c. Man versus society. This external conflict happens when the
characters face the society and culture. The conflict of man vs. society happens when society forces the characters to struggle
against the evil of society or oppressive culture. d.
Man vs. fate happens as external conflicts while the characters are forced to face their unknown destiny. The character does not
have the strength to fight against the fate.
C. Theoretical Framework
In this study, the writer analyzes characters, conflicts and message in this novel. First the theory of characters and
characterizations are employed to answer the first problem formulations, so that the writer knows deeply the characterizations of
the main characters: Darcy and Jamee. Meanwhile, the theory of conflicts helps the writer to answer the second problem formulation
which means to understand the conflicts faced by the characters. Then, theory of message is applied to answer the third problem formulation.
The messages revealed through the way main characters solve the conflicts contained in the story.
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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
Anne Schraff is the writer of Lost and Found, one of books in the Bluford series. Lost and Found is a book whose setting is in Alabama, United States of
America. Anne Schraff was born in Cleveland, Ohio on 21 September 1939. She graduated from California State University, Northridge. In the 1950s, Anne
Schraff got an award because she started to write books as a teenager. She has written over eighty books and hundreds of short fictions for teenagers. She also
enjoyed writing biographies, science, and historical fiction material. Furthermore, Schraff also taught senior high school from 1967 to 1977 at the
Academy of Our Lady of Peace, San Diego, California. During 10 years, she taught in high school although she had B.A. and M.A academic title.
Lost and Found tells a story about the struggle of children who have big
problems. Darcy is the main character. She has many problems in her family and school. Then, another main character is Jamee. Jamee is Darc
y’s sister. Both of them have different characteristics, emotions and ways to solve problems. But,
in the end of the story, they can solve their problem and get the lesson of life.
B. Approach of the Study
In this research, the writer uses new criticism approach because it is appropriate for this study. New criticism analyzes intrinsic elements in literary
work. Wilfred L Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature
states that a new criticism approach concentrates on the literary work itself 1979:20. From the quotation above, new criticism delivers the analysis
based on the text itself. Selden, Widdowson and Brooker in
A Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory
states that new criticism is a method which does not talk about context
– historical, biographical, intellectual and so on in analyzing literary work. However, new criticism only focuses on analyzing the ‘’text in itself’’,
with its language and organization. New criticism does not reach text’s meaning,
but the way the text ‘speaks itself’ 2005:19. To serve the writer’s purpose in discovering the relation between main
characters and conflicts to find message, the new criticism provides the suitable method. Firstly, the writer wants to dig up what conflicts in literary work are.
Conflicts in literary work are important. Abrams states that many plots deal with conflicts; he explains that issue as follows:
In addition to the conflict between individual, there may be the conflict of a protagonist against fate, or against circumstances that stand between him
and a goal he has set himself, and in some works, the conflict is between opposing desires or values in a character’s of own mind Abram,
1981:128.
Secondly, the writer wants to dig up what message in literary work is. According to Beaty and Hunter, in their book New Worlds of Literature, a
