Previous Study REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
9
people better understand the message of the novel itself such as plots, characters, setting, themes, and points of view.
Characters are the people that exist when an event happens in the novel. The writers always tell us how they look, how they speak, and watch them in
action. They also let us watch how other people in the story react to a character Leggett, 1993:634. Subur Wardoyo in his book Introduction to Literature
divides characters into two kinds. They are main or major characters, the people who become the focus in the story; and minor characters, the people who support
the main character in the story Wardoyo, 1996: 12. It means that the major characters appear frequently throughout the play, while minor characters have less
presence or appear only marginally to support the major character. Settingbackground is where a story takes place. A setting can be the real
world or a place that has never existed. Setting can be a time in the misty past, or a time in the distant future. If a setting is well described, the writer has succeeded
in helping us feel “we are there” Leggett, 1993:634. In a broad sense, setting refers to the condition of environment in which the characters live.
Theme is the truth about our lives that is revealed by the novel‟s events
Leggett, 1993:634. Theme is the central and unifying concept of a story. It means that theme is what the story tells about. It is an idea frequently not
completely worked out so as to be stateable in a sentence, which grows out of the text and tends to be reported with variations and developed as the novel
progresses. Theme of a literary work is its central message, concern, or purpose. A theme can usually be expressed as a generalization, or general statement, about
10
people or life. A theme may be stated directly by the writer although it is more often presented indirectly. When a theme is stated indirectly, the reader must
figure out the theme by looking carefully at what the work reveals about the people or about life Durya, 2000: 2.
Atmosphere is the overall mood or emotion of a work of literature. Atmosphere is created through a writer‟s use of words to create images, sounds,
and descriptions that convey a particular feeling Leggett, 1993:715. Tone of the story gives a good idea of what direction the action will take
just as we recognize whether what a person is about to say to us serious or not by the tone voice he uses Koenosoebroto, 1988:60.