These characteristics are imbued by the author in the aspect of coherency with the theme in a way. This goes for the setting as well. The setting is written with some
details that impart, for instance, a room. Then the author writes description that modifies the room in certain look as regards to the theme of the fiction.
5
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
Regarding to related studies the researcher read into Prasnorini’s study, Revealing The Theme Through Characters and Setting: A Formalistic Study of
Lois Lowry’s The Giver. In her study Prasnorini writes the theme of The Giver can be revealed through two intrinsic elements, characters and setting. In her analysis
she identifies and examines Jonas who is the center of The Giver and other significant characters that have contribution to the story. Also the setting that she
includes in her analysis is not only place and time but also customs, beliefs and social values. After the analysis of characters and setting to reveal the theme of
The Giver, she looks into the relation of characters, setting, and theme. She examines the relation between characters and setting as well as the relation
between characters and theme of The Giver. Thus she concludes that The Giver’s theme of Lois Lowry is “community can help its citizen to gain freedom
physically as well as mentally but with a consequence.” As seen in the following quotation.
In another words theme of this novel is a perfect community does not guarantee its citizens feel comfortable and freedom as human beings.
Seems, Jonas’ world is free from pain, suffer, war, crimes, but it is not free enough to decide what they want to be. It is contradiction, physically free
but mentally bound Prasnorini, 2005: 61.
A bit similar to Prasnorini’s study whose goal is to find the theme of the story, Nurhestianto’s study on Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage is also
to find the theme as a result of the analyzing the interrelationship of plot, main characters and setting. Unlike Prasnorini’s study, Nurhestianto adds one more
intrinsic element besides characters and setting which is plot. Nurhestianto entitles his study The Interrelationship of Plot, Main Characters and Setting to Reveal the
Theme in Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage. However he also analyzes the relation of plot, characters, setting and theme. He explains that theme can be
revealed through analyzing the relation between plot and characters, then the relation between characters and setting to plot. According to his analysis of
relation among those intrinsic elements The Red Badge of Courage’s theme is “bravery become men’s dignity.” As seen in the following quotation.
From the explanation above, we can find a central idea in the story. Main characters as soldier try to show their bravery in the battlefield in the
strory. Their actions, which show the way fo hiding their cowardice, may create the assumption they want to show their dignity as soldiers. As a
result, bravery and dignity are close related to this story and then the writer concludes that bravery becomes men’s dignity as theme of Stephen
Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage Nurhestianto, 2003: 53.
The two related studies above have similarity to this undergraduate thesis that is to reveal theme of a story. However, there is a difference. In her
undergraduate study, Prasnorini analyzes the characters, setting, and their relationship in The Giver which is a novel. In contrast to Prasnnorini’s study this
undergraduate study also analyzes the characters, setting, and their relationship in a short story entitled “A Worn Path”. The difference is in term of the object of the
study to be precise the type of the literary work. Rather than examining a novel like Prasnorini does, the researcher examines a short story which has smaller
number of pages. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
While Nurhestianto’s study involves three intrinsic elements, the researcher’s study involves only two intrinsic elements. Those two intrinsic
elements are characters and setting, and excludes plot which Nurhestianto takes up in study because this study intends to reveal the theme through analysis the
connection between characters and setting as Roberts and Jacobs’ statement in Fiction: An Introduction to Reading and Writing.
In addition to the previously mentioned related studies. The researcher also finds J.C. Bailey’s study relevant to this study. J.C. Bailey does analysis on
Phoenix Jackson as the name of the character reveals her characteristics in relation to an Egyptian mythological creature, the Phoenix. He explains the mythological
creature and then compares the character of “A Worn Path”, Phoenix Jackson, with the mythological creature, phoenix. Similarities are found between the two,
for instance the physical appearance of the two. The mythological creature has scarlet and gold as their dominant colors, while Phoenix is described to be
wearing a red rag on her head and her face has golden yet illumined yellowish color.
Phoenix’s appearance is yet another aspect of her likeness to the phoenix. At the beginning of the story, Phoenix is described as having a “golden
color [running] underneath [her skin], and the two knobs of her cheeks were illuminated by a yellow burning under the dark” Welty, par. 2.
Welty further describes Phoenix’s hair as being tied back in a red rag” Welty, par. 2. These images cannot be taken to be a mere coincident as
the phoenix form the ancient Egyptian legend is described as having a beautiful read and gold plumage Bailey, 2015.
J.C. Bailey’s study compares the whole story of “A Worn Path” with the Egyptian mythological creature, phoenix and its legend. Considering the
