Meaning of Praying The Symbol Reveal the Theme of the Novel
34 The next day, Gilbert gets what she deserves for helping Ketut to renew his
notebooks. She gets grand success because K etut‟s wife who seems does not care
about her presence since her first visits to Ketut ‟s house finally greets her for the
first time. She fumbled through my hand like she was trying to unfumbled the
combination on a lock and she found my index finger. The she wrapped her whole big, hard fist around through her power grip,
right up into my arm and all the way down into my guts. Then she dropped my hand and limped away arthritically, saying not a single
word, continuing her sweeping as though nothing had happened. While I stood there quietly drowning two rivers of happiness at the
same time p.246
The quotation above shows that Gilbert is able to build a good friendship with others and also to share her love. She is not only receiving something from
others but also doing something for others. Besides Ketut, Gilbert also meets Wayan; a traditional healer and her
daughter Tutti. In short, they become friends and Gilbert wants to help Wayan and her daughter to buy a new house because they do not have a house. Gilbert is
touched by the kindness of Wayan and her daughter, so she comes with an idea that she will collect money from her friend around the world. She says that instead
of giving her a birthday present and party for her birthday which will come soon, she wants her friends donate some money to help Wayan and her daughter to buy
a new house. Wayan is extremely happy when she hearing it that she says “how
can I thank you, Liz? I would give you anything. If I had husband I loved, and you needed a man, I woul
d give you my husband” p.280. Her action to help Wayan and her daughter shows that Gilbert has a good
sense of empathy. She takes a good action to make other people ‟s life happier and
35 better. The action is not only gives her friends happiness, but she also receive the
happiness in return. After she helps Wayan to buy a new house and her birthday comes, she gets a Balinese birthday party set by Wayan and her friends in Bali.
She feels that the party is really different with the party that she gets in New York but it does not matter to her.
“Outside, the rooster started crowning, even though it was not yet evening, not yet dusk. My traditional Balinese clothing was
squeezing me like an ardent hug, and I was feeling like this was definitely the strangest
–but maybe the happiest –birthday party I‟d ever experienced in my whole life
” p.306 The last person is Felipe; he is a Brazilian man whom she meets at the
party one night in Bali. Experiencing a broken relationship with men makes Gilbert did not want to involve in a relationship anymore. However, when she met
Felipe, she starts to fall in love. They start to become close friend and then fall in love. Felipe not only symbolizes
gilbert‟s happiness but also symbolize her love. At first, she feels unsure about having a relationship after the heartache of the
divorce and broken relationship, but starts to believe in Felipe and dates him. She is able to accept all of her negative sides in her past and let go off all of them.
“When we return to Ubud, I go straight back to Felipe‟s house and don‟t leave his bedroom for approximately another month. This is
only the faintest of exaggerations. I have never been loved and adored like this before by anyone, never with such pleasure and
single-minded concentration. Never have been so unpeeled, revealed, unfurled and hurled
through the event of lovemaking.”p.294 Her relationship with Felipe teaches her to accept the pains and forgive the
negative experience that she has ever felt with the previous relationship. She is brave enough to be in love again, both to be loved and loves someone. By letting
36 go off all of her negative sides and sharing her love to others, she feels happy,
relaxed and have her confident back. “indeed, I do not think my body has looked or felt this relaxed in its
life, not since I was maybe six months old and my mother took snapshots of me all blissed-out on a towel on the kitchen counter
after a nice bath in the kitchen sink.
” p.295 The depression, misery, sadness that ever came to Gilbert‟s life is over
now. The painful memory which was in her mind is finished. “I am happy and healthy and balanced. And, yes, I cannot help but
notice that I am sailing to this pretty little tropical island with my Brazilian lover. Which is
–I admit it –an almost ludicrously fairy-tale ending to this story, like the page out of some housewife‟s dream” p.
413 Loving all these people truly makes Gilbert find out happiness. Moreover
the last one who is Felipe that takes her to a fairy-tale ending. It is not exactly Felipe who saves her from all of her misery in the past, but Gilbert‟s own choice
to choose and trust Felipe as her lover. It is kind of Gilbert‟s responsibility for her own happiness as she says “I was not rescued by a prince; I was the administrator
of my own rescue” p. 424 Every meaning of the symbols above must be united to form the theme of
the novel. After uniting all of the meaning above, the theme can be formulated. There are three symbols which have been found in the novel. The first one is
eating. In this case, eating symbolizes Gilbert‟s happiness. The activity of eating makes her feel happy and contended. The second symbol is praying. Praying also
symbolizes Gilbert‟s happiness. When she stayed in Ashram Praying is one of her big source of happiness. The last symbols in the novel are Ketut Liyer, Wayan and
Felipe. The last symbol also symbolizes Gilbert happiness. After all of her misery PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI