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Those nine ways can help the reader to understand about how the character is described in literary works.
2. Theory of Personalities and Personality Development
Talking about personalities, it must be something related to human’s behavior. “Personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics
that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior” Jess and Feist, 2006:4. Perso
nalities can be observed by understanding human’s characteristics when they deal with problems in their life. That is why every
theorist of personality has different point of view about its theory since people have different perspectives and way of thinkin
g. “Each personality theory reflects the individual personality of its creator, and each creator has a unique
philosophical orientation, shaped in part by early childhood experiences, birth order, gender, training, education, and pattern of interpersonal r
elationship” 2009:12. In Theories of Personality by Jess Feist and Gregory J.Feist, it is
explained that “Personality theories differ on basic issues concerning the nature of humanity.
Each personality theory ‘reflects its author’s assumptions about humanity. These assumptions rest on several broad dimensions that separate the various personality
theorists. We use six of these dimensions as a framework for viewing each theorist’s concept of humanity” Feist, 2009:11.
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Therefore, the writer wants to apply the six dimensions, especially in analyzing the main character of the work. Those six dimensions of personality
theories that are stated by Feist 2009:11-12 include a Determinism versus free choice
Are people’s behaviors determined by forces over which they have no control, or can people choose to be what they wish to be?
b Pessimism versus optimism Are people doomed to live miserable, conflicted, and troubled lives, or can
they change and grow into psychologically healthy, happy, fully functioning human beings?
c Causality versus teleology Do people act as they do because of what has happened to them in the past, or
do they act as they do because they have certain expectations of what will happen in the future?
d Conscious versus unconscious determinants of behavior Are people ordinarily aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it?
e Biological versus social influences on personality Are people mostly creatures of biology, or are their personalities shaped
largely by their social relationship? f Uniqueness versus similarities
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Should the study of personality concentrate on those traits that make people alike, or should it look at those traits that make people different?
In addition, according to Hurlock in Personality Development, the changes of personality can be divided into three major categories. The first category is the
changes for the better or the worse. It reflects the kind of life adjustment that the individual is making that time. The second category is the changes on quantitative
or qualitative. Quantitative means characteristics that already presents are reinforced, strengthened, or even weakened. While qualitative means a complete
replacement of a desirable trait by undesirable one or vice versa. The third category is the changes occur slow or rapid. Changes are regarded slowly if they
are barely perceptible while rapid changes are readily apparent to all. Normally, personality changes are slow and gradual 1974: 120-122.
In order to analyze the personality of Jonas, the theory on personality development is used by the writer to explain how the personality development of
the main character is described. Based on Hurlock’s Personality Development states that human life consists of two aspects, which are individual and social
aspect, and those have different concern. Human life consists of two aspects, which are individual and social aspects.
For the individual aspect, it is concern with physical changes and humans personality development. Human personality development itself is influenced
by two factors. Fir
st is human’s experience within family. The second factor is environment Hurlock, 1974:234.
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From the quotation above, it is stated that the personality development also influenced by two factors, which are human’s experience in their family and the
environment factor. Those are the aspect that can shape someone’s personality.
3. Theory of Society
According to Young in Personality and Problems of Adjustment, a society is the broadest association of people who possess a certain common set of habits,
attitudes, and ideas, sufficient to hold them together, who live in a definite territory, and who are often set off from other societies by attitudes and habits of
difference or antagonism Young, 1945:125. In addition, Young also said in his book that human personalities developed because of the influence of society and
culture.
The individual is always born into a group or a society made up of various smaller groups which has a culture. In this sense society and culture are
always antecedent to any particular individual. All the references of psychologists to Robinson Crusoe and to feral man to the contrary, actually
we know of no human personalities which have developed outside the matrix of society and culture 1945:124.
From the statement above both society and culture have influence to shape someone’s personality. Thus, wherever it is, the environment always shapes and
influence someone’s life.
C. Relation Between Psychology and Literature
In analyzing the characters and their personality development in a novel, the knowledge about psychology is needed
– since learning about psychology is PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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learning about human’s character. Related to the novel that the writer wants to analyze, it is portrayed that the issues that Jonas faces, eventually influence
Jonas’s personality. To build the character in the novel, the author has to create the imagination of how the character is described and how they become. In other
words, the representation of a character in literary works cannot be apart from the author’s creation of mind. Like what is stated that “In the narrative writer, we
think of his creation of characters and his ‘invention’ of stories” Wellek Warren, 1956:89.
D. Theoretical Frameworks
To support the analysis, the writer applies several theories in this undergraduate thesis. There are theory of character, theory of characterization,
and theory of personality development. First, the writer uses theory of character by Abrams and Henkle to find out how the main character, Jonas and other
characters are described in the novel. Abrams states that there are two types of characters: flat and round characters, while Henkle states there are two kinds of
character based on the importance: major and minor character. These theories are applied to answer how the character of Jonas is described. Theory of
characterization is also applied to analyze how the characters are presented and characterized by the author. The writer uses Holman and Harmon and Murphy
theories. From characterization, the reader can also get the theme of the novel. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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