chapter i introduction 1.1. background of choosing the...

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of Choosing the Topic

Literary works are a means of the communication which authors convey in

their written language. One such form is a novel. The novel presents a picture of

society and culture at a certain time. It also can be a reflection of the author’s

experiences and the circumstances during an era, especially in the 1920’s. Young

women in the era often are called the flappers, and their behavior is depicted in a

novel, the Great Gatsby. In this novel, the flappers are recovering from the

trauma of World War I. The result is they lack of significant morality in modern

society.

Based on the current researcher’s reading of Studies in American Culture,

the literary works can be a source which shows and pictures the culture and

society’s life in the flappers’ era. They reflect the culture and society’s

characteristics. In every different set of place and time, there are many distinctive

features in society reflect different culture. A change can happen anytime and

anywhere. It happened in American society in the 1920s era.

The 1920’s witnessed a change of moral values from traditional to a more

modern and radical moral values in American society. The example of the

changes is the traditional woman turn into the modern life in the flappers’ era of

the roaring 20’s.

The portrayal of the Roaring 20’s period and the flappers has been

written in the History books and novels. For instance, those written by F.

Scott Fitzgerald, and journals, articles, and other printed works by other

THE FLAPPERS' MORAL VALUES IN POST WORLD WAR I AMERICAN SOCIETY SEEN THROUGHTHE WOMEN CHARACTERSIN THE NOVEL THE GREAT GATSBY BY F. SCOTT FITZGERALDFahimah M MoodutoUniversitas Gadjah Mada, 2014 | Diunduh dari http://etd.repository.ugm.ac.id/

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writers. “Fitzgerald penned numerous novels and short stories that

captured the glittering youth culture of the twenties and highlighted the

lifestyle of the independent flapper. What he developed was the “ability

not only to document manners and mores, the fashions and fads of his

times, but also to evaluate them and him-self objectively (Sagert, 2010:

23)”.

Furthermore, based on what the current researcher read from Kirk

Curnutt essay “A Historical Guide to F. Scott Fitzgerald that almost F.

Scott Fitzgerald’s novels give the pictures of fashioning of female

characters which demonstrate the values in it and it also applies the

historical perspectives to the authors we investigate”.

Based on the previous quotations, the author created some novels and short

stories because he wants to show the morality changes in the flappers’ era. He

conveys messages through his literary works. Novels are not only to teach young

generation at that time, but also give a picture to the next generation after the era

of the lost generation. Novels are fiction documentations of American history.

One of F. Scott Fitzgerald literary works is the Great Gatsby which

criticizes the identity of the United States. Most may have been successful at the

Roaring 20’s, especially in the flappers era as they were recovering from World

War I. But deep down, they lacked significant moral values and social

coherence. The idea of Americanism brought up in the American Journal of

Sociology (1915) questioned the nation? Nation that Americanism is the act of

striving for higher moral values (Rostamdokht, 2010: 88). Authors create their

own literary works to convey messages through the description of the American


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History and nation identity. Besides that, novels become the way of criticizing

and giving a picture of the event by authors. For example, the event happened at

the Roaring 20’s, especially in the flappers era. There is the lack of morality

issues.

The current researcher takes a novel, the Great Gatsby by F. Scott

Fitzgerald as her primary source. One of his literary works contains the

information of the flappers and the impact in society through the young women

characters in the novel. The novel also conveys messages about the morality

changes of young generation in the flappers’ era. They are young women who

experience and live in the flappers’ era.

As the matter of facts, the author created novels and short stories that

present the luxurious lifestyle of young women characters. They are called the

flappers in the twenties era. He puts their different attitude and behavior from

the patriarchy and hierarchy roles in the novel. They break the social and

religious rules in Pre World War I from their older generation believe. The

situation in Pre World War I; there is no freedom anymore for women in

expressing and exploring more from whatever they want to do. It is so because

their deeds are limited which based on traditional rules of moral values. Besides

that, he also conveys ideas and imagination through the novel, the Great Gatsby.

He told about love affair, the lifestyles, the changes of women attitude,

behaviors, and also sex, etc. The main point is about the cultural reform that

happened in the USA in the Roaring 20’s, the flappers’ era.

Moreover, the reason of study is the current researcher found problems,

conflicts, and also ironic life image of desires and madness from the young


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women characters in the novel. Their image is really different from the earlier

terminology of the flappers. The images give many ideas about the cultural

reforms. In addition, the author also wants to demonstrate issues of moral values

from the flappers in post-WWI American society seen through the young

women characters in the novel, the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Moreover, Sinclair Lewis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and John O’ Hara can be called as

the novelists of manner because they concentrate so calculatedly on manners,

besides they focus on a particular social class or group of classes above the

lower economic levels (Chase, 1957: 157 – 158).

According to Laurenson and Swingewood (1972: 171), the choice of

novel over drama and poetry was made not merely because the novel has

enjoyed and continues to enjoy the greater popular appeal than the other

genres, but for it is more complete depiction of man’s life in the society. It

is very important for the current researcher knows and understands why

she chooses and takes the novel as the main source of the study. It is so

because the novel is the mental evidence. The novel can cover the event,

but it is not in a comprehension of documentation in American History.

The novel gives the pictures of the flappers. Actually, the real meaning of

the flappers based on the first real terminology was women who got the

opportunities to have a job in a factory after the Victorian Era. They were still

wearing the long dress when they were doing their work in the factory. It made

them difficult to move and do their job. Thus, they cut their dress shorter to

make their movement easily in doing their activity. Unfortunately, the meaning

of it changed. It becomes the negative terminology based on theories and literary


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works. It has been depicted in some novels as the mental evidence of the

Roaring 20’s especially in the flappers’ era. According to Sagert, “the twenties

have made an impact on multiple areas of American culture. Certainly, the role

of women in the United States has never been the same since the flapper era, an

era in which young women participated more fully in American culture than

ever before (2010: 61)”.

The young women generation change their attitudes, behaviors, lifestyles

and opinions after the World War I. “These changes gave women an increased

sense of self-confidence and independence and it is not surprising that they did

not want the previous social structure to return (Sagert, 2010: 13)”. They are

young women who get their self-reliance and new identity. Besides that, they

also become the independent women who have different values by breaking

traditional moral values. They want to show and prove to their parents and older

generation that they can be more autonomous and have more self-reliance.

According to Sagert, “mothers, who had always worn long skirts corseted

to emphasize their womanly hourglass curves, and who had pulled their long

hair up into pompadour style, wondered how they had gone so terribly wrong in

guiding their daughters (2010: 12)”. It is really difficult for mothers when they

see their own daughters really changed. Their daughters follow different values

from what the mothers believe in, during their lives time. It is so because their

daughters have a different perspective about the new life. Their daughters really

want to get freedoms from what they want to do and express more. They really

want to release from the rules of traditional moral values. Thus, they create their

own values for themselves. The changes of their moral values can be seen


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through the attitudes, behaviors and lifestyles. Their actions are considered as

radical action. They decide their own way of how behaving, wearing the clothes,

communicating, getting along with men, spending their leisure time and

enjoying their own lives.

“Flappers” was the name given to the fashion conscious young

women of the 1920s who enjoyed more personal independence than even

before, and became symbols of the era. Flappers wore makeup, had short

bobbed hair, and dressed in knee-length fringed skirts and stockings. They

shocked the older generation through their rebellious behavior in dressing

up. They were un-chaperoned and they drank and mixed freely with men

(Carlisle, 2009: 57).

The flappers believe in the change of moral values is not the very

humiliating and forbidden deeds. From their own perspectives, the changes are a

form of getting freedom, finding out and creating their new own identity, and

showing whatever they want and need. According to McQuade, (722) “the

spectacle of WW I has left many American citizens be wildered and shaken. The

war has boosted inflationary prices and worsened working conditions. To the

worst, it has caused American image of independence and self-reliance to crack.

Unfortunately, they were not aware and pay more attention to it. The problem is

elder people or who still keep sticking rigidly the traditional values care more of

it.”

The flappers demonstrate a major change through their way of life. They

start using make up, wearing the dress, hats, jewelry, silk stockings and short

skirts which can attract men. They cut their hair like bobbed hair and color it.


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Furthermore, Sagert states that flappers’ hair was often to chin length, with a

cloche hat frequently completing the look, and long strings of beads or pearls

often worn as the untamed finishing touch (2010: 3).” The luxurious life can be a

wild life. It is proved as the manifestation of radical changes in moral values

from the modern life of the young women generation.

“In addition, they dated the men, engaged to their friends, spent more

times, loved and had fun at the party and clubs, dancing, singing, drinking,

smoking the cigarettes and playing games. By the middle of the decade the “wild

party” had become as common place a factor in American life as the flapper

(Horton and Edward, 1974: 325).” They thought about the changes do not the

big problem have to be avoided or prohibited. They are free to do whatever they

want to do. Having fun is an important point of view in their new lives. They

create and pursue their happiness. They just really want to enjoy their new lives

after the World War I. They do not care to their elder people’s thought about

their changes that still belief in the traditional moral values.

The greatest changes came in the social and psychological realms.

Women, who were supposed to be the guardians of morality, became more

interested in pursuing careers than in being housewives. The divorced rate

increase dramatically. The American women, or ‘flapper,’ as H.L.

Mencken had called her, became free in speech and manners: she went to

petting parties; danced and drank and smoked until midnight; cut her hair

and wore thin and low-cut gowns (Allen, 1957: 64).

In other words, they spend their money for their needs (become more

crazy consumers). They are free to act, express, explore more; buy everything


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from whatever they want on fashion at that time. They also get involved in many

activities in their society. In addition, they turn away from positive to negative

values through their behavior, attitude, and lifestyle in society. They are more

liberal, and have more spirit. They really transform their point of view of life in

the decade.

Furthermore, no one knows precisely how the term “flapper” came to

represent what it did, which was the ultramodern and audacious young woman

who danced and drank; smoke chic cigarettes; bobbed her hair and showed her

shins; and shook and shimmied in jazz halls and clubs of uncertain reputation.

However, the term “flapper” originated, negative connotations quickly attached

themselves to it… (Sagert, 2010: 11). Thus, the current researcher figures out the

flappers’ moral values in post WW I American society as seen through the

young women characters in the novel. Thus, the current researcher applies the

concept of Michel Foucault’s theory about desires and madness that cover the

changes of moral values.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

The flappers are depicted in American History and literary works. The

flappers become a part of American History of the Roaring 20’s after the World

War I. The changes really give the big impact on politics, economy and the

society of the United State. Moreover, the history and the experienced are

recorded into some documents; for example, in one of the literary works by F.

Scott Fitzgerald, the Greats Gatsby.

The primary data of the study is the novel. The secondary data are books,

thesis, journals and articles from internet that relate to the topic of the study. She


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has found two questions that she is trying to figure them out through this study.

They are:

1. What is the origin of the flappers in the 20’s century America in Post World

War I?

2. How is the flappers’ moral values depicted through the women characters in

the novel?

1.3. The Scope of Study

In the scope of study, the current researcher confines into the discussion of

what the original of the flappers’ portray in post World War I American society

seen through the young women characters in the Great Gatsby by F. Scott

Fitzgerald. Then she gives the description of how the significance of American

literature is. How the character in the literature is, and presented the lack of

morality which refers more to the concept of Michel Foucault.

Moreover, she applies Michel Foucault’s theory for analyzing the data. It

is really different from the previous researchers did the study by taking the same

novel, the Great Gatsby as the main source. Thus, the study is focused more on

the Flappers’ Moral Values in Post-WW I American Society as seen through the

Women Characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald the Great Gatsby.

1.4 Presentation

In the first chapter, the current researcher gives an introduction. It is the

original background of flappers’ portrait in post-WW I American society seen

through the young women characters in the novel. In the second chapter, she

gives the description of what the origin and how the flappers picture in post WW

I American society seen through the young women characters. The description


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of the flappers is the part of American History that becomes the big changes of

phenomenon in the flappers’ era. Besides that, she mentions some places which

take an experience more of the flappers changes and touches on how the

American women live in urban and rural. In addition she also explain how the

Victorian era and the life changes in modern era.

Moreover, the third chapter is classifying and analyzing the data which

refers to the lack of morality. The current researcher analyzes the novel, the

Great Gatsby by applying the theory of Michel Foucault (The Madness and

Civilization). It discusses about the flappers’ moral values in the society, seen

through the young women characters. It refers more to desires and madness. The

last chapter is the conclusion of the study.

1.5. The Objective of Study

There are two objectives of study which relate to the Flappers’ Moral

Values in Post WW I American Society as seen through the Young Women

Characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald the Great Gatsby. Namely:

1 To find out the origin of the Flappers in the 20’s century America in Post

World War I.

2 To figure out how the flappers’ moral values is depicted seen through the

young women characters in the novel.

1.6. Theoretical Approach

The data of the study are collected from various resources. The various

resources can support the ideas of the data and refer to the topic of the study. In

literary research to yield a complete and far-reaching understanding; the current


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researcher cannot rely only on limited supporting ideas or single point of view.

Instead, we have to collect as many data as we can support the analysis. Nash

Smith (1980: 3) states that, a prominent figure in American Studies in one of his

article "Can American Studies Develop a Method"; the defining characteristic of

American Studies is not the size of its problem but the effort to view any given

subject of investigation from new perspective to take into account as many

aspect of it as possible.

In addition, the current researcher is a student of the American Studies

Program which must merge the interdisciplinary approach. So in doing this

study, she must involve in some approaches that can prop the idea and the data

up that still relate more to the topic of the study. According to Nash Smith, in his

essay Can American Studies Develop a Method?, the best thing we can do is not

only to conceive American Studies as collaboration among men working within

existing academic disciplines, but also attempting to widen the boundaries

imposed by the conventional method of inquiry.

In addition, he says that the students of literature have to take account of

sociological, historical, and anthropological data and method (Kwiat and Turpic,

1980:14). Thus, the current researcher applies the Sociology of literature and

historical approaches, in this study. Those help her in analyzing the data as the

main purposes to figure out the Flappers’ Moral Values in Post World War I

American Society as seen through the Women Characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald

the Great Gatsby.

Furthermore, in this study, she also applies the theory of McDowell on

reconciliation of time, space and disciplines is reflected in the present study


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(McDowell, 1948: 2-11). He states that “history is a branch of knowledge which

deals with past, but, as a discipline which stands among both the social sciences

and the humanities, history might perhaps be expected to deal even handedly

with the past and present” (1948: 8).

Moreover, the theory mentioned above supports the current researcher to

understand and analyze the literary work, such the novel, the Great Gatsby by F.

Scott Fitzgerald. In addition, the young women characters have certain function

in this study. The reason is the individuals’ image in the novel will never get out

from the social life even though they are created by the half of the author’s

imagination. In other words, the current researcher can get the reflection from

the characters in the novel. Besides that, she finds out problems in the novel as

the way of the author to address the messages to readers. She has to apply the

theory because flappers in the Roaring 20’s are not only the American history in

the past, but also becomes the bridge among in the past, present, and future. The

theory connects the phenomenon and the real life at the era. In addition, the

novel gives the best picture, lesson and new ideas for the next generation who do

the study.

There are many good messages that authors give through their literary

works. Thus, the young generation who live after this period can know, figure

them out, understand more about the moral changes values. They also can take

more good advantages for their own lives as the reflection to face the modern

life.

In other words, according to McDowell (1948: 2-11), American Studies

does not have a special discipline so that it requires other discipline in order to


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study American Experience. Thus, it is very important for the current researcher

involves in many other disciplines. The American Studies not only has the

reconciliation of the disciplines but also it has the strong relationship among the

disciplines. It relates to the appropriate branch of knowledge area of the main

topic in doing the study. Those can cover and support her in analyzing the data.

Furthermore, Meredith says that in his essays: Subverting Culture the

Radical as Teacher "American Studies is an interdisciplinary discipline which

utilizes social science, literature, history and politics, social, economic, etc."

(1969:1). Absolutely, there are some of the American literary works such novels

can be the part of the fiction documentation of American History. It also become

the mental evidence in doing a study or investigating about what happened at

that period. In other words, the student of American Studies Program (especially

those studying about the American Literature), learn about the American History

through the American literary works. It means that the American Studies

Program as the big umbrella that can cover the small part of it through the

literary works, such the novel, the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Wellek and Warren (1977:73) state that in theory of Literature the

extrinsic study may attempt to interpret literature in the light of its social context

and its antecedents; in most cases it combines a causal explanation. They also

say that the most widespread and flourishing methods of studying literature

concern themselves in its environment, and external causes. It is better for the

current researcher knows and understands first about the theory of literature. It is

based on interpreting the meaning of its social context and environment.


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According to Blake (1969: 1-2), a “serious” author tries to convey to

his or her reader what really might have happened, what is “true.” The

author who has nothing but imagination will be a mere “spinner of tales”,

unless an author makes his or her characters seem true to life and puts

them into recognizable situations, he or she will not grasp the interest of

the readers. (2-3)

Based on Blake theory previously, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the novel, the

Great Gatsby as his presentation to readers know and understand what truly

happened in that era. It depicts the new American dream of wealth and success

in the 1920’s in New York. Absolutely, the story comes more from the author’s

imagination and uses his own characters creation. In addition, he presents

readers about the true life based on his own experience. According to

Rostamdokht (2010: 89), this novel was penned in the “Roaring Twenties”–a

phrase meant to emphasize the period social, artistic, and cultural dynamism. All

those cover the modernity lifestyle especially in the flappers’ era. He portrayed

the moral shifting of the young women after the World War I.

The flappers wear new fashion clothes. They are freer and easier to

interact and make a relationship with men. In the previous period, on the

contrary, their older generations are more conservative of moral values. For

example, the way of they behave, act, wear the clothes, interact and

communicate with the men and especially be more aware of their roles in the

society. The changes do not only happen to people who live in the city but also

in the village. They live in cities just like urban taste and dress.


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Furthermore, in the novel, every young woman character gives many

portraits of the flappers’ changes in moral values. They demonstrate the change

of their modern lives. The shifting is through their attitude and behavior in the

society. The changes in radical deeds give the impact to their own environment.

It is like what Watson and Thrap clarify that kind of behavior is operant

behavior in which through it, we function, act and produce effects, the

environment acts once again on us (1980: 9).

In addition, she puts the data into and analyzes it by using the sociological

of literature approach by applying the Michel Foucault theory for defining,

figuring out, understanding the flappers’ moral values in post WW I American

society seen through the young women characters in the novel. Broom and

Selznick state that sociology is one of the social sciences; its long-run aim is to

discover the basic structure of human society, to identify the main forces that

hold groups together or weaken them, and to learn what conditions transform

social life (1975:2).

In a sense, he has tried to re-create the negative part of the concept,

that which has disappeared under the retroactive influence of present-day

ideas and the passage of time. (Foucault, 1988: v)

Some of them found pleasure and even a cure in the changing

surroundings, in the isolation of being cast off, while others withdrew further,

became worse, or died alone and away from their families. The cities and

villages which had thus rid themselves of their crazed and crazy, could now take

pleasure in watching the exciting sideshow when a ship full of foreign lunatics

would dock at their harbors. (Foucault, 1988: vii)


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Madness is really a manifestation of the "soul," a variable concept

which from antiquity to the twentieth century covered approximately what

came to be known, after Freud, as the unconscious part of the human mind.

(Foucault, 1988: viii)

Sauvages had sketched the fundamental role of passion, citing it as a

more constant, more persistent, and somehow more deserved cause of

madness: "The distraction of our mind is the result of our blind surrender

to our desires, our incapacity to control or to moderate our passions.

(Foucault, 1988: 85)

... what was involved was only passion's moral precedence, its

responsibility, in a vague way; the real target of this denunciation was the

radical relation of the phenomena of madness to the very possibility of

passion. (Foucault, 1988: 85)

The moralists of the Greco-Latin tradition had found it just that

madness is passion's chastisement; and to be more certain that this was the

case, they chose to define passion as a temporary and attenuated madness.

But classical thought could define a relation between passion and madness

which was not on the order of a pious hope, a pedagogic threat, or a moral

synthesis; it even broke with the tradition by inverting the terms of the

concatenation; it based the chimeras of madness on the nature of passion;

it saw that the determinism of the passions was nothing but a chance for

madness to penetrate the world of reason; and that if the unquestioned

union of body and soul manifested man's finitude in passion, it laid this


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same man open, at the same time, to the infinite movement that destroyed

him. (Foucault, 1988: 89)

Madness, made possible by passion, threatened by a movement proper

to itself what had made passion itself possible. Madness was one of those

unities in which laws were compromised, perverted, distorted—there by

manifesting such unity as evident and established, but also as fragile and

already doomed to destruction. (Foucault, 1988: 89)

Actually, the young women characters’ attitude and behavior depicted

in the novel, the Great Gatsby, indirectly captured brittleness and

destruction of their own new life as the picture of new freedom. They

created their new ideology of new life. It presents the freedom. On the

contrary, it can be the boom which burst and destroy them, anywhere and

anytime. Definitely, every single of their deeds has the consequence

whether it can be better or worse than before; it depended on the action

itself.

The changes happen because there are many aspects influence the

changes. Those are from the external and internal of a person’s desires.

Foucault (1988: 90-91) states that according to many physicians, city life,

the life of the court, of the salons, led to madness by this multiplicity of

excitations constantly accumulated, prolonged, and echoed without ever

being attenuated.

Madness, which finds its first possibility in the phenomenon of

passion, and in the deployment of that double causality which, starring

from passion itself, radiates both toward the body and toward the soul, is at


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the same time suspension of passion, breach of causality, dissolution of the

elements of this unity. Madness participates both in the necessity of

passion and in the anarchy of what, released by this very passion,

transcends it and ultimately contests all it implies. (Foucault, 1988: 91)

Let us listen to what is said in these fantastic fragments. Imagination

is not madness. Even if in the arbitrariness of hallucination, alienation

finds the first access to its vain liberty, madness begins only beyond this

point, when the mind binds itself to this arbitrariness and becomes a

prisoner of this apparent liberty. Foucault (1988: 93) says that and just as

the consciousness of truth is not carried away by the mere presence of the

image, but in the act which limits, confronts, unifies, or dissociates the

image, so madness will begin only in the act which gives the value of truth

to the image. There is an original innocence of the imagination: "The

imagination itself does not err, since it neither denies nor affirms but is

fixed to so great a degree on the simple contemplation of an image"; and

only the mind can turn what is given in the image into abusive truth, in

other words, into error, or acknowledged error, that is, into truth... .

(Foucault, 1988: 94)

Madness is thus beyond imagination, and yet it is profoundly rooted in

it; for it consists merely in allowing the image a spontaneous value, total

and absolute truth. The act of the reasonable man who, rightly or wrongly,

judges an image to be true or false, is beyond this image, transcends and

measures it by what is not itself... . (Foucault, 1988: 94)


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What is this act? An act of faith, an act of affirmation and of

negation—a discourse which sustains and at the same time erodes the

image, undermines it, distends it in the course of a reasoning, and

organizes it around a segment of language. (Foucault, 1988: 94)

"Nature alone had spoken hitherto; but soon illusion, chimera, and

extravagance played their part; at length she acquired the unhappy strength

to approve in herself this horrible maxim: nothing is so beautiful nor so

sweet as to obey the desires of love. (Foucault, 1988: 97)

In their minds, whatever they did, it was not the fault or mistakes, it

was the truth, because the measurement is based on what they though

about. It is madness itself, and also, beyond each of its phenomena, its

silent transcendence, which constitute the truth of madness. (Foucault,

1988: 101)

It is in this sense that the Encyclopedic proposed its famous definition

of madness: to depart from reason "with confidence and in the firm

conviction that one is following it—that, it seems to me, is what is called

being mad." (Foucault, 1988: 104)

Madness begins where the relation of man to truth is disturbed and

darkened. It is in this relation, at the same time as in the destruction of this

relation, that madness assumes its general meaning and its particular

forms. Dementia, Zacchias says, using the term here in the most general

sense of madness, "lay in this, that the intellect did not distinguish true

from false." (Foucault, 1988: 104-105)


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It is in this manner that the Encyclopedic distinguishes "physical

truth" from "moral truth." "Physical truth consists in the accurate relation

of our sensations with physical objects"; includes illusions, hallucinations,

all perceptual disturbances; "it is a madness to hear choirs of angels,

ascertain enthusiasts do." "Moral truth," on the other hand, "consists in the

exactitude of the relations we discern either between moral objects, or

between those objects and ourselves." There will be a form of madness

consisting of the loss of these relations; such is the madness of character,

of conduct, and of the passions. "Veritable madness, then, are all the

derangements of our mind, all the illusions of self-love, and all our

passions when they are carried to the point of blindness; for blindness is

the distinctive characteristic of madness." (Foucault, 1988: 105)

Blindness: one of the words which comes closest to the essence

of classical madness. ... it refers also to ill-founded beliefs, mistaken

judgments, to that whole background of errors inseparable from madness.

(Foucault, 1988: 105-106)

Madness is ultimately nothing, for it unites in them all that is negative.

But the paradox of this nothing is to manifest itself, to explode in signs, in

words, in gestures. (Foucault, 1988: 107)

That is why this disease attacks women more than men, because they

have a more delicate, less firm constitution, because they lead a softer life,

and because they are accustomed to the luxuries and commodities of life

and not to suffering." (Foucault, 1988: 149)


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The madness explains why so few women are hysterical when they

are accustomed to a hard and laborious life, yet strongly incline to become

so when they lead a soft, idle, luxurious, and lax existence;... . (Foucault,

1988: 149)

Once the mind becomes blind through the very excess of sensibility—

then madness appears. But on the other hand, such identification gives

madness a new content of guilt, of moral sanction, of just punishment

which was not at all a part of the classical experience. It burdens unreason

with all these new values: instead of making blindness the condition of

possibility for all the manifestations of madness, it describes blindness, the

blindness of madness, as the psychological effect of amoral fault.

(Foucault, 1988: 158)

1.7. The Methodology of Research

In this study, the current researcher uses the qualitative research,

specifically library research. There are two kinds of the data sources. The

primary data is the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Then, the

secondary data are from the articles, journals, internet, books, and thesis that

relate to the topic of the study.

There are three steps the current researcher does in the analysis of the

data. Firstly, she identifies the data which relate to the main discussion of the

study. The data are taken from the dialog, statement, and description of the

young women characters in the novels, the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Then, she classifies the data based on the lack of the flappers’ morality. Finally,

she analyzes the data by applying the theory of Michel Foucault, by using the


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analytic descriptive qualitative method. In the qualitative method, meaning is

essential to interpret someone's or society's behavior (Bogdan and Biklen, 1982).

Moreover, according to Hariwijaya and Djaelani (2004:39), descriptive

study is intended to search as much information as possible from a certain

phenomenon. Thus, the current researcher needs more information that can

support and make the data of the study is more valid by having the primary and

the secondary data.

In other words, in analyzing the data, the current researcher applies

interdisciplinary approaches. All aspects are really influencing each other. So

she wants to delimitate the approaches that to be applied in the study. Thus,

Kwiat and Turpic state that the true reason why American Studies is

interdisciplinary studies has been proven. It is not just to get a new angle, but

American Studies revolves cutting across and including the context of other

disciplines. These disciplines are, in fact, the means that our society use to

communicate knowledge of culture and are thus one of the best sources for an

investigation of culture (1980:5-15).

Such the case; it is very significant for the current researcher to apply

many other fields. Those can support more for the study which are suitable to the

main discussion. They are historical and sociological approaches. In applying

historical approach, she needs to support the situation which appears through the

literary works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Great Gatsby as the fiction

documentation of American History that happened at the Roaring 20’s especially

in the flappers’ era.


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According to Soekanto (2012: 43), the historical method applies the

analysis based on the phenomenon from the past to formulate the common

principles.

1.8. The Literature Review

There are six theses that the current researcher take to support the data of the

study. The first thesis is about American self-identification: A Strategy of

maintenance traced in the red badge of courage, The Great Gatsby and catch-

22, Amir Rostamdokht, 2010. In his study, he tried to find out how the America

has formed her identity through three wars of Civil War, World War I, and

World War II, supposing that America is a dynamic entity that has a developing

psyche. In addition, he wanted to figure out how the “Manifest Destiny” and

“America Dream” as bearers of American ideologies are continuously redefine

to fuel American sel-identification and guarantee her maintenance. He uses three

novels in this research; they are The Red Badge of Courage, The Great Gatsby

and Catch-22.

He does not full concerned and discussed all the history of America, but he

wanted to keep in line with American history of wars and tracing the literary

works related to the experience of each of the mentioned wars, which supposed

to be discover the way America in each period of evolving from past to present

defined itself and its national identity. Shortly, American identity serves as the

text to be studied in the context of wars.

Besides he applied the American theory, he also applied the historical,

sociological and psychological approaches while he used the politics as well as

literary books to support his study which relevant with his topic of the study.


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In addition, the thesis which discussed about, The pursuit of happiness in F.

Scott Fitzgerald the Great Gatsby, Zahrotul Muniroh, 2009. She focused on

finding out the history and definition of the American dream as well as the

pursuit of happiness in America. She also tended to trace out the struggles of the

major and minor characters in The Great Gatsby in the pursuit of happiness that

is the real American dream. In addition, she tried to find out the characters that

succeed or failed as well as the cause of their success or failure of pursuing the

happiness.

In her study, she applied historical, sociological, psychological, and literary

approaches.

Then, thesis is in title F. Scott. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby reflection of

the American moral failure in the twenties, Bambang Setiawan, 1999. His main

of the study are to find out why the crime and the corruption burgeoned horribly

in the twenties as reflected in The Great Gatsby, viewed from the perspective of

Protestant Ethic. In addition, he attempted to see the benefit that Indonesia as the

developing country could take and learn from the American experience who had

already developed ahead of us, in order that not really almost same the mistake

as America did in the twenties.

Moreover, in his study, he focused more on the behavior of the major

characters in the novel, namely: Nick Carraway, Tom Buchanan, Daisy, Gatsby

and Jordan Baker as a bigger picture of the real American society in the

twenties.

Next, thesis is about The obsession in The Great Gatsby and “Winter

Dream” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tri Pramesti, 1991. Her focus on this study is


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about Fitzgerald’s obsession with wealth, success and fame as portrayed in the

novels. There are three purposes why she focused on it. First, she tried to find

out the certain profound value which was reflected in the novels. Second, from

the pragmatic view, she attempted to enrich the reader’s understanding of one of

the best twentieth century American writers. The last, she hope her result of the

portrayed of American life can be one of initial grasp to face their own

problems, especially for Indonesia as the developing country, where most of the

citizens endeavor to be wealthy, where no one wants to live in poverty, where

people want to live better than they did before.

She applied a biographical and thematic analysis for her study. Besides it,

she wanted to show the important relationship between his life and his art.

Finally, she compared the attitude of several characters of the novels toward

wealth with that of Fitzgerald.

Moreover, thesis entitles Impact of Capitalism on American Society

reflections in The Great Gatsby for the upper class and in the Grapes of Wrath

for the lower class, Hazairin Eko Prasetyo, 1990. His study is to get a better

view of understanding the reflections of certain social behaviors of particular

times in their contemporary novels when they are compared in the characters

and their social interactions. The characters and social interactions in both The

Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath are typical of the times when they come

into existence.

In addition, he also wanted to learn about the dangers of capitalism, which is

competitive in its nature, in The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath. This

kind of lesson, for instance, gaining wealth and social status on one hand, and


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dispossess farmers on the other, certainly have something to do with a particular

level of a society’s economic and social development.

So he analyzed the novels by applying the historical and social-cultural

background. He focuses on the capitalism which is reflected through the novels

as his main sources.

The last thesis is about Troubled Americans in the 1920’s: A Study on

Eugene O’neill’s the Hairy Ape, Rumapea, Linus, 1996. In his thesis, he studied

about the American Troubled which happened at 1920’s Era through the Hairy

Ape novel by Eugene O’neill. He took the novel as his main object to study

about the phenomenon at the era and to comprehend the social phenomenon

about the American industrialization and the problem at that decade. He

analyzed the novel by applying literary sociological approach, objective and

expressive approaches.


chapter i introduction 1.1. background of choosing the...

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