answered. Thereby, there are some theories presented to help the writer in answering the questions. The theory of gossip by Patricia Mayer Spacks and Erik
K. Foster are used to figure out and classify the gossips found in the story. After that, the theory of conflict by Robert Stanton and Maciver and Charles H. Page
are used to find out the conflicts happening in the story in relation with the gossip. There are some conflicts between characters and conflict within character. Lastly,
there are also some studies using whether the same topic or the same novel which is needed to deepen the analysis of this research. The review of gossip among
American teenager is also used to help the writer to comprehend the way American teenagers behave.
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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
This study analyzes a novel of Cecily von Ziegesar entitled Gossip Girl. Published by Little, Brown and Company at 2002, this novel contains 199 pages.
Stated as the first bestselling novel by New York Times, this success of Gossip Girl leads it into several following series. They are You Know You Love Me
2002, All I Want Is Everything 2003, Because I’m Worth It 2003, I Like It
Like That 2004, You’re The One That I Want 2004, Nobody Does It Better
2005, Nothing Can Keep Us Together 2005, Only in Your Dreams 2006, Would I Lie To You 2006,
Don’t You Forget About Me 2007, It Had To Be You 2007, and I Will Always Love You 2009.
Just like any other novels, Gossip Girl also has several subchapters to emphasize its plot and conflict. The first thing that people notice about this novel
is that the presence of a website with no name administrator. This uniqueness makes this novel interesting to read. This website is like the link to other
characters. Gossip Girl surely reflects the reality among teenagers. The development of technology conquers them unconsciously. Without any other
information obtained, people will easily guess what this novel about through the title. Gossip Girl, as the title suggested, is about groups of people who like to
gossip. Gossip is then the one that grabs the characters into the conflicts.
Gossip Girl is actually mostly about a controversy which happens because of the coming back of the most adorable girl in town, Serena. Some characters are
busy to guess the reason why she goes back, while others are on their own way to reject the coming of Serena to maintain their popularity among others. On the
other hand, the love triangle between Serena, Blair, and Nate also makes their own conflict. The love life, divorcement scandal, and friendship are also presented
in a real logic within the story.
B. Approach of the Study
In every research, an approach is needed to attain a different way of looking at literature. Dealing with human’s mind and behaviour, the following
analysis is explained. Hence, in this research, the writer chooses psychological approach to analyze the object of this research in accordance with psychological
way. Using this approach, the writer can gain better understanding of human behaviour since psychology studies human behaviour.
Rohrberger and Woods, Jr. in Reading and Writing about Literature 1971, 13-
15 argues that psychological approach is an “approach to literature which involves the effort to locate and demonstrate certain pattern”. It is applied
to study a man’s life together with his mind and behaviour. In a literary work, there exists a set of symbols which are common to all men and which can be
interpreted as the individual’s experience. A set of symbols covers the expression of men’s mind and behaviour through words, thoughts, and actions.
This psychological approach is suitable to this research since it is human who does the gossips and conflicts. Instead of focusing only on the text, the writer
in this research deepens the analysis into the other dimension in this text which is beyond the characters’ mind and behavior.
In this research, elements that are analyzed are conflict and gossip. These two things are really connected to someone’s mind. Therefore, psychological
approach is considered as the most proper approach to be used to analyze Cecily von Ziegesar’s Gossip Girl.
C. Method of the Study
Using the novel Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar as the primary source led the writer in this research to use library research method in conducting the
analysis. As the secondary sources, the writer chose several suitable books due to the need in solving the problem formulation presented in the first chapter. Some
data on the website which were found in the internet were used as the secondary sources as well.
After reading the primary source, Gossip Girl, for several times, the writer in this research figured out several topics based on the main issues within the
story. The topics were sorted carefully so that eventually the writer used the most applicable topic which was about the influence of gossips toward the conflicts.
Those parts were followed by making problem formulation to be answered in the analysis. After finding some theories which were suitable to answer the problems,
some data were collected as the secondary sources to support the study.
