which directs to achievements of material things. In addition, we may apply the values which Morrie has proposed to make our lives more meaningful.

B. Problem Formulation

This study focuses on two problems which are formulated as follows:

1. How are American values described in Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie?

2. What are Morrie’s personal views on American values?

C. Objectives of the Study

The first objective of this study is to reveal the American values that are described in the novel. Furthermore, the second objective of this study is to find out

Morrie’s personal views on American value.

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D. Benefits of the Study

This study gives some advantages to both the readers and the thesis writer.

This study is expected to enrich the readers’ knowledge of values in a culture, especially those in American culture. Furthermore, through this study, hopefully the readers may obtain wisdom about values of their cultures so that they will have a broad point of view about various values that exist in a culture. In addition, the study will facilitate the readers in comprehending the novel Tuesdays with Morrie.

As for advantages for the thesis writer, this study enriches the thesis writer’s knowledge about the culture in American society and its values. Furthermore, this study improves the critical thinking of the thesis writer about different views of values in a culture.

E. Definition of Terms

There are some terms that need to be clarified to avoid possible misunderstanding. These terms are as follow:

1. Culture

The term culture is defined by many anthropologists. The first anthropology who defines culture is E.B. Tylor. Tylor, as quoted by Miller (129), defines culture as something totally complex in which there are knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, any other capabilities and habits. These complexities are obtained by a man as a member of a society.

Another definition of culture is proposed by another anthropologist, named

Leslie A. White. White quoted in Merrill defines culture as a composition of four

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5 phenomena. The first phenomenon is acts which constitute patterns of behavior. The second phenomenon is objects which contain tools and things made with tools. The third phenomenon is ideas in which belief and knowledge are included. The last phenomenon is called sentiments which contain attitudes and values (129). Both of the definitions of culture are in accordance with this study.

2. View

According to Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition ©

& (P)2009 Microsoft Corporation. 2009 (http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861734

112/view.html), view is somebody’s opinion or judgment on something. In addition, it can also be defined as a personal belief or attitude about a situation or a subject

(http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/view). In this study, the term personal view refers to Morrie’s personal opinion, belief, and attitude about something, namely about American values.

3. Values

Values as a part of a culture have various meanings. According to Stewart

(16-20), values are almost the same as assumptions. Assumptions are the reason of people’s actions. Meanwhile, values more direct to “oughtness” in behavior. Both values and assumptions may be used to describe people’s behavior in a cultural environment. Different cultures may happen because of different assumptions which the people share. Another description of values is conveyed by Ficther (293-294). He says that values exist in everything which is useful, admirable, and which makes people want to possess it.

Based on the two definitions of values proposed, the definition stated by

Fichter (293-294) is used. Thus, values in this study mean someone’s assumptions of

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6 something that may have different standards which are considered useful, admirable, and make him/her want to possess it.

4. American Culture

Based on the definition proposed by White which is quoted by Merrill (129), a culture contains four phenomena, namely acts, objects, ideas, and sentiments. These phenomena contain patterns of behavior of the people, tools, things made with tools, belief, knowledge, attitudes, and values.

Hence, it can be inferred that American culture means the whole things of the four phenomena which happen in America. Since values are included in the four phenomena, they form the American culture. These values are going to be discussed in this study.

5. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurological illness that attacks the nerve cells (neurons) whose function is to control the voluntary muscles.

This illness signaled by degeneration of the neurons to control voluntary movements.

People with ALS will have difficulties in moving parts of their bodies. Most people with ALS will die because they undergo respiratory failure. Usually, people with

ALS will survive for three to five years from the beginning of the symptoms.

However, 10% of the sufferers survive for ten years or more

(http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/amyotrophiclateralsclerosis/detail_amyotrophicl ateralsclerosis.htm).

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter consists of three parts. The first part is the elaboration of theories used in this study. This section conveys the theory of critical approaches, the theory of character and characterization, the theory of culture and American culture, and the last is the theory of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The second part is a review of the preceding related studies. The third part is the explanation of the used theories in this study conveyed before.

A. Theoretical Review

This section is divided into five parts. The first one deals with approaches that may be used in analyzing a novel. Character and characterization will be explained in the second and the third parts. The fourth section discusses the theory of culture and the theory of American culture which become the setting of the novel Tuesdays with

Morrie. The last part explains about the symptom which Morrie suffers from,

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

1. Critical Approaches

Rohrberger and Wood Jr. (3-15) state that a critical approach to literature requires an understanding of its nature, function, and positive values. A literary work is valued from its beauty and the response to it is called the esthetic response. In so doing, five critical approaches are proposed. They are the formalist approach, the

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8 biographical approach, the sociocultural-historical approach, the mythopoeic approach, and the psychological approach.

The formalist approach sees the work of literary work as a whole without any consideration to other aspects of the work, such as the background of the author or the genre. It considers only the esthetic value of the work.

In the biographical approach, the work of literature is seen as a reflection of the author’s personality and idea. To understand the work of literature, a reader must learn about the life and the development of the author.

The sociocultural-historical approach sees a literary work as a result from civilization. This approach believes that behaviors and actions from particular society affect the production of the literary work.

The mythopoeic approach tries to understand a literature work toward repeated patterns of human thought. These repeated patterns became the basic of expression in ancient myths and folk rites.

As the mythopoeic approach, the psychological approach analyzes the periodic patterns of human thought. The difference of this approach is that it highlights the psychological aspects of the characters in a work of literature through their words, thoughts, and behavior.

2. Character a. Definition of Character

Abrams (20) suggests that characters are people that exist in a dramatic or narrative work who have moral and nature that are portrayed in their dialogue and their action. According to Forster (30-31), characters are word- masses arranged by a

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9 novelist and are given names and sex. After having given names and sex, the novelist gives the characters gestures and makes them speak by giving the inverted commas. It is possible for the novelist to make the characters behave just as he expects.

A character is created to fulfill certain purposes. Henkle (86) states “And the principle objective of the creation of characters in novels is to enable us to understand, and to experience, people.” Hence, by reading a novel, we can learn about people’s personality, attitudes or behavior through its characters. b. Types of Character

Henkle (88-96) uses the terms of major characters and secondary characters to differ kinds of character. A major character is the more eminent than the other one.

This character is more often being talked by the other people in the novel.

Furthermore, the major character is signified by the recurrent appearances in the story. An understanding to the major character may indicate an understanding to the novel.

A secondary character is created to inhabit the world of the novel. As Henkle

(94) states, “Since fiction presents human contexts, the secondary characters establish that context.” Here, the secondary characters help in presenting a sense of human being. The understanding of time and milieu in the novel may be attained by observing the character’s regular basis activities.

Categorizing kinds of characters to flat characters and round characters is proposed by Forsters (46-54). A flat character is described through what he says which reveals constant behavior from the character. Due to his unchanged behavior, this character is memorable by the readers.

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While a round character is a character that should be surprising in a particular time due to his inconsistency of what he has said. For this character, life is unpredictable and so his behavior undergoes changes as response to things happen.

Holman and Harmon (83) categorized the kinds of characters into static character and dynamic character. The static character does not experience changing in his personality traits even though things happen to this character. The character is not intended to describe his response to things. On the contrary, the dynamic character shows changes in response to things happen.

3. Characterization a. Definition of Characterization

Murphy (161) explains the definition of characterization as ways of an author reveals his character’s personalities toward attitudes presented by the character.

Characterization constitutes factors which enable authors to tell the human qualities in their novels. The factors guide the readers to obtain understanding of the human themes of the novels (Henkle 86). b. Ways of Characterization

There are nine ways of characterization suggested by Murphy. They are personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation of others, reactions, direct comment, thoughts, and mannerism.

The first way to describe a character is through personal description. In this way, readers can understand the character of a person by his physical appearance including the cloth.

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Character as seen by another is the second way to characterize a character.

Instead of what a character presents, readers may understand the character through another opinion to the character.

The third way of characterization is speech. The character is described with what he says. Anything that the character says, whether it is an opinion or a conversation may give clue to his personality.

The fourth way of characterization is past life. Using this way, the person’s character is portrayed by a description of his past life experiences. The past life may reveal through the person’s thoughts, through his dialogues, or through other people.

Conversation of others is the fifth way of characterization. Readers of a novel might be able to understand the personality of a character by the conversation of other people. In this way, other people talk about the character in which we can conclude the character’s personality.

The sixth way of characterization proposed by Murphy is reactions. Readers may obtain an understanding about a character’s personality by the revelation of the character’s response to many things happen. Direct comment is the next way of characterization. Through this way, an author gives his comment directly on a person’s character.

The eighth way is thoughts. A feature that makes a novel special is that the readers are able to know what a person in the novel thinks. Through the thoughts of the person, the readers may know the character of him.

The last way of characterization is mannerism. In this way, the readers may attain knowledge of a person’s character from habits, manners, or extraordinary trait revealed.

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12

4. Culture

This sub chapter is going to explain the definition of culture, qualities of culture, values, and American culture. The American culture then is explained into three parts that are history of American culture, characteristics of American culture, and values of American culture. a. Definiton of Culture

Tylor as quoted by Merrill (129) defines culture as a complexity which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, habits and capabilities obtained by man as a member of society. Another definition of culture is proposed by White quoted in Merrill (129). She states that

Culture is an organization of phenomena- acts (patterns of behavior); objects (tools, things made with tools); ideas (belief, knowledge); and sentiments (attitudes,’values’) – that is dependent upon the use of symbols. Culture began when man as an articulate, symbol-using primate, began. Because of its symbolic character… culture is easily and readily transmitted from one human organism to another.

The history of culture, then, becomes the history of human being. From time to time, culture has been transmitted to the next generation. In so doing, some symbols in culture have been changed by adding and losing them. This constitutes an ongoing process.

As human beings, we live in a culture. We obtain knowledge, belief, morals, and custom from the previous generation in the society. We apply habits that are applied as well by our surroundings. We also learn about the art and the law as parts of a culture. These components of a culture, then, will be transmitted to our next generations.

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13 b. Qualities of Culture

Adapted from Murdock, Merrill (135-136) suggests that culture has its characteristics that have a role in understanding the concept of culture. Merrill also has clarified the characteristic of the culture in terms of its qualities. They are the learned quality, the transmissive quality, the social quality, the ideational quality, the gratifying quality, the adaptive quality, and the integrative quality.

The first quality is the learned quality. This quality suggests that culture is not endowed to human being. Instead, culture needs to be learned. Culture itself constitutes expected behaviors from society and is learned by a man so that uniformities of behavior are created. The uniformities of behavior are called culture.

The second quality is the transmissive quality. This quality clarifies that culture is able to be transmitted from one generation to other generations. The transmission process of culture is cumulative. It means that a man in one generation may develop what has already been existing from the previous generation.

Another quality, the third quality, is the social quality. In this quality, culture is explained to have a normative quality. The normative quality constitutes behavior expected by people in society. This normative expectations yield uniformities behavior.

The fourth quality is the ideational quality. This quality explains that the uniformity behavior which becomes habits and constitutes the culture has to be an ideal for the society, so that the society may view, learn, and adapt themselves to the culture.

The fifth quality is the gratifying quality which means culture is able to satisfy the human needs. The needs may be biological, such as thirst and hunger, but it may

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14 also be the sociocultural needs such as falling in love and marrying. The next quality is the adaptive quality. This quality means that culture has to be able to adapt itself to its different aspect that may be changed, that is the geographical aspect. This quality has to exist to defend the presence of the culture itself.

The last quality is the integrative quality. This quality suggests that culture has inclination to form a consistent whole. Every culture has its quality although this quality may seems obvious or not in any culture. The integrative quality of a culture is very obvious in a simple society where the people do not change significantly. On the contrary, integration is not really obvious in a complex and heterogeneous culture where the people are change constantly. c. Values in a Society

Values, as a part of a culture, determine our behavior as human beings. Our behavior is much determined by values which prevail in a society. According to

Stewart (16-20), values, as well as assumptions may be used to describe behavior.

Assumptions are the reason of people’s actions, even though, not all of the assumptions govern the actions. For example, a person who has assumptions on himself as an individual, cooperation with others is needed, and his goal is to be a successful person, does not have to be a businessman. A group of people who have the same assumptions may create “reality” which then forms a culture. Different cultures in different areas happen because the people have different assumptions.

Meanwhile, values more direct to “oughtness” in behavior. They emphasize on what the people ought to do.

Since values and assumptions determine and constitute the reasons of people’s actions in a society, they reflect people’s behavior. In a society, there are values that

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15 are acted by people repeatedly to describe or justify their actions. These are called cultural norms.

Another description of values is conveyed by Ficther (293-294). He says that values exist in everything which is useful, admirable, and which makes people want to possess it. Through this idea, values in every person may be different since he might have different assumptions of what are considered useful, admirable, and so deserve to be possessed.

Values which give meaning to a culture and a society have some characteristics. The first characteristic of values is that values are shared. It means that a group of people agree to the values. The second characteristic of values is that values are taken seriously. People are attached to the values in order to maintain the common welfare and to satisfy the social needs.

The third characteristic of values is that values involve people’s emotions.

They compel people to sacrifice or even die for the sake of the highest values. The last characteristic is values may be abstracted from various valued items because values constitute agreement among many people.

However, there is a different idea of values that is proposed by Henry (13-15).

According to him, value is associated with good things. These constitute actions which are expected by people in our surrounding to show. Values can be found in family or friendship and they constitute the idea of good human relations. d. American Culture

1) History of American People

The history of American culture began at the same time as the history of

American people. According to Current et al (2), in the 17th century Englishmen tried

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16 to move to a place where they could be released from bad conditions in their origin country. The Englishmen then called America as a New World where they were able to be free from the lack of their origin country. Also, the Englishmen thought that this

New World would give opportunities that could make them happy.

The Englishmen, then in 1750 called Americans, developed certain characteristics that were different from Englishmen in England. There are three reasons underlie the differences of characteristics between the Americans and the

Englishmen. The first reason is because the Americans were different. They did not inherit general character of Englishmen. The Americans were more not satisfied with their origin and more adventurous.

The second reason is that the Americans adapted and developed some particular elements of English in the New World where everything was strange. The last reason is that American culture constitutes many different cultures originating from Europe and Africa. This is because in the eighteenth century, there were many people from many countries who came to America such as from Africa, Holland,

Scotland, Ireland, and from other countries in the European continent. Besides from

Europe and Africa, the different cultures also came from Asia and Latin (Gordon 39).

The process of becoming Americans has led them to develop certain characteristics which become typical characters of American people. Since culture is the result of the existence society, the characters of American people, thus, form the

American culture.

2) Characteristics of American Culture

According to Henry (13-14), culture as a result of community existence brings about two aspects that attach in American daily life. These aspects are called values

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17 and drives. American people associate values with good things, such as love, honesty, fun, and relaxation. They exist in family and friend relationships. On the other hand, drives are associated with things which are able to make people want them more and bigger. Drives lead people to expansiveness. Drives are found in occupational world and move many activities which direct people to getting ahead, rising in the social scale, outstripping others, just as in business activities.

American culture is a driven culture. American people are driven by achievement, competitive, profit and mobility drives, security, and by a desire to a higher standard of living. These kinds of drives direct people to expansiveness.

Drives are easily found in occupational realm where competition with colleague often happens. Moreover, this realm indeed requires people with drives. Many jobs set goals that can be achieved toward achievement, competition, profit, mobility or even a higher standard of living.

In America, people can easily get job opportunities if they are moved by drives. Henry states that

It is no problem at all to locate jobs requiring an orientation toward achievement, competition, profit, and mobility, or even toward a higher standard of living. But it is difficult to find one requiring outstanding capacity for love, kindness, quietness, contentment, fun, frankness and simplicity (14).

If people are moved by values, they have to really search the jobs because the jobs underlain by values are very rare. Moreover, the jobs with values usually will only yield small amount of money and is low prestige.

3) Values in the American Culture

According to Fichter (308-310), even though American people consist of various ethnic groups and cultures that lead them to have different values, there are

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18 some values which are shared by the people and are called “an ultimate core” of values. Those values are the value of rational approach to life, the value of progress, the value on individual success, the value on working and the value of freedom for the individual.

The first value, that is the value of rational approach, makes American people reasonable in thinking or acting. They always try to be as effective as they can in using time and making efforts. The scientific ways are preferable to Americans in solving problems. The second value is the value of progress. It leads American people to have faith in the future and so they are ready for changes and welcome experimentation.

The third value is the value of individual success. This value is a description that success is not only measured by economic and business realms. A self-made man or woman such as a professional dancer or a highly paid singer may also be a measurement for success. The next value is the value upon working which is highly valued by American people. It determines a man’s worth toward his function to society. Working yields material comfort, leisure, and success and so American people put emphasize on getting things done and are in a hustle and bustle circumstance.

The value of freedom for the individual is the last value in “an ultimate core” of values. This value brings the people into an understanding that freedom is not only the matter of free from economic or political restraints. A man’s moral responsibility, his inviolability, and his dignity are really of taken account as an individual freedom.

This value should not be violated, even though sometimes it is violated.

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19

Regarding to the value of individual freedom, Stewart (70-71) conveys that to

Americans, children have already been taught to be autonomous since in the early age. Hence, a child or a person is expected to be able to face the world using his own way such as developing his own opinions and view the world from his own point of view. These behaviors are in individualism value. This value then underlies people to have an emotional effect namely self-reliance which actually unrelated to nowadays technological American culture. This self-reliance motivates people to look for autonomy, self-actualization and personal growth. The value of self-reliance is emotionally perceived by American people.

Stewart (41-42) also suggests another American value namely measurable achievement. This value is related to the people’s activities or actions in their daily life which only admit achievements with visible achievements. In consequence, this value leads American people to seek for a sensation in achieving something, for personal triumph, or for visible achievement.

5. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

There are many diseases that have terminal effect, one of them is Amyotrophic

Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). According to What is Amyotrophic Lateral

Sclerosis?(http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/amyotrophiclateralsclerosis/detail_am- yotrophiclateralsclerosis.htm.), ALS is a neurological disease that attacks neurons which control voluntarily movement of our bodies. This disease is signaled by progressive degradation of motor neurons and the death of the neurons.

The symptoms of ALS are subtle and often ignored. ALS patients will firstly undergo cramp or stiffness of muscles which affect the arm or leg, the ability of

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20 speaking, and difficulty in chewing and swallowing. The part of the body which is affected by the disease depends on which muscles attacked first by the disease. In some cases, the disease will attack leg muscles first which make the patients often stumbling or tripping when they are walking.

The disease spreads to other parts of the body and causes weaknesses. The patients then will develop problems with moving, swallowing, and speaking. As the diseases progresses, the patients will also experience difficulty in breathing since the muscles of the respiratory system become weak. The patients then lose the ability to breathe without support from ventilator. Most of ALS patients die from respiratory failure, and are able to survive for three to five years from the beginning of the symptoms.

There is no drug found yet to cure ALS. However, there is a drug namely

Riluzole that has been approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce damage to motor neuron. This drug is beneficial for ALS patients in terms of prolonging their life and of extending the time before they need ventilators to help them breathe.

To improve quality of patients’ life, role of health care professionals are needed. The health care professionals may consist of physicians, pharmacists, physical, occupational, and speech therapists, nutritionists, social workers, home care, and hospice nurse. They may help the patients both physically and psychologically.

Physicians are able to give prescriptions which contain medication to help reduce fatigue for instance. ALS patients often experience sleep disturbance and one of medications the physicians give may reduce the disturbance. Physical therapists may give series of exercises such as walking, stationary bicycling, and swimming to

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21 avoid patients from fatigue and depression. The role of occupational therapist lies on suggesting the use of devices to help patients remain mobile, such as the use of walkers and wheelchairs.

Caregivers may cooperate with therapists and nutritionists in case of providing the nutritious meals. Social workers, home care, and hospice nurses are able to help ALS patients in a sense of emotional condition of patients and families and also of financial matters. Support from many aspects for ALS patients is needed to maximize quality of their life.

B. Review of Related Studies

The novel Tuesdays with Morrie has attracted a lot of people in the world.

Many people are touched by the story of Morrie’s struggle. Since the story contains good values, it was made into a movie and was presented on ABC- TV in December

1999 (http://mitchalbom.com/d/node/3729).

Two researchers from the English Language Study Program, Sanata Dharma

University had used the novel for their studies. The first writer was Sri Murni Lestari whose study entitled The Influence of Morrie on Mitch’s Personality Development as

Reflected in Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie. The second writer was Lissa whose work entitled A Study of Morrie’s Self Actualization as Seen in Mitch Albom’s

Tuesdays with Morrie.

Lestari’s study discusses the changes in Mitch’s personality. Through psychological approach, she reveals how Morrie can change Mitch’s personality into a better one. Whereas Lissa’s thesis discusses Morrie’s self-actualization using psychological approach. In this thesis, Morrie is explained to be able to self-actualize

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22 himself. It is presented that Morrie has characters of self-actualizing people, namely an efficient perception of reality, a general acceptance of nature, others, and oneself, spontaneity, simplicity and naturalness, a focus on problems outside themselves, a need for privacy and independence, autonomous functioning, a continued freshness of appreciation, mystical, or “peak” experiences, social interest, interpersonal relations, a democratic character structure, discrimination between means and ends, between good and evil, an unhostile sense of humor, creativeness, and resistance to enculturation.

These two previous studies have become sources for this study in understanding the characters in novel Tuesdays with Morrie.

C. Theoretical Framework

In this study, six theories are applied to obtain a profound understanding of the novel. The first theory is theory of critical approaches which helps the writer to determine an approach to use in analyzing the problem formulation. From this theory, the cultural-historical approach is applied.

The second theory is theory of character. This theory is used in order to obtain a better knowledge of the main character, Morrie. This knowledge supports the analysis to answer the formulated problems. As well as the theory of character, the theory of characterization also contributes in a sense of understanding Morrie, as the main character, who has his own concepts of culture.

The fourth theory is theory of culture. This theory is used to answer the problems formulated as the main issues that are discussed in this study. Besides, the theory of American culture also gives a benefit in answering the problem formulation

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23 since it discusses the culture which is used in the novel as the setting. Furthermore, this theory is used as an attempt in applying the sociocultural-historial approach.

The last theory that is applied in this study is the theory of ALS. This theory is useful for the readers in getting the same perception on this symptom. Hence, the main character, Morrie, is deeper understood.

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

There are three parts which will be presented in this chapter. The first part focuses on description of the novel as the object of this study. The second part talks about the approach applied to answer the previous formulated problems in this study.

The last part is the explanation of procedures which are undergone for this study.

A. Object of the Study

This study uses a novel entitled Tuesdays with Morrie as the object of the study. This novel was written by Mitch Albom and was published in 1997 by

Broadway Books in New York, United States of America. This novel has 192 pages in 27 chapters. In the same year, the novel was taken in New York Times bestsellers list. This novel was adapted into a movie, produces by in 1999 and received some Emmy Awards (http://mitchalbom.com/bio).

Tuesdays with Morrie tells a story of the “last lecture” held by Morrie

Schwartz, a sociologist, with the one and only student named Mitch Albom. Morries suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and he is going to die. Despite his terminal disease, Morrie decides to accept his condition and deal with it instead of mourning all day long.

Hearing at a glance on the television when his former lecturer is being interviewed in a prominent talk show segment, Mitch decides to visit him. In the meeting, Morrie tells about his condition and his desire to let others people know

24

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25 about his thoughts of life and death. He wants Mitch to record everything he says about life and death and calls it as the “final paper” that Mitch should finish. Hence, they decide to meet every Tuesday since they believe that they are Tuesdays people.

In many meetings that are held, Morrie talks much about American culture.

He has a deep concern of the values applied by the society. Morrie says that people are too busy with themselves and are sank in accomplishment. Morrie thinks that by doing so, people will seem half- asleep. It is convincing that Morrie does not agree with this value. He says that this kind of culture does not make people feel good about themselves. Instead, Morrie has his own personal views on the American values which become his values in life.

His personal values emphasize on human relationship. Morrie believes that love does make differences. His love to others is expressed by his attitudes. What he likes to do are, for example, communicating with others, showing his affection to them, having time together with his discussion groups and reading books instead of getting busy with the television programs. By doing such activities, he creates a

“cocoon” of human activities.

B. Approach of the Study

Rohrberger and Woods Jr. (3-9) states that sociocultural- historical approach is dealing with social, cultural, and historical background of the author. Since this study is in reference to the American culture, the sociocultural- historical approach is applied. This approach is used since it emphasizes on the social, cultural, and historical background of the author which enables the thesis writer to understand the novel. Furthermore, this approach will support the analysis of the formulated

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26 questions concerning American values and Morrie’s personal views on American values that should be applied in the society.

C. Method

There were some steps that were done to answer the problems that had been formulated. The first step was reading the novel Tuesdays with Morrie as the major source of this study as well as the object of this study. The novel was read many times to get the best understanding about the issues discussed.

After getting view of what the novel told about, two problems were formulated based on the thesis writer’s attracts to the issue. In answering those formulated problems, some data were gathered from many sources, such as previous studies on the same novel, books and websites.

The next step was underlying the related theories, the approach used in this study, and the previous studies, to answer the two main problems; the American values described in the story and Morrie’s personal views on American values. In this step, analysis on how American culture is, especially its values, was undergone. This analysis was aim to answer the first problem. The next step was answering the second problem. In this step, the thesis writer analyzed Morrie’s personal views of American values.

The last steps were concluding the whole thesis, suggesting future researchers, and making a lesson plan. The conclusion constituted a brief summary of the result of the analysis that had been conducted. After made a conclusion, suggestions for future researchers were revealed. The thesis writer then made a lesson plan for English language teaching as the very last step.

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CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter explains the answers of questions that have been formulated in the chapter one. The first analysis is about the description of American value as described in the novel. The second analysis is about Morrie‟s personal views of

American values. The analyses are going to be explained using the related theories stated in the chapter two.

A. The American Values as Described in the Novel

Culture as stated by Tylor (qtd. in Merrill 129) means a complexity which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, habits and capabilities obtained by man as a member of society. Thus, society‟s actions described in a novel can be classified into a culture because they depict knowledge, belief, morals, and habits of the society. Furthermore, the novel portrays the values that the society holds.

According to White‟s which is quoted by Merrill (129), values are contents of a culture. He explains that culture is an organization of phenomena. The phenomena are acts, objects, ideas, and sentiments, in which the sentiments phenomena contain attitudes and values. On the other words, the novel may depicts a culture that is shared by the society through its values.

A value itself constitutes reasons of people‟s actions. It directs to “oughtness” in behavior which means that a value emphasizes on what the people ought to do

(Stewart 17). Another description of values is conveyed by Ficther (293-294). He

27

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28 says that values exist in everything which is useful, admirable, and which makes people want to possess it. Through this idea, values in every person may be different since he might have different assumptions of what are considered useful, admirable, and so deserve to be possessed.

According to Fichter (308-310), American people, who consist of various ethnic groups and cultures, share the values that are called “an ultimate core” of values. The values are the value of rational approach to life, the value of progress, the value of individual success, the value on working and the value of freedom for the individual. Other values in American culture are proposed by Stewart namely individualism value (71) and the value of measurable achievement (41).

Values in a society are in actions of the society itself. Some values are used by the society to justify their actions. Thus, actions from a society may reflect values that their share (Stewart 17-19). In this study, actions from a society containing American values are going to be explained. The American values portrayed in the novel are explained in detail as follows:

1. Value of Rational Approach to Life

American people are described to share the value of rational approach to life.

It is conveyed when Mitch and Morrie talk about death. Morrie says that the society has been afraid of dying without really understanding it (Albom 11-12). When a death happens, the society tends to make a commotion of it. It happens because they think that human is something above nature, instead of becoming part of the nature. He says, “The fact that we make such a big hullabaloo over it is all because we don‟t see ourselves as part of nature. We think because we‟re human we‟re something above nature” (Albom 173). This is related to the value of rational approach to life. This PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

29 value has led the American people to think in reasonable ways so that they feel apart from the nature. Also, they choose scientific ways in life, such as for solving their problems (Fichter 309). These scientific ways of thinking make them have no idea of death.

One day, Morrie says to Mitch that nobody believes in death even though everyone knows that they are going to die (Albom 80). This constitutes Morrie‟s view of his society. Morrie adds that the society faces death as if it is contagious. He tells a story about how people facing death that when someone dies in a hospital, they cover the body immediately with a sheet and put it in a chute. He says, “I read a book the other day. It said as soon as someone dies in a hospital, they pull the sheets up over their head, and they wheel the body to some chute and push it down. They can‟t wait to get it out of their sight. People act as if death is contagious” (Albom 172).

Another thing that makes the people afraid of death is that they do not have a peaceful idea of dying. Whereas, by having a peaceful idea of dying, they will make peace of living as well, which is a hard thing to do.

“That‟s what we‟re all looking for. A certain peace with the idea of dying. If we know, in the end, that we can ultimately have that peace with dying, then we can finally do the really hard thing.” Which is? “Make peace with living.” (Albom 173)

From the proofs presented above, the value of rational approach to life is perceived among American people. They use the value to view on death. This value has put the society to think in scientific ways so that they do not think of being a part of the nature. This concept makes people afraid of death and not believe that they are going to die.

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2. Value of Progress

American people share the value of progress which leads them to have faith in the future. This attitude affects them in having readiness for changes and welcoming experimentation (Fichter 309). However, this value may drive people to expand everything they have. This is portrayed in the story when Morrie tells that the society tends to want something for over and over. They have a view that having something for more and more is good and thus the people do not know what actually important for them are.

“We‟ve got a form of brainwashing going on in our country,” Morrie sighed. “Do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over. And that‟s what we do in this country. Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good. We repeat it – and have it repeated to us – over and over until nobody bothers to even think otherwise. The average person is so fogged up by all this, he has no perspective on what‟s really important anymore (Albom 124-125).

This is in accordance with the characteristic of American culture as proposed by Henry. He says that American culture is a driven culture. The American people are driven by achievement, competitive, profit and mobility drives, security, and by a desire to a higher standard of living. These drives lead them to expansiveness

(Henry13-14).

It is described in the novel, in his life, Morrie always meets people who always want to grab something new. They want to have new cars, new pieces of property, and the latest toys. These people like to say „Guess what I got? Guess what I got?‟ (Albom 125). However, this behavior, which becomes a culture, confuses people. “There‟s a big confusion in this country over what we want versus what we need,” Morrie said. “You need food, you want a chocolate sundae” (Albom 126). PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

31

Furthermore, Morrie adds that because of this culture, everyone seems in a hurry.

They run all the time looking for the next car, the next house, and the next job

(Albom 136).

The value of progress has also driven Mitch in his occupational world in terms of reaching more and more material things.

I jotted some of the things Morrie was saying on a yellow pad. I did this mostly because I didn‟t want him to see my eyes, to know what I was thinking that I had been, for much of my life since graduation, pursuing these very things he had been railing against – bigger toys, nicer house. Because I worked among rich and famous athletes, I convinced myself that my needs were realistic, my greed inconsequential compared to theirs (Albom 127).

Mitch has already been moved by drives in his working world since graduation. According to Henry (13-14), drives exist in occupational world. Goals in many jobs have to be achieved through achievement, competition, profit, mobility or even a higher standard of living. The drives have influenced Mitch to convince himself that it is normal to have bigger toys and a nicer house because he works among rich and famous athletes.

In conclusion, American people share the value of progress, which may lead them to have the drives of expansiveness. It moves American people to have a view that owning things more and more is a good thing. Furthermore, this value makes people not know what really important for them are and makes them trapped in a confusing situation over what they want and what they need.

3. Value of Individual Success

The value of individual success means that an individual is entitled to be successful in any field he takes part (Fichter 309). In the story, Mitch is described as a successful person in journalistic field. He is a columnist in . PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

32

Besides, he writes books about sports, conducts radio shows, and gives opinions about sports programs on television. Hence, he is able to buy a house and cars. Also,

Mitch is able to invest in stocks and has a portfolio (Albom 16).

On one of Tuesday meetings, Morrie and Mitch read a newspaper which writes “I DON‟T WANT MY TOMBSTONE TO READ „I NEVER OWNED A

NETWORK‟”. These words are from Ted Turner, a founder of CNN who fails in having CBS network and feels upset (Albom 123). Furthermore, this value seems to have an impact in emerging a sense of being threatened if someone loses his job which means a losing of individual success.

“People are only mean when they‟re threatened,” he said later that day, “and that‟s what our culture does. That‟s what our economy does. Even people who have jobs in our economy are threatened, because they worry about losing them. And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture.” (Albom 154)

From the evidence above, American people share the value of individual success in their society. This value is very important to them and may cause disappointment if it is not achieved. In the story, a value of individual success may cause people to be egoistic because they look out only for themselves and so this makes them vicious to other people to reach their individual success.

4. Value on Working

According to Fichter (309), working can determine a man‟s worth through his function to society. Mitch, as well as American people, has a high value on working.

He is a sport writer when he is in New York and works hard like a workaholic. When he moves to Detroit, he works at Detroit Free Press as a columnist. Besides, he also conducts radio shows and gives opinion on athletes and sports programs on television

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33

Mitch works very fast like a fifth gear and he also works on a deadline. He says, “I was cranked to a fifth gear, and everything I did, I did on deadline” (Albom

16). When he gets married with Janine, he tells her that one day they will start building a real family but that never happens because Mitch is too busy to realize that

(Albom 17). To Mitch, working is something he can control of. Besides, he feels that working is sensible and responsive (Albom 97). In his working life, Mitch buries himself in accomplishments because according to him, he could control things with accomplishments. Thus, he feels happy through accomplishments (Albom 17).

Fichter (309) says that from working, we can obtain material comfort, leisure, and success. The convenience that working brings about makes people work ambitiously and may neglect other aspects of their lives, such as death. In one of the interviews that Mitch carries on with Morrie about death, Morrie tells him that most of people walk around as if sleepwalking and thus, do not live to the fullest. Morrie says, “…. most of us all walk around as if we‟re sleepwalking. We really don‟t experience the world fully, because we‟re half-asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do” (Albom 83). Here, Morrie tells that the impact of getting busy of doing things, such as working, is that we cannot experience things that make us happy and satisfied in our lives. Furthermore, because of his activities, Mitch has ignored his promise to his wife, Janine, to build a family (Albom 17).

Based on proofs presented above, American people are described to have a high value on working which makes them busy, walk around as if sleepwalking, put other aspects in their lives aside, and thus do not live the lives to the fullest.

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5. Value of Freedom for the Individual

American people have a value of freedom for the individual. Fichter (310) says the freedom directs a man to moral responsibility, his inviolability, and his dignity. This value is expressed in Brandeis University, a university where Morrie teaches. One day, the Faculty of Sociology maintains this value well for antiwar actions. In the year 1960, the faculty is attended by radical students. This is because the campus gets involved in real actions instead of simply teaching. The faculty chooses to hold discussions instead of lectures and experiences instead of theory.

From this policy, the students are taught to express and experience their individual freedom such as doing protest marches in Washington (Albom 111-112).

The value of freedom for the individual also appears when the union of newspaper where Mitch works goes on strike to demand rise for their salary. His office is shut down and Mitch loses his job (Albom 44).

Sometimes, this value is violated as described in the story. In their daily lives,

American people are fond of watching news of O. J. Simpson‟s trial on televisions.

Many people are absorbed by this show, even though they do not know who O. J.

Simpson is and do not know people involved in his case. They put too many interests in another person‟s life (Albom 42). This, actually, constitutes a violation of someone‟s dignity, in this case, O. J. Simpson‟s dignity because his private life is exposed and enjoyed by other people through television broadcasting.

When Morrie‟s illness has become worse, he loses his ability of a human to do daily life activities, such as going out from the car and dressing. For this condition,

Morrie feels ashamed. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

35

“I‟m an independent person, so my inclination was to fight all of this – being helped from the car, having someone else dress me. I felt a little ashamed, because our culture tells us we should be ashamed if we can‟t wipe our own behind.” (Albom 115-116)

Morrie feels ashamed because the culture tells that if someone cannot do something for himself, it destroys his dignity which causes a sense of being ashamed.

Thus, the culture they share violates Morrie‟s freedom for the individual, in this case, violates Morrie‟s dignity as a human.

In conclusion, American people share the value of freedom for the individual.

This value supports American people to voice their mind and idea about anything.

However, this value sometimes is violated and thus violates someone‟s dignity.

6. Individualism Value

As Morrie‟s legs become stiff because of the disease, he has to use a cane for walking. Besides, he needs to use a beaker to urinate since he is not able to go to the bathroom anymore by himself. Also, he needs someone to hold the beaker while he fills it. Mitch, then, thinks that most of people would be embarrassed by these limitations, especially at Morrie‟s age (Albom 11). Mitch thinks it that way because

American people have individualism value. The value underlies people to have an emotional effect that is self-reliance (Stewart 70-71). Regarding this value, American people are also described to get used to self-help, “America had become a Persian bazaar of self-help” (Albom 65).

Because of his terminal disease, Morrie has a fear of his disease. What he most afraid of the disease is that when someone has to wipe his bottom. When that time comes, he feels bothered about this. Mitch wonders why and Morrie says that it is because the ultimate sign of dependency, “Because it‟s the ultimate sign of PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

36 dependency. Someone wiping your bottom” (Albom 49). This limitation makes

Morrie feels that he cannot rely on himself anymore and Morrie feels bothered of it.

Morrie‟s behavior is related to Stewart (70-71) who states that the value of self- reliance is emotionally perceived by American people.

The self-reliance motivates people to look for autonomy, self-actualization and personal growth. Affected by this value, Morrie feels that he does not have autonomy and cannot actualize himself anymore. Also, he feels ashamed of his dependency, “I‟m an independent person, so my inclination was to fight all of this – being helped from the car, having someone else dress me. I felt a little ashamed, because our culture tells us we should be ashamed if we can‟t wipe our own behind”

(Albom 115-116).

From the evidences presented above, it can be inferred that American people share the individualism value. This value leads American people to have emotional effect namely self-reliance. The self-reliance represents the independence that a man has. When someone cannot do anything for himself and has to depend on other people to help him, he becomes a dependent person and he will be ashamed of it.

7. Value of Measurable Achievement

American people like to make achievements in form of visible things or material things (Stewart 41). Usually, a success is measured by the amount of money or the size of a house that someone has. When Mitch still is a student in his college, he has been warned by Morrie that money is not the most important thing. This view is against the popular view on campus. Morrie adds that he needs to be „fully human‟ and connected with the society around him (Albom 46-47). However, as the time PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

37 passes, this advice has been forgotten by Mitch and he buries himself in his works and accomplishments (Albom 16-17).

Since graduation, Mitch is sunk in pursuit of material achievements such as pursuing bigger toys and nicer house, something that is contrary with Morrie‟s view of achievement which can bring about a meaningful life (Albom 127).

Mitch behavior constitutes a consequence of the value of measurable achievement because according to Stewart (41-42), this value leads American people to seek for a sensation in achieving something, for personal triumph, or for visible achievement.

Having measurable achievement as a value, American people do not get used to reflect or evaluate their lives in order to know what they really want in their lives.

Here, Morrie conveys his idea that the culture they have focusing on the pursuit of measurable achievements does not make the people evaluate their lives. The business they create to achieve visible things make them not have time to think about what they really want in lives (Albom 64-65).

Furthermore, Morrie says that they are involved in achieving materialistic things which can not satisfy them. It comes to a conclusion that their society lack of what Morrie calls as “spiritual development”.

“Mitch,” he said laughing along, “even I don‟t know what „spiritual development‟ really means. But I do know we‟re deficient in some way. We are too involved in materialistic things, and they don‟t satisfy us. The loving relationships we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted,” (Albom 84)

In conclusion, American people are driven by value of measurable achievement. This value does not make people evaluate their lives so that they do not PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

38 know what they really want in lives. Furthermore, this value may lead people to lack of spiritual development.

B. Morrie’s Personal Views on American Values

Morrie, a professor of Sociology in Brandeis University, suffers from a deathly disease called ALS. Because of this disease, he cannot drive, swim, and dance any longer. As the disease develops, he cannot walk and dress up for himself. Even, he needs help to go to the bathroom and to have his bottom wiped by someone.

Morrie‟s concern to the prevailing values is moved by his ALS disease. His disease makes him think much about his surroundings including values in the culture which he and the society share. He imagines if one has to endure such a kind of disease, that one cannot survive with the culture they hold. It is because the culture is full of egoistical things without investing relationship to other human beings.

Through his thought, Morrie comes to a conclusion that the society puts their values in the wrong ways which lead them to very disillusioned lives (Albom 123-

124). He thinks that their culture does not make people feel good about themselves.

Hence, Morrie says, if the culture does not work, people should not „buy‟ it. It means that they should not follow the culture. Instead, they have to create their own culture.

However, many people cannot do it so that they become unhappy (Albom 35-36).

Before suffering from the disease, Morrie has developed his own culture by joining discussion groups, walking with friends, and dancing to his music in the

Harvard Square church. He has created „a cocoon‟ of human activities.

Morrie, true to these words, had developed his own culture – long before he got sick. Discussion groups, walks with friends, dancing to his music in the Harvard Square church. He started a project called Greenhouse, where poor PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

39

people could receive mental health services. He read books to find new ideas for his classes, visited with colleagues, kept up with old students, wrote letters to distant friends. He took more time eating and looking at nature and wasted no time in front of TV sitcoms or “Movies of the Week.” He had created a cocoon of human activities – conversation, interaction, affection – and it filled his life like an overflowing soup bowl (Albom 42-43).

Morrie‟s culture is also affected by his past life. When he is a child, he has a bad relationship with his father who is a Russian and does not talk much with his children. After the death of his mother, Morrie is longing for a figure of a father to talk to him and give him affection. However, he never gets it. His father is too busy with himself and is never pay attention to Morrie. One day, his father brings Morrie to a wool fabric, a place where Morrie can possibly get a job. Instead of being happy,

Morrie feels terrified because of the situation at the fabric where the boss shouts loudly to the workers to have them working continually. Since then, he promises to never work in a place where human is exploited. As time passes by, Morrie chooses to be a lecturer and develops human relationship (Albom 73-78). Also, he promises to raise his children in loving and caring environment (Albom 92-93).

Furthermore, Morrie has personal views of values of the society‟s culture. As mentioned in the first part, the values meant are the value of rational approach, the value of progress, the value of individual success, the value on working, the value of freedom for the individual, the individualism value, and the value on measurable achievement. A society‟s actions may reflect the values they share because values consist of the society‟s actions. In the novel, Morrie explains how to put their values on the right actions namely on human relationships. His views are shared to Mitch, his former student, when Mitch‟s visits him every Tuesday. Morrie‟s personal views of the values are explained in detail as follows: PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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1. Value of Rational Approach to Life

Having known that the society has been afraid of death, even does not believe in death, Morrie has his own view on looking death. Morrie thinks that people are part of the nature and death is something natural. This is against an assumption of the society that human is above nature. Due to this assumption, the society makes a commotion over death.

“It‟s natural to die,” he said again. “The fact that we make such a big hullabaloo over it is all because we don‟t see ourselves as part of nature. We think because we‟re human we‟re something above nature.” He smiled at the plant. “We‟re not. Everything that gets born, dies.” He looked at me (Albom 173).

In response to his own death, Morrie has a good idea to face it by learning to prepare to die. Every day, he does what the Buddhist does that is having a little bird on his shoulders and asks, “Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?” (Albom 81). Using this method, Morrie is able to reflect his life, to think of things he wants to do and to be the person he wants to be in his dwindling time. Furthermore, through this way, Morrie makes use of his time to make his life meaningful.

According to Morrie, an advantage of learning to die is we can also learn to live as well. “The truth is, Mitch,” he said, “once you learn how to die, you learn how to live” (Albom 82). As for the people‟s habits of covering corpses with sheets and put them in chutes, Morrie also has his own view. He thinks that death is not contagious and it is as natural as life. According to Morrie, death is a part of the deal they made with God, “It‟s not contagious, you know. Death is as natural as life. It‟s part of the deal we made” (Albom 172). PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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In conclusion, Morrie‟s views on death come from implementing the value of rational approach. Different from the society who looks on death with a negative view and to be afraid of it, Morrie uses the value of rational approach in looking death positively. According to him, death is a part of the nature and so death is as natural as life. Besides, people can learn how to die in order to have a peace idea of death by imagining having a little bird on their shoulder and ask it whether today is the day they die. Through this way, they will also learn how to live. Furthermore, Morrie thinks that death constitutes a part of the deal that people have made with God.

Hence, he is not afraid of death and does not worry of it.

From what Morrie has said about the value, one of his characteristics can be identified. Through his speech about death, it can be concluded that Morrie is a smart person. He makes use of the Buddhist‟s teaching to prepare his own death. Besides, through direct comments, the author says that Morrie “borrows” freely from all religions. He enjoys some Buddhism and Christianity philosophies, meanwhile he is born Jewish (Albom 81-82). It shows that Morrie likes to study, in this case, about other religions, so that he has his own view of them and is able to “borrow” the teaching for goodness.

2. Value of Progress

Morrie‟s personal view of value of progress emphasizes that having more

and more money or stuffs does not bring about satisfaction. As explained in the

previous part, the value of progress may lead people to expansiveness. The society

tends to want something over and over to get satisfaction and thus do not know

what actually important for them. Whereas, the satisfaction cannot be obtained

from those things. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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“The truth is, you don‟t get satisfaction from those things. You know what really gives you satisfaction?” What? “Offering others what you have to give.” You sound like a Boy Scout. “I don‟t mean money, Mitch. I mean your time. Your concern. Your storytelling. …” (Albom 126)

Toward this value, Morrie thinks that satisfaction does not come from getting things more and more. However, it comes from contributing what we have to others, not only money, but also our time and our concern. Besides, he also says that we have to do things sincerely from our hearts. When we do this, we will not dissatisfied, envious, and want somebody else‟s things. Instead, we will be surprised of what we receive after doing the kind things (Albom 128).

From Morrie‟s speech about the value, it can be concluded that Morrie is a deep-thought and generous person. He has understood that searching more and more material things cannot give people satisfaction. Satisfaction may be achieved by offering others what we have to give. Here, he does not refer to material things to give to others, but our concern and time. Furthermore, we have to do things sincerely so that we will never feel dissatisfied and never want to possess things over and over.

3. Value of Individual Success

Morrie does not agree with the value of individual success that the society shows. This is because according to him, the value of individual success may lead people to be mean to others. When someone cannot achieve this value, he or she may feel threatened and becomes vicious to other people to reach success. Hence, Morrie does not follow the culture (Albom 154).

According to Morrie, he has to make his own culture. To him, how we think and what we value must be determined by ourselves. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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“Here‟s what I mean by building your own little subculture,” Morrie said. “I don‟t mean you disregard every rule of your community. I don‟t go around naked, for example. I don‟t run through red lights. The little things, I can obey. But the big things – how we think, what we value – those you must choose yourself. You can‟t let anyone – or any society – determine those for you.” (Albom 154-155)

From the evidence presented above, it can be concluded that Morrie does not agree with how the society shows the value of individual success. Thus, he has a view that people should have their own culture where they can determine by themselves what they think and what they value for reaching individual success.

People may become ambitious in reaching individual success. According to

Morrie, when someone starts thinking about his own death, he will not be ambitious.

He will have time to prepare his death by listening to “the bird on his shoulder” so that he can do the best things in his life. Morrie tells Mitch about this issue, “Well, the truth is, if you really listen to that bird on your shoulder, if you accept that you can die at any time – then you might not be as ambitious as you are” (Albom 83).

Morrie has been doing this preparation of death so that he realizes what he really needs in his life and makes the best of it.

Through his speech about the value of individual success, it can be concluded that Morrie is a brave person. He has decided not to believe in the prevailing culture in the society and has built his own “little subculture”. Besides, he has courage to determine what he thinks and values by himself. Morrie also thinks that preparing death is a way to be not ambitious so that we can do our best in our lives.

4. Value on Working

One of American values is value on working. This value has been valued highly by American people (Fichter 309). However, Morrie has his own personal PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

44 views. Suffering from ALS disease, Morrie feels the need to be surrounded by his family who will always watch out for him. Morrie calls this feeling with spiritual security. This spiritual security will only be obtained from family, not from money, fame, and even from work (Albom 92).

In Morrie‟s society, many people are sunk into their works and so does Mitch.

He does four or five media jobs in England. Also, he spends eight hours a day on a computer, sending his reports to the States. Besides reporting to mass media, Mitch does TV pieces as well and travels to London with a crew. He also reports in the radio every morning and afternoon. Mitch himself thinks his work is too heavily loaded and he has put everything else aside for his work (Albom 43). However, he is not satisfied yet (Albom 34). He, then, remembers what Morrie says that many people have meaningless lives. They seem half-asleep because they are chasing the wrong things.

To Morrie, the best way to make our lives meaningful is by devoting ourselves to love others, devoting ourselves to our community around us, and devoting ourselves to create something that gives us purpose and meaning.

“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they‟re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they‟re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” (Albom 43) Morrie‟s views on value on working emphasize on devoting self to others and on creating something that gives people purpose and meaning. He does not agree with working all the time and putting everything aside just as Mitch has been doing so far.

Moreover, working cannot bring about the spiritual security that Morrie needs in his dying condition. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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Through his speech, Morrie shows that he is a deep-thought person. He has concluded that the society has meaningless lives because they chase the wrong things.

To Morrie, the way to get a meaningful life is by devoting ourselves to love others, to our community around us, and to create something that gives us purpose and meaning.

5. Value of Freedom for the Individual

Freedom for the individual has been experienced by the Americans. This value guarantees them to speak their mind and ideas freely. However, sometimes this value is not put on the right actions. For example, when the newspapers union where

Mitch works goes on strike they march by chanting up and down the street, instead of communicating their problems (Albom 44). According to Morrie, the value should not be used in this way. Freedom for individual should make people solve their problems.

Talking to Mitch, Morrie wonders why the parties involved do not communicate with each other and solve the problems, “He asked about the newspaper strike, and true to form, he couldn‟t understand why both sides didn‟t simply communicate with each other and solve their problems” (Albom 49). To Morrie, value of freedom for the individual may be used to communicate problems and ideas so that we can understand each other and the problems can be solved.

From direct comments, the author tries to describe Morrie as a communicative person. Through the author‟s comments, Morrie has been described to have suggestions to solve human problems by communicating our problems and ideas.

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6. Individualism Value

Morrie‟s illness has brought him into dependency on other people. In his condition, he is not able to use the bathroom by himself. Hence, his helper, named

Connie, will wheel him to the toilet, lift him for the chair, and support him while he is urinating into a beaker (Albom 49). One day, when he is interviewed by Ted Koppel for “Nightline” show, Morrie tells Koppel that what he dreads most about his disease is that someday, someone has to wipe his bottom (Albom 22). As his disease develops, this time finally comes. Morrie needs someone to wipe his bottom and he feels humiliated. Mitch asks why and he says because it is the ultimate sign of dependency, “Because it‟s the ultimate sign of dependency. Someone wiping your bottom” (Albom 49). The value of individualism has made Morrie feel powerless because he cannot rely on himself anymore. Moreover, the culture tells that people should be ashamed if they cannot wipe their own behind (Albom 115-116).

However, knowing he becomes an independent person who must have his bottom wiped by someone, Morrie is not depressed. Instead, he chooses to forget what the culture says, tries to enjoy the process, and considers himself to be a child one more time.

“Mitch, it‟s funny,” he said. “I‟m an independent person, so my inclination was to fight all of this – being helped from the car, having someone else dress me. I felt a little ashamed, because our culture tells us we should be ashamed if we can‟t wipe our own behind. But then, I figured, Forget what the culture says. I have ignored the culture much of my life. I am not going to be ashamed. What’s the big deal? “And you know what? The strangest thing.” What‟s that? “I began to enjoy my dependency. Now I enjoy when they turn me over on my side and rub cream on my behind so I don‟t get sores. Or when they wipe my brow, or they massage my legs. I revel in it. I close my eyes and soak it up. And it seems very familiar to me. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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“It‟s like going back to being a child again. Someone to bathe you. Someone to lift you. Someone to wipe you. We all know how to be a child. It‟s inside all of us. For me, it‟s just remembering how to enjoy it.” (Albom 116)

Having determined not to be ashamed of his limitation and independency,

Morrie decides not to believe in the culture that the society shares so far. He emphasizes that being in his condition – not being able to walk, not being able to wipe his ass, and wanting to cry sometimes are not embarrassing. Morrie makes it just the same as women who are not thin enough or men not rich enough (Albom

155).

To Morrie, dying and cannot do anything for himself are not a shameful thing.

Instead, he views his condition like nostalgia of being a child. Furthermore, he enjoys people‟s assistance to him, such as rubbing his back with cream, bathing him, or wiping his bottom. From his behavior, Morrie has not believed in the culture and makes his own culture.

From Morrie‟s speech of his views on individualism value, it can be inferred that Morrie is a tough person. Knowing his life is short and he cannot do anything even for himself, he does not give up. Instead of complaining about his condition, he creates his own culture where he can accept his condition, find his toughness, and enjoy it.

7. Value of Measurable Achievement

Morrie and Mitch live in a society which always interprets success by measurable achievement. However, Morrie has had his personal views on this since he has not suffered from ALS. When he still teaches at the college, Morrie has told

Mitch that money is not the most important thing but the need to be „fully human‟ and to connect with the society around him which are important. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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He warns me that money is not the most important thing, contrary to the popular view on campus. He tells me I need to be “fully human”. He speaks of the alienation of youth and the need for “connectedness” with the society around me (Albom 47).

The society likes to have material things such as cars and properties for more and more. Mitch also experiences a drive for having bigger toys and nicer house, “…. that I had been for much of my life since graduation, pursuing these very things he had been railing against – bigger toys, nicer house” (Albom 127).

According to Morrie, what the people have been doing reflect the need for love. People think that material things will substitute love. Meanwhile to Morrie, love and matters that love entails such as gentleness, tenderness, and friendship cannot be obtained from material things. Morrie also thinks that money cannot replace tenderness and so does power. Besides, Morrie feels that what he needs most in his condition, love and support from his surroundings, cannot be fulfilled either by money or power (Albom 125).

One day, during the interview, Morrie reminds Mitch about finding a meaningful life. According to him, a material thing such as salary cannot make our lives meaningful. Instead, a meaningful life can be reached by devoting ourselves to love others, devoting ourselves to our community, and devoting ourselves to create something that gives us purpose and meaning (Albom 127).

Then, Morrie says that Mitch might have asked him the importance of hearing other people‟s problems though he has his own. Then, Morrie continues saying that by hearing other people‟s problem, he feels alive. It is not his material things which can be measured, such as his car, his house, and his appearance in the mirror which makes him feel healthy (Albom 128). PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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To Morrie who is dying, material things cannot give him any meanings. Being full time in his bed, Morrie enjoys simple pleasures, such as singing, laughing, and dancing. These kinds of activities have given him meanings to his dwindling time.

Moreover, there is an expression that if we die, we cannot bring material things we have.

Morrie had always been taken with simple pleasures, singing, laughing, dancing. Now, more than ever, material things held little or no significance. When people die, you always hear the expression “You can‟t take it with you.” Morrie seemed to know that a long time ago (Albom 124).

It can be concluded that for Morrie, material things cannot replace love, tenderness, and friendship. Also, they cannot make our lives meaningful. What is important according to Morrie is that “connectedness” to the society by devoting our love, devoting ourselves to our community, and devoting to create something which gives purpose and meaning to our lives.

No doubt, Morrie is a spiritually mature person. He has been thinking and feeling that measurable achievement in form of material things cannot make a meaningful life. Since he is healthy, he has been satisfied by simple things such as singing, laughing, and dancing. When he is getting sick, he puts his satisfying in being connected to the society. Through this way, his dwindling life becomes meaningful.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

This chapter consists of two parts. The first part contains conclusions of the analysis on the previous chapter. The second part presents suggestions for future researchers who are to conduct studies on the same novel and the use of literary work for English teaching learning activities. Furthermore, the suggestions explain the implementation of literary work, especially of Mitch Albom’s, Tuesdays with Morrie, in English teaching learning activity.

A. CONCLUSIONS

Actions in a society may reflect values that their share. From the analysis in the Chapter IV, it is concluded that American society in Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie share seven values namely value of rational approach to life, value of progress, value on individual success, value on working, value of freedom for individual, individualism value, and value of measurable achievement.

In the novel, the society is described to be afraid of death as reflection of value of rational approach to life. Having this value, they think that they are apart from the nature. The society is also described to have value of progress which reflects drives of the society for wanting things for more and more. As consequences, they do not know what exactly important for them and never get satisfaction in life. Another description of the society is that they are threatened if individual success cannot be

50

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

51 achieved. Even, they may become vicious to other people who always think of themselves. These constitute reflections of value on individual success.

As for value on working, the society is described to spend much of their time to work and thus puts other aspects of their lives aside. The society is too busy to do things they have to do so that they cannot think other important things, such as death.

Another value is value of freedom for the individual. In the novel, this value is reflected through the strike conducted by workers from Mitch’s office. Besides, the action of students of Brandeis University who conduct the antiwar action also reflects the value. The next value is individualism value which is conveyed in the action of the society which shows their feeling of being ashamed regarding their self- limitedness or dependency on others. The last value is value on measurable achievement. This value is showed by people who always pursue achievements in form of material things and hence cannot find meaningful lives.

Morrie, a dying professor of Sociology, has his personal views concerning the values that the society shares. To the value of rational approach to life concerning facing death, he views that death is not a dreadful matter. According to him, human is part of the nature. Therefore, when a human dies, he will be back to the nature. He also has a personal view that death is a part of the deal that we have made with God.

These views have made Morrie not afraid of death. To the value of progress, Morrie views that wanting things for more and more cannot give satisfaction. According to

Morrie, what give us satisfaction are giving others our time and concern to people and doing things sincerely.

As for the value on individual success, Morrie thinks that to achieve individual success, people have to build their own culture. Here, he explains that they

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52 do not have to follow the culture in the society. Instead, they have to decide what they think and value by themselves. Furthermore, Morrie does not agree to the next value, the value on working. Morrie has found that working all the time does not bring about spiritual security, something that he needs in his dying condition. To Morrie, beside wanting things for more and more, getting buried in working also cannot give people satisfaction. In his opinion, satisfaction can be obtained from devoting ourselves to love others, to community around us, and to create things that give us purpose and meaning.

Morrie’s views on the value of freedom for the individual are revealed through his opinion. According to him, this value may be used by people to solve problems. Having this value, people may communicate their problems and convey their ideas so that the problems can be solved. Morrie also conveys his views on the individualism value. Since he has been sick, he never follows the culture shared in the society concerning being ashamed of self-limitedness and dependency on other people. Instead, he enjoys his dependency by thinking of becoming a child one more time.

The last personal view of Morrie is on the value of measurable achievement.

Almost the same as his personal views on the value of progress and the value on working, Morrie thinks that pursuing measurable achievement which is in form of material things cannot bring about satisfaction. Hence, Morrie thinks that money is not the most important thing. In his opinion, people’s desire of having material things reflects the need for love, whereas material things as well as power cannot give love.

Again, he says that to have a meaningful life, we have to devote ourselves to love

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53 others, to community around us, and to create things that give us purpose and meaning.

To conclude, in his condition, Morrie has his own views and ways to make a meaningful life such as by hearing other people’s problem and enjoying simple pleasures. He has realized that he cannot take material things with him when he dies.

Here, he focuses on being “fully human” and being connected by the society around him. Through his speech and direct comments, Morrie is described as a smart, deep- thought, generous, brave, communicative, tough, and spiritually mature person.

B. Suggestions

This part is divided into two sections. The first is the suggestions for the future researchers. The second is the suggestions for teaching learning activity and the implementation of Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie for teaching Public

Speaking I.

1. Suggestions for Future Researchers

Tuesdays with Morrie is an inspiring novel. It gives the readers a new point of view about life. Besides, the story enriches the readers in a way of looking values in their society and the importance of human relationships.

There are many interesting aspects from this novel for future researchers to study. This study has analyzed the cultural aspect of the novel using the sociocultural- historical approach. It is suggested for the future researchers to conduct studies using the psychological approach. Using this approach, roles of Morrie’s closest people to maintain his living spirit can be analyzed. Besides, the characters of Morrie’s beloved people can also be analyzed as well.

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1. Suggestions for Teaching Learning Activity Using the Novel Tuesdays with

Morrie

A novel, as one of literary works, has an ability to describe our real lives where lessons may be drawn of. Using a novel in teaching learning activities, such as in Public Speaking I class, allows students to enjoy the story of the novel and absorb the lessons it reveals. Besides, from reading a novel, students can enrich their vocabulary and broaden their knowledge of issues of human life experiences.

Public Speaking I class aims at increasing students’ fluency and confidence in speaking English. In this class, discussion is one of the topics given to enhance student’s ability in speaking English. The novel Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch

Albom can be used as a material to teach discussion in this class. The part of the novel to use is The Fifth Tuesday We Talk about Family from pages 90-97. These can be used to obtain information for the discussion. By reading part The Fifth Tuesday

We Talk about Family, students may obtain knowledge of the importance of spiritual support for a person with a terminal disease from his/ her beloved people. In conclusion, the novel Tuesdays with Morrie can be used for teaching Public Speaking

I in a way that supports the students to obtain information about issue being discussed. The procedures of Public Speaking I teaching learning activities using

Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie are as follows:

1. The teacher brainstorms the students by asking them questions concerning

terminal disease. Note: The material from the novel: The Fifth Tuesday We

Talk about Family is distributed to the students on the previous meeting so the

students should have read the material before the meeting.

2. The teacher explains how to conduct a discussion.

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55

3. The teacher asks the students to make a group of five. One student will be a

group leader and four students will be members of the discussion.

4. The teacher gives the students an issue to discuss that is how to raise and

maintain the spirit of a person with terminal disease. The students have fifteen

minutes to have a draft of what they are going to tell in the discussion. The

students may refer to the novel to support their discussions.

5. The teacher asks each group to perform their discussions for thirty five

minutes.

6. After conduct a discussion, each group reports the result of the discussion.

Each group may present the report for three minutes.

7. After have all group reported their discussions, the teacher evaluates the

students’ performance and reviews the material.

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REFERENCES

Abcarian, R, M. Klotz. with P. Richardson. Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience. Seventh Edition. New York: St. Martin’s Press. 1998. Print.

Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Sixth Edition. Orlando: Harcout Brace Jovanovich. 1985. Print.

Albom, M. Tuesdays with Morrie. New York: Broadway Books. 1997. Print.

Albom, M. Tuesdays with Morrie. 2008-2009. Web. Accessed on December 13, 2010. < http://mitchalbom.com/d/film/3729/tuesdays-morrie>

Albom, M. Tuesdays with Morrie. 2008-2009. Web. Accessed on December 13, 2010. < http://mitchalbom.com/bio>

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition] © & (P)2009 Microsoft Corporation. 2009. Web. Accessed on March 28, 2011

Current, R. N. and T. H. Williams, F. B. Freidel. The Essentials of American History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1976. Print.

Ficther, J. H. Sociology. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1958. Print.

Forster, E. M. Aspects of the Novel and Related Writings. London: Edward Arnold Ltd. 1974. Print.

Gordon, I. L. American Studies A Conceptual Approach. New York: Amsco School Publications, Inc. 1984. Print.

Henkle, R. B. Reading the Novel An Introduction to the Techniques of Interpreting Fiction. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. 1977. Print.

Henry, J. Culture against Man. New York: Vintage Books. 1965. Print.

Holman, C. H. and W. Harmon. A Handbook to Literature. Fifth Edition. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. 1986. Print.

Macmillan Publishers Limited. Macmillan Dictionary. 2009. Web. Accessed on March 29, 2011. 56

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57

Merrill, F. E. Society and Culture an Introduction to Sociology. Third Edition. New Jersey: Prentice- Hall, Inc. 1965. Print.

NINDS. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Fact Sheet. Los Angeles, March 2010. Web. Accessed on May 1, 2010.

Murphy, M. J. Understanding Unseen An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1972. Print.

Richter, Jr., M. N. Exploring Sociology. Itasca: F. E. Peacock Publishers, Inc. 1987. Print.

Rohrberger, M. and S. H. Wood, Jr. Reading and Writing about Literature. New York: Random House. 1971. Print.

Stewart, E. C. American Cultural Patterns: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Maine: Intercultural Press. 1972. Print.

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APPENDICES PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

Appendix 1 Summary of Tuesdays with Morrie

Mitch Albom, the book's narrator, recalls his graduation from Brandeis University in the spring of 1979. After he has received his diploma, Mitch approaches his favorite professor, Morrie Schwartz, and presents him with a monogrammed briefcase. While at Brandeis, Mitch takes almost all of the sociology courses Morrie had teaches. He promises Morrie, who is crying, that he will keep in touch, though he does not fulfill his promise. Years after Mitch's graduation from Brandeis, Morrie is forced to forfeit dancing, his favorite hobby, because he has been diagnosed with ALS, a debilitating disease that leaves his "soul, perfectly awake, imprisoned inside a limp husk" of a body. Morrie's wife, Charlotte, cares for Morrie, though at his insistence, keeps her job as a professor at M.I.T. Sixteen years after his graduation from Brandeis, Mitch is feeling frustrated with the life he has chosen to live. After his uncle dies of pancreatic cancer, Mitch abandons his failing career as a musician to become a well-payed journalist for a Detroit newspaper. Mitch promises his wife Janine that they will have children eventually, though he spends all of his time at work, away on reporting assignments. One night, Mitch is flipping the channels on his television and recognizes Morrie's voice. Morrie is being featured on the television program "Nightline" in the first of three interviews with Ted Koppel, whom he quickly befriends. Before consenting to be interviewed, Morrie surprises and softens the famed newscaster when he asks Koppel what is "close to his heart." Mitch is stunned to see his former professor on television. Following Morrie's television appearance, Mitch contacts his beloved professor and travels from his home in Detroit to Morrie's home in West Newton, Massachusetts to visit with him. When Mitch drives up to Morrie's house, he delays greeting his professor because he is speaking on the phone with his producer, a decision he later regrets. Shortly after his reunion with Morrie, Mitch works himself nearly to death reporting on the Wimbledon tennis tournament in London. There, he spends much time 59

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60 thinking about Morrie and forfeits reading the tabloids, as he now seeks more meaning in his life and knows that he will not gain this meaning from reading about celebrities and gossip. He is knocked over by a swarm of reporters chasing celebrities Andre Agassi and Brooke Shields, and it is then that Mitch realizes he is chasing after the wrong thing. When he returns to his home in Detroit, Mitch learns that the article he has worked so hard to write will not even be published, as the union he belongs to is striking against the newspaper he works for. Once more, Mitch travels to Boston to visit Morrie. Following their first Tuesday together, Mitch returns regularly every Tuesday to listen to Morrie's lessons on "The Meaning of Life." Each week, Mitch brings Morrie food to eat, though as Morrie's condition worsens he is no longer able to enjoy solid food. In his first of three interviews with Koppel for "Nightline," Morrie admits that the thing he dreads most about his worsening condition is that someday, he will not be able to wipe himself after using the bathroom. Eventually, this fear comes true. Interspersed throughout Mitch's visits to Morrie are flashbacks to their days together at Brandeis. Mitch describes himself as a student who had acted tough, but had sought the tenderness he recognized in Morrie. At Brandeis, Mitch and Morrie shared a relationship more like that between father and son than teacher and student. Soon before Morrie's death, when his condition has deteriorated so much that he can no longer breathe or move on his own, he confides that if he could have another son, he would choose Mitch. In his childhood, Morrie had been very poor. His father, Charlie had been cold and dispassionate, and had neglected to provide for Morrie and his younger brother emotionally and financially. At the age of eight, Morrie must read the telegram that brings news of his mother's death, as he is the only one in his family who can read English. Charlie marries Eva, a kind woman who gives Morrie and his brother the love and affection they need. Eva also instills in Morrie his love of books and his desire for education. However, Charlie insists that Morrie keep his mother's death a secret, as he wants Morrie's younger brother to believe that Eva is his biological mother. This demand to keep his mother's death a secret proves a terrible emotional burden for young Morrie; he keeps the telegram all of his life as proof that his mother

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61 had existed. Because he was starved of love and affection during his childhood, Morrie seeks it out in his old age from his family and friends. Now that he is nearing his death, Morrie says that he has reverted to a figurative infancy, and tries in earnest "enjoy being a baby again." He and Mitch often hold hands throughout their sessions together. In his lessons, Morrie advises Mitch to reject the popular culture in favor of creating his own. The individualistic culture Morrie encourages Mitch to create for himself is a culture founded on love, acceptance, and human goodness, a culture that upholds a set of ethical values unlike the mores that popular culture endorses. Popular culture, Morrie says, is founded on greed, selfishness, and superficiality, which he urges Mitch to overcome. Morrie also stresses that he and Mitch must accept death and aging, as both are inevitable. On one Tuesday, Janine travels with Mitch to visit Morrie. Janine is a professional singer, and Morrie asks her to sing for him. Though she does not usually sing upon request, Janine concedes, and her voice moves Morrie to tears. Morrie cries freely and often, and continually encourages Mitch to do so also. As Morrie's condition deteriorates, so does that of the pink hibiscus plant that sits on the window ledge in his study. Mitch becomes increasingly aware of the evil in media, as it drenches the country with stories of murder and hatred. One such story is the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, the verdict of which causes major racial division between whites and blacks. Mitch tape records his discussions with Morrie so that he may compile notes with which to write a book, Tuesdays With Morrie, a project which he and Morrie refer to as their "last thesis together." Morrie continually tells Mitch that he wants to share his stories with the world, a the book will allow him to do just that. Meanwhile, at Morrie's insistence, Mitch attempts to restore his relationship with his brother Peter who lives in Spain. For many years, Peter has refused his family's help in battling pancreatic cancer and insists on seeking treatment alone. Mitch calls Peter and leaves numerous phone messages, though the only reply he receives from his brother is a curt message in which Peter insists he is fine, and reminds Mitch that he does not want to talk about his illness. Morrie prophetizes that Mitch will once more

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62 become close with his brother, a prophecy which, after Morrie's death, is realized. At Morrie's funeral, Mitch recalls his promise to continue his conversations with his professor and conducts a silent dialogue with Morrie in his head. Mitch had expected such a dialogue to feel awkward, however this communication feels far more natural than he had ever expected.

Taken from: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/morrie/summary.html. Accessed on February 19, 2011 at 20.05 a.m.

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Appendix 2

The Biography of Mitch Albom

MITCH ALBOM is an internationally renowned and best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster and musician.

His books have collectively sold over 28 million copies worldwide; have been published in forty-one territories and in forty-two languages around the world; and have been made into Emmy Award-winning and critically-acclaimed television movies.

Mitch was born on May 23, 1958 in Passaic, New Jersey, the middle of three children to Rhoda and Ira Albom. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1979 at Brandeis

University in Waltham, Massachusetts, majoring in sociology. In his early 20’s, while living in New York, he took an interest in journalism and volunteered to work for a local weekly paper, the Queens Tribune.

Mitch eventually turned full-time to his writing, working as a freelance sports journalist in New York for publications such as Sports Illustrated, GEO, and The

Philadelphia Inquirer. His first full time newspaper job was as a feature writer and eventual sports columnist for The Fort Lauderdale News and Sun Sentinel in Florida.

He moved to Detroit in 1985, where he became a nationally-acclaimed sports journalist at the Detroit Free Press and one of the best-known media figures in that city’s history, working in newspapers, radio and television. He currently hosts a daily talk show on WJR radio (airs Monday through Friday, 5-7 p.m. EST) and appears regularly on ESPN Sports Reporters and SportsCenter.

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In 1995, he married Janine Sabino. That same year he re-encountered Morrie

Schwartz, a former college professor who was dying of ALS, also known as Lou

Gehrig’s disease. His visits with Schwartz would lead to the book Tuesdays with

Morrie, which moved Mitch away from sports and began his career as an internationally recognized author.

Tuesdays with Morrie is the chronicle of Mitch’s time spent with his beloved professor. As a labor of love, Mitch wrote the book to help pay Morrie’s medical bills. It spent four years on Bestseller list and is now the most successful memoir ever published. His first novel, The Five People You Meet in

Heaven, is the most successful US hardcover first adult novel ever. For One More

Day debuted at No.1 on the New York Times Bestseller List and spent nine months on the list. In October 2006, For One More Day was the first book chosen by

Starbucks in the newly launched Book Break Program, which also helped fight illiteracy by donating one dollar from every book sold to Jumpstart. His most recent,

Have a Little Faith, was released in September 2009 and selected by Oprah.com as the best nonfiction book of 2009.

An award-winning journalist and radio host, Albom wrote the screenplay for both For One More Day and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and is an established playwright, having authored numerous pieces for the theater, including the off-Broadway version of Tuesdays With Morrie (co-written with ) which has seen over one hundred productions across the US and Canada.

Takens from: http://mitchalbom.com/bio. Accessed on February 17th, 2011 at 08.15 a.m.

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Appendix 3

LESSON PLAN TO TEACH PUBLIC SPEAKING I

Subject : Public Speaking I

Skill : Speaking

Level : Semester IV of English Education Study Program

Time : 2 x 50 minutes

Materials :

- The Fifth Chapter of the novel Tuesdays with Morrie, pages 90- 97

- Handouts of Participating in Group Discussion

Standard Competence :

Students are able to increase their fluency and confidence in speaking English.

Basic Competence :

Students are able to express their thoughts and opinions in a group discussion.

Objective :

Students are able to state their own opinions about how to raise and maintain the spirit of people with terminal diseases through a group discussion.

Achievement Indicators :

The students are able to:

1. Explain the definition and the kinds of terminal disease in their own words.

2. Mention the possible mental and social effects from suffering a terminal disease to

the sufferers.

3. Mention the ways to raise spirit for people with a terminal disease.

4. Mention the ways to maintain spirit of people with a terminal disease.

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Learning Activities :

1. Pre Activities (15’):

- The students answer the teacher’s questions related to a terminal disease: what

they feelings are if they suffer from the disease, what they should do to raise their

own spirit (The students have read the part five of the novel Tuesdays with Morrie

before the meeting) (5’).

- The students read the material about discussion (10’).

2. Whilst Activities (55’):

- The students make a group of five and choose the group leader (5’).

- The students prepare to conduct a discussion by making a draft of what they are

going to say in the discussion (15’).

- The students discuss about ways to maintain the spirit of people with terminal

disease (35’).

- The students jot down important things from the discussion.

3. Past Activities (30’):

- The students make a conclusion about their discussion (15’).

- The students report the discussion to the class spoken (15’).

- The students make summary of their discussion as homework which is to be

submitted in the next meeting.

Evaluation :

Teacher evaluates the students from:

1. Accuracy of content of the students’ discussion with the topic given.

2. Fluency, pronunciation, cooperation, and confidence of the students.

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Appendix 4 Learning Material

Participating in Group Discussions

If you follow these steps, or this path, you will be able to organize your group discussion into a logical sequence of events so that all participants can find one or more solutions to a problem.

Step 1: Identify a Problem Choose a problem that interests all participants. The discussion will be much livelier if all group members feel personally involved and committed to solving the problem. Example: One group of students chose the problem of children in the U.S. being less physically fit than ever before.

Step 2: Prove the Problem Exists Present evidence that your group’s problem truly exists. Find statistics, refer to your own personal experiences or the experiences of people you know, quote expert sources, or give specific incidences of the problem that have been reported in the news. Example Children in the U.S. are less physically fit than ever before. 1. The Harvard School of Public Health research has found alarming increases in the rate of obesity since 1960. a. Fifty-four percent increase among six- to eleven-year-olds. b. Thirty-nine percent increase among twelve- to seventeen-year-olds. 2. A Chrysler Fund Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) study found the average weight of twelve- to thirteen-year-olds has increased eight pounds over the past decade with only a slight increase in height.

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Step 3: Explain the Causes of the Problem Present information that reveals the causes of the problem. Brainstorming can help you discover this information. As you brainstorm, follow the guidelines below: - Think of as many ideas as you can. Anyone may contribute ideas at any time. The more ideas, the better. - Do not criticize or evaluate ideas at this point. Even a “bad” idea may provoke a better one from someone else. - When you can think of no more ideas, evaluate the ones your group came up with. Keep the cause that are most relevant; discard the others. Example Children in the U.S. are less physically fit than ever before. 1. Diets high in fat, salt, and sugar. 2. Pollution and/or crime making it unsafe for children to play outside. 3. TV and video games that encourage children to remain indoors. 4. Deterioration of physical-fitness instruction in schools.

Step 4: Predict Possible Future Effects of the Problem Predict what is likely to happen if the problem is not solved. You could explain, for example, how people or society in general might be affected. Example Children in the U.S. are less physically fit than ever before. 1. There will be increased physical problems in adulthood causing much human suffering. 2. Billions of dollars will be spent on medical problems. a. Higher medical insurance premiums. b. More out-of-pocket medical expenses. 3. There will be lower productivity due to increased absenteeism from work.

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Step 5: Present Possible Solutions to the Problem Brainstorm ways this problem might be solved. Present suggestions made by authorities and concerned individuals. Also, give your opinions about how to solve the problem. Example Children in the U.S. are less physically fit than ever before. 1. Pressure local schools to offer daily physical-education classes for elementary and high school students. 2. Pressure the schools to put more emphasis on good nutrition. 3. Encourage parents to limit their children’s TV and video game time.

6. Select the Best Solutions Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each proposed solution. Select the best solutions.

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70 Job Description of a Group Leader

1. Introduce the Participants Introduce the members of the group to each other and to the audience, if present. 2. State the Problem to Be Discussed Introduce the problem to be discussed and briefly explain the organizational plan to be followed. 3. Make Sure That the Organizational Plan Is Followed Make certain group follows the organizational plan in order and does not skip steps. If a group member goes off on a tangent, it’s your job to get him or her back on track. For example, you might say, ”Let’s get back to that point later,” or “That’s an interesting comment, but let’s finish what we are currently discussing.” 4. Encourage All Group Members to Participate To encourage shy group members to speak, you might call on them by name and ask, ”What do you think about that?” or “Do you have any information to add?” 5. Provide Transition Between Each Step Summarize each step in the group discussion before going on to the next step. Example I’m sure you agree that we have presented some rather compelling proof that this problem exists. We will now discuss several causes of this very serious problem. 6. Bring the Discussion to a Close After twenty to twenty-five minutes, conclude the discussion. Concluding a discussion is similar to providing a summary and memorable concluding remarks for a speech. 7. Thank the Participants After concluding the discussion, be sure to thank the participants for their time and hard work. If an audience is present, thank them for listening.

Taken from: Participating in Group Discussions

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Tips for Participating in a group Discussion 

1. Prepare If you know what the topic of the discussion will be, there is a lot you can do to prepare in advance. You can read round the topic to make sure you are aware of the main issues and arguments, and spend some time deciding what your own position is. If you can find any English-language audio or TV materials about the topic, make sure you watch it! You can also do some vocabulary research around the topic so that you can talk about it confidently. Make a list of the nouns, verbs and adjectives that you think will be useful and practise their pronunciation. A lot of online dictionaries have pronunciation help.

2. Listen An effective discussion is one in which people listen to each other. Listening is a very important discussion skill: make sure you listen and respond to what other people have to say. A good discussion is one in which people share and talk about different opinions and viewpoints. It's not a competition!

3. Don't dominate Many people make the mistake of thinking that in order to be effective in a discussion, they have to speak a lot. In fact, this isn't the case. In discussions, quality is more important than quantity: in other words, what you say is often much more important than how much you say. If you give other people a chance to say what they think, and then respond with a polite, intelligent comment which you are able to back up, you will gain the respect of your colleagues.

4. Back up your points If you make a point in a discussion, you may be asked to explain or support it. You can do this in a number of ways: by providing facts or statistics to support your idea; by quoting expert opinion; by referring to your own experience or simply by explaining why you said what you said. But make sure you are prepared to support what you say, and try to avoid making 'empty' points.

5. Learn some useful phrases There are lots of useful phrases that you can use in discussions. Here are just a few of them: o Agreeing: You're absolutely right about that. o Disagreeing: I'm sorry, I don't see it that way at all. o Interrupting: Sorry, do you mind if I say something here? o Dealing with interruptions: Could I just finish what I'm saying? o Asking for an explanation: Would you mind telling us what exactly you mean by that? o Asking for more information: Would you mind saying a little bit more about that? o Adding more information: Another point I'd like to make is... There are many more phrases you can learn and use to help you feel more confident in discussions.

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6. Be polite The words argue and discuss in English have different meanings. People may get angry and behave rudely or shout or get aggressive in an argument. In a discussion, especially one with colleagues, it's important to stay calm and be polite, even if you feel strongly about the topic under discussion. Using words like please, thank you, I'd like to... May I...? Would you mind...? Could you...? Make you sound polite and respectful.

7. Take / make notes It's a good idea to have a pen and paper handy. You can jot down any useful or important words or ideas that might come in handy later in the discussion - or afterwards.

8. Speak clearly Most people are happy to forgive a few grammar mistakes when they are talking to a foreigner. However, they have much less patience when they can't understand someone because they are talking far too quickly, or much too slowly, or when they have poor pronunciation. So, practise your pronunciation and speak clearly and confidently. If you need time to collect your thoughts, you could say something like Hmmm... just let me have a minute to think about this. Or you could say Could you just repeat that please? to get a bit more time to think.

9. Relax! Remember, a discussion is not a competition: it's an opportunity to share ideas in a positive environment. If you are relaxed, you will be more likely to feel confident and enjoy the discussion - and the best way to make sure you are relaxed in a discussion is to prepare for it! Preparing for a discussion can make the discussion a lot easier. You'll be able to spend less time trying to think of vocabulary and ideas, and more time listening to others and participating in the discussion. Speak slowly and clearly, don't worry too much about little grammar mistakes, and remember to listen and respond to other people.

Taken from: http://myenglishguru.com/skills/speaking/group-discussion.html

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Appendix 5

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