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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
Love is universal. Love is not only about the relationship between a man and a woman. Love can be seen in mothers and children, friends, family, and
nature as well. Hauck 1983 states that love is a feeling that we have for people who did, are, or will satisfy our deepest desires and needs p. 22. It shows that
love is one of the best things in life. Loving and being loved can make the life more beautiful and meaningful. Love is important in the world. People can do
good things because they have love in their heart. Love is abstract. Love cannot be touched, but people can feel that love
does exist. The meaning of love can be various for each person. Their love experience probably affects their definition of love. People who live happily with
the beloved one will call love as a romantic thing while those who do not might say that love is hurting.
Fromm 1956 says, “Love is the active concern for the life and the growth of that which we love” p. 22. Therefore, love means doing and giving something
to the beloved one. Love is not only about telling, “I love you”. Love is an action. People should show their love through their actions. People who fall in love will
have a commitment to care and to make the beloved one happy. However, instead of making the beloved ones happy, some people expect
that the beloved ones have to make them happy. Therefore, when what they
2 expect does not happen, they get disappointed. Their disappointment will let them
do evil things and put love as its reason. When someone whom they love hurts them, they blame love. People will
say that love hurts. They use it as an excuse to hurt the beloved one back. Wybourne 2012 says that “Loves the one thing that can never hurt anyone,
although it may cost dearly”. Therefore, it is not love which hurts people. Love never hurts, but people do.
Talking about love is always interesting. This is probably the reason why many novelists use love as the theme in their novel. The Notebook is one of the
novels telling about love. The Notebook was written by Nicholas Sparks in 1996. This novel is about the love story of Noah Taylor Calhoun and Allie Allison.
Noah and Allie fell in love when they were teenagers. It is their first love. Their love changes their lives forever. They have to be separated since Allie’s
parents think that Noah is not the best person for their daughter. Noah tries to write letters to Allie. Allie’s mother hides the letters so Noah never gets them
replied. Fourteen years later, Allie comes to visit Noah three weeks from her
wedding. Their reunion unites their love again and they realize that they never stop loving each other. Allie has to make a difficult decision whether she chooses
to marry with Lon, his fiancé, or to stay with Noah. Allie has chosen Noah and they have led a wonderful marriage. The
problem comes when Allie has an Alzheimer’s and she starts to forget everything. They decide to live in a nursing home. Noah reads the notebook telling their love
3 story for Allie every day. He hopes that by reading the notebook, Allie will
remember him and feel their love once again. In their forty-ninth anniversary, the miracle happens. Allie remembers him and tells how she much misses him.
This final paper aims to show the readers the meanings of love as experienced by Noah in Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook. It will discuss the
romantic love between Noah and Allie. If the readers can find out the meaning of love, they probably can do the right things to the beloved ones. Considering the
background of the study above, the study would like to address two questions. First, how is Noah described in the novel? Second, what are the meanings of love
as experienced by Noah? The theory applied here are the theory of character and characterization,
theory of love and theory of katresnanism. Theory of character and characterization are used to find out how Noah is described in the novel.
Therefore, understanding the characters is important. Barnet, Bermar, and Bruto 1988 say that characters can be defined into
two meanings. The first is that a character is a figure in a literary work. The second is that a character is a personality. It means that a character is the mental
and moral qualities of a figure. For example, readers can say that the character is weak, or strong, or whatever p. 71. Therefore, characters deal with the
personalities of a figure that are reflected through their action, thought and behaviours.
Murphy 1972 mentions that there are nine ways that can be used to creates characters. They are personal description, character as seen by another,
4 speech, past life, conversation of others, reactions, direct comment, thoughts, and
mannerism p. 161-173. Meanwhile, the theory of love and katresnanism are used to explain the
meanings of love experienced by Noah. Herujiyanto 2007 explains that, Theory of katresnanism is a term which refers to the result of an inductive
work functioning as a reminder and invitation éling-kèlingan of one’s true self jati diri and one’s existence which was granted due
to katresnan divine love as soon as one was born.
. People are born in the world with a huge love of God. Even God Himself
is love. Theory of katresnanism is a reminder that people are born with love so they should love themselves and others as well. When people have an attitude of
katresnanism , they will have a positive thinking. The positive thinking will enable
people to understand that giving means receiving. When people give others something, at the same time they will also receive something back.
Theory of katresnanism has thirty-three principles. They are andhap asor, andhom slamet, angon mangsa, atur panuwun, banyu sinaring, binerkahan,
cancut taliwondo, citra wicita wicitra, duga prayoga, yatna yuwana, kasugengan, kraton Ndalem, lothong kemayang, migunani, mrantasi, mulat sarira, nalar,
ngugemi, nyamleng, nyumangga,rukun, samanunggal,sithik edhing, sumeleh, tentrem, tulus, tuhu, teposeliro, sumarah, mranani, mbombong mbimbing, pas,
and nyedulur mulur. Three out of thirty-three principles are chosen to analyze the
meanings of love as experienced by Noah in The Notebook. They are
5 binerkahan, nyumangga,
and samanunggal. These principles are dominant seen in the novel The Notebook.
According to Rohrberger and Woods 1971, there are five kinds of approaches in literature that enable readers to receive positive aesthetic values
and understand how literature is shaped and something of what it means. They are the formalist approach, the biographical approach, the sociocultural –
historical approach, the mythopoeia approach, and the psychological approach p. 6-15. The psychological approach is chosen for this study. This approach
focuses on the psychological side of human being, such as mental and personality. Therefore, it can be used to explain the character’s personality,
thought, and behaviour.
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CHAPTER II DISCUSSION
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