downs of human life. However, both of them refer to one thing: human life and everything in the world are always spinning up and down.
5. The Crocodile
Crocodile is an important part of the novel. Similar with the previous object, crocodile is counted as a symbol since it fulfills the terms stated by Robert
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction 1965. The crocodile in this novel appears repeatedly and forms certain pattern which is not fully explained by the
story itself. In every journey to school, Lintang passes a swamp with crocodiles in it.
One day, in the middle of his journey to school, Lintang is intercepted by an extremely big crocodile whose body is “as big as a coconut tree” p. 71. There is
no one else around and nothing the little boy can do except “standing there like a statue and talking to himself” p. 71. He tries to distract the crocodile’s attention
by ringing the bell on his bike, clapping his hands, and coughing loudly, but nothing happened. It is a point of despair and dilemma. However, absence will
never be counted as a choice, “I was already more than halfway here. I wasn’t about to turn around just because of that stupid crocodile” p. 71. Luckily, when
he almost gives up, there is a man who comes all of a sudden. The man is Bodenga.
Both Bodenga and his father are crocodile worshippers. Bodenga lives alone since his father deliberately sacrifices his body to the “ferocious crocodile”
of the Mirang River p. 75. Since then, what he does is nothing but starring at the
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river all alone in the dark night. For him, crocodile is not only gods but the incarnation of his father also. It is because “crocodile worshippers believe that
when they die they become crocodiles” p. 76. Another time, crocodile appears together with Flo’s disappearance. One
day, everybody in the island is shocked by the disappearance of Flo. She is a daughter of the head of all the dredges in PN Timah. According to Tuk Bayan
Tula’s instruction, Flo is lost somewhere in the Buta River. The Buta River is called as the gates of the death:
The Buta River was feared by all. Its surface was placid like a lake, still like glass. But beneath the calm surface lay certain death—huge crocodiles
and black bottom-dwelling snakes. The crocodiles of the Buta River had a strange disposition. They had their sight set on monkeys hanging on low
branches, but they even snatched at people on boats...like giant ghosts hovering over the river’s surface waiting for prey to pass p. 227-228.
In this part of the novel, the writer describes the power of the crocodile and shows how savage it is.
Regarding on the finding above, it is interesting to see how the writer tries to emphasize the significance of certain moments through the existence of the
crocodile. Its reappearance has formed certain pattern: crocodile appears on certain crucial moments in the story and will always deal with danger or death.
According to Chevalier and Cheerbrant 1996 in The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols
, “the crocodile’s eyes stand for the dawn; his jaws for murder, and his tail for darkness and death” and also “it expresses the dark and aggressive attitude
of the collective unconscious” p. 246. The statement above represents the same idea with which Hirata tries to show. The crocodile is used to evoke the sense of
danger in certain crucial moments in the novel.
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Generally, the crocodile in The Rainbow Troops symbolizes dangers, problems and obstacles in life. The relation between the crocodile and Lintang
symbolizes problems or dangers which sometimes cannot be solved even by an extremely smart student like him. No matter how clever or strong someone is,
sometimes there are problems which cannot be solved without others’ hands. Similarly, the relation between the crocodile and Flo symbolizes problems which
comes to anyone. In this case, Flo puts herself into trouble by going into the Buta River. This symbolizes humans behavior which often put themselves into
problems through their own actions.
B. The Significace of Symbols in Conveying Theme
