The Conflicts of the Main Character in “The Sound of Music” Karissa Mitha Harijanto 1213009010 Abstract Most people enjoy watching films. One of the films that teaches a lot of life lessons is The Sound of Music, a legendary musical film that was made in 1965. In this thesis, the writer analyzes the main character in the film, Maria von Trapp, as the focus of the study. The objective of the study is to find out the conflicts that happen to Maria, the possible causes of the conflicts, how Maria manages the conflicts, and the effects of Maria’s presence in the von Trapp family. The analysis found that Maria faced two internal and four external conflicts. The possible causes of the conflicts came from both outside and inside Maria herself. However, Maria managed the conflict quite well with a little help from the Reverend Mother. Maria brought significant changes to the von Trapp family. She made the von Trapp family, who had been so stiff and gloomy since the death of the mother, happy and warm again. Keywords: conflict, main character, The Sound of Music Introduction According to Roberts & Jacobs (1989), literature helps audience to grow personally and intellectually. Literature mostly tells about the reflection of human life. It tells about many kinds of people, how they live their lives, the ups and downs of their lives, and how they face the problem in their live. The aim of literature is to enable audience to learn something from their works by referring to how the characters in the story face their problems. Despite all the benefits of literature, not everybody can understand it well especially the written literature, which is found to be more difficult to understand. Some readers find it difficult to digest “heavy stuffs” without any helps from images and sounds. Fortunately, there are several kinds of oral literature that might help people to understand literature easier. Those literatures belong to spoken literature, such as plays and dramas that now have its more modern version that is called film. The writer focuses the study on a film because she believes that people nowadays watch films more frequently rather than plays or dramas. However, not every film is worth watching. There is a bunch of films that does not reflect human life nor teach the audience about life. Those films do not help the audience to grow both personally and intellectually. For example, there are films which even give negative influences on young people because they show violence, hedonism, rebellion, etc. Among the films the writer has watched so far, she found one musical film she watched in her childhood entitled “The Sound of Music”. The film is not only beautiful but also extraordinary valuable because it really teaches the audience the value of life and helps them to grow personally and intellectually. It won a total of five Academy Awards, and in 2001, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry as it was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. The main character of the film is Maria. She is a nun candidate who unexpectedly falls in love with the man for whom she works as governess. She has to choose a very difficult path in her life, being a nun or a wife. Maria’s journey to achieve what she is destined in life is very interesting. Her journey is full of conflicts from which the audience can take many lessons. Conflict Conflict is a clash of action, ideas, desires, or wills (Perrine, 1966). The center conflict in this film itself is about choosing two paths of life that are completely different. One path is the path that is easier to take because it is not too risky and do not trigger people to condemn that choice, while the other path is the path that is rarely taken and it needs a lot of courage to take it. The clash of wills happens inside the character. The conflicts happen in the story are divided into two major types: Internal and External Conflicts. Internal conflict is a conflict that happens within a character’s mind. The conflict happens between a character with his own wills and desires. External conflict is a conflict that happens between a character and other things outside of him. Parenting Style One of the most important things that has a significant influence on a child development is the way parents treat their children, parenting style. Children grow up in various kinds of family. The way parents nurture their children also varies. The development of children strongly depends on their parents’ parenting style. A good parenting style will produce a well-educated child, and vice versa. There are four main types of parenting styles according to Baumrind (1971, 1996). They are authoritarian parenting, authoritative parenting, neglectful parenting, and indulgent parenting. Authoritarian Parenting is a parenting style that is full of restriction and punishment. Authoritarian parents always have their children follow their directions and respect them. They do not want to have any argument with their children. Unlike authoritarian parents, authoritative parents do not punish their children; they prefer talking from heart-to-heart with their children to solve problems. The communication in authoritative environment happens in both ways. Meanwhile, neglectful parents tend to neglect their children. They are not involved in their children’s lives. They set no limits for their children and do not care of their children’s needs. The last type, indulgent parents, are highly involved in children’s live but set a very few limits for their children. They tend to avoid confrontation with their children and choose to grant all their children’s wishes. The Main Character’s Conflicts There are six conflicts faced by the main character of the story. The two of them are internal conflicts and four of them are external conflicts. The first conflict that happens is between Maria’s free soul and the abbey rules. Maria was very adventurous. She has a free soul and could not be bounded with strict rules. On the other hand, an abbey is a place where everyone has to obey the rules applied there. Maria often broke the rules in the abbey and most of the nuns there started questioning her qualification as a nun candidate. Here are some quoted lyrics of a song that was sung by the nuns when they were discussing Maria. “She's always late for chapel But her penitence is real She's always late for everything Except for every meal I hate to have to say it But I very firmly feel Maria's not an asset to the abbey” Finally the Reverend Mother decided to sent Maria out as a governess for the Von Trapp family who needed one. This family consisted of Captain Von Trapp and his seven children whose mother had passed away for a long time. For the time being, the problem was solved because Maria no longer lived in the abbey. The second conflict that happens is the one between Maria’s adventurous spirit and her fear of the Von Trapp family. When Maria was sent out from the abbey to become a governess for the Von Trapp family, she felt pretty scared. As a young woman who is adventurous, she might like this new experience, but since she had no experience in being a governess and never known the Von Trapp family, Maria felt pretty scared and worried. To drive away her fear, Maria sang a song entitled “I Have Confidence” along the way to the Captain’s house. Some parts of the lyrics, which are encouraging, are quoted below. “Oh I must stop all these doubts All these worries If I don't I just know I'll turn back I must dream of the things I am seeking I am seeking the courage I lack I have confidence in sunshine I have confidence in rain I have confidence that spring will come again” The third conflict that happens is between Maria and the Captain. When Maria first came to the house, she already disagreed with the Captain in the way of educating the children. The Captain used military way to treat them. He blew whistles, gave orders, taught his children to march, and obligated them to wear uniform. The conflict was getting worse when Maria brought the children to play outside and did some dangerous activity such as climbing trees. The Captain was very angry that he decided to fire Maria. However, the voice of his children singing surprisingly warmed his heart and made him see that he was wrong all this time and Maria was right. In the end, the Captain asked Maria to stay. Not only with the Captain, Maria also faced a problem with the children at first. The Von Trapp children did not want a governess to take care of them. They had always succeeded in driving away all the governesses that came to their house. It could be an action of protest to their father because he never paid attention to them. As the previous governesses, Maria was their next target. On her first day, the children put a frog on her pocket and at dinner they put a pinecone on her seat. Surprisingly, Maria was not angry and did not take it to her heart. She tried to understand the children and be friends with them. Maria treated them differently from how their father did. Maria was more patient and easy going. She did not treat the children like soldiers.