be a rich and respectful man, but Vietnam War has changed him to be inferior people. In the other word, this thesis is going to talk about Percival‟s
ethnocentrism and the effect of Vietnam War to his ethnocentrism.
B. Review of Related Theories
There are some theories that the writer uses to reveal the problem formulation. They are theory character and characterization, theory of
ethnocentrism, and the relation between literature and history. Theory of character and characterization and theory of ethnocentrism conduct the writer in
defining the ethnocentrism of Percival. Then, the writer uses the relation between literature and history to define the historical value in the novel that affect
character.
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Character can be defined as a person in a film, play, or story. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs state that character in literature is “an extended
verbal representation of human being, the inner self that determines thought, speech, and behavior” Roberts and Jacobs, 1987: 119. It means that character as
a person can think, speak, and act. The behavior will give the reader the knowledge of what kind of person the character is.
Even though character is a representation of human being, the sequence of events in the story is just a composition of the author. It is set to give a space to
character to show his personality to the reader. Roberts and Jacobs agreed with
this idea. It is stated that “whereas in life things may „just happen‟, in fiction the
actions, interactions, speeches, and observations are all arranged to give you the reader the detail you need for conclusions about character” Roberts and Jacobs,
1987: 119. As human being, people can not recognize others just through his
appearance. Roberts and Jacobs state that studying character means to connect the appearance of character to his personality Roberts and Jacobs, 1987:120. The
appearance of character give a clue to his personality, but the reader also have to look in his thought, speech, and behavior. The author may focus more on one
character and slop on the other character. A character that is treated more by the author is called protagonist, while the other is antagonist.
Roberts and Jacobs state that according to E.M. Forster there are two types of character which are round and flat Roberts and Jacobs, 1987: 120.
Character is divided into two types, round and flat. Round character is a protagonist character who has more attention by the author. This type of character
has more descriptions and a chance to grow in the story which is called dynamic character. Dynamic character will have different personality in the beginning of
story and in the end of the story. The second type, flat character is known as antagonist character who
supports the round character. The reader just has a little information of flat characters because they are not a major character that do not have more attention
from the author. This type of character stays the same in the beginning of the story until the end of the story. They do not have experience to grow or change.
Furthermore, M.J Murphy in Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Student mentioned that there
are nine ways for author to describe character in literary work understandable to readers Murphy, 1972: 161-173. There are:
a. Personal description is the author‟s description of personal‟s appearance,
such as skin, hair, and clothes. As Roberts and Jacobs state before, studying character means to connect the appearance to the personality. The character‟s
appearance gives a clue to the characteristics. b.
Character as seen by another is the author‟s description through another cha
racter‟s point of view. Fiction will have protagonist and antagonist character. Antagonist usually has an opinion of protagonist character. His
opinion is used to know the characteristics of the character. c.
Speech is the author‟s description through character‟s opinion when he says something. As human being, character can talk to deliver his opinion about
what happens in his life. Through his speech, such as what kind of language that he uses, it gives information about the personality of character.
d. Past lif
e is the author‟s description of character‟s past life that shape his characteristics to behave in such way. Personality of character is developed
through experiences that happened in his life. Therefore, the personality is influenced by the past life.
e. Conversation of others is a description through the conversation of other
people and the things they say about character. Characters talk about each other, they will have an opinion of each other. This opinion is used to know
the characteristics of character. f.
Reaction is the author‟s description about how a character reacts to various situation and events. Personality of the character can be seen through his
response. It is about the way of the character to something that happens in his life.
g. Direct comment i
s the author‟s comment on a person directly. Author as the creator of the story has a right to describe by himself about the character.
h. Thought is the author‟s description of what a character is thinking about.
Character is a person who can think. He will have an opinion about himself. This opinion will lead the reader to the character‟s personality.
i. Mannerism is the author‟s description of a person‟s mannerism, habits, or
idiosyncrasies. To give more knowledge, author will give the description of what the character usually does or how he does something.
2. Theory of Ethnocentrism
