Background of the Study

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the introduction of the whole study. It contains five parts, they are Background of the Study, Objective of the Study, Problem Formulation, Benefit of the Study and Definition of Terms.

A. Background of the Study

This thesis is a study about the characteristic of Napoleon, the main character of Animal Farm, a novel about the revolution that was created by the animals in Mr. Jones’ Manor Farm that fight against the “slavery of animals under human beings” and transform Manor Farm into Animal Farm. Animal Farm was written by George Orwell and first published in 1945 by Harcourt Books in New York, United States. Novel is one of the most popular literary works. When a reader reads a novel, shehe not only simply enjoys it, but shehe also needs to think deeply about what they read. The characters in a novel are not always human beings. Sometimes a writer use animals as the characters for herhis novel. George Orwell’s Animal Farm is an example of a novel where animals take a very important role in the story. Eventhough most of the characters in Animal Farm are animals, but still the readers need to think deeply so that they will understand the main idea of the story because they represent the characteristics of human beings. Actually there is a reason for the use of animals as the characters in the novel. 1 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Orwell exploits she animals as metaphor, allegory or symbol. A quote from www.shmoop.comanimal-farmsymbolism-imagery.html states that “Animal Farm is an allegory for what happened in Russia between the years of about 1917 and 1943”, while some points taken from www.cummingsstudyguides.netGuides2AniFarm.html describes George Orwell’s Animal Farm as follows: “Animal Farm is a novel that mocks Stalinist Communism and other despotic systems of government. The book contains characteristics of the following genres: 1...Satire, which ridicules injustice, stupidity, tyranny, depravity, andor other human flaws. 2...Beast tale, which casts animals in human roles. 3...Allegory, which ascribes secondary or symbolic meanings to characters, events, objects, and ideas.” In this thesis, the discussions of the study focus mainly on the character of Napoleon, a pig leader of Animal Farm. He seems to represent a person with a strong desire for everything that is more than he needs and deserves. I have found that Napoleon’s characteristics in Animal Farm represent humans’ greed. Humans’ thirst for power is so great that it will blind them and make them do anything without thinking about others. Money, authority and self-esteem usually will fill people’s hearts with greed. The purpose of the study is to look into his dominant personality. Besides using psychological approach, this study applies PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI the theory of character and characterization, theory of psychology and theory of motivation. Most of Orwell’s masterpieces are usually related to political prescience and are rich in moral values. One of his famous novels, beside Animal Farm, is 1984 1949. The original title of the novel was The Last Man in Europe. Through 1984, Orwell tells us about the sadistic and cruelty of political activities in London based on his very own experiences.

B. Objective of the Study