24
farmer. After that, Florens became a servant in t he Vaark’s house. Florens was a
smart slave. Although she was slave, she can read and write. In the Jacob Vaark’s
house, she had some friends. These were Lina, Sorrow, Williard and Scully. All of them were servant. Moreover, she ever loved with blacksmith, an African man
who ever helped Sorrow’s illness and Rebecca’s disease to heal them with his
medical treatment. At last, Florens was abandoned by him. Throughout her life in the novel, she experienced many things especially bad experiences that being
treated injustice by white people. Through Florens’s bad experiences, the writer
draws out the conclusion to analyse the moral values in Toni Morrison’s A Mercy.
B. Approach of the Study
The focus of the study is to analyse the major character’s moral value
through her bad experiences. The approach of this study is used moral philosophical approach. This approach is appropriate with the purpose of this
study which helps the writer to catch the moral values of the major character’s bad
experiences . “Moral philosophical approach is the approach which examine the
moral and philosophical issue in a text, focusing mostly on what it says, what is being taught in the text, not on its technique” Guerin, 2005: 70.
Moral philosophical approach is very old, it is equal with classical Greek and Roman critics era. In the same book, Guerin states that
In each instance critics working from moral bent are not unaware of form, figurative language, and other purely aesthetic considerations, but they
consider them to be secondary. The important thing is the moral or philosophical teaching. On its highest plane this is not superficially
didactic, though it may seem so. In the larger sense, all great literature teaches. The critic who employs the moral philosophical approach insists
on ascertaining and stating what is taught. If the work is in any degree significant or intelligible, the meaning will be there 2005: 61.
25
The statement above means that moral are indirectly seen in a novel
because they are figurative language. Moral is considered with figurative language and aesthetic considerations. In the sense of moral philosophy, the moral or
philosophical teaching is the important ideas because literature teaches the readers the significant message. The basic position of such critics is that the large function
of literature is to teach morality and probe philosophical issues Guerin, 2005: 60. Literary work is interpreted based on the context of the philosophical thought.
This moral philosophical approach achieves moral quality that is seen by a certain character in such literary works. This study concerns about human life and
experiences, therefore, the writer needs to be rational analysing moral values in this literary research. The main reason the writer chooses moral philosophical
approach because it helps the writer to revealed moral values through the major character’s bad experiences.
C. Method of the Study
In this thesis, the writer used library research method and some references from the internet. Some types of writings also are needed in order to support the
analysis, including several explanations from some experts. Both of them are the main sources that work altogether to make a good analysis. The writer also
selected some written sources carefully to make clearer analysis. The writer used two sources in this thesis. These are primary and secondary data. The primary
data is A Mercy which was written by Toni Morrison. It was used by the writer as the main source of the novel. The secondary data was from literary theories.
Several books that the writer used, was about theory of character, theory of
26
characterization, theory of moral value, literature message and moral values, and moral philosophical approach. The other resources were some kind of theories
from several books. In addition, the others resources were needed that consist of criticism, theories, opinion, and essay from internet. Most method of the writer
’s thesis applied the theories by using library research. Those combinations of
sources helped the study to analyse this thesis more deeply. There were some steps of the study. Firstly, the writer read the novel
several times to understandable more about the story. Then, the writer made a conclusion to take the topic about slavery and focus on an African female girl
’s bad experiences. Moreover, the writer decided to reveal the moral value through
the major character experiences. Secondly, the writer formulated some problems that were taken from the
novel. Afterwards, the writer applied all theories in order to answer the problem formulation in the analysis. Moreover, the writer found out appropriate theories
and appropriate approach for this thesis and analyse further. The theory moral values helped the writer to analyse some bad experiences that the major character
experienced. The same issue or critical theory from different author helped the writer to analyse the moral values of the major character.
The next steps, the writer searched for related studies to compare previous study in the same topic or work by such author. This was used to show the
different with other studies. Then the writer made the analysis of the thesis to answer problem formulation. Firstly, the writer analysed the character in that
novel, then applied some theories. The writer found the relation between the
