Prose's Struggle

Saya adalah salah satu mahasiswi Universitas Padjadjaran jurusan Sastra Inggris yang memiliki tekanan batin pada mata kuliah Introduction to Prose selama 6 bulan. Saat UAS menanti, tugas akhir Prose pun menanti, saat itulah banting tulang mengerjakannya. Saya berkata pada sahabat-sahabat saya—Anni, Aling, dan Netti—jika saya mendapat nilai B  pada mata kuliah Prose, saya akan membuat blog dan memostingnya. Dan….inilah hasil kerja keras selama beberapa minggu :))

Water’s Basic Behavior as the Characteristic in Lewis’s Story

Human’s body consists of 75% of water and the other 25% is solid. Water takes a big part in human’s body, so human’s basic behaviors, realize or not is the impact of the water. Water’s basic behavior such as: following its vessel, flowing from the high to short place, and pressing to every direction, happens in fiction.

            Sinclair Lewis’s short story, “A Letter from the Queen” starts with “Doctor Selig was an adventurer.” Selig is an adventurer who is weakened by Senator after his first meeting with Senator. Selig’s admiration to the Senator Ryder makes him wanted to do everything to Ryder.  From the first dinner, the situation and the relation between Selig and Ryder become warmer and closer. In the second dinner, Selig feels like he is the luckiest one because he has been invited to have dinner with the confidant of kings and field marshals, of Anatole France and Lord Haldane, of Sarah Bernhardt and George Meredith.

He had tried to mix himself a light whisky and soda – he noted, with some anxiety about the proper drinking-manners in diplomatic society, that he took approximately one third as much whisky as the Senator. (5)

It implies that Selig doesn’t really know about how to drink with some officials. In this case, Selig is like water which moves following its vessel. He can’t move freely, he has something which distances from his usual manner. But, just like water, he only follows the rule and the situation that has been determined in the vessel.

The same water’s basic behavior comes from the same writer in “The Cat of the Stars” with different case. McGee, who is an assistant to president of M. & D.R.R. Company, becomes water when he was in Mr. Discopolos barbershop.

Mr. Discopolos sighed and peeped at the victim to see if he was aware of the damage. But Mr. McGee was sitting with eyes tight, lips apart, already a lord of ocean traffic, giving orders to Singhalese planters and to traders in the silent of northern pines. (3)

 As we know when we are in the barbershop, the one who becomes controller is the barber—Mr. Discopolos. Although Mr. Discopolos damaged Mc.Gee’s hair, but Mc.Gee did not do anything when Mr. Discopolos was cutting his hair—he had not known yet. Mr. McGee tends to keep silence and follows the instruction of the barber because he expects the barber would repair his cut well before he would have gone to New York. The situation that Mc.Gee had is just like the water which follows its vessel.

            The other water’s basic behavior in “A Letter from the Queen” is when the Senator does not has a respect to Selig then he changes his mind.

I didn’t suppose anyone had looked into my books since 1910. (3)

It shows that he does not like if Selig knows something about him or wants to interrupt the Senator’s privacy. He wants to build a distance with Selig who he thinks only an ordinary people – teacher in Erasmus. 

“Just a moment, please,” said the Senator’s chauffeur. “The Senator wishes to know if you care to come to diner tomorrow evening – eight – he’ll send for you.”(8)

From the chauffeur’s statement, it indicates that Senator really waits for Selig’s coming for the fourth dinner. His dislike to Selig has disappeared. Moreover, he asks his driver to tell Selig to come for dinner. It means that he wants the public know his effort for destroying the “distance” building he made. Ryder has changed his dislike – means it is not good deed – to the friendly one to Selig. So it is just like water which flows from the high place to short place. In this case, high place means when we have a cruel feeling and short place means that we are kindhearted person.

            We can also find the same behavior in “The Cat of the Stars” with different case and view.

Mr. Andrew Discopolos, the popular proprietor of the Dandy Barber Shop, was the next step in the tragedy. Mr. Discopolos was waiting for this Oakdale car. (2)

It implies that Mr. Discopolos has a good desire to going home, because Oakdale car only runs once in eighteen minutes. But he changes his mind then only in minutes.

He had promised his wife to go home to supper, but in his bacchanalian soul he desired to sneak down to Barney’s for an evening poker. He waited one minute, and was tremendously moral and determined to eschew gambling. (2)

It seems so easy to change his mind, although he had promised his wife to go home. He is tempted by the situation – night and the Oakdale possibility to come so low – to go to Barney. He sacrifices his wife for only a temporary satisfactory. This condition is related to the water which flows from the high place to short place. Having a desire to go home to have supper with his wife is very good deed. But then turned his mind for having an evening poker and trembling is very bad deed. It can be said that Mr. Discopolos flows from the precious place – waiting for Oakdale to go home – to the lowly place – go to Barney for trembling.

            The other water’s basic behavior which can be related to the human’s behavior is found in “A Letter from the Queen”. Selig, who is the new comer in Senator Ryder life, feels like having much pressure after he knew about the fact of Ryder. Selig does not really know about Ryder because he only reads about Ryder from his book, and then he admires the Senator so much. He also makes project to finish his book about Ryder and his letter from many officials. Dinner by dinner, his pressure grows so deep.

Two days afterward, the Senator’s chauffeur again telephoned an invitation to tea for that afternoon, but this time Selig snapped, “Sorry! Tell the Senator I unfortunately shan’t be able to come!” (8)

He explodes his pressure to the Senator’s driver, who actually does not have a problem with Selig. When someone has given up to try to be more patient, he will blow up his pressure to anyone who at the same time is near him or communicate with him.

He reproved himself next morning, “He’s been mighty nice to me. He’s good old coot – at heart. And of course a great statesman.” (7)

By proving himself, Selig seems so depressed and he tries to make sure himself that Ryder is not really kind man, so that he will not be tricked again by the Senator. In this situation, Selig is just like water which presses every direction. His anger to Ryder makes him press to every direction near him, include Senator’s driver.

            In this time, we can find the same theory in “The Cat of the Stars” but with different problem. The pressure which happens to McGee is different pressure.

He took his maltreated head into a taxi, feeling shamefully that the taxi driver was snickering at his haircut. (3)

McGee has a pressure with someone who looks at his new hair. He is pressed by the driver—someone who he pays for driving him somewhere, so his position is lower than McGee. It seems that McGee feels very disturbed so he feels ashamed to someone who has a lower position than him. His pressure becomes so pressed him every day when he was in New York. The climax happens when he met with the president, the first vice president and a committee of four directors.

He felt that doubt. But he interpreted it thus:  “They think I’m a complete boob to have a haircut like this. Think I don’t know any better. And I can’t explain. Mustn’t admit that I know there’s anything wrong – mustn’t admit I was an easy mark and let a drunken barber carve me up.” (5)

He has not even met and talked with those people before, but he guesses that those people are very interested in his new haircut for a mockery. He also blames and mocks himself. The pressure he had has made him feels so isolated. When people look at him, he feels that people only look for his dumb haircut. This pressure has made him for always think negatively to others. Because he always feels people gaze at him is for mocking him, he presses those people with a negative thinking he has. It can be said that McGee’s condition is just like water’s basic behavior which presses at every direction.

Lewis almost describes his characteristic through the conversation from the characters or through the point of view from the other characters. From both Lewis’s stories, we know that water’s basic behavior can be related to the characteristic in Lewis’s story. We may not aware of our behavior which actually comes from water’s behavior.