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We care for literature primarily on account of its deep and lasting human significance. A great book grows directly out of life; in reading it, we are
brought into large, close, and fresh relations with life; and in that fact lies the final explanation of its power. Literature is a vital record of what men have
seen in life, what they have experienced of it, what they have thought and felt about those aspect of it which have the most immediate and enduring interest
for all of us. It is thus fundamentally an expression of life through the medium of language Hudson 10.
Hudson further elaborates the importance of knowing the author’s personal
life in order to get better understanding about his literary work. Biography provides the information needed to dig the personal life of the author. Through the biography,
readers are able to study the author’s living environment, his daily life, his ambitions, struggles, successes, and failures 22. Having studied his personal life, readers may
able to see the relationship of his personal life with his literary work.
C. Theoretical Review
There are six theories used in analyzing the novel; theory of character, characterization, Maslow’s theory of motivation, someone’s goal in life,
schizophrenia, and the relation between the author’s personal life and literature. Since the writer emphasizes the study on the relationship between the life of the
characters and the life of the author, the review of the author’s personal life is also exposed. Those theories will be useful to answer the problem formulated in this
study. The theory of character helps to shape a proper understanding about the
personality of two characters in this novel, Veronika and Eduard. The theory of characterization is used to understand the way the author of the novel built up the
characters in the novel. A good understanding about the characteristics of Veronika
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and Eduard makes the writer able to answer the first problem formulation. The theory of someone’s goals in his life, motivation theory, and the relation between biography
and literature is employed to see the background why the author pours his personal experiences in the novel. Those theories and the review of Paulo’s personal life will
help the writer to answer the second problem formulation.
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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter consists of three parts. The first part is object of the study, which contains the information related to the novel used in this study. The second part is the
approach of the study, explaining the approaches used in analyzing the novel. The third past is method of the study, which explains the sequence actions taken in conducting this
study.
A. Object of the Study
The novel used in this study is Veronika Decides to Die. It was originally written in Portuguese titled Veronika Decide Morrer, copyright by Paulo Coelho in 1998, and
was published in Brazil by Editora Rocco Ltd., Rio de Janeiro. Margaret Jull Costa translated it into English and got the copyright in 1999. The English version was first
published in United States of America by HarperCollins Publishers Inc., New York. The novel consists of 29 sections of 210 pages.
Veronika Decides to Die is about a twenty four-year old woman named Veronika who seems to have a perfect life: young, beautiful, full of love by people around her. In
fact, her life is meaningless because she tends to give up her desires in order to make her parents happy. On November 11, 1997, she decides to end her life. However, her attempt
to commit suicide fails and causes her to be sent to a lunatic asylum where she experiences new things that make her life meaningful. She meets Eduard, a
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