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2. Character and Characterization
Character is used by the author to reveal the message of the novel he wants to deliver. A novel will be more captivating for the reader to follow if the author
can portray the character of the novel in an appropriate way. According to Rohrberger and Woods 1971, “character involves who acts out in a particular
time and place some kind of conflict in a pattern of event”. A conflict of novel cannot be raised without the existing of character. Character made the reader
understand the flow of the story Murphy, 1972, p. 161. On the other hand, the process to make the character seem real to the reader is called characterization.
Abcarian and Klotz stated this theory in their book entitled Literature Reading and Writing the Human Experience
. According to Abrams 1993, there are two types of character; protagonist
and antagonist p. 89. Protagonist usually becomes the main character in such story because it is the essential figure in the story itself. While antagonist
character is the contrast of protagonist character that usually creates the conflict of the story. The conflict can be created by not only human but also the situation and
condition in the story. Abrams also differentiates other types of character. They are flat and round characters. He states “a flat character is presented without much
individualizing details and can be fairly adequately described in a single phrase or sentence” p. 24. In addition, Rohrberger and Woods also divide the types of
character into two types; they are flat and round characters. According to them, a flat character is constructed by single idea or quality and can be summed up in a
single sentence. On the other hand, a round character is artistically speaking and
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11 has a higher achievement. Abrams adds that round character has many traits and
usually undergoes changes in some aspect. There are two kinds of character that are defined by Milligan in his book
entitled The Novel in English: an Introduction 1983. Those are major and secondary characters. Major character is a character that frequently appears in the
story than the others. Secondary character is a character that less appears in the story p. 195.
It is necessary to understand how the author presents the character in novel. To get deeper understanding about characterization, the writer uses the theory of
Murphy 1972 that is found in his book Understanding Unseen: an Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students
. He states nine ways of characterization to understand the character in the literary works. Those
ways are personal description that gives the detail character through the body p. 161, character as seen by another that involves the description of character over
eyes and opinion of another p. 162, speech that gives us an insight into the character of one of the person in the book through what that the person’s says p.
164, past life that presents person’s past life shaping his character p. 166, conversation of others
that gives clues to a character over the other characters’ conversation and the things they say about the character p. 167, reaction that
deals with how a person react to the various situations and event being a clue to his character p. 168, direct comment that shows person’s character directly p.
170, thought that brings about knowledge of what a person is thinking of p.
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12 171, and mannerism that describes person’s character through his mannerism,
habits or idiosyncrasies p. 173.
3. Motivation