the transition of traditional gender role … · a tree grows in brooklyn ... social life found in...

THE TRANSITION OF TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLE

REFLECTED THROUGH THE MAJOR FEMALE

CHARACTERS’ ROLES IN BETTY SMITH’S

A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

In English Letters

By

LISMA FERAWATI SITUMORANG

Student Number: 104214087

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2017

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

i

THE TRANSITION OF TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLE

REFLECTED THROUGH THE MAJOR FEMALE

CHARACTERS’ ROLES IN BETTY SMITH’S

A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

In English Letters

By

LISMA FERAWATI SITUMORANG


ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2017


A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis

THE TRANSITION OF TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLEREFLECTED THROUGH THE MAJOR FEMALE

CHARACTERS' ROLES IN BETTY SMITH'SA TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN

ByLISMA FERAWATI SITUMORANG


Approved by

yY'AB. Sri Mulyam, M.A.,Ph.D.Advisor

Drs. Hinnawan Wijanarka, M.Hum.Co-Advisor

11

October 6, 2017

October 6, 2017


A Smjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis



ByLISMA FERAWATI SITUMORANG

Student Nwnber: 104214087

Defended before the Board of Examinerson October 16, 2017

and Declared Acceptable

BOARD OF EXAMINERS

Name

Chairperson : A.B. Sri Mulyani, M.A.,Ph.D

Secretary : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum.

Member 1 : Tatang Iskarna, S.S., M.Hum.

Member 2 : A.B. Sri Mulyani, M.A.,Ph.D

Member 3 : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hwn.

;Jk---~

-JKi1-.Yogyakarta, October 31,2017

Faculty of Letters. --- nata Dharma University

,;yo':;'lf' ~""',.,;., Deanr E? (~:) "'j)."I '. .,::.. '". gl tr;c-"- .'\ 7. ,fI.~'j~~,(t) . I

':;<~,c.f.~~~:~~~ir ."""",::l;"''fu/.t> Ari Subagyo, M.Hwn.

"''';;-'~''''''

111


LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAHUNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dhanna

NamaNomor Mahasiswa

: Lisma Ferawati Situmorang: 104214087

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada PerpustakaanUniversitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul



besel1a perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan

kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan,

mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data,mendistribusikan secm·a terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media

lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin kepada saya maupunmemberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai

penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di YogyakaJ1aPada tanggal 4 Oktober 2017

Yang menyatakan,

~Lisma Ferawati Situmorang

IV


STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certify that this undergraduate thesis contains no material which has been

previously submitted for the award of any other degree at any university, and that, to

the best of my knowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material previously

written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text of the

undergraduate thesis.

Lisma Ferawati Situmorang

v


vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My first and greatest gratitude goes to my creator, Jesus Christ. Thank you

for the life and blessings. It is only by Your grace that I can finish this thesis.

I would like to thank my advisor A.B. Sri Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D. for the

help, guidance, and understanding given during the process of writing this thesis. I

thank Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M.Hum., my co-advisor, and Tatang Iskarna, S.S.,

M.Hum. for the corrections and suggestions to make this thesis better. I would also

like to thank all lecturers of English Letters Department and staff of Sanata Dharma

University.

To my parents, thank you for the supports and prayers. I am so grateful for

having parents like you two, who are always giving your best as parents for me. For

my big brothers, thank you for the supports and criticisms. I know those criticisms

were meant to motivate me to finish this thesis and my study.

I would also like to thank all friends in English Letters Department,

especially class C. I am grateful to know you all and it was a priceless experience to

study with you all here in Sanata Dharma. Thanks to Olivia, Nene, and Ezra for the

friendship all these years. Lastly, for everyone that I know here in Yogyakarta, thank

you for the memories and life lessons.

Lisma Ferawati Situmorang


vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE .............................................................................................................. i

APPROVAL PAGE ................................................................................................... ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ............................................................................................. iii

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ....... iv

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ............................................................................... v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... vii

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... ix

ABSTRAK .................................................................................................................... x

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1

A. Background of the Study ......................................................................................... 1

B. Problem Formulation ............................................................................................... 2

C. Objectives of the Study ........................................................................................... 2

D. Definition of Terms ................................................................................................. 3

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ......................................................... 4

A. Review of Related Studies ...................................................................................... 4

B. Review of Related Theories .................................................................................... 6

1. Theories of Character ......................................................................................... 6

2. Theory of Characterization ................................................................................. 7

3. Theories of Gender Role ..................................................................................... 8

C. Review of the Development of Background Feminism until the Nineteenth

Century in the United States .................................................................................. 11

D. Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................... 13

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ....................................................................... 15

A. Object of the Study ................................................................................................ 15

B. Approach of the Study ........................................................................................... 16

C. Method of the Study .............................................................................................. 16

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS .................................................................................... 18

A. Gender Roles in the Society in Smith‟s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ....................... 18

1. Gender Role and the Public Sphere .................................................................. 20

2. Gender Role and the Domestic Sphere ............................................................. 21

3. Gender Role and the Political Right ................................................................. 23

B. The Description of Major Female Characters in Smith‟s A Tree Grows in

Brooklyn ......................................................................................................................... 24

1. Katie Nolan as a Mother in the Nolan Family ...................................................... 24

2. Francie Nolan as a Daughter in the Nolan Family ........................................... 30


viii

C. Major Female Characters‟ Development Reflecting the Transition of Gender Role

in the Society .................................................................................................................. 34

1. Katie Nolan as the Breadwinner and Her Perspective on Education ................. 34

2. Francie Nolan as the Breadwinner and Her Education Pursuit ........................ 38

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 43

BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 44

APPENDIX: Summary of Betty Smith‟s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ....................... 46


ix

ABSTRACT

SITUMORANG, LISMA F. The Transition of Traditional Gender Role Reflected

through the Major Female Characters’ Roles in Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in

Brooklyn. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata

Dharma University, 2017.

This thesis takes Betty Smith‟s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as the object to be

analyzed. It tells about a girl and the society she lived in during 1900‟s. Issues in

social life found in the novel are various, mostly related to poverty, education, and

gender. This thesis analyzes gender issue in the society because gender was an

important issue in 1900‟s, the time when women sought equality toward men.

The thesis focuses on gender role issues that are found in the society and

relate it to two major female characters‟ role in the novel. The last part analyzes the

position of those characters toward the idea of gender role depicted in the society.

Whether the major female characters are like women in general or their roles are

reflect transition of gender role idea depicted in the society.

The method used in this study is a library study. The primary source of this

study is a novel by Betty Smith titled A Tree Grows in Brooklyn itself. Secondary

sources are the books and sites from internet containing gender as its topics. Theories

of gender and gender studies approach used in this study are taken from books of

feminism, psychology, and literature.

The result of this study shows that issues found in the society are gender-

related. There were labor division according to gender, men had various works that

were related to public activities, and women had limited works while some of them

stayed in their domestic sphere. The right to vote was also owned by men only. The

analysis shows that the society was in transition from traditional gender role. The

men had more dominant role in many aspects but women still had access to work

though the jobs were limited. The roles of the two female major characters that are

analyzed reflect how the transition of traditional gender role took place. They show

that gender role is not rigid, women are able to carry the same roles as men in certain

situations.


x

ABSTRAK

SITUMORANG, LISMA F. The Transition of Traditional Gender Role Reflected

through the Major Female Characters’ Roles in Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in

Brooklyn. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas

Sanata Dharma, 2017.

Skripsi ini menganalisis novel karya Betty Smith yang berjudul A Tree

Grows in Brooklyn. Novel ini menceritakan kehidupan seorang gadis dan masyarakat

di sekitarnya di tahun 1900an. Ada berbagai macam isu sosial yang ditemukan di

dalam novel ini dan sebagian besar adalah isu menyangkut kemiskinan, pendidikan,

dan gender. Skripsi ini menganalisis isu gender di masyarakat karena isu ini adalah

persoalan penting di tahun 1900an, masa ketika kaum wanita berjuang untuk

mendapatkan kesetaraan dengan kaum pria.

Penelitian ini berfokus pada isu pembagian peran berdasarkan gender yang

kemudian dihubungkan dengan peran dua tokoh utama wanitanya. Bagian akhir

menganalisa kedudukan kedua tokoh utama wanita tersebut terhadap isu peran

berdasarkan gender yang tergambar di masyarakat. Hal ini bertujuan untuk

mengetahui apakah kedua tokoh utama wanita ini mempunyai peran yang sama atau

peran keduanya menggambarkan adanya transisi dalam pembagian peran

berdasarkan gender di masyarakat.

Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kepustakaan. Sumber utama penelitian

ini adalah novel karya Betty Smith yang berjudul A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Sumber-sumber pendukung lainnya adalah buku-buku dan situs-situs internet yang

membahas gender. Teori gender dan pendekatan studi gender dalam penelitian ini

berasal dari buku-buku feminisme, psikologi, dan kesusasteraan.

Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa benar terdapat isu gender di

masyarakat. Ada pembagian pekerjaan berdasarkan gender, misalnya pria memiliki

pekerjaan yang lebih bervariasi, yang terhubung dengan masyarakat luas, sementara

pekerjaan bagi wanita terbatas dan sebagian dari mereka hanya melakukan pekerjaan

rumah tangga. Hak untuk memberikan suara juga hanya dimiliki oleh kaum pria.

Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa adanya transisi dalam pembagian peran

berdasarkan gender yang pada awalnya masih bersifat tradisional. Pria lebih dominan

dalam banyak hal tetapi wanita tetap mempunyai kesempatan untuk bekerja

meskipun jenis pekerjaannya terbatas. Peran dua tokoh utama wanita yang dianalisis

jg menggambarkan transisi pembagian peran berdasarkan gender yang pada awalnya

bersifat tradisional. Kedua tokoh ini menunjukkan bahwa sebenarnya pembagian

peran berdasarkan gender itu tidak mutlak. Dalam situasi-situasi tertentu, wanita juga

mampu mengemban peran yang biasa diperuntukkan bagi pria.


1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir states that „One is not born a

woman; rather, one becomes a woman‟ (Beauvoir: 1973). For people living in this

modern world, this statement might be quite confusing, because they believe that a

human is created being either a man or a woman, but actually what Beauvoir means

in her statement is, society and its culture that form man and woman. In brief,

Beauvoir differentiates the term of sex and gender, sex is biological matter but

gender (man-woman) is something learned or acquired in the human culture.

Beauvoir‟s statement is also revisited by other scholars as mentioned in this

following idea.

[Sex and gender] serve a useful analytic purpose in contrasting a set of

biological facts with a set of cultural facts. Were I to be scrupulous in my

use of terms I would use the term “sex” only when I was speaking of

biological differences between males and females and use “gender”

whenever I was refering to the social, cultural, psychological constructs that

are imposed upon these biological differences. (Shapiro, 1981, as cited in

Yanagisako and Collier 1990: 139)

As stated above, sex is a biological matter while gender is something

learned from culture. If gender is constructed in the culture, then it is possible for us

to find out how gender is constructed, how gender cause men and women have

different roles in the society. The role differences between men and women later lead

to feminist movement. Mostly women believed that their role and freedom were

limited, not only in the society but also in education. One of most effective ways to

figure out the feminist movement is through printed media. The feminist thought can


2

be found in journals, essays, books, and novels. Though the issue is not always

explicitly shown in those printed media, or even the writers/authors did not meant to

discuss the matter, stories of society or social life could also depict women‟s role and

position toward men in the family and society. These writings could help to

understand the reason of the movement in the first place.

Betty Smith‟s novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn published in 1947 is chosen

because this novel, a story of Nolan‟s family who lived in the early 1900s, tells a

wife who struggled hard to make a living for her family, and when she was unable to

work in certain times, it was her daughter that took her position to earn money. Early

1900‟s was the time when women‟s role were undervalued but these two characters

show that women were capable to hold same roles as men if they are given the same

opportunity.

B. Problem Formulation

Based on the background explained above, the problems of this study are

formulated as follow

1. How are gender roles depicted in the society in Smith‟s A Tree Grows in

Brooklyn?

2. How are the two major female characters described as mother and daughter in

Smith‟s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn?

3. How can the major female characters‟ development reflect the transition of

gender role in Smith‟s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn?

C. Objectives of the Study

This study focuses on the three objectives stated above. First is to figure out

how gender roles depicted in the society. Second is to examine characteristics of the


3

major female characters. The third is to find out how the major female characters

challenge the idea of gender roles depicted in the society.

D. Definition of Terms

To guide the progress of this study and avoid misunderstanding on certain

terms, the related terms mentioned in this study are defined as follow

1. Gender Role

Gender: Psychological Perspectives takes Robert Brannon‟s (1976) concept

of role. According to Brannon, the male gender role or the female gender role is like

a script that men and women follow to fulfill their appropriate parts in acting

masculine or feminine. Brannon defined the social science usage of role in terms of

expected, socially encouraged patterns of behavior exhibited by individuals in

specific situations. Thus, a person acts to fulfill a role by behaving in the expected

way in appropriate situation (Brannon, 1996: 168).

2. Feminism

According to What is Feminism?: An Introduction to Feminist Theory, Chris

Beasley quotes Elisabeth Porter‟s statement in Women and Moral Identity and

defines feminism as the perspective that seeks to eliminate subordination,

oppression, inequalities, and injustice women suffer because of their sex (1999: 27).


http://www.google.co.id/search?hl=id&tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=bibliogroup:%22What+is+Feminism%3F:+An+Introduction+to+Feminist+Theory%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=8

4

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

There are some previous studies that are relevant to the present study. They

are reviewed because of the same object used for the study and the other has same

topic. Both of these related studies are from undergraduate thesis of Sanata Dharma

University students.

First study is an undergraduate thesis by Tri Siwi Prasetyaningrum titled

“Criticisms toward American Society in the Early Twentieth Century Revealed in

Betty Smith‟s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” The study aims to know more about the

condition of American slum society in the early twentieth century from the

characters and social issues found in the novel and also to find out Betty Smith‟s

criticism toward American society at that time. Based on those formulated problems,

the writer sees that Prasetyaningrum‟s study is focus on the society analysis. In her

study, Prasetyaningrum uses sociocultural-historical approach because she believes

this approach is significant in order to relate the novel with the American slum social

condition in the early twentieth century, including the attitudes and behaviors of the

society, also to reveal Smith‟s criticism toward the condition. The results of her study

are the analysis of characters reveal social issues in the society, they are issues in

poverty, immigration, religion, and politics, and Betty Smith as the author criticizing

the social condition from educational, moral, and political point of view. Smith

criticizing that people living in the slum should get education because education is

important in order to get a better life (2003: 48), morality need to be improved


5

because many people looked down and underestimated the poor and people also

easily judged the other. “Throughout the novel Smith is emphasizing her idea that

being rich is not always makes people rich in morality too” (2003: 53), and she also

criticizing the political parties that gave people free stuffs and coupons to gain vote,

and how the politician forgot their promises after got elected (2003: 54).

In the relation with the present study, the present study see characteristics

only from two major female characters (Katie Nolan and Francie Nolan) that can be

found in the analysis from the previous study. These two characters struggled to

come out of the poverty, which is one of the social issues found in Prasetyaningrum‟s

study. Prasetyaningrum‟s study analyzes social issues in general, and the present

study analyzes social issues that are gender-related.

The second study is “Gender Role in Steinbeck‟s The Grapes of Wrath: The

Return of Gender Role to Family; A Sociocultural-Historical Study of the American

Women in 1920S-1930S”, written by Lucia Dian Aryati. The study analyzes

American women‟s life from 1920s to 1930s and how the gender role perceived

through the characters. Aryati uses sociocultural-historical approach because the

study based its discussion on a real social condition and limited itself on a certain

time span. She provided review of related background of history and social

conditions of early America up to 1930s in the study.

The analysis of American women is started when The Joads family moved

to California. They used to live as a traditional and very gender family. Pa, was

described as a competent family protector that provides the family with life and

assurance. He, as the head of family is the one to ask for decision and opinion in

every movement in the family while Ma from her kitchen, radiates warm love and


6

protection to the whole family, even to Pa. She bore her children in the home, nursed

them, and watched them grow. Later, company shoved their house and they preferred

to go to California with another thousand migrants for a new life. Lived in America

was not easy. When America collapsed in the Great Depression in 1930s, women

worked to support either their own lives or the families. The same thing happened to

Joads family. “The role was not divided only from the rank of the breadwinner. It

was the time for everybody to keep the family fed, everybody could become the

breadwinner” (2000: 56). In many occasions, Ma took charge in the family politics.

She had to take over the men‟s power to take decision, in order to keep the family

stay together, and in the most radical reason, alive.

The second study has similar topic to the present study, both discuss gender

role. The setting of the story also bit similar, Aryati‟s study analyzes American

women in the 1920s-1930s, while the present study analyzes a story from 1900-1920

about female characters of a family that were lived in Brooklyn. Both stories share

the same related background, migrant‟s life in America. Related background of

Aryati‟s study can be used as references for present study.

B. Review of Related Theories

To analyze the problems, some related theories are applied in this research.

1. Theories of Character

In A Glossary of Literary Terms, Abrams defines character as a person

presented in a dramatic or narrative work, which is interpreted by the reader as

having particular traits, natural qualities of human being, and emotional qualities that

are expressed through the dialog and the actions (1981: 20).


7

There are classifications of characters in literature, they are major and

secondary (minor) characters, and another book classifies them as flat and round

characters.

Roger B. Henkle in Reading the novel: an introduction to the techniques of

interpreting fiction states types of characters are major and secondary (minor)

character. Major characters usually are the most important characters in a story.

Their function is to express and dramatize the human issue of the book (1997: 92).

Secondary (minor) characters generally are less complex, or less intense, and drawn

in shallower relief. Minor characters‟ function is to construct a composite picture of

the human condition that is at issue in the novel (1977: 99).

While according to Forster in Aspects of the Novels, literary character is

either flat or round. Flat characters construct round a single idea or quality; they are

easily recognized whenever they are come in, and they are easily remembered by the

reader afterwards. They remain in his mind as unalterable for the reason that they

were not changed by circumstances. By contrast, round characters are complex and

many-sided; they have the three-dimensional quality of real people. Thomas and

Johnson explained about this in Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense,

Tenth Edition

Whether round or flat, all characters in good fiction are dramatized to

whatever extent needed to make them convincing and to fulfill their roles in

the story. Most short stories, of course, will have room for only one or two

round characters. Minor characters must necessarily remain flat (2009: 164).

2. Theory of Characterization

Glossary of literary terms in Literature for Composition: Essays, Fiction,

Poetry, and Drama, Seventh Edition by Barnet, et al. defines characteristic as


8

personality of such a figure (2005: 1375). Characteristics of characters itself are

revealed through characterization. Barnet, et al. further define characterization as the

presentation of a character. Characterization or personality is defined as in fiction, by

what the characters do, by what they say, by what other say about them, and by the

setting in which they move. In other words, characteristics of the characters are not

always mentioned in the story, but implicitly shown in the character‟s role (2004:

338).

3. Theories of Gender Role

In Language and Gender, Penelope Eckert and Sally Ginet cited that gender

is not something we are born with, and not something we have, but something we do

(West and Zimmerman, 1987) – something we perform (Butler, 1990) (2003: 10).

Gender: Psychological Perspectives states that a gender role consists of

activities that men and women engage in with different frequencies (Brannon, 1996:

168). It is in line with Encyclopedia of Communication Theory that taking Alice

Eagly‟s definition of gender role. It states that males and females are expected to

fulfill divergent roles within social structures that cause them behave differently and

evaluated differently (Littlejohn, 2009: 434).

There are two theories of gender role that are used in this research.

a. Social Role Theory

According to Alice Eagly, women and men are expected to have the

qualities that fit them for the tasks they normally carry out. There are two roles

proposed by Eagly in her social role theory, they are communal and agentic roles.

Communal role is characterized by attributes, such as nurturance and emotional

expressiveness, commonly associated with domestic activities, and thus,


9

with women, while agentic role is characterized by attributes such as assertiveness

and independence, commonly associated with public activities, and thus, with men.

(www.scribd.com/presentation/108434184/Sex-and-Gender-Gender-Role-Theories-

Gender-Stereotype). (July 20, 2017).

Encyclopedia of Communication Theory explains further this theory. Males

and females are expected to fulfill divergent roles within social structures. Women

are expected to fulfill communal roles that require them to be selfless, caring, and

nurturing, while men are expected to fulfill agentic roles that needed independence,

task orientation, and dominance. These expectations lead to the divisions of labor

between them in the workplace. Males occupying higher status position while the

females are assumed to do domestic responsibilities. Further, occupying distinctive

roles is likely to influence acquisition and reinforcement of different skills and

attitudes (2009: 434).

Gender role theory predicts that the greater the difference in social roles

performed by males and females, the greater the difference in behaviors and

attitudes; conversely, the more they perform the same social roles, the more

similar their behavior and attitudes. The theory predicts that gendered

behavior will change when gender roles change (2009: 434).

From the statements above, it can be seen that gender roles are not static, they can

change according to the changes in men and women‟s roles the society.

b. Social Learning Theory

Social learning theory explains gender development through learned

behaviors. According to Albert bandura (1977), children develop both gender

identity and gender role through observational learning. This learning process

involves modeling, imitation, and reinforcement. This theory rests on the assumption

that gender-appropriate behavior is rewarded while gender-inappropriate behavior is


10

punished or ignored. Modeling is the process when children observe people around

them behaving in various ways. The individuals that are observed are called as

models. Then they will imitate, more likely to imitate behavior modeled by people of

the same gender. Their imitation will be responded by people around them with

either reinforcement or punishment (www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html) (July

20, 2017).

Linda Brannon in Gender: Psychological Perspective explains the closest

approach to social learning approach, called “operant conditioning”, a form of

learning based on the occurrence of reinforcement and punishment.

Learning is defined as a change in behavior that is the result of experience

or practice, and operant conditioning is one type of learning. In operant

conditioning, a person (or other animal) changes behavior as a result of

experience of receiving reinforcement or punishment (1996: 142).

The behavior is more likely to be repeated in the future if that person (or

animal) has received reinforcement after performing the behavior in the

past. That is, reinforcement increases the probability that a behavior will

recur. On the other hand, a person is less likely to repeat a behavior in the

future if that person has been punished after performing the behavior in the

past. That is, punishment decreases the probability that a behavior will recur

(1996: 142).

Social learning theory also includes concept of reinforcement and

punishment, but it accepts the importance of cognitive processes in learning.

Social learning theory is a variation and extension of traditional learning theory,

having a cognitive component that changes its emphasis. This difference revolves

around the importance of observation, which social learning theorists consider more

important than reinforcement to learning. To these theorists, learning is cognitive,

whereas performance is behavioral (1996: 143).

In addition, Brannon cited that the basis of learning is observation rather

than the direct experience of reinforcement and punishment (Mischel: 1966, 1993).

Observation provides many opportunities for learning, including children‟s learning

of gender-related behaviors (1996: 143).


11

In line with Brannon, Stephen W. Littlejohn in Encyclopedia of

Communication Theory emphasizes social learning theory argue that individuals

learn by observing. Albert Bandura, the theorist of social learning thought that

people gather information about the environment and behavior to serve as guides to

actions. “Individuals were seen as active gatherers of information, gathering

feedback about their actions to restructure their goals and actions in order to

maximize reward and benefit (2009: 598).

C. Review of the Development of Background Feminism until Nineteenth Century

in the United States

To deepen the understanding of gender role in the present study, we need to

take a look at a brief background of related feminism that lead us to the discussion of

gender role in the society. Liberal feminism is taken because liberal feminism, a

women movement that struggled for equal education, equal liberty, and equal right to

vote, was took place from eighteenth century to twentieth century, and the story in

the novel itself took place in the early 1900‟s. It means that the story in the novel

took place when liberal feminist movement was on going. Issues of gender role

analyzed in the present study were also related to the issue that became focus of

liberal feminist movement. The review is taken and summarized from Rosemarie

Tong‟s Feminist Thought.

Women‟s role in the society started to appear since feminist movement

began in the eighteenth-century, an era of industrial capitalism. It is shown through

Mary Wollstonecraft‟s A Vindication of the Right of Woman that married-bourgeois

women were treated like a bird in a cage. They were lacked of healthy bodies


12

because not allowed to exercise outdoors, lacked of liberty because not permitted to

make their own decisions, and lacked of virtue because got discouraged from

developing their power of reasons. Wollstonecraft believed that people should

develop their rational and moral capacities, their full human potential, and it can be

obtained through education. As well as men, women also need education. What

Wollstonecraft wanted in her writing for women was personhood. A woman is not an

“instrument” for a man‟s pleasure or happiness but a woman is a rational whose

dignity consists in having the capacity for self-determination (2009: 16).

The movement continued when Harriet Taylor (Mill) wrote

Enfranchisement of Women (1851) and John Stuart Mill wrote The Subjection of

Women (1869). Both were essays on sexual equality. Mill believed that if women

were given the same liberties men enjoy, and if women were taught to value the good

of the whole, then women would develop genuine unselfishness. Even after women

were fully educated, most of them would choose to remain in their private life, in the

family because their primary function would be to “adorn and beautify” rather than

to “support” life. In contrast with Mill, Taylor herself believed that women could

work outside while raise the children. She argued women needed to do more than

read books, women needed to be more involved in the labor of productive industry.

Even Taylor predicted that if society gave a full freedom for women, a fully liberated

woman would be happy to leave their home behind (2009: 17). Although Taylor and

Mill had a little bit different idea of women‟s position in the society, both of them

agreed that women should had right to vote.

Mill and Taylor (Mill)‟s idea that women needed suffrage in order to

become men‟s equal developed until 19th

century, when woman suffrage movement


13

was linked to the slavery abolitionist movement. Later it became clear that male

abolitionist were unwilling to link the women‟s right movement with the slave‟s

right movement that they persuaded female abolitionists to disassociate women‟s

liberty struggles from black‟s liberty movement (2009: 21). After several decades the

suffrage put aside for abolitionist movement, even passed Civil War, associations

were found. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton found National Woman

of Suffrage Association and American Women Suffrage Association was found by

Lucy Stone. These two associations merged in 1890 to form the National American

Women Suffrage Association. From 1890 until 1920, when the Nineteenth

Amendment was passed, the National American Woman Suffrage Association

focused its activities to gaining the vote for women (2009: 23).

D. Theoretical Framework

This study took Betty Smith‟s novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as the

object. The focuses of this study are gender role in the society and the two major

female characters. To help the reader understand more about issues in the society

found in the novel, the writer provides a brief review of liberal feminism. Term of

gender role appeared since feminist movement began. Liberal feminism is the most

suitable type of feminism that figure out the background of the story in the novel,

because based of time sequence of feminist movement, the story in the novel took

place when liberal feminism was on going.

The research is started with the analysis of society. With gender studies

approach and gender role theory of social role, the writer analyzes roles of men and


14

women in the society, to see what roles are carried by men and women. The analysis

is continued to the two major female characters in the story.

Theories of character and characterization from Henkle‟s Reading the novel:

an introduction to the techniques of interpreting fiction and Barnet‟s theory in

Literature for Composition: Essays, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama are needed to

understand how the major female characters of this novel are described as mother

and daughter.

The last part analysis is continued to figure out how those major female

characters challenge idea of gender roles depicted in the society. These two major

female characters were breadwinners in their own time. This part is to analyze what

matter made them able to carry such role.

After a brief analysis of gender roles, this study finally come to some

temporary conclusions that A Tree Grows in Brooklyn that mainly focuses on the

major female characters, because the story is likely an autobiographical of the author

herself, and the representation of those two major female characters as breadwinners

differentiate them from most women in the society.


15

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the writer presents the methodology in analyzing Smith‟s A

Tree Grows in Brooklyn. This chapter consists of three parts. The first part describes

the object used for this study. The second part is the approach applied to answer the

problem formulations, and the last part shows the processes of answering the

problem formulations in steps.

A. Object of the Study

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a novel by Betty Smith, an American writer

who was born and grew up in New York. This novel was her first novel that is

published for the first time in 1943 by Harper & Brothers. Although it was Smith‟s

first novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn achieved a great success by topped The New

York Times Fiction Best Sellers list in 1944, only 6 months after it had been

published.

In 1945, this novel was adapted into a film. The first film directed by Greek-

American director Elia Kazan, starring James Dunn (who won the Academy Award

for Best Supporting Actor) as Johnny Nolan, Dorothy McGuire as Katie Nolan, Joan

Blondell as Sissy Rommely, and Peggy Ann Garner (who won the Academy Juvenile

Award) as Francie Nolan. Later in 1974, the television film version was made from

the previous film in 1945 screenplay. Not only adapted into films, it was also made

into musical in Broadway in 1951. It was directed by George Abbot and performed

for the first time on April 1951 at The Alvin Theatre and this musical totally ran for


16

267 performances that are divided into two acts. Marcia Van Dyke, cast as Katie

Nolan, even was honored with a Theatre World Award.

B. Approach of the Study

Approach used in this study is gender studies approach. Bressler‟s Literary

Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice, Second Edition explains that

gender studies concern primarily with feminist theory of literature and criticism and

broadens traditional feminist criticism to include an investigation not only of

femaleness but also maleness, to know the experience of being a woman or a man.

“Like traditional feminist theory, gender study continues to investigate how women

and men view such terms as ethics, definition of truth, personal identity, and society”

(1999: 270). It is in line with Gender: Psychological Perspective that states to

adequately study gender-related differences and similarities, research must include

men/boys as well as women/girls. “Without comparisons and contrasts, conclusion

about gender-related behaviors will be unfounded” (Brannon, 1996: 37).

C. Method of the Study

This undergraduate thesis is a library study because all the data,

information, and theories used were gathered from written sources. This method

required the writer to read some books and take relevant information and theories for

this study. The primary source of this study is novel by Betty Smith titled A Tree

Grows in Brooklyn itself, while the secondary sources are the books and internet sites

containing the theories, approach and data related to the study.


17

There were several steps taken to write this study. First, the writer read A

Tree Grows in Brooklyn several times to understand the whole story, while read the

novel, the writer found that interesting aspects in the novel are the story about its

society and major female characters, so the writer started to make problem

formulations concerning issues related to the society and the major female

characters, and it was gender role.

The second step was to find the answer of the first problem. The writer

analyzed how gender roles depicted in the society, what kind opportunity gaps took

place between men and women.

The third step was to decide how many female characters to be analyzed.

The writer took reference from the theory of character taken from B. Henkle in

Reading the novel: an introduction to the techniques of interpreting fiction to

determine which female characters were analyzed, and it was decided that they were

Katie Nolan and Francie Nolan, the major female characters.

The fourth step, using Barnet‟s theory in Literature for Composition:

Essays, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama the writer analyzed the characteristics of those

major female characters in their roles as mother and daughter.

The last step was that the writer answered the third problem formulation, by

looked up how the development of the major female characters reflect the transition

of gender roles in the society.


18

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

A. Gender Roles in the Society in Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

In this part, the writer analyzes how gender roles are depicted in the society.

The analysis is divided into three parts, according to gender-related issues that are

found in the novel.

1. Gender Role and the Public Sphere

Early 1900‟s or the time when the story takes place was the time when most

people living in the slum area of Brooklyn were came from immigrant families. One

of the reasons of migration wave to America in 1800‟s – 1900‟s was the migrants

looked for better home in the New World, and by getting a job was their way to

survive in the new home.

By the end of the 18th

century, the Industrial Revolution had changed the

pattern of many people‟s lives. Work and family had been separated, with

men working in jobs in factories and offices rather than around the home.

Women too might work in factories, but the ideal pattern of family

relationship was for men to fulfill the Good Provider role (Bernard: 1981)

and for women to be mothers and wives. This division led to the Doctrine of

Two Spheres (Welter: 1978), the division resulted in women‟s preeminence

in family life and men‟s dominance in the outside world (Brannon, 1996:

238).

Job opportunity at that time was opened for both men and women. But

men‟s dominance in the outside world made job choices more various for men than

women. Events experienced by people in the novel show how the division took

place.

Johnny Nolan was the head of the Nolan family who was working as a

singer and/or a waiter for events. He got his jobs from Union Headquarters. “The


19

Union gets me jobs where the boss has to pay me certain wages, regardless of tips.

All trades should be unionized” (p. 32). Johnny‟s description about Union

Headquarters tells that this union was beneficial for its members, helped them to get

jobs and even set their standard wages for the jobs. Francie‟s experience when she

went to Union Headquarters explains more about this labor union. She once had gone

there to bring her father an apron and carfare to go to a job when she found her father

was sitting with some men. He introduced Francie and talked about his family to

them. “His brother waiters really loved him” (p. 33). „Brother waiters‟ simply means

that the waiters in the Union Headquarters were men. These men had jobs to serve

people and interact with them, and they got paid according to the agreement exclude

tips. According to social role theory it is men with their agentic roles that have

attributes to do a work associated with public activities. It explains why whenever

Union Headquarters gets mentioned in the story, there is no woman presence appears

on it. This labor union organizing jobs for its members shows that men‟s jobs at that

time were better than women‟s at one point, they were more organized.

Labor division also experienced by one of the major characters, Francie.

After Francie graduated from grade school, she got a job in a factory where the

workers were mostly girls except for one utility boy who had a task to collect boxes.

In Francie‟s thought, they worked there because they had no chance for better jobs.

“These people are caught,” she thought. “And why? Because”

(remembering her grandmother‟s repeated convictions), “they haven‟t got

enough education.” Fright grew in Francie (p. 319).

At the same time, Francie‟s little brother, Neeley, worked as an errand boy

in downtown New York brokerage house. Their aunt‟s boyfriend got the job for him.

Francie and Neeley were both graduated in the same time. Francie was smarter than


20

her little brother, but if it is seen from the workplace and the kind of work, her

brother got a better job. Working as an errand boy in downtown New York brokerage

house was better than just covering wires to make flower‟s stem in a factory located

in north side of Brooklyn. It appears that lacked of education was only one factor that

caused people to work in such factory, but the greater factor was because they were

girls/women. Because it is not only Francie, women in the neighborhood except for

the housewives, were mostly (had) worked in factories. They are Young Katie, Sissy

and Evy Rommely, Floss Gaddis, and Joanna. At that time, chance to get higher

education was opened for boys and girls. There were also boys/men who did not get

proper education, but men in the novel preferred not to work in the factories, the

factory workers were mostly women.

Gender: Psychological Perspectives citing from Barbara Gutek (1985)

states that women have a less diversified range of occupation compared to men. As

the consequently, women are concentrated in a few occupation, whereas men are

employed in a wider variety of jobs. “Over two-third of women have jobs in clerical

or professional fields, but these professional fields are those traditionally dominated

by women – nursing and teaching (1996: 330). These professional jobs can be found

in the novel although most working women in the neighborhood were factory

workers. Francie worked as a file clerk when she started to work in Press Clipping

Bureau. She had female co-workers when she worked her professional jobs as a

reader in the bureau and as a typing operator in a communication company.

Although jobs are gender segregated for most workers, the workplace is

likely to contain both men and women, who, though they may have different

jobs, work together in the same setting. For example, most secretaries are

women, most managers are men, and most managers have secretaries. Thus,


21

men and women often work together but not at the same job (Brannon,

1996: 331).

Depiction of job segregation above can be found in the novel as well.

Although the coveted position in the bureau as a city reader was occupied by a

woman, the boss in the bureau was a man. Male principal of Francie‟s grade school,

and male doctor - female nurse who vaccinated Francie and Neeley emphasize the

point of the description above, that men and women work together but not at the

same job.

As said above, teaching is one of professional fields that are traditionally

dominated by women. But job as a school teacher as mentioned in the novel was

limited only for unmarried women. Married women were not allowed to keep their

job to teach. “Married women were not allowed to teach in those days,…” (p. 135).

No further explanation found in the novel concerning a prohibition for the married

women to teach. But since the novel is more likely an autobiographical story of the

author, the writer relates this issue, according to the time and place setting in the

novel, to real life issue faced by women in America in early 1900‟s. This is about

„marriage bar‟. Marriage bar was a practice restricting the employment of married

women. It was legal to fire teachers, clerical workers, and other women on staff if

they got married. The reasons were because married women considered to be

supported by their husbands, so the job opportunity should be given to unmarried

women; married women were less dependable considering they also had

responsibilities as wives; and married women should be spend more time at home.

This rule limited married women‟s role in professional works. This could be the

reason that made Francie got the most coveted position in the bureau as a city reader.


22

She replaced the previous city reader who would get married. “Just before Labor

Day, the Boss called Francie into his private office and informed her that Miss

Armstrong was leaving to be married” (p. 335). A married woman might be

restricted to have a professional job as a teacher, but teaching was not always

conducted in the formal institution, teaching subjects and music were the examples.

In the neighborhood, Miss Jackson taught people for charity and the Tynmore girls

taught music. Miss Lizzie Tynmore taught piano and Maggie Tynmore that

cultivated the voice. Miss Lizzy Tynmore was the one who taught Francie and

Neeley piano lessons when they were still in grade school. The piano lesson paid in

exchange for Katie‟s cleaning works for the Tynmores.

Linda Brannon in Gender: Psychological Perspectives, as she noted from

Barbara Gutek and Laurie Larwood (1989), states that men had career while women

had temporary employment or jobs that took second place to family interest and

obligations (1996: 319). It was caused by the expectation that wives‟ career will be

secondary to those of their husbands. While ideally people should choose career on

the basis of their interest, ability, and potential contribution to society (Farmer and

Sidney: 1985). Men‟s attribute of independence completed with their ability and

potential made men depicted in the novel ran the businesses in the neighborhood.

Gimpy‟s candy store where little Francie spent a penny for a lotto ticket, Losher‟s

bread factory that supplied the neighborhood stores, the meat shops where the Nolans

got their weekend meat, pawnshop, bakery store, Gollender‟s paint shop, a store that

sold tea, coffee, and spices, and a China-man‟s one-windowed store were located in

the neighborhood, and all of them were ran by men.


23

2. Gender Role and the Domestic Sphere

While men lived their role in the public sphere, women‟s role in A Tree

Grows in Brooklyn could not be apart from their domestic sphere. Both housewives

and working mothers were carried the responsibility to take care of their family,

though working mothers spent limited time at home. Traditional choice of women to

choose family over career and „marriage bar‟ that limited women‟s role in

professional jobs were the reasons women chose to be housewives. Social role theory

states that women are expected to fulfill communal roles that require them to be

selfless, caring, and nurturing. From what is seen from the novel, as long as the head

of the family was able to provide the family needs well, married women would

choose to stay at home to take care of the family. Evy and Sissy Rommely are the

examples found in the story. Evy was a housewife who replaced her husband to work

as a delivering-milk woman when her husband was hospitalized. Meanwhile, Sissy

Rommely who worked in a factory after separated from her first husband, decided to

stay at home after she adopted a baby. Her „John‟ was the one who worked for the

family.

In the discussion of domestic sphere, it is essential to look at the

representation of housewives in the novel according to the author. “The good

housewives, their arms filled with bags of vegetables and brown paper parcels of

meat, seemed to have little to do that afternoon. They kept gathering into little knots

and whispered to each other” (p. 203). Even when they were gossiping in the

afternoon, they also prepared to make dinner for their family. Other mothers, the

ones who worked outside the house actually had the same attributes as these

housewives, they took care and nurtured the family, only they did not spend as much


24

time as these housewives. The differences laid in the reasons behind the decision to

be a working mother or a housewife. Some got enough for living from their

husbands, some needed to support with the financial, and the rest got no choice

except to work because the family lived from every cent she earned, just like Katie

Nolan did.

3. Gender Role and the Political Right

Besides men and women division in workplace, political right was one of

gender-related issues that are found in the novel. This inequality in political right

depicted that men had a higher position than women in the society. Right to vote was

one special right owned by men only at the time. Only the man of the family got to

vote. It was impossible for women to be involved directly to politics. Johnny even

laughed at a woman who said that one day women would be able to vote.

“For what Tammany gives to the people, it takes from them double. You

wait until us women vote.” Johnny‟s laugh interrupted her. “You don‟t

believe we will? That day will come. Mark my words. We‟ll put all those

crooked politicians where they belong-behind iron bars” (p. 158).

Since women had no right to vote, it was even harder to imagine a woman

run the government.

G’wan! They’ll never give wimmen the vote.

Don’t lay any bets on it.

If that comes, my wife votes like I do, otherwise I’ll break her neck.

My old woman wouldn’t go to the polls and mix in with a bunch of bums

and rummies.

… a woman president. That might be.

They’ll never let a woman run the government (p. 306).

Had no right to vote did not mean that women were completely invisible in

politic. “A woman couldn‟t vote in those days but the politicians knew that the

women of Brooklyn had a great influence in their men” (p. 159). There was a reason


25

for a political party to invite men with their families when they held party or tour.

The politician knew women had no freedom to vote but these wives could persuade

their husbands to vote for them, as well as for a little girl later when she gets married.

B. The Description of Major Female Characters in Smith’s A Tree Grows in

Brooklyn

1. Katie Nolan as a Mother in the Nolan Family

Katie Nolan was the fourth and the youngest daughter in the Rommelys. She

was the youngest but she had to work since her young age just like her sisters.

Thomas Rommely, Katie‟s father was the one who made them worked.

His philosophy about children was simple and profitable: …put in as little

money and effort into their upbringing as was possible, and then put them to

work earning money for the father as soon as they got into their teens. Katie,

at seventeen, had only been working four years when she married (p. 55).

Since the beginning of the story Katie is described already as a working

woman. Katie was seventeen and she worked in the Castle Braid Factory when she

met Johnny Nolan for the first time. They got married, but she did not stay at home,

Katie and Johnny had a job together taking care of a public school. Later, Katie

worked because the main income of the family came from her salary as a janitress.

Johnny was a freelance singing waiter who did not work very often. Her role as the

provider of the family even more crucial since Johnny had not worked anymore

because of his sickness. On a December, in the week before Christmas Katie took an

extra job. After she finished her flat cleaning in early afternoon, she rushed down to

Gorling‟s, a department store, to serve coffee and sandwiches to the sales girls who

were not allowed to take time to go out for supper on account of the Christmas rush.


26

“Her family desperately needed that seventy-five cents that she earned each day” (p.

242). That was the time when Katie fully handled role as a breadwinner of the

family. She used to be a girl who worked to give her father money, and she turned to

be a woman who had to work hard everyday just to keep her family had food to eat.

With a little income, Katie practically was a smart woman. She was good at

maximize something with the little money. She did bargain to buy ingredients and

always tried to make fine meals for the family. They might be poor, but there were

times in a week when they had pudding, meat, or fruits. She also managed to spare

some of that little money to save them. She followed her mother‟s advice to save

money in a tin can bank so that years later she could buy a land. Katie had a thought

to improve her family‟s economy.

Each day put five cents in it. In three years there will be a small fortune,

fifty dollars. Take the money and buy a lot in the country. Get the papers

that say it is yours. Thus you become a landowner. Once one has owned

land, there is no going back to being a serf (p. 178).

There was another Mary Rommely‟s advice followed by Katie shows that

she was a woman who think ahead to be prepared. She wanted to make her children

later get a better life than her, not grow up just to work hard. Mary Rommely said

that the secret lies in the reading and the writing, so she told her to read books for her

children everyday, book of Shakespeare and Bible. Mary Rommely had her own

reason for these two books. “Shakespeare is a great book. I have heard tell that all the

wonder of life is in that book; all that man has learned of beauty, all that he may

know of wisdom and living are on those pages….You must do this that the child will

grow up knowing of what is great – knowing that these tenements of Williamsburg


27

are not the whole world” (p. 176). Bible was chosen because Mary Rommely

believed children need imagination.

“Because,” explained Mary Rommely simply, “the child must have valuable

thing which is called imagination. The child must have a secret world in

which live things that never were. It is necessary that she believe. She must

start out by believing in things not of this world. Then when the world

becomes too ugly for living in, the child can reach back and live in her

imagination” (p. 77).

Katie did as what her mother told her because she wanted her children to

have a wide knowledge of life. Beauty, wisdom, and imagination could teach her

children to see the world outside, more than just their unpretentious neighborhood.

The Nolan was not a rich family, Katie Nolan even worked hard scrubbing

the building‟s floor that her hands were rough and red and cut into because of the

cleansing fluids, but Katie was a woman who kept her pride. This „pride‟ does not

mean that she was an arrogant woman, because there was nothing to be arrogant

about. It is to describe that Katie did not like when other felt sorry for her. Once,

Sergeant McShane offered Katie money to thank her for her help to capture a

criminal, also because he knew that Johnny did not work steady. Katie‟s pride made

her refused the money. “That‟s none of your business, Sergeant McShane. You can

see that I work hard and we don‟t need anything from nobody” (p. 232). Francie

herself knew that her mother hated the word „charity‟. “Her mother hated the word

„charity‟ above any word in the language and she had brought up her children to hate

it too” (p. 284). Katie never wanted to get money or accept something for free

although the family was lacked of money. She got free rented house in Lorimer

Street in exchange for kept the cellar, halls, the roof, and the sidewalk before the


28

house spotlessly clean, and also she paid her children piano lesson from Miss Lizzie

Tynmore with one hour‟s cleaning work in the Tynmore‟s house per lesson.

Katie as a mother is completed with self-starting characteristic. It is seen

from what she did for her children. To protect her children, she even could do

something unpredictable and hard to be accepted by common sense. When vermin

disease spread in Francie‟s school, she reported Katie that she sat next to a girl who

had bugs walking up and down the lanes of her hair. Katie took actions during the

disease‟s spread. “Once a week she scrubbed Francie‟s head with the yellow soap.

Every day she anointed it with the kerosene” (p. 142). In another time, epidemic of

mumps broke out in the school, and Katie went into action against communicable

diseases.

She made two flannel bags, sewed a bud of garlic in each one, attached a

clean corset string and made the children wear them around their necks

under their shirts. Francie attended school stinking of garlic and kerosene

oil. Everyone avoided her (p. 142).

Whether it was because Katie‟s special treatments or Francie and Neeley that had

naturally strong constitutions, they never got sick or had louse. Not only from

disease, once, Katie did a brave action to save Francie from a sex criminal who tried

to attack her. She took a gun that Johnny borrowed from his friend, and shot the

criminal. She said that she meant to kill him. She did not care if later she would be

arrested for shooting a man or for having a gun without permit. Katie was willing to

do many things for the sake of her children.

“Katie Nolan was neither a mental nor a physical coward. She tackled every

problem masterfully” (p. 218). When being asked about a taboo matter, she answered

it straight. Francie kept in her thought that Katie was a brave and truthful mother.


29

When Francie, as she wrote in her diary, started to change into a woman,

she went to mama about her sex curiosity. And Katie told her simply and

plainly all that she herself knew. There were times in the telling when Katie

had to use words which were considered dirty but she used them bravely

and unflinchingly because she knew no other words. No one had ever told

her about the things she told her daughter (p. 219).

Katie was neither a mental nor a physical coward also suits to figure out her

as a tough woman. When she gave birth to her children, she refused to let her

beloved ones with her in the delivering room, except for her sisters. Katie had her

own reason to send them out, “If you love someone, you‟d rather suffer the pain

alone to spare them. So keep your man out of the house when your time comes” (p.

296). In her thought, as long as she could bear the pain alone, no need to take her

beloved ones to suffer with her.

Katie was a woman with strong characteristics inside, but from the outside

she was an attractive woman. When Sergeant McShane saw Francie and Katie for the

first time, he told Francie that each night in her prayer she should ask to grow up half

as pretty as her mother. “Here‟s a woman,‟ he thought, „with a trim figure on her and

a pretty white-faced skin and black curling hair. And she‟s got courage enough and

pride for six like her” (p. 232). While according to Francie‟s friends when Francie

showed them her family snapshot, Katie was cute and so young-looking (p. 390). In

addition, a description about Mary Rommely, Katie‟s mother, shows quality of the

Rommely girls and their daughters. “She spoke in low, soft, warmly melodious voice

that soothed those who listened. All of her daughters and granddaughters inherited

this quality of voice from her” (p. 56 – p. 57). All these qualities made Sergeant

McShane attracted to Katie, and later he proposed her to be his wife.


30

2. Francie Nolan as a Daughter in the Nolan Family

Francie Nolan was the first child in the Nolan family. As the first child,

Francie was considered to be a girl who could be counted on, mostly when she

helped her mother with the house works or taking care of her little brother and sister.

The novel mentions that every Saturday Katie sent out Francie and Neeley for week-

end meat. Francie was the one who remembered all the detailed instructions given by

her mother, and she bought it too herself, Neeley‟s function was only to accompany

her; When Johnny would go to his work and Katie was not around, Francie ironed

his waiter‟s apron; When Katie‟s due date of the third child could be any day,

Francie stayed home to take care of her mother; and after Laurie had born, she took

care of her while Katie did the cleaning job. Even though she was only one year

older than her brother, Neeley, she carried a big responsibility with her as the first

child.

Francie was a girl who liked to read. While most children liked to play,

Francie liked to read. She was a regular visitor of a public library in the

neighborhood.

She was reading a book a day in alphabetical order and not skipping the dry

ones…She read everything she could find: trash, classics, time tables, and

the grocer‟s price list. Some of the reading had been wonderful; Louisa

Alcott books for example. She had planned to read all the books over again

when she had finished with the Z‟s (p. 23).

When she found a wonderful book in the library, she wanted to own the

book so badly and she had thought to copy it. “But the penciled sheets did not seem

like nor smell like the library book so she had given it up....” (p. 26). Katie‟s nightly

reading could be the reason why she liked to read. She was into the Bible and


31

Shakespeare‟s book that as a girl she talked funny, it made the youngsters avoided

her.

Owing to Katie‟s nightly reading, Francie had a queer way of saying things.

Once, when taunted by a youngster she had retorded, “Aw, you don‟t know

what you‟re saying. You‟re jus‟ full of soun‟ „n‟ siggaflying nothing.”

Once, trying to make friends with a little girl she said.

“Wait here and I‟ll go in and begat my rope we‟ll play jumping.”

“You mean you‟ll git your rope,” the little girl corrected.

“No, I‟ll begat my rope. You don‟t git things. You begat things.”

“What‟s that - begat?” asked the little girl who was just five years old.

“Begat. Like Eve begat Cain.”

“You‟re buggy. Ladies don‟t git canes. Only men git canes when they can‟t

walk good.”

“Eve begat. She begat Abel too.”

“She gits or she don‟t git. You know what?”

“What?”

“You talk just like a Wop” (p. 98 – p. 99).

Reading also made her to be imaginative. It was exactly the same like what Mary

Rommely, Francie‟s grandmother wanted from her grandchildrens that she told Katie

to read them books. Miss Tynmore, Francie piano lesson‟s teacher once said that

sometimes she saw Francie sitting on the gutter curb for hours, Francie answered her

that she told herself stories. “Little girl, you‟ll be a story writer when you grow up”

(p. 125). That was what Miss Tynmore said to her. Besides reading, Francie liked to

watch theater. When she was not satisfied with the plays performed in the theater,

she created her own version of the play‟s continuance. “She wrote her own third act

to that play – what would happen if. She wrote it out in conversations and found it a

remarkably easy way of writing” (p. 193). Her play might not be read or marked by

anyone, but in school Francie used to write A-marked compositions about birds and

trees and beauty. It was after her father‟s death that her imagination was put aside by

the reality she faced. She missed him so and wrote little stories about him, but they


32

were about poverty, starvation, and drunkenness. The teacher hated that “sordid”

truth, and marked “C” for her compositions.

Francie was a daring girl. She showed her guts when she wanted to get

something. It is shown in these two stories.

There was a cruel custom in the neighborhood. It was about the trees still

unsold when midnight of Christmas Eve approached. There was a saying

that if you waited until then, you wouldn‟t have to buy a tree; that “they‟d

chuck „em at you.” This was literary true (p. 176).

She did it. She waited for the biggest tree in the neighborhood, ten feet high.

Bigger tree means higher price, so no one could afford to buy it. The tree man

objected at first because he thought that Francie was too little to get a big tree

chucked at her. Francie was ten and Neeley nine at that time. Francie said she and

her brother were not too little if they get together, so the man chucked the tree at

them. The trunk of the tree hit Francie‟s head made her felt a sharp pain, and blood

was coming from scratches on Neeley‟s face. But they were smiling because they got

the tree. The second one was at the Christmas celebration for the poor kids. A rich

girl on stage named Mary would give pretty dolls to another Marys. Mary was a

common name at the time. But no one stood up no matter how much they wanted the

doll, it was because the lady said the doll would be given to any poor little girl

named Mary. Francie stood up and held her hand high in the air, it made all the girls

there snickered and the boys guffawed, they whispered “beggar, beggar, beggar”, but

Francie did not hesitate to get the doll. Other children kept their pride but Francie

could stand the embarrassment for something that she wanted so badly. She knew her

mother hated the word “charity”, that was why she did not tell Katie the truth. She


33

told Katie that the doll was a prize, while actually it was a prize for giving up her

pride.

Francie was a girl who liked to try something new. On a summer holiday

when she was going on four, she did “stitching”.

Francie‟s grandmother taught her how to work the running stitches. The

child became adept at stitching. Women passing would stop and click in

pitying admiration at the tiny girl (p. 97).

She wanted to make a bedspread like some ladies had actually made, though till

autumn passed the bedspread was not done yet that it had to be saved for the future.

When she was fifteen, Francie enrolled in two evening classes – sewing and dancing.

She learned to decode paper patterns and run a sewing machine. In time she

hoped to be able to make her own clothes.

She learned “ballroom” dancing, although neither she nor her partners ever

expected to set foot in something called a ballroom. Sometimes her partner

was one of the brilliantine-haired neighborhood sheiks who was a snappy

dancer and made her watch her steps. Sometimes he was a little old boy of

fourteen in knee pants and she made him watch his steps. She loved dancing

and took to it instinctively (p. 389).

Francie was a curious girl. She was curious of many things. She was curious

about sex, she was curious about Joanna, a girl of seventeen who was hated by the

women in the neighborhood because she got a baby but wasn‟t married, and she got

curious of New York, “Since such a tiny thing as a flower in a brown bowl at the

library had thrilled her so, she expected that the great city of New York would thrill

her a hundred times more” (p. 330).

Just like Katie, Francie was a hardworking girl too. Johnny had died and

Katie borne Laurie just months before the children graduated, it means that the

family lost the income, Katie herself could not work. Francie and Neeley had part

time jobs then. After graduated from school, Francie worked in a factory. After got


34

layoff from the factory because the work was seasonal, she entered a clipping bureau

as a file clerk where she had to fake her appearance as a sixteen girl like the stated

requirement, because she was only fourteen. She started as a file clerk, then she was

put as a reader with ten dollars salary a week. Finally, because she was the fastest

reader, she got coveted position as a city reader.

Francie‟s job at the clipping bureau gave other benefits for her besides for

the salary. She could read newspapers everyday. Because she liked reading, she

collected interesting poems and stories she found and paste them to her scrapbooks.

She was a creative girl.

She kept a razor blade at the office and cut out poems and stories she liked

for her scrapbooks. She had a series of them. One was labeled The Nolan

Book of Classical Poems. Another, The Nolan Volume of Contemporary

Poetry. A Third was, The Book of Annie Laurie, in which Francie was

collecting nursery rhymes and animal stories to be read to Laurie when she

was old enough to understand (p. 366).

One of the scrapbooks was made for her baby sister, Laurie. She wanted Laurie to

experience the same thing she and Neeley had experienced, that her mom read books

for her.

C. Major Female Characters’ Development Reflecting the Transition of Gender

Role in the Society

This part of analysis is based on statements of gender role taken from

Encyclopedia of Communication Theory that states

Gender role theory predicts that the greater the difference in social roles

performed by males and females, the greater the difference in behaviors and

attitudes; conversely, the more they perform the same social roles, the more

similar their behavior and attitudes. The theory predicts that gendered

behavior will change when gender roles change (p. 434).


35

Characteristics and behaviors of characters are possible to change, and the

changes of major female characters in this part are analyzed according to learning

process theory by Albert Bandura. This theory focuses on how gender identity and

gender role developed from learning process. This part also analyzes how characters

in the novel, Katie Nolan and Francie Nolan challenge the idea of gender role

depicted in the society.

1. Katie Nolan as the Breadwinner and Her Perspective on Education

Katie started to work when she was thirteen. At seventeen she got married

to Johnny Nolan and decided to keep working. After she borne Francie, their first

child, Johnny was started to get weakened. Since that time Katie realized that she

could not count on Johnny, and she started to stand on her feet. “ „I mean,‟ she

thought, “that I can work. I can‟t count on Johnny. I‟ll always have to look after

him” (p. I74).

Katie did not come from a rich family and she did not finish grade school. It

made job choices limited for her. She worked as a janitress because she got a free-

rented house and salary from it. She had been working since she was young. But as

the time passed with struggles and hard works, she was troubled by poverty. She

lived in the slum Williamsburg but she was disgusted of poverty. She even thought

of it at the time when the others were happy for Christmas.

“They think they are mighty lucky that they‟re living and that it‟s Christmas

again. They can‟t see that we live on a dirty street in a dirty house among

people who aren‟t much good. Johnny and the children can‟t see how pitiful

it is that our neighbors have to make happiness out of this filth and dirt. My

children must get out of this” (p. 180).


36

Katie main motivation the get rid of poverty they were living in was her

children. She did not want to see her children grow up only to work hard just like

her. Katie asked her mother, Mary Rommely advices to know how she should raise

her children. Mary Rommely was not an educated woman but Katie knew she was a

wise woman. Mary Rommely‟s advice to save money in a tin can bank did not

successful because it was spent after Johnny‟s death, but nightly reading of Bible and

Shakespeare‟s book influenced Francie to be a „reader‟.

“Gradually, as the children grew up, Katie lost all her tenderness although she

gained in what people call character. She became capable, hard and far-seeing” (p.

88). Reality turned Katie to be a tough, capable, and far-seeing woman. She worked

to suffice the family needs but she knew money was not the only way to get them out

of that filthy surroundings. She learned it from the neighborhood. There was

McGarrity, owner of a saloon in the neighborhood. He had a lot of money and his

wife wore diamond earrings, but Katie knew that his children were not as good and

smart as Francie and Neeley. Meanwhile, there was Miss Jackson who had no money

because she taught for charity at the Settlement House. Katie was impressed by the

way Miss Jackson looked straight into her eyes when she talked to her, and by way

she talked. They indicated that Miss Jackson knew and understood about things.

-Miss Jackson. She understands about things. She can live in the middle of

dirty neighborhood and be fine and clean and like an actress in a play;

someone you can look at but who is too fine to touch. There is that

difference between her and Mrs. McGarrity who has so much money but is

too fat and acts in a dirty way with the truck drivers who deliver her

husband‟s beer (p. 181).

Mrs.Garrity was the one with money, but Miss Jackson was educated. Katie

was astonished by her own conclusion that it was education that made them different.


37

She believed education would pull her children out from grime and dirt. This is why

Katie insisted to make Francie and Neeley graduated from grade school instead of

send them to work in the time they needed money the most. At the time, Johnny just

died from acute alcoholism and pneumonia and the saving was spent for his funeral.

Katie could not work because she was pregnant of Laurie and it was two months

before the due date. Katie‟s sisters said the only way was to take Francie out of

school and get her working papers, but Katie refused it. She insisted that Francie and

Neeley had to graduate from grade school.

After they graduated from grade school, Katie let her children to work and

she still worked as a janitress. Neeley worked as an errand boy in a brokerage house,

meanwhile Francie worked in a factory and later in a clipping bureau. Katie saved

the money they got so they could continue to high school. When the saving was only

enough for one of them to continue to high school, Katie sent Neeley first because

she knew Neeley needed to be pushed to get back to school. It did not mean that she

forgot about Francie. Katie knew that Francie would make her way to continue her

education and she too planned to send her later. She even had a better plan for her.

“Francie is smart,” she thought. “She must go to High School and maybe

beyond that. She‟s learner and she‟ll be somebody someday” (p. 181).

Katie was not ignorant of her children. She was uneducated but her children

graduated from grade school. She was not satisfied of it because she wanted them to

get better education.

Katie got back to work after she had Laurie. She did the cleaning while

nursed Laurie. Francie‟s salary after she got a position as a city reader in the clipping

bureau actually was enough for the family, yet Katie offered her to continue to high


38

school. If only Francie agree to it, the family would lose most of the income. Katie

was strict to her philosophy that education would give them better life. She respected

Francie‟s decision when she did not want to continue to high school because she

knew her daughter had determination in herself. So when Francie asked for money

for her summer college class‟s tuition fee, Katie did not hesitate to take out the

saving. Katie agreed and let Francie took college entrance examination though Katie

knew it was going to be tough. Katie supported Francie‟s effort to be able to attend

college, and she pushed Neeley who got less enthusiastic in getting higher education,

to attend high school. Neeley attending high school and Francie attending college

was a great achievement for Katie, because the family was poor and she was only a

janitress who never graduated from grade school.

2. Francie Nolan as the Breadwinner and Her Education Pursuit

Francie Nolan learned that the reality was cruel after the death of her father.

She learned that her father whom she admired so much actually was not capable to

hold the responsibility as the head of the family. He was an alcoholic and he died at

the young age. He left the family in worse economy situation. It was „lucky‟ of the

family that at the time McGarrity gave Francie and Neeley part time jobs. It helped

them through the worst financial crisis in the family, and both Francie and Neeley

could graduate from grade school.

After graduated from grade school, she worked in a factory where most of

the workers were girls. She learned that it was not her dream job. “You work eight

hours a day covering wires to earn money to buy food and to pay for a place to sleep

so that you can keep living to come back to cover more wires” (p. 319). Other girls


39

did not mind to work in the factory but Francie did not want to share the same fate as

these girls. She came to her conclusion that the girls were „trapped‟ in the factory

because they haven‟t got enough education. Francie who liked to read since she was

a girl have heard the beauty and wisdom in the world so she wanted to see the outer

world. She thought she needed to be educated. Being educated would open her

knowledge and open more opportunities.

Linda Brannon in Gender: Psychological Perspectives concludes from

Hoffman‟s research (1982) that children learn from their surroundings. “When the

main characters of stories were women doing nontraditional things, both girls and

boys widened their views of what girls could do, indicating a potential for positive

change through alteration of story characters” (1996: 304). This is seen in Francie

character. She have learned from her mother who was a hardworking mother that a

woman could be independent. So when she finished with the seasonal job in factory,

Francie passed several years worked in a clipping bureau to make living for the

family. “Francie took comfort out of not returning to school in the realization that the

money she earned made life easier for them” (p. 341). Francie was an excellent

reader in the bureau, coveted position made her earned the most money for the

family. Just like her mother when Francie‟s father was still alive, Johnny did not

work often, so Katie‟s regular salary and the free-rented house made the family

survived.

Katie‟s decision that made Neeley attended high school first and Francie

would continue her school in the next fall was a disappointment for Francie, because

she really wanted to attend high school. She had a job with good salary at that time,

but she did not forget her ambition for higher education. But when it was the time for


40

her to attend high school, she refused it. Francie did not want to waste more time in

school because she calculated that she would be twenty-five by the time she have

finished high school and college. “I will not go to high school. But I will go to

college someday” (p. 377). While most people did not mind being uneducated for

their whole life, Francie minded the time needed for her to be educated. Francie

figured out the best way for her to be educated but still make her able to make a

living for the family. She thought to attend school in the day and work in the

evening.

Francie took preparation to attend college when she was working as a typing

operator in a communication corporation. She took three courses in a summer school

college. Francie knew that it was not easy to enter college without attending high

school.

She studied going back and fourth on the El. She studied in her rest periods

and ate her meals with a book propped up on the table before her. She typed

out her assignments on one of the machines in the instruction room of the

Communication Corporation. She was never late or absent and she asked

nothing more than to pass at least two of her courses (p. 380).

After the summer school ended, she took college entrance examination, but

she failed.

“Oh, well! I should have known,” she told mother. “If people could get into

college that easy, no one would ever bother with high school. But don‟t you

worry, Mama. I know what the entrance examinations are now, and I‟ll get

the books and study and take those examinations next year. And I‟ll pass

next year. It can be done and I‟ll do it. You‟ll see” (p. 384).

Summer school college and all her preparations were not enough. Francie

failed her first examination but she did not give up. She was a strong-willed person

She failed now, but she set her target that she would pass the second test. Francie had

attributions to be a successful person, because according to Gender: Psychological


41

perspectives, success or failure depends on internal factors such as ability or effort,

and internal factors, such as luck or the difficulty of the task.

Although both ability and effort are factors that come from within each

person, ability is a stable factor, whereas effort can vary from situation to

situation. A person who believes that she succeeded because she worked

hard has no assurance that she will succeeded again without additional,

similar effort. On the other hand, a person who attributes her success to

intelligent should believe that similar success will continue - that is, she will

be intelligent next week and next year (1995: 317).

Francie believed in her ability that if she put the same effort but to study the books

relevant to the examination she would pass the exam. She believed in herself.

Francie was as a strong-willed person. It was seen even since she was a

little girl. When she was in grade school, Francie faked her address to move to a

better school. She picked someone‟s house number and told the school she moved

there. She did it because there was a strict law about attending the school in their

own district. Katie warned her that it was none of her business if police come and

arrest her for giving a false address, still Francie did what she wanted.

For working matter, Francie was able to carry out a task that would

normally refused by girls. She did not complain and turn down the job that made her

worked at night.

“Will they keep you on night work?” she asked.

“Will they! They‟re tickled to death. No girl wants to work nights. That‟s

why they push it off on the new girls” (p. 376).

Francie was also a fast learner. Just like when she worked in the bureau, it

did not take long for her to be an expert in her current work. “She was now a fast and

expert operator and they needed her in the day when the traffic was heaviest”

(p.385). Francie was not a passive person, she was an active person. Even though she

was fired from two previous jobs through no fault on her own, she did not turn out to


42

be a pessimistic person. She would search for a new job, and started all over again. It

would not take her long to be a competent. It was one of her qualities as a worker.

Francie took the preparations for her second college entrance examination

seriously. She also studied Neeley‟s high school book for the college‟s entrance or

regent‟s examination. She made Katie reminded her not to stay up too late. In the

end, her effort was paid, she passed the entrance exam. She would attend college in

Michigan. She was only a girl from a slum area in Brooklyn, but she could make it to

the college.

“My grandparents never knew how to read or write or write. Those who

came before them couldn‟t read or write. My mother‟s sister can‟t read or

write. My parents never even graduated from grade school. I never went to

high school. But I, M. Frances K. Nolan, am now in college. Do you hear

that, Francie? You‟re in college! “Oh gosh, I feel sick” (p. 379).


43

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

The present study has three problems that are analyzed and answered. The

analysis of the first problem about gender role in the society comes to the conclusion

that in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn men in general carried their agentic roles and

women lived their communal roles. These roles differentiate activities between men

and women. While men were more flexible with activities in public sphere, women‟s

roles were still limited within their domestic sphere. Moreover the analysis of public

sphere also finds out that gender also matter in other social aspects. Women had no

right to vote. Lacked of education made women had a smaller chance to get a better

job, compared to men in the same situation.

The second problem concerning major female characters comes to the

conclusion that the two major female characters that are analyzed have strong

characteristics such as independent, task-oriented, and brave. These characteristics

differentiate them from general women depicted in the society.

The analysis of the third problem concludes the two major female characters

that are analyzed have characteristics of woman in general, but they also carried

attributes that usually are expected from men. It explains why these two female

characters have outstanding roles compared to general women‟s role in the society.

Their roles reflect the transition in traditional gender role. The transition shows that

men‟s and women‟s roles can change in certain circumstances.


44

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APPENDIX

Summary of Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn novel is divided into five books, and the first

edition of this novel has 443 pages. The story of the first book is started in

Williamsburg, Brooklyn in summer 1912. On Saturday, Francie, her little brother,

Neeley Nolan, along with the children in the neighborhood sold junk they had been

collected for pennies to a junkman in Manhattan Avenue. The story is continued with

Francie‟s particular activities on Saturday, after selling junk, she bought foods for

her family‟s lunch and bread for a half week stock, at 2 pm went to library and spent

her afternoon in the fire escape while reading the book she got from the library. This

part also introduces Katie and Johnny Nolan, Francie‟s parents. Katie, 29 years old,

worked as a janitress in a building in exchange for rent, while Johnny Nolan, a

handsome and lovable man sang and waited tables in events to make money. Johnny

didn‟t work very often.

Book two is a flashback in summer 1900 when Johnny Nolan and Katie

Rommely met for the first time. They got married in 1901 even though the marriage

did not get approval from Katie‟s father, and Ruthie Nolan, mother of Johnny Nolan

hated Katie. This part include the story of Francie and Neeley‟s birth, and how Katie

grew stronger to make money for the family while Johnny became weaker because it

was hard for him to face the hard realities of their life.

Book three, tells about Francie and Neeley‟s education. Katie learned that

education is the best way for them to get a better life. Katie also got them piano

lesson. After attending public school for some time, Francie faked her address to


47

move to a better school. Later, Johnny Nolan died of acute alcoholism and

pneumonia when Katie was pregnant with the third child, so several months were a

hard life for them but Katie insisted that Francie and Neeley should continue their

education until they were graduated. On May 28, 1916, Katie gave birth to Annie

Laurie. Francie and Neeley took partime jobs because Katie had to take care of

Laurie. Francie and Neeley were graduated in June.

In book four, Francie worked to help with the family‟s economy because

Katie took care of the new baby, Annie Laurie, and Neeley continued his education

to high school. While working, Francie got education through her reading habit and

she later took summer college classes because she did not want to continue to high

school. She met two men and fell in love. She still had a friendship with Ben Blake,

but the second man, Lee Rhynor left her. Francie continued her study to pass the

entrance or regent‟s examination, because she would be permitted to enroll to collage

regardless of high school credits. Later a successful politician, McShane proposed

her mom, Katie. He promised to give them a better life.

Book five, it was Saturday, a day before Katie‟s wedding, she still did the

cleaning. Katie and Neeley were prepared to move to a new apartment, while Francie

prepared to move to Michigan because she was going to attend college there.


the transition of traditional gender role … · a tree grows in brooklyn ... social life found in...

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