34 her exposing her experiences being abused as a child on Mail Online and Times
Online. After gaining more understanding regarding the topic and the novel, the
writer then applied the reviewed literature and discussed the novel using the formulated problems.
35
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This fourth chapter presents the analysis that is necessary to answer the problem formulations mentioned in the first chapter. This chapter will elaborate
on the descriptions of Carmen, Eastman, and Georgie in Ugly novel. This chapter will also review the kinds of abusive acts that were performed by Carmen,
Eastman, and Georgie as written in the novel. The elaboration on both the perpetrators and the abuse will be the basis for further analysis on the motivations
behind the abuse done by those three characters toward Clare.
A. The Figure of Carmen, Eastman, and Georgie in Briscoe’s
Ugly 1.
Carmen
Carmen is one of the major characters in the novel. Henkle 1977 explains that a major character is the character that plays most of the role in the
story p.87. Carmen plays big role in influencing the personality development of the main character, Clare. As Clare’s mother, she has control toward Clare’s
childhood. Her abusive acts make up the most important element that builds the novel, Ugly.
Carmen is an antagonist character. Altenbernd and Lewis 1966 define the antagonist character as a character that creates or causes conflict p.59. In
Ugly, Carmen can easily be seen as the opponent of Clare, as her actions and decisions are done against Clare both mentally and physically. The reader will
36 simply hate Carmen and define her as a bad person in the novel. Carmen plays a
static character from the beginning to the end of the novel. Foster 1974 defines flat or static character as the same sort of person at the end of the story as he or
she at the beginning p.53. Carmen constantly creates conflicts with Clare from the beginning to the end of the story.
To get better understanding of Carmen’s characters, the characterization theory should be applied in analyzing Carmen in the novel. Murphy 1972
describes nine ways to reveal the characterization of the characters which were made in attempts to be understandable and alive for the reader p.161. The
following are Carmen’s characterization reviewed through Murphy’s nine ways of characterization:
a. Beautiful and Stylish
In Murphy’s ways of characterization 1972, studying other characters’ opinion is one way to analyze a character p.162. When describing her family,
Clare describes Carmen as a beautiful Jamaican woman, “Carmen, my mother. George called her Carmel. She has a very slim figure and was stunningly
beautiful. She looked more like a film star than a mother. Her skin was coffee- coloured.” Briscoe, p.8; ch.1.
Carmen knows her own beauty and loves to delve in it. It can be seen through her speech p.164, as one of Murphy’s way of characterization 1972.
When she met her sisters, who were asking about how she was doing, her response, as quoted from Clare’s description, was simply: ‘“Let me look good,’”
Briscoe, p.139; ch.9. It should be noted that she said that while marveling at her
