personality development of the main character as
TRANSCRIPT
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAIN
CHARACTER AS INFLUENCED BY FAMILY CONFLICT IN
SEAN PENN’S INTO THE WILD MOVIE SCRIPT
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
DANIEL PUTRA SETYAWAN
Student Number: 114214050
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2018
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PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAIN
CHARACTER AS INFLUENCED BY FAMILY CONFLICT IN
SEAN PENN’S INTO THE WILD MOVIE SCRIPT
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
DANIEL PUTRA SETYAWAN
Student Number: 114214050
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2018
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“HAPPINESS IS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED”
Chris Mccandless
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would never finish this thesis without help, support, and love that comes
from a lot people in my life. First of all, I would like to thank Allah SWT and the
universe, for all of the blessing given to me in my ups and downs. I realize
without his blessing and guidance I would have never finished this thesis. I also
would like to express my gratitude to my father, my mother and my brother, for
the support, prayer and love they send to. I aslo thank to all GSM brothers who
stand next to me in every condition that I have been through.
I also realize that this Undergraduate Thesis would have never finished
without the guidance from Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum and Drs.
Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum who spend their time to guide and help me
finishing this thesis. Thank you for the patience and advice.
I also would express my deepest gratitude to all my friends who support
through my difficult time in finishing this thesis, to my friends in Sanata Dharma
University, Wira, Indah, and Oksa. Thank you very much for the good times. I
really appreciate their support to finish this thesis, God bless.
Daniel Putra Setyawan
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE.........................................................................................................ii
APPROVAL PAGE..............................................................................................iii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE.........................................................................................iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH
UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS .............................................................. iv
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .................................................................... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................... viii
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... x
ABSTRAK .............................................................................................................. xi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 1
A. Background of the Study .................................................................. 1
B. Problem Formulation ........................................................................ 4
C. Objectives of the Study..................................................................... 5
D. Definition of Terms .......................................................................... 5
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE .................................................... 6
A. Review of Related Studies ................................................................ 6
B. Review of Related Theories ............................................................. 8
1. Theory of Character and Characterization ................................. 8
2. Theory of Personality Development ........................................ 10
3. Theory of Conflict ................................................................... 12
4. Theory of Family Conflict ....................................................... 13
5. Theory of the Relation between Literature and Psychology .... 17
C. Theoretical Framework ................................................................... 17
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY .................................................................. 18
A. Object of the Study ......................................................................... 18
B. Approach of the Study .................................................................... 20
C. Method of the Study ....................................................................... 21
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 22
A. The description of The Main Character .......................................... 22
1. Christopher’s Personalities before his Graduation .................. 24
2. Christopher’s Personalities after his Graduation ..................... 28
B. The Description of Chris’ Family and the Family Conflict............ 35
1. The Description of Chris’ Family Condition ........................... 35
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2. The Family Conflicts Chris Experienced................................. 37
C. Christopher Mccandless’ Personality Development....................... 40
1. From being Introverted Person into being
an Extroverted Person.............................................................. 40
2. From being Skeptical Person into Being a Realistic Person .... 41
3. From being Obedient Person into being a Rebellious Person . 42
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 44
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 47
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ABSTRACT
SETYAWAN, DANIEL PUTRA. PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT OF
THE MAIN CHARACTER AS INFLUENCED BY FAMILY CONFLICT IN
SEAN PENN’S INTO THE WILD MOVIE SCRIPT. Yogyakarta: Department
of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2018.
The object of this study is the movie script of Into the Wild. Into the Wild
is a story that was adapted from a book by John Krakauer and the story is based
on true event. This study analyzes on the main character of the story, Christopher
Mccandless and focuses on his personality development which is influenced by
family conflict.
There are three objectives of this study. The first is to describe Chris’
personality. The second is to describe his family condition and his family conflict.
The third is to find the personality development experienced by Chris after facing
family conflicts.
The writer employs library research as the method of the study. The
primary source is the movie script from the movie Into the Wild. The secondary
sources of this study are the theory of character and characterization, theory of
personality and theory of conflict.
The first question of the problem formulation is to analyze Chris’
personality before and after his turning point of the personality development. In
the story, Chris is an introverted, skeptical and obedient guy. Chris grows in a bad
family life. He wants to get attention and love from his parents but his parents are
always too busy with their job. Moreover, He also finds a truth that his birth was
not under legal marriage. This fact makes him feel like an illegitimate child. Chris
also witnesses the controversy between his parents. He watches they fight each
other, even several attempts of divorce have been done by his parents. The last
question is to analyze the development of Chris personality after experiencing
family conflicts. Chris runs from home and his family, wanders to Alaska alone.
In the journey, Chris turns to be extroverted, realistic and rebellious person.
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ABSTRAK
SETYAWAN, DANIEL PUTRA. PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT OF
THE MAIN CHARACTER AS INFLUENCED BY FAMILY CONFLICT IN
SEAN PENN’S INTO THE WILD MOVIE SCRIPT. Yogyakarta: Program
Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2018.
Bahan dari studi ini adalah sebuah skrip dari film yang berjudul Into the
Wild. Into the Wild adalah sebuah kisah nyata yang diangkat dari sebuah buku
berjudul yang ditulis oleh John Krakauer. Studi ini mengalisis tokoh utama dari
cerita, Christopher Mccandless dan berfokus di perubahan kepribadian yang
dipengaruhi oleh konflik keluarga.
Ada tiga tujuan di dalam studi ini. Yang pertama adalah menjelaskan
kepribadian Christopher. Kedua, menjelaskan tentang kondisi keluarga dan
konflik keluarga yang terjadi. Ketiga, menganilsa perubahan sikap yang
dipengaruhi oleh konflik keluarga.
Penulis menerapkan riset pustaka sebagai metode studi yang digunakan.
Sumber utama adalah skript film Into the Wild. Adapun buku teori pendukung
yaitu teori karakter, teori kepribadian, dan teori konflik keluarga.
Pertanyaan pertama pada rumusan masalah adalah menegaskan bagaimana
kepribadian Chris sebelum dan sesudah dia mengalami titik balik dari perubahan
kepribadiannya. Di dalam cerita, Chris adalah sesesorang yang tertutup, skeptis
dan penurut. Chris tumbuh di dalam kehidupan keluarga yang buruk. Dia
mengharapkan perhantian dan kasih sayang dari orang tuanya namun kedua orang
tuangnya terlalu sibuk dengan pekerjaan mereka. Terlebih, dia juga menemukan
fakta bahwa dia dilahirkan diluar pernikahan resmi. Kenyataan ini membuatnya
merasa seperti anak haram. Chris juga mensaksikan kontrovesi antara kedua orang
tuanya. Dia mensaksikan mereka bertengkar satu sama lain, bahkan beberapa
percobaan perceraian sempat dilakukan oleh orang tuanya. Pertanyaan terakhir
adalah menganalisa perubahan kepribadian Chris setelah mengalami konflik
konflik keluarga. Chris kabur dari rumah dan berkelana menuju Alaska sendiri. Di
perjalanannya, kepribadiannya berubah. Chris menjadi seseorang yang terbuka,
realistis dan memberontak.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literature has an important role in human being life and literature may
give the readers pleasure and satisfaction. Literary work is not only able to
entertain us but it also gives us a new different point of view. According to
Hudson in Introduction to The Study of Literature, “literature is representation of
what human beings have been through and experienced in life, in the other way is
that a literature is a reflection of life through language as the media” (2006:10).
That can be meant that every literary work contains specific value which is
important in our daily life. Literature is always developing through different era.
There are a plenty of types of literary work such as novel, poem, drama or short
story. As literary work, it must have values and present human life and manner
(Wellek and Warren, 1956: 216).
There are so many forms of literary works, such as poem, prose, novel and
drama. In this modern era, it is quite often that a literary work is adopted into a
movie and it is still considered to be a form of literary work. Astruc stated that “A
film maker/an author writes with his camera as a writer writes with his pen”
(1971:11). What makes a movie really close to literature is that a film must have
a script because a script is supposed to be in written form just like a literary work.
This is also supported by Giannetti’s statement that “a film script is rarely
and autonomous literary product” (1987: 265). Due to that closeness, a movie can
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be analyzed in similar way to a literary work, as both of them have similarity on
both aesthetic values and elements. In his book The Art of Watching Film, Joseph
M. Boggs stated “Literature and films do have many elements in common, and
though they are different mediums, they communicate many things in similar
way” (1978: 20). Therefore, a literary analysis also can be applied on film
analysis as Boggs explained “perspective film analysis is built in the elements
used in literary analysis and if we apply what we have learned in the study of
literature to our analysis film, we are far ahead of those who do not” (1978:20).
What we are always going to find while we are reading a story or watching
movie is a character. Character is an important element inside a story because
sometimes, a character really guides the reader to the plot of a story or to the main
idea of a story. Abrams stated is his book, A Glossary of Literary Terms:
Characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who
are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional,
and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say –the dialogue-
and what they do –the action- (1981: 23)
It can be said that every single thing that a character does or every word
that comes from the character will define the personality of a character. In his
book Personality Theories, Hjelle and Ziegler stated that human beings are
unique, their personality is unpredictable and their behaviour is complex (1981:1).
Every human being is different, their behaviour barely can be predicted.
This study is based on the movie script of the movie Into the Wild. A story
which was experienced by Christopher McCandless, his journey was chronicled in
a novel, Into the Wild by John Kraekuer. The novel Into the Wild was adapted into
a film by Sean Penn with the same tittle. The movie Into the Wild was released in
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2007. This study is based on the movie script of the film version and also focuses
on the main character, Christopher McCandless.
Into the Wild is a story about the journey of a young guy named
Christopher Mccandless and his family life. Christopher McCandless was a young
man from rich and well educated family with unusual personality. He was a
unique and smart guy. Christopher grew under the controversy between his father
and mother. All of those things made him away from his parents. His mother and
father were also not doing well in their affair. It was a little bit odd since his
parents were so rich and gave everything that Chris needed but he still did not feel
happy. All of those complicated things build Christopher’s personality until
finally he finally turned like someone else. Christopher ran away from his family.
He left everything that he loved and went to travel, lived on the road on his own.
He ended up in Alaska which was the main goal of his journey He spent more
than 100 days in Alaska. He survived, he ate plant, completely survived on his
own depending to the wild life. Christopher did not have a good relationship with
his parents and his hatred grew bigger while he was in journey. Unfortunately, the
story has tragic ending, Chris died because he mistakenly consumed a poisonous
fruit in Alaska wild life. Christopher’s corpse was found by some hunters two
weeks after his last breath inside an abandoned bus in the middle of Alaska land.
However, as the writer mentioned earlier that the character in this story is
extremely unique, Christopher denied all of the things that his parents offered.
The uniqueness of the main in this movie makes it interesting. The story becomes
really interesting not only because it has a strong character but also it has an
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unpredictable ending. As seen from the strong main character which Into the Wild
has, the writer realizes that a strong or good character does not just suddenly come
up by itself. There must be something that builds a character’s personality, in this
story one of the cause that gives massive impact to Christopher’s personality
development is his relationship with this family. In this movie there are a lot of
scenes that show the conflict between Christopher and his family, as Roberts and
Jacobs also said that “every single moment, action, interaction, speech and also
conflict that was experienced by a character, is able to give impact to the plot of a
story or to the character” (1987: 119).
This study analyzes and focuses on the character’s personality
development and the conflicts of the main character especially on the family
conflicts that was experienced by Christopher Mccandless. The writer believes
that the family conflicts in this story takes the biggest part which determines the
main character’s developments.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the background of the study, the problem can be formulated into
the following questions
1. How is the personality of Chris described in the story?
2. How are the family conflicts portrayed in the story?
3. How do the family conflicts influence Chris’s personality development?
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C. Objectives of the Study
The focus of the study is the personality development as revealed through
the conflict, especially family conflict that was experienced through by the main
character Christopher Mccandless in Sean Penn’s movie script, Into the Wild. The
objective of the study here is also as a guideline to help the writer answer the
research question in problem formulation.
The first objective is to find out and describe the personality of
Christopher Mccandless in the whole story. The second objective is to identify the
family conflicts that the character has dealt with. This objective is also to prove
that family conflict is the reason behind his personality development.
D. Definition of Terms
This is the definition of several terms that is used in this thesis, the
definition of terms here is also in order to avoid misunderstanding.
The first term is personality development. Hurlock in Personality
Development stated that personality development is a state in growth constantly
changing and evoking process within an individual (1976:7).
The second term is family conflict. Noller and Fitzpatrick said that family
conflict occurs when family member do not agree about the events and situation
in their lives. They probably disagree about situation, the choice are made or the
way the person are shared (1993:99).
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
There are two undergraduate theses which the writer uses as references in
this research. These two undergraduate theses are Krismadi’s “The Impact of
Family’s Conflict toward Pari’s Personality Development Seen in Khaled
Hosseini’s And the Mountain Echoed” and Prihantoro’s “The Criticism Towards
The Idea of Self Reliance In the 20th Century American Society as Revealed
Through The Main Character in Sean Penn’s Into The Wild Movie Script”.
In his research, Krismadi uses a novel entitled And the Mountain Echoed
by Khaled Hosseini. And the Mountain Echoed is a fiction novel. The novel is
telling about a story of a girl named Pari and her journey to seek his brother.
Through her journey and the conflict which is experienced by Pari, Krismadi
focuses in Pari’s personality development and Family conflict. Krismadi find out
that Pari personality is changing after some conflicts, especially family conflicts
that she experienced.
In this part of analysis, the writer provides the personality change of Pari
which is affected by the conflict which happens in her past. The conflicts are in
the scope of her family (2016: 47).
The writer applies the similar method that Krismadi uses in his research
since the writer found that this thesis has a little bit similarity with Krismadi’s
thesis, which is focusing in family conflict. However this undergraduate thesis
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concerns in the same issue in different object, Into the Wild’s movie script from
Sean Penn. It proves that this undergraduate thesis is clearly different compared to
Krimadi’s because of the difference of the object of the study.
Another study is Prihantoro’s research. He uses the same object with this
undergraduate thesis Into the Wild’s movie script by Sean Penn. Prihantoro
analyses the main character and concern on the self-reliance. Prihantaro explains
the characteristic of the main character, Christopher Mccandless. From his
characteristic, it can show us the idea self-reliance of American society in
twentieth century which are independent, determined and nonconformist.
Prihantoro analyses the self-reliance through the character and his personality.
This study sees that the idea of self-reliance as a certain motivation as the
reason for behaving as character does. This specific motivation in his
immediate reason, perhaps unconscious, for any particular speech or act
(2011:28).
The studies above focus on personality of the main character. Since
Prihantoro’s study and this study analyses the same object Into the Wild with
different point of view and subject, this study is completely different from
Prihantoro’s. The difference between Prihantoro’s study and this study is that this
study reveals the personality development as caused by the family conflict while
Prihantoro’s study is concerning in self-reliance.
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B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
This study focuses on Christopher Mccandless, the main character which
almost involved in my scene of the movie and the key of the story Into the Wild
by Sean Penn. In the book A Glossary of Literary Terms, Abrams stated that
“character is one of literary genre, it is short and usually sketch in prose of a
distinctive type of person” (1981: 23). According to Robert and Jacobs:
There are two types of character, they are round and flat character. Round
character is usually a major character of a story. Round character’s trait is
always developing or changing, round character is dynamic. The other
type of character is flat character. Flat character does not really take a big
part in a story, however its trait and role are not really important. Flat
character usually does not give significant change or not at all and it is
usually a minor character (1987:120-121). Abrams also said that there are two ways to present a characterization.
They are showing (also called “the dramatic method”) and telling. In showing, the
author presents the characters talking and acting, it leaves the reader to infer what
motives and dispositions lie behind what they say and do. The other one is telling,
the author intervenes in order to evaluate, the motives and disposal qualities of the
character (1981: 24). In the book How to Analyze Drama, Reaske said that “a
character is the fictitious creation of person presented in dramatic or narrative
work that can be interpreted through the combination of the dialogue and action
expressed” (1966: 40).
The writer uses the theory of characterization from Reaske’s book How to
Analyze Drama due to the similar form between play and movie script. Reaske
also explains that there are six methods of characterization. They are (1966: 44-
48):
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1. The appearance of the character
Through the appearance of the characters, we can learn about them. Whether
the character is old or young, small or large, attractive or unattractive, etc.
This appearance may be visible as well from narrator’s description or the
opinion from another character toward the particular character.
2. Aside and soliloquies
We can also understand a character through aside and soliloquies. A character
is telling his specific characteristics when he speaks in short aside or longer
soliloquies. For example: a romantic character, he has the tendency of using a
poetic statements. From that we can figure out that he is a romantic person for
using poetic statement which he speaks in short aside.
3. Dialogues between character
Through the dialogue or the way he speaks to the other character, we can also
learn about a character personality.
4. Hidden narration
Sometimes, there is character that is never directly described by the
playwright or narrator. In this case, we can learn about the character through
the hidden narration or the narration from one character about another
character.
5. Language
From the character’s language, we can also learn about a character. The
words spoken by the character and the way the character speaks are two
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important parts in language which can be used to learn a character’s
characteristic.
6. Character in auction
This is when we learn a character by the time he acts on stage or in a scene.
We learn about a character from his gesture or his acting inside a stage. Those
theories above are helpful to understand the characteristic of a character.
Understanding the character’s characteristic helps the writer to learn about the
character’s personality.
2. Theory of Personality Development
The theory of personality here is needed in order to reveal the personality
of the main character before and after he experienced the personality
development.
By applying theory of personality, the writer will be able to dig and reveal
the character of the story. According to Hurlock, “personality is the dynamic
organization within the individual of those psychological system which
determines his behavior and thought” (1976:7).
The writer can say that personality is something which differentiate a
human being to the other human being. Every person in this world exactly has
their own personality which is going to work as a personal or individual identity
for human. In the other word, personality also may define or describe who a
person really is. Hurlock also said in her book, Personality Development about the
definition of personality.
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The term “personality” is derived from the Latin word persona, which
mean “mask”. Among the Greek, Actors used a mask to hide their identity
on stage. This dramatic technique was later adopted by the Romans to
whom persona denoted “as one appears to others”, not as one actually is
(1976:6).
In order to describe the personality development of the main character,
several personality development theories are needed by the writer. Hurlock
explained that personality change requires effort from the person itself, they are
usually coming from multiple revisions in the thought or feeling related to person
self-concept (1976:124).
In Hurlock’s Personality Development, it is also stated that there are
several conditions which are responsible for a personality change. Those are
physical damage, environment, significant people, social pressure change, role
change, strong motivation, changes in the self-concept and psychotherapy. In
normal person usually there are more than one causes of personality changes.
These cause may or no be interrelated (1976:124). It means that every person has
different reason or cause of personality changes, several conditions are not related
to a person’s personality change. For example, not every person’s personality
changes through a significant person. Some people can change due to his
environment or their way of thinking. There are two most suitable causes for this
thesis, they are significant people and strong motivation.
Most personality is influenced by another person’s personality. The person
could be family, friends or even lover. It depends on the how much a person’s
attitude differs from the individual and it also depends on how often they spend
time together.
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A change is happening when the desire or motivation to improve the
personality is strong enough. Most people become over motivated to change their
traits by the time they are in need to achieve some goals in their life.
3. Theory of Conflict
The theory of conflict is used by the writer in order to explain how the
conflicts lead the main character’s personality development.
Literary work is the reflection of our life, it means that literary work also
has the same element which we face in our reality. This study takes one of those
elements as the material, which it is conflict. Holman and Harmon say that
“conflicts are the struggle that grows out of the two opposing forces in a plot”
(1986:107).
Holman and Harmon (1986) also state that conflict will occur in different
situations or conditions such as:
1. A struggle against nature
The character’s struggle against natural phenomenon such as flood, hurricane,
tornado, earthquake and another phenomenon that caused by natural forces.
2. A struggle against person
The character’s struggle when the character deal with another character. It can
be a single person or a group of people.
3. A struggle against society
The character’s struggle when the character deal with society’s value systems.
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4. A struggle against fate or destiny
The character’s struggle when the character deal with their destiny, in another
word they deal with their creator, God. It shows when they try to change their
destiny or fate.
In the book A Second Book of Plays, Redman explains that “there are two
types of conflict, internal conflict and external conflict (1964: 363). He defines
internal conflict as a struggle inside the heart or mind of the major character and
external conflict as a struggle between the major characters an outside force. It
can be against the other character or the environment. As the writer concludes
from Redman’s explanation, family conflict is inside the range of external conflict
because it is a struggle against outside force.
However, in literary work, conflict is one crucial element which builds a
story. The appearance of conflict in a literary work keeps the story alive.
Sometimes a literary work has more than just one single conflict in it. As we can
get from Holman and Harmon’s statement above that a conflict can happen in
various way. One of the causes that we are going to discuss in this study is a
conflict that happens between two forces persons which it means that the
character deals with another human being, it can be a person or a group.
4. Theory of Family Conflict
Family, according to Galvin and Brommel “family is a group of people
that every human being is involved in. It is a group of people who live in together
in a long periods and all of us are connected each other. The connection is going
through marriage, blood or a specific commitment” (1986:4). Cheal also states in
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his book that “Family is considered to be any group which consists of people in
intimate relationships which are believed to endured over time and across
generations” (2002:4).
Miller explains that there are eleven kinds of family structure, they are
(1980: 2):
1. The two-parents and natural children
This kind of family is the most common family and still has the greater
percentage of family units today. This kind of family consists of father,
mother and their natural children.
2. The blended
This is the two parent of family in which children live with their parents but
only one of them whom is their natural father or mother.
3. A couple who does not want children
This type of family only consists of two people, husband and wife.
4. Grandparents who take care of their children
In some cases, parents are unable to take care their children so the
grandparents take care the children and live with them.
5. Grandchildren or grandparents who live by themselves
This family consists of only grandchildren or grandparents in one house.
6. Single parents
The most common cause that established this type is the death of a spouse, so
there is only one parent left and live with the children.
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7. The divorce, custodial parent
This kind of family, the divorced-parent has the main care to take care of their
children.
8. The divorce, non-custodial parent
While in this kind of family, the divorces-parents have the care of the
children only a minimal part of the times.
9. The unmarried mother and child
This family usually consist of only two people, the mother and her children.
10. The unmarried, adoptive parent and child
When a spouse does not want to bond each other in marriage but they want to
take care of child, they establish this type of family. This family consists of
unmarried couple together with their adoptive child.
11. The widowed
This family is emerged when a spouse is divorce and they do not have
children following them.
Describing a family is not as easy as it seems, the writer here tries to
describe family in an ideal form. Some sociologists use the term stem family to
call an ideal family. Henry as citied in Cheal states that “a stem family is a family
that consists of a succession of males, together with their wives and dependent
children who all live in one household” (2002: 24). So an ideal family or stem
family is normally a family that consists of father, mother and children who live
in a household.
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Conflict can be defined in numerous ways. In the theory of conflict section
it has already been described the definition of conflict in literary terms. In order to
describe what a family conflict is, a conflict in psychology range is needed in this
section. The theory of conflict is used by the writer in order to explain how the
conflicts lead the main character’s personality development. Conflict is a common
element in life which we might often face in our daily life. Kalish describes that
“conflict is a type of stress as a result of two or more different needs. The
satisfaction leads to the non-satisfaction of another need, or the satisfaction of one
need brings unpleasant consequences” (1973: 450).
Conflict in family, conflict inside a family is usually the conflict that
occurs among of family members. In Communication in Family Relationships,
Fitzpatrick and Noller said that “a family conflict happens when one member of
the family or more do not agree about the situation or opinion in their lives. They
disagree about certain behavior or decision in specific situation, the way decision
is taken or the way resource are shared. Those differences seem to have serious
impact on family member” (1993:99). A conflict inside a family gives a strong
impact in building up someone’s personality.
Cheal says that “the process how we grow from childhood to adulthood
has been influenced by the area where our family lives” (2002:2). This statement
perfectly suits to be applied in this study because the focus of this study is
personality development which is caused by family conflict.
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The writer only focuses on the conflicts that occur in the scope of his
family in order to analyze the personality development of the main character,
Christopher Mccandless.
5. Theory of the Relation between Literature and Psychology
Literature and psychology have the same object which is human life, both
of them deal with human beings and their thought. According to Wellek and
Werren in Theory of Literature, Characters in plays or novel are judged by the
readers to be psychologically true. Sometimes psychological theory, held either
consciously or dimly by an author, seems to be fit a figure or a situation (1965:
90). It means that literature is the representation of reality, the character in a
literary work represents a human being and also can be analyzed through the field
of psychology.
C. Theoretical Framework
There are three theories which are used in this research. All of these
theories are here to help the writer to answer the problems which have been
formulated in the first chapter.
The first theory is theory of character and characterization. This theory is
used to reveal and described the entire characteristics of Christopher. The second
one is theory of personality development, these theories are here to understand
and analyze the personality of the main character. The last one is theory of family
conflict, the theory of family conflict here is applied to analyze the conflict inside
his family.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study is Into the Wild’s movie script. Into the Wild’s
movie script was written by Sean Penn in 2007. This movie is also based on a
non-fiction novel written by John Krakauer with the same tittle which it was first
published in 1998 by Villards Books, a division of random house, Inc., New York.
The movie Into the Wild has 165 pages of script and it also has 148 minutes
duration. The movie was released in the United States, and it also won several
awards, including the Grammy Awards, Global Globe, Writer Guild of America
and many more.
Into the Wild has a lot good values. The movie shows us about the journey
of a guy named Chris Mccandless who born in rich and well educated family.
Chris really loves outdoor activity such as road trip or camping. He is
inspired a lot by his grandfather who lives near to the nature. It makes Chris have
big interest in nature and wildlife. Chris grows without spending much time with
his parents because his parents spent more time in their job rather than for the
family. The relationship between his mom and dad is not also quite good since in
some parts on the movie it is shown that they insisted to divorce each other. All
those family problems make him to be a tough, stubborn and idealistic guy. He
felt no love on his family and that make him to disbelieve everybody but himself.
Chris grows without spending much time with his parents because his parents
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spent more time in their job rather than for the family. The relationship between
his mom and dad is not also quite good since in a scene on the movie it is shown
that they insisted to divorce each other. All those family problems make him to be
a tough, stubborn and idealistic guy. He felt no love on his family and that make
him to disbelieve everybody but himself. On the other side, this problems change
Chris’s point of view about his life and especially change his personality.
After he graduated from his university “Emory University” as one of the
best students, he decided to try a new journey in his life. He tried to leave his
home, went to Alaska and tried to live off the wildness. He abandoned everything
he had in life including family, money and friend. On his two-years-journey to
Alaska, he met several characters that sharpened his personality.
At the last part of the story it is shown that Chris finally reached Alaska
with all of his struggle. Chris finally lived in Alaska for almost 3 months.
Unfortunately the story has quite pathetic ending, Chris found his death after he
mistakenly consumed a poisoned in Alaska. The story ended by some hunters
found his corpse few weeks later. This story also represents so many good aspects
of human life. One of them is family, bad family affair has massive impact in
building someone.
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B. Approach of the Study
The most important thing while we are analyzing a literary work is
applying the most appropriate approach. Since a literary work shows us a lot of
values of life and it is quite often that it imitates from human behavior in everyday
life, the writer decides to use the psychological approach in this research. The
writer decides to use psychological approach after finding that the story Into the
Wild is based on true event which means all of those conflicts really happen in
real life not only a fiction.
The psychological approach is applied to analyze the character of
Christoper Mccandless and how it develops as it is influenced by the family
conflicts. Basically the psychological approach is needed to analyze Christopher’s
behavior. In the book Reading and Writing about Literature, Rohrberger and
wood stated that “psychological approach is to explain about human motivation,
human mind, imagination, thought and behavior” (1971: 13).
Psychological approach is the suitable approach for this reason because
this study is actually dealing with real human behavior or non-fiction. This
approach will help the writer to answer the question in the problem formulation
section. By applying this approach the writer can reveal the reason behind the
main character personality what makes him to be than kind of person.
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C. Method of the Study
Library research is applied in this study by the writer since all the sources
and data are gathered from several books. The primary source in this study is the
movie script of Into the Wild. The other sources for this study is theory of
character and characterization, theory of personality and theory of conflict which
are collected from some printed books. The library research here is used to gather
as much relevant data and information as possible.
The writer takes some steps to conduct this study. The first step is
watching the movie Into the Wild for the second time and reading the script of the
movie. The writer also tries to get more information from another source such as
related text, articles or even the movie’s review. After all the datas are collected,
they are examined and divided according to the problem formulation. The second
step is collecting the theories, these theories are to answer the problem
formulation. The third step is analyzing the main character in the story Chris
McCandless, what kind of person Chris is described in the story. The fourth step
is analyzing the conflicts and divide them, which one is the family conflict and
which one is not. After dividing the writer focuses on the family conflict that the
main character has experienced. The last step is concluding the impact of the
family conflict experienced Chris to his personality development and
characteristic.
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter here is to find out the answers from problem formulation
section. The focus of this study is the personality of the main character and the
family conflicts which affect his personality to change or develop. The script from
Into the Wild movie here is used as the main source and several theories in chapter
two are applied as the supporting theories.
Based on the research in problem formulation, this section is divided into
three parts. The first part concerns on how the personality development of
Christopher Mccandless as the main character in the movie Into the Wild
described. The second part talks about the family conflict which undergoes in the
story. The third part is analyzing Chris’s personality development and how the
conflicts affect his personality
.
A. The description of The Main Character
According to Robert and Jacob there are two types of characters, round
which is usually main character and takes big part in a story and flat which is
normally found as minor character? Round character is dynamic that means it is
changing or developing (1987:120). The story Into the Wild shows us almost all
about Christopher, he appears from the beginning of the story until the end of the
story. It means that Christopher is the main character of the story.
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Chris was born in 12th February 1968, Chris is the son of Samuel Walter
McCandless and his second wife Billie who is his sectary while he was working
for NASA. In 1965, Walt’s marriage is in trouble, he and his first wife named
Marcied finally decide to separate. After that, Walt starts to date Wilhelmia
Johnson or usually called Billie. They fall in love with each other and live
together. After their marriage they live together, the relationship does not go
really well. They always fight each other. They give less attention to their
children, they think that it is fine as long as the can provide money for them. So
both Walt and Billie are too busy working and making money.
As the time goes by and Chris grows older, he starts to realize about the
situation of the family. Chris finally understands that his current mother is not his
real mother. Chris’s real mother is Marcia, the first Walt’s wife. This sad fact
makes Chris have different point of few of life. He starts to rebuild his way of
thinking. The only person that Chris love is his sister. Chris has a sister who is
three years younger than him, her name is Carine. The relation between Chris and
Carine is quite close. Carine is the only person that Chris shares his problem to,
because Chris’s father and mother spend so much time with their work. It makes
them pay less attention to both Chris and Carine. They make good money but they
do fail to give parent attention to their children because they have no time for it.
In this part, the writer wants to analyze Chris’s personality development
through his characteristic. In order to analyze Chris’s personality development, we
need to figure out and find the turning point of his characteristic. The writer finds
that there are significant changes or differences in Chris’s personality after and
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before he understands the current situation of his family. The writer uses the six
devices of characterization from Reaske in his book How to Analyze Drama. They
are (1966: 44-48): the appearance of the character, asides and soliloquies,
dialogue between characters, hidden narration, language and character in action.
The character of Chris will describe in two section as follows.
1. Christopher’s Personalities before his Graduation
a. Introverted
In the early part of the story, Christopher is shown as an introvert young
guy. Christopher seems like he does not have a lot of friends, when he graduated
from his high school he did not even say a single word to anybody else. The
conflict between his father and mother also makes Chris hates them and keeps that
feeling by himself without telling it to anybody else. This is also supported by
Chris’s decision to enter Harvard University. It is not because of his good grade
but it is in order to have a distance with his parents and cuts all the
communications with his parents and the people he knows, living by himself.
CARINE. But by the end of July we hadn’t heard anything from him and
my parents were getting very worried.
Chris had never had a phone, so they decided to drive down to Atlanta and
surprise him.
CARINE .When they arrived at the apartment, there was a “For Rent” sign
in his window, and the manager told my parents that Chris had
moved out at the end of June.
(Penn, 2007:18-19)
From the Carine’s monologue of the movie scripts above, we can see that
Chris does not want to communicate with his parents anymore, Chris cuts all of
the communications with his family. It shows us that Chris wants to be remote
from everyone and spends his life alone.
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CARINE. When they got home, I had to hand them all the letters they had
sent Chris that summer which had been returned in a bundle.
Chris had instructed the post office to hold them until August 1st so
that mom and dad wouldn’t know that anything was up. Some part
of me understood what he had done. That he had spent the previous
four years fulfilling an absurd and onerous duty in graduating from
college.
(Penn, 2007:19)
Some other proofs above also show that Chris is an introvert is that he
likes to keep his problem just for him. He does not want anyone else to know
about the problem. The only person Chris talks about his problem is only his
sister, Carine. However he told Carine to do so
CARINE. Chris was quiet when he told me this. He said it made his
“entire childhood seem like a fiction”; that “the truth had been
dying everyday.” If something bothered Chris, he’d usually keep it
to himself. And he made me promise to do the same.
(Penn, 2007: 39a)
Furthermore, the last thing that shows us that Chris is an introvert guy is
that he also never tells his decision to go to Alaska to the family. His family and
everyone has no idea where he is exactly going.
b. Skeptical
Chris is a skeptical person. He always has the opinion that everybody is
like his parents. He has a thought that a person’s happiness depends on how much
money they have including his parents. He thinks that there is no thing such a pure
happiness, people always do something for granted.
In the part of the story which shows us the most that he is a skeptic is by
the time he graduated from his high school. The voice over from Christopher tells
us what is inside his mind.
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CHRIS. I see them standing at the formal gates of their colleges, I see my
father strolling out under the ochre sandstone arch, the red tiles
glinting like bent plates of blood behind his head.
I see my mother with a few light books at her hip standing at the
pillar made of tiny bricks with the wrought-iron gate still open
behind her, its sword-tips black in the May air, they are about to
graduate, they are about to get married, they are kids, they are
dumb, all they know is they are innocent, they would never hurt
anybody.
(Penn, 2007:4)
From the monologue, it shows us that Chris thinks his father and mother
do failure in the family. He thinks that his parents abandon the children but in fact
in the last part of the story, we can show both of his father and mother really love
Chris and they do almost everything to reach Chris and get him back home.
The other evidence that Chris is a skeptical person is shown in the part of
the story when he decided to leave and abandoned his car and burned all of his
money. It is shown that Chris is being skeptical about the stereotype money is the
only source of happiness. In other part, it is also shown that Chris does not really
depend on money.
JAN. Alex could have a vehicle. If he didn’t burn his money. Why would
you want to do that?
CHRIS. I don’t need money. It makes people cautious.
JAN. (a little irritated) Well, you have to be a little cautious Alex. That
book of yours is all well and fine but you can’t depend entirely on
leaves and berries.
CHRIS. I don’t know if you’d want to depend on much more than that.
JAN Where’s your mom and dad?
CHRIS. Makin’ their money somewhere.
(Penn, 2007:29) Chris ignores the existence of money in his life. He is afraid that it will
turn him into a person like his parents. He believes that money is not everything
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for him. It only changes people to somebody else, even it is your closest people.
He wants to prove that he does not need any of them to live a happy life.
c. Obedient
Chris is an obedient boy, he always follows his parent’s desire. One his
obedience is he enters the same university with school. His parents wants him to
follow their path, to be the person like them in order to make Chris’s life well-
established. Chris’s monologue in his graduation shows about this.
CHRIS. I see them standing at the formal gates of their colleges, I see my
father strolling out under the ochre sandstone arch, the red tiles
glinting like bent plates of blood behind his head. they are about to
graduate, they are about to get married
(Penn, 2009:4)
Chris obedience is also shown at the part when his parents ask about his
current saving and plan to help him finance his further study. Chris cannot resist
what his parents have offered to him. He tells his parents that he needs to prepare
everything first before he receives the offer.
WALT. Well, we’ll certainly contribute the balance for Harvard.
CHRIS. Yeah. I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do. I got a lot of
things to pack and organize here first.
BILLIE. I’m so glad you’re getting out of that place you’re living. It was
so much nicer when you lived on campus.
WALT. You’ll come to Annandale before you disappear on us, won’t
you?
CHRIS. Sure, I will.
(Penn, 2009:7)
Chris’s parents are too afraid to see their children grow the wrong way.
The obedience of his children is caused by their over strict control. They control
almost everything that his children do. It is shown when Chris’s sister drives the
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car to the restaurant. Even though Carine has driving license, his parents keep
warn her.
WALT. You’re not supposed to be driving in Geogia.
CARINE. Why? I have my permit.
WALT. Cause it’s againts the law for a learner’s permit to drive in another
state from one’s home state. That’s why.
CARINE. I didn’t know that. I thought that if I was okay with a legal
driver that it’d be okay.
(Penn: 2009:6)
The strict control from his parents makes Chris to be an obedient person. He
is asked to always follow what his parents want and he cannot refuse the order
from his parents.
2. Christopher’s Personalities after his Graduation
His personality changes a lot after he understand all the family conflict
between his parents especially when he wanders alone to Alaska.
Chris meets new people in his journey. People that Chris never realizes,
those people give Chris a new point of view and slowly changes his personality.
His new personality is contrast compared to his old personality. Here are some
Chris’s personalities after he realized the conflict in his family, these personalities
appear when he is wandering to Alaska.
a. Extroverted
Chris turns into an extroverted guy. In the movie we can see that he is able
to interact and gain a lot of friends during his journey and almost every people
that he meets likes him. He realizes that the existence of another people in his life
is important. Chris gets so excited when he meets new people, he is able to
quickly adjust his attitude when he meets new people.
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This can be seen in some parts in the movie that show us about his
friendliness. One of them is when he was riding his canoe through a river and met
a couple of adventurer.
MADS. (Yelling out to Chris)Hello!
CHRIS. Hello.
MADS. You can join us!
Chris doesn’t know quite what to do. But Mads seems quite comfortable
inviting a stranger into the presence of his topless girlfriend.
MADS. We have hotdogs!
Chris - can’t turn that down! He paddles to within feet of the water’s edge.
MADS. I am Mads.
CHRIS. Hi. Alex.
SONJA. I am Sonja.
Chris gives Sonja a little wave. She bypasses it, wading up to the Kayak,
giving him a big hug.
SONJA. Hello Alex.
This couple is extremely energetic. Can’t wait to please. And a bona fide
American adventurer in their midst. It’s everything they could’ve wanted.
MADS. We are from Copenhagen. And you are from the rapids.
CHRIS. I am.
SONJA. My Got!
MADS. Crazy man. You’re a crazy man! Sonja, he is a crazy man.
(To Chris) I’ll make you a hotdog.
Mads grabs a hotdog from the Hibachi.
(Penn, 2007: 57-58)
Another dialogue that shows about his interest when meeting new people
is the part when Chris looks for a ride and meets with Jan and Rainey. They have
just met each other but they seem like they have known each other for long time.
JAN. Hi. We just barely saw you there, under that crazy hat of yours. We
couldn’t back up - the van’s reverse is broken.
CHRIS. (As Jan fiddles with side door handle) Oh. That’s okay. Thanks
for stopping.
JAN. This door’s a little tricky, I’ll get it.
And with a little pulling, it opens. Indicating the ponytailed and
bearded driver (RAINEY), early 50’s, definitely Woodstock...
JAN. Hop in, that’s Rainey.
RAINEY. Hey, I’m Rainey.
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JAN. And I’m Jan.
CHRIS. Hey, Rainey. Hi Jan. I’m Alex.
RAINEY. Alex of the hat.
CHRIS. (Closing the side door) Yeah.
Jan jumps back in passenger seat and the van rolls on.
(Penn, 2007: 26-27)
Due to his friendliness, he can make almost every person he meets in his
journey feel like Chris is a part of their family or even their life. The part when
Chris meet Rons shows it all.
CHRIS. You alright?
Ron, after taking one more deep breath, sits up and Chris sits next to him.
He’s actually pretty happy with himself. He looks out and sees the distant
Salton Sea.
RON. I’m going to miss you when you go.
CHRIS. I’ll miss you too, Ron. But you’re wrong if you think the joy of
life comes principally from human relationships. God’s placed it
all around us. It’s in everything. In anything we can experience.
People just have to change the way they think about those things.
You ought to put a little camper on the back of your pick-up and go
take a look at some of the great work god’s done out here in the
American west.
(Penn, 2007:115)
The writer can say that Chris friendly because in his journey he meets
people and quickly gets close to them, earning a lot of friends. Chris learns and
gets close to them without seeing the class, education, race, wealthyness or color
even though sometimes he still puts a limit on them. He like to share his thought
to everyone around him.
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b. Realistic
The other characteristic that Chris has in that he is a realistic. After
through so many family conflict Chris turns to a realistic person. What the writer
means by realistic is that he begins to open himself to the other people. He begins
to accept someone else’s opinion especially to the new people that he meets,
considering Chris is so rigid as it is shown in the early part of the story.
MAD. You can take kayak around Lake Mead and then take the river
down to Mexico.
Chris likes the idea.
CHRIS. How far are we from Lake Mead?
MADS. Sonja, how far is Hoover Dam?
Sonja grabs a map from the tent, opens and scrutinizes it. We follow her
finger tracing the river.
SONJA. Maybe three hundred thirty kilometers...like two hundred miles.
(Penn, 2007:60)
The dialogues above show Chris’s willingness to accept the information
from someone else, in the other word he trusts what Mad and Sonja tell. Chris
starts to think that the existence of another people in his life is important, he starts
thinking that he cannot live his life alone. He starts to learn new things from
another people, that dialogue shows that he learns to hunt and survive in the wild
from a man named Kevin.
As the writer mentions before, He does not believe in people. He does not
believe in love because of the constant conflict between his parents. He is a rich
person, he has so much money but he does not believe that money can make him
happy. Even he does not trust his closest person, his sister. It is proven by he
never want to share his feeling to her, even his destination to anyone including his
sister.
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CHRIS. Who are these guys?
Wayne gets a little giggle.
WAYNE. Those are my Hudderites. Agriculture’s a pretty transient
business. These guys come off the Hudderite colony looking for
work. I always got work for people. Then that guy (pointing at
guy making most of his snore) that’s Kevin. He’s with me most of
the time. He’s not a Hudderite. He’s from Madison.
CHRIS. Madison. Okay.
Just then, the rain kicks in full gear outside, pounding the trailer
shell. A couple hits of lightning follow.
WAYNE. Listen, you don’t want to go out there on the road tonight. Why
don’t you just roll your sleeping bag out and play like a Hudderite
until morning.
Chris looks about. There’s not much room but it beats the pelting
outside.
CHRIS. Thanks Wayne. I will.
Chris, with a grin on his face, lays in his sleeping bag between a
Hudderite and the sleeping KEVIN. Wayne comes from the back
bedroom, tip-toes through the sleeping bodies to hand Chris a
pillow.
WAYNE. Get a good sleep. See you in the morning.
Chris waves a thanks, puts the pillow beneath his head and closes
his eyes.
(Penn, 2007: 42-41a)
This is another proof that Chris has turned into a realistic, it is really
different with the early personality. He quickly turns Wayne from a complete
stranger into his friend because he realizes that he cannot live alone and needs
someone else.
c. Rebellious
In the story, it is also shown that Chris is a rebellious guy. Chris has his own
way and path to achieve his goal. Even though he can easily ask people for a help
but he does not do that and keep going on his belief. Chris becomes a person that
stands for his opinion no matter what anyone else says. He refuses to follow the
rule or instruction that he finds in his life.
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The first rebellious act that he shows in the story is when he refuses the car
present from his parents. His parents try to give him a new car to celebrate his
graduation, but he refuses it because he think it is useless and does want that kind
of thing. He does not want to be like his parents nor everyone else, living for a
prestige. He begins to rebel against the order from his parents and has his own
idea of living.
WALT. Yes. We want to get you a new car.
CHRIS. A new car? Why the hell would I want a new car? The Datsun
runs great. (Mocking the Cadillac) Do you think I want some
fancy boat? Or are you worried about what the neighbors might
think?
BILLIE. We weren’t going to get you a Cadillac, Chris. Just a nice new
car that’s safe to drive. You don’t know when that thing’s just
going to suddenly blow up.
CHRIS Blow up? Blow up?! Are you guys crazy? It’s a great car. I don’t
need a new car. I don’t want a new car. I don’t want anything.
Thing, thing, thing.
(Penn, 2007:7-8)
Another scene that shows his rebel is when he looks for a permission to
ride the canoe. He goes to the officer and asks about the registration. However the
registration seems to be so complicated for him and it takes too long time. He
cannot wait for that time and starts to ride the canoe without the officer’s
permission.
GREEN SUIT. Can I help you?
CHRIS. Yeah. If I wanted to paddle down the river, where’s the best place
to launch out of? GREEN SUIT. What’s your experience level?
CHRIS Not much.
GREEN SUIT. Any? Do you have a permit?
CHRIS A permit for what?
GREEN SUIT. You can’t paddle down the river without a permit. If you
like, you can apply for one here, get yourself some experience, and
I’ll put you on the wait-list.
CHRIS. Wait-list? To paddle down a river?
GREEN SUIT. That’s right.
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CHRIS. (giggling) Well, how long do you have to wait?
GREEN SUIT. I’ve got an opening May 2003.
CHRIS. (laughing) Twelve years?
GREEN SUIT. Well, you could always join a commercial raft trip and go
with a licensed guide. They usually have a few last minute
cancellations. I think it’s about two- thousand dollars.
CHRIS. Thanks for your help. (Chris busts a gut.)
(Penn, 2007:55-56)
Chris thinks that the registration is non-sense and too complicated. He
finally invades to the river without even cares about the permission. The officer
realizes what he has been doing. When Chris is riding the canoe in the river, the
officer goes chasing him because Chris is breaking the rule. This scene is shown
when Chris randomly meets another canoe rider in the river, Mads and Sonja.
CHRIS. I’ve gotta go, you guys. I’m really sorry. I gotta go.
MADS. What’s going on?
SONJA. Why?
CHRIS. The river patrol’s after me. I’m actually not supposed to be here,
you know. You have to have, like, a permit, it’s like a government
thing to be here and i didn’t get one. If you see anybody, any of the
rangers or anything, just tell them you didn’t see me, okay?
MADS. Okay
CHRIS. (In hurry) Okay, again, I’m really, really sorry, man. I wish i
could stay, you know.
MADS. Take care man.
(Penn, 2007:57-58)
From the dialogue above, it shows that Chris is a rebellious guy he does not
care about the rules which exist. We can see that Chris is being chased by the
river patrol because he has broken the rule to drive a Canoe without any
permission.
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35
B. The Description of Chris’ Family and the Family Conflict
In this section the writer write a short description about Chris’s family
analyze the conflict that is experienced by Chris. The conflict will be in the scope
of family, whether it is a conflict between Chris and the other family member or
inner conflict he experienced which is caused by his family. Kalish describes
conflicts is a type of a stress as the result of twoor more different needs”
(1974:44). According to Cheal, in his book Sociology of Family Life, Family is
considered to be any group in intimate relationships (2002:4). Family member
who are in intimate relationship with Chris are his parents, both his father and
mother. The conflict that is analyzed starts from the conflicts that happen in
Chris’s past life or Chris’s current life. The following parts explain the conflicts
that are considered the most important conflicts that give impact to Chris’s
personality development.
1. The Description of Chris’ Family Condition
The story is mainly about the Journey of the main character, Christopher
Mccandless. As the story is in third person point of view and it was narrated by
Chris’s sister named Carine, there are a lot scenes that shows what happen inside
the family. Gavin and Bommel define family as “a network of people who live
together over long periods of time bound by ties of marriage, blood, or
commitment, legal or otherwise, who share a future expectation of connected
relationship” (1986: 4). Based on this definition Chris’s family consists of four
people. Walt as his father, Billie as his mother and one sister named Carine. They
live together in the same house over long periods of time.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
36
This family can be analyzed using Miller’s theory as well. Miller explain
that there are eleven categories of a family. Based on his theory Chris’s family
belongs to the two-parent and natural children. This type of family is similar to
the stem family explained by Cheal, where a family consists of parents and their
Children. There are some details presented in the movie script that can be hint or
clue to find out the condition inside the family. In the middle of the story, Chris
discovers the truth about the real situation of his family. He realizes that Billie
was Walt’s mistress far back then. Walt was still in relationship with his first wife,
and Chris’s birth was not under marriage. He finds the ugly truth that his birth was
illegal and that fact makes Chris consider himself as illegitimate child. Soon after
Chris born, Walt continued his life with Billie but he kept secretly in touch with
his first wife, Marcia,
CARINE. In California, he’d looked up some old family friends who still
lived there. He’d found out that long after he had been born, our
dad had continued a relationship with his first wife Marcia in
secret.
(Penn, 2007: 39)
However, Chris did not tell anyone about the truth that he just discovered.
He kept it for himself and let the remorse inside himself grow. The only person
who was told by Chris was his sister, Carine.
CARINE. Chris was quiet when he told me this. He said it made his
“entire childhood seem like a fiction”; that “the truth had been
dying every day.” If something bothered Chris, he’d usually keep it
to himself. And he made me promise to do the same.
(Penn, 2007: 39a)
After several years, Walt’s career is raising uphill and eventually he made
it to the top of success of his company. It is an ironic when Walt successfully
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
37
reached the top but the relationship with Billie starts to be a mess. They start to
fight and several attempts of divorce begin to be thrown to each other.
Unfortunately, Chris and his sister have to witness that moment. Both Chris and
Carine grew under his parent’s conflict.
CARINE. He could be alone without being lonely. The secrets our parents
kept, though unknown to Chris and I, led to bouts of rage and even
violence between them that we had been forced to witness since we
were very young. It seemed like they never fought without us. I
remember the first family meeting to let Chris and me in on their
plans for getting a divorce. They wanted us to choose which of
them we’d live with. I cried my eyes out. But the divorce never
happened, though the threats and meetings never stopped. It wasn’t
long before Chris and I shut off
We would tell mom and dad to go ahead and get the divorce. Chris
and I just wanted to get away from their fights and mom kept
promising to get out and take us with her as soon as their company
made enough money.
(Penn, 2007: 15)
The discussion of Chris’s family shows us how Chris grew up and how he
was influenced by the condition of his family. As Cheal explained that the process
we grow from childhood to adulthood has been influenced by our family (2002:
2). This statement is really appropriate to be applied in analyzing Chris, knowing
that Chris has gone through so many family problems and incidents.
2. The Family Conflicts Chris Experienced
According to Redman, External conflict is psychologically called
interpersonal conflict. It means that it is a struggle against outside forces. It occurs
when the character faces outside force which are not the same of the character’s
desire, belief or thinking. All of the differences create a conflict between the
character and the people around him (1967: 363).
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
38
Chris and his parents are often involved in a conflict. It is because Chris often
sees his parents fighting each other and threatening to make a divorce. Chris hates
to always witness this terrible situation. It triggers him to grow the anger inside
him. The part when he graduated from high school show about his anger.
CHRIS. I see them standing at the formal gates of their colleges, I see my
father strolling out under the ochre sandstone arch, the red tiles
glinting like bent plates of blood behind his head.
I see my mother with a few light books at her hip standing at the
pillar made of tiny bricks with the wrought-iron gate still open
behind her, its sword-tips black in the May air, they are about to
graduate, they are about to get married, they are kids, they are
dumb, all they know is they are innocent, they would never hurt
anybody.
(Penn, 2007:4)
However, his parents never notice that the fight that they always do in front
their children really affect Chris’s feeling and thought. His parents think that
Chris will be fine as long as they can give him money and provide everything he
needs. His anger makes him to disbelief in everything that his parent say or ask.
He does not want to be a person like his parents even his parents are rich. The
wealthness that his parents achieve cannot give Chris happiness. Chris disagrees
about every decision that his parents have made. This can be clearly seen in the
scene when he and his family are set to have lunch to celebrate his graduation.
When his parents ask Chris about his plan and offer him a help in financial for his
next plan but Chris seems like that he does not really like it. This conversation
between him and his parents shows it all.
CHRIS. My grades are gonna be good enough, I think, to get into Harvard
Law.
WALT. That’s a big deal. What do you have left in your college fund?
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
39
CHRIS. It’s an inheritance, dad. I’ve only been spending it as a college
fund...Exactly twenty-four thousand five hundred dollars and sixty-
eight cents.
BILLIE. That’s very specific.
CHRIS. I had to go to the bank this morning.
WALT. Well, we’ll certainly contribute the balance for Harvard.
CHRIS. Yeah. I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do. I got a lot of
things to pack and organize here first.
(Penn, 2007:6-7)
Chris also rejects a present from his parents. Chris thinks everything that his
parents give are useless and it is not what he actually wants. He has his own belief
and Chris’s belief is totally contrast to his parents.
BILLIE. Well, your father and I want to make a present to you.
WALT. We want to get you out of that junker.
CHRIS. What’s a junker?
Walt points outside to the Datsun.
CHRIS. The Datsun? WALT Yes. We want to get you a new car.
CHRIS. (appalled) A new car? Why the hell would I want a new car? The
Datsun runs great. (Mocking the Cadillac) Do you think I want some
fancy boat? Or are you worried about what the neighbors might
think?
BILLIE. We weren’t going to get you a Cadillac, Chris. Just a nice new
car that’s safe to drive. You don’t know when that thing’s just going
to suddenly blow up.
CHRIS. Blow up? Blow up?! Are you guys crazy? It’s a great car. I don’t
need a new car. I don’t want a new car. I don’t want anything. Thing,
thing, thing.
(Penn, 2007:7-8)
According to Noller and Fitzpatrick, the disagreement about situation of life
that experienced by Chris can be categorized as a family conflict. Family member
may disagree about certain behavior in certain situation (1993: 99). All of the
conflicts that Chris experience since he was a child trigger his obsession to live
his life freely, to become different from his parents. The terrible relationship
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
40
between his father and mother leads him to have his own way of thinking and
belief and cause a conflict between him and his parent.
C. Christopher Mccandless’ Personality Development
The last part of this analysis is the writer explain about the personality
development of Christopher Mccandless. The thesis writer apply the theory from
Hurlock’s Personality Development. The theory from Hurlock explains that there
are two aspect that consist in human life, which are individual aspect and social
aspect, both of them have different concern. From the characteristics of Chris in
first part of the problem formulation. The writer finds out that Chris’s
characteristic change through the family conflict that he faces. The discussion
below analyze the family conflict that lead to Chris’s personality development.
1. From being Introverted Person into being an Extroverted Person
Chris was an introvert person when he still stayed in his home together with
his family. As the writer explained earlier, he liked to keeps his problem alone. He
seems to have a few friend as it is shown it part when he was in his graduation
ceremony. He seemed to have only a few friend. The only person that was close to
him is Carine, his sister. However Christopher was still mysterious in Carine eyes.
There are a lot of things that Carine did not know about Chris. Chris does not
share everything to Carine as well. The scene when he started to leave their rented
house shows that even Carine did not understand what actually inside Chris’s
mind.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
41
CARINE. But by the end of July we hadn’t heard anything from him and
my parents were getting very worried.
CARINE. Chris had never had a phone, so they decided to drive down to
Atlanta and surprise him.
CARINE. When they arrived at the apartment, there was a “For Rent” sign
in his window, and the manager told my parents that Chris had
moved out at the end of June.
(Penn, 2007:18-19)
Chris’s personality when he was in his journey was totally contrast with his
personality when he still stay with his family. When Chris it his journey he
becomes so friendly and extroverted even to the people he just met. He was able
to get close to new people quickly. Because of his friendliness, everyone enjoys
talking and shares his private problem with him. Chris was such a good speaker,
people like to listen when he is talking.
2. From being Skeptical Person into Being a Realistic Person
In the early part of the story, Chris is known as a skeptic guy. He did not have
enough attention from his parents because both of his parents are busy in his job.
He felt empty inside and that made him being so skeptical about everything,
especially about happiness. He thought that everyone is only chasing money to
reach happiness. His way of thinking was really affected by the conflict he
experienced. This is shown in the middle of the story when he just started the
journey, he donated all his saving for charity and burned the rest.
CHRIS. I don’t need money. It makes people cautious.
JAN. (a little irritated) Well, you have to be a little cautious Alex. That
book of yours is all well and fine but you can’t depend entirely on
leaves and berries.
CHRIS. I don’t know if you’d want to depend on much more than that.
JAN Where’s your mom and dad?
CHRIS. Makin’ their money somewhere.
(Penn, 2007:29)
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42
However after his journey, Chris turned out to be a realistic person. He began
to accept someone else’s hand. He began to be realistic that he needs someone
else. He learned from stranger how to hunt, even in some cases he trusted to live
with new people he just met even though it is only for temporary period.
Chris convinces himself that he cannot live and do everything alone. He
started to work for money and accept the truth that money is important for him to
live. In the middle part of the story, it is shown that Chris attempted to look for a
job. Soon after he worked at a small fast food restaurant. His new friend Wayne
offered him a job as well, Wayne was the owner of a farm. Christ learned farm
stuff from him and started to work for him. He saved money to buy everything he
needed to survive in Alaska.
3. From being Obedient Person into being a Rebellious Person
Chris is an obedient person. He always tries to do what his parents tell him to
do. It is shown in the story that Chris has studied hard to make his parents proud
of him. When he uses to send the result of his college to his parents to prove that
he does well in his study.
CARINE. Almost all A’s. “A” in Apartheid in South African Society and
History of Anthropological Thought; A- in Contemporary African
Politics and the Food Crisis in Africa; an on it went. Clever boy,
my brother.
(Penn, 2007: 18)
He tries to enter the best university as his parents want him to be the best. His
obedience makes him to be a smart person. Finally, he decides to enter to Harvard
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
43
for his further study and it seems his parents completely agree with his decision
by offering him a financial help.
CHRIS. My grades are gonna be good enough, I think, to get into Harvard
Law.
WALT. That’s a big deal. What do you have left in your college fund?
CHRIS. It’s an inheritance, dad. I’ve only been spending it as a college
fund...Exactly twenty-four thousand five hundred dollars and sixty-
eight cents.
BILLIE. That’s very specific. CHRIS I had to go to the bank this morning.
WALT. Well, we’ll certainly contribute the balance for Harvard.
CHRIS. Yeah. I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do. I got a lot of
things to pack and organize here first.
BILLIE. I’m so glad you’re getting out of that place you’re living. It was
so much nicer when you lived on campus.
(Penn, 2007:6-7)
However soon after his graduation his obedience disappears and he turns
to be a rebel. When he takes the study in Harvard and lives alone in a rent
house. He finds the satisfaction and freedom to live without the rules and
demands from his parents.
CARINE. In early September, mom and dad got a call from the Annandale
police notifying them that Chris’ abandoned car had been identified
by the Arizona Highway Patrol after a group of rare flower hunters
stumbled upon it in the desert. There were no signs that Chris had
intended to return to it. But there wasn’t any evidence of struggle.
The police said they thought Chris had chosen to leave it behind
and not that it had been taken from him. Nonetheless, the initial
comfort that gave mom and dad, quickly turned to their realization
that Chris was actually trying not to be found.
(Penn, 2007:37)
The dialogue above is the peak of his rebel is when he is sure and decides to
wander to Alaska. He does not want to be found. He wants to completely
stand for himself. He wants to live alone with no society around him.
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44
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, the writer concludes the problems which are discussed in the
previous chapter. It consists of the description of the main character of the story,
the family conflict of the story and the personality development of the main
character. Based on the analysis it can be said that Christopher Mccandless is the
major character of the story. He plays a significant role in the story.
Christopher Mccandless is described as introvert guy in the story, he only has
a few friend and does not really like to tell anyone about himself. He is also a
skeptic guy, he thinks that everyone is only doing something for granted
especially for money. He does not believe that money can bring happiness to a
person. Besides that, he is also an obedient person. He always follows what his
parents tell him. He is doing well in his high school and college. He always gets
good grades.
After identifying Christopher Mccandless’s personality, the writer describes
the situation of Christopher family and the conflict in it. Chris lives in a family
with Walt as his father, Billie as his mother and one sister named Carine. Even
though Walt’s career is on its peak. The relationship between Walt and Billie does
not run good. They often fight and blame each other. From his childhood, Chris
and Carine have to witness that terrible situation of life. As they grow older, the
fight gets worse. Several attempts of divorce are thrown by his parents.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
45
Walt never realizes about what his children actually felt. He thinks that as long as
he can make good money and provide what his children needed, everything will
be fine.
The conflict between Chris and his parent begins when Chris discovered an
ugly fact from his old neighbor. When Billie gives birth to Chris, Walt is actually
already married to a woman named Marcia. However, Walt and Billie never tell
this to Chris or Carine. This ugly truth makes them feel as illegitimate children.
Chris grows under this feeling of disgrace in his heart, this what makes all of his
personality. His anger and hatred grow bigger as Chris grew older. Chris begins to
argue with his day over everything, what Chris wants is opposite to what Walt’s
desire. Until finally Chris decides to go away from his family. He wants to live in
their own path. Chris goal is to live in Alaska, to achieve his absolute freedom of
happiness.
Regarding the characteristics and the conflicts in Christopher Mccandless’s
life. The next question is analyzing the personality development that happened is
his life through his family conflict. All of the conflicts between him and his
parents changed his personality. The characteristic of Chris changes when he
wander to Alaska. He becomes a new guy and it is different compared to his
characteristic when he was still in home.
From an introverted guy who has no friend, Chris turns into an open up guy
who is easily able to make friends. He makes so many friend in his journey. All of
the people who Chris have met love him as well as he likes them. Chris also turns
to be a realistic guy from being a skeptical. He begins to realize that he cannot
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
46
live alone and needs someone else. The last Characteristic that changes is he turns
to be a careless guy. Chris is used to be an obedient guy, but he turns to be so
rebellious when he is wandering. There is so many carelessness that he does.
Chris ignores everything that his parents have asked. Chris seems like does not
really care about the rule in society. He only focuses on his goal.
In this chapter, the thesis writer can conclude that the main character of the
story Christopher Mccandless develops because of the family conflicts that he
faces. This conclusion comes out after analyzing the characteristic description, the
family condition of the main character, the conflict that happens between him and
his family and also the last factor is the main character personality development.
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47
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