Background of The Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

There are four parts in this chapter. They are the background of the study, research questions, significance of the study, and definition of terms. The background of the study elaborates the reasons that serve as a basis for writing this study. The research questions states the problems discussed in this study. The significance of the study elaborates the importance of the study to the readers. The definition of terms elaborates the key words of this study to avoid misunderstanding or interpretation.

A. Background of The Study

There are several aspects in human life, such as feelings, thoughts, imaginations, and experiences. Those aspects can be described in several ways. A literary work is one of several ways to describe those aspects. A literary work is defined as an imaginative and creative writing which purpose is to express and tell some aspects in human life. According to Robert and Jacob 1989, literary work is described as “written and spoken compositions designed to tell stories, dramatize situations, and reveal thoughts and emotions, and more importantly, to interest, entertain stimulate, broaden, and ennoble readers ” p. 2. Based on the definition above, a literary work refers to a written and spoken composition. Moreover, the main purpose of a literary work itself is to give pleasure or amusement to the readers. Meanwhile, the readers may also acquire information and or broaden their understanding about related literary work after reading to a literary work. In addition, the readers may get new knowledge such as PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI moral value of related literary work that the readers have read. Therefore, the readers are able to take the usefulness or advantages from a literary work. A novel is one of literary works that has been acknowledged in public. It also has high accessibility, which means that a novel is easy to read and understand, especially for inexperienced people in literature. It is because a novel tells a story that has characters, plots, and twists that make the story interesting to read. Besides, a novel is usually based on author’s imaginations or experiences, so that the stories are varied or different from one story to another. Those are the reasons why a novel is quite different from other literary works. Therefore, due to its high accessibility and its varieties, those things are what have assured the writer in conducting research based on a novel for the study. This study uses a romance-based fiction novel authored by Nicholas Sparks. The title of the novel is The Best of Me. Nicholas Charles Sparks is an American screenwriter and novelist. He is born in Omaha, Nebraska on 31 December 1965. He has published about seventeen novels whose the main themes are about romance, relationships, and love. Those novels tell about unique love- relationship, including The Best of Me, which means that there is uncommon love story such as a coincidental meeting of two persons who are finally in love to each other when suddenly there is a moment when they have to end their relationship. However, there will always be chances of unpredictable twists that come alongside the progression of the story. In this study, the writer is interested in analyzing the topic based on Nicholas Sparks’ The Best of Me novel because of three reasons. The first reason is PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI that the story of The Best of Me has an unpredictable and touching story. There are many surprises, twists, and unpredictable sequences in the story. It is able to amaze and make the writer curious enough to continue reading the story. Moreover, characters in the story are the biggest role of why the novel has an unpredictable and touching story. The characters are able to make changing and unpredictable emotions, so that the story flows more dynamically and it means that some twists of the story often appear because they are able to create various atmospheres and emotions in each sequences of the story. The second reason is that The Best of Me has a unique and uncommon love story among other Nicholas Sparks’ novels. The story tells the writer how a feeling of love can free ly appear in certain conditions and influence a person’s life. These influences are shown through the development of personality of the main character in the story, Dawson Cole. Dawson falls in love with Amanda in the first sight and it makes her as Dawson’s first and true love. The feeling of Dawson’s love also influences him in making decisions in his life. Moreover, the story, which carries out a love story as the main theme, is not an ordinary story. It is because the story has its own unpredictable twists related to the plot of story and the characters who make dynamic progress in the story. The third reason is that the writer was interested in one of the main characters in the story whose name is Dawson Cole. As mentioned in the story, Dawson meets Amanda, his first love, in a coincidental occasion that causes some changes into Dawson’s life. In result, there are many changes shown through Dawson’s feelings and personalities after he meets his first love because before he meets her, he simply cannot define his own future because he is born as a Cole, a family who lives in Oriental. Coles’ professions are robbers, thieves, and those kinds of jobs that are related to crimes. After Amanda enters Dawson’s life, he is able to think about his future and about what he wants to be. In other words, Amanda is the reason for Dawson to create a future to his life. In addition, Amanda’s presence in Dawson’s past and current life also causes some influences on Dawson’s personality. Therefore, the writer wants to see how the influences of Dawson’s first love change Dawson’s past and current life.

B. Research Questions