personality development of the main character as

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAIN

CHARACTER AS INFLUENCED BY FAMILY CONFLICT IN

SEAN PENN’S INTO THE WILD MOVIE SCRIPT

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

DANIEL PUTRA SETYAWAN

Student Number: 114214050

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2018

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

ii

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAIN

CHARACTER AS INFLUENCED BY FAMILY CONFLICT IN

SEAN PENN’S INTO THE WILD MOVIE SCRIPT

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

DANIEL PUTRA SETYAWAN

Student Number: 114214050

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2018


vi

“HAPPINESS IS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED”

Chris Mccandless


vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would never finish this thesis without help, support, and love that comes

from a lot people in my life. First of all, I would like to thank Allah SWT and the

universe, for all of the blessing given to me in my ups and downs. I realize

without his blessing and guidance I would have never finished this thesis. I also

would like to express my gratitude to my father, my mother and my brother, for

the support, prayer and love they send to. I aslo thank to all GSM brothers who

stand next to me in every condition that I have been through.

I also realize that this Undergraduate Thesis would have never finished

without the guidance from Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum and Drs.

Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum who spend their time to guide and help me

finishing this thesis. Thank you for the patience and advice.

I also would express my deepest gratitude to all my friends who support

through my difficult time in finishing this thesis, to my friends in Sanata Dharma

University, Wira, Indah, and Oksa. Thank you very much for the good times. I

really appreciate their support to finish this thesis, God bless.

Daniel Putra Setyawan


viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE.........................................................................................................ii

APPROVAL PAGE..............................................................................................iii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE.........................................................................................iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS .............................................................. iv

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

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................... viii

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... x

ABSTRAK .............................................................................................................. xi

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

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

B. Problem Formulation ........................................................................ 4

C. Objectives of the Study..................................................................... 5

D. Definition of Terms .......................................................................... 5

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE .................................................... 6

A. Review of Related Studies ................................................................ 6

B. Review of Related Theories ............................................................. 8

1. Theory of Character and Characterization ................................. 8

2. Theory of Personality Development ........................................ 10

3. Theory of Conflict ................................................................... 12

4. Theory of Family Conflict ....................................................... 13

5. Theory of the Relation between Literature and Psychology .... 17

C. Theoretical Framework ................................................................... 17

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY .................................................................. 18

A. Object of the Study ......................................................................... 18

B. Approach of the Study .................................................................... 20

C. Method of the Study ....................................................................... 21

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 22

A. The description of The Main Character .......................................... 22

1. Christopher’s Personalities before his Graduation .................. 24

2. Christopher’s Personalities after his Graduation ..................... 28

B. The Description of Chris’ Family and the Family Conflict............ 35

1. The Description of Chris’ Family Condition ........................... 35


ix

2. The Family Conflicts Chris Experienced................................. 37

C. Christopher Mccandless’ Personality Development....................... 40

1. From being Introverted Person into being

an Extroverted Person.............................................................. 40

2. From being Skeptical Person into Being a Realistic Person .... 41

3. From being Obedient Person into being a Rebellious Person . 42

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 44

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 47


x

ABSTRACT

SETYAWAN, DANIEL PUTRA. PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT OF

THE MAIN CHARACTER AS INFLUENCED BY FAMILY CONFLICT IN

SEAN PENN’S INTO THE WILD MOVIE SCRIPT. Yogyakarta: Department

of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2018.

The object of this study is the movie script of Into the Wild. Into the Wild

is a story that was adapted from a book by John Krakauer and the story is based

on true event. This study analyzes on the main character of the story, Christopher

Mccandless and focuses on his personality development which is influenced by

family conflict.

There are three objectives of this study. The first is to describe Chris’

personality. The second is to describe his family condition and his family conflict.

The third is to find the personality development experienced by Chris after facing

family conflicts.

The writer employs library research as the method of the study. The

primary source is the movie script from the movie Into the Wild. The secondary

sources of this study are the theory of character and characterization, theory of

personality and theory of conflict.

The first question of the problem formulation is to analyze Chris’

personality before and after his turning point of the personality development. In

the story, Chris is an introverted, skeptical and obedient guy. Chris grows in a bad

family life. He wants to get attention and love from his parents but his parents are

always too busy with their job. Moreover, He also finds a truth that his birth was

not under legal marriage. This fact makes him feel like an illegitimate child. Chris

also witnesses the controversy between his parents. He watches they fight each

other, even several attempts of divorce have been done by his parents. The last

question is to analyze the development of Chris personality after experiencing

family conflicts. Chris runs from home and his family, wanders to Alaska alone.

In the journey, Chris turns to be extroverted, realistic and rebellious person.


xi

ABSTRAK

SETYAWAN, DANIEL PUTRA. PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT OF

THE MAIN CHARACTER AS INFLUENCED BY FAMILY CONFLICT IN

SEAN PENN’S INTO THE WILD MOVIE SCRIPT. Yogyakarta: Program

Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2018.

Bahan dari studi ini adalah sebuah skrip dari film yang berjudul Into the

Wild. Into the Wild adalah sebuah kisah nyata yang diangkat dari sebuah buku

berjudul yang ditulis oleh John Krakauer. Studi ini mengalisis tokoh utama dari

cerita, Christopher Mccandless dan berfokus di perubahan kepribadian yang

dipengaruhi oleh konflik keluarga.

Ada tiga tujuan di dalam studi ini. Yang pertama adalah menjelaskan

kepribadian Christopher. Kedua, menjelaskan tentang kondisi keluarga dan

konflik keluarga yang terjadi. Ketiga, menganilsa perubahan sikap yang

dipengaruhi oleh konflik keluarga.

Penulis menerapkan riset pustaka sebagai metode studi yang digunakan.

Sumber utama adalah skript film Into the Wild. Adapun buku teori pendukung

yaitu teori karakter, teori kepribadian, dan teori konflik keluarga.

Pertanyaan pertama pada rumusan masalah adalah menegaskan bagaimana

kepribadian Chris sebelum dan sesudah dia mengalami titik balik dari perubahan

kepribadiannya. Di dalam cerita, Chris adalah sesesorang yang tertutup, skeptis

dan penurut. Chris tumbuh di dalam kehidupan keluarga yang buruk. Dia

mengharapkan perhantian dan kasih sayang dari orang tuanya namun kedua orang

tuangnya terlalu sibuk dengan pekerjaan mereka. Terlebih, dia juga menemukan

fakta bahwa dia dilahirkan diluar pernikahan resmi. Kenyataan ini membuatnya

merasa seperti anak haram. Chris juga mensaksikan kontrovesi antara kedua orang

tuanya. Dia mensaksikan mereka bertengkar satu sama lain, bahkan beberapa

percobaan perceraian sempat dilakukan oleh orang tuanya. Pertanyaan terakhir

adalah menganalisa perubahan kepribadian Chris setelah mengalami konflik

konflik keluarga. Chris kabur dari rumah dan berkelana menuju Alaska sendiri. Di

perjalanannya, kepribadiannya berubah. Chris menjadi seseorang yang terbuka,

realistis dan memberontak.


1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Literature has an important role in human being life and literature may

give the readers pleasure and satisfaction. Literary work is not only able to

entertain us but it also gives us a new different point of view. According to

Hudson in Introduction to The Study of Literature, “literature is representation of

what human beings have been through and experienced in life, in the other way is

that a literature is a reflection of life through language as the media” (2006:10).

That can be meant that every literary work contains specific value which is

important in our daily life. Literature is always developing through different era.

There are a plenty of types of literary work such as novel, poem, drama or short

story. As literary work, it must have values and present human life and manner

(Wellek and Warren, 1956: 216).

There are so many forms of literary works, such as poem, prose, novel and

drama. In this modern era, it is quite often that a literary work is adopted into a

movie and it is still considered to be a form of literary work. Astruc stated that “A

film maker/an author writes with his camera as a writer writes with his pen”

(1971:11). What makes a movie really close to literature is that a film must have

a script because a script is supposed to be in written form just like a literary work.

This is also supported by Giannetti’s statement that “a film script is rarely

and autonomous literary product” (1987: 265). Due to that closeness, a movie can


2

be analyzed in similar way to a literary work, as both of them have similarity on

both aesthetic values and elements. In his book The Art of Watching Film, Joseph

M. Boggs stated “Literature and films do have many elements in common, and

though they are different mediums, they communicate many things in similar

way” (1978: 20). Therefore, a literary analysis also can be applied on film

analysis as Boggs explained “perspective film analysis is built in the elements

used in literary analysis and if we apply what we have learned in the study of

literature to our analysis film, we are far ahead of those who do not” (1978:20).

What we are always going to find while we are reading a story or watching

movie is a character. Character is an important element inside a story because

sometimes, a character really guides the reader to the plot of a story or to the main

idea of a story. Abrams stated is his book, A Glossary of Literary Terms:

Characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who

are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional,

and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say –the dialogue-

and what they do –the action- (1981: 23)

It can be said that every single thing that a character does or every word

that comes from the character will define the personality of a character. In his

book Personality Theories, Hjelle and Ziegler stated that human beings are

unique, their personality is unpredictable and their behaviour is complex (1981:1).

Every human being is different, their behaviour barely can be predicted.

This study is based on the movie script of the movie Into the Wild. A story

which was experienced by Christopher McCandless, his journey was chronicled in

a novel, Into the Wild by John Kraekuer. The novel Into the Wild was adapted into

a film by Sean Penn with the same tittle. The movie Into the Wild was released in


3

2007. This study is based on the movie script of the film version and also focuses

on the main character, Christopher McCandless.

Into the Wild is a story about the journey of a young guy named

Christopher Mccandless and his family life. Christopher McCandless was a young

man from rich and well educated family with unusual personality. He was a

unique and smart guy. Christopher grew under the controversy between his father

and mother. All of those things made him away from his parents. His mother and

father were also not doing well in their affair. It was a little bit odd since his

parents were so rich and gave everything that Chris needed but he still did not feel

happy. All of those complicated things build Christopher’s personality until

finally he finally turned like someone else. Christopher ran away from his family.

He left everything that he loved and went to travel, lived on the road on his own.

He ended up in Alaska which was the main goal of his journey He spent more

than 100 days in Alaska. He survived, he ate plant, completely survived on his

own depending to the wild life. Christopher did not have a good relationship with

his parents and his hatred grew bigger while he was in journey. Unfortunately, the

story has tragic ending, Chris died because he mistakenly consumed a poisonous

fruit in Alaska wild life. Christopher’s corpse was found by some hunters two

weeks after his last breath inside an abandoned bus in the middle of Alaska land.

However, as the writer mentioned earlier that the character in this story is

extremely unique, Christopher denied all of the things that his parents offered.

The uniqueness of the main in this movie makes it interesting. The story becomes

really interesting not only because it has a strong character but also it has an


4

unpredictable ending. As seen from the strong main character which Into the Wild

has, the writer realizes that a strong or good character does not just suddenly come

up by itself. There must be something that builds a character’s personality, in this

story one of the cause that gives massive impact to Christopher’s personality

development is his relationship with this family. In this movie there are a lot of

scenes that show the conflict between Christopher and his family, as Roberts and

Jacobs also said that “every single moment, action, interaction, speech and also

conflict that was experienced by a character, is able to give impact to the plot of a

story or to the character” (1987: 119).

This study analyzes and focuses on the character’s personality

development and the conflicts of the main character especially on the family

conflicts that was experienced by Christopher Mccandless. The writer believes

that the family conflicts in this story takes the biggest part which determines the

main character’s developments.

B. Problem Formulation

Based on the background of the study, the problem can be formulated into

the following questions

1. How is the personality of Chris described in the story?

2. How are the family conflicts portrayed in the story?

3. How do the family conflicts influence Chris’s personality development?


5

C. Objectives of the Study

The focus of the study is the personality development as revealed through

the conflict, especially family conflict that was experienced through by the main

character Christopher Mccandless in Sean Penn’s movie script, Into the Wild. The

objective of the study here is also as a guideline to help the writer answer the

research question in problem formulation.

The first objective is to find out and describe the personality of

Christopher Mccandless in the whole story. The second objective is to identify the

family conflicts that the character has dealt with. This objective is also to prove

that family conflict is the reason behind his personality development.

D. Definition of Terms

This is the definition of several terms that is used in this thesis, the

definition of terms here is also in order to avoid misunderstanding.

The first term is personality development. Hurlock in Personality

Development stated that personality development is a state in growth constantly

changing and evoking process within an individual (1976:7).

The second term is family conflict. Noller and Fitzpatrick said that family

conflict occurs when family member do not agree about the events and situation

in their lives. They probably disagree about situation, the choice are made or the

way the person are shared (1993:99).


6

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

There are two undergraduate theses which the writer uses as references in

this research. These two undergraduate theses are Krismadi’s “The Impact of

Family’s Conflict toward Pari’s Personality Development Seen in Khaled

Hosseini’s And the Mountain Echoed” and Prihantoro’s “The Criticism Towards

The Idea of Self Reliance In the 20th Century American Society as Revealed

Through The Main Character in Sean Penn’s Into The Wild Movie Script”.

In his research, Krismadi uses a novel entitled And the Mountain Echoed

by Khaled Hosseini. And the Mountain Echoed is a fiction novel. The novel is

telling about a story of a girl named Pari and her journey to seek his brother.

Through her journey and the conflict which is experienced by Pari, Krismadi

focuses in Pari’s personality development and Family conflict. Krismadi find out

that Pari personality is changing after some conflicts, especially family conflicts

that she experienced.

In this part of analysis, the writer provides the personality change of Pari

which is affected by the conflict which happens in her past. The conflicts are in

the scope of her family (2016: 47).

The writer applies the similar method that Krismadi uses in his research

since the writer found that this thesis has a little bit similarity with Krismadi’s

thesis, which is focusing in family conflict. However this undergraduate thesis


7

concerns in the same issue in different object, Into the Wild’s movie script from

Sean Penn. It proves that this undergraduate thesis is clearly different compared to

Krimadi’s because of the difference of the object of the study.

Another study is Prihantoro’s research. He uses the same object with this

undergraduate thesis Into the Wild’s movie script by Sean Penn. Prihantoro

analyses the main character and concern on the self-reliance. Prihantaro explains

the characteristic of the main character, Christopher Mccandless. From his

characteristic, it can show us the idea self-reliance of American society in

twentieth century which are independent, determined and nonconformist.

Prihantoro analyses the self-reliance through the character and his personality.

This study sees that the idea of self-reliance as a certain motivation as the

reason for behaving as character does. This specific motivation in his

immediate reason, perhaps unconscious, for any particular speech or act

(2011:28).

The studies above focus on personality of the main character. Since

Prihantoro’s study and this study analyses the same object Into the Wild with

different point of view and subject, this study is completely different from

Prihantoro’s. The difference between Prihantoro’s study and this study is that this

study reveals the personality development as caused by the family conflict while

Prihantoro’s study is concerning in self-reliance.


8

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

This study focuses on Christopher Mccandless, the main character which

almost involved in my scene of the movie and the key of the story Into the Wild

by Sean Penn. In the book A Glossary of Literary Terms, Abrams stated that

“character is one of literary genre, it is short and usually sketch in prose of a

distinctive type of person” (1981: 23). According to Robert and Jacobs:

There are two types of character, they are round and flat character. Round

character is usually a major character of a story. Round character’s trait is

always developing or changing, round character is dynamic. The other

type of character is flat character. Flat character does not really take a big

part in a story, however its trait and role are not really important. Flat

character usually does not give significant change or not at all and it is

usually a minor character (1987:120-121). Abrams also said that there are two ways to present a characterization.

They are showing (also called “the dramatic method”) and telling. In showing, the

author presents the characters talking and acting, it leaves the reader to infer what

motives and dispositions lie behind what they say and do. The other one is telling,

the author intervenes in order to evaluate, the motives and disposal qualities of the

character (1981: 24). In the book How to Analyze Drama, Reaske said that “a

character is the fictitious creation of person presented in dramatic or narrative

work that can be interpreted through the combination of the dialogue and action

expressed” (1966: 40).

The writer uses the theory of characterization from Reaske’s book How to

Analyze Drama due to the similar form between play and movie script. Reaske

also explains that there are six methods of characterization. They are (1966: 44-

48):


9

1. The appearance of the character

Through the appearance of the characters, we can learn about them. Whether

the character is old or young, small or large, attractive or unattractive, etc.

This appearance may be visible as well from narrator’s description or the

opinion from another character toward the particular character.

2. Aside and soliloquies

We can also understand a character through aside and soliloquies. A character

is telling his specific characteristics when he speaks in short aside or longer

soliloquies. For example: a romantic character, he has the tendency of using a

poetic statements. From that we can figure out that he is a romantic person for

using poetic statement which he speaks in short aside.

3. Dialogues between character

Through the dialogue or the way he speaks to the other character, we can also

learn about a character personality.

4. Hidden narration

Sometimes, there is character that is never directly described by the

playwright or narrator. In this case, we can learn about the character through

the hidden narration or the narration from one character about another

character.

5. Language

From the character’s language, we can also learn about a character. The

words spoken by the character and the way the character speaks are two


10

important parts in language which can be used to learn a character’s

characteristic.

6. Character in auction

This is when we learn a character by the time he acts on stage or in a scene.

We learn about a character from his gesture or his acting inside a stage. Those

theories above are helpful to understand the characteristic of a character.

Understanding the character’s characteristic helps the writer to learn about the

character’s personality.

2. Theory of Personality Development

The theory of personality here is needed in order to reveal the personality

of the main character before and after he experienced the personality

development.

By applying theory of personality, the writer will be able to dig and reveal

the character of the story. According to Hurlock, “personality is the dynamic

organization within the individual of those psychological system which

determines his behavior and thought” (1976:7).

The writer can say that personality is something which differentiate a

human being to the other human being. Every person in this world exactly has

their own personality which is going to work as a personal or individual identity

for human. In the other word, personality also may define or describe who a

person really is. Hurlock also said in her book, Personality Development about the

definition of personality.


11

The term “personality” is derived from the Latin word persona, which

mean “mask”. Among the Greek, Actors used a mask to hide their identity

on stage. This dramatic technique was later adopted by the Romans to

whom persona denoted “as one appears to others”, not as one actually is

(1976:6).

In order to describe the personality development of the main character,

several personality development theories are needed by the writer. Hurlock

explained that personality change requires effort from the person itself, they are

usually coming from multiple revisions in the thought or feeling related to person

self-concept (1976:124).

In Hurlock’s Personality Development, it is also stated that there are

several conditions which are responsible for a personality change. Those are

physical damage, environment, significant people, social pressure change, role

change, strong motivation, changes in the self-concept and psychotherapy. In

normal person usually there are more than one causes of personality changes.

These cause may or no be interrelated (1976:124). It means that every person has

different reason or cause of personality changes, several conditions are not related

to a person’s personality change. For example, not every person’s personality

changes through a significant person. Some people can change due to his

environment or their way of thinking. There are two most suitable causes for this

thesis, they are significant people and strong motivation.

Most personality is influenced by another person’s personality. The person

could be family, friends or even lover. It depends on the how much a person’s

attitude differs from the individual and it also depends on how often they spend

time together.


12

A change is happening when the desire or motivation to improve the

personality is strong enough. Most people become over motivated to change their

traits by the time they are in need to achieve some goals in their life.

3. Theory of Conflict

The theory of conflict is used by the writer in order to explain how the

conflicts lead the main character’s personality development.

Literary work is the reflection of our life, it means that literary work also

has the same element which we face in our reality. This study takes one of those

elements as the material, which it is conflict. Holman and Harmon say that

“conflicts are the struggle that grows out of the two opposing forces in a plot”

(1986:107).

Holman and Harmon (1986) also state that conflict will occur in different

situations or conditions such as:

1. A struggle against nature

The character’s struggle against natural phenomenon such as flood, hurricane,

tornado, earthquake and another phenomenon that caused by natural forces.

2. A struggle against person

The character’s struggle when the character deal with another character. It can

be a single person or a group of people.

3. A struggle against society

The character’s struggle when the character deal with society’s value systems.


13

4. A struggle against fate or destiny

The character’s struggle when the character deal with their destiny, in another

word they deal with their creator, God. It shows when they try to change their

destiny or fate.

In the book A Second Book of Plays, Redman explains that “there are two

types of conflict, internal conflict and external conflict (1964: 363). He defines

internal conflict as a struggle inside the heart or mind of the major character and

external conflict as a struggle between the major characters an outside force. It

can be against the other character or the environment. As the writer concludes

from Redman’s explanation, family conflict is inside the range of external conflict

because it is a struggle against outside force.

However, in literary work, conflict is one crucial element which builds a

story. The appearance of conflict in a literary work keeps the story alive.

Sometimes a literary work has more than just one single conflict in it. As we can

get from Holman and Harmon’s statement above that a conflict can happen in

various way. One of the causes that we are going to discuss in this study is a

conflict that happens between two forces persons which it means that the

character deals with another human being, it can be a person or a group.

4. Theory of Family Conflict

Family, according to Galvin and Brommel “family is a group of people

that every human being is involved in. It is a group of people who live in together

in a long periods and all of us are connected each other. The connection is going

through marriage, blood or a specific commitment” (1986:4). Cheal also states in


14

his book that “Family is considered to be any group which consists of people in

intimate relationships which are believed to endured over time and across

generations” (2002:4).

Miller explains that there are eleven kinds of family structure, they are

(1980: 2):

1. The two-parents and natural children

This kind of family is the most common family and still has the greater

percentage of family units today. This kind of family consists of father,

mother and their natural children.

2. The blended

This is the two parent of family in which children live with their parents but

only one of them whom is their natural father or mother.

3. A couple who does not want children

This type of family only consists of two people, husband and wife.

4. Grandparents who take care of their children

In some cases, parents are unable to take care their children so the

grandparents take care the children and live with them.

5. Grandchildren or grandparents who live by themselves

This family consists of only grandchildren or grandparents in one house.

6. Single parents

The most common cause that established this type is the death of a spouse, so

there is only one parent left and live with the children.


15

7. The divorce, custodial parent

This kind of family, the divorced-parent has the main care to take care of their

children.

8. The divorce, non-custodial parent

While in this kind of family, the divorces-parents have the care of the

children only a minimal part of the times.

9. The unmarried mother and child

This family usually consist of only two people, the mother and her children.

10. The unmarried, adoptive parent and child

When a spouse does not want to bond each other in marriage but they want to

take care of child, they establish this type of family. This family consists of

unmarried couple together with their adoptive child.

11. The widowed

This family is emerged when a spouse is divorce and they do not have

children following them.

Describing a family is not as easy as it seems, the writer here tries to

describe family in an ideal form. Some sociologists use the term stem family to

call an ideal family. Henry as citied in Cheal states that “a stem family is a family

that consists of a succession of males, together with their wives and dependent

children who all live in one household” (2002: 24). So an ideal family or stem

family is normally a family that consists of father, mother and children who live

in a household.


16

Conflict can be defined in numerous ways. In the theory of conflict section

it has already been described the definition of conflict in literary terms. In order to

describe what a family conflict is, a conflict in psychology range is needed in this

section. The theory of conflict is used by the writer in order to explain how the

conflicts lead the main character’s personality development. Conflict is a common

element in life which we might often face in our daily life. Kalish describes that

“conflict is a type of stress as a result of two or more different needs. The

satisfaction leads to the non-satisfaction of another need, or the satisfaction of one

need brings unpleasant consequences” (1973: 450).

Conflict in family, conflict inside a family is usually the conflict that

occurs among of family members. In Communication in Family Relationships,

Fitzpatrick and Noller said that “a family conflict happens when one member of

the family or more do not agree about the situation or opinion in their lives. They

disagree about certain behavior or decision in specific situation, the way decision

is taken or the way resource are shared. Those differences seem to have serious

impact on family member” (1993:99). A conflict inside a family gives a strong

impact in building up someone’s personality.

Cheal says that “the process how we grow from childhood to adulthood

has been influenced by the area where our family lives” (2002:2). This statement

perfectly suits to be applied in this study because the focus of this study is

personality development which is caused by family conflict.


17

The writer only focuses on the conflicts that occur in the scope of his

family in order to analyze the personality development of the main character,

Christopher Mccandless.

5. Theory of the Relation between Literature and Psychology

Literature and psychology have the same object which is human life, both

of them deal with human beings and their thought. According to Wellek and

Werren in Theory of Literature, Characters in plays or novel are judged by the

readers to be psychologically true. Sometimes psychological theory, held either

consciously or dimly by an author, seems to be fit a figure or a situation (1965:

90). It means that literature is the representation of reality, the character in a

literary work represents a human being and also can be analyzed through the field

of psychology.

C. Theoretical Framework

There are three theories which are used in this research. All of these

theories are here to help the writer to answer the problems which have been

formulated in the first chapter.

The first theory is theory of character and characterization. This theory is

used to reveal and described the entire characteristics of Christopher. The second

one is theory of personality development, these theories are here to understand

and analyze the personality of the main character. The last one is theory of family

conflict, the theory of family conflict here is applied to analyze the conflict inside

his family.


18

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The object of the study is Into the Wild’s movie script. Into the Wild’s

movie script was written by Sean Penn in 2007. This movie is also based on a

non-fiction novel written by John Krakauer with the same tittle which it was first

published in 1998 by Villards Books, a division of random house, Inc., New York.

The movie Into the Wild has 165 pages of script and it also has 148 minutes

duration. The movie was released in the United States, and it also won several

awards, including the Grammy Awards, Global Globe, Writer Guild of America

and many more.

Into the Wild has a lot good values. The movie shows us about the journey

of a guy named Chris Mccandless who born in rich and well educated family.

Chris really loves outdoor activity such as road trip or camping. He is

inspired a lot by his grandfather who lives near to the nature. It makes Chris have

big interest in nature and wildlife. Chris grows without spending much time with

his parents because his parents spent more time in their job rather than for the

family. The relationship between his mom and dad is not also quite good since in

some parts on the movie it is shown that they insisted to divorce each other. All

those family problems make him to be a tough, stubborn and idealistic guy. He

felt no love on his family and that make him to disbelieve everybody but himself.

Chris grows without spending much time with his parents because his parents


19

spent more time in their job rather than for the family. The relationship between

his mom and dad is not also quite good since in a scene on the movie it is shown

that they insisted to divorce each other. All those family problems make him to be

a tough, stubborn and idealistic guy. He felt no love on his family and that make

him to disbelieve everybody but himself. On the other side, this problems change

Chris’s point of view about his life and especially change his personality.

After he graduated from his university “Emory University” as one of the

best students, he decided to try a new journey in his life. He tried to leave his

home, went to Alaska and tried to live off the wildness. He abandoned everything

he had in life including family, money and friend. On his two-years-journey to

Alaska, he met several characters that sharpened his personality.

At the last part of the story it is shown that Chris finally reached Alaska

with all of his struggle. Chris finally lived in Alaska for almost 3 months.

Unfortunately the story has quite pathetic ending, Chris found his death after he

mistakenly consumed a poisoned in Alaska. The story ended by some hunters

found his corpse few weeks later. This story also represents so many good aspects

of human life. One of them is family, bad family affair has massive impact in

building someone.


20

B. Approach of the Study

The most important thing while we are analyzing a literary work is

applying the most appropriate approach. Since a literary work shows us a lot of

values of life and it is quite often that it imitates from human behavior in everyday

life, the writer decides to use the psychological approach in this research. The

writer decides to use psychological approach after finding that the story Into the

Wild is based on true event which means all of those conflicts really happen in

real life not only a fiction.

The psychological approach is applied to analyze the character of

Christoper Mccandless and how it develops as it is influenced by the family

conflicts. Basically the psychological approach is needed to analyze Christopher’s

behavior. In the book Reading and Writing about Literature, Rohrberger and

wood stated that “psychological approach is to explain about human motivation,

human mind, imagination, thought and behavior” (1971: 13).

Psychological approach is the suitable approach for this reason because

this study is actually dealing with real human behavior or non-fiction. This

approach will help the writer to answer the question in the problem formulation

section. By applying this approach the writer can reveal the reason behind the

main character personality what makes him to be than kind of person.


21

C. Method of the Study

Library research is applied in this study by the writer since all the sources

and data are gathered from several books. The primary source in this study is the

movie script of Into the Wild. The other sources for this study is theory of

character and characterization, theory of personality and theory of conflict which

are collected from some printed books. The library research here is used to gather

as much relevant data and information as possible.

The writer takes some steps to conduct this study. The first step is

watching the movie Into the Wild for the second time and reading the script of the

movie. The writer also tries to get more information from another source such as

related text, articles or even the movie’s review. After all the datas are collected,

they are examined and divided according to the problem formulation. The second

step is collecting the theories, these theories are to answer the problem

formulation. The third step is analyzing the main character in the story Chris

McCandless, what kind of person Chris is described in the story. The fourth step

is analyzing the conflicts and divide them, which one is the family conflict and

which one is not. After dividing the writer focuses on the family conflict that the

main character has experienced. The last step is concluding the impact of the

family conflict experienced Chris to his personality development and

characteristic.


22

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter here is to find out the answers from problem formulation

section. The focus of this study is the personality of the main character and the

family conflicts which affect his personality to change or develop. The script from

Into the Wild movie here is used as the main source and several theories in chapter

two are applied as the supporting theories.

Based on the research in problem formulation, this section is divided into

three parts. The first part concerns on how the personality development of

Christopher Mccandless as the main character in the movie Into the Wild

described. The second part talks about the family conflict which undergoes in the

story. The third part is analyzing Chris’s personality development and how the

conflicts affect his personality

.

A. The description of The Main Character

According to Robert and Jacob there are two types of characters, round

which is usually main character and takes big part in a story and flat which is

normally found as minor character? Round character is dynamic that means it is

changing or developing (1987:120). The story Into the Wild shows us almost all

about Christopher, he appears from the beginning of the story until the end of the

story. It means that Christopher is the main character of the story.


23

Chris was born in 12th February 1968, Chris is the son of Samuel Walter

McCandless and his second wife Billie who is his sectary while he was working

for NASA. In 1965, Walt’s marriage is in trouble, he and his first wife named

Marcied finally decide to separate. After that, Walt starts to date Wilhelmia

Johnson or usually called Billie. They fall in love with each other and live

together. After their marriage they live together, the relationship does not go

really well. They always fight each other. They give less attention to their

children, they think that it is fine as long as the can provide money for them. So

both Walt and Billie are too busy working and making money.

As the time goes by and Chris grows older, he starts to realize about the

situation of the family. Chris finally understands that his current mother is not his

real mother. Chris’s real mother is Marcia, the first Walt’s wife. This sad fact

makes Chris have different point of few of life. He starts to rebuild his way of

thinking. The only person that Chris love is his sister. Chris has a sister who is

three years younger than him, her name is Carine. The relation between Chris and

Carine is quite close. Carine is the only person that Chris shares his problem to,

because Chris’s father and mother spend so much time with their work. It makes

them pay less attention to both Chris and Carine. They make good money but they

do fail to give parent attention to their children because they have no time for it.

In this part, the writer wants to analyze Chris’s personality development

through his characteristic. In order to analyze Chris’s personality development, we

need to figure out and find the turning point of his characteristic. The writer finds

that there are significant changes or differences in Chris’s personality after and


24

before he understands the current situation of his family. The writer uses the six

devices of characterization from Reaske in his book How to Analyze Drama. They

are (1966: 44-48): the appearance of the character, asides and soliloquies,

dialogue between characters, hidden narration, language and character in action.

The character of Chris will describe in two section as follows.

1. Christopher’s Personalities before his Graduation

a. Introverted

In the early part of the story, Christopher is shown as an introvert young

guy. Christopher seems like he does not have a lot of friends, when he graduated

from his high school he did not even say a single word to anybody else. The

conflict between his father and mother also makes Chris hates them and keeps that

feeling by himself without telling it to anybody else. This is also supported by

Chris’s decision to enter Harvard University. It is not because of his good grade

but it is in order to have a distance with his parents and cuts all the

communications with his parents and the people he knows, living by himself.

CARINE. But by the end of July we hadn’t heard anything from him and

my parents were getting very worried.

Chris had never had a phone, so they decided to drive down to Atlanta and

surprise him.

CARINE .When they arrived at the apartment, there was a “For Rent” sign

in his window, and the manager told my parents that Chris had

moved out at the end of June.

(Penn, 2007:18-19)

From the Carine’s monologue of the movie scripts above, we can see that

Chris does not want to communicate with his parents anymore, Chris cuts all of

the communications with his family. It shows us that Chris wants to be remote

from everyone and spends his life alone.


25

CARINE. When they got home, I had to hand them all the letters they had

sent Chris that summer which had been returned in a bundle.

Chris had instructed the post office to hold them until August 1st so

that mom and dad wouldn’t know that anything was up. Some part

of me understood what he had done. That he had spent the previous

four years fulfilling an absurd and onerous duty in graduating from

college.

(Penn, 2007:19)

Some other proofs above also show that Chris is an introvert is that he

likes to keep his problem just for him. He does not want anyone else to know

about the problem. The only person Chris talks about his problem is only his

sister, Carine. However he told Carine to do so

CARINE. Chris was quiet when he told me this. He said it made his

“entire childhood seem like a fiction”; that “the truth had been

dying everyday.” If something bothered Chris, he’d usually keep it

to himself. And he made me promise to do the same.

(Penn, 2007: 39a)

Furthermore, the last thing that shows us that Chris is an introvert guy is

that he also never tells his decision to go to Alaska to the family. His family and

everyone has no idea where he is exactly going.

b. Skeptical

Chris is a skeptical person. He always has the opinion that everybody is

like his parents. He has a thought that a person’s happiness depends on how much

money they have including his parents. He thinks that there is no thing such a pure

happiness, people always do something for granted.

In the part of the story which shows us the most that he is a skeptic is by

the time he graduated from his high school. The voice over from Christopher tells

us what is inside his mind.


26

CHRIS. I see them standing at the formal gates of their colleges, I see my

father strolling out under the ochre sandstone arch, the red tiles

glinting like bent plates of blood behind his head.

I see my mother with a few light books at her hip standing at the

pillar made of tiny bricks with the wrought-iron gate still open

behind her, its sword-tips black in the May air, they are about to

graduate, they are about to get married, they are kids, they are

dumb, all they know is they are innocent, they would never hurt

anybody.

(Penn, 2007:4)

From the monologue, it shows us that Chris thinks his father and mother

do failure in the family. He thinks that his parents abandon the children but in fact

in the last part of the story, we can show both of his father and mother really love

Chris and they do almost everything to reach Chris and get him back home.

The other evidence that Chris is a skeptical person is shown in the part of

the story when he decided to leave and abandoned his car and burned all of his

money. It is shown that Chris is being skeptical about the stereotype money is the

only source of happiness. In other part, it is also shown that Chris does not really

depend on money.

JAN. Alex could have a vehicle. If he didn’t burn his money. Why would

you want to do that?

CHRIS. I don’t need money. It makes people cautious.

JAN. (a little irritated) Well, you have to be a little cautious Alex. That

book of yours is all well and fine but you can’t depend entirely on

leaves and berries.

CHRIS. I don’t know if you’d want to depend on much more than that.

JAN Where’s your mom and dad?

CHRIS. Makin’ their money somewhere.

(Penn, 2007:29) Chris ignores the existence of money in his life. He is afraid that it will

turn him into a person like his parents. He believes that money is not everything


27

for him. It only changes people to somebody else, even it is your closest people.

He wants to prove that he does not need any of them to live a happy life.

c. Obedient

Chris is an obedient boy, he always follows his parent’s desire. One his

obedience is he enters the same university with school. His parents wants him to

follow their path, to be the person like them in order to make Chris’s life well-

established. Chris’s monologue in his graduation shows about this.



glinting like bent plates of blood behind his head. they are about to

graduate, they are about to get married

(Penn, 2009:4)

Chris obedience is also shown at the part when his parents ask about his

current saving and plan to help him finance his further study. Chris cannot resist

what his parents have offered to him. He tells his parents that he needs to prepare

everything first before he receives the offer.

WALT. Well, we’ll certainly contribute the balance for Harvard.

CHRIS. Yeah. I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do. I got a lot of

things to pack and organize here first.

BILLIE. I’m so glad you’re getting out of that place you’re living. It was

so much nicer when you lived on campus.

WALT. You’ll come to Annandale before you disappear on us, won’t

you?

CHRIS. Sure, I will.

(Penn, 2009:7)

Chris’s parents are too afraid to see their children grow the wrong way.

The obedience of his children is caused by their over strict control. They control

almost everything that his children do. It is shown when Chris’s sister drives the


28

car to the restaurant. Even though Carine has driving license, his parents keep

warn her.

WALT. You’re not supposed to be driving in Geogia.

CARINE. Why? I have my permit.

WALT. Cause it’s againts the law for a learner’s permit to drive in another

state from one’s home state. That’s why.

CARINE. I didn’t know that. I thought that if I was okay with a legal

driver that it’d be okay.

(Penn: 2009:6)

The strict control from his parents makes Chris to be an obedient person. He

is asked to always follow what his parents want and he cannot refuse the order

from his parents.

2. Christopher’s Personalities after his Graduation

His personality changes a lot after he understand all the family conflict

between his parents especially when he wanders alone to Alaska.

Chris meets new people in his journey. People that Chris never realizes,

those people give Chris a new point of view and slowly changes his personality.

His new personality is contrast compared to his old personality. Here are some

Chris’s personalities after he realized the conflict in his family, these personalities

appear when he is wandering to Alaska.

a. Extroverted

Chris turns into an extroverted guy. In the movie we can see that he is able

to interact and gain a lot of friends during his journey and almost every people

that he meets likes him. He realizes that the existence of another people in his life

is important. Chris gets so excited when he meets new people, he is able to

quickly adjust his attitude when he meets new people.


29

This can be seen in some parts in the movie that show us about his

friendliness. One of them is when he was riding his canoe through a river and met

a couple of adventurer.

MADS. (Yelling out to Chris)Hello!

CHRIS. Hello.

MADS. You can join us!

Chris doesn’t know quite what to do. But Mads seems quite comfortable

inviting a stranger into the presence of his topless girlfriend.

MADS. We have hotdogs!

Chris - can’t turn that down! He paddles to within feet of the water’s edge.

MADS. I am Mads.

CHRIS. Hi. Alex.

SONJA. I am Sonja.

Chris gives Sonja a little wave. She bypasses it, wading up to the Kayak,

giving him a big hug.

SONJA. Hello Alex.

This couple is extremely energetic. Can’t wait to please. And a bona fide

American adventurer in their midst. It’s everything they could’ve wanted.

MADS. We are from Copenhagen. And you are from the rapids.

CHRIS. I am.

SONJA. My Got!

MADS. Crazy man. You’re a crazy man! Sonja, he is a crazy man.

(To Chris) I’ll make you a hotdog.

Mads grabs a hotdog from the Hibachi.

(Penn, 2007: 57-58)

Another dialogue that shows about his interest when meeting new people

is the part when Chris looks for a ride and meets with Jan and Rainey. They have

just met each other but they seem like they have known each other for long time.

JAN. Hi. We just barely saw you there, under that crazy hat of yours. We

couldn’t back up - the van’s reverse is broken.

CHRIS. (As Jan fiddles with side door handle) Oh. That’s okay. Thanks

for stopping.

JAN. This door’s a little tricky, I’ll get it.

And with a little pulling, it opens. Indicating the ponytailed and

bearded driver (RAINEY), early 50’s, definitely Woodstock...

JAN. Hop in, that’s Rainey.

RAINEY. Hey, I’m Rainey.


30

JAN. And I’m Jan.

CHRIS. Hey, Rainey. Hi Jan. I’m Alex.

RAINEY. Alex of the hat.

CHRIS. (Closing the side door) Yeah.

Jan jumps back in passenger seat and the van rolls on.

(Penn, 2007: 26-27)

Due to his friendliness, he can make almost every person he meets in his

journey feel like Chris is a part of their family or even their life. The part when

Chris meet Rons shows it all.

CHRIS. You alright?

Ron, after taking one more deep breath, sits up and Chris sits next to him.

He’s actually pretty happy with himself. He looks out and sees the distant

Salton Sea.

RON. I’m going to miss you when you go.

CHRIS. I’ll miss you too, Ron. But you’re wrong if you think the joy of

life comes principally from human relationships. God’s placed it

all around us. It’s in everything. In anything we can experience.

People just have to change the way they think about those things.

You ought to put a little camper on the back of your pick-up and go

take a look at some of the great work god’s done out here in the

American west.

(Penn, 2007:115)

The writer can say that Chris friendly because in his journey he meets

people and quickly gets close to them, earning a lot of friends. Chris learns and

gets close to them without seeing the class, education, race, wealthyness or color

even though sometimes he still puts a limit on them. He like to share his thought

to everyone around him.


31

b. Realistic

The other characteristic that Chris has in that he is a realistic. After

through so many family conflict Chris turns to a realistic person. What the writer

means by realistic is that he begins to open himself to the other people. He begins

to accept someone else’s opinion especially to the new people that he meets,

considering Chris is so rigid as it is shown in the early part of the story.

MAD. You can take kayak around Lake Mead and then take the river

down to Mexico.

Chris likes the idea.

CHRIS. How far are we from Lake Mead?

MADS. Sonja, how far is Hoover Dam?

Sonja grabs a map from the tent, opens and scrutinizes it. We follow her

finger tracing the river.

SONJA. Maybe three hundred thirty kilometers...like two hundred miles.

(Penn, 2007:60)

The dialogues above show Chris’s willingness to accept the information

from someone else, in the other word he trusts what Mad and Sonja tell. Chris

starts to think that the existence of another people in his life is important, he starts

thinking that he cannot live his life alone. He starts to learn new things from

another people, that dialogue shows that he learns to hunt and survive in the wild

from a man named Kevin.

As the writer mentions before, He does not believe in people. He does not

believe in love because of the constant conflict between his parents. He is a rich

person, he has so much money but he does not believe that money can make him

happy. Even he does not trust his closest person, his sister. It is proven by he

never want to share his feeling to her, even his destination to anyone including his

sister.


32

CHRIS. Who are these guys?

Wayne gets a little giggle.

WAYNE. Those are my Hudderites. Agriculture’s a pretty transient

business. These guys come off the Hudderite colony looking for

work. I always got work for people. Then that guy (pointing at

guy making most of his snore) that’s Kevin. He’s with me most of

the time. He’s not a Hudderite. He’s from Madison.

CHRIS. Madison. Okay.

Just then, the rain kicks in full gear outside, pounding the trailer

shell. A couple hits of lightning follow.

WAYNE. Listen, you don’t want to go out there on the road tonight. Why

don’t you just roll your sleeping bag out and play like a Hudderite

until morning.

Chris looks about. There’s not much room but it beats the pelting

outside.

CHRIS. Thanks Wayne. I will.

Chris, with a grin on his face, lays in his sleeping bag between a

Hudderite and the sleeping KEVIN. Wayne comes from the back

bedroom, tip-toes through the sleeping bodies to hand Chris a

pillow.

WAYNE. Get a good sleep. See you in the morning.

Chris waves a thanks, puts the pillow beneath his head and closes

his eyes.

(Penn, 2007: 42-41a)

This is another proof that Chris has turned into a realistic, it is really

different with the early personality. He quickly turns Wayne from a complete

stranger into his friend because he realizes that he cannot live alone and needs

someone else.

c. Rebellious

In the story, it is also shown that Chris is a rebellious guy. Chris has his own

way and path to achieve his goal. Even though he can easily ask people for a help

but he does not do that and keep going on his belief. Chris becomes a person that

stands for his opinion no matter what anyone else says. He refuses to follow the

rule or instruction that he finds in his life.


33

The first rebellious act that he shows in the story is when he refuses the car

present from his parents. His parents try to give him a new car to celebrate his

graduation, but he refuses it because he think it is useless and does want that kind

of thing. He does not want to be like his parents nor everyone else, living for a

prestige. He begins to rebel against the order from his parents and has his own

idea of living.

WALT. Yes. We want to get you a new car.

CHRIS. A new car? Why the hell would I want a new car? The Datsun

runs great. (Mocking the Cadillac) Do you think I want some

fancy boat? Or are you worried about what the neighbors might

think?

BILLIE. We weren’t going to get you a Cadillac, Chris. Just a nice new

car that’s safe to drive. You don’t know when that thing’s just

going to suddenly blow up.

CHRIS Blow up? Blow up?! Are you guys crazy? It’s a great car. I don’t

need a new car. I don’t want a new car. I don’t want anything.

Thing, thing, thing.

(Penn, 2007:7-8)

Another scene that shows his rebel is when he looks for a permission to

ride the canoe. He goes to the officer and asks about the registration. However the

registration seems to be so complicated for him and it takes too long time. He

cannot wait for that time and starts to ride the canoe without the officer’s

permission.

GREEN SUIT. Can I help you?

CHRIS. Yeah. If I wanted to paddle down the river, where’s the best place

to launch out of? GREEN SUIT. What’s your experience level?

CHRIS Not much.

GREEN SUIT. Any? Do you have a permit?

CHRIS A permit for what?

GREEN SUIT. You can’t paddle down the river without a permit. If you

like, you can apply for one here, get yourself some experience, and

I’ll put you on the wait-list.

CHRIS. Wait-list? To paddle down a river?

GREEN SUIT. That’s right.


34

CHRIS. (giggling) Well, how long do you have to wait?

GREEN SUIT. I’ve got an opening May 2003.

CHRIS. (laughing) Twelve years?

GREEN SUIT. Well, you could always join a commercial raft trip and go

with a licensed guide. They usually have a few last minute

cancellations. I think it’s about two- thousand dollars.

CHRIS. Thanks for your help. (Chris busts a gut.)

(Penn, 2007:55-56)

Chris thinks that the registration is non-sense and too complicated. He

finally invades to the river without even cares about the permission. The officer

realizes what he has been doing. When Chris is riding the canoe in the river, the

officer goes chasing him because Chris is breaking the rule. This scene is shown

when Chris randomly meets another canoe rider in the river, Mads and Sonja.

CHRIS. I’ve gotta go, you guys. I’m really sorry. I gotta go.

MADS. What’s going on?

SONJA. Why?

CHRIS. The river patrol’s after me. I’m actually not supposed to be here,

you know. You have to have, like, a permit, it’s like a government

thing to be here and i didn’t get one. If you see anybody, any of the

rangers or anything, just tell them you didn’t see me, okay?

MADS. Okay

CHRIS. (In hurry) Okay, again, I’m really, really sorry, man. I wish i

could stay, you know.

MADS. Take care man.

(Penn, 2007:57-58)

From the dialogue above, it shows that Chris is a rebellious guy he does not

care about the rules which exist. We can see that Chris is being chased by the

river patrol because he has broken the rule to drive a Canoe without any

permission.


35

B. The Description of Chris’ Family and the Family Conflict

In this section the writer write a short description about Chris’s family

analyze the conflict that is experienced by Chris. The conflict will be in the scope

of family, whether it is a conflict between Chris and the other family member or

inner conflict he experienced which is caused by his family. Kalish describes

conflicts is a type of a stress as the result of twoor more different needs”

(1974:44). According to Cheal, in his book Sociology of Family Life, Family is

considered to be any group in intimate relationships (2002:4). Family member

who are in intimate relationship with Chris are his parents, both his father and

mother. The conflict that is analyzed starts from the conflicts that happen in

Chris’s past life or Chris’s current life. The following parts explain the conflicts

that are considered the most important conflicts that give impact to Chris’s

personality development.

1. The Description of Chris’ Family Condition

The story is mainly about the Journey of the main character, Christopher

Mccandless. As the story is in third person point of view and it was narrated by

Chris’s sister named Carine, there are a lot scenes that shows what happen inside

the family. Gavin and Bommel define family as “a network of people who live

together over long periods of time bound by ties of marriage, blood, or

commitment, legal or otherwise, who share a future expectation of connected

relationship” (1986: 4). Based on this definition Chris’s family consists of four

people. Walt as his father, Billie as his mother and one sister named Carine. They

live together in the same house over long periods of time.


36

This family can be analyzed using Miller’s theory as well. Miller explain

that there are eleven categories of a family. Based on his theory Chris’s family

belongs to the two-parent and natural children. This type of family is similar to

the stem family explained by Cheal, where a family consists of parents and their

Children. There are some details presented in the movie script that can be hint or

clue to find out the condition inside the family. In the middle of the story, Chris

discovers the truth about the real situation of his family. He realizes that Billie

was Walt’s mistress far back then. Walt was still in relationship with his first wife,

and Chris’s birth was not under marriage. He finds the ugly truth that his birth was

illegal and that fact makes Chris consider himself as illegitimate child. Soon after

Chris born, Walt continued his life with Billie but he kept secretly in touch with

his first wife, Marcia,

CARINE. In California, he’d looked up some old family friends who still

lived there. He’d found out that long after he had been born, our

dad had continued a relationship with his first wife Marcia in

secret.

(Penn, 2007: 39)

However, Chris did not tell anyone about the truth that he just discovered.

He kept it for himself and let the remorse inside himself grow. The only person

who was told by Chris was his sister, Carine.

CARINE. Chris was quiet when he told me this. He said it made his

“entire childhood seem like a fiction”; that “the truth had been

dying every day.” If something bothered Chris, he’d usually keep it

to himself. And he made me promise to do the same.

(Penn, 2007: 39a)

After several years, Walt’s career is raising uphill and eventually he made

it to the top of success of his company. It is an ironic when Walt successfully


37

reached the top but the relationship with Billie starts to be a mess. They start to

fight and several attempts of divorce begin to be thrown to each other.

Unfortunately, Chris and his sister have to witness that moment. Both Chris and

Carine grew under his parent’s conflict.

CARINE. He could be alone without being lonely. The secrets our parents

kept, though unknown to Chris and I, led to bouts of rage and even

violence between them that we had been forced to witness since we

were very young. It seemed like they never fought without us. I

remember the first family meeting to let Chris and me in on their

plans for getting a divorce. They wanted us to choose which of

them we’d live with. I cried my eyes out. But the divorce never

happened, though the threats and meetings never stopped. It wasn’t

long before Chris and I shut off

We would tell mom and dad to go ahead and get the divorce. Chris

and I just wanted to get away from their fights and mom kept

promising to get out and take us with her as soon as their company

made enough money.

(Penn, 2007: 15)

The discussion of Chris’s family shows us how Chris grew up and how he

was influenced by the condition of his family. As Cheal explained that the process

we grow from childhood to adulthood has been influenced by our family (2002:

2). This statement is really appropriate to be applied in analyzing Chris, knowing

that Chris has gone through so many family problems and incidents.

2. The Family Conflicts Chris Experienced

According to Redman, External conflict is psychologically called

interpersonal conflict. It means that it is a struggle against outside forces. It occurs

when the character faces outside force which are not the same of the character’s

desire, belief or thinking. All of the differences create a conflict between the

character and the people around him (1967: 363).


38

Chris and his parents are often involved in a conflict. It is because Chris often

sees his parents fighting each other and threatening to make a divorce. Chris hates

to always witness this terrible situation. It triggers him to grow the anger inside

him. The part when he graduated from high school show about his anger.



glinting like bent plates of blood behind his head.

I see my mother with a few light books at her hip standing at the

pillar made of tiny bricks with the wrought-iron gate still open

behind her, its sword-tips black in the May air, they are about to

graduate, they are about to get married, they are kids, they are

dumb, all they know is they are innocent, they would never hurt

anybody.

(Penn, 2007:4)

However, his parents never notice that the fight that they always do in front

their children really affect Chris’s feeling and thought. His parents think that

Chris will be fine as long as they can give him money and provide everything he

needs. His anger makes him to disbelief in everything that his parent say or ask.

He does not want to be a person like his parents even his parents are rich. The

wealthness that his parents achieve cannot give Chris happiness. Chris disagrees

about every decision that his parents have made. This can be clearly seen in the

scene when he and his family are set to have lunch to celebrate his graduation.

When his parents ask Chris about his plan and offer him a help in financial for his

next plan but Chris seems like that he does not really like it. This conversation

between him and his parents shows it all.

CHRIS. My grades are gonna be good enough, I think, to get into Harvard

Law.

WALT. That’s a big deal. What do you have left in your college fund?


39

CHRIS. It’s an inheritance, dad. I’ve only been spending it as a college

fund...Exactly twenty-four thousand five hundred dollars and sixty-

eight cents.

BILLIE. That’s very specific.

CHRIS. I had to go to the bank this morning.




(Penn, 2007:6-7)

Chris also rejects a present from his parents. Chris thinks everything that his

parents give are useless and it is not what he actually wants. He has his own belief

and Chris’s belief is totally contrast to his parents.

BILLIE. Well, your father and I want to make a present to you.

WALT. We want to get you out of that junker.

CHRIS. What’s a junker?

Walt points outside to the Datsun.

CHRIS. The Datsun? WALT Yes. We want to get you a new car.

CHRIS. (appalled) A new car? Why the hell would I want a new car? The

Datsun runs great. (Mocking the Cadillac) Do you think I want some

fancy boat? Or are you worried about what the neighbors might

think?

BILLIE. We weren’t going to get you a Cadillac, Chris. Just a nice new

car that’s safe to drive. You don’t know when that thing’s just going

to suddenly blow up.

CHRIS. Blow up? Blow up?! Are you guys crazy? It’s a great car. I don’t

need a new car. I don’t want a new car. I don’t want anything. Thing,

thing, thing.

(Penn, 2007:7-8)

According to Noller and Fitzpatrick, the disagreement about situation of life

that experienced by Chris can be categorized as a family conflict. Family member

may disagree about certain behavior in certain situation (1993: 99). All of the

conflicts that Chris experience since he was a child trigger his obsession to live

his life freely, to become different from his parents. The terrible relationship


40

between his father and mother leads him to have his own way of thinking and

belief and cause a conflict between him and his parent.

C. Christopher Mccandless’ Personality Development

The last part of this analysis is the writer explain about the personality

development of Christopher Mccandless. The thesis writer apply the theory from

Hurlock’s Personality Development. The theory from Hurlock explains that there

are two aspect that consist in human life, which are individual aspect and social

aspect, both of them have different concern. From the characteristics of Chris in

first part of the problem formulation. The writer finds out that Chris’s

characteristic change through the family conflict that he faces. The discussion

below analyze the family conflict that lead to Chris’s personality development.

1. From being Introverted Person into being an Extroverted Person

Chris was an introvert person when he still stayed in his home together with

his family. As the writer explained earlier, he liked to keeps his problem alone. He

seems to have a few friend as it is shown it part when he was in his graduation

ceremony. He seemed to have only a few friend. The only person that was close to

him is Carine, his sister. However Christopher was still mysterious in Carine eyes.

There are a lot of things that Carine did not know about Chris. Chris does not

share everything to Carine as well. The scene when he started to leave their rented

house shows that even Carine did not understand what actually inside Chris’s

mind.


41

CARINE. But by the end of July we hadn’t heard anything from him and

my parents were getting very worried.

CARINE. Chris had never had a phone, so they decided to drive down to

Atlanta and surprise him.

CARINE. When they arrived at the apartment, there was a “For Rent” sign

in his window, and the manager told my parents that Chris had

moved out at the end of June.

(Penn, 2007:18-19)

Chris’s personality when he was in his journey was totally contrast with his

personality when he still stay with his family. When Chris it his journey he

becomes so friendly and extroverted even to the people he just met. He was able

to get close to new people quickly. Because of his friendliness, everyone enjoys

talking and shares his private problem with him. Chris was such a good speaker,

people like to listen when he is talking.

2. From being Skeptical Person into Being a Realistic Person

In the early part of the story, Chris is known as a skeptic guy. He did not have

enough attention from his parents because both of his parents are busy in his job.

He felt empty inside and that made him being so skeptical about everything,

especially about happiness. He thought that everyone is only chasing money to

reach happiness. His way of thinking was really affected by the conflict he

experienced. This is shown in the middle of the story when he just started the

journey, he donated all his saving for charity and burned the rest.

CHRIS. I don’t need money. It makes people cautious.

JAN. (a little irritated) Well, you have to be a little cautious Alex. That

book of yours is all well and fine but you can’t depend entirely on

leaves and berries.

CHRIS. I don’t know if you’d want to depend on much more than that.

JAN Where’s your mom and dad?

CHRIS. Makin’ their money somewhere.

(Penn, 2007:29)


42

However after his journey, Chris turned out to be a realistic person. He began

to accept someone else’s hand. He began to be realistic that he needs someone

else. He learned from stranger how to hunt, even in some cases he trusted to live

with new people he just met even though it is only for temporary period.

Chris convinces himself that he cannot live and do everything alone. He

started to work for money and accept the truth that money is important for him to

live. In the middle part of the story, it is shown that Chris attempted to look for a

job. Soon after he worked at a small fast food restaurant. His new friend Wayne

offered him a job as well, Wayne was the owner of a farm. Christ learned farm

stuff from him and started to work for him. He saved money to buy everything he

needed to survive in Alaska.

3. From being Obedient Person into being a Rebellious Person

Chris is an obedient person. He always tries to do what his parents tell him to

do. It is shown in the story that Chris has studied hard to make his parents proud

of him. When he uses to send the result of his college to his parents to prove that

he does well in his study.

CARINE. Almost all A’s. “A” in Apartheid in South African Society and

History of Anthropological Thought; A- in Contemporary African

Politics and the Food Crisis in Africa; an on it went. Clever boy,

my brother.

(Penn, 2007: 18)

He tries to enter the best university as his parents want him to be the best. His

obedience makes him to be a smart person. Finally, he decides to enter to Harvard


43

for his further study and it seems his parents completely agree with his decision

by offering him a financial help.

CHRIS. My grades are gonna be good enough, I think, to get into Harvard

Law.

WALT. That’s a big deal. What do you have left in your college fund?

CHRIS. It’s an inheritance, dad. I’ve only been spending it as a college

fund...Exactly twenty-four thousand five hundred dollars and sixty-

eight cents.

BILLIE. That’s very specific. CHRIS I had to go to the bank this morning.




BILLIE. I’m so glad you’re getting out of that place you’re living. It was

so much nicer when you lived on campus.

(Penn, 2007:6-7)

However soon after his graduation his obedience disappears and he turns

to be a rebel. When he takes the study in Harvard and lives alone in a rent

house. He finds the satisfaction and freedom to live without the rules and

demands from his parents.

CARINE. In early September, mom and dad got a call from the Annandale

police notifying them that Chris’ abandoned car had been identified

by the Arizona Highway Patrol after a group of rare flower hunters

stumbled upon it in the desert. There were no signs that Chris had

intended to return to it. But there wasn’t any evidence of struggle.

The police said they thought Chris had chosen to leave it behind

and not that it had been taken from him. Nonetheless, the initial

comfort that gave mom and dad, quickly turned to their realization

that Chris was actually trying not to be found.

(Penn, 2007:37)

The dialogue above is the peak of his rebel is when he is sure and decides to

wander to Alaska. He does not want to be found. He wants to completely

stand for himself. He wants to live alone with no society around him.


44

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, the writer concludes the problems which are discussed in the

previous chapter. It consists of the description of the main character of the story,

the family conflict of the story and the personality development of the main

character. Based on the analysis it can be said that Christopher Mccandless is the

major character of the story. He plays a significant role in the story.

Christopher Mccandless is described as introvert guy in the story, he only has

a few friend and does not really like to tell anyone about himself. He is also a

skeptic guy, he thinks that everyone is only doing something for granted

especially for money. He does not believe that money can bring happiness to a

person. Besides that, he is also an obedient person. He always follows what his

parents tell him. He is doing well in his high school and college. He always gets

good grades.

After identifying Christopher Mccandless’s personality, the writer describes

the situation of Christopher family and the conflict in it. Chris lives in a family

with Walt as his father, Billie as his mother and one sister named Carine. Even

though Walt’s career is on its peak. The relationship between Walt and Billie does

not run good. They often fight and blame each other. From his childhood, Chris

and Carine have to witness that terrible situation of life. As they grow older, the

fight gets worse. Several attempts of divorce are thrown by his parents.


45

Walt never realizes about what his children actually felt. He thinks that as long as

he can make good money and provide what his children needed, everything will

be fine.

The conflict between Chris and his parent begins when Chris discovered an

ugly fact from his old neighbor. When Billie gives birth to Chris, Walt is actually

already married to a woman named Marcia. However, Walt and Billie never tell

this to Chris or Carine. This ugly truth makes them feel as illegitimate children.

Chris grows under this feeling of disgrace in his heart, this what makes all of his

personality. His anger and hatred grow bigger as Chris grew older. Chris begins to

argue with his day over everything, what Chris wants is opposite to what Walt’s

desire. Until finally Chris decides to go away from his family. He wants to live in

their own path. Chris goal is to live in Alaska, to achieve his absolute freedom of

happiness.

Regarding the characteristics and the conflicts in Christopher Mccandless’s

life. The next question is analyzing the personality development that happened is

his life through his family conflict. All of the conflicts between him and his

parents changed his personality. The characteristic of Chris changes when he

wander to Alaska. He becomes a new guy and it is different compared to his

characteristic when he was still in home.

From an introverted guy who has no friend, Chris turns into an open up guy

who is easily able to make friends. He makes so many friend in his journey. All of

the people who Chris have met love him as well as he likes them. Chris also turns

to be a realistic guy from being a skeptical. He begins to realize that he cannot


46

live alone and needs someone else. The last Characteristic that changes is he turns

to be a careless guy. Chris is used to be an obedient guy, but he turns to be so

rebellious when he is wandering. There is so many carelessness that he does.

Chris ignores everything that his parents have asked. Chris seems like does not

really care about the rule in society. He only focuses on his goal.

In this chapter, the thesis writer can conclude that the main character of the

story Christopher Mccandless develops because of the family conflicts that he

faces. This conclusion comes out after analyzing the characteristic description, the

family condition of the main character, the conflict that happens between him and

his family and also the last factor is the main character personality development.


47

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