Background of the Study

C. Objectives of the Study

This study has two objectives. The focuses of the writer to answer the questions are the writer emphasizes on the character, struggles and motives of the main character. In the first objective, the writer identifies the characteristics and the life background of the main character, Orchid. By identifying the characteristics of Orchid, the writer can see the main character’s point of view about concubine. Secondly, the writer sees the background life of the main character as the motive of the main character to become a concubine seen from the theory of motive.

D. Definition of Terms

The writer applies three terms in this study. The first term is character. M.H Abrams, stated that: Characters are the person in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say – the dialogue – and by what they do – the action 1985: 23. In the other source, Robert Stanton states that the character who is relevant to every event in the story, usually the events cause some changes either in him or in our attitude towards him 1965:17. The second term is motive. According to Mcclelland, Atkinson Clark and Lowell, motive is the learning result of pairing cues with affect or the condition which produced affect 1976:75. Karwoski and Stagner stated that motive can also be related to the biogenic drives and to the emotion, it is because motive derives people to do something to achieve their goals 1952:107. The last term is concubine. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines concubine as a woman who lives with and has sex with a man who already has a wife or wives, but who is socially less important 2001: 277. 7

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

In this chapter, the writer divides it into three parts. The first part is review on related studies. The second part is review on related theories and the last part is theoretical framework.

A. Review of Related Studies

Empress Orchid is a novel that has a lot of topics that can be discussed. It depends on the perspective that the readers had when they read the novel. In this thesis, the writer analyses the novel with psychological approach. In this review of related studies, the writer takes a researcher who discusses about the same novel. The first study is from Deasy Ekawati entitled Orchid’s Character Development and Struggles in Anchee Min’s Empress Orchid: A Reflection of Early Feminist Struggles in China. In Ekawati’s study, she analyses about Orchid’s character development before and after Hsien Feng death and also her struggles. She is interested in exploring the main character, Orchid, which was known as Empress Cixi in real life, a person that affected the feminist movement in China. She says, “In this thesis, the writer wishes to explore the life of Empress Cixi, previously known as simply Orchid, as a part of the rise of what seems to be the feminist movement in China Ekawati, 2009: 1 ”. She thinks that Empress Cixi was one of the most controversial female leaders in the history of Chinese Imperial family. The writer agrees with her reason, as we know that time, in nineteenth century, China embraced the culture of patriarchy. Women was under controlled by men, under estimated, and mistreated. It was a big movement of feminism when a woman could use her knowledge to rule the government. Orchid was a female who fought her right as a woman in patriarchal culture, she also the only one empress who lead China and unfortunately ended up with the downfall of the dynasty. Here are the reasons that Ekawati uses this novel. Ekawati applied the theory of characterization, theory of conflict and theory of feminism. Theory of characterization used to analyze the characteristics of the main character by Murphy which contains seven ways to understand the character’s personal description. The theory of conflict in order to understand the conflicts Orchid had to through, and the last theory of feminism to get a better understanding of the importance of Empress Orchid’s role as a milestone of feminism in China Ekawati, 2009: 18-19. As Ekawati’s above title suggested, the focuses of her thesis were the character development of Orchid from an ordinary girl who lost her father and worked hard for her family as the oldest child until she lost Hsien Feng and rule the China. Then, the other one is her struggles that she had to face until she became empress with thight competition among the concubines. All in all, she stated a good and positive review of the novel. The second related study is from an undergraduate thesis by Richard Kevin Kristanto titled “The Influence of Setting on Orchid’s Character Changes in Anchee Min’s Empress Orchid”. The focuses of his study are describing the character, the setting and the importance of setting on Orchid’s character changes.