Background of the Study

Unable to live without her, Orpheus spent the rest of his days in sorrow until his death “Orpheus and Eurydice”. Those stories show how people respect marriage. Unfortunately, more marriages break easily nowadays. People are not able to save their marriage. According to the World Divorce Statistic in 1996, the divorce rate was so high in some countries. For example, in France the divorce rate reached 41 as of marriages. United States Departement of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, noted that in 2005 United States’ divorce rate reached 3.6 per 1000 population, while marriage rate reached 7.5 per 1000 population ”Americans for Divorce Reform” . This number shows that the number of divorce is almost a half of the number of marriages. We then question the ability of couples in maintaining their marriages. What happened to the love that brought the couple together in the beginning? This phenomenon of broken marriage is seized well by Paulo Coelho in his novel, The Zahir. He expresses the meaning and values of marriage through his beautiful paragraphs. It shares a story about a bestselling novelist who lives in France and enjoys all the privilleges his money and celebrity bring. One day, he discovers that his wife, a war correspondent, has disappeared without any trace. He does not have any answer but he has plenty of questions of his own though he does not know where to start looking for his wife, Esther. All the memories of Esther cannot be erased from his mind and becomes an obsession that almost leads him into madness. To answer the question “Why”, he traces back and explores his moments with Esther; all the things that happen to their mariage until her leaving. In his searching, he meets Mikhail, a young man who once was Esther’s translator in Kazakhstan and also the person with whom he believes his wife dissapeares. Mikhail promises to reunite him with his wife if the time is right. He also says that Esther is fine and waiting for him. His searching for her and his attempt to recapture his lost love takes him from France to Spain, Croatia and, eventually, the beautiful landscape of Central Asia, Kazakhstan. The journey takes him from the safety of his world to a totally unknown path, searching for a new understanding of the nature of love. He finally reunites with his wife and starts to have a happy marriage with new way of thinking. The writer regards that it is a very interesting topic to be discussed since nowadays there are many divorce cases. Many reasons for it, but still it seems like people do not appreciate the values of marriage much. In this novel, the author shows that marriage is worth to maintain. The narrator in Paulo Coelho’s The Zahir, whose name is not mentioned in the novel, has everything in life; popularity, stability and wealth. Those things can be strong reasons to end his marriage with his wife, Esther, when she left him. On the contrary, he searches for her and prefers to continue his marriage life with his wife. Analyzing one’s motivation in maintaining his or her marriage is the idea that the writer will discuss in this study. Based on that fact, the writer wants to analyze the narrator’s motivation in finding and bringing back his wife.

1.2 Objectives of the Study

Based on the background, the writer is interested in finding out three objectives. The first objective is to reveal the narrator’s character traits. The second objective is to figure out the character traits of Esther, the narrator’s wife. Thirdly, this study is employed to find out the motivation behind the narrator’s decision to bring his wife back.

1.3 Problem Formulation

There are three problems that are discussed in this study : 1. How are the narrator’s character traits in The Zahir described? 2. How are character traits of Esther, the narator’s wife, described? 3. What are the narrator’s motivations in finding his wife, Esther, and bringing her back?

1.4 Benefits of the Study

This study gives three advantages to the readers. Firstly, this study intends to introduce the readers to Paulo Coelho’s novel. This novel is worth reading because it offers information about people’s character traits and effort in maintaining a marriage. Secondly, the explanation and information in this study can be a reference to the readers who are interested in analyzing Paulo Coelho’s novels. Finally, it gives its contribution to the readers especially students of English Education Study Program through the teaching materials provided in this study.

1.5 Definition of terms

There are some specific terms that need to be defined in order to avoid misconception. They are : 1. Motivation The term motive refers to an internal state of the organism which arouses activity and directs the organism’s behavior toward certain objects or conditions called goal Aiken 110. According to Stanton, a character’s reason for behaving as he does is his motivation 17. While Kalish states that motivated behavior is behavior set into motion by a need 29. Motivation, in this study, is the reasons of people’s behavior. 2. Zahir In the novel The Zahir, it is mentioned that according to the writer Jorge Luis Borges, the idea of the Zahir comes from Islamic tradition. Zahir, in Arabic, means visible, present, and incapable of going unnoticed. It can refer to an object or a person, and that object or person gradually takes over our every thought, until we are unable to think of anything else. 3. Character According to Abrams, characters are defined as “the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral dispositional and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI say – the dialogue – and by what they do – the action” 23. In other words, a character is a person who plays a role in a story. This person expresses emotions and moral principles through what he or she says and does. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI