The Background of Study

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Background of Study

Literature is as old as human language, and as new as tomorrow’s sunrise. And literature is everywhere, not only in books, but in videos, television, radio, CDs, computer, newspaper, in all the media of communication where a story is told or an image created. Roberts and Jacobs 1993:1 say, “Literature refers to compositions that tell stories, dramatize situations, express emotions, and analyze and advocate ideas.” Before the invention of writing, literary works were necessarily spoken or sung, and were retained only as literature still exists, with many poems and stories designed exclusively for spoken delivery. Even in our modern age of writing and printing, much literature is still heard aloud rather than read silently. Literature may be classified into four categories or genres: 1. Prose fiction, 2. Poetry, 3. Drama, 4. Nonfiction prose. Usually the first three are classed as imaginative literature. The genres of imaginative literature have much in common, but they also have distinguishing characteristics. Prose fiction, or narrative fiction, includes myths, parables, romances, novels, and short stories. The word novel has been derived from an Italian word novella, which means a new story or a new thing. A number of critics have defined the word novel in a different way. Dr. Tillyard defines novel as “A novel is a not too unorganized, fictitious 2 narrative in prose of at least, say, 20,000 words.” W.E Williams defines it as “A long narrative in prose detailing the actions of fictitious people.” Sumardjo 1998:29 says that novel is a story with the prose form in long shape, this long shape means the story including the complex plot, many character and various setting. The elements of a novel are the same elements as that of the short story like plot, theme, setting, point of view, character, except that there may be more than one of each of these elements. That is, within the main plot of a novel there may be several subplots, there may be more than one theme, and point of view can certainly change as well. Stanton 1965:20 and Kenny 1966:88 say that theme is the meaning contained by a story. But there are many meanings conceived and offered by the story the novel, then the problem is a special meaning which can be expressed as the theme. Theme is the main idea that the writer expresses. Theme can also be defined as the underlying meaning of the story. Basically, there are two themes in a novels, major theme or main theme and minor theme or sub-theme. Major theme is a main idea of the novels from start to the end of the story, whereas minor theme is an inserted theme along the story. The writer has chosen James Dashner’s novel as the object of this paper because the writer is interested in describing the theme in this novel. This novel tells about the story of Mark’s struggle to survive begins 13 years before Thomas wakes up in a big box. Sun Flares have nearly destroyed the Earth. The tale begins with Mark waking and shivering in the early dawn of his encampment in the Appalachian 3 Mountains of western North Carolina. He does not yet know that this is a day that will change everything. He simply muses on the fact that being chilled is a sensation he hasn’t felt in a very long time. His gruff ex-soldier friend Alec snores on the other cot in their shared hut. Mark was once intimidated by Alec, but has fought to survive alongside the older man for more than a year. In that time, they’ve formed a comfortable bond, which Mark demonstrates by tossing a shoe at him. Alec treats Mark with the usual tolerant good humor, which begins Mark’s day in a pleasant manner. He’s determined to add to his great mood by finding Trina, the love of his life. This is the background as well as the reason why this paper focused on the describing the major and minor theme in that novels.

1.2 The Scope of Study