Review of Related Studies

14 existence of human consciousness, impulses, desires, and feeling which a person is unaware but which influence emotions or behavior.

2. Theory of Characterization

Character is a person presented in narration Abrams, 1981. Meanwhile, characterization is the process of making a character. According to Gill 1995, characterization is the way in which a character is created p.127. Characters are created by the author of the story which portray people in real life. There are two ways of portraying the character Abrams, 1985, by telling and showing. By telling, the author describes the characters directly through the sentences in order to be criticized and “often to evaluate the motives and dispositional qualities”. By showing, the author only “presents the characters talking and acting” and lets the readers to see the motives and dispositional beyond words and acts p. 24. Presenting a character cannot be separated from the setting of the story. The setting covers the place where the characters appear, the social context such as family background, friends, class, characters’ manners, tradition and rules, and also some particular scenes and atmosphere created along with previous elements Gill, 1995, p. 148. Therefore, setting and social context are important elements to analyze characters. Stanton 1965 adds that the dialogue and the behavior are the most important evidences to understand the characters. According to Murphy 1972, there are nine ways used by the author to make the characters understandable for the readers, as follow:

a. Personal Description

The author directly describes a person’s appearance and clothes. The PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 15 author can also describes clearly about the details of what the characters’ look like such as the body-built, skin-color, hair, clothes with various adjectives to make the description more vivid pp. 161 – 162. The purpose is to make the readers can imagine clearly about how the characters look like. It also helps the readers to create their own image of how the maids and white ladies of The Junior League look like.

b. Character as seen by another

The author can also describes the characters using other characters. The author conveys the characters through the choice of words and phrases which are reflected in another characters’ eyes, attitude, opinions and comments. The readers will get the reflected image of the characters’ personalities p. 162. The author uses Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson and Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan to describe one another’s physical appearances and personalities by their attitude, opinions and comments. The purpose is to help the readers catch the idea of the situation and condition happened in Mississippi, early 1960s. c. Speech The author gives the readers clue about the characters’ personalities through their speech and their conversations with other characters. The language and attitude used by the characters in their conversation with other characters will be clues of their personalities p. 164. The purpose is for the readers to understand Aibileen Clark’s, Minny Jackson’s and Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan’s personalities by observing the languange and attitude they make when having conversations with the other characters in the novel. 16

d. Past life

The author lets the readers learn about the characters’ past life events by giving direct comments through characters’ inner thoughts, or through other characters. Sometimes the characters also experienced extraordinary things in their past life. Those past life events might help the characters to shape their present personalities p. 166. Therefore, by observing the past life events, the readers get the images of the personalities of Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan.

e. Conversation of others

The author gives clues about the characters’ personalities through the other characters’ conversations or the things other characters say about them in the conversations. Therefore, the readers will be helped to reveal the personalities of the characters from the observation of other characters’ conversations about them

p. 167. f.

Reactions The author provides explanations about the characters’ personalities through their reactions toward various situations and events in the story. By analyzing the various reactions the characters show in facing problems and situations in the novel, the readers will get clues about their personalities p.168. Normally, people will react differently one from another when they face the same situations and events in life. Therefore, by observing the reactions of the three main characters in facing the crucial issues, readers will get clues of their personalities.