Review of Related Studies

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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

The aim of reviewing other related studies is to have some insights on the existing research on the topic. The studies are from the same work and topic. In this part, the writer is going to cite four sources that relate to this thesis. The first study is an undergraduate thesis written by Dwiki Prenandita, who is an alumnus from Sanata Dharma University, entitled “Park’s Motivation to Help Eleanor in Her Teenage Life Struggle as Seen in Rowell ’s Eleanor and Park ”. This thesis analyzes the personality of Park and Eleanor to see the motivation that is able to influence the other character. The writer describes the characterizations of both characters in the novel and the change of the characterization of Eleanor. Then, she mentions the effect of Park ’s motivation toward Eleanor. She states as follows: There are two conclusions that can be drawn. The first one is how Eleanor and Park are described in the novel Eleanor Park by Rainbow Rowell. Based on the theory of Perrine that have been explained in the previous chapter, it can be said that Eleanor is a dynamic character because her character changes at the end of the story. She turns to be more open. Meanwhile, Park is a static character because his character does not change since the beginning until the end of the story. He is an introvert, attentive, and kind-hearted person Prenandita, 2016: 53. The second study is an article from the New York Times entitled “Two Against the World ” written by John Green who is an author of Looking for Alaska , The Fault in Our Stars, and Paper Town. He describes that the novel has several themes which make it more special to be read. He writes as follows: Rainbow Rowell ’s first novel for young adults is a beautiful, haunting love story — but I have seen those. It’s set in 1986, and God knows I’ve seen that. There ’s bullying, sibling rivalry, salvation through music and comics, a monstrous stepparent — and I know, we’ve seen all this stuff. But you ’ve never seen “Eleanor Park.” Its observational precision and richness make for very special reading nytimes.com, 2013. He says that Eleanor and Park has complex theme as a novel to be read by teenager. It ’s not only a love story but also a struggle from a young girl who suffers from the chaotic situation. She is bullied by her friends and she has a step- father who always harms her and her mother. The third study is also from the New York Times entitled “Marriage Gone Sour? Go Home to Ma Bell ” written by Janet Maslin who is an American journalist. She is known as a critic for film and literary for The New York Times. She talks about a novel from Rainbow Rowell entitled Landline. She states as follows: Rainbow Rowell ’s “Landline” is another novel geared to testing that premise. Ms. Rowell isn ’t strictly a young-adult author. But her widely noticed young-adult works “Eleanor Park,”“Fangirl” don’t differ that much in style from her nominally adult books “Attachments” and now “Landline”. What varies are the characters’ ages teenage or marriageable, ways of spending their time in high school or working full- time, cultural references comics and MTV, or vintage bands and sitcoms and, of course, problems nytimes.com, 2014. Landline , as Janet states, is an adult novel but it does not very different in the style with Eleanor and Park which is a young adult novel. However, this novel is more variety from the other novels. It has the variation in the characters ’ ages, the setting, other cultural references, and the troubles. The forth study is from Elisabeth Rustaviani Nugraheni who is an alumnus of Sanata Dharma University. In her undergraduate thesis entitled “Women’s Struggles against the Oppression of Men in Toni Morrison ’s Paradise”, the writer focuses on the same topic about women oppression by patriarchy. She states, “This study explains about the oppression of women within a black community, they are being oppressed by their own race ” Nugraheni, 2016: 2. She also states the women and man ’s position on the society in the study, “Women are inferior to men, men have more power than women, and women dependent towards men ” Nugraheni, 2016: 60. The writer of this undergraduate thesis has different idea from the previous reviews. In this thesis, the writer wants to emphasize the effect of the patriarchy in Eleanor and Park . The writer is trying to focus on Eleanor and Sabrina in their experience on violence by a man. Meanwhile, the focus of the undergraduate thesis from Prenandita is about the effect of the motivation. She emphasizes the personality of Park that is able to change Eleanor ’s personality. She also states that Eleanor is a dynamic character while Park is a static character. In John Green ’s reviews, he sees the complexity of the theme of the novel but he only states the bullying, romantic love, and an evil step-father. The writer has different focus from Green ’s review. In this thesis, the writer tries to see the struggle of Eleanor as a child and Sabrina as a mother toward the chaotic family life. A review that is from Janet Maslin helps the writer to figure out the other novel written by Rainbow Rowell. She sees the plot and the writing style of Landline. In Eleanor and Park, the writer wants to analyze the female characters. The writer also sees the oppression that the female characters experience Also, the undergraduate thesis from Nugraheni gives the writer enlightenment about the women oppression. She describes that the oppression is because of the patriarchy. However, in this analysis, the writer focuses on the different object. The writer focuses on Rainbow Rowell ’s Eleanor and Park, while Nugraheni focuses on Toni Morrison ’s Paradise.

B. Review of Related Theories