Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter is divided into four sections: the background of study, problem formulation, objectives of the study, and the definition of terms. The background of study explains the writer’s reasons for choosing the topic and why both the topic and novel are worth studying. There are 3 questions that will be discussed in the study. The objectives of the study show the purposes and the advantages of the topic for the readers. Definition of terms is aimed at avoiding ambiguous interpretations of the terms used in the study.

A. Background of the Study

Characters are figures in fiction that readers empathize with. The main focus of the characters are their problems that they face in the story which usually moves the plot and conflict forward. According to Guth and Rico in Discovering Literature, storytellers create characters and set them in motion. The writers appeal to an ancient curiosity: “We are fascinated with the variety of people in our world”. Their hopes and fears, their goals and self-doubts, their quirks and ploys, their clever and dense ways are an interesting thing to plunge in and explore 1997: 68. Symbols are dealt within different sections of human’s life. This means that symbols are everywhere upon us, from flag symbol, love symbol, ancient symbol, to literary symbol that can be used in defying meanings behind those symbols to be much deeper and more significant. Symbols shift meanings depending on the context they are used in. Symbols in literature are often a figure of speech in which a person, object, or situation representing something in addition to its literal meaning http:www.myteacherpages.comwebpagessheckmanfilessymbols.pdf . According to An Introduction to Fiction by Robert Stanton 1965, symbols may be anything from an egg to the story’s setting like a single object, a repeated type of object, a physical substance, a shape, a gesture, a color, a sound, a fragrance. This explains that symbols can be anything from a literary work 1965: 31. In this research, the writer chooses a novel The Other Hand by Chris Cleave as the object because the writer thinksthat the beauty of the novel seems to be lying in the use of symbols that influence the development of the character throughout the story. The use of symbols helps express the insufficiency of the language that is used and they help convey a complex idea through a single object which makes it interesting in the novel. This story is about two women, Sarah O’Rourke the magazine editor, and Little Bee an asylum seeker, who once met in an awful situation in Nigeria. Sarah had to make a very disturbing decision to cut her own middle left finger to save Little Bee ’s life. After that incident, they had both never seen each other and had continued with their own lives. Until one day in England, Little Bee came to O’Rourke’s house and everything changed, from O’Rourke’s husband committing suicide, to a holiday in Nigeria where they both recalled memories of what once happened. The writer chooses to study the symbols that are in the novel because the writer finds that the symbols hold together the changes that the main character goes through. Cleave identifiessymbols that make a connection to O’Rourke’s character. This study includes a symbol that is repres ented as the cut finger of O’Rourke, and Little Bee as character O’Rourke meets along the story as they areinteresting to examine.By examining the primary symbols, it can lead to a greater understanding of the work. This novel which was first published in the United Kingdom on August the 7 th 2008 sold 3,000 copies on its first year. On its second year in early 2009, its paperback copy sold only 100,000 copies. This was despite of no advertising and only little marketing that Chris Cleave had deliberately done to try his motive of what he call s “word-of-mouth-success”, which means recommendations from readers to their family and friends that had been attributed by “The Times” for its success. By late 2009, The Other Hand had risen its selling to over 300,000 copies. This novel is called The Other Hand in the UK, Ireland, Australia and India, and Little Bee in the U.S and Canada.Even if this book has two different names for what country it is in, they both have identic stories. The author of the novel says it is common for novels to change names when they cross the Atlantic. His reasons why they are titled differently are stated in his web page: I like both the titles the novel is published under. “The Other Hand” is a good title because it speaks to the dichotomous nature of the novel, with its two narrators and two worlds, while it also references Sarah’s injury. “Little Bee” is a good title too, because the novel is really Little Bee’s story, so it’s a straightforward and an honest title. Also I like it because it sounds bright and approachable – and my aim with this novel was to write an accessible story about a serious subject. I like the fact that the novel has two titles http:chriscleave.comlittle-beethe-true-story-behind-my-new-novel . As Cleave explains, The Other Hand is used as a title because it refers to the injury of Sarah’s finger. Chevalier and Gheerbrant in their book Dictionary of Symbols states that “the hand expresses ideas of action, as well as those of power and dominion”. 1994: 466 This meaning connects to the book as the hand refers to the hand of O’Rourke that was injured in Nigeria. That hand gave O’Rourke action to change her li fe as well as Little Bee’s life. It is called Little Bee in some parts of the world because the writer thinks that the title would be more interesting in those countries since the novel is based upon Little Bee herself. Something common that happens to titles and even covers of novels is that they change depending on which country they are sold in. Many popular novels like Harry Potter and The Hunger Gameshad changed their titles and covers because of various reasons. Some reasons are due to marketing reasons, and some are because the words used in the titles are not familiar, or they might be understood differently in particular countries. Some countries might consider some titles rude and inappropriate therefore publishe rs change their titles under the author’s permission. https:www.nytimes.combooks000723specialsrowling-gleick.html The history that made Cleave start writing this book was because the social history of refugees, asylum seekers and violence caused by oil industries in the world. The author himselfhad experiences in dealing and facing the asylum seekers in England. Cleave had worked in a detention centre for asylum seekers where he met a lot of innocent people living in disgust. Cleave writes the characters to symbolize different kinds of attitudes and meanings, giving an idea to readers of the book about dealing with these kinds of situations. Cleave believes that through fiction, there is no space to do in the news media, but fiction gives back a measure of humanity to the subjects of an ongoing story that remind people of what good to do. The responses to this novel about the background was inspiring to people. It made them open their mind to a wider view about refugees and asylum seekers. http:chriscleave.comlittle-beethe-true-story-behind-my-new- novel This novel is inspiring and it teaches a lot about hope to readers. It teaches about building good in every evil and maintaining the good to defeat the evil of life. This novel teaches readers to give hand to the people in need and make their lives and their own lives better by sharing and motivating.It makes people think about positioning themselves as the characters in the story, whether they would have done the same good to others in the real life.Or whether they would be as strong as thecharacters in the real life.All of this can be seen through the symbols that are studied in this research. The symbols that are mentioned connect to the affection of O’Rourke’s life and how they give her motivation to keep being strong as a woman. The writer believes that the symbols found in the story have an important role to the development of the main character since it serves as a fundamental meaning to the whole story. By discussing the symbols, their representations and meanings, the writer can interpret the significance of symbols to the changes in characterization of the main character in this novel.

A. Problem Formulation